The Daily Northwestern — April 4, 2022

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Monday, April 4, 2022

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12 SPORTS/Student Section

9 CAMPUS/Activism

4 A&E/Mental Health

Fans reflect on the return of audiences

Student organizers discuss the impact of pandemic-era activism and community

Student groups take on mental health initiatives

High 52 Low 36

TWO YEARS LATER Read Northwestern community members’ reflections on page 10

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INSIDE: Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | Arts and Entertainment 4 | Classifieds & Puzzles 10 | Sports 12

2

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2022

AROUND TOWN

Increased community aid to continue post-COVID

By AVANI KALRA

the daily northwestern @avanidkalra

When the pandemic started, Evanston Public Library’s Communications and Marketing Director Jenette Sturges found herself struggling to digitize the library’s large catalog of in-person resources with very little notice.

Now, she said she and her colleagues at EPL are able to offer more programming than was previously possible.

As COVID-19 restrictions gradually lift in Evanston and across the country, Sturges said the library will continue offering some of its digital spaces in addition to its physical ones.

EPL joins many community groups and institutions around Evanston in continuing programs initially created to accommodate stay-at-home orders and other pandemic-related health concerns.

“Our students, and our younger students in particular, now have more options than ever,” Sturges said. “Things really do work well on Zoom.”

These expanded options are not beneficial to just young children, Sturges said. Evanston residents of all ages are able to attend talks and book clubs in an online format.

Over the course of the pandemic, EPL began author talks with Illinois Library Present, a statewide collaboration among over 200 public libraries — something Sturges said wouldn’t have been possible without Zoom. Illinois Library Present hosts evenings in which authors talk about their writing processes and life experiences.

EPL and ILP will host Nick Offerman of Parks and Recreation on April 27, an event Sturges said is best suited for an online format. Sturges said the opportunity to offer both online and in-person opportunities led to higher quality programming.

The community response has been overwhelmingly positive, Sturges said, and EPL plans to continue offering joint programming with other libraries across the state.

The library’s extended online programming will include online tutorials and videos for library resources and programs. Sturges said last year,

EPL ran its annual “Cardboard Carnival” online, an activity where students build an arcade game out of cardboard to learn about engineering and programming.

Though it will offer its Cardboard Carnival in person again this year, EPL plans to upload video explainers to YouTube for students who may not be able to make it to the library regularly.

Tech tutorials will also be available for adults –– Sturges said EPL will upload more tutorials in Spanish and continue to emphasize ebooks and other downloadables.

“Even as the pandemic eases, we will be continuing to invest in those resources and make sure people know they are available,” she said. “We’re adding more of basically any opportunity we find where we can make it accessible and available over a computer.”

For Mary Beth Roth at Interfaith Action of Evanston, the pandemic revealed new possibilities for the organization. She helps coordinate “Producemobile,” which delivers fresh fruits and vegetables to Evanston residents.

The Producemobile has been operational for almost a decade, and is centrally coordinated by the Greater Chicago Food Depository but relies on local volunteers.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, it was unsafe for older volunteers to work, and many people in their 30s, 40s and 50s stepped in since they were no longer commuting to work,” she said.

Roth said involvement from new parts of the community built a sense of camaraderie in Evanston.

Other organizations, like food justice initiative Evanston Grows, experienced a similar collaboration, partnering with other community institutions to serve the city.

During the pandemic, Evanston Grows developed a relationship with social workers at Evanston/Skokie District 65, according to Evanston Grows Board President Jean Fies.

Through that partnership, Evanston Grows is able to directly reach District 65 students and families who are eligible for free and reduced lunch.

Evanston Grows also expanded its operations during the pandemic to accommodate increased

Illustration by Olivia Abeyta

Resource distribution programs developed during the pandemic have found a permanent place in the daily work of some Evanston organizations.

need. The organization partnered with EPL, having quarterly operations meetings to ensure other Evanston residents were aware of their services even without school-aged children in the house.

“Those relationships as a whole really appeared during COVID-19,” Fies said. “All of the organizations appreciate sharing space and conversations with others who have the same objectives.”

Fies said COVID-19 made it clear just how life-saving produce distribution can be since some residents lack consistent access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Now, she said, there is a national supply chain disruption, and produce prices are skyrocketing.

As a result, Evanston Grows decided to focus on growing produce locally in order to cut out distribution costs. To sustain this practice, the organization is looking at new sites to develop, grow, harvest and pass out produce. The organization has plans to develop a site at Eggleston Park, and Fies said it is working with faith-based groups

to develop vacant land in the city.

Although these high prices are not direct consequences of the pandemic, according to Fies, the last two years helped the program identify where there is a specific need for fresh produce.

“One thing we learned during the pandemic certainly is that having fresh produce on a weekly basis, or some other reliable and consistent basis, is very helpful in health equity issues,” Fies said.

“The pandemic clearly highlighted many of these inequities in who it most affected.”

Looking to the future, Fies said she hopes to develop a relationship with Northwestern to further expand Evanston produce cultivation and distribution.

“It’s important to make this as widely available as possible because if people have access to healthier choices and the ability to choose what they’re eating, there are real health benefits,” she said. avanikalra2025@u.northwestern.edu

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2022

3

ON CAMPUS

Researchers make COVID-19 discoveries

The Daily Northwestern

By NICOLE MARKUS

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Wearable COVID-19 monitors

Nanoparticle-based COVID-19 vaccines

NU researchers developed a new nanoparticlebased vaccine against COVID-19, which focuses on the presentation of components key to a successful vaccine to the body.

“It might seem rather intuitive, because any drug, any pill, they all have a very unique structure,” said chemistry postdoctoral fellow Michelle Teplensky, a co-first author of the study. “Structure plays a very

sports@dailynorthwestern.com Olivia Abeyta/The Daily Northwestern

The Daily examined some of Northwestern’s most innovative and influential COVID-19 research.

important role, but it wasn’t something that people in vaccine design actually focused on.”

Teplensky said this vaccine targets the receptorbinding domain, a small portion of COVID-19’s spike protein, which is the part of the virus that ultimately leads to infection.

This unique method, termed rational vaccinology, could provide a host of benefits, including reduced side effects, more potent delivery and a maximized response, Teplensky said.

While the vaccine is not yet in clinical trials, it has already shown a positive response in mice. Teplensky said the patented technology could be used to fight future pandemics.

“We’ve already got the structure figured out, we’ve already shown we can get great immune responses,” Teplensky said. “We’re thinking a bit more down the road, demonstrating that this is a platform.”

Large-scale testing

To monitor COVID-19 infections within populations, NU researchers are working on new diagnostic and antibody testing.

Typically, antibody testing requires venous blood tests, but anthropology Prof. Thomas McDade and his team developed testing that features a minimally invasive finger prick. The filter paper used preserves

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As the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed scientists across the world to new frontiers of medical innovations, Northwestern researchers have been among the leading contributors.

Over the past two years, NU scientists have laid the groundwork for testing, vaccines and environmental monitoring in the case of future pandemics.

