The Daily Northwestern — February 4, 2021

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12 SPORTS/Figure Skating

NU Purple Line talks potential spring show

4 A&E

Footage released of Jan. 9 shooting

Students advocate for name inclusion

EPD and CPD communication remain unclear

Chinese students celebrate names, share their stories

By WAVERLY LONG

the daily northwestern @waverly_long

By DELANEY NELSON and ALEX HARRISON

the daily northwestern @delaneygnelson @alexhairysun

Questions regarding the suspect’s motives and coordination between the Evanston and Chicago Police Departments remain unanswered, more than three weeks after a series of deadly shootings that ended in Evanston.

There are no records of communications between Chicago and Evanston police about the shooter heading to Evanston, assistant city attorney Alexandra Ruggie wrote in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

On the afternoon of Jan. 9, 32-year-old Jason Nightengale fired shots at numerous locations across Chicago, starting in Hyde Park, in a pattern police described as random. He shot seven people over the course of the afternoon, before Evanston police responded to calls of shots fired at CVS and ended the spree.

Nightengale fled across the street to the IHOP, 100 Asbury Ave, where he took Evanston resident Marta Torres hostage and shot her. He then ran across Asbury Ave and W Howard St toward the Dollar General, where he was shot and killed by officers.

Body camera footage released by EPD through the Freedom of Information Act indicates officers fired shots across W Howard St traffic toward Nightengale.

It is unclear whether any bystanders were in danger of being hit in the shootout.

At least one car parked on W Howard St appears to be occupied in provided photos.

EPD declined to comment on any details regarding the officer-involved shooting, citing an ongoing investigation.

The night of the shooting, EPD sergeant Kenneth Carter said shots were fired at officers, the officers returned gunfire and Nightengale was struck. Carter said that Nightengale, a Chicago resident, may have had ties to Evanston.

Evanston police also

» See SHOOTING, page 10 Recycle Me

High 35 Low 12

Muralists bring beauty to Evanston

After the firing of Northwestern’s cheerleading coach, questions remain about the handling of racial discrimination within the program

By ALYSSA JOHNSON

the daily northwestern @amichelej

Editor’s Note: Alyssa Johnson was a member of the Northwestern cheerleading program during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. She was contacted by the Office of Equity for their investigation on Pamela Bonnevier but did not participate.

Content Warning : This article includes mentions of physical harassment, racial discrimination and sexual assault.

Erika Carter (SESP ’18) never imagined she would sue her alma mater.

As a Black member of Northwestern’s cheer program from 2016 to 2018, she faced unequal treatment for wearing her natural hair, was forced to split up from other Black teammates on the sidelines for “optics” and was told in writing that ethnically Black hairstyles like braids were not allowed on the team. Now in her post-graduation years, she said she plans to take legal action for the racial discrimination she experienced.

“I have real effects, mentally and emotionally, from being on that team,” said Carter.

She received therapy from Northwestern’s Counseling and Psychological Services during her final year at the University to process the trauma of her experiences on the team. The suppression of her identity as a Black woman and the forced assimilation took a toll, she said — a sentiment others on the team echo.

Carter grew up around Northwestern, went to games as a child and saw her brother graduate from the school. Now, she is planning to file a lawsuit against the University in the near future — a decision that she said did not come lightly. Her attorney is writing the complaint now, to start the process.

A separate lawsuit filed Jan. 29 by a former cheerleader is alleging officials delayed investigations after she was groped and harassed by fans.

“No one wants to sue their undergraduate university,” Carter said. “But at the same time, it has hurt

and taken so much away from me that I want to make that known. To me, it’s about Northwestern taking accountability for their actions.”

Carter is one of many women to detail racist behavior and abuse from former Northwestern cheer coach Pamela Bonnevier. Bonnevier was fired in Fall 2020, but interviews with current and former cheer team members indicate consistent negligence and coverup from other University officials. The experiences Carter and her teammates voice raise questions about reporting processes and the handling of racism in the University’s athletic and marketing departments.

A QUIET FIRING Pamela Bonnevier worked at the University for the past decade as head coordinator of the Spirit Squad and as head coach of the cheerleading team. But on Nov. 2, after a 2020 investigation conducted by the University’s Office of Equity, Deputy Director of Athletics for External Affairs Mike Polisky informed the cheer team members that Bonnevier was fired, according to Weinberg junior Brielle Hampton, a current member of the team.

Northwestern did not make any announcement about the firing, and the specific findings of the investigation were not made available to the public. The former coach did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The Spirit Squad consists of 21 cheerleaders and seven Willie the Wildcat mascots. It falls under both the marketing and athletics departments but athletics considers it neither a varsity nor a club sport, meaning the oversight of the team falls almost entirely to the coach. Their contract states that “Spirit Squad responsibilities should be second only to academics.”

Several cheerleaders said they were contacted by the Office of Equity early in the summer to share information on Bonnevier as witnesses in the investigation around reports involving discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct.

Those who took part in the investigation recounted

» See IN FOCUS, page 6

After Weinberg junior Yujia Huang came to the U.S. for her freshman year of college, she was struck by the Sinophobia in U.S. media and the racial divide she witnessed in Northwestern’s sororities while rushing. Her experiences inspired her to create a video along with 11 other Chinese international students about the stories behind their names.

“A lot of the intentions and incentives for (Yujia) to start this project was trying to eradicate some of the discrimination and bias that a lot of non-Chinese people, especially people in America, have about the Chinese community,” said Medill junior Skye Li, who participated in the video.

In the video, students share the meaning of their names and why their parents chose them. Li said it was important to include the Chinese characters in the video in order to show viewers an aspect of Chinese names they don’t often see, adding that calligraphy deepens the meaning of a name.

Third-year McCormick Ph.D. student Suwei Liu, who also participated in the project, said the video was a way for Chinese students to share their culture. Through sharing the meaning behind her name, Liu talked about the blessings and wishes her parents and grandparents gave her. “(This is) another side of me that I want to show to my American friends, or some foreigner friends,” Liu said.

Communication and Weinberg sophomore Ruoyin ( Jonyca) Jiao, who also shared the meaning of her name in the video, said students have reached out to her after watching it to ask about her culture. She said she feels this is important because talking about her culture is a way for her to

» See NAMES, page 10 INSIDE: Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | A&E 4 | Classifieds & Puzzles 10 | Sports 12

2

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

AROUND TOWN

Horton talks hybrid learning, racial equity goals

By JULIA RICHARDSON

daily senior staffer @juliaa_grace

Even before Devon Horton assumed his role as Evanston/Skokie School District 65 superintendent, he committed to prioritizing racial equity. Now, as D65 prepares to reopen for hybrid learning amid parent controversy, Horton said he’s confident the district’s program will be beneficial to students he deems “high priority.” The Daily Northwestern spoke to him about the upcoming hybrid learning launch, and checked in on his progress toward meeting his racial equity goals.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

The Daily: The District plans to allow all interested elementary students to return to school buildings, as well as some “high priority” middle school students. How are you setting these priorities, and what else are you considering as you lead District 65 into its hybrid learning launch this month?

Horton: We are in the process of getting ready to open our school for the first time in almost a year. We have five different unions that we have to work with.

We’ve met about 23 times in bargaining from August up until two weeks ago to actually get an agreement.

My priority is students with free and reduced lunch, Emergent Bilingual and English Learner students, special education and our homeless population. We are happy to say today that we were able to roughly satisfy close to 90 percent of families that wanted to return for our return plan that’s launching on the 16th.

Federal government to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to pharmacies The federal government will directly distribute vaccines to over 40,000 national and independent pharmacies across the country starting Feb. 11, The White House announced Tuesday.

Daily file illustration by Carly Schulman

D65 will start hybrid learning on Feb. 16th. Superintendent Devon Horton said the district has been able to satisfy close to 90 percent of families wanting their children to return to school.

The Daily: How will the day be structured for students who return in-person?

Horton: For our pre-K through fifth grade schools, there’s an AM and a PM design. In our AM design, those students will have access to be a part of what we call “hybrid plus.” When they get out at 11 in the morning, they then work with a community partner who will stay in our buildings.

For our middle schools, we use the same priority structure. We’re bringing back all of the students who fit one of those priority categories, as well as some additional non-priority students. Each principal had a

unique way to identify who got those seats.

So those students will be in school four days a week.

The teachers will teach the student that’s in front of them for in-person, and have a group of students that’s home and remote, and we’ve been doing professional development for those teachers moving forward.

Evanston residents who qualify for vaccines can drive to the closest Walgreens, located in Rogers Park on the corner of Howard Street and Western Avenue.

Walgreens is currently the only participating pharmacy serving Illinois, with the possibility of more joining later in the year. Grocery stores Jewel Osco, Mariano’s and Kroger are also in partnership with Illinois and will have vaccines available.

The Evanston Health Department is also alerting residents who qualify for a vaccine and administering

it at the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center. Residents who fill out the city’s vaccine interest form will receive regular updates on vaccine distribution, as well as the location and timing for their potential inoculation.

