The Daily Northwestern — January 21, 2021

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100 LIVES LOST

Days after Evanston’s 100th COVID-19 death, city holds light ceremony

Kelsey Carroll/The Daily Northwestern

Just a few days after Evanston’s 100th resident died of COVID-19, the city invited residents to observe a moment of silence Tuesday evening as it held a light beam display that traveled through each ward.

Evanston’s ceremony coordinated with the

lighting of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. Tuesday that honored the more than 400,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19 to date. It came the evening before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Throughout the evening, a light truck traveled

between parks in all nine wards, stopping for 20 minutes in each ward to shine beams into the night sky. Masked residents congregated at a safe distance to watch the display.

— Maia Spoto

Front line workers receive vaccine IL to be first state At Northwestern Memorial Hospital, vaccine boosts morale

By JAMES POLLARD

daily senior staffer @pamesjollard

When Nancy Foster, a nurse manager for one of Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s COVID-19 units, received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID19 vaccine on Dec. 18, a familiar face administered it.

That face belonged to Northwestern Memorial Hospital Education Coordinator Lizzy Murphy— an emotional sight, Foster said, because they had been through the pandemic together since it began. Of the 40 different stations Foster estimated were set up, Murphy’s happened to be the available one.

“I literally cried. Somebody took a picture and I sent it to my family,” said Foster, who received her second dose on Jan. 8. “And

I’m like, ‘This is one step closer.’

So it was very, very emotional.”

For Northwestern Memorial Hospital healthcare professionals who have upended their personal lives to treat COVID-19 patients, the vaccine has provided a morale boost. There were tears and smiles around the hospital on the day the vaccinations arrived.

The vaccinations — created in record speed and using mRNA technology— have arrived after months of sacrifices made by people around the world, especially healthcare workers, who were among the first groups to receive it.

From April through August, Dr. Khalilah Gates averaged working one week on and one week off at the intensive care unit — “very much a lot of ICU time,” she said. Gates, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, now

Serving the University and Evanston since 1881

to abolish cash bail Pretrial Fairness Act would end cash bail in Illinois

By YIMING FU

the daily northwestern @yimingfuu

Courtesy Northwestern Medicine Media Relations

CRavi Fernando, a respiratory therapist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, receives one dose of the vaccine. For Fernando and other healthcare professionals, the vaccine has provided a morale boost.

said she has about two weeks off between returns — time that will be spent teaching medical students and serving as assistant

dean of undergraduate medical education at the Feinberg School » See VACCINE, page 10

The Illinois legislature of Representatives passed a bill spearheaded by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus last Wednesday that would end cash bail.

The Pretrial Fairness Act, which gives Illinois until Jan. 1, 2023 to abolish cash bail, currently awaits Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature. Pritzker has expressed support for the bill in the past.

If passed, Illinois will be the first state in the nation to end all cash bail.

Evanston mayoral candidate

Sebastian Nalls, 20, said ending cash bail is a step in the right direction.

“This is an issue that hits directly at home for a lot of us,” Nalls said. “And it’s been disproportionately affecting Black and brown members of Illinois and members of the nation as a whole.”

Briana Patyon, a policy analyst for the Chicago Community Bond Fund, said the money bond system is racist and classist because it makes finances the determining factor in a person’s incarceration.

People who cannot afford to post bail must stay in jail until their trials, typically for cases that do not involve violent charges. This population comprises more than two-thirds of America’s jailed population, » See BAIL, page 10

INSIDE: On Campus 2 | Around Town 4 | A&E 6 | Classifieds & Puzzles 10 | Sports 12

2 NEWS | THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021

ON CAMPUS

Color adminsters COVID-19 testing

By ANGELI MITTAL

the daily northwestern @amittal27

The University has implemented a new testing system with the company Color in order to accommodate the influx of returning sophomores and new freshmen on campus. While some students have found it to be a relatively seamless process, others found some faults compared to Fall Quarter testing procedures.

Last quarter, NU provided testing to undergraduate students with partner company Tempus.

Tempus utilizes RT-PCR techniques to amplify targeted genetic material, whereas Color’s testing uses RT-LAMP technology. RT-LAMP techniques maintain the same accuracy as RT-PCR procedures, but require fewer sophisticated instruments, increasing testing capacity. It can also generate amplified strands in less than an hour, showing to be faster and cheaper than its traditional PCR counterparts.

For the Winter Quarter, NU has partnered with Color to provide testing beginning in the Wildcat Wellness period. Prior to arriving on campus, students were expected to create a Color account.

While on campus, students must continuously book their testing appointments to comply with the weekly testing requirement.

“I was really impressed when I first got on campus,” McCormick sophomore Olivia Johansson said. “I was surprised (by) how quickly (testing) went… they had a good flow going on and there wasn’t anywhere where I felt unsafe.”

While she felt safe taking off her mask in a big atrium, Johansson said she was concerned about performing the test quickly and correctly.

Having experienced testing both quarters, McCormick freshman Jasmyn Rieff said Color’s test relies on students to properly administer the test themselves. Last quarter, she said someone would demonstrate the Tempus testing procedure to a group of students as they completed it themselves.

However, Rieff worried the tests’ speed may

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The Donald P. Jacobs Center. The center has remained the main testing building on campus for both Fall and Winter Quarter.

come at the cost of reliability.

“I feel like it’s relying on the kids so much to be responsible for everything,” Rieff said. “I’m just kind of worried that it’s going to reduce the quality of some of the test results because there are kids who aren’t used to getting tested.”

Students are able to take the Color testing kit back to their dorm before returning it to the Donald P. Jacobs Center, which Rieff said could pose another risk in producing reliable results.

She was unable to get tested the day she arrived because of the lack of after-hours testing and said the instructions — all the way from the testing site entry to the actual administering of the test — were unclear.

Weinberg freshman Claire Paré said she was confused by the change in location between her first and second test.

“The first time I got my test it was in the middle of a giant lecture hall or auditorium and it was pretty clear where everything was,” Paré said. “But then the second time it was in a basement. I couldn’t really follow where they wanted me to go and I got lost

a couple times.”

While she found the testing center’s layout unclear, Paré said she was surprised by how simple and efficient it is to test with Color. Compared to testing with Tempus, Color reduces the number of steps the user performs with the swab. After the student rotates the swab three times in each nostril, a Color test prompts the user to then insert the cotton tip down into the tube while a Tempus test requires the user to properly transfer the sample into a solution for thirty seconds.

Not only has the University sought to scale up the number of tests it can administer at once by partnering with Color, but it has also continued some of its more successful testing practices from last quarter to accommodate more students in the winter.

“I’m glad (the testing center is) in a central location,” Johansson said. “It’s not in South Campus, it’s not really in North Campus, it’s right in the middle so it’s accessible to anyone.”

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4 NEWS | THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021

AROUND TOWN Write-in candidates file to run for municipal elections

By CHARLOTTE VARNES

the daily northwestern @charvarnes11

For the ten write-in candidates who filed to run for municipal office in Evanston this winter, many are approaching their runs with tempered optimism.

The candidates join an already-crowded field of 26 traditional candidates and forced primaries in the 4th and 8th wards as well as the city clerk’s race.

Write-in candidates were required to file a Declaration of Intent to be a write-in candidate by Dec. 24, 2020. However, in order to qualify they were not required to petition and receive a certain number of signatures, unlike traditional candidates.

Every write-in candidate for city clerk — and some aldermanic write-in candidates — originally planned on running a traditional campaign, but then withdrew.

Misty Witenberg, a write-in candidate for city clerk, said she initially petitioned to be on the ballot, but “reluctantly dropped out” because she did not want to split a vote with the two candidates who were already on the ballot, former Ald. Jane Grover (7th) and Stephanie Mendoza. Witenberg decided to file as a write-in candidate when Grover was removed from the ballot, which left Mendoza as the only candidate and meant Witenberg no longer had to worry about splitting a vote.