The Daily examined some of the University’s notable research accomplishments since the beginning of the pandemic and spoke to the people behind them.

Healthcare workers can remotely monitor patients in recovery with a wearable COVID-19 sensor that NU researchers have developed.

The soft, flexible sensors sit at the base of the wearer’s neck at the suprasternal notch. McCormick Prof.

John Rogers, who led the project, said the location is optimal because it is “at the crossroads” of important bodily functions like the respiratory, cardiac and neural systems.

“It’s kind of like a Fitbit for the neck,” Rogers said.

According to Rogers, the sensors measure coughing, a vital indicator of respiratory illness that hospitals often don’t track. As a monitoring tool, he said the device created “peace of mind” for patients worried about self-monitoring symptoms after being released from the hospital.

Rogers said the technology could be applied to other pandemics and respiratory illnesses.

“Being able to (track vitals remotely) has opened up all kinds of different collaborations,” Rogers said.

“In fact, we’re kind of strapped to just keep up with the demand.”

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the blood, allowing for an easier test.

“Our approach combines the convenience and the safety of collecting blood in people’s homes by themselves with the rigorous and accurate quantification that’s possible in a lab,” McDade said. “It’s sort of the best of both worlds.”

The test can determine the difference between antibodies created by vaccines and those created by infection so that users could determine whether they had ever had COVID-19, he said. Scientists can gather information about large numbers of people at relatively low cost, he added.

McCormick Prof. and principal investigator Julius Lucks worked with his team to develop a one-step diagnostic tool that could similarly be used for monitoring. The goal of the test is to be as accurate as a PCR test, but more easily accessible, Lucks said.

Researchers are testing the tool to see if it can monitor a population’s wastewater, which allows for infection detection two weeks ahead of potential hospitalization, he said.

“This could be a platform for surveillance and monitoring of immunity with future pandemics,” McDade said. nicolemarkus2025@u.northwestern.edu

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4 THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2022

A&E arts & entertainment

Isabelle Butera/The Daily Northwestern

Performance groups integrate mental health practices

By AUDREY HETTLEMAN

daily senior staffer @audreyhettleman

Communication senior Samara Malik’s freshman winter was anything but stress-free. With five classes and as much theatre as she could handle, she said her work-life balance was unsustainable.

“I was miserable,” Malik said. “It was to the point where I think that if that had continued, I wouldn’t have made it to my fourth year.”

Then the pandemic began, and classes, rehearsals and performances were moved online. Malik said that break forced her to learn the importance of not overextending herself and how important mental health is to creating great theatre. Many theatre groups have since reimagined how to integrate good mental health practices into performance life.

Communication sophomore Jason Sekili joined a cappella group Extreme Measures his freshman winter. He said it was difficult to stay motivated to rehearse when the group was singing

over Zoom. In lieu of its typical in-person performances, Extreme Measures put together videos, featuring each individual recording their piece, which were then mixed together.

Now the program’s president, Sekili said this year the group has taken advantage of in-person practices and performances, emphasizing community over perfect performance.

“I’ve definitely seen a huge change looking at our rehearsals and our performances this year, just being in person, being able to sing together,” Sekili said.

“There’s a huge difference between everyone singing muted on Zoom on their laptop compared to getting to sing in a circle and really listen to everyone.”

Extreme Measures recently updated its attendance policy to allow space for members to take time for their mental health, Sekili said. Even so, he said he has seen an uptick in how many people attend rehearsal, which he attributed to the group’s sense of community.

Weinberg junior Maddie Banich joined Graffiti Dancers just before the pandemic started. Since the start of the pandemic, she said her “social

battery” has had less capacity than it did when she was a freshman, so dancing six days a week was no longer as effortless as it once was.

“Regardless of whether or not they’re in the dance community, people are much more open about asking for mental health days or just asking for time away,” Banich said. “It’s an interesting balance because I want to be dancing in-person a lot because I missed it so much, but I also care a lot more about balancing my life.”

Banich, who now leads the group as artistic director, said she’s noticed a similar trend within the rest of her group, as attendance is not at prepandemic levels. The executive team is trying to reimagine its attendance policy, she said, implementing measures like allowing members to skip one or two practices no-questions-asked each quarter. Leaders also plan to host more social events that will encourage the sense of community that initially made Banich so committed to Graffiti.

As a woman of color, Malik said she’s often felt like she has to do more work than her white peers to be recognized at the same level. During last year’s

festival, “Visions and Voices, A Black Playwrights’ Reading Series,” Malik said students of color felt like they had to run “double duty,” working on the festival in addition to their other productions.

She said she hopes Northwestern theatre can do a better job at ensuring POC voices are heard, while also considering how its methods for doing so can have a positive impact on mental health.

Malik is directing her senior thesis, “The Haunting of Hill House,” which is set to premiere this week. Through her directing, she said she hopes to impart the importance of not taking on more than you can handle, even if that means missing out on a show or two.

“In the pandemic, I think it was a lot of just creating art for art’s sake and there’s a lot less pressure on (needing) to make this perfect thing,” Malik said. “It was more like, we just want to make something that feels worthwhile.

Post-pandemic, it’s been a lot of passion projects and saying ‘Yes’ to the silly ideas.” audreyhettleman2024@u.northwestern.edu

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MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2022

5

Artists adapt to increased free time and new struggles

By KARA PEELER

daily senior staffer @karapeeler

Some artists, and their relationships with their craft, have grown and evolved in the two years since the pandemic first struck.

Quarantine and restrictions have meant more time for art, but even the creative world isn’t immune from the virus’s impact.

For Medill freshman Angel Jordan, the increased free time during quarantine encouraged her crafts.

Jordan began painting more and even learned how to crochet during the initial phases of the pandemic and said this form of artistic creation was comforting.

“I am someone who is very social,” Jordan said. “I need to interact with people. And when you’re in a pandemic, you can’t really do that.”

One of her favorite projects in the last two years was using her dead pointe shoes as painting canvases. In honor of the anniversary of her studio’s spring dance show, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” Jordan made a character-based pointe for every character. She also made miniature wardrobes to present them.

But this boost was not the same for all of her art forms. As a ballet dancer, Jordan said her inspiration was lacking during the shutdown.

“I had a weird relationship with dance during the pandemic,” she said. “I had the space to, but didn’t really have the ideas.”

After the initial stages of the pandemic, and especially since arriving at Northwestern, Jordan said she’s gotten more into dance, with more access to studio space and more classes available.

Weinberg freshman Ava Earl, a singer-songwriter, said she is also familiar with these lulls in motivation to produce songs. She said she had writer’s block during quarantine and described feelings of loneliness, isolation and confusion.

“For a long time, I didn’t (produce new songs) because I feel like I draw a lot on my relationships with people,” Earl said. “I really didn’t have that.”

She also said the pandemic slowed her release process, despite having songs written and ready

before the virus hit the U.S. However, she said this experience isn’t entirely unique to the pandemic because she often experiences cycles of creativity and then lulls.