Select Walgreens locations across the state will start receiving vaccines Feb. 12. They will be administering the Moderna vaccine by appointment only. The company will receive an additional 39,300 vaccines each week from the federal government as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, which is separate from the allotted

The Daily: What have you already accomplished with regard to racial equity in D65, and what are you hoping to accomplish in the future?

Horton: Coming into the district, there’s a ton of work that’s been done around equity.

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We’re getting ready to do what we call diversity, equity and inclusion assessments for a cohort of about 100 of our staff members. Each school will have racial equity assessment review teams, where they will be looking at practices inside of the schools around racial equity or curriculum selection teaching strategies and use of data to identify differences between our White, Black and Latinx students and our other populations.

This group will be charged with taking our central office vision around equity and moving it to the seats of the students.

We applied for a grant in my first month here through Illinois State Board of Education to build an urban teacher residency with a focus on building teachers that have diverse backgrounds. We are currently in a recruiting stage of identifying individuals who have at least a bachelor’s degree that have the desire to go into the teaching field. They’re going to do training through Northwestern. We’ve identified two schools where they’ll do either stem training or elementary education. They’ll be taking coursework for one full year, so they’ll graduate with a master’s degree, and then we’ll hire them.

The Daily: Where do D65 staff fall in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine?

Horton: This past week was the first week we had about 400 staff members have access to get vaccinated.

We’re working through AMITA Health. They reached out to us and told us that they had doses for our staff, so we got that information out within 90 minutes, and two days later we had staff getting vaccinated. Some are getting the vaccine this week, and this will go on, probably, for the next few weeks. juliarichardson2023@u.northwestern.edu quantity the state of Illinois has already received.

Walgreens and other pharmacy chains have already been in partnership with Illinois through a different federal program, the Pharmacy Partnership for LongTerm Care Program. Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Jan. 25 Walgreens and Jewel Osco would begin to open their own vaccination sites through the Illinois Department of Public Health.

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

3

ON CAMPUS

MSA launches virtual programming

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By CAROLINE BREW

eic@dailynorthwestern.com

the daily northwestern

Multicultural Student Affairs has launched a series of virtual programs to continue serving students amid COVID-19 restrictions.

Before the pandemic, students were able to use MSA’s three main locations — the Black House, the Multicultural Center and the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center — to host meetings, study and socialize. Now MSA is attempting to mimic pre-pandemic feelings of community with virtual affinity spaces, speaker events and book clubs.

“Zoom obviously isn’t ideal for these types of things because everything is relatively personal and sometimes it’s hard to feel comfortable with people over Zoom,” Weinberg freshman Naomi Wu said. “But I’m a relatively open person and it’s been an easy adjustment for me.”

Wu has attended a few seminars centered on discussing racial identity and said she has enjoyed the opportunity to build connections in a virtual setting.

MSA Assistant Director Christine Munteanu said she has been pleasantly surprised with the “depth of engagement” Zoom has facilitated for many MSA programs, including APIDA 101 — a six-week cohort program for students to explore what it means to be of Asian, Pacific Islander and/or Desi descent.

“I felt like so much of it was about physically sharing space and being in a community together, but it actually translated really well to Zoom and there was still that same sense of intimacy and connection,” Munteanu said.

Communication junior Alex Manaa said remote programming has given MSA the opportunity to provide spaces for communities they didn’t have the funding or resources for in the past, such as affinity groups for multiracial and Middle Eastern North African students.

But Manaa also reminisced on the community in-person spaces within MSA provided — staff available to talk to, groups of student

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Daily file photo by Colin Boyle

Northwestern’s Multicultural Center, 1936 Sheridan Rd. MSA has transitioned its services and events to virtual platforms.

organizers and spaces for casual socializing.

Students would even sleep in MSA spaces.

And some students, like Weinberg freshman Adebukola Fetuga, have opted not to participate in the virtual events due to exhaustion from attending online classes and activities all day.

“After six o’clock, I don’t want to be on my computer still looking at a Zoom screen,” Fetuga said, adding she would be interested in utilizing MSA’s on-campus spaces when they re-open.

To combat “Zoom fatigue,” Munteanu said MSA has increased the number of ondemand programs that don’t require logging

onto Zoom, such as posting videos of tarot card readings and doing staff takeovers on Instagram.

For students like Manaa, the virtual adaptations have been worth it, Zoom fatigue aside.

“The pandemic has been really hard on everyone, and losing that sense of physical community has been especially tough for already-marginalized students,” Manaa said.

“Having that semblance of connection to a community like MSA has been really invaluable, especially to students who can’t be anywhere near campus right now.” carolinebrew2024@u.northwestern.edu

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021

A&E arts & entertainment

Photo of Lea Pinsky

Muralists bring beauty to Evanston during pandemic

By OLIVIA ALEXANDER

the daily northwestern @oliviagalex

A large mural reading “I am Evanston Strong” decorates the wall outside of the La Principal restaurant on Main Street, serving as a reminder to Evanstonians to remain positive in light of this trying year.

Even in a pandemic, muralists have come together to create art around Evanston, bringing beauty to its suburban streets.

Teresa Parod, a local artist, continued her garage door gallery, a collection of murals on the garages of people’s homes, throughout 2020.

What began as an attempt to make a lackluster alley more beautiful resulted in 24 painted garage doors, 15 of which she did last summer.

“We’re all so sick of this pandemic and being

locked up and not being able to do anything,” Parod said. “When I’m working, a lot of people walk by, and we talk from a distance, and it’s been very positive.”

Since the start of the pandemic, non-profit Art Encounter has completed two murals, located at 820 Davis Street and the Ridgeville Park District. The paintings brought people outdoors, Lea Pinsky, the executive director of Art Encounter said. Downtown Evanston is now planning a February event involving the murals.

“Just beautifying the outdoor space has been really important because people realize the value of being outdoors and being in an aesthetically pleasing environment,” Pinsky said. “I know that the murals we put up…since March have had a strong impact.”

Pinsky said murals are often large enough for artists to easily socially distance and wear

masks while working.

Last summer, Art Encounter’s Evanston Mural Arts Program held a mural scavenger hunt for families. Using Google Maps to locate 17 murals, participants took a self-guided tour of Evanston’s public art and answered openended and dialogue-generating questions on a Google Form.

With the closure of art museums, artist Valerie Kahan said murals have been a way for her and her children to safely view and discuss art.

“It’s definitely been awesome to walk around with my kids and show them, and get their feedback and talk about it,” Kahan said.

“It’s like going into a museum but it’s your neighborhood.”

In May, Kahan, who painted the “I am Evanston Strong” mural outside La Principal, said the restaurant’s owner, Eric Young, wanted to draw people to the business with art during

pandemic closures. Together, they imagined a vibrant painting with a message about strength and resilience.

The restaurant, which has donated meals to the community throughout the pandemic, is one Kahan cares for. She said she loves what the business stands for in terms of being “a pillar for the community.”

When Shruti Vijay, an urban sketcher, saw Kahan’s mural while on a walk, she immediately captured it in her sketchbook, feeling inspired by the art and its message. Vijay, who usually sketches in restaurants and other indoor spaces, said she noticed many people coming up to the mural to take photos and enjoy it.

“The whole experience was very fulfilling,” Vijay said. “People seek simple joy and just look at the mural — that was beautiful.” oliviaalexander2024@u.northwestern.edu

Opera Projects for University Singers creates audiobook

By LAYA NEELAKANDAN

the daily northwestern @laya_neel

Northwestern’s Opera Projects for University Singers created their first-ever audiobook, “Hansel and Gretel,” as a way to channel their creative energy into a pandemic-proof project during Fall Quarter.

McKenna Troy, the director of the audiobook, said the student-run opera company selected “Hansel and Gretel” because it is a classic fairytale that also tackles issues of food insecurity. The student group also partnered with A Just Harvest, a Chicagoland nonprofit committed to fighting hunger in Rogers Park through meal deliveries.

“I only direct shows where we can incorporate some sort of reciprocal giving relationship,”

Troy said. “It felt only right that if we’re going to be telling a story that not a lot of NU students have experienced, we would help people who were actually experiencing (food insecurity).”

After struggling with cancelations of performances due to COVID-19, Music Director Renata Herrera said OPUS chose to focus on the oral storytelling aspect through an audiobook, drawing inspiration from Bienen’s spring 2020 pandemic project, the movie “Orfeo Remote.”

“We wanted a chance to perform and be with friends and do the thing we love,” the Bienen senior said. “We really wanted to create a project that would give back to the community.”

Creating an opera audiobook virtually, though, proved to be challenging. Students could not sing at the same time on Zoom because of Internet lags, Herrera said. Instead, students rehearsed individually and would have to mute themselves during duets.

Bienen junior Stephanie Chee, who played Gretel in the first act, said creating the audiobook was a “very different process” compared to normal in-person productions.

Although Chee ran into technological difficulties while recording her parts, she said she has gained new insight into the technology side of music production.

“I ran into problems because operatic singing tends to overwhelm microphones — it would just get so staticy when I sang high notes,” Chee said. “But virtual opera has really helped me to gain a better grasp on audio technology.”