Shelley Ann Carrillo said withdrawing from the ballot was not her choice. A write-in candidate for 8th Ward alderman, Carrillo was removed from the ballot when an objection was filed claiming she did not

District 65 to launch hybrid learning model, open schools on Feb. 16

Evanston/Skokie School District 65 will open schools on Feb. 16 with a hybrid of in-person and remote classes, Superintendent Devon Horton announced Wednesday.

Photo courtesy of Shelley Ann Carrillo

Shelley Ann Carrillo with her original candidacy paperwork for 8th ward alderman in November 2020. Carrillo was removed from the ballot following objections to her candidacy and subsequently began a write-in campaign.

properly inform voters of her chosen ward. She chose to run a write-in campaign following her removal, she said.

“It was frustrating and discouraging to go through that process,” Carrillo said. “It fueled my motivation to work even harder and champion for the people.”

Because her name is not on the ballot like a traditional candidate, Witenberg said she anticipates name

recognition will be the “largest obstacle” to gaining traction in the election.

Carrillo shared the sentiment and said despite her efforts to “research, prepare, (and) practice” as the election draws closer, she still finds it difficult to gain momentum. “(I’m) working twice as hard to get my name

The district will implement hybrid learning for the first time as long as the seven-day rolling COVID-19 positivity rate falls below 12 percent, both in Region 10 and locally. The district will return to remote learning only if the region enters Phase 3 mitigation established by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Those who choose to return to school buildings will be required to commit to social distancing and appropriate mask wearing. The district encourages

people to stay home when they are sick.

The district will continue to monitor health metrics, and will encourage staff and community members to receive the vaccine as soon as it is available to them.

“As we approach our return, we must remain conscious of the emotions that will be felt by students, staff, and families alike,” Horton said in a release. “These will range from anxiety and fear to excitement and relief. We will actively work

out there, (and) making sure people understand just because my name is not on the ballot, doesn’t mean I’m not a valid candidate,” Carrillo said.

While city clerk write-in candidate Jackson Paller (Weinberg ‘17) said being a write-in candidate is an “obvious obstacle” to his run, he has found several aspects of his campaign are not “overly affected” by that status. Like traditional candidates, he said he still has access to forums and can interview for the Democratic Party of Evanston’s endorsement.

The city clerk race, as well as the 4th and 8th ward aldermanic races, will head to the primary ballot in February because Illinois law states requires a primary if five or more candidates declare candidacy.

The mayoral race is also on the primary ballot, due to a 1992 referendum that allows for an outright winner in the race if they receive more than 50 percent of the vote on the primary Election Day. Ahead of the primary, Witenberg said she is focusing on “best practices” for campaigning, including standing outside of early voting centers and reaching out to residents about her campaign.

Aside from running for city clerk, Paller, is also a student at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. When not working on his studies, Paller plans to campaign by knocking on doors both for himself and for friends running for other offices, as well as “being active on social media’’ and in his neighborhood.

“I anticipated going into it that I wouldn’t be able to run a traditional campaign,” Paller said. “That raises the question: who is running a traditional campaign?” charlottevarnes2024@u.northwestern.edu to build community, prioritize mental health and well-being, and give space so that we can collectively and individually navigate this huge change in our lives.”

A virtual forum will be held on Jan. 28 to discuss the launch of the hybrid learning model, and parent-teacher conferences will be conducted the week of Feb. 8.

— Delaney Nelson

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THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN | NEWS 5

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021

NUCNC, administrators meet publicly for the first time

By BINAH SCHATSKY

the daily northwestern @binahschatsky

In their first public interaction with University President Morton Schapiro and other members of the central administration, NU Community Not Cops organizers expressed their disapproval of the University’s response to police abolition demands on Tuesday.

Five members of NUCNC met with Schapiro, Provost Kathleen Hagerty, Vice President of Student Affairs Julie Payne-Kirchmeier, Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Craig Johnson and Community Safety Advisory Board chair Clyde Yancy. The students steered the meeting, asking administration to respond to a series of questions, including several prompts they said they sent to administration in advance.

“We understand that you would like for this meeting to be a dialogue,” organizer Liz Curtis said.

“However we would like for all of you to understand that you lost that privilege months ago. You had ample time to reach out to us since we sent our petition letter to you 223 days ago. None of you have done so.”

In their questions, the students cited their experiences from the past few months of protest, and asked for “yes” or “no” responses and for specific examples of changes being made.

Members of the administration, in response, repeatedly challenged claims the students made and largely avoided concrete answers.

The students confronted Schapiro about the harsh language in his Oct. 19 email. While Schapiro did walk back some of the language in the email — prompting student, faculty and staff backlash — he stood by his official condemnation of protest behavior he said “crossed the line into violence and intimidation.”

Schapiro rejected students’ claims that the administration had been inaccessible and non-responsive to student organizing, calling these assertions a “false narrative.”

In the first half of the meeting, students asked central administration to respond to the demands in the June 3 petition, including divesting from affiliated policing and re-directing those funds to “life-giving institutions” that support Black students.

Payne-Kirchmeier responded with a lengthy list of

Daily file photos by Binah Schatsky and Amy Li

Police officers responding to a protest (left) and University President Morton Schapiro. Schapiro and other administrators responded to police presence at student protests at a Tuesday live webinar with NU Community Not Cops.

ways the University has responded to the “life-giving” demands, including their commitment to the Black House renovation and improvements in admissions and hiring practices over the last few decades.

When asked how the University is addressing the divestment demands, Schapiro replied “there have been a number of things in repurposing the police, from transports to safety checks,” without elaborating or offering specifics.

In the second half of the meeting, students referenced the repeatedly escalated behavior of the officers from the Northern Illinois Police Alarm System, an Illinois crowd control force that has been called in by the Evanston Police Department to manage protest activity. NIPAS have had repeated physical altercations with students, released chemical ammunition and performed one arrest.

Several screenshots were recently released via the Freedom of Information Act of an officer group chat in which officers used violent language. In one message an officer said “my trigger finger was jittering.”

Another called the student activists a hate group and one officer discussed their deployment of chemical ammunition, writing “We will eat their food and then cover them in pava. Kidding…”

“Your students were beat, sprayed and arrested and we did not receive any form of communication from you,” student organizer Sarah Peko-Spicer said. “Where were the leadership notes when your students were being brutalized?”

Schapiro responded citing claims of aggravated protest behavior, as filed in an EPD police report following the Oct. 31 protest. But those claims have been widely disputed. While students did engage in

vandalism, claims of bricks being thrown remain unverified. Protesters also did use lasers and firecrackers, but the EPD report implied they were intended to maim officers while protestors said they were used primarily for distraction.

The students closed the meeting by expressing disappointment and frustration at the lack of action and support from the administration. Peko-Spicer closed the meeting with an address, mainly directed at Schapiro.

“Morty, you wrote an Op-Ed in the Washington Post a few years ago in which you noted that students cannot learn in an environment in which they do not feel safe,” She said. “Let us be perfectly clear: we do not feel safe at this University.” bschatsky@u.northwestern.edu

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6 NEWS | THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021

A&E arts &

entertainm

Illustration by Cynthia Zhang

Waa-Mu Show approaches 90 years, reflects on history

By YIMING FU

the daily northwestern @yimingfuu

Switching from stage to DVD, this year’s 90th annual Waa-Mu Show, “The Secret of Camp Elliot,” will be a movie instead of a live performance.

Communication senior and co-chair Jessica Nekritz said because professionals help stage the production, the team was able to access better props, such as a globe hanging from the ceiling of Cahn Auditorium.

Nekritz said the high production value of the show and the collaborations between students and Chicago-area designers make the show really special, which is why they chose to make a film instead of another Zoom production like last year.