During the pandemic, Earl released her 2021 album “The Roses,” along with an array of singles.

Without as much social interaction to spark song ideas, Earl found new sources of inspiration. She began taking inspiration from fiction rather than interactions with others.

Earl reread “Enchanted Forest Chronicles,” a book series she first read when she was younger.

She then wrote her 2021 single “Cimorene,” named for a character from the book. She said she also drew influence for the song from Taylor Swift’s album “Folklore” when it was released.

“I wanted to create something similar to a lot of those songs for me, that created the same mental images as the book had,” Earl said. “I wanted to make something that sounded really whimsical and spiritual and magical.”

Together, the book series and album motivated Earl’s songwriting. This was an adjustment from her previous inspiration coming from reallife experiences.

Jordan, who is also a writer, similarly altered her creative process.

“Being in isolation, it expanded my creativity a ton because there was a time where I was literally living by myself,” Jordan said.

This new practice of visualizing and creating art independently bleeds into her other crafts, she said, helping her make all kinds of art.

Jordan and Earl aren’t the only ones whose artistic endeavors transformed after quarantine. Weinberg and Bienen junior Jade Zhang, who plays the violin, said her experience with music was deeply impacted by the pandemic.

Music classes were hit hard without the ability for musicians to rehearse together.

“Personally, I’m a musician and the reason why I love music is because I love playing with other people,” Zhang said. “And that was the core of just what was taken away.”

Instead, Zhang had more time to focus on technique, she said, but she also said she and

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Photo courtesy of Jade Zhang

Jade Zhang playing the violin. Zhang is still pursuing a double degree, but does not plan to have a career in music.

her orchestra conductor noticed an overall decreased skill level in playing as a group.

Navigating music alone was a challenge, but she used tools like Zoom to practice with peers and find motivation to play, she said.

Though she is still working toward a dual degree, Zhang said she decided she isn’t pursuing music as a career.

That doesn’t mean she is giving it up altogether though, as she will still pick up her instrument in her free time and for class.

“It was realizing that I can live without it, and that it can be a hobby,” Zhang said. “I love music, but that doesn’t mean I need to pursue it professionally.”

Annie Xia contributed reporting. karapeeler2025@u.northwestern.edu

arts & entertainment Editor Audrey Hettleman Assistant Editors Andres Buenahora Annia Xia Designer Wendy Zhu Staff Kara Peeler

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THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

A close look at how the pandemic impacted NU life

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Just over two years ago, classes went remote, most students went home and Northwestern's campuses began to feel the effects of COVID-19. The Daily summarized major COVID-related developments as they impacted students, faculty and staff.

— Nora Collins March 4-6, 2020: University puts limitations on travel As COVID-19 spread to more than 40 countries, University administrators canceled all University-sponsored international spring break trips and discouraged nonessential international travel for faculty and staff.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also issued Level 3 Travel Health Advisories, canceling all University-related travel to China, Iran, Italy, and South Korea, and NU announces a new self-isolation policy for those traveling to the U.S from other countries.

Administrators canceled Dance Marathon two days prior to its planned start date. A Northwestern student studying abroad in Florence, Italy returns to the U.S. and quarantines for potential exposure.

June 19, 2020: Graduation events are moved online Commencement ceremonies and graduationrelated events were held online for the Class of 2020. The University announced it intends to hold in-person graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2020 in Spring 2021.

Aug. 28 - Sept. 1, 2020: University clarifies plans for fall Administrators announced updated plans for Fall Quarter 2020, stating first- and second-year undergraduates are not allowed on campus and are discouraged from moving to the Evanston area during Fall Quarter. NU offered incoming freshmen and transfer students expanded deferral options and reduced tuition by 10% in response to feedback regarding Fall Quarter changes.

April 12, 2021: Students become vaccine-eligible, following faculty and staff NU students became eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. NU faculty and staff became eligible in the weeks prior, by March 29 at the latest.

May 12, 2021: NU announces vaccine mandate Administrators announced students must be vaccinated against COVID-19 for the 20212022 academic year. Fully vaccinated individuals were no longer required to wear masks outdoors,

March 15-26, 2020: NU community adjusts to quarantined life March 11-13, 2020: University begins to transition online, announces first COVID-19 case University President Morton Schapiro announced all Spring Quarter classes will be held remotely for at least three weeks and Spring Break would be extended by one week.

Northwestern’s Global Learning Office canceled Spring Quarter study abroad programs and advised graduate students to reassess their travel.

The Big Ten Conference canceled all competitions through the end of the academic year.

University administrators strongly encouraged faculty members to not hold in-person finals and group gatherings of 50 or more people where social distancing is not possible were canceled.

As NU announced its first confirmed COVID19 case, Associated Student Government transitioned to online meetings.

Jan. 3, 2021: Undergraduates are welcomed to campus

Former Provost Jonathan Holloway announced all undergraduate professors must make finals optional. Governor J.B. Pritzker issued a “stayat-home” order for the state.

Schapiro issued a statement to all NU students regarding cancellations of study abroad, Dance Marathon and University plans for Spring Quarter. Summer 2020 study abroad programs were canceled. Over 3,300 students signed a petition for partial refunds for Spring Quarter tuition, resulting in undergraduates receiving refunds for Spring Quarter housing, dining and fees.

“I wish I knew when things will return to normal,” Schapiro wrote in his March 20 letter to NU students. “The pandemic has been likened to a war, and no one can credibly say when it will end … My most fervent prayer is to see you all again soon.”

Freshmen and sophomores moved to campus for the first time. January Wildcat Wellness, a modified quarantine period for students, ran from Jan. 3 2021 to Jan. 17 2021. During Wildcat Wellness, all classes and co-curricular activities are remote while students isolated in their residences, completed COVID-19 tests on-campus and ate via grab-and-go dining services to avoid congregate settings.

At the end of Wildcat Wellness, classes began meeting mostly online, though some were hybrid or in person. All undergraduate students had to be tested weekly, consistent with Fall Quarter testing guidelines.

“We look forward to the start of Winter Quarter, and whether you will study from afar, return to campus, or come to campus as students for the first time, know that you are cherished members of our Northwestern community,” Provost Kathleen Hagerty, Vice President for Student Affairs Julie Payne-Kirchmeier and current Vice President for Operations Luke Figora wrote in a joint statement.

Sept. 22-30, 2021: Wildcat Welcome, classes resume in-person Wildcat Welcome activities for the Class of 2025 and transfer students took place in person.

All undergraduates were welcomed to return to campus, and were required to complete one COVID-19 test, regardless of vaccination status.

Masking requirements remained in effect in all indoor campus spaces. NU researchers developed a 100% accurate, antigen-based COVID-19 test.

December 20, 2021: University announces COVID-19 booster requirement In response to the spread of the omicron variant, NU announced a COVID-19 booster requirement as well as a Wildcat Wellness period in January at the beginning of Winter Quarter.