Chee said she had to work closely with the students playing Gretel in the other acts to make sure the character had continuity between the three singers.

Bienen junior Paige Dirkes-Jacks, who played Hansel in the first act alongside Chee, said she learned how to emote vocally and make

the story as real as possible through song. A member of the sound design crew, Dirkes-Jacks said she also had to figure out how to “create this world without any visuals.”

Although she was unable to rehearse inperson with Chee, Dirkes-Jacks said hearing the final product was “wonderful and special” because, after months of being apart and not backed by a professional opera, it sounded like they were in the same room, which she credits to Kevin Park, the sound engineer.

The audiobook released virtually on YouTube and Spotify on Dec. 13, 2020.

“It was really fun, and I think it needed to happen,” Dirkes-Jacks said. “We created a performance opportunity where there wasn’t one given to us by the school, and that was really important.” laya@u.northwestern.edu

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

5

Bienen professor receives sixth Grammy nomination

By HALEY FULLER

daily senior staffer @haley_fuller_

Bienen Prof. Donald Nally has been nominated for a Grammy six times in five years, and has won the award twice. It’s a running joke among his choir that he’s never been at the ceremony.

This year will be no exception. His choir, The Crossing, received the Best Choral Performance nomination for their recording of “Carthage.” Nally directs the Philadelphia-based group, a chamber choir that performs new music focused on addressing social, political and environmental issues.

The 53-minute album was recorded in July 2019 and released last May. Three of the pieces on the album, “Mass for the Day of St. Thomas Didymus,” “Spiralling Ecstatically” and the titular track were written just for the choir

by James Primosch, who has worked with the group extensively.

“This music is very challenging, but it’s also incredibly rewarding music, because it has so many layers and textures,” Nally said.

In addition to “Carthage,” the group released two other full-length albums during the

Photo courtesy of Becky Oehlers Photography

Bienen Prof. Donald Nally conducting during a performance. Nally recently received his sixth Grammy nomination in five years.

pandemic, one of which made The New York Times list of the year’s best classical albums.

James Reese (Bienen ‘15), a member of the choir and the board of directors, said he has worked with The Crossing since 2013 and has enjoyed being a part of “the Grammy rush.”

“My perennial take on the Grammys is that

the Grammys are not the reason why The Crossing does what it does,” Reese said. “It’s just a nice thing to have that sense of recognition, because I really do believe in the mission of The Crossing.“ Outside of The Crossing, Nally is the director of choral organizations for Bienen and

teaches graduate students. Although it’s a lot of work to juggle his responsibilities at Northwestern and The Crossing, he said the two jobs complement each other.

At The Crossing, Nally develops projects and thinks about the group’s role in the world, skills he said also apply to his work at Northwestern. Conversely, at Northwestern, Nally evaluates himself as an artist—something he carries on to The Crossing.

“I feel like there’s a real symbiotic relationship there in my life regarding The Crossing and Northwestern,” Nally said.

Many of Nally’s former students have ended up working with The Crossing, including Reese and Kevin Vondrak (Bienen M.M. ‘17), The Crossing’s assistant conductor and artistic associate. While Vondrak’s relationship with Nally has changed over the years, he said he is grateful for Nally’s influence and guidance from being his student to his coworker.

“I’m just grateful that Donald’s in my life.

He’s one of those people that has had a great impact on my life, and I see it in the people in The Crossing’s community as well,” Vondrak said. “I think that that’s reflected in the attention that The Crossing has received.” haleyfuller2022@u.northwestern.edu

Block Museum receives grant for community plan exhibit

By JACK AUSTIN

the daily northwestern @jackaustin10

Chicago art museums have often failed to reflect the diverse Indigenous community still living in the city, but a new grant hopes to change that.

Northwestern’s Block Museum of Art announced it will receive a $105,000 grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art to fund an Indigenous art exhibit slated to open in Jan. 2024. The museum outlined in a grant proposal a process for robust engagement with the Chicago Native American community.

Kathleen Bickford Berzock, the associate director of curatorial affairs at the Block Museum, said the exhibit is the culmination of the museum’s efforts to integrate American Indian programming. The grant will fund the salary of both a curatorial research fellow and an American Indian guest curator who will work alongside Berzock and the Block’s contemporary curator, Janet Dees.

Funding will also pay for the travel and hotel expenses of Indigenous artists and scholars that convene in advisory roles on the project. Berzock and Lindsay Bosch, senior manager of marketing and communication at the Block, said partnership with American Indian was a high priority, particularly because many projects in the past ignored the Indigenous community almost completely.

“We received feedback from Native American colleagues who expressed frustration in the way

Courtesy of Sky Hopkina

Still from Sky Hopinka, “Cloudless Blue Egress of Summer”, 2019.

museums develop a project in-house and then only at the point of presenting the project do they reach out to stakeholder communities to ask them for their participation,” Berzock said.

“Our commitment is to partner from inception.”

In an emailed statement, Sharon Corwin, president and CEO of the Terra Foundation for American Art, said the organization feels a strong responsibility to expand the narratives of

American art to embrace more diverse and collective histories.

Supporting the exhibit at the Block museum is part of the foundation’s commitment to foregrounding American Indian art.

“To advance a more robust understanding of American art history, we see it as critical to illuminate the work of Native artists and center Native voices in curatorial decision-making and

community engagement,” Corwin said.

Pamala Silas, associate director of community outreach at the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research, said the center is acting as a bridge between Indigenous communities at Northwestern and Chicago and the museum.

Since the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research opened in 2016, the museum has included more films, artist talks and works for the permanent collection related to Indigenous art.

Silas said Chicago was an ancestral homeland of Menominee people. Silas, who is of Menominee and Oneida descent, said she feels a strong connection to art.

“For Native Americans, art is so central to our culture — it’s not a luxury that is done on the side if we have time,” Silas said. “It informs everything… we don’t have a culture without our arts.”

The Terra foundation plans for the exhibit to be part of their larger city-wide art campaign, Art Design Chicago, an event they first launched in 2018.

The Block Museum aims to collect art that reflects the diverse population at Northwestern and the increasingly globalized world, Bosch said.

She added that, in Chicago, there is still a community of Native Americans making art and thriving.

“I think the museum can be a part of a conversation around visibility — who belongs, who should be seen, who gets a voice in the conversation,” Bosch said. “We want to have as rich a conversation as possible.” jonathanaustin2023@u.northwestern.edu

Newberry Consort releases 17th century music collection six hours a day for four days, followed by a weekend of performances, Hargis said.

Instead of being lost to time, the collection is being given new life through the Newberry Consort. Sandoval said she hopes that listeners will experience some of the magic that she felt while singing. ”When we’re exalting, it takes you to a different dimension,” Sandoval said. “It’s a very nice combination of sounds, and makes you transport your mind and soul to a different place.”

By ELLA WEAVER

the daily northwestern @ellaweav2023

The Newberry Consort is swapping out church steeples for your Spotify playlists.

Northwestern’s ensemble-in-residence will release their newly recorded collection of music on Friday, February 5 over Zoom. This new collection,“VESPERS,” will feature the music of the “mysterious” Mexican composer Juan de Lienas. Originally composed in the early 17th century for convents, this collection has been restructured and directed by soprano and Newberry Consort director Ellen Hargis.

This album is nearly 10 years in the making. The original sheet music is part of the Newberry Library’s collection and originates from a convent in Mexico.

Some songs were in separate books, requiring Hargis to pore over the library’s collection.

The lack of modern music marks posed a challenge for Hargis. There were missing vocal parts, no tempo or dynamic markings and no indication as to whether the chords were major or minor. However, these roadblocks only motivated Hargis to utilize her specialization in historical performances.

“I think the music’s fantastic, and nobody does it because it’s not out there,” Hargis said. “So to me, that is a very exciting discovery and one that I wanted to bring to audiences and also musicians.”

Some of the inspiration for the collection was drawn from Candace Smith, an alto singer who flew in to practice from Italy for the initial performance.

Smith has known Hargis for decades, and she was

ellaweaver2023@u.northwestern.edu

arts & entertainment Photo courtesy of Ellen Hargis

The performers of the Newberry Consort’s soon-to-be-released VESPERS CD. After a week of intensive practice, the collection was performed in Saint Clements Catholic Church.

involved with performances before “VESPERS.” “There was a song (during a previous performance). I think that one of the things was a Psalm, and I said, ‘God, you know, it would be really fun to do a Vespers,’ “ Smith said. “And I don’t even remember saying this, but Ellen swears that I said it, and that was what put her on to doing ‘VESPERS.’ ” “VESPERS” performer, soprano and classical guitarist Salomé Sandoval, has also known Hargis for years. Sandoval met Hargis while studying at the Longy School of Music in Massachusetts, when she attended a masterclass on 17th century song at the Boston Early Music Festival.

Haris remembered Sandoval years later when gathering singers for “VESPERS.” ”I was really honored to be a part of this, because she chose quite a group of female instrumentalists and singers, including one of my mentors, Frances Fitch,” Sandoval said. “So you can imagine that being on the stage and recording this with one of my teachers was quite exciting.”

