The Daily Northwestern Tuesday, February 7, 2017
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Hot Wildcats pull off weekend sweep
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Assault, drugging reported at frats By JULIA JACOBS and NORA SHELLY daily senior staffers @juliarebeccaj, @noracshelly
Katie Pach/Daily Senior Staffer
Ald. Peter Braithwaite (2nd) speaks at a Human Services Committee meeting on Monday. At the meeting, policy and procedural changes for the Evanston Police Department were presented to council members.
EPD policy changes presented
Announced changes include increased training in de-escalation By KRISTINA KARISCH
the daily northwestern @kristinakarisch
City manager Wally Bobkiewicz announced a series of policy changes for Evanston Police Department officers, including increased training in de-escalation and diversity and inclusion, at a Human Services Committee meeting Monday. The changes come after a year-and-a-half-long discussion
about police procedure and conduct focusing on how the police department handles use of force and citizen complaints. The list includes changes to the way officers are trained, alterations to the complaint process and increased transparency from the department in terms of data that is released to the public. Bobkiewicz presented the series of policy and procedure changes to City Council and members of the Human Services Committee.
“The world of assessing risk for police officers is complicated and ever-changing,” Bobkiewicz said. “We need to make sure our officers understand how best to assess risks and act accordingly so to meet our community standards while all the while making sure they remain safe.” Other changes put forward include participation in the Cook County Sheriff ’s Department 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team training program and the monthly publication of police statistics at
committee meetings. Ald. Peter Braithwaite (2nd) spoke about a need for transparency and ensuring the city fully recognizes the concerns raised by recent controversial arrests. “Until we as a community own what’s going on, we will never see the change and move forward,” Braithwaite said. “When you know your community, you do a much better job at policing.” The question of police conduct » See EPD, page 6
The University announced Monday evening that the Sexual Harassment Prevention Office received a report last week that four female students were potentially given a date rape drug at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity on Jan. 21. Two of the four allege in the report that they were sexually assaulted. In an email to students Monday, Chief of Police Bruce Lewis said that on Friday the University also received an anonymous report alleging that another female student was sexually assaulted, potentially with the use of a date rape drug, after attending an event at an unnamed fraternity house the previous night. Lewis said the Sexual Harassment Prevention Office is investigating these reports. The Panhellenic Association released a statement late
Saturday night, before the University released the statement about the reports, saying it supports survivors of sexual assault and drugrelated violence. “The safety of our community is a priority for us and it is our goal to improve sexual assault prevention measures on this campus and in our community,” the statement said. Interfraternity Council president Rodney Orr told The Daily on Friday that IFC was working with the University in response to allegations of sexual assault. “We are working with the University just to ensure that all of the facts are in order and to make sure that everyone involved sort of gets the chance to have their voices heard,” the SESP junior said. On Monday, Orr said he was notified in advance that the statement was going to be released, but was not aware it was going to name SAE. He said naming the » See ASSAULT, page 6
Daily file photo by Nathan Richards
Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s headquarters are located in Evanston. Northwestern’s chief of police released in a statement Monday that four female students reported that they were possibly given a date rape drug in January at the SAE fraternity house on campus. Two of the four allege in the report that they were sexually assaulted.
Students expand science database
Candidate talks local engagement
daily senior staffer @lend_er_man
Candidate for 9th Ward alderman Cicely Fleming emphasized the value of grassroots organizations to create engagement with local government in a talk Monday. Fleming, who launched her aldermanic campaign in October, spoke to a crowd of about 20 students and community members in University Hall during an event organized by the Center for Civic Engagement and the Women’s Center. Fleming, one of the founding members of the Organization for Positive Action and Leadership, said she aims to educate and engage the community to enact governmental change. She spoke about issues facing Evanston residents like affordable housing, equity in school Districts 65 and 202 and representation in government. She said City Council has
By DARIA LENDERMAN
Open Science Database, a media platform founded by Northwestern Ph.D. students to make science research easily accessible to the general public, has expanded to include federally funded research and climate change findings. The moves follows the Trump administration’s recent order banning several government agencies from communicating with members of the public and press. Northwestern Ph.D. students Suji Jeong and Alexandra Edelbrock co-founded the nonprofit organization in Fall 2016 as a platform to increase the public’s exposure to medical research. “I published in journals but they are not accessible to the general public, and they are really hard to read,” Jeong said. “The public also has to pay money to
buy the article to read it. My goal last fall was to make an easy-touse, good user-friendly database.” However, following Trump’s order, Open Science Database expanded to include information on climate change research and research from federally funded agencies. The ban went into effect Jan. 24 and includes groups such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Agriculture. Open Science Database acts as an advocate for federal employees who are unable to speak to the public about research findings by providing straightforward synopses of publically funded federal research, Jeong said. The organization’s contributors summarize findings from the EPA, USDA, National Parks Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others. “(The order) is a little bit scary,” said Heather Kinkead, » See RESEARCH, page 6
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
By SYD STONE
the daily northwestern @SydStone16
tended to attract wealthier individuals with flexible schedules. “When you have that kind of system, sometimes you have a limited perspective,” she said. “We want to support people to run for office because we know we need to have different perspectives.” Part of OPAL’s mission is to develop strong candidates for local office, and Fleming said a majority of candidate development is just helping leaders understand what it means to run for office. Fleming said voting in the upcoming municipal elections is more important than ever because of the city’s sanctuary status. “We are at risk of losing federal funding based on Trump’s statements, so our City Council will have to make a decision,” she said. “Do we stick to what we’ve committed to our refugee population to protect them, or is that going to squeeze us too much financially?”
Fleming also spoke about the racial achievement gap in Evanston schools and cited the racial and gender biases that surround suspensions of students at Evanston Township High School. She said during the 2014-15 school year, 438 black students were suspended while only 48 white students were suspended. OPAL is currently pushing the city’s school districts to examine racial inequity, but Fleming said officials aren’t moving fast enough. Fleming said she decided to run for 9th Ward alderman because she didn’t see “passion” in the people running for aldermanic positions. Her only opponent in the 9th Ward is Shawn Jones, an attorney who officially launched his campaign in December. Current 9th ward alderman Brian Miller is running for mayor. “We need to get some different perspective on our City Council,” Fleming said. Katrina Weimholt, assistant
director of NU’s Center for Civic Engagement, said she hopes to bring down barriers to voting and getting involved in local politics by educating students and improving the accessibility of the democratic process. Fleming also encouraged young Evanston residents to become as involved as possible in local politics by doing research about candidates or even joining a board or committee. Alecia Wartowski, interim director of the Women’s Center, said she has been actively working to bring in community organizers to speak to students about activism and political engagement. “There’s a lot of opportunity for growth and change in Evanston,” Wartowski said. “So the more you can inform yourself and get involved in the political process, the better.” SydneyStone2020@u.northwestern.edu
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