The Waa-Mu Show celebrates its storied past To celebrate its 90th anniversary, The WaaMu Show will host a big reunion Zoom call with the alumni community.

Communication senior and co-chair Pallas Gutierrez catalogued the show through the years as last year’s historian. “ We’ve gotten to 90 years,” Gutierrez said. “It’s changed a lot. Even in my time at

Northwestern, structures have changed. But still at its core, it’s a musical that students are writing. And I think that that is such a cool, unique endeavor.”

Deborah Henry (Weinberg ‘79) said she’s gone to every year’s Waa-Mu show since she was a freshman at the University.

“Every year in Chicago, they have a Christkindlmarket,” Henry said. “And that’s something I look forward to every year because I get to go eat dark chocolate covered pineapple.

That’s like my annual treat. And just like the Waa-Mu show, every year it’s my annual treat.”

Henry said she loves everything about the show, from the choreography and the songs to the diversity of the cast and the show’s commentary on current events.

Henry, who lives in the South Side of Chicago, makes the journey to Evanston every year with her group of friends. One friend will drive in from Toledo, Ohio. Another that has been coming with her for 20 years to see the production.

“I’m 63. I’ll be 64 in June,” Henry said. “I get just as excited about Waa-Mu today as I was back then.”

The Waa-Mu Show works toward a more inclusive future According to Gutierrez, the role of historian

has changed to also examine The Waa-Mu Show’s contributions to the legacy of institutionalized racism.

“Looking back at that, how can we look forward to a more actively antiracist inclusive future?” Gutierrez said.

Weinberg sophomore and this year’s historian Yola Mzizi said she isn’t really involved in the theatre community and brings an “outsider” perspective. As the Waa-Mu historian, she wants to explore the perception that theater is an inclusive space.

“Everything is jolly here, at least on the outside,” Mzizi said. “But then we also have to ask ourselves, why is it such a White space?

And how does that influence the stories that get to be told?”

Mzizi said she wants to talk to Black, female and queer alumni to hear about their experiences and examine how shows in Waa-Mu history reflect historical issues and attitudes in different time periods. This year’s show touches on issues of racism and sexism and is catered toward children. Mzizi said she hopes to write articles and start a short podcast to make these topics accessible to young audiences.

Despite the show’s history of addressing social justice issues, Gutierrez said the petition process to be in Waa-Mu is entrenched in standards of White professionalism.

“Waa-Mu has had certain sort of unspoken

barriers for entry, like a background in musical theater, experience in musical theater writing or composition or playing piano, which are all things that, due to how class and race align in the United States, have excluded a lot of low income students,” Gutierrez said. “But that particularly excludes a lot of students of color, especially Black students.”

Mzizi also draws the issue back to the University as a whole. She said it is important to not only look at who Waa-Mu accepts in petitions, but also who Northwestern accepts into their student body in the first place.

For one, Northwestern has not always been an integrated campus. “In the ‘60s, they would only accept five Black students a year, which then means who was cast in Waa-Mu?” Mzizi said.

Gutierrez said they would like to see different voices represented at all levels of the Waa-Mu team. The show has since changed its petition process to focus on what ideas a person may bring to the show and their level of enthusiasm.

“My biggest dream for Waa-Mu would be everybody who wants to be involved is involved,” Gutierrez said. “And we get an actual melting pot of voices, where there’s all these different things that are represented.” yimingfu2024@u.northwestern.edu

SESP junior Natasha Sondakh to publish debut novel

By LAYA NEELAKANDAN

the daily northwestern @laya_neel

In just four months, Natasha Sondakh (SESP ’22) wrote her debut novel, “She Smells of Turmeric,” while juggling classes and learning how to market her book.

The fictional novel follows an Indonesian-American girl who moves to Indonesia after her father’s death. As she experiences Indonesian culture and meets new people, she soon realizes nothing is as perfect as it seems and finds herself in the process.

“As a kid, I saw a lack of Southeast Asian representation in Western literature,” Sondakh said. “I felt really insecure because my country was not represented at all.”

This led Sondakh to produce a piece of art that drew from her personal experiences as a woman of color. She began by writing sticky notes for each chapter, lining them up on her desk and envisioning the

story arc before letting herself write freely.

Sondakh said she drew inspiration from real life, whether it is a place she has been to in Jakarta or a person in her life.

“Each character has its own distinct voice,” she said.

“I try to keep it as real as possible because this is about a lot of people’s lives.”

Natasha Sondakh’s debut novel, “She Smells of Turmeric.” The book will be available on Amazon at the end of April. (courtesy of Natasha Sondakh) Sondakh worked with editors and a publisher through the Book School program at the Creator Institute, which helps first-time writers publish their books. She said she has learned a lot from her editors through the process.

As Sondakh’s developmental editor, Anne Kelley said she helped Sondakh brainstorm concepts and would build upon those ideas each week to make her book “as riveting as possible.”

“There were moments when it was tricky, any writer hits a wall once in a while, but we always worked

through the writer’s block together,” Kelley said. “I would motivate her every chance I could get, not only because a confident writer is one that writes more, but also because we became friends over our time together.”

Because of the time difference between Kelley and Sondakh, who lives in Indonesia, Sondakh would sometimes be working with her as late as midnight.

Stephanie McKibben, Sondakh’s marketing and revisions editor, would read through the manuscript line by line, searching for continuity errors and working to make the book “as professional as possible.”

“Natasha was incredibly organized and is a real joy to work with,” McKibben said. “She brings a lot of enthusiasm to her project… and that enthusiasm has never waned — her story is going to be a really wonderful story.”

For readers outside Indonesia, the book will be available on Amazon at the end of April. Sondakh said she hopes her book has an impact on her readers, leaving them with more hope than when they started.

Photo courtesy of Natasha Sondakh

Natasha Sondakh (SESP ’22). Sondakh’s debut novel, “She Smells of Turmeric,” will be published at the end of April.

“(There’s) this hope that humanity is a lot warmer than we think it is,” Sondakh said. “Having that warmth and positivity in literature, while at the same time being relatable and not too oddly idealistic, is very comforting… (and) I hope people feel the same way.” laya@u.northwestern.edu

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN | NEWS 7

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021

Band students await return to in-person rehearsals

By NICK FRANCIS

the daily northwestern @nick24francis

As Northwestern bands remain uncertain about an in-person return date, members have looked for ways to continue practicing and keep up their spirits.

For Weinberg sophomore Alex Tun, Northwestern University Marching Band is a nice reprieve from the rigor of his intense STEM courses.

The marching band “was a great opportunity to bond with fellow musicians who share that passion for music,” said Tun, who met many of his friends through the group last year.

He said the logistics of band make it harder to do online than, for example, organic chemistry. In a typical week, Tun meets with his peers in Zoom and discusses a piece of music, and then completes a music-based assignment. For his performances, Tun records himself playing his part and sends it in to be compiled into one video.

While keeping up with his instrument is great, he said, it does not compare to a normal football season for the band.

“It is quite a pity,” he said. “It’s fortunate in that opening, better days are ahead where we can reunite musically.”

Communication junior and Alto Saxophone section leader Mia Hodges is also hoping for an expedient return to in-person practice. While she understands and applauds the decision to stay remote, Hodges said being online, even in the most social capacity, will

Courtesy of Alex Tun

Tun marching during the 2019 season. Northwestern Wildcat Marching Band spent the 2020 season entirely remote.

never replace band camp, traveling to bowl games and spending countless hours with her peers in NUMB. The transition online also presented many challenges to NUMB leadership, among them being increasing sociability; Hodges said this area was one focus for leadership this past fall season.

“We wanted to make sure that for the incoming people, whether they are transfers or freshmen, they have an opportunity to make Northwestern

connections outside of classes,” Hodges said.

The group has held what Hodges compared to “date nights,” where band members could socialize with others in their home school and specific majors.

