The Daily Northwestern – January 9, 2017

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The Daily Northwestern Monday, January 9, 2017

DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM 8 SPORTS/Women’s Basketball

3 CAMPUS/Student Activism

Wildcats fall to Terrapins in road loss

Candlelit vigil held to mourn black lives lost over the past 6 months

Find us online @thedailynu 4 OPINION/Schwalb

We need to do more than start dialogues

High 31 Low 29

RTVF grant system prompts resistance By STAVROS AGORAKIS

daily senior staffer @stavrosagorakis

Colin Boyle/Daily Senior Staffer

A hairstylist at Steven Papageorge Salon, 1721 Sherman Ave., shows a customer his cut. A new Illinois law will require hairstylists to take a training course on identifying signs of domestic and sexual assault.

State law requires assault training Local hairdressers to receive assault, domestic violence instruction By SAM KREVLIN

the daily northwestern @samkrevlin

Evanston hairdressers will be required to take a training course on identifying signs of domestic and sexual assault in order to renew or obtain a license after a statewide bill took effect on Jan 1. The course will also provide hairdressers

with information on hotlines and other resources for victims. Signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner in August, the bill mandates an hourlong course that includes statistics about sexual and domestic violence, ways of recognizing signs of abuse and strategies to discuss the issue. Every two years, anyone licensed as a barber, cosmetologist, esthetician, hair braider or nail technician must

take the class in order to renew their license. Although the bill doesn’t require hairdressers to intervene, it aims to educate them on places in the area to seek legal help. “My wife used to work as a hairdresser and she frequently heard stories from her clients who were victims of domestic violence,” said Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago), a sponsor of the legislation, said in

an August statement. “Unfortunately, she didn’t have the knowledge or resources needed to help them. This new law will ensure that hairdressers will be trained to assist their clients who reach out to them for help.” Kristie Paskvan, founder of Chicago Says No More, an organization dedicated to » See HAIRDRESSER, page 6

A new campaign aims to spark discussion around a grant-giving system within the Department of Radio, Television and Film, which some have criticized for diminishing students’ role in funding undergraduate projects. “Save RTVF” is a student and alumni-run effort to encourage “serious, mutuallyagreed reforms” between students and administration on the new system’s effects on campus filmmaking groups, according to the campaign’s website. An open petition, which organizers launched late Fall Quarter and has garnered more than 70 signatures, advocates for finding alternatives to the current grantallocation process. Under the new system, RTVF awards Media Arts Grants, which fund student films or other media projects, like animation or music videos. The new funding system aims to end student-driven funding by filtering all applications through the department and allowing faculty members to have more input into which projects are produced. Before the institution of the MAGs, five student filmmaking groups on campus were independent in their grant-giving and fundraising

processes, with student filmmakers pitching their projects directly to them. Communication senior Erin Manning said she and other students felt the new grant system was instituted without their inclusion in the decision. “We were kind of just told, ‘This is the way to do it. Make sure students aren’t only seeing the bad things in it,’” said Manning, who co-chairs the Undergraduate RTVF Student Association. But Communication Prof. David Tolchinsky, who chairs the RTVF department, defended the new system. He said in an email to The Daily that the system allows student groups to carry on all the same activities they did before, with the exception of greenlighting their own projects. “ To me, I don’t think (RTVF) needs saving,” Tolchinsky said in an email. “The student groups are as valued under (the grants) as they were before — carrying on workshops, sponsoring speakers, and yes, producing projects.” URSA is planning to host a “town hall” meeting in the next few weeks, inviting RTVF students to share their views on the new grant-giving system, Manning said. These views will then be shared with alumni to decide the future of the campaign. » See RTVF, page 6

Faculty considers Ward candidates prepare for primary schedule changes Fifth Ward alderman hopefuls stress housing, crime solutions By MATTHEW CHOI

daily senior staffer @matthewchoi2018

In an effort to combat student stress and other concerns about the quarter system, several academic calendar changes were proposed at Faculty Senate last month. The Educational Affairs Committee proposed moving back start dates for the school year and lengthening breaks at the Dec. 7 Senate meeting. It also proposed lengthening time between classes from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. The different proposals were presented as options for departments to individually consider, and the committee will compile a singular proposal based on their responses later in the year. The “10-5-5-10” proposal, created by last year’s Faculty Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience, was met with resistance from several academic departments during Senate due to planning challenges, said Baron Reed, chair of the Educational

Affairs Committee. An October Faculty Senate report showed that only one department was in favor of the proposal. One of the proposed changes included moving Fall Quarter earlier by either one or two weeks to allow a longer break between Winter and Fall quarters. An earlier start date would allow students to more easily meet job recruiters and allow more time for international students to travel between campus and home, according to a report the Educational Affairs Committee presented at Senate. The committee also proposed removing a week from each quarter and adding five minutes between classes. The principle motivation for all of the changes is to improve students’ mental health, Reed said. “The major aim here for all the calendar change proposals has been to try to address student stress levels,” Reed said. “Some people felt that addressing calendar is one way to do that because » See CALENDAR, page 6

Serving the University and Evanston since 1881

By KRISTINA KARISCH

the daily northwestern @kristinakarisch

Six weeks ahead of their primary election, most candidates for Fifth Ward alderman are basing their campaigns around improving affordable housing and crime prevention in the Evanston. Candidates Carolyn Murray, Robin Rue Simmons and Misty Witenberg said they were hoping to address issues like raising wages and workforce development in the ward if elected as alderman. The other two candidates in the race, Carlis Sutton and Daniel Featherson, could not be reached for comment by the time of publication. City Clerk Rodney Greene announced in December that the city would hold a primary for the Fifth Ward race because more than four candidates entered the race. The top candidates will move onto the general election in April if no

Daily file photo by Annabel Edwards

Ald. Delores Holmes (5th) speaks at a City Council meeting. Holmes is not running for reelection for her seat on City Council.

candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote. As the race closes in on the primary that will be held in late February, several candidates said they had to kick their campaigns into high gear. Misty Witenberg, a community volunteer who moved to the Fifth Ward in 2014, said she is focusing on providing social mobility for working

families, with the long-term target of making Evanston the first American city to reach zero percent poverty. She said her priority will be establishing policies to ensure family stability and help single parents. “There are so many tradeoffs that families are making all the time, and I want to make sure that I’m giving city leaders and Evanston at large a

real opportunity to understand them,” Witenberg said. Other candidates have proposed policies along the lines of Witenberg’s goal to eliminate poverty in the city. Robin Rue Simmons, a Fifth Ward native and small business owner, counts economic development among her biggest focusses. Simmons said she is specifically looking to increase jobs and small business support in the ward. She added that she plans to look at redistributing funds for affordable housing support to increase homeownership. “We have a need for additional opportunities for affordable housing for seniors,” Simmons said. “That is something that is at the top of my list of priorities as well.” Several of the candidates have issues of affordable housing on their platform. Carolyn Murray, a longtime gun control activist in Evanston, said her campaign will be focused » See FIFTH WARD, page 6

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


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