February 28-March 15, 2022: Masks become optional on campus Masks became optional starting Feb. 28 in administrative spaces, research labs, public spaces, public events, athletic facilities, residence halls, libraries and the Norris University Center . Masks remained required in classrooms, lab-based classes, University health settings and campus shuttles until March 15, when masks became optional. The University still recommended masking in areas where social distancing is not feasible.

MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2022

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

7

Two years of COVID-19 through the lens of local public policy

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For the first time since 2020, Evanston residents have the option to shop and attend school entirely maskless.

Today's conditions are the result of over two years of drastic changes in public policy.

As COVID-19 infection rates fluctuate, the city has sought to balance protecting citizens from the virus, supplementing revenue losses and rehabilitating the local economy.

The Daily took a look back at the public policy changes that have shaped Evanston's COVID-19 response from March 2020 to now.

— Lily Carey March 2020: Renters call for protection Passed shortly after Gov. JB Pritzker’s shelterin-place order on March 20, Illinois’ eviction moratorium prevented landlords from evicting residents if they were unable to pay rent. The state’s moratorium came in response to Illinois residents voicing concerns about their abilities to afford rent amid pandemic-related salary reductions and mass layoffs. It ultimately expired in October 2021.

Evanston residents also petitioned for rent freezes, which would have prevented landlords from raising rent rates. Though Illinois had a longstanding ban on local governments enforcing rent control policies, State Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-39th) introduced an amendment in April 2021 enabling municipalities to enact rent controls if local voters approved. The bill is now in discussion with the House Rules Committee.

March 2020: E-learning begins in Evanston Evanston/Skokie School District 65 and Evanston Township High School/District 202 abruptly shifted to online learning in March 2020.

ETHS continued remote learning for most of the 2020-21 school year, switching to a hybrid model and returning to in-person teaching in April 2021. D65 brought Pre-K through fifth grade students back for hybrid learning in February 2021, allowing for both in-person and virtual options. The decision to return divided parents, teachers and students, many of whom cited safety concerns about sending their children to school after nearly a year at home.

While ETHS and District 65 returned in person for the 2021-22 school year, they briefly returned to online learning following a surge in cases in December 2021 due to the omicron variant. Now, with students back in person for the spring and mask-optional in classrooms, District 65 and ETHS continue to monitor conditions to protect children and families with weekly testing.

December 2020: Evanston reflects on business closures Andy’s Frozen Custard, Barnes & Noble, Burger King, Century 12 movie theatre, La Macchina Cafe, Panera Bread, Unicorn Cafe, Whiskey Thief Tavern – the list of Evanston businesses that have closed since the start of the pandemic goes on.

The Daily reported in 2020 that over 70 of the city’s businesses closed in the first year of the pandemic alone, bringing drastic changes to the city’s commerce areas. Throughout 2020, local business owners struggled with an economic recession, shuttered storefronts and competition from larger online businesses like Amazon as some residents opted out of shopping in-person.

Though the city created several recovery funds for businesses, Evanston still struggles to bring back storefronts and shoppers.The city’s Economic Development Committee is now working on attracting office tenants to boost daytime worker traffic to the downtown area.

December 2020: City budget suffers losses A city typically reliant on shoppers and visitors to boost revenue, Evanston suffered financially during 2020. Without major income from sales taxes, hotel taxes, parking tickets and recreation program fees, the city lost nearly $11.6 million in revenue during the fiscal year.

To offset these losses, the city laid off eight fulltime workers, furloughed employees and instituted a hiring freeze on non-essential employees.

Though the 2021 city budget included more layoffs, revenues have since increased and the city budget has largely recovered.

May 2021: Council opens discussion on hazard pay Last May, Ald. Devon Reid (8th) proposed an ordinance calling for Evanston to issue additional payments to grocery chain employees who worked during the peak of the pandemic. Workers would receive an additional $6 for every hour worked during Phases 1 through 3 of the state’s Restore Illinois program, and $3.50 for every hour worked through Phase 4.

While City Council initially voted to move the ordinance forward, some councilmembers and business owners raised concerns that providing hazard pay would place financial burden on city businesses.

In June 2021, City Council failed to pass the proposed ordinance, a decision Reid later attributed to low citywide COVID-19 positivity rates at the time.

Councilmembers revived the ordinance again this January, and the Economic Development Committee is now discussing it for public review at a future session of city council.

March 2021: American Rescue Plan Act spurs recovery Enacted by the federal government in March 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act is a $1.9 trillion federal plan designed to help state and local governments, among other institutions, financially recover from the pandemic. Evanston received approximately $43 million in ARPA funds to offset economic losses, fulfill public health needs and establish a recovery plan.

The city received half of the funds in May 2021, with the second half coming in May 2022. City government will have until December 2024 to designate which civic projects will receive ARPA funds.

Councilmembers have already used ARPA funds to provide masks, vaccination and testing sites for residents. Some funding has also been allocated to longer-term projects, including the Climate Action and Resilience Plan. CARP has set a goal for city operations to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

City Council continues to debate how to allocate these funds, which has sparked some controversy over which projects should be prioritized. Approved last month, the city’s ARPA funding plan outlines several fund categories, including public health, infrastructure and revenue replacement.

Present day: Vaccines facilitate reopening As vaccines and boosters became available throughout the last year, Evanston and Chicago residents scrambled to find local vaccination sites.

When infection rates climbed again in December 2021 with the onset of the omicron variant, the city instituted a vaccination mandate for indoor dining sites and encouraged people to continue getting vaccinated and boosted.

In February, the city lifted its mask and vaccine mandate in accordance with state guidelines, citing a trend in decreasing COVID-19 cases. While school districts and some local businesses are still encouraging patrons and students to mask, the city is proceeding with its optional policy as infection rates decline.

Today, 97.1% of Evanston residents over the age of 5 have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, with 87.7% of the city being fully vaccinated. With two years of pandemic policy growth behind it, city leaders and officials are looking toward the future, working towards economic recovery while prioritizing community health.

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THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2022

Evanston businesses react to lifted mask regulations

By AVIVA BECHKY

the daily northwestern @avivabechky

When Evanston lifted its vaccination and indoor mask requirements Feb. 28, early childhood center Little Green Tree House decided to wait to see COVID-19 numbers before removing its own mask mandate. “ We just wanted to make sure that there wasn’t immediate backlash of a spike in COVID positive cases,” Betsy Taylor, the school’s enrollment administrator, said. “ We were just doing our due diligence for our parents to make sure that we … were keeping (it) as safe as possible for their children.”

Three weeks later on March 21, she said the center lifted its mask mandate for students and employees.

The city’s Health & Human Services Department stopped requiring masks to be worn in indoor public spaces Feb. 28. It lifted the proof of vaccination requirement for business patrons the same day.

At city-run community centers, mask and vaccine mandates were lifted promptly Feb. 28 in accordance with city policy. However, local businesses have adapted to the changed protocols in a variety of ways, putting their own spin on masking and vaccination policy as they contend with questions of public health and customer comfort.

