The Daily Northwestern — January 8th, 2024

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The Daily Northwestern Monday, January 8, 2024

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4 A&E/Phineas

8 SPORTS/Basketball

3 CAMPUS/Zhu

‘Phineas and Ferb’ parody tackles college

Northwestern defeats Michigan State, emerging victorious Sunday night

Alumnus awarded public interest fellowship

High 37 Low 29

CFS provides jobs, mentors Students secure internships and experience at NU By KELLEY LU

the daily northwestern @kelleylu_

Shun Graves/The Daily Northwestern

Evanston’s budget for fiscal year 2024 avoided a property tax hike after cutting expenses and finding new revenue sources.

Evanston avoids tax hike for 2024 City budget includes scaled back capital program, mitigates shortfall By SHUN GRAVES

daily senior staffer @realShunGraves

When discussions about Evanston’s 2024 budget began

last fall, city officials stared down a looming shortfall and monetary challenges they called “sobering.” Initial plans called not just for utility rate hikes but also a 7.8% increase to the

property tax rate. But, after several rounds of input from residents, plus the approval of the Ryan Field rebuild, City Council ultimately approved a leaner budget without any property tax hike in

December. The approved $435 million budget, lowered from the proposed $449 million, still amounts to a nearly $22

» See 2024 BUDGET, page 6

For more than 50 years, Northwestern students have found internships through the Chicago Field Studies program. CFS offers students the opportunity to intern during an academic quarter for course credit. Participants can secure internships through NU or through their own connections. More than 300 businesses maintain relationships with CFS. Students submit a resume to dozens of companies in hopes of an interview and internship offer. Weinberg sophomore Ella Marks said CFS is a great way to get practical experience. After completing a few remote internships, Marks said she was eager to try one in person. “I’ve learned a lot about finance more theoretically and generally,” said Marks, who studies economics. “I’m really excited to be able to experience actual events that are going to happen with real companies.” CFS advisors aid in resume

drafting, mock interview practice and other skills that help prepare and support students for the competitive internship search. Additionally, some previous CFS participants serve as student consultants and mentor current CFS students. Though students are connected to employers through CFS, they are not guaranteed a response. Many, like Weinberg sophomore Vishnu Juvadi, initially struggle to get an interview. “For a while I was searching on my own to get an internship,” Juvadi said. “But nearing the end, one of the firms actually reached out to me that CFS sent my resume to.” During their internships, students can gauge their interest in a particular industry. Weinberg sophomore Nina Bush is currently completing a hybrid internship through CFS and said the model gives her time to bond with fellow interns and work alone. “(CFS) sounded like a really great opportunity to learn about a new side of business in a way that was very structured,” Bush said. “The fact that you get course credit at the same time makes it very valuable, because even if you don’t enjoy

» See CFS, page 6

The AUX to open MENA hosts teach-in on Palestine this December UCLA Prof. Nour Joudah discusses generational survival, heritage Hub for Black businesses will serve Ward 2 By SHREYA SRINIVASAN

daily senior staffer @shreyasin

The AUX, a coalition of Evanston-based Black businesses, is set to open in December. Short for auxiliary cord, The AUX offers “a place to plug in,” for businesses and community residents, according to AUX developer Lori Laser, who also founded The Growing Season, a mindfulness nonprofit and anchor tenant for The AUX. The 2nd Ward hub will focus on providing health and wellness services to Evanston residents, especially for the Black community, and is based on Sherman Phoenix Marketplace in Milwaukee. “Having the resources and capacities that I had was really a huge benefit to good health outcomes for my family members, and that inspired me to think about health and wellness and

Recycle Me

healing in a more holistic way,” Laser said. Construction by Black-owned UJAMAA Construction started in November. The AUX boasts a community ownership model to address past restrictions on Black real estate ownership. “Anytime you’re doing something new and innovative you get pushback,” Laser said. “I think we’re in the mud. We’re in the dirt here. We’re in a community. You need to be in the community to know what the community needs.” Fundraising has also posed a challenge, Laser said. The project costs $10 million, and organizers are still trying to raise $3.5 million. Laser said The AUX allows residents to invest between $1,000 and $50,000 and will transfer partial ownership to them once the project opens. So far, the hub has collected $225,000 in community equity, she added. The project also uses American Rescue Plan Act funds along with private funding. “We were intentional on

» See THE AUX, page 6

By JOYCE LI

daily senior staffer @joyycee_li

Nour Joudah said when she accepted an invitation to speak at Northwestern about Palestine in late November, she thought, in a “rare moment of optimism,” that she would be speaking after a ceasefire. Joudah, a professor in the Asian American Studies Department at the University of California, Los Angeles, spoke Friday afternoon in University Hall about the current crisis in Gaza and broader Palestinian life. Israeli forces have killed more than 22,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the militant group Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which killed about 1200 people, according to Israeli and Palestinian authorities. The death toll in Gaza has increased by thousands since a seven-day ceasefire that ended Dec. 1. The talk was hosted by NU’s Middle East and North African Studies Program and co-sponsored by the Asian

American Studies Program. To prepare, Joudah said she asked Palestinians and nonPalestinians what they wish they had learned about Palestine sooner. Responses ranged from the vibrance of Palestinian civil society to the vastness of the Palestinian diaspora. Joudah said her favorite response was, “I wish I had read the novels and the poetry first.” “The hardest thing about the premise of writing the lecture for a Palestine 101 series is accepting and being at peace with how much you will leave out,” Joudah said. Her talk, titled “Palestine Lives: A Story of Survival,” is part of the MENA department’s guest speaker series Palestine in Context. The series was created to remedy a lack of academic spaces at NU dedicated to discussing Palestine and Palestinian people, according to MENA Prof. Wendy Pearlman, interim director of the department. “To my knowledge, there aren’t any classes at Northwestern that focus exclusively

Sonya Dymova/The Daily Northwestern

“Palestine Lives” is the first of six guest lectures this quarter organized by the MENA Studies Program as part of its Palestine in Context series.

on Palestine and the Palestinians,” Pearlman said when she introduced Joudah. “There are no Palestinian faculty who specialize in research on Palestine. This is a huge gap.”

Joudah lectured on how the boundaries of Palestine were redrawn during its years under British control and

» See PALESTINE 101, page 6

INSIDE: Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | Arts & Entertainment 4 | Classifieds & Puzzles 6 | Sports 8


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