On game days, they would tune into Zoom rooms and send their signature chants in the chat rather than yell them out loud. Hodges said she enjoyed football games this year because she has always loved the “community aspect” of marching band more than anything

else. However, she added nothing short of normalcy will “recreate actually being at a football game.”

Weinberg freshman Joey Pollack joined Northwestern’s Concert Band this past fall quarter. For Pollack, being in an ensemble meant he could continue performing like he did in high school.

While band hasn’t been as social online as it usually is in-person, he said practicing music has been even more challenging during remote meetings. Out of all of his clubs, Pollack said Concert Band has been the hardest to “make work.”

“It’s a different energy; it requires something different of you,” he said. “Most of the work you have to do is on your own.”

After Wildcat Wellness ended, Bienen and Communication freshman Caroline Weiss attended her first in-person rehearsal for Northwestern’s Symphonic Band. Before rehearsal, she said a sociallydistanced “hello” to her fellow band members, who were at least nine feet away the entire rehearsal.

Weiss said it was strange playing in an ensemble for the first time in months, but she appreciated the familiarity of adhering to rehearsal etiquette. She and her band members also share a responsibility to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

“You can tell that everybody really has this desire to go back and play in person, and they’re going to do whatever they can to do it in the safest way possible,” Weiss said. “They’ve made their efforts clear and that’s really appreciated by me and all the other students too.” nickfrancis2024@u.northwestern.edu

Jenny Shi talks award-winning film “Finding Yingying”

By OLIVIA ALEXANDER

the daily northwestern @oliviagalex

Jenny Shi’s (Medill M.S. ’17) film on the disappearance of Yingying Zhang, a Chinese international student at the University of Illinois, gained critical acclaim after a year-long festival run.

While the documentary’s filming wrapped before the pandemic, COVID-19 shutdowns affected its release and reception. Diane Quon, a producer of the film, said the year’s most exciting moment came when she heard the film would show at the highly esteemed South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW). Although the March-scheduled festival was canceled, SXSW honored Shi with the special jury recognition for breakthrough voice.

Before the film would show to any festival audiences, though, Shi wanted Zhang’s family to watch it first. Shi eventually asked some of her friends in China to travel to Zhang’s parents hometown and show them the film on a laptop. Shi and Shilin Sun, the film’s co-producer and cinematographer, were present through a video call. Shi said she was initially nervous that Zhang’s parents would not accept some parts of the film, but after watching together, they offered understanding feedback.

“Yingying’s father, he was very grateful that we made the film about Yingying,” Shi said. “Even though it was really difficult to rethink or just to recall the hardships they’ve gone through in the past few years, it is a story worth telling.”

Throughout the following months, “Finding Yingying” entered several festivals and received numerous accolades, including Best Documentary Feature at Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival and the Emerging Filmmaker Award at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Most recently, “Finding Yingying” won a Chinese Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Documentary and nominations in the Grand Jury Prize and Global Impact Award categories.

The film’s China premiere at the Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival also helped the team find viewers in China — a goal incredibly important to the filmmakers.

“The whole team is based in the US, and we never really have any publicity in China,” Shi said. “So that was amazing.”

Early on, the film was only available through festival viewings, limiting the amount of viewers drastically. To this end, Medill Prof. and film producer Brent Huffman said connecting with viewers in a virtual setting has been a unique challenge during the pandemic.

“It was tough, not being able to connect with audiences and meet with audiences face to face,” Huffman said. “But despite some of those tremendous hurdles, I think the film has really done incredibly well.”

In October, “Finding Yingying” had its Chicago premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF). Because most of the documentary’s crew are based in Chicago, and the story took place in Illinois, Shi described the experience as “a homecoming.”

There, the law enforcement, reporters and family lawyers interviewed for the film were invited to see it for the first time.

“During that time, I got a lot of emails or text messages or Facebook messages about the audience feedback,” Shi said. “People would Facebook message me that they were really moved by the film, it was really touching and they felt like they got to know Yingying so much.”

Before the Chicago premiere, the team heavily promoted the film among Chinese international students who had heard and followed along with the story. Shi and her team used WeChat to gain attention from those students as well as Chinese Americans.

This fall, MTV Documentary Films acquired distribution rights to the film in a worldwide release excluding China, where the team wanted to handle publicity themselves, ensuring Zhang’s family would

Directing student explores equality and art

By RAYNA SONG

the daily northwestern @raynayu_song

Director Tor Campbell questions the responsibilities of artists in society and the difference art can make in the pre-recorded production “A Few Short Plays to Save The World” and “What You Did,” which will be available on Vimeo from Jan. 22 - 24.

Campbell is a first-year graduate student in the Directing program at Northwestern, and is one of the three directors for “Visions and Voices, a Black Playwrights’ Reading Series” at Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts, which features first-year students in the MFA Directing Program at NU and both undergraduate and graduate actors.

The production consists of two short plays by Steve Harper. “A Few Short Plays to Save The World” presents three playwrights of color in a playwriting competition, which could decide the fate of the planet, while “What You Did” examines representation in media through the point of view of a Black web series creator and an Indian filmmaker.

“Art is a weapon used to expand minds, provoke empathy and inspire change,” Campbell said. “‘A Few Short Plays to Save the World’ (uses) this weapon to try to save Earth, and ‘What You Did’ uses this weapon to address some of the opinions and prejudices within the human race.”

Campbell chose plays that deal with the theme of equality and art, two values that are important to him. He said he hopes the production inspires art that encourages people to change.

not be negatively affected. Until MTV broadcasts “Finding Yingying” on television, the documentary is showing in virtual cinemas across the country.

But ultimately, the team hopes to show the film at universities.

“I think that is a goal for us,” Quon said. “To be able to show the film at different universities and talk with young people about the film.”

Until it is safe to connect with such audiences in person, Shi is spending her days working toward the production of another feature length film. Recently, she has been researching and identifying potential interviewees, sending Freedom of Information Act requests and considering searching for a collaborator in China.

In the upcoming year, as Shi continues to work toward her next feature project, she said she will be sure to approach filmmaking “as a learning process.”

Throughout the year, Shi wants to spend time talking with experienced filmmakers and absorbing all she can. It is this eagerness that Quon admires in Shi as a journalist and director.

“I see in her this stamina and fearlessness that is needed to tell these important stories,” Quon said, “so I’d love for her to continue to do that, and I know that she’ll be able to accomplish them.” oliviaalexander2024@u.northwestern.edu

A&E arts & entertainment

Courtesy of Karen Baker

Director Tor Campbell. The Wirtz Center production “A Few Short Plays to Save The World” and “What You Did” is free to all NU students.

Al Heartley, the managing director at the Wirtz Center and the presenter for the Visions and Voices series, said he worked with the three directors to select the scripts and asked them to submit pieces “speaking to them in their immediacy.”

“It’s groundbreaking in that it is the first time the Wirtz Center has presented a series of works by solely Black playwrights,” Heartley said in an email interview. “We have asked much of them, and they have answered graciously.”

Communication sophomore Jared Son plays the roles of Ted and Guy, respectively, in the two short plays. He said both plays discuss the creation of media and arguments between creators.

Son said he wanted to act in the production not only because he was compelled by the story, but also because “it’s a story written by a playwright of color with characters of color in it.” Son said the production delivers powerful messages to the audience because it shows that art can move people to transform themselves and the way they think.

“I think that is essentially the hope of all art — it’s to start something, cause a chain reaction, make something stir in the hearts of the viewers,” Son said.

“Because if it doesn’t, then there’s no reason for it to exist in the first place.” raynasong2023@u.northwestern.edu

Editor Rebecca Azin Assistant Editors Nick Francis Laya Neelakandan Designer Jacob Fulton Staff Olivia Alexander Yiming Fu Rayna Song

8 NEWS | THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021

Veteran 8th Ward alderman has no plans to stop

By JOSHUA IRVINE

daily senior staffer @joshuajirvine

After the better part of forty years, Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) still really likes her job.

