The Daily Northwestern Monday, February 24, 2020
DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Scan this QR code to listen to our latest podcast: The Altars discuss their inspiration, rehearsal dynamics, and music.
8 SPORTS/Women’s Basketball
Wildcats notch their seventh straight win
Find us online @thedailynu 4 OPINION/Letter to the Editor
The Garage can be valuable for start-ups
Lawsuit: Cook, police at fault
City police chief says posts were mistake
Resident sues for $1 million in damages
On Feb. 17, Cook posted confidential info on Snapchat
By JACOB FULTON
the daily northwestern @jacobnfulton1
By JACOB FULTON
the daily northwestern @jacobnfulton1
Evanston police chief Demitrous Cook publicly apologized in a Friday morning press conference for posting photos that included confidential information to Snapchat on the evening of Feb. 17. Cook posted photos of official police documents including names, images, addresses and birthdates of at least 30 of Evanston Police Department’s known subjects. Notes such as “DOA” (dead on arrival), “in custody” and “HIV” were written next to photos. The photos, which were reportedly taken for Cook’s own use, were posted to his personal Snapchat story at approximately 6 p.m. that night. Cook said he was saving the photos for review to familiarize himself with the names and faces of subjects for possible future investigations. He initially received the documents, which featured exclusively black men, in conjunction with an ongoing investigation. Cook said he took the photos on the app because he preferred the camera quality, viewing it as superior to his phone’s regular camera application, and the posts were accidental. He said he intended to save them to his device, and was informed by a colleague less than two hours after the photos had been publicly posted to his Snapchat story instead. “I own this mistake and I want to apologize to the community and to anyone who may have been impacted,” Cook said in a statement. “It was never my intent to cause any harm or pain.” Cook, who served as a » See SNAPCHAT, page 5
High 38 Low 34
Murphy on the ballroom community, set in 1980s New York City. For Members Only invites a speaker for the State of the Black Union address that engages Northwestern’s
Evanston resident Kevin Logan filed a civil lawsuit against the city, Evanston Police Department and police chief Demitrous Cook on Sunday after Cook posted the mugshots of over 30 of the department’s known subjects to his public Snapchat story. Cook posted the photos around 6 p.m. on Feb. 17. In a Friday press conference, he said the postings were accidental, and he was attempting to save them to his phone. He said he used the Snapchat camera because he preferred its quality to that of his regular phone camera. Logan is suing the defendants for $1 million in damages on eight counts, including defamation, negligence and infliction of emotional distress. EPD declined to comment on the suit. Logan, who is represented
» See JACKSON, page 5
» See SUIT, page 5
Yunkyo Kim/The Daily Northwestern
Dominique Jackson and Weinberg Prof. Alexander Weheliye discuss Jackson’s show, Pose at the State of the Black Union.
Jackson talks ballroom culture, work Pose actress shared with students for FMO’s State of the Black Union By YUNKYO KIM
the daily northwestern @yunkyomoonk
Standing in Lutkin Hall at For Member’s Only’s 2020 State of the Black Union,
actress and author Dominique Jackson said she knew she wanted to work with Ryan Murphy, the “American Horror Story” showrunner after watching the third season. In “American Horror Story: Coven,” a character is burned
at the stake while shouting, “Balenciaga!” Less than ten years later, she starred as Elektra Wintour, a former house mother and champion of the ballrooms, in “Pose,” an Emmywinning series written by
NU Prison Ed. Program receives $1 million grant Mellon Foundation grant to help expand educational opportunities for incarcerated people By ARIANNA CARPATI
the daily northwestern @ariannacarpati1
The Northwestern Prison Education Program received a $1 million grant to expand educational opportunities for incarcerated people. The program began in 2018 and continues to offer courses for college credit at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Ill. [ The Andrew W. Mellon
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
Foundation will provide the grant over the next three years. The money will go toward admitting more students to the program, extending the courses to minimum-security prisons and investments in re-entry programs for students once they are released from prison. In addition, funding will go toward the launch of the first college education program for incarcerated women in Illinois. Jennifer Lackey, a philosophy professor at NU and
director of NPEP, has been teaching courses at Stateville for the past six years. NPEP is the first educational program in prisons to provide college degrees based upon a liberal arts curriculum, including courses in a range of disciplines, including social sciences, fine arts, humanities, and STEM. Studies have shown that although approximately twothirds of previously incarcerated people will return to prison
within three years, receiving education in prison reduces that rate by 43 percent. Additionally, the higher the degree earned, the lower the re-arrest rate is. For those with an associate degree, re-arrest rate is 14 percent; it’s 5.6 percent for those with a bachelor’s degree, and zero percent for those with a master’s degree. Prison-education programs also increase the probability of breaking a cycle of intergenerational poverty and
incarceration. Lackey hopes to expand the program beyond offering educational opportunities, and onto exploring solutions to America’s mass incarceration problem. She hopes to collaborate with NU Pritzker School of Law, the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities and other prison education programs across the country. ariannacarpati2023@u.northwestern.edu
INSIDE: Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | Opinion 4 | Classifieds & Puzzles 6 | Sports 8