The 13 women assembled before the pandemic to perform as a group. Not all of the performers hailed from Chicago — some traveled across the country or around the world to be a part of “VESPERS.” This resulted in a very intense week of rehearsal, practicing

Editor Rebecca Aizin Assistant Editors Laya Neelakandan Nick Francis Designer Jacob Fulton Staff Olivia Alexander Jack Austin Haley Fuller Ella Weaver

6 THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

IN FOCUS From page 1

their experiences in Zoom meetings with Amanda DaSilva, deputy Title IX coordinator for students.

At the eventual Nov. 2 meeting, Polisky and athletic marketing official Heather Van Hoegarden Obering met over Zoom with the full team. Polisky went over a brief timeline with the exact dates of Bonnevier’s investigation and firing, then said the investigation had yielded that Bonnevier had to be terminated, according to Weinberg junior Brielle Hampton, a current member of the team.

Bonnevier, Polisky, DaSilva and Obering were all named as defendants in former cheerleader Hayden Richardson’s sexual harassment lawsuit against the University.

Carter first tried out for the cheer team in 2016 because she loved dance and sports, she said, and because she believed the team should be more racially diverse.

“I’m really big on representation,” Carter said. “To have the opportunity to represent Northwestern and say not only are there White girls that go here, there are also Black women — very beautiful Black women — that go to Northwestern as well.”

While she liked engaging with fans during game days, Carter said the discrimination she and her teammates experienced overshadowed the high points.

In an April 2017 email, Bonnevier told Carter wearing braids would impact her eligibility for postseason events and travel to away football games. “ You have to decide for yourself how (getting braid s) f its

into your needs/ wants,” Bonnevier added in the email. “Just throwing this out there.. A wig for events could be an option for you.”

In her second season on the team, Carter said she felt she was given less prominence and fewer opportunities to travel to away games because she chose to wear her natural hair. Carter also said she and other Black cheerleaders were also told by Bonnevier they were not allowed to stand next to each other at games and events because of “optics.”

Carter said Bonnevier is not a lone actor, and that racial discrimination within the cheer program is rooted in broader systemic racism within the University. Until the 2019-20 football season, the program maintained a policy prohibiting cheerleaders from wearing “braids” on game days.

In the previous season’s contract, underneath the section that lays out the guidelines for “appearance,” the following is stated: “Team members will not have extreme high or low lights, extreme ombre color or braids ...

Hair and makeup must be worn in the assigned manner.”

“I think the contract is a very telling sign

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021

of just how deep the racism at Northwestern runs,” Carter said. “It wasn’t just Pam, it was even to the higher ups that were okay with discrimination, and with racism and with wanting Black girls to assimilate and wanting to have diversity, but not really wanting to have diversity.”

AN ALL-AMERICAN LOOK Bonnevier enforced these rules on appearance as soon as women walked through the door for their first practice on the team.

After Antoinette White (SESP ’20) tried out and made the team, she read through the contract they were all given and saw the “no braids” clause. When she went to her first practice with braids in her hair and turned in her contract, the coach asked her to change her hairstyle.

“I remember Pam saying , ‘Oh, you’re gonna get your braids out, right?’,” White said.

“And that was the first instance where I knew that I would have to remove my Blackness.”

Similarly, Weinberg junior Jennifer PiusAlonee tried out for the team in 2018 with braids in her hair. When she brought up the “no braids” clause with the coach, it was made clear the hairstyle she tried out in would not be acceptable.

“That really should have been a red flag,” said Pius-Alonee, who is a current member of the team.

Not only did the old contract prohibit this ethnically Black hairstyle, Bonnevier also discouraged natural curly or kinky hair from being worn on game days, according to several team members. The contract’s language mentioned that “hair and makeup must be worn in the assigned manner,” a designated appearance that Bonnevier called the “all-American look,” Hampton said.

For this style, hair had to be straightened or wand curled so Bonnevier could get the team to appear “uniform” — if a cheerleader’s hair was naturally too curly for Bonnevier’s liking, Carter said they would be told to straighten it. Not only did failure to follow these guidelines impact travel eligibility to away games, but Carter said this was another coded way of forcing cheerleaders to assimilate.

“It was very specifically aimed at Black women,” Carter said, “Saying ‘ We do not want you showing your Blackness on the sideline, like you need to be Black, but within these parameters, so you need to change all your stuff to look White.’”

Pius -Alonee said during her first year on the team, she began to have panic attacks on the mornings of game days because of the appearance requirements.

“There are certain teammates that, because they’re White, blonde and blue-eyed, you know right away, she’s their definition of the all-American look,” PiusAlonee said. “(Bonnevier) tries to fit everyone else to that standard… I don’t fit really into this all-American look naturally or even ever.”

LEADERSHIP PASSES OVER HARASSMENT COMPLAINT Communication senior Skyler Maeso said Bonnevier once grabbed her by the hair for showing up with it in its natural curly state during a 2017-18 season football game. Bonnevier threatened to bench her for the next game and called her hair “disrespectful” because it was not st y led the way she wanted, according to Skyler Maeso.

Skyler Maeso said at the time, there were few Black women on the team. As a mixedrace person, she said she felt forced to either straighten her hair or style it with products that damaged her curls.

“She took a fistful and yanked it,” Skyler Maeso said. “She physically pulled my hair to the point where I went back. I remember just being stunned. I didn’t say anything. I was just like, ‘Yes, coach. I’m sorry, coach.’ That was the beginning of a game day. I was shaking, no one ever touched me like that before.”

Skyler Maeso’s mother, Alexandra Maeso, said she reported this incident to Polisky, who told her he couldn’t do anything unless her daughter talked to Bonnevier about the incident. She was told that if nothing changed at that point, her daughter would need to come directly to him about what had happened.

Due to her fear that Bonnevier would further harass her, Skyler Maeso ultimately didn’t come forward.

Alexandra Maeso said Polisky should have reported the hair pulling to the Office of Equity or to the athletic department. No one contacted the Maesos about the incident, they said, and no repercussions or action appeared to be taken against Bonnevier in the 2017-18 season.

Employees are mandated to report any known incidents of harrassment or discrimination to the Office of Equity, according to an email from University spokesperson Jon Yates.

“All University employees with supervisory or managerial authority ... are obligated to promptly report incidents of discrimination and harassment of which they become aware in the scope of their work for the University to the Office of Equity,” the email said.

Yates also told The Daily he would be speaking on behalf of Polisky, Obering and outgoing Athletic Director Jim Phillips and that they would not be available for interviews.

Skyler Maeso called her first season on the team a “hellish” year because of the way Bonnevier criticized her appearance. She remained silent about the harassment because she feared Bonnevier and felt shame.

“I didn’t tell my friends at school,” Skyler Maeso said. “My roommate didn’t know my freshman year. I’d come home from practice in tears and just do a lap around the dorm.

I didn’t want anyone to know. I was ashamed and I don’t know why.”

For her second season, Skyler Maeso said she wore a wig during game days to appease Bonnevier and stop the harassment. Then, she was chosen to travel to away games and alumni events.

“It was clear to me that these new experiences were unlocked not because my level of ability or excitement for the program had changed, but because my appearance did and specifically my hair,” Skyler Maeso said.

“YOU’RE A STRONG GIRL” According to multiple team members, cheer program leadership downplayed the health or safety concerns of the Black women. Bonnevier expected Black cheerleaders to continue stunting through any pain – an expectation that did

not extend to their white teammates, Hamptonsaid.

Hampton said she joined the team right after she experienced an ACL injury. While she had been doing physical therapy the entire summer, cheer practice was the first time she worked her knee since the injury, and her concerns about her physical health often went ignored by Bonnevier.

She shared that during a preseason practice, when she told Bonnevier her knee was in pain, the coach responded by making her sit out in an attempt to punish her. The coach later apologized and allowed Hampton to rejoin the practice. Hampton also said during that same preseason, Bonnevier once told a White teammate with a similar knee injury she didn’t need to do a shoulder stand, but expected Hampton to do one. Hampton also faced issues with an athletic trainer.

“To a lot of people, Black women are just deemed really strong and can get through anything,” Hampton said. “I needed someone who was qualified to tell me what I needed to do to feel better, I need to do exercises, but (my athletic trainer) literally was just like, ‘You’re a strong girl.’”

Pius-Alonee said Black cheerleaders on the team were expected to be “superhuman,” recalling an incident her first year during a preseason practice.

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021

She told Bonnevier her shoulder hurt when another teammate stood on it, and asked to stop the stunt for her and her teammate’s safety.

She said Bonnevier ridiculed and humiliated her, claiming that Pius-Alonee needed to “work out” more. At the same practice, a White teammate who said her back was in pain was told she could stop. Pius-Alonee had to

keep going, which led to her shoulder injury worsening later in the season.

GROUNDED AND SEPARATED Black women on the team also said Bonnevier gave preferential treatment to W hite teammates who were working toward being flyers over Black teammates.