“I’m a happy camper,” the alderman said. “I just hope my constituents are.”

Rainey is the longest-serving alderman in Evanston history. After moving to the Eighth Ward in 1979, she was first elected in 1983 and has held office for all but four years since.

Her fellow aldermen credit her for her depth of knowledge and commitment to her ward. In recent years, she’s spearheaded the economic revitalization of Howard Street and proposed the plan currently bankrolling the city’s unprecedented reparations program.

But she’s also gone against a council majority to challenge the youth-led movement to defund the Evanston Police Department, and in 2021, she faces as many as five challengers for her seat, more than in any other race.

However, Rainey doesn’t plan on giving up her seat just yet.

“As of now, I’m on a roll, and I have no intention of quitting,” Rainey said.

Great Eight

The Great 8th message board, an online forum active for almost a decade now, testifies to Rainey’s commitment to her ward. The site holds 41,000 pages of electronic exchanges between the alderman and residents.

Recently, she’s reposted a link advertising information on the city’s vaccination process, promoted the newly founded Evanston Performing Arts Collective, and organized a meeting with Chicago Transit Authority officials after residents complained about noise from the Yellow Line.

Year in review: Looking back at 2020 around town and on campus

2020 was a year for the history books across the world, and Northwestern and Evanston were no

“She’s the best in the game for getting back to them,” said Ald. Peter Braithwaite (2nd).

Chief to Rainey’s advocacy for her ward is the Howard Street corridor, where for years she’s corralled city and federal funds to bring business back to the city’s southern border.

That support shows no sign of abating. In an interview with The Daily, Rainey said she planned to prioritize the economic recovery of Howard Street after the coronavirus pandemic devastated businesses across the city, characterizing the corridor as key to her ward’s morale.

She highlighted a 60-unit affordable housing development for seniors that broke ground in November as well as a project to resurface and improve pedestrian and vehicle traffic along Howard that stalled when the pandemic hit.

Rainey also expects her residents to receive support from the recently-approved grant providing rent assistance to residents, which is projected to largely go toward the 5th and 8th wards.

She also said she would advocate to expand the tax base to bankroll social services and mental health programs.

Outside her ward, Rainey has been one of the earliest advocates for the city’s reparations program, serving along with Ald. Robin Rue Simmons (5th) as the original members of the council subcommittee.

Rainey proposed the city direct revenues from the new cannabis tax toward reparations programs, the first of which is expected to support some prospective and current Black homeowners.

“Ald. Rainey was the first to raise her hand in support and to partner with me to advance that policy,” Simmons said. “She commits to a cause and sees it through.”

Rainey and policing

Rainey has drawn fire for her continued support for the city’s police department despite local and nationwide protests following the police murder of exception. January kicked off with Illinois’ legalization of recreational cannabis, and in February, Northwestern women’s basketball won its first Big Ten Title since 1990. Then in March, Northwestern had its first confirmed case of COVID-19, and so much seemed to change. As the pandemic swept the world, people were forced to adjust to a new reality, bringing with it a chain of events that hasn’t

For news, updates and campus photography, follow The Daily on Instagram:

@thedailynu

George Floyd.

Last summer, Rainey was one of four aldermen who declined to support defunding the Evanston Police Department, a decision that led to her residence being the first stop in a sit-in organized by Evanston Fight for Black Lives in November 2020.

Rainey said her support for the police department has not lessened, praising EPD for “putting an end” to the shooting spree of Jason Nightengale, who allegedly killed four people, including an Evanston woman, before being gunned down by Evanston police on Jan. 9.

Her opponent, city clerk Devon Reid, has criticized her support for the police as a remnant of the “Reagan-Clinton prison complex” and characterized the 8th Ward as “among the most ticketed, fined and fee’d” in Evanston.

Rainey’s stance puts her at odds with close collaborators like Simmons, who was the second to support defunding EPD. In an interview with The Daily, Simmons said it was important the Eighth Ward alderman support defunding, though she noted there are “varying definitions” for defunding.

Rainey has admonished the Council majority, who said they would defund, as having made a disingenuous commitment, pointing out the city had not significantly reduced police expenditures in its 2021 budget. While she said she could come to support proposals from the alternative emergency response subcommittee launched in September, she would not support defunding the police to do so.

She said people should not conflate “minor incidents,” like the forceful tackling and arrest of Trent Hunt by officers earlier this year, with police shootings.

“If a police department is having problems, what needs to happen is they need to be improved and repaired,” Rainey said.

38 years, only one loss

In 38 years of local politics, Rainey has only ever

stopped. Later in the year, abolitionist protests led

by NU Community Not Cops drew hundreds of students. That’s only a taste of all that happened.

So for a recap of this and more, The Daily compiled footage, photos and graphics representing some of last year’s top stories on a timeline.

— Grace Wu

Photo courtesy of Ann Rainey

Ald. Ann Rainey. Rainey has led the Eighth Ward for 34 of the last 38 years.

lost one race, an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 1993 that pitted her against then-5th Ward Ald. Lorraine Morton. Morton went on to serve for 16 years, becoming the longest-serving mayor in Evanston history as well as the city’s first Black and first Democratic mayor.

This year, there will be three names on the ballot: Rainey, Reid and Matthew Mitchell, Ridgeville Park District commissioner, as well as write-ins Shelley Ann Carillo, Joshua Hall, and Christine Leone.

To call it an intimidating race would be an understatement. But Rainey understands the appeal.

“To be an official in a city like Evanston is an honor,” Rainey said. “Not everybody gets that privilege.” joshuairvine2022@u.northwestern.edu

Scan this QR code with your phone camera to watch this yearin-review video, and take a look back at this eventful year.

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN | NEWS 9

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021

Catholic students at NU welcome Biden presidency

By YURUI WU

the daily northwestern @wuyurui99

When Joe Biden places his hand on the Bible to be sworn in on Jan. 20, he will become only the second Catholic U.S. president in history.

At Northwestern, some Catholic students are looking forward to a presidency guided by Catholic values, while others question Biden’s commitment to them.

For Weinberg junior Mary Grace Ramsay, the president of the Catholic Students Association at NU, having a “man of faith” in the White House will be a welcome change compared to former president Donald Trump, who she thinks has no sense of Christian principles.

Ramsay didn’t support Biden in the Democratic primary, but now she sees Biden as compassionate and caring for the most vulnerable, which she said are both important aspects of Catholic social teachings.

“Especially with COVID and everything going on right now, that’s just going to be so important,” Ramsay said, “We’re just not seeing that in leadership right now.”

Father Kevin Feeney, the director of the Sheil Catholic Center, is hopeful that Biden’s relationship with the faith will help him bring attention to issues such as racial injustice, immigration, the environment and poverty, all of which are rooted in Catholic social teachings.

But “at a time when human life seems so cheap and there’s so much violence,” Feeny particularly hopes Biden can champion one aspect — the dignity of human life.

“I would like to see a stronger stance by the president and by our politicians advocating for

University announces $83.4 million surplus for fiscal year 2020

Northwestern University generated a $83.4 million surplus for fiscal year 2020, according to a Wednesday email by President Morton Schapiro.

Evan Robinson-Johnson/Daily Senior Staffer

Sheil Catholic Center. Catholic students and faculty hope that Biden’s faith will guide him to work toward Catholic social goals such as racial and socioeconomic justice, as well as preserve the sanctity of life.

human life,” he said. “And see if we could eliminate some of the issues like poverty, violence that sometimes lead folks to have abortions.”

Given Biden and the Democratic Party’s support for pro-choice policies, Feeney said he knows it will be a delicate dance politically. But he still hopes Biden will “inject into the conversation a greater attention to the protection of vulnerable human life” because the church sees it as a “basic justice issue.”