“Today’s announcement isn’t a declaration of victory over COVID-19,” Mayor Daniel Biss wrote in a Feb. 23 announcement. “We have to assess our policies based on the expectation that they will be kept in place for a long time.”

Audrey Thompson, the city’s interim Parks & Recreation director, said the community reaction to lifting the mandate was largely one of relief, especially from employees who no longer had to ask patrons to put on a mask.

“We are operating normally now,” Thompson said. “The only difference is if a person wants to wear a mask, they can wear a mask. I don’t think that will ever change.”

Jeron Dorsey, the recreation manager at the Robert Crown Community Center, said he was surprised by the number of people who still wore masks in the facility. He estimates about half of patrons have continued to do so.

The center also offers preschool programs, where he said most kids are wearing masks on the recommendation of facility staff. “ We were surprised by the amount of people who were still masked up in the facility, which was to me a great thing,” he said.

“But we also respected that it was an optional thing.”

While private businesses are no longer required to mandate vaccination and masking by the City of Evanston, some chose to continue enforcing their own mandates, at least temporarily.

The Evanston Art Center, which serves children as well as adults, lifted their mask mandate March 28. Paula Danoff, the president and CEO, said the business still requires students to show proof of vaccination before removing masks.

“We have a lot of children and people in the

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After the city lifted its vaccination and indoor masking mandate Feb. 28, some businesses navigated their own safety measures.

Art Center, it’s a public space, and people are here for several hours at a time, so we just thought it would be the safest thing,” Danoff said.

This past week, she said she hasn’t seen much unmasking. However, some students have begun bringing coffees or other drinks to class — a change from when students weren’t allowed to remove masks to drink in the classroom.

Young children mostly wear their masks well, Danoff said. She said this is likely because, unlike older kids, they don’t have a memory of

when they didn’t have to mask.

Taylor agreed, saying the 3and 4-year-olds she works with at Little Green Tree House kept their masks on without problems.

“They’re just like, this is what we do,” Taylor said.

“And they actually like to use them as accessories. They talk about their masks, like they do with their T-shirts.” avivabechky2025@u.northwestern.edu

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2022

9

Campus activists reflect on pandemic-era organizing

By JOANNA HOU and MAIA PANDEY

the daily northwestern @joannah_11 @maiapandey

Two years ago, despite soaring COVID-19 positivity rates, protests broke out nationwide after police killed George Floyd. At Northwestern that fall — on an otherwise mostly empty campus — community members gathered for more than 30 days of action to abolish University Police and redirect funds toward institutions supporting students of marginalized identities.

NU Community Not Cops is one of several campus activist groups that gained traction after March 2020, even as the pandemic forced activists to organize virtually.

An NUCNC organizer and SESP sophomore who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons said the pandemic highlighted systemic inequities at NU and nationwide.

After its actions throughout fall 2020, NUCNC continued to protest through the spring and hosted a public meeting with administrators. In November 2021, NUCNC protestors joined other campus activists at Ryan Field during a football game.

Still, after an “electric” series of actions last year, the organizer said NUCNC has not been as active in recent months, especially given fluctuations in campus activism as older organizers graduate. But the easing of COVID-19 restrictions adds renewed urgency to NUCNC’s demands, she added.

“It shows the need for community care that’s not rooted in an ableism or carcerality,” the organizer said. Working conditions for immunocompromised students also remain a priority for Northwestern University Graduate Workers, co-chair Rose Werth said. NUGW has hosted spaces for students to vent and discuss how to navigate decreased COVID-19 protections, she said.

“I’ve heard from students who tried to reach out to either AccessibleNU or the Office of

Equity that they have just gotten, ‘Well, there’s nothing we can do,’ or the burden of proving your condition is so high that nothing can actually happen,” Werth said. “It feels like the administration doesn’t care.”

While NUGW was founded in 2016, Werth said the group gained momentum when the pandemic brought light to the University’s treatment of graduate workers. When the University expected STEM graduate students to continue working in person, NUGW held a June 2020 “sick-out” to advocate for a universal funding extension and lab safety protections, among other demands.

“From there, the pandemic wasn’t just affecting laboratory workers. It was affecting everyone,’]” Werth said. “That has turned a lot of students towards unionization.”

Communication junior Lucy London, an organizer with Fossil Free NU, said divestment is a movement where NU is falling behind its peer institutions.

After a year of mostly virtual organizing, Fossil Free hosted an in-person Earth Day March last year.

“People were able to understand how interconnected the pandemic and racism and climate change and all of these issues are,” London said.

At the start of the pandemic, Students Organizing for Labor Rights organizer and SESP junior Neva Legallet said Compass Group told its dining and service workers they would be paid through Spring Quarter 2020. But Compass furloughed hundreds of workers, who were also not guaranteed health insurance.

“These workers at Northwestern, a lot of them live paycheck to paycheck,” Legallet said. “They were abandoned by Northwestern when they needed those paychecks the most in order to support their families and get access to health benefits.”

Dining workers faced challenges with understaffing and low wages before the pandemic. But Legallet said the pandemic highlighted how poorly NU and Compass treated service workers. In the early stages of the pandemic, SOLR shifted its activism to remote and raised mutual aid funds for dining and service workers.

Librarians on campus also unionized for

Evan Robinson-Johnson/The Daily Northwestern

Months after Northwestern shuttered most in-person operations due to the pandemic, NU Community Not Cops hosted over 30 days of actions to advocate for abolishing University Police.

better conditions during the pandemic, creating the Northwestern Library Workers Union, which became officially recognized in December 2021. Jill Waycie, a library assistant, said library workers were disproportionately affected by NU’s pandemic furloughs. She said she was one of about 50 library workers the University placed on unemployment.

“We really had no guarantee that we were going to get our jobs back,” Waycie said.

“Along with being locked down and having a global pandemic, having this insecurity about your job’s status, it was very stressful.”

Waycie said the pandemic was a catalyst for unionizing, especially as it brought issues surrounding work to light globally.

“The unionization, while we have our own issues specifically at the library, I feel like it’s part of a trend that people are looking more closely at what employers can and should be doing for their workers,” Waycie said.

In October 2021, NU dining and service workers voted to ratify a new contract with

Compass. The contract increased worker wages to $19.88 an hour and extended health insurance benefits to all workers.

It was the first time the workers received a raise in more than two years. “ The pandemic has been devastating, but it’s also important to recognize the ways in which it has changed how we treat people,” Legallet said. “My hope is people are more appreciative of all of the people that work to make this community a community.”

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MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2022

Two years later, NU reflects on pandemic impacts

By CAROLINE BREW and JOANNA HOU

the daily northwestern @carolinelbrew @joannah_11

As college-aged Americans started getting vaccinated against COVID-19 in April 2021, third-year comparative literary studies Ph.D. student Raina Bhagat felt helpless. Travel restrictions barred her from returning home to India, and she could only watch from abroad as her loved ones suffered.

“My grandmother got COVID and we were just so afraid,” Bhagat said. “Former professors of mine were hospitalized. Some of my friends from India were running around looking for oxygen for their parents. It was terrifying to know that there was absolutely nothing I could do and I was sitting here and getting vaccinated in a country where vaccines were starting to go to waste.”