Carter said from 2016 to 2018, capable Black flyers were not given the chance to be in the air during routines, and Bonnevier often came up with excuses to put them on the bottom of formations. Black women were expected to showcase diversity but weren’t given value, Carter said.

“It just has so many notions of like, ‘Let’s raise W hite women up and let’s have White women be the face and the poster children of Northwestern while we just have Black girls, just put them in there just so we can say it’s somewhat diverse,’ ” Carter said.

Weinberg senior Stevie Askew said during her first year on the team in 2019, Bonnevier placed unfair expectations for stunting on her as the only Black flyer. Bonnevier gave her less practice time in the air compared to White flyers, Askew said.

“I was pretty much just left out to dry,” Askew said. “ W hen I did something good, it was like she was never there to see it. She was deliberately not coming to

see it.”

During the same season, Hampton said, one White flyer with no cheer experience was put in the air over Askew, despite several team members expressing concerns regarding safety. However, in the 2017-18 season, a talented Black flyer was denied the opportunity to fly by Bonnevier, who pointed to her lack of cheer experience, according to Carter.

Hampton said she felt Bonnevier prioritized having White cheerleaders in the air for the “optics” of the team.

“She does not think we’re wor- thy of being in the air,” Hampton said. “Stevie flew in high school.

She has the most experience flying. Why are you trying to put her on the ground?”

Outside of stunting and appearance expectations, White said Bonnevier would tell her to “split up” from her Black teammates on the sidelines, but never asked her White teammates to move away from their friends. Bonnevier would claim she didn’t want the crowd to think the team was being discriminatory toward Black cheerleaders, White said. White reflected on why it took years for these incidents to be brought up to administration.

“Nobody has said anything,” White said, “Because they probably had the same idea that I had, which was, ‘It’s not my place to speak up.

This is just how things are. This is how things work.’ Who am I to speak up against someone who is (in) power? And if I do, what kind of retaliation will I face because of it?”

BREAKING THEIR SILENCE In the winter of 2019, teammates banded together and decided to come forward. Cheerleaders, past and present, wrote anonymous letters to Obering and Polisky alleging Bonnevier’s abusive and racist practices.

The program does not have an evaluation system set up with the athletic department like other sports teams at Northwestern. At the time, if members wished to give feedback about the program, they were told to set up a meeting with Bonnevier.

The letters recounted instances of racial discrimiantion, lack of safety precautions at practices and negligence towards reporting and dealing with injuries, as well as feelings of unsafety at tailgates and other events due to sexual harassment from fans and donors.

After the letters were sent, White and Richardson met with Obering and Polisky to discuss the allegations.

White describes the January 2019 meeting with Polisky and Obering about these letters as frustrating. She said Polisky “defended” Bonnevier, and didn’t take the allegations of racial discrimination seriously or understand where the Black women were coming from.

“He framed the whole situation as if we were trying to just attack (Bonnevier) because she’s a mean coach,” White said. “Right away, Mike’s not really feeling the whole firing (Bonnevier) thing.”

After the January meeting and a followup meeting that included DaSilva, the Office of Equity did not bring in any teammates for questioning and Bonnevier was not fired.

The coach then received an “under-the-radar, informal ‘educational training,’” according to Richardson’s lawsuit, but it is unclear what the

training covered.

LETTER RESPONSE FALLS SHORT In the following cheer season, the program ended appearances at tailgates, implemented new safety measures like prohibiting stud earrings at games and established a “studentselected Leadership Council” to communicate issues to department administration. The contract was also updated, removing the “no braids” clause and the rest of the appearance portion.

Many teammates described the administration’s response as disappointing, and said more should have been done in response to the letters.

While the “no braids” clause was removed, Pius-Alonee said Obering or Polisky should have made a statement to acknowledge the racism within the contract and to apologize on behalf of the athletic department. In her opinion, officials mistakenly believed eliminating this part of the contract would end racism in the program.

But Pius-Alonee said removing the clause was not enough to prevent an environment of racial discrimination from continuing, and the response did not reflect the severity of the letters.

“These are graphic, like people are describing what happened to them in detail,” Pius-Alonee said.

“There are so many letters that were submitted, and senior leadership just decided to come to a practice, announce that they changed the contract and call it a day. No apology, no nothing.”

According to Pius-Alonee, the measures were so poorly implemented that one of her W hite teammates told her she didn’t understand what had changed.

“The braids issue was addressed as if that rule was outdated, rather than it being racist,” Hampton said. “Those words, like ‘racism,’ were just never brought up at all. There was no apology for it from the coach or from the head of marketing. It was literally just swept under the rug.”

According to White, while officials made it clear they wouldn’t fire Bonnevier, they didn’t even tell the team members if she would receive any punishment or be required to do diversity training.

White detailed how during the 2019-20 season, with Bonnevier still coaching, the issue of racial discrimination persisted. She said Bonnevier made a remark to a W hite teammate with a spray tan that “by the end of the game, you’re gonna look like (Hampton).”

White brought up the incident with Bonnevier a few months later and had to explain to her why the comment was unacceptable and discriminatory. She said Bonnevier then sent an apology message to Hampton.

“Why is there no compass?” White said.

“Why is there no drive to want to know more?

So why is there no repercussions, there are no

7

extra steps that you’re taking to educate yourself more about people that you’re supposed to be a role model to. There’s no push by the administration for you to do that.”

After the letters and allegations in 2019, Hampton said Phillips, then the athletics director, appeared at one practice but did not directly mention the letters. To this day, she has no idea to what extent Phillips knew about the situation. His speech at the practice, where he said he “appreciated” the teammates, made Hampton feel like the athletic department thought the cheerleaders were being “whiny.”

Ultimately, she said, the team was “just asking for the bare minimum.”

White said she thinks Phillips’ lack of involvement in the situation was due to the low priority the athletic department places on the cheer program.

“No one’s advocating for you,” Pius-Alonee said. “It just tainted the experience, honestly.

The only thing that kept myself and most people around was the fact that we leaned on each other to support each other.”

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE The 2019-20 cheer season was cut short due to COVID-19.

Then, in June 2020, the Office of Equity called on current and past cheerleaders for questioning for a formal investigation. It is unclear what prompted this investigation, which was conducted a year and a half after the letters were received.

A s the program remains inactive during the pandemic, it is unclear if there are plans to hire a new coach, or who makes up the team’s current leadership. If the department moves forward with finding a new coach and restarting the program, they will have to grapple with Richardson’s published lawsuit and Carter’s forthcoming one, the ongoing pandemic and the departure of Phillips.

Several cheerleaders share a hope that whatever the future of the program is, it can become a supportive environment –– not just from teammate to teammate, but from the coach and administration.

“I made really great friends on the team,” Hampton said. “We hung out outside of practice. My teammates were the only thing that made practice somewhat enjoyable. I think that was the reason I stayed.”

Even with the firing of Bonnevier, PiusAlonee said racial discrimination will remain because the program is a byproduct of an overall racist system. She said she and her Black teammates’ experiences reflect a broader institutional inability by Northwestern’s administration to address issues Black students face.

She pointed to the administration’s response to NU Community Not Cops as an example.

“How things were addressed… magnified the pain that me and my teammates went through,” Pius-Alonee said. “Everyone needs to wake up. There are certain things that happen at this University that should not be normalized.” alyssajohnson2021@u.northwestern.edu

Illustrations by Jacob Fulton

8 THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021

Students gather to sing sea shanties in CRC lounge

By HANNAH FEUER

daily senior staffer @thannah_feuer

Sailors used to sing sea shanties to synchronize their labor. Now, students are singing these same tunes to will away the quarantine blues.

At 9 p.m. on Saturday in the Communications Residential College’s lounge, you can find about six masked and spaced-out students singing these rhythmic folk songs.

These are the members of the DrNUken Sailors. Weinberg senior Soren Campbell loves “all things nautical.” Carolyne Geng was a member of her high school choir. Riley Boksenbaum, the Weinberg freshman who founded the group, knew shanties before they were cool.

Shanties have gone viral on TikTok in recent months, sparking both a meme and an esoteric pastime. As the tunes gained popularity, Boksenbaum wanted to sing with others, so she made a GroupMe and scheduled a meeting.

The group has met just once so far, but plans to meet weekly.

“Life on a sailing ship, I think, is kind of similar to life in a pandemic,” Campbell said.

“You are in the same space all the time, and your day-to-day life is very repetitive.”

Illustration courtesy of Riley Boksenbaum

A group of about six students plans on gathering weekly to sing sea shanties. They call themselves the DrNUken Sailors.

Campbell said his favorite sea shanty is called “Four Hours,” referring to the length of

a sailor’s shift. But the group sings a range of songs — tunes like “Haul Away Joe” and “Drunk

Space Pirate” are just two more examples.

Geng, who has always loved music, said the pandemic has given her more time to sing for fun. “(Sea shanties) are very simple and addictive, in your head constantly,” she said. “So it’s really fun to sing with other people.”

At meetings, Boksenbaum encourages participants to lead the group in their favorite sea shanty. Those who know the song best will sing the verses, and everyone else joins in on the chorus.