As much as Feeney is encouraged to see a man who grew up in the same faith in a position

to unite the country, he is equally frustrated by the divisiveness within the Catholic community. Exit polls show that American Catholics are roughly evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, a trend that has developed in recent elections.

Ramsay said politics also divides the Catholic undergraduate population at Northwestern.

While she said Biden is “clearly more prolife” on issues such as healthcare, gun control and opposition to capital punishment, there are also conservative Catholics like Weinberg junior

This is the second consecutive year Northwestern has generated a budget surplus despite projecting a loss. The surplus comes after the two-year deficit of fiscal years 2017 and 2018.

Schapiro previously announced last spring the University would expect a $90 million budget deficit, leading to staff furloughs and pay cuts.

Schapiro said the unexpected surplus came from “significant sacrifice and hard work by our University community.”

The email also announced that Northwestern reached a record $887.3 million in research awards in fiscal year 2020. The “We Will” campaign, started in 2014, also hit $5 billion in 2020, contributing to the University’s endowment ending the fiscal year at $11.1 billion.

However, Schapiro wrote that “sustained vigilance” would be necessary to keep balanced spending into 2021 and 2022 as the University continues to incur costs related to COVID-19,

Christopher Kapic who believe Biden isn’t fully committed to Catholic values.

“My contention is that he does not profess the Catholic faith,” Kapic said, citing Biden’s public support for abortion and a line in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that forbids “formal cooperation in an abortion.”

Kapic, who voted for Trump, said he fears Biden will mislead the public on what being a Catholic means and should be publicly excommunicated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Per Kapic’s estimation, the Catholic community at NU is “very progressive” and traditional Catholics like himself are in the minority.

Religious Studies Prof. Robert Orsi, who focuses in particular on American Catholicism, attributed the division within the Catholic community to the liberalization of Catholicism and the resulting push back against it since the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, which put social justice at the core of the Catholic faith.

In Orsi’s view, that explains why Biden’s Catholicism was a non-issue in the election for non-Catholic voters but sparked fierce opposition from conservative Catholics. In contrast, John F. Kennedy’s Catholic faith invited questioning during his 1960 presidential campaign, but Catholic voters united behind him to make Kennedy the first Catholic president.

Despite qualms from conservative Catholics like Kapic, there is no doubt in Orsi’s mind that Biden is “a very good Vatican II Catholic” whose political life is “grounded in his faith.”

“In that way, Biden might be the first Catholic president,” Orsi said. yuruiwu2023@u.northwestern.edu

such as testing and reduced housing occupancy on campus.

Meanwhile, the University continues to take on new staff, as both the new Chief Diversity Officer and executive director of Counseling and Psychological Services start on Feb. 1.

The search also continues for a new University ombuds, among other positions.

ORDER YOUR 2021 NU SYLLABUS

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— Megan Munce

10 NEWS | THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021

VACCINE From page 1

of Medicine.

The added “layer of protection” from the vaccine has eased anxieties around whether her personal protective equipment would sufficiently shield her.

“I had to make a decision of do I accept the unknowns of the vaccine? Or do I accept the knowns and some of the unknowns of COVID? And the risk of accepting the unknown of the vaccine clearly outweighed COVID,” said Gates, who received her second dose on Jan. 8.

Ravi Fernando, a respiratory therapist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said he has been treating patients in the COVID-19 intensive care unit since February. From then until June 20, he said he didn’t return home, instead finding himself “stuck” in a hotel to avoid infecting his family.

Having received the second and final dose of the vaccine on Jan. 8, Fernando said it has brought peace of mind. While he experienced chills and a body ache after the last dose, he said an immune response isn’t abnormal. He felt fine the following morning.

“I feel like me and my family and people around me are protected,” Fernando said. “I highly recommend all my friends and everybody to take it if they have access to the vaccine.”

The vaccine has also brought a “huge sense of relief ” for Dr. Marc Sala, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital who has been splitting time between the ICU and a pulmonology clinic for long-haul COVID patients.

In the clinic, he said people of all ages and varying medical histories have entered with prolonged fatigue, shortness of breath, cough and “brain fog.”

In the ICU, he has performed bronchoscopies and other procedures that could entail significant viral load exposure.

For over nine months now, Sala described a sense of stress associated with not knowing if he would be next among his colleagues or the general public to wind up in an ICU bed. Additional conversations with his wife, also a physician, about living wills and estate plans were “a lot emotionally,” Sala said.

“And then you go to work and if you get exposed to some of the virus…That’s a whole different acute stress because now you have to isolate, you have to either live somewhere else or isolate within your own home. You can’t hug and kiss your kids or your spouse. And you

Compass Group to reinstate 97 percent of laid-off dining workers

Ninety-seven percent of the 229 dining workers who were laid off at the beginning of the pandemic are now being re-hired, according to a press release by Compass Group.

The Jan. 13 release cites the return of firstand second-year students to campus and low

just are on needles until you get that test result and can take your mask off in your own house,” Sala said.

“And that’s just independent of the fact that ICU care is an extraordinarily intense atmosphere.”

In addition to personal relief, the vaccine has also brought hope for healthcare professionals that there is an end in sight to this pandemic. But they caution against taking personal vaccination as an excuse to return to pre-pandemic ways of life.

Fernando noted that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is 95 percent efficacious, meaning there is still a five percent chance he could contract the virus. Until the entire country reaches herd immunity, he emphasized the need for compliance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Another caveat to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID19 vaccine, Sala said, is that the existing data does not show whether a vaccinated person could still spread the infection asymptomatically.

“The wrong thing to do, medically speaking, is to let your guard down to think that you couldn’t be a carrier or affect harm to other people by spreading it,” Sala said.

The vaccine’s arrival has been stymied by the emergence of new strains, some believed by scientists to be more contagious, making vaccine rollout all the more important.

While this is a moment of hope for healthcare providers, Gates said it must also be one of education.

“I am very frank with my patients. There is no pressure, but there is education. So let’s talk about it: What are your concerns? Why are you saying right off the bat you know you’re not going to do it?” Gates said.

“Let’s talk about the data that shows (the vaccine) is safe, at least in the short term.”

As an African American doctor, Gates said she tries to answer questions from more vulnerable communities and has a Q&A about the vaccine planned with one of the Chicago Public Schools.

Fernando stressed the need to calm fears from people of color, who he said disproportionately make up the majority of his sickest patients.

“I’m South Asian. I’m a brown dude. So especially I have an understanding that people (of) color… they have a really big fear to take the vaccine,” Fernando said. “We need to convince them more. They are more vulnerable to the disease.” jamespollard2022@u.northwestern.edu COVID-19 positivity rates for the decision to return workers to dining halls. According to the release, Chartwells Higher Education and Compass Group will supply workers with personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves, along with other safety procedures such as Plexiglass guards and limited capacity in dining halls.

“Our dedicated and valued associates have been through a difficult time,” Jennifer Byrdsong, Compass’ vice president of dining operations, said in the release. “We are grateful for

Daily file photo by Colin Boyle

An EPD officer. The Illinois general assembly recently passed a bill that ended cash bail and included many other progressive police reforms.

BAIL

From page 1 and a majority of these pretrial detainees — 69 percent — are people of color, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

“That is profoundly unjust,” Payton said.

“It essentially puts a price tag on someone’s freedom.”

Those incarcerated pretrial are more likely to have to serve a prison sentence or a longer sentence, Payton said. Defendants incarcerated before their trial could also lose housing, employment, or custody over children.

Bobby Burns, an Evanston resident, political consultant and 5th Ward aldermanic candidate said ending cash bail is an effective and innovative criminal justice reform policy.

“Short of death, I think there is nothing worse than being incarcerated,” he said.

Nevertheless, the bill faces backlash. More than 112,000 people have signed a petition opposing the bill, the Chicago Sun-Times the opportunity to begin bringing them back.

The returning associated will staff Northwestern’s dining halls planned to open for the Winter 2021 quarter.”