Bhagat said her professors taught as if everything was normal, but she struggled to learn as the pandemic took an intense toll on her mental health. More than two years after the first recorded COVID-19 case in the United States, Northwestern community members like Bhagat are still feeling the impacts of lasting grief and learning disruptions, even as the University lifts most pandemic restrictions.

NU closed its doors in mid-March 2020, pivoting to a remote learning model and closing residence halls to most students. While the University invited students back on campus for winter 2021, most classes did not meet in person until that fall.

Many students said the long pause in traditional learning has taken away their college experience.

E x per iences w ith remote learning

Third-year anthropology Ph.D. student Anuranjan Sethi said the quality of his education declined as soon as the University switched to remote learning. As anthropology is a seminar-based subject, Sethi said being online restricted his interactions with colleagues.

Many anthropologists also had to rely on digital and distant observations instead of face-to-face interaction to conduct research, Sethi added.

“Being in your bedroom or your dining room and constantly attending classes (from) there, I think it made (learning) harder and less fulfilling,” Sethi said. Bienen sophomore Fiona

Shonik spent her entire freshman year remote.

As a trumpet player, she said she could not interact with fellow students in ensembles or attend in-person lessons.

At the start of the pandemic, Shonik said many students created multitracks, where they synced up individually-recorded parts to create virtual performances. While these projects taught musicians useful audio editing skills, she said the playing experience wasn’t the same.

“Coming back to playing with other people, it’s such an emotional thing and it’s a way of communication and connection with others,” Shonik said.

Challenges in academic fields, virtual teaching

Remote classes also took a toll on instructors, some professors and teaching assistants said. Spanish Prof. Denise Bouras said while she experimented with incorporating technology into teaching, the shift to online was “very challenging.”

With young children at home, Bouras said she struggled to balance her family life and work life. The pandemic sent her children into remote learning and created new distractions. “(My three-year-old) just wanted to come to my door, and I ended up creating this visual image of me on the computer so she could understand that I’m in there working because otherwise for her that was a totally foreign concept,” Bouras said.

The shift was particularly difficult for professors teaching classes that require hands-on components. Communication Prof. Ines Sommer taught an introductory course for graduate students about the technical aspects of filmmaking during the pandemic.

“To demonstrate things you hold it up to your laptop camera,” she said. “The students came away with being able to operate all the equipment, but I think it was pretty challenging.”

Sethi had his first experiences as a teaching assistant during the remote learning period of the pandemic.

He said his interactions with students felt inorganic, so he was happy to return to in-person instruction.

“There’s a different kind of energy which fills the classroom when we are all together in that same place,” Sethi said. “The engagement for the students that I was observing was better.”

Living in two worlds

Weinberg junior Nathan Andriessen, an international student from Indonesia, was one of

the few students who stayed on campus after students were sent home in March 2020.

Because of Indonesia’s strict quarantine restrictions, Andriessen has only traveled home once during his three years at NU. “My parents are at the age where they’re at a higher risk for COVID so I was worried for them, but hopefully I’ll be able to go back home again soon,” Andriessen said.

Meanwhile, McCormick senior Ploen Voraprukpisut spent the rest of her sophomore and junior year at home. As an international student from Thailand, Voraprukpisut is usually only able to go home once or twice a year, so she initially appreciated the time she got to spend with her family.

However, as she watched her friends move back to Evanston, she said she began to feel disconnected from the college experience.

“I missed on a huge part of campus life — my whole sophomore, junior year,” Voraprukpisut said. “It’s the middle years that make your college experience.”

Voraprukpisut said she did not want to go back to campus at all in fall 2021 and even considered taking a gap year to avoid returning.

After being apart from the NU community for so long, Voraprukpisut feared her friends wouldn’t remember her.

But when she did return, Voraprukpisut said she reconnected with the community by reaching out to new people and joining more clubs.

“Being back home for so long made me forget all the fun experiences I made at Northwestern,” Voraprukpisut said. “Coming back really made me realize I really like college and I shouldn’t take it for granted.”

Bhagat said she has more complicated feelings about the return to normalcy on campus.

While NU and her peers became more relaxed about COVID-19 policies, Bhagat said she couldn’t celebrate knowing things weren’t going well in India.

When she visited India in December 2021 for the first time since the pandemic began, both her parents caught COVID-19 and she spent her entire visit nursing them back to health.

“If my sister and I hadn’t been visiting, my parents probably would have had to have been admitted (to the hospital),” Bhagat said.

“It was not the going home experience that I envisioned.”

She wishes NU understood the unique circumstances some students have faced and said University accommodations, like credit/ no credit grading, were helpful but too shortlived. Even though the U.S. has started moving on from COVID restrictions, Bhagat said NU should be more cognizant that its students are not all going at the same pace.

Takeaways and looking forward

At the beginning of her senior year, Voraprukpisut planned to return to Thailand to work after graduating. But after enjoying her first quarter back on campus, she changed her plans.

“I’m so not ready to go into the real world, especially

because I d i d n’ t have that time (to experience college),” Voraprukpisut said. “In Thailand, we had curfews and we were in lockdown for basically the whole two years, so I felt like I didn’t grow at all.”

As a result, Voraprukpisut decided to attend graduate school at NU, which she said she hopes will give her more time to grow before entering the workforce.

During the course of the pandemic, four in 10 U.S. adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder. While some students said their mental health suffered, others said the pandemic gave them an opportunity to prioritize mental health.

“My mental health through COVID got so much better because of the amount of free time that I’ve had,” Shonik said. “It was the first time where I had the opportunity to go to therapy regularly and it was the first time that I had time. I’m grateful that I took that opportunity to work on myself.”

For professors, the pandemic impacted some of their approaches to teaching. Communication Prof. Sommer said while it was difficult to keep students engaged over Zoom, she has also learned some strategies she hopes to incorporate into in-person instruction as well, like small group discussions.

Sommer said she felt exhilarated teaching her first in-person class since the pandemic started.

“I remember vividly the first class where we were back in-person that students were almost giddy,” Sommer said. “They were just sitting there like, ‘Whoa, we’ve spent our first year of grad school on Zoom and now we’re here next to each other.’” carolinebrew2024@u.northwestern.edu joannahou2025@u.northwestern.edu

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THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2022

11

Two years of COVID-19, as told through the data

By ALEX HARRISON and ANGELI MITTAL

the daily northwestern @alexhairysun @amittal27

It’s been over two years since the first confirmed COVID-19 case at Northwestern. The Daily compiled testing metrics for NU, Evanston and the state, along with the context of mandates and phased reopenings, to provide a full account of the pandemic since campus reopened in Winter Quarter 2021.

Winter and Spring Quarters 2021 (January 1, 2021 to June 10, 2021) After a two-quarter hiatus from campus, students entered Winter Quarter 2021 with a twoweek Wildcat Wellness quarantine period and weekly testing requirements. Campus was not at full capacity, as most classes followed a remote or hybrid model. More than 8,000 tests were returned each week, with the exception of one week in February 2021.