Boksenbaum isn’t on Tik Tok and was first introduced to sea shanties through a friend. She said she would sing sea shanties regardless of the pandemic, though she’s not sure everyone else would.

“I am taking advantage of the recent growth in (sea shanties) popularity, which I do believe comes from the pandemic, because we’ve all been so isolated,” Boksenbaum said. “Collective singing really does give a sense of community.”

Boksenbaum said the group is currently recruiting members.

“Singing ability is entirely optional, but pirate vibes and enthusiasm are not,” Boksenbaum said. hannahfeuer2023@u.northwestern.edu

ASG to crack down on COVID-19 policy shortcomings

By EMMA ROSENBAUM

the daily northwestern @emmacrosenbaum

Associated Student Government passed emergency legislation Wednesday to better enforce Northwestern’s COVID-19 guidelines, despite the University’s low positivity rate.

Interim Dean of Students Mona Dugo said the positivity rate shows that the guidelines have been a success, though there is always room for improvement.

“Though there might be isolated incidents happening, I think by and large, our students are adhering to the expectations, which we know because

of the positivity rates,” she told The Daily. at the Wednesday meeting.

The legislation attempts to address concerns with COVID-19 policies and incidences of student misconduct with reporting, testing and dining. Political Union senator Felix Beilin, said he wrote it after encountering these shortcomings on campus over the past few weeks. Beilin said the legislation is meant to highlight policy limitations and loopholes.

The University’s positivity rate is currently 0.36 percent.

“The goal is to keep that positivity rate low, and not just celebrate when we see it in good shape right now,” Beilin said.

Before the vote took place, ASG members asked questions and made suggestions about COVID-19

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@thedailynu

guidelines to Dugo, Jeremy Schenk, the executive director of Norris University Center, and Carlos Gonzalez, the executive director of residential services.

Daniel Rodriguez, ASG’s executive officer of justice and inclusion, asked Dugo about the sanctioning process in regard to rumors of parties and other large gatherings on campus. Dugo said the University follows up on every report they receive, most of which come from other students. Though some reports have led to actual outcomes, Dugo said they have come across a lot of rumors as well.

Schenk brought up a rumor that first-year students are paying people to take their tests. Dugo said as of now they have no evidence to verify this claim.

In reference to this rumor, the legislation

recommends testing protocols be revised to disallow unmonitored testing. Beilin told The Daily the recommendation was a preemptive measure.

The legislation offered several more recommendations, including stricter reservations for on-campus dining and easier violation reporting. Schenk said he supported these ideas, but technological solutions would be difficult, especially within a short time period. Beilin said his next steps are to continue to talk with administration, since the legislation’s outcome is not within ASG’s control.

“I really want to be a part of conversations with administration to figure out what the easiest solutions are that will accomplish the same goals,” Beilin said. emmarosenbaum2024@u.northwestern.edu

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021

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9

Josselyn Center hosts Mental Health First Aid training

By KATRINA PHAM

the daily northwestern @katrinapham_

After four hours of virtual training on Friday, Jan. 22, Evanston residents became certified Mental Health First Aid responders. The training, based on Mental Health First Aid USA, was the first of three free sessions available to the public throughout January and February and hosted by the Josselyn Center, a community mental health clinic.

Susan Resko, CEO of the Josselyn Center, along with coworkers Maggie Nash and Becky Schulman hope the course will give Evanston residents and members of the NorthShore University HealthSystem the skills to have open conversations about mental health.

“It’s a first step in destigmatizing and starting that conversation,” Nash said. “When you give and provide the tools for people, they want to talk about it and have that space.”

Nash said the training helps spread the message that mental health challenges are normal, as they are not often talked about.

Amy Holcomb, experiential learning

FirstName LastName/The Daily Northwestern

A receptionist at the Josselyn Center, a community center for mental health. On Friday, Jan. 22, the center hosted programming to certify some Evanston residents in being Mental Health First Aid responders.

supervisor at the Skokie Public Library, said she wanted to participate in the training because of

the interactions she has with library patrons.

“I reached a point where I felt depleted of

empathy,” Holcomb said. “It was a good refresher, and put me in a better position to really listen to what my staff are saying and also to notice their changes in behavior.”

Holcomb also said the course is important because it helps participants create a more inclusive and understanding environment in their everyday lives. In doing so, she said it lets people who are battling mental illness not feel as though they are “othered.”

As the pandemic brings an increasing toll on those experiencing mental health challenges, Resko said the course is more useful than ever.

“Our numbers have doubled in the past year,” Resko said. “The need for our services has just exploded and we’re working so hard to try to meet that need and to hire new clinicians, so that we can be there to support people.”

Schulman added that the course is beneficial for everyone, regardless of where they work.

“We live in a tough place sometimes,” Schulman said. “For every kind of community member, whether you’re a parent, a teen, a teacher, or you work in a corporation or a business, this program could be applicable for all.” katrinapham2024@u.northwestern.edu

RSAE announces Evanston Reparations Community

By MAIA SPOTO

daily senior staffer @maia_spoto

The Reparations Stakeholders Authority of Evanston is set to establish an Evanston Reparations Community Fund, which will be housed at the Evanston Community Foundation.

While the city’s $10 million reparations fund can only be used for housing programs and economic development, the RSAE fund, will allow the community to pursue other avenues for repair, Ald. Robin Rue Simmons (5th) said.

In addition to housing and economic development, the RSAE fund will contribute toward education, health and wellness and cultural support. The fund will also continue reparations work after tax revenue for the

city’s current reparations program is no longer available.

Comprised of a term-limited team of Black residents, the RSAE will be responsible for fundraising, developing grant processes and administering grants toward reparations work.

“It is important that the Reparations Stakeholders Authority is governing and managing, leading and guiding this fund,” Rue Simmons said. “That it is a voice that represents the collective body of the Black community, and what reparations means to the Black community.”

Rue Simmons initiated the RSAE idea a year ago alongside Rev. Michael Nabors, Pastor Monté Dillard, Ald. Peter Braithwaite (2nd), Henry Wilkins, Spencer Jourdain and Dino Robinson. The RSAE is a component of the National African American Reparations Commission’s 10-point Reparations Plan. The commission endorsed Evanston’s reparations program last

summer.

The team, initially led by Dillard, Nabors and Robinson, will model the convening of community members during initial public meetings in 2019 that set priorities for the city’s existing reparations program.

Robinson, founder of the Shorefront Legacy Center, said the RSAE will use the guidelines set up by the city’s Equity and Empowerment Commission as a starting point in its work.

“We are prioritizing whatever the community prioritizes first,” Robinson said. “The Stakeholders Authority is really a conduit where we’ll listen to the residents and what they’re looking for.”

The fund will include one pool of money for immediate use and another for long-term growth. Contributors will be permitted to earmark funds toward one of the two funding pools, Robinson said.

Joi-Anissa Russell, ECF vice president of

philanthropy and communications, said she is excited to see momentum building behind the RSAE fund.

“This effort has definitely been led by community members, and we are just one piece of this whole historic moment,” Russell said. “We’re really proud to hold the fund and see what (the RSAE) has in store.”

Community members can attend the virtual RSAE meeting set for Feb. 18. At the meeting, leaders will begin setting criteria for its application and fund-release process.

“We want to make sure we are acting responsibly, making it less cumbersome and having a framework of accountability,” Robinson said. “The important thing is that the distribution of funds is dictated by the harmed community and distributed by members of this harmed community.” maiaspoto2023@u.northwestern.edu

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connect with others.

Jiao also said sharing the meaning behind her name is a way for her to share part of her personality.

“The literal meaning (of ) Ruoyin is ‘as if shadowed,’ and then my last name, Jiao, means burning, almost like burning fire,” Jiao said.

“So Ruoyin — ‘as if shadowed’ — is kind of balancing the fire inside of me… The balance in my name kind of reflects how I think about how to handle things.”

In addition to sharing the meaning of their names, Jiao said the video was important because it helped educate viewers about the importance of respecting names and their pronunciations.

Jiao said she feels people’s fear of mispronouncing a name can be a barrier to asking about it. She hopes the video shows the audience that expressing a desire to learn the proper pronunciation is what matters.

While Li said she goes by Skye, an English name she chose herself, for “convenience” and to embrace a new chapter in her life, she emphasized the importance of not sacrificing one’s name in order to accommodate other people’s

SHOOTING From page 1

released 911 calls and radio traffic from FOIA requests. Numerous 911 calls were made from the CVS, where Nightengale fired several shots that did not wound any bystanders.

One call came from a woman sheltering in the IHOP restroom as the situation in the restaurant unfolded.

“He has my coworker with him, right next to her,” she said. “Can someone stay on the phone with me? I don’t know if I should leave the bathroom.”

Both the CVS Pharmacy and the IHOP restaurant declined to comment.

Evanston police said the department did not receive any communications from the Chicago Police Department prior to the calls of shots fired at the CVS in Evanston. Reports indicate CPD was first alerted to Nightengale’s presence in Evanston by a ShotSpotter alert.