The announcement comes after months of organizing by Students Organizing for Labor Rights and UNITE HERE Local 1, the union representing subcontracted Compass dining workers. This fall, UNITE HERE Local 1 circulated a petition calling on Northwestern administrators to grant health insurance to laid-off workers and hazard pay during the

reported.

The Illinois State’s Attorneys Association put out a statement saying the bill has provisions that are “deeply problematic and will only result in further significant increases in violent crime, undermine public safety, and deny justice to crime victims.”

But Payton said the bill is a step toward progress, and to reform U.S. criminal justice systems to be less classist and racist, it is important to defend the bill until its full implementation.

Nalls said healing Black and brown communities will take time, but Evanston residents and Northwestern University students need to start by advocating for local change, like analyzing the Evanston Police Department and funding youth programs.

“The change needs to start local, and we can work our way outwards,” Nalls said. “We have the resources, especially in Evanston to make a difference and be advocates for these issues.” yimingfu2024@u.northwestern.edu pandemic. SOLR has also been collecting mutual aid for laid-off workers.

According to Eric Herman, a spokesperson for Compass, no decision has been made on whether workers will receive hazard pay or paid leave if they need to self-isolate. A collective bargaining agreement between Compass and the workers’ union is in the works, which will cover all issues regarding pay and other employment conditions.

— Megan Munce

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THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN | NEWS 11

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021

Advocates reassess after Fair Tax Amendment’s failure

By WILLIAM CLARK

the daily northwestern @willsclark01

Since the Fair Tax Amendment was rejected last November, advocates are focusing their efforts toward building greater trust around the initiative and ensuring people across the state understand its purpose.

The Fair Tax Amendment would have introduced a progressive income tax to Illinois. The state currently mandates a flat income tax of 4.95 percent.

Illinois ranks eighth in the country for tax inequality, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Throughout the state, the lowest-income 20 percent contribute over 14.4 percent of total state and local taxes, while the richest 1 percent contribute just under 8 percent.

The amendment’s advocates fought for a graduated income tax to address tax inequality, a contributing factor to growing income and wealth gaps. Now, they’re assessing its failure and considering paths forward. Ann Courter, an issue specialist with the League of Women Voters, said the ballot initiative failed partly because people didn’t trust the government to spend the increased revenue responsibly.

“We need to work… to make sure we’ve got a clear and accurate message,” Courter said.

Under the graduated tax plan laid out by the Fair Tax Amendment, only 3 percent of taxpayers — those who earn more than $250,000 per year — would have experienced tax hikes.

Those with incomes lower than $100,000 would have seen tax cuts.

The tax increase on the wealthiest 3 percent of Illinoisans would have raised an additional $3.4 billion over twelve months, which would have allowed Illinois to address its deficit and ease up on sales and property taxes. According to a 2020 report from ITEP, the additional revenue would have reduced income inequality and helped narrow the racial wealth gap. “(Income inequality) is a huge problem nationwide,” Courter said. “This kind of… gap in our country is just unconscionable.”

According to the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the gap between

James Pollard/The Daily Northwestern

A sign in support of the Fair Tax Amendment outside of an Evanston polling place. Since Illinois voters rejected the Fair Tax Amendment in November, advocates across the state are assessing the path forward.

the lowest- and highest-income households has grown nationwide since 1970, with Illinois consistently ranking among the ten most inequitable states.

The ITEP report also notes in a regressive tax system, where the poor shoulder larger tax burdens than the rich, this inequality widens.

“Because the wealthiest Illinoisans have lower tax responsibilities under the current

flat tax... the wealthy can invest these ‘saved’ tax dollars to build even more wealth,” the report says. “Meanwhile, the same laws make it harder for low- and moderate-income families to get by… (resulting in) wealth gaps that compound over time and are starkest along racial and ethnic lines.”

These wealth inequalities often run along racial and ethnic lines. A 2020 report from

the Federal Reserve found that, nationwide, the median White family owns $188,200 in wealth, whereas the median Black and Latinx family owns $24,100 and $36,100, respectively.

Evanston’s reparations fund has sought to narrow the racial wealth gap, but advocates said taxes are another important arena for addressing injustice.

“Taxes (are) huge when it comes to changing… systemic racism,” said Kemone Hendricks, founder of Evanston Present and Future, a non-profit that focuses on racial injustice and reparations. “If (the Fair Tax Act) were to pass, that would have tightened a lot of the (racial) wealth gap.”

But the amendment didn’t pass — in fact, it was defeated by a margin of almost 7 percent.

The amendment was broadly viewed with suspicion and opposed by billionaires like Ken Griffin, who donated $46,750,000 to the No Progressive Tax Coalition, a group that organized to block the initiative.

Shirley Adams, a 74-year-old Evanston resident, said among her friends and neighbors, a general distrust in government, caused

by Illinois’s history of political corruption, fueled opposition to the amendment. She said this distrust made voters more vulnerable to misinformation.

“A lot of people thought they were voting to punish politicians for being inept, or… unscrupulous,” Adams said. “But instead of punishing politicians, I think they punished themselves.”

Some opponents also worried that the amendment could lead to increased taxes on small businesses or tax hikes across income brackets. However, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Office of Management and Budget estimated that 95 percent of Illinois small businesses would have been unaffected.

Sarah Bingaman, who works with Indivisible Rural Illinois, said she plans to focus on fighting misinformation and restoring trust.

She hopes this will lay the groundwork for a different outcome if Democratic leadership proposes the amendment again.

“It’s all about trust,” Bingaman said. “If you can’t talk to people, you can’t change their minds about misinformation.” williamclark2024@u.northwestern.edu

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SPORTS

@DailyNU_Sports

Thursday, January 21, 2021

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

By DREW SCHOTT

daily senior staffer @dschott328

On Feb. 29, 2020, senior center Abbie Wolf played at Welsh-Ryan Arena for the final time, after leadingNorthwestern to its first Big Ten title in 30 years.

Six days later, Wolf was replaced in the first half of the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals by then-sophomore forward Courtney Shaw. Even though the Maryland native averaged only 12 minutes per game in the regular season, coach Joe McKeown subbed her in to provide a spark on both sides of the ball.

Shaw rose to the occasion. On defense, she stifled Michigan’s Naz Hillmon and deflected passes to create Wolverine turnovers. Offensively, she scored on a beautiful pick-and-roll and created a presence in the paint.

When the clock hit zero at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the Wildcats scored 59 to Michigan’s 67,

a bitter end to a storybook season that ended less than a week later because of COVID-19.

But for Shaw, the game marked a high point in her Cats career. Even though she only racked up six points and four rebounds, Shaw showed McKeown and her teammates that she was capable of changing the pace of a game. More importantly, she proved she was up to the task of replacing Wolf as NU’s starting center.

“When you have a player like Abi Scheid or Abbie Wolf, who have basically been four-year players, two things happen,” McKeown said. “No. 1, you miss them. But No. 2, it also gives other people opportunity. And I think that’s what we’re seeing with Courtney Shaw.

She’s getting chances and she’s taking advantage of (them).”

This season, Shaw is playing the best basketball of her career. As a starter, she is averaging a career-high 8.0 points and 6.7 rebounds, and is a dominant force in the paint. On offense, she can back

CAN’T STOP SHAW

down defenders and knock down layups.

Defensively, her six-foot frame and shotblocking ability makes opposing players think twice about going up for a field goal.

Nearly a month before NU tipped off the 2020-21 campaign against Eastern Illinois, McKeown revealed that Shaw — who he said gave “great minutes” on the Cats’ conference title-winning squad — would be a big part of the team’s interior gameplan.

“Courtney Shaw is really stepping in,” McKeown said. “She’s playing at the rim, rebounds like one of the great players we had, Nia Coffey, she reminds me. Just the way she attacks the glass.”