During the week of Feb. 22, 2021, the university declared “Stay at Home” orders for the second floor of Sargent Hall and first floor of Elder Hall in response to local outbreaks. The orders required students on these floors to quarantine in their dorms and test three to four times during that period.

Similarly, Evanston and the rest of Illinois experienced a minor spike in COVID-19 cases in early February of that year. Evanston’s vaccine access at the time was significantly lower than Chicago and the rest of Cook County, partially due to nationwide vaccine shortages at the time.

Spring Quarter 2021 began with a modified Wildcat Wellness period, and a weekly antigen and PCR testing requirement for all students. With more students on campus, more tests were sent and reported than during Winter Quarter.

Undergraduate students accounted for the majority of positive cases during this time frame, except for weeks such as Jan. 22 through Jan. 28, when non-undergraduate students made up about 75% of reported cases. Non-undergraduate students also made up the majority of COVID-19 positive cases during the week of Spring Break.

For most of this time frame, NU and Evanston positivity rates were well below the state’s. However, during the week of Feb. 26, 2021, the city’s

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positivity rate was about one percentage point higher than the state’s.

Summer 2021 (June 11, 2021 to September 9, 2021) At the end of Spring Quarter, Evanston lifted its indoor mask mandate in response to rising vaccination rates and the state’s transition to Phase Five of its reopening plan on June 11. This transition removed capacity limits on businesses and events and allowed large gatherings like conventions and concerts to take place.

The University followed suit on June 15, lifting its mask mandate and ending its weekly testing requirement for fully vaccinated individuals after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its guidelines advising fully vaccinated individuals to wear masks indoors.

Ten days later, the University saw an increase in its positivity rate, despite most students being home for Summer Break. The number of tests received at NU during the summer drastically declined to fewer than 1,500 tests each week.

With reported NU COVID-19 positive cases in the single digits from May to July 2021, the proportions of cases reported for each group varied greatly from week to week due to each case making up a greater portion of the total than in previous weeks.

After this time frame, reported positive cases increased and category shares largely stabilized.

A wave in COVID-19 positivity rates was also observed statewide that August, coinciding with a peak in delta infections.

Fall Quarter 2021 and Winter Quarter 2022 (September 10, 2021 to March 17, 2022) Students returned to campus in September 2021 for fully in-person instruction. Campus COVID-19 cases stabilized at relatively low levels for almost the entirety of Fall Quarter. From move-in day to the beginning of Reading Period, only one week had a positivity rate of more than 1%, and none had 100 or more new cases. The delta variant was the predominant COVID-19 strain nationwide during the majority of the quarter.

Entering December, this trend began to reverse.

As the highly infectious omicron variant spread throughout the U.S., new positive cases on campus

nearly doubled each week for three weeks straight, despite a rapidly dropping number of returned tests. The campus positivity rate hit an all-time high of 12.9% in the first week of Winter Break, with 228 positive results out of only 1,767 tests.

Evanston and Illinois’ seven-day average positivity rates also dramatically increased to 3.42% and 7.4% respectively, their highest rates since January 2021.

During the remainder of Winter Break, fewer people took COVID-19 tests on campus, so the period from Dec. 17 to 30, 2021, did not have data on positivity rates or returned tests. The University instead relied on self-reported results for its weekly dashboard updates, which yielded a total of 1,415 new positives. During this period, Evanston’s positivity rate more than doubled to above 8.1%, and Illinois’ rate more than doubled to 18.1%.

After this, NU announced Winter Quarter would begin with a Wildcat Wellness period on Dec. 20, 2021, shifting all classes to remote instruction and instating a testing requirement for two weeks. In the first two weeks of January, returned tests exceeded 10,000 for the first time since the beginning of Fall Quarter. These weeks had positivity rates of 5.7% and 3.4%, and the week of Dec. 31 to Jan. 6 posted a new all-time record of 936 new cases.

On Jan. 10, the city issued a vaccination mandate in response to rising case numbers, requiring individuals to demonstrate proof of vaccination prior to entering public shared common spaces like restaurants and fitness centers.

Despite this, NU fully returned to in-person classes on Jan. 18 and extended the testing requirement by one week. In the weeks since, the number of returned tests has fallen back to about 4,500 each week.

After the first three weeks of in-person instruction, both new cases and the positivity rate had declined significantly: Jan. 28 to Feb. 3 had a rate of 2.25% and was the first week since the end of Fall Quarter to record less than 100 cases.

However, the decrease soon reversed, and positive cases began multiplying for undergraduate students. Between Feb. 3 and 17, new undergraduate cases nearly tripled from 57 to 167 while other categories stayed stable or decreased, driving the positivity rate to 4.4%.

After a slight decline to 3.4% between Feb. 18 and Feb. 24, NU’s positivity rate still sat above Evanston’s 0.9% and Illinois’ 2.5%. Despite having

significantly greater spread on campus than the surrounding area, NU lifted its indoor masking mandate in all non-instructional spaces on Feb. 28, aligning itself with similar lifts in Evanston and Illinois on the same day.

The data declined again between Feb. 25 and March 3 to their lowest points since the end of Fall Quarter: NU reported 62 new positives and a 1.8% positivity rate, and Evanston saw 59 new cases and a 0.39% positivity rate, the city’s lowest since June 2021. As the omicron wave subsided, both the state and Evanston lifted their vaccination and mask mandates on February 28.

This trend continued in the final weeks of Winter Quarter. On campus, there were 45 new positives and a 1.43% positivity rate during Reading Period, and 34 new positives and a 1.5% positivity rate during Finals Week. Evanston’s positivity rate increased slightly to 0.69% for March 3 through March 9, with 55 new positive cases.

Spring Quarter 2022 (March 18, 2022 to present) On March 15, NU announced it would lift its indoor masking mandate for instructional spaces at the beginning of Spring Quarter due to improved health metrics.

At the end of Finals Week, Evanston reported a positivity rate of 0.67%, and the state reported its lowest positivity rate since before the omicron wave at 1.2%.

Shortly after, cases rose again as BA.2, a more infectious omicron “subvariant,” composed the majority of new cases across the country. The University only conducted 1,160 COVID tests during Spring Break, but still yielded 45 new positives for a heightened positivity rate of 3.88%. Evanston’s overall rate nearly doubled to 1.21%, and the state’s ticked up to 1.6%.

After the first week of Spring Quarter, Evanston’s positivity rate increased to 1.14%, and the state’s to 1.7%.

All graduate and undergraduate students were required to complete at least one in-person COVID test during the first week of Spring Quarter. This yielded 160 new positives for the week, with a positivity rate of 1.71%. alexharrison2023@u.northwestern.edu angelimittal2024@u.northwestern.edu

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Fans pack Welsh-Ryan Arena as restrictions lift

By GABRIELA CARROLL

the daily northwestern @gablcarroll

Northwestern men’s basketball played its entire 2020-21 season without fans in the building. As fans returned to WelshRyan Arena for the 2021-22 season, the Wildcats sold out three games and saw significantly higher student turnout.

