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The Daily Northwestern DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Friday, April 4, 2014
Find us online @thedailynu
Online course pilot terminated By Cat Zakrzewski
daily senior staffer @Cat_Zakrzewski
Source:The Come Up Show/Creative Commons
take a chance on me Chicago emcee Chance the Rapper will perform as the daytime headliner at Dillo Day 2014. Chance is the first artist Mayfest has announced for the 2014 edition of the music festival.
Mayfest announces rapper By Rebecca savransky and tyler pager the daily northwestern @beccasavransky, @tylerpager
Chicago emcee Chance The Rapper will perform as Dillo Day 2014’s daytime headliner, Mayfest announced Thursday. Chance’s performance is the first musical act announced to perform at Dillo Day, scheduled for May 31. Walk the Moon performed as the
daytime headliner last year. Communication junior Michael Bass, Mayfest’s concerts chair, said the group decided to bring Chance this year after considering a variety of factors and looking at polling results, national trends, and campus interest. “Chance is someone thats just been so popular everywhere and at NU and we thought it would be a real great opportunity to capitalize on an artist at the rise of his career,” Bass said. “It just seems like an all-
Illinois considers Big Ten addition By BAILEY WILLIAMS
the daily northwestern @news_BaileyW
The Illinois Senate passed a bill this week that would create a committee to study the possibility of adding another Illinois school to the Big Ten Conference. “It presents ... another affordable option to secure a degree in higher education,” said state Sen. Dan Kotowski (D-Mt. Prospect), one of
the bill’s co-sponsors. The bill looks to amend the Board of Higher Education Act by introducing a committee to study the feasibility of a state school joining the Big Ten. State Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine), a co-sponsor of the bill, said a number of individuals, including a Big Ten parent who pays out-of-state tuition and people from the “higher education world,” would comprise the committee. Murphy represents a suburban » See big TEN, page 6
Riccardo Muti to speak at 2014 Commencement By Rebecca Savransky daily senior staffer @beccasavransky
Riccardo Muti, music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, will give the main address at the 2014 commencement ceremony. Muti will also be one of five individuals to receive an honorary degree at the ceremony, which will be held on June 20 at Ryan Field. Stevie Wonder, Grammy Awardwinning singer-songwriter, musician and producer, will be among the other recipients of the honor
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Hopefully he will think that getting an honorary degree from Northwestern is also a great honor.” Al Cubbage, University spokesman
this year. University spokesman Al Cubbage said he is excited for the ceremony and looking forward to Muti’s » See commencement, page 6
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
around great act that everyone’s going to love. Chance, a Chicago native, rose to fame in 2013 after releasing two free online mixtapes, “Acid Rap” and “10 Day.” He is slated to perform at many of the nation’s top music festivals this year, including Coachella, Bonnaroo, Sasquatch and Governors Ball. Chance will be playing in the second slot this year, running from » See mayfest, page 6
One year after Northwestern rolled out its first foray into online courses for credit, the University and its partner schools terminated the Semester Online pilot program, provost Dan Linzer announced Thursday. “While we have found a high level of satisfaction among faculty teaching these courses and students taking these courses, some faculty have expressed significant concerns with some aspects of the SON model,” Linzer wrote in an email to students Thursday. “As a result, the SON consortium members have decided not to continue Semester Online beyond the pilot year.” Linzer noted the courses will continue through the summer. Semester Online courses were offered through a consortium of 10 prestigious universities. The program, announced in November 2012, began offering classes in fall 2013. Students at three affiliate partner schools were also able to take the courses. In the announcement, Linzer noted challenges in working within the consortium contributed to the decision to terminate the program. From the program’s inception, shifts
in the consortium exposed problems related to costs and course quality. Duke University, Vanderbilt University and University of Rochester were originally members of the consortium but pulled out prior to the launch of classes. Semester Online courses included assignments and weekly class video conferences. Each course was $4,200, and problems with financial aid packages caused Vanderbilt to drop out. NU offered one Semester Online course during Fall Quarter and two in Winter Quarter. The University is scheduled to offer one final course in Integrated Marketing Communications during the summer. A spokeswoman for 2U, the company that developed Semester Online, said the decision to end the program was mutual between 2U and the universities in the consortium. “Semester Online was always an experiment,” Shirley Chow wrote in an email to The Daily. “The pilot program experienced significant challenges related to the complexities of a consortium structure.” Chow said lessons learned from Semester Online will be applied to create an online undergraduate nursing program at Simmons College. Czak15@u.northwestern.edu
City readies township dissolution
Bailey Williams/The Daily Northwestern
going to township Community activist Betty Ester addresses audience members’ concerns and questions Thursday night in a special meeting outside City Council chambers. Ester has been advocating for Evanston Township since before residents voted for its dissolution in last month’s election. County Clerk’s office next week, BobBy Sophia Bollag and Bailey kiewicz said the resignation of former Williams township supervisor Gary Gaspard in the daily northwestern October and Bobkiewicz’s subsequent @news_BaileyW, @SophiaBollag appointment to the position paved the way for a smooth transition. After residents voted to dissolve “There really is not much of a Evanston Township last month, the process,” Bobkiewicz said. “We’ve city and the township are collaboratbeen thinking about it since ... last ing to transition township services to October.” city management by the end of the Bobkiewicz was named interim month, despite concerns from some township supervisor shortly after residents. Gaspard resigned. Bobkiewicz said he asked city health director Evonda Voters elected to abolish the townThomas-Smith to help him with the ship by an almost two-to-one margin township responsibilities. The two have on March 18. The next day, city manager Wally Bobkiewicz submitted a been working with township employproposal to City Council that would ees ever since. dissolve the township by April 30. “Evonda Thomas-Smith, our health Although the official dissolution director, has been working day to day process will not begin until the elecwith the township staff, so I feel very tion results are certified by the Cook comfortable that it will be a pretty
seamless transition,” Bobkiewicz said. The township provides emergency services and general assistance, a program similar to welfare, to qualifying Evanston residents as well as property tax assessments. The township employees who work on emergency services and general assistance will become city employees and work in the health department, Bobkiewicz said. The township department that deals with property tax assessment assistance will also come under city management. “The transition is going rather smoothly from my perspective,” Thomas-Smith said. “I think change can be I challenging feel very for staff. The comfortable staff primarily have been that it will long-term be a pretty employees of the township seamless and of that transition.” form of government and Wally (are) now tranBobkiewicz, sitioning to the city manager city form of government.” A group of residents including activist Betty Ester say they are concerned about the transition of township services to city management. Ester held a special meeting Thursday evening outside the City Council chambers at the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center. About a dozen people attended and voiced their concerns about the dissolution process and the officials
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» See township, page 6
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