Shaw backed up her coach’s words against the Panthers. In a 93-57 victory, she grabbed seven total rebounds and defended the paint with ferocity, blocking three shots. On the other side of the ball, she added four offensive rebounds to spark a then career-high 13 point performance.

Shaw followed up her stellar play

with a 10 point, six rebound, two-block, two-steal outing in a 29-point win over Minnesota.

Her first two performances as a starter set the trajectory for her career year.

Shaw’s 60 rebounds through nine games ranks in the top-25 of all players in the Big Ten, while her 8.0 points per game rank fifth on the team. With guards Veronica Burton and Sydney Wood in the midst of career seasons — and Pulliam continuing her offensive prowess — Shaw’s game in the post elevates NU’s offense to new heights.

Now in her third year in Evanston, Shaw is one of the team’s more seasoned leaders. After a sluggish 84-63 loss to the Wolverines, a blowout which was shown on national television, she worked hard with her teammates in practice to bounce back from their worst loss of the season.

“That’s not something that our team is used to,” Shaw said. “It kind of humbled a lot of us and it kind of took us to the drawing board. A lot of it has to do with the mentality of the team, knowing that

Daily file photo by Joshua Hoffman

we have a lot more games to play, so we have to turn around, get up and focus on our next game.”

The following contest was a 25-point victory against the Badgers.

On Thursday, No. 21 NU will play Illinois for the first time since clinching the regular-season conference title last season. Even though the clash in Evanston has a lot less at stake for the purpleand-white, each win is crucial as the Cats to try and repeat as Big Ten champions.

As one of the most improved centers in the conference, Shaw is one of the pieces that can power the Cats to their fourth-straight victory. She is relying on herself to do just that.

“When I score on the inside, it puts more pressure on the defense because then they’ll sink it in and then obviously, we have shooters,” Shaw said. “We have balanced scoring and that’s really important for our team. That’s really important to our success.” drewschott2023@u.northwestern.edu

MEN’S BASKETBALL

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Cats continue conference play Northwestern Wildcats

By SKYE SWANN

the daily northwestern @sswann301

Northwestern doesn’t lose to Illinois.

The Wildcats last fell by the Illini in January 2013. Back when Daniel Day Lewis was winning Oscars for his turn in Lincoln and Joe Flacco was leading the Baltimore Ravens to the Superbowl by way of the Mile High Miracle.

The Cats have won the last nine against Illinois. Some in dominating fashion, like senior day in 2020, when Abbie Wolf led all players with 21 points and nine rebounds as Northwestern won 75-58.

Others were close calls, like the January 2015 game when Christen Inman’s 18 points led the Cats to a one-point stunner at the State Farm Center.

NU will look to keep its streak going Thursday night against the Fighting Illini (2-6, 0-5 Big Ten) at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

This is the first of the two home games the Wildcats will play this week, battling Indiana this coming Sunday.

With wins against conference opponents Penn State (4-6, 1-5 Big Ten) and Iowa (9-3, 5-3 Big Ten), the Cats (7-2, 5-2 Big Ten) enter Thursday’s game having rebounded from a difficult early stretch to brand themselves as a power in the Big Ten. But against the Lady Lions, ball security — or its lack thereof — might have been the biggest story. NU had 22 turnovers on Sunday, the highest single-game total for the Cats since Feb. 2019 against Minnesota.

“We turned the ball over way too much to be considered a great team,” Coach Joe McKeown said bluntly after the Penn State win.

The Cats game-long struggle with turnovers affected both ends of the floor,

leading directly to 16 personal fouls and perhaps contributing to a 3-for-16 night from behind the arc. But key players stole the show in the second half. Junior guard Veronica Burton scored 19 pts, senior guard Lindsey Pulliam scored 17, and junior forward Courtney Shaw had a career high 12 rebounds.

The vaunted Illinois offense enters this game averaging 60.1 pts per game on the season. The Cats need to remain dominant on defense — and stop giving the ball away. And they need to improve in the areas they struggled on Sunday, when NU got by on talent and not fundamentals. More accuracy on 3-pt attempts and cleaner shooting strokes will also be imperative for a win against the Illini.

“We’ve got to shoot better, we’ve got to finish at the rim, we’ve got to make free throws, and we’ve got to rebound,” McKeown said.

The Cats lacked offensive prowess for most of the game against the Lady Lions, shooting 46 percent overall. Senior guard Jordan Hamilton only had 5 points

in the game after totaling a season high of 19 points against Iowa. She made it up for it with a gutsy five steal defensive performance.

Northwestern has the advantage in this game — leading the overall series 45-34, with an at home advantage of 23-13. But the Lady Lions exposed a weak point in NU’s game. So have other teams before, and the Cats bounced back.

“We translate from practice into the game,” Hamilton said after the win against the Hawkeyes. “Going hard, making sure that everything is precise and neat so that we look good and play games well.”

Northwestern’s defense is among the top in the country in terms of aiding its offense in scoring, assisting, and converting points off caused turnovers. No. 12 in assists per game, the Cats play their best when every player is shooting accurately.

“We have to be able to press and control the clock and turn people over,” McKeown said. “We have the quickness to do that.” skyeswann2024@u.northwestern.edu

Daily file photo by Joshua Hoffman

Senior guard Jordan Hamilton pulls up to take a shot against Michigan. After putting up 19 points last week against Iowa, Hamilton scored only 5 against Penn State Sunday

on a 1-6 losing streak

By PATRICK ANDRES

daily senior staffer @pandres2001

When playing a ranked team, Northwestern competes early, mounts a charge and fades late. It’s a tune that has become as readily associated with the Wildcats in January 2021 as pulling upsets was in December 2020.

The Wildcats (6-7) followed the script to a tee Wednesday evening, losing to No. 10 Wisconsin (12-3) 68-52 in Madison. The loss capped a 26-day slog in which NU played a program-record seven consecutive teams ranked in the AP Top 25, three of which were ranked in the Top 10.

The Cats went 1-6 in the stretch, upsetting No. 21 Ohio State on December 26 before dropping their next six contests.

“We’ve played tremendous teams during this stretch, and that’s what this conference entails this year,” coach Chris Collins said. “Losing is not a fun feeling. You put a lot into this to try to win, and we haven’t tasted winning in a couple weeks. It’s been a really tough stretch.”

Redshirt sophomore guard Chase Audige led both teams in scoring, putting up 16 points and sinking four three-pointers for the second time this season. Junior forward Miller Kopp added 10 points and junior forward Pete Nance pulled down 12 rebounds, but NU could not overcome the Badgers’ balance as four Wisconsin players — guard D’Mitrik Trice, forward Tyler Wahl, forward Micah Potter, and guard Brad Davison — scored

in double figures.

The Cats kept within striking distance of the Badgers for much of the game, trailing 41-34 at halftime and whittling the Wisconsin lead to five after a Kopp jumper with 16:18 to play. The Badgers, however, ripped off a 12-0 run, getting four points from reserve guard Trevor Anderson en route to a 56-39 lead before an Audige three-pointer snapped a scoreless spell nearly six minutes in length.

NU briefly battled back to within 58-47 with 6:07 on the clock, but could draw no closer as Wisconsin once again put up 10 consecutive points, this time in less than two minutes.

“We gotta learn from these really good teams,” Collins said of both the Badgers and the Cats’ other recent opponents. “What are some of the things they do well that we can incorporate to help us be better? Their discipline, their execution, their ability to make winning plays at the right times.”

NU now turns its attention to Penn State, who on Saturday will become the Cats’ first unranked opponent in a month. NU is 4-1 against unranked teams this season, having lost to Pittsburgh on Dec. 9 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

“With the level of competition we played, to be able to get out of this stretch with three wins (in the Big Ten overall), it keeps us kind of in the ballgame,” Collins said. “We still have a lot to play for in these last 11 games.” patrickandres2023@u.northwestern.edu