According to reporting from the Chicago SunTimes, CPD officers in Rogers Park were alerted that Nightengale may have been nearby several minutes before shots were fired at CVS. The car he was using, which was stolen from another victim earlier that day, had supposedly been detected at 7600 N Sheridan a few blocks away.

According to released EPD radio traffic audio, officers from surrounding suburbs, including Skokie, Wilmette, Lake Bluff, Niles and Glenview, were called onto the scene for reinforcement after

preferences.

“People should never feel pressured to go by a different name just because the dominant culture you are in (says), ‘Oh, we don’t know how to pronounce it. Make it easier for us,’” Li said. “That should never be the case.”

In addition to making the video, Huang recently successfully advocated for NU students to have the option to write their names with their family name first — the order many East Asian countries use — on their school documents, diplomas and Wildcards, according to Li. She said University President Morton Schapiro enthusiastically approved of the suggestion and Provost Kathleen Hagerty is currently working to implement the option.

Jiao said she feels this is an important step toward creating a more inclusive campus. While she said the change itself will not have a significant impact on her, she appreciates the effort to acknowledge Chinese students’ culture, which she said is a key part of both initiatives.

“We are bringing our culture — our names, the first step — outward to the world on a global stage,” Jiao said. “We’re using our really tiny but significant influences to let the world see what China is.” waverlylong2023@u.northwestern.edu the shootings had taken place. CPD officers were also brought to the scene to help control traffic.

The North Regional Major Crimes Task Force and the Illinois State Police integrity unit are respectively conducting homicide and officerinvolved shooting investigations into the events that took place that night. Incident and investigation reports will accordingly be withheld for the foreseeable future.

A fifth victim has died from injuries sustained in a series of deadly shootings that ended in Evanston last month.

Damia Smith, 15, was pronounced dead at the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital at 3:57 p.m. Tuesday. Two other victims were in critical condition.

Torres, a 61-year-old teacher’s assistant at Evanston/Skokie School District 65, was the only Evanston resident to die from the incidents. She remained in critical condition for seven days at SaintFrancis Hospital, before passing away on Jan. 16.

“Marta was a thoughtful, generous, kind, loyal, sincere, strong, hardworking and special woman who radiated and impacted lives with an infectious, positive energy,” Torres’ family members said in a statement released by the Evanston Police Department. “She had an unforgettable joyous voice. She loved to read, write, dance, go to live concerts, and was a keychain and mug collector.” delaneynelson2023@u.northwestern.edu alexharrison2023@u.nortwestern.edu

Northwestern Mock Trial begins successful season

By REBECCA SHAID

the daily northwestern @rebeccashaid

While Northwestern Mock Trial is still looking for the culprit behind the murder mystery case, the team has the best people on the case.

Since moving to a virtual season, NUMT has been keeping up their typical practice schedule of four to five meetings a week, each two to three hours long. Their hard work has translated into wins — last quarter, two of NU’s four mock trial teams successfully placed second and fourth in an NU-hosted tournament.

The momentum hasn’t slowed going into the winter season. Two of the teams finished in first and second place overall in two of the most competitive tournaments in the country, according to Medill senior and NUMT President Michael Zhou.

Even though the team is spending up to 15 hours on Zoom weekly, SESP junior Ruby Scanlon said the team’s camaraderie and the energy of the newest members have helped the team succeed.

“We (usually) get to know each other by doing an eight hour drive to Michigan, or meeting up for practice,” Scanlon said. “But when you meet up over Zoom and only see each other over Zoom, it’s really hard to create those bonds that make mock trial so fun.”

Scanlon also said NUMT’s incoming class this year was like “nothing we’d ever seen before,” which she said helped the group acclimate to their new format when traditional

bonding experiences were lost.

Weinberg freshman Jovany ‘Geo’ Jeanlouis, one of the new members, said there are challenges to meeting and working with a new team online. Jeanlouis also said the long hours at practice have helped him overcome these difficulties.

“When you’re in practice, you feel more comfortable speaking up, you feel more comfortable asking for help,” he said. “So you learn faster, you feel better learning, because you don’t feel like you’re being judged.”

Jeanlouis said being comfortable in your own room, as opposed to a formal setting, has made performing easier.

“You’re not in a courthouse being stared at by a bunch of random people,” he said. “That comfortability goes a long way. It makes you more clear-headed and level-minded so you just perform better.”

Scanlon said the fact that there are multiple freshmen on the A team attests to the remarkable incoming class of recruits. This excellence is a part of what makes the NUMT program so unique, she said.

Scanlon said most programs’ A teams are the ones that do really well but she emphasized that NU’s program is unique because the B, C, and D teams perform well in tournaments too.

Zhou said he’s confident all four NUMT teams will qualify out of regionals this year and hopeful this could be the year to win the national championship.

“We’ve proven that we’re one of the best teams in the country this year,” he said. rebeccashaid2024@u.northwestern.edu

Photo courtesy of Northwestern Mock Trial

The Northwestern Mock Trial team on a Zoom call. Two of the club’s teams finished in the top two spots in two of the most competitive Mock Trial tournaments in the country this season.

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

11

D65 students lean on tutors, leaders raise concerns

By LAYA NEELAKANDAN

the daily northwestern @laya_neel

Almost a year into virtual learning, some Evanston/Skokie School District 65 parents have sought out tutors to keep their students from falling behind. Some leaders say disparities in access to tutoring during online learning could widen the academic achievement gap.

When District 65 closed in Mar. 2020, parent Christian Ruzich said the shift affected his two children differently. Ruzich said his oldest child, a junior in high school, was able to quickly adapt and is “thriving” in a virtual setting, but his younger child, an eighth grader, is struggling with the lack of structure.

“When they had trouble, they weren’t able to go to a teacher for help or use the school’s supports like they would have been able to if they were going in-person,” Ruzich said.

So Ruzich turned to other parents in the district, posting in the District 65 parents Facebook group to find a math tutor. Since the tutoring sessions started, he said his eighth grader’s confidence has increased “by leaps and bounds” in topics they previously struggled with. Ruzich said they plan on continuing tutoring even after a complete return to inperson instruction.

Peter Swanson, a math tutor for middle school students in the district, said his clients have been struggling to adapt to the new form of learning in an online environment.

Bart van Alphen, 43, dies on Tuesday by suicide, medical examiner says This article mentions suicide.

Postdoctoral fellow Bart van Alphen died by suicide Tuesday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Van Alphen was found dead on a jogging path at 1181 Lake Shore Blvd, authorities said.

Van Alphen was a researcher in neurobiology

Daily file illustration by Carly Schulman

Some Evanston/Skokie School District 65 parents have been looking for tutors to supplement their children’s education during online learning, but tutoring is not an option for everyone.

“Online school presents a lot more difficulties than kids are used to,” Swanson said. “(Online tutoring) has been difficult with trying to show them how to solve problems with

all the steps.”

Swanson said he has had to navigate video conferencing connectivity issues, but he has also seen his students’ test scores rise since he

Prof. Ravi Allada’s lab, where he studied and published research on the effects of sleep in fruit flies.

Last month, van Alphen co-authored a study finding that deep sleep allowed flies to clear waste more effectively and recover from traumatic injuries.

Prior to his death, allegations had circulated on Twitter for several months that van Alphen was behind the since-deleted Twitter account @The_ Dr_Caveman that used racist slurs and transphobic language, featured Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and expressed support for political violence, such as shooting protesters.

One day before his death, van Alphen took “full ownership” of the account and apologized for its

content in an email addressed to colleagues that was obtained by The Daily. The email said the account was made as part of a “subculture that traffics in dark, cynical humor and deliberate attempts to be as offensive as possible” and did not reflect his personal beliefs.

In a Tuesday evening email, Provost Kathleen Hagerty extended condolences to van Alphen’s wife, family and friends and encouraged members of the community to seek support in each other and from the University.

“I know this news will be shocking to many of you and that the loss of a Northwestern community member can impact people in many different ways,”

started working with them.

District 65 parent Lara Vaive first hired a math tutor for her children last year. While in-person tutoring sessions were easier for her children to engage in, virtual tutoring still helps clarify challenging concepts from class.

“This tutor has a really good way of reframing the concept and explaining the concept in other ways until she sees a lightbulb go off,” Vaive said. “It helps when they grasp a concept because it builds their confidence.”

But Ndona Muboyayi, a candidate for the District 65 school board, said tutoring isn’t an option for families who cannot afford it.

Muboyayi said the gap between those who can access tutoring and those who cannot will affect the children’s future academic success.

The pandemic has also dealt a disproportionate blow to marginalized students, who have had to deal with job losses, deaths of loved ones and an overall lack of resources at higher rates during the pandemic. Muboyayi said it’s crucial to understand how this trauma affects academic performance.

Ahead of District 65’s Feb. 16 hybrid learning launch, Muboyayi said the district needs to be equipped to support these students.

