Serving the Northwestern and Evanston communities since 1881
The Daily Northwestern Thursday, February 8, 2024
DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM 4 CITY/Civic Center
8 SPORTS/Volleyball
Lease sparks concerns over cost, transparency
Northwestern taps Tim Nollan as next head volleyball coach after a two month vacancy
Find us online @thedailynu Scan this QR code camera to listen to a podcast on a student film on Pilsen
High 54 Low 39
Salon training law falls short Domestic violence prevention efforts see mixed response By RACHEL SCHLUETER
daily senior staffer @rschlueter26
When Chicago hairstylist Moe Stenson heard of the Illinois law that mandates one-hour domestic violence and sexual assault training for salon professionals, she believed in its initial intention. But at the local level, she said she has watched the law fall short. “I know people who haven’t (completed the training) after seven years now,” Stenson said. “No one’s checking on that. No one’s holding these people accountable.” The 2017 legislation requires salon professionals to complete the one-hour online and in-person training in order to attain or renew a cosmetologist’s license. The law applies to cosmetologists, cosmetology teachers, estheticians, esthetic teachers, hair braiders, hair braiding teachers, nail technicians and nail technology teachers. The training aims to teach salon professionals how to detect abuse and offer support to clients. The bill does not require salon professionals to report abuse. Last December, U.S. Sens.
Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced the SALONS Stories Act, which would incentivize states through grant increases to provide domestic violence awareness training similar to what the Illinois law mandates. “Illinois is already leading the way by requiring this training of our beauty professionals, but we can and should expand this policy nationwide,” Duckworth told The Daily in a statement. “This bipartisan legislation is a commonsense way to help even more beauty professionals better recognize the signs and successfully navigate conversations with clients who could be in danger and help keep them safe.” However, Stenson said there are major gaps in the implementation of the law at the state level. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation tracks how many salon professionals have renewed their cosmetology licenses. However, the department does not specifically track completion of the domestic violence and sexual assault awareness training, which Stenson said leads to salon professionals not caring about or completing the training. “They’re just like, ‘It’s one more thing for me to have to do
» See SALON, page 6
Samantha Powers/The Daily Northwestern
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office intends to drop criminal charges against two Northwestern students.
State’s Attorney dismisses charges
Students will not face criminal prosecution for alleged tampering By SAMANTHA POWERS and JACOB WENDLER
daily senior staffer @sqpowers04 / @jacob_wendler
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has decided to
dismiss criminal charges against two Northwestern students in connection with tampered copies of The Daily circulated in October, the office confirmed Wednesday afternoon. The students were both charged in November with “Theft of Advertising Services,” a Class A
misdemeanor which carries up to a year in jail and up to a $2,500 fine in Illinois. The office noted in a statement that it does not review or approve misdemeanor charges brought by police departments prior to filing. It added that, “given the specific
nature of these cases,” the office completed a thorough review of the situation, including engaging in discussions with the University and SPC. “Our criminal justice system
» See CHARGES DROPPED, page 6
Ryan Field demolition slow to start A statement from NU representatives say project is waiting for city permit approval By SHUN GRAVES
the daily northwestern @realshungraves
Northwestern officials showed up to Wednesday’s NU-City Committee meeting with plans to improve communications with residents — though they had few details on Ryan Field’s still-looming demolition. Ald. Clare Kelly (1st), the chair of the committee, chastised officials for offering scant details on the controversial stadium rebuild’s current status. But, Dave Davis, the University’s senior executive director of Neighborhood and Community Relations, said many details are still up in the air. “We are not the construction manager or experts in that area,” Davis said. “Besides litigating what we can and can’t talk about — just having a very conscientious and courteous conversation issue — even if we were to raise that right now, we don’t have that specific expertise to answer those questions.” Last month, demolition crews rolled into the Ryan Field site, dropping off equipment and
Recycle Me
construction materials in front of the dormant stadium. Still, the four-month demolition of NU athletics’ nearly century-old citadel requires a permit from the city’s Building and Inspection Services Division to begin. The project has not received the demolition permit yet, according to Luke Figora, NU’s chief operating officer and vice president for operations. The byzantine permit process involves multiple layers of review by city staff. “I would defer to the city on the status of permits,” Figora said, adding that the project’s overall timeline remains unchanged even if the piece-by-piece demolition has no definite start date. Davis and Figora said Wednesday they aim to improve communication with residents as the demolition proceeds. NU will soon update its Rebuild Ryan Field website with construction updates, and the University will also unveil a dedicated phone line for residents’ concerns, they said. However, their terse responses about the demolition itself drew brickbats from Kelly. “I’m discouraged when I hear both of you looking for ways to avoid touching on topics here,
SPC Board Chair Byrne: We will intercede in student tampering charges By JOHN BYRNE
chair of students publishing company board of directors
Editor’s Note: This letter was published Tuesday night, before State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced her intention to drop charges against two Northwestern students allegedly involved in the tampering case.
Shun Graves/The Daily Northwestern
Demolition crews rolled in about two weeks ago at Ryan Field, but the actual start of razing the football stadium remains up in the air.
like, ‘Maybe it doesn’t quite touch the parking lot, so we’re not going to talk about it,’” she said. “I would think you would embrace talking about anything that neighbors are concerned about or want to talk about at this committee.” Kelly emerged as a prominent
critic of the Ryan Field rebuild in the run-up to the City Council’s narrow approval of the project last year. She alleged she had been excluded from discussing the city’s agreement with Northwestern and
» See COMMITTEE, page 6
To the Northwestern Community: Just a few days ago, most of you had no idea of our existence. Now, after a change.org petition, letters to the editors of campus publications, an editorial, board statements, social media posts, calls for boycotts, more letters to the board, and now local and national news media coverage, I thought it might be good to introduce the Students Publishing Company Board of Directors. We are part of the Northwestern community – 13 volunteers
who are students, faculty, staff members and alumni – including four former editors-in-chief of The Daily Northwestern. Our primary role is to manage the business of the paper, including significant fundraising, and select editors-in-chief who have the talent and wits to run a thriving, independent newsroom. Each board member loves what we do as the collective nonprofit “publisher” of what we consider the best student newspaper in the country. We owe you a fact-filled explanation of what’s been happening since several hundred copies of The Daily were tampered with on October 25, 2023. And we need to express our regret for the unintended consequences of our actions since that tampering, not the least of which has been the harm to the students criminally charged in connection with the incident, as well as the distress over it in our own newsroom. You’ve probably already heard about the tampering, which involved wrapping several hundred copies of The Daily
» See LETTER, page 6
INSIDE: Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | Classifieds & Puzzles 6 | Sports 8