Gone were the days of fans writing essays in the student section — NU students packed the stands and provided a legitimate fan presence to build energy amid hordes of opposing fans from schools

like Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, according to coach Chris Collins.

On Feb. 16 at a game against Purdue, so many students wanted to attend the game that some were turned away at the door. According to Paul Kennedy, associate athletic director for strategic initiatives and communications, that was the first time NU ever turned students away from a basketball game in the new Welsh-Ryan Arena.

“This year is interesting, because people just want to do stuff. You’ve been cooped up for a whole year and a half,” former Inside NU editor in chief and Medill junior Ben Chasen said. “The opportunity to go

out to a sporting event, that was something that we lost for a year and a half.”

NU Wildside, the organization that runs the student section, had new t-shirt, sweatshirt and sweatpants giveaways for every game, and students lined up well before half-time to redeem their vouchers and pick up the newest item.

These giveaways have long been a feature of NU athletic events, but men’s basketball didn’t see similar attendance numbers in the last pre-pandemic season.

The NU student section formerly took up the end zones, but now only includes the center sections, to centralize the crowd on television and increase ticket revenue,

according to Kennedy. The increased student turnout for games against big name opponents this year has the athletic department considering adding those sections back to the student section for certain games.

“The turnout, especially given the record of the team, that gives us the ammunition on the day to decide, ‘Okay, let’s plan for these four games to be sold out, and we’re going to have students and we’re going to reserve a lot,’” Kennedy said. “But it’s costly, because it is a huge loss for us.”

Masks were required for fans at NU athletic events until March 1, when NU lifted the mask mandate. However, the policy was loosely enforced, if at all, and photos

Gabe Bider/The Daily Northwestern

of the crowd at Welsh-Ryan Arena show that a substantial percentage of fans did not follow the policy.

Some students on campus expressed discomfort on social media platforms like Twitter and YikYak with the lack of mask-wearing at games, specifically after the Jan. 18 matchup against Wisconsin.

That game came just after the end of the mandatory two-week Wildcat Wellness period, during which students were not allowed to attend classes in person or go to sporting events.

“Just to be able to put on these sporting events is something that’s just tremendous, and to see the students respond to it positively like they have… we really appreciate the student support, and I know that the student athletes do.” Vice President for Athletics and Recreation Derrick Gragg told The Daily in March.

However, the lack of masking didn’t deter many students from coming to games. With the exception of sparsely attended contests against Nebraska and Rutgers, students filled the student section even for midweek conference games.

NU’s sports teams have always suffered from low attendance, especially when they perform poorly, which makes this basketball season a significant outlier. The Cats won just seven conference games, with three of those wins coming on the road.

Of the three sold out games, NU won just one, against an Indiana team down five regulars due to internal suspensions. But, students continued to return to games with the regular season finale against Minnesota seeing a full student crowd.

“It’s a smaller group overall, and compared to your average Big Ten school, it’s a smaller percentage who quote unquote care,” said John Lacombe (Medill ’02), co-host of the West Lot Pirates podcast, which focuses on NU sports. “The people who care really care. The people who care about Northwestern sports care at a level that matches the level that you’ll find anywhere.” gabrielacarroll2023@u.northwestern.edu

Club sports teams look back on the pandemic’s impact

By LUCAS KIM

the daily northwestern

Over the past two years, Northwestern club sports teams have dealt with season cancellations, limited contact, masking mandates and other inconveniences caused by the pandemic.

In the 2021-22 academic year, however, many club sports team members say loosened COVID-19 restrictions have brought a sense of normalcy with more competitions against other schools and enriched connections between teammates.

Water polo player and Weinberg freshman Theo Faugeres said although health-related and logistical challenges have forced the team to adapt, they made significant progress through the reintroduction of intercollegiate tournaments.

“Up until the fall, the school wouldn’t let us play teams that weren’t fully vaccinated, so we were in a tight spot. We ended up not playing a single Big Ten team, and we reorganized our games around teams that were fully vaccinated,” said Faugeres. “This quarter, we’re back in the Big Ten and we’re finally allowed to host home tournaments.”

At NU, approximately 1,200 unique athletes participate in 38 club sports annually, according to NU Recreation data from 2015.

Club sports at the University include options like ice hockey, track, field hockey and taekwondo.

The University initially halted all club sports and closed its recreational facilities for the 2019-20 academic year on March 13, 2020.

Club sports resumed for limited activity the following school year though with masking and distancing protocols in place as well as no intercollegiate competition.

Medill junior and Women’s Crew Captain Andrea Hancock said not being able to practice in person for almost all of her first two years with the team was mentally and physically challenging. She said the crew team was where she made some of her closest friends, but it’s harder to build those relationships remotely.

“A big part of the sport is you’re in a boat with a bunch of other people, and so that’s really motivating to keep going because they rely on you and when you remove that aspect of it, it’s tough,” Hancock said. “We tried to do some social events over Zoom and that was really the extent of the team’s operation.”

The 2021-22 school year began with fewer restrictive protocols, though indoor masking was still required.

After a nationwide outbreak of the Omicron variant in December 2021, the University issued a mandatory Wildcat Wellness quarantine period for the first two weeks of Winter Quarter.

Weinberg freshman William Wang, who is on the club swim team, said the two-week suspension of team activities during Wildcat Wellness impacted the team’s preparation for meets.

“We host our own home meet once a year and that happens to be a month after Winter Quarter starts, so Wildcat Wellness really cut into our recovery time,” said Wang. “We could

Photo courtesy of Jimmy He

go to our own practices and book our own times at the pool, which you can do with a couple friends, but it’s not the same as going to a practice.”

The University lifted the indoor mask mandate Feb. 28 for non-classroom spaces, and there are now virtually no official restrictions on masking or distancing for both indoor and outdoor activities. Wang said these changes will help reestablish some of the intimacy and chemistry club teams enjoyed before the pandemic.

“I think in terms of practice itself, it’s fully gone back to normal,” Wang said. “Everybody comes and shows up. People still wear masks in the pool area, which is fine and that’s all

completely optional, but everything is mostly back to normal, which is actually pretty crazy to say.”

Club athletes, however, are not completely satisfied with their current situations. The pandemic amplified and exacerbated many long-standing challenges to club sports, such as inadequate funding and a lack of communication with the University.

Teams at other colleges around the country, including The George Washington University and Williams College, have also reported a lack of institutional funding and access to practice space during the pandemic.

Hancock said the crew team has been repeatedly forced to move its indoor practice locations and has encountered financial issues – problems that stand out in contrast to the treatment of NU’s varsity sports.

“Obviously I understand that some of the varsity athletes perform in sports that bring in revenue for the university, but it’s really tough,” Hancock said. “ There’s a lot of money that we have to rely on donors and participants for. That’s something that I wish the University could help us more with.” lucaskim2025@u.northwestern.edu