“Unfortunately, there are going to be extreme ramifications as a result of the pandemic and e-learning,” Muboyayi said. “We have a great need for academic support (for these communities)… the support right now is sporadic at best.” laya@u.northwestern.edu Hagerty said in the email. “Please help those around you who might be struggling today and in the days ahead, and provide a shoulder, encouragement or a kind word to those who need it.”

If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

This is a developing story and will be updated when more information becomes available.

— The Daily Northwestern Staff

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SPORTS

Thursday, February 4, 2021

@DailyNU_Sports Photo courtesy of KrPhotogs

GETTING BACK ON THE ICE Northwestern club sychronized skating team considers spring show after nearly a year off the ice

By ALEXA CROWDER

the daily northwestern @alexacrowder

After nearly 11 months off the ice, The Purple Line, Northwestern’s synchronized figure skating team, is preparing to resume practices and performances.

President and Co-Captain Gabi Boone said all competitions have been canceled since last winter quarter.

However, the team still hopes to hold its annual spring show in late May, after having been cleared to start off-ice training in campus gyms this month.

Weinberg sophomore Sarah Germer, the team’s secretary, said off-ice training will likely include a combination of workouts and choreography.

Boone is particularly looking forward to meeting the team’s freshmen in person.

“I really appreciate them joining the team, even though we haven’t been able to skate yet,” she said.

Returning skaters were pleasantly surprised by the uptick in team membership, from 13 to 23 skaters. According to Germer, one event last year only ran eight skaters.

The newly expanded team met multiple times over Zoom in Fall Quarter to get to know each other and discuss music and costume options, according to Germer. Skaters also had the opportunity for a Zoom Q&A with two-time U.S. national champion and Olympic team bronze medalist Gracie Gold. Gold took the team on a virtual tour of her apartment and walked them

through her daily schedule.

Bonding has always been central to the Purple Line experience, according to Boone. In pre-pandemic times, these bonds were formed through traditions like creatively the med practices, postcompetition fast food runs and holiday parties. One essential competition day ritual involved the entire team holding hands while visualizing their program routine.

“We’re all very good friends and we’re very close,” the Weinberg senior said. “Skating is something that a lot of us have done for our entire lives, so we have that in common.”

Weinberg junior Julia Yoon, the Purple Line’s treasurer, saw the team as “a way to keep skating,” since the sport is a “really, really important” part of her life.

While she has been able to skate

a few times a week at her local rink in Maryland since September, Yoon struggled with overcoming her absence from the ice during the COVID-19 lockdowns in the spring and summer.

Weinberg junior Julia Yoon is currently living off-campus at home, so she isn’t sure how she will fit into the Purple Line’s Winter and Spring Quarter plans.

“It’s definitely hard just missing out on experiences that you know are valuable to the team in order to strengthen those bonds,” Yoon said.

While the future looks brighter than it has in a while for the rest of the Purple Line, Yoon said there are still some financial concerns. The team lost last season’s biggest fundraiser with the cancellation of the spring show.

And even though in-person, off-ice training is planned for this quarter, the

MEN’S BASKETBALL

pandemic is unpredictable, so there’s no guarantee that on-ice practice and the spring show will proceed as planned.

“We’re gonna have to wait and see,” said Boone. “The only factor isn’t just if the school lets us skate, or if the rink lets us skate. It’s also that all of the members feel comfortable doing that, because we don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable skating.”

For Boone, this season is personal.

She’s been skating since she was three.

She wrote her college admissions essay about it. This year is set to be her last.

“It does suck to have to go out like this if we don’t get to have the spring show,” she said. “But at the same time, skating has given me so much. I’m just appreciative that I had it in my life.” alexacrowder2024@u.northwestern.edu

WRESTLING

Let’s talk about the Big 10 referees NU falls to Indiana,

Penn State in Tri-Dual

GABRIELA CARROLL

WEB EDITOR

By GREG SVIRNOVSKIY

On New Year’s Eve, I settled in to end 2020 by watching college basketball.

It did not, as you can probably gather, make for a peaceful or generative ending to a year that perhaps deserved none of that.

I watched the showdown between Maryland and Michigan in which the referees called not one, not two, not three, but four technical fouls.

In the first half.

The first two came after Michigan center Hunter Dickinson scored and then stared down the Maryland bench, with each bench inexplicably receiving a tech. Dickinson dunked and stared down the bench again, and got hit with a tech that time. On the final tech of the half, Maryland coach Mark Turgeon was called for arguing with an official.

In researching for this column, I searched ‘Maryland Michigan technical foul,’ and was stunned to see the same issue was a factor in a completely different matchup between the two teams.

On Jan. 19, the refs called three technical fouls, this time all in the second half.

I’ve written about the Big Ten officiating and the controversial technical fouls before, after a questionable technical was called against junior forward Pete Nance. Against Iowa on Dec. 29, Nance was issued a technical for saying “gimme that s—” on a rebound.

Sophomore guard Chase Audige received a technical foul against Ohio State on Jan. 13 for slapping the backboard after a dunk, and another against Wisconsin on Jan. 20 for saying words to a defender after hitting a corner three?

Maybe? Video footage is unclear.

daily senior staffer @gsvirnovskiy

Joshua Hoffman/Daily Senior Staffer

A Big Ten official talks to Chase Audige at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Audige has been issued two technical fouls this season.

One of the NCAA’s criteria for technical fouls is baiting and taunting other players. But where is the line between that and trash talk? Trash talk is almost as central to the game as the basketball itself. The chirps and on-court rivalries are what make the sport what it is, especially once players get to the NBA. There are no real guidelines for what constitutes acceptable trash talk and what doesn’t. This is college basketball.

The players aren’t seven years old. Using a little R-rated language is not going to hurt anyone.

At the press conference after the Dec. 29 game against the Hawkeyes, a reporter asked coach Chris Collins if he thought the empty gyms meant that referees could hear trash talk more clearly, and were thus calling it more often.

“With not many people in the arena,” Collins said, “You’ve just got to be really careful about the things you say, because the referees are going to catch everything that they might normally not catch if it’s a really loud, packed house.”

Maybe I’m just a fan of petty drama,

but the technicals this season have been too much. Technical fouls, especially for unsportsmanlike conduct, are intended to keep the game from getting out of control. But trash talk happens in every game, and most games don’t end in massive brawls between players.

Referees this season are too triggerhappy with the whistles, and it makes the game worse. When players like Audige make huge threes, they usually can play off the energy of the crowd. Now, with no fans, their energy is held to the floor.

Stopping play with a technical because a guy started chirping after a big play ruins the flow of the game. Big Ten referees, these questionable calls aren’t worth it.

Gabriela Carroll is a Medill sophomore. She can be contacted at gabrielacarroll2023@u.northwestern.edu.

If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to opinion@dailynorthwestern.com. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.

Northwestern’s two losses on Saturday, against Penn State and Indiana, in many ways stand out as a microcosm of the season and its early stages. The Wildcats (1-4, 1-4 Big Ten) have only beaten lowly-ranked Maryland all year. A cast of young athletes has continued to struggle against some of the Big Ten’s top wrestlers.

And yet, junior Yahya Thomas and freshman Chris Cannon both extended their undefeated starts to the season. And they did it in dominating fashion.

Thomas was perhaps most impressive when he faced off against Indiana’s Graham Rooks, who is also a Top 20 ranked wrestler. Up 5-2 by the midway point of the second period, after racking up a pair of early takedowns, Thomas didn’t give Rooks a sniff of offense.

That’s what he’s good at — stifling defensive tactics, a mentality which never lets an opponent back in a match once Thomas has taken a lead.

“Yahya’s got a couple years in the lineup under his belt,” coach Matt Storniolo said. “He’s had some great experience in the last couple years and isn’t a stranger to the big stage.

For Yahya, this is where he should be right now.”

His win helped give NU a commanding lead in its matchup against Indiana. But it’s one the Cats eventually gave up, sunk by losses from

freshmen Maxx Mayfield, David Ferrante and Troy Fisher.

Fisher lost in stunning fashion against DJ Washington l. Up 7-5 with just over 40 seconds remaining in the third period, Fisher fell after being pinned down outside the mat. It was an extra-point loss that solidified the win for Indiana.

“Troy definitely learned a lesson at the end of that first match,” Storniolo said. “Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a free lesson. That one’s gonna sting for a while. He had that kid dead in the rights with a short time left.”

As for Cannon, Stroniolo could only shrug. He validated his climb up the national charts with a hardfought victory over Indiana’s Kyle Luigs, battling an apparent hamstring injury in the process.

Only four weeks remain in the season. During that time, Northwestern will take on Illinois and Wisconsin at home before heading to Iowa City and Minneapolis in consecutive weeks to take on the Hawkeyes and Golden Gophers.

They’ll look to improve their record against teams they don’t beat often. Before taking down Illinois by a 25-12 scoreline back in February 2019, the Cats hadn’t beat the Illini in nine years. They lost again last season.

“There’s nothing fun about being 1-4,” Storniolo said. “Success is gonna come for all the guys on the team. We’re still early in the season, three weekends of competition deep.

That success is coming.” gregsvirnovskiy2022@u.northwestern.edu