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The Daily Northwestern DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Monday, April 7, 2014
Find us online @thedailynu
Ventra transition still draws skepticism By Jack Corrigan
the daily northwestern @_jackcorrigan
When the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace complete the transition to the Ventra payment system, paying for public transportation will be as easy as swiping a credit card. Many Chicagoans, however, are critical of the change. CTA and Pace, the local bus service, recently announced that they would completely transition to the Ventra payment system by July 1. Ventra allows riders to pay by tapping a reloadable card, which looks like a debit card, on a sensor. It is the first such completely “contactless” fare payment system in North America. Ventra has already been introduced by both the CTA and Pace. Currently 1.5 million Ventra accounts are active, with 81 percent of CTA riders and 60 percent of Pace riders using the system.
“For the last three months Ventra has performed well overall, and is used by more than one million riders each day,” said CTA president Forrest Claypool. However, the public reaction to the Ventra transition has not been as positive. Although A couple people people like the more I know have efficient paybeen having ment method, the same issues many have with (Ventra). experienced issues when It’s far less trying to use convenient and their Ventra cards. reliable. Chicago resident Peter Blood, Stephanie CTA rider Kang, 22, said she likes having one card, but sometimes the sensors don’t read the card when she
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tries to use it. “You have to keep putting your card there multiple times for it to register,” Kang said. Another CTA rider, Peter Blood, 35, of Rogers Park, said he plans to avoid using Ventra for as long as he can. He initially purchased a Ventra card, but when he used it, it took three tries for the card to register. When he checked his balance later, he saw he had been charged three times. “There’s pretty much no recourse to get your money back after that sort of thing,” Blood said. “A couple people I know have been having the same issues with (Ventra). It’s far less convenient and reliable.” The transition will happen gradually over the next few months. On May 1, riders will no longer be able to purchase magnetic stripe tickets or reload Chicago Card Plus fare cards. On June 1,
» See Ventra, page 7
Nathan Richards/Daily Senior Staffer
TAP AND RIDE A passenger uses her Ventra card to pay for a ride on the CTA. The transit system plans to fully transition to the system by July.
NU alters housing Wildcat Welcome expands app priority system By olivia exstrum
the daily northwestern @oliviaexstrum
The Board of Directors for New Student and Family Programs introduced the option to be a family ambassador into this year’s peer adviser applications in an effort to promote increased family assistance in addition to helping students adapt to the Northwestern community. Daniel MacKenzie, assistant director of the Office of New Student and Family Programs, defined family ambassadors as students whose main purpose is to help transition the families of new students and help them understand a little bit more about the university. Although this program was introduced last year, this is the first year there is a formal application process.
Daily file photo by Alissa Zhu
that’s so random This year, Northwestern Residential Life will assign randomized priority numbers for on-campus housing, instead of basing them on seniority like in years past. Housing applications are due Monday. Housing Administration. By Olivia EXSTRUM In the past, students had the option the daily northwestern to apply for a priority number without @OliviaExstrum a binding agreement to live in University housing. Under the new system, In an effort to encourage Northweststudents are required to commit to ern students to live on campus for lonliving on-campus before receiving a ger periods of time, Residential Services number. The 2014-15 year will be the eliminated the granting of selection prifirst time this policy is implemented ority to upperclassmen for the 2014-15 campus-wide. However, the change was academic year. first executed when the class of 2017 applied for housing last summer. According to an email sent by Residential Services before Spring Break, D’Arienzo said there are a variety there will now only be two priority of reasons for the changes. He said categories for returning students, one Residential Services has been looking for students who currently live in at altering the system for a number of University housing and a second for years, noting data that demonstrated students living off campus or in Greek the old priority system was pushing housing. The students in the first group students off campus at an earlier point will receive first priority, but the given in their college careers. numbers will be randomized, to give all “For example, rising sophomores students the chance to receive a more who believed they could not obtain desirable number. desirable housing were living off “It is now possible for a sophomore campus,” he said. “We wanted students who currently live in University to have a more desirable priority number than a senior,” said Mark D’Arienzo, Senior Associate Director of University » See Priority, page 7
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Students to lobby members of Congress in D.C.
Members of Associated Student Government traveled to Washington, D.C., this weekend as part of an annual event for Big Ten schools. The event focused on lobbying members of Congress from Illinois about several campus-wide issues. Six students are attending the conference called “Big Ten on the Hill,” sponsored by the Association of Big Ten Students. The conference runs from April 6-8. The program is aimed around promoting student involvement in a national forum. This is the first time in recent years NU has sent a delegation to the event, said Kevin Harris, ASG
Body found near city park could be missing woman
The body found washed up on the shoreline of Lake Michigan in south Evanston on Sunday could be that of a Des Plaines resident who has been
“Peer advisers are a huge asset to the transition of new students, and so we wanted to have families feel that as well,” MacKenzie said. “So having a group of students dedicated to the transition that the families go through we felt was important.” Additionally, this year’s PA application process was extended by two weeks with the application period opening on Jan. 16 and ending on Feb. 3. There was a 10-student increase in acceptance this year, with 213 students offered the position. “The recruitment process was a little bit earlier this year, just so that we could extend the selection process for as long as possible so we could evaluate the candidates as fully as possible,” MacKenzie said. Mackenzie said the main qualities the Board and the Office of New Student and Family Programs are looking for in a PA
has remained largely the same over the years. More than anything, the position of PA is focused on service, he said. “At the heart of it, we want students who love this university, but also love welcoming new members to this community,” MacKenzie said. Weinberg freshman Amakie Amattey was selected as a PA this year and is looking forward to being the “face of Northwestern” for incoming students, she said. “There are a lot of things I wish I would’ve known about college life, and I would like to pass them on to my own group of students,” she said. PAs are chosen by the Board of Directors for New Student and Family Programs, a team of 10 upperclassmen students who have past experience as
community relations vice president. The agenda includes briefings at offices in the White House and meetings with specific members of Congress from Illinois. “We are essentially here to represent student issues so we’ll be meeting with different departments over the next couple days, meeting with senators and representatives,” Harris said. Prior to arriving in D.C., members of ASG compiled five main issues to focus on that have relevance to NU students. Over the next few days, student delegates will meet with several offices about problems relating to mental health, campus sexual assault, the Higher Education Opportunity Act, student debt and textbook affordability. ASG representatives will be going to the White House on Monday and will be attending briefings at the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau and at the Department of Education. On Tuesday, the students will be attending lobbying meetings at the offices of members of Congress from Illinois. Harris said he and other ASG representatives will be meeting either with the members of Congress directly or with education legislative directors from their offices. Executive vice president Alex Van Atta, a McCormick senior, said the event will give him and other ASG representatives the opportunity to lobby for issues important to students. “I think the main goal from my perspective is the chance to interact with real Illinois representatives that we’ve come here to meet with and to be able to provide a student perspective to the issues that we really care about,” Van Atta said.
missing since February, police said. A person walking along the shore of the lake near Clark Square Park on the 800 block of Sheridan Road saw the woman’s body at about 11:45 a.m., Evanston Police Cmdr. Jay Parrott said. The body has been moved to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, where an autopsy will be
performed Monday. The body has not been identified yet. However, Parrott said it is a “possibility” that the body is that of a missing Des Plaines woman. Police said they have notified the Des Plaines Police Department. The missing woman, Debra Fredricksen, 61, was last traced Feb. 22 to Evanston.
» See PA, page 7
— Rebecca Savransky
— Julian Gerez
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