The Daily Northwestern Tuesday, April 23, 2019
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Wildcats end regular season with two wins
Q&A with Morton Schapiro: President talks education, diversity and inclusion
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My fight against the term ‘whitewashed’
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Collective urges admin to fund care Fund Our Care asks for mental health resources By ZOE MALIN
the daily northwestern @zoermalin
On March 17, Dean of Students Todd Adams emailed students, wishing “good thoughts” during finals week. He said that “it is normal, at times, to struggle with academic work, find balance among competing priorities, and meet our own — or even others’ — expectations. If you are experiencing any of these, then let me assure you that you are not alone.” Weinberg senior Jessica Ogwumike said that when she read Adams’ email, she began thinking about the implications of using the word “normal” to describe stress and struggles on campus. She texted her fellow members of Fund Our Care Collective, a group that describes itself as a student movement created to improve the health and well-being of NU students and aims to facilitate conversations about the topic. Ogwumike said they were having similar “gut reactions.” “I still remember reading the line ‘this is normal’ and getting really angry,” Ogwumike said. “None of this is normal.”
Fund Our Care Collective published a letter on April 12 in response to Adams’ email, which was released on North by Northwestern’s website. The group’s letter stated that Adams’ email “functioned to normalize student suffering” and that the dean “failed to recognize the social circumstances that make NU especially harmful to racialized, gender-marginalized, disabled, low-income and firstgeneration students.” Weinberg senior Natalie Vega, a member of the group, said Adams’ email was “irresponsible messaging.” “Todd Adams’ email grouped everyone together and was like, ‘If you are struggling that’s fine,’” Vega said. “But one person’s stress isn’t another person’s stress.” Since the group’s letter was published, members said they have not received a response from Adams, who also did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily. But that has not stopped Fund Our Care Collective from organizing further. On April 25, the group will hold a Community Town Hall on Student Wellness. Ogwumike said the group hopes there is a “collective investment” to create impactful solutions to the “crisis at hand” during the event. “The collective and the letter » See FUND, page 6
Jennifer Zhan/The Daily Northwestern
“STOP THE VOTE” signs plastered across council chambers. Residents protested the bonds authorization at Monday’s council meeting.
Robert Crown bonds approved
Aldermen vote 7-2 to authorize direct annual tax imposition By SNEHA DEY
daily senior staffer @snehadey_
Alderman voted 7-2 to authorize the 2019 A&B General Obligation Bonds at a Monday City Council meeting. The bonds will impose a direct annual tax, according to city document. The bonds are part of two series, 2019A and 2019B, each of which will not exceed $18
million. The 2019A bonds will finance the construction and equipment of the Robert Crown Community Center while the 2019B bonds will go towards Evanston capital improvements, according to city documents. Ald. Robin Rue Simmons (5th) and Ald. Thomas Suffredin (6th) voted against motion. “This (bond) can be the end of the world for some families,” Rue Simmons said. “We absolutely need Crown, but we don’t need to add to the expense of
living here.” The ordinance was first introduced at a City Council meeting April 8. At the council meeting, Rue Simmons was the only alderman to vote against the introduction and noted the bonds failure to comply with affordability. A number of residents showed up to voice their concern with the lack of transparency regarding letters of intent and the cost of Robert Crown. “STOP THE VOTE” signs
were plastered across the council chambers. Rue Simmons asked the aldermen to hold the vote for one week, but her request was overturned in a 6-3 vote. City manager Wally Bobkiewicz said holding the vote could jeopardize the continued funding of Robert Crown. The bond sale is currently scheduled for May 16 and would be followed by a final approval of bond terms, according to city » See BONDS, page 6
Q&A: Schapiro on acceptance rate Admins send President speaks to The Daily about increased admissions, scandal By GABBY BIRENBAUM
daily senior staffer @birenbomb
On April 19, three members of The Daily’s editorial board sat down with University president Morton Schapiro. Jeri Ward, vice president for global marketing and communications, also sat in on the meeting. Schapiro talked about Northwestern admissions and defended the current generation of students. His answers have been edited for clarity and brevity. The Daily: How do you feel about the acceptance rate rising for the first time in years? Schapiro: I wouldn’t make a big deal. I think it was like 8.48 and now it’s rounding error. It didn’t really go up, statistically significantly. I’m a statistician, right, so, it isn’t clear to me that’s like a real meaningful change. What I’ve been saying for a while is once you hit 40,000 apps, you’re not gonna get a lot more. So, where do I see us in the future? I think the 8-9 (percent) range, something like that. I don’t see it going back into double figures.
By AUSTIN BENAVIDES
The Daily: Are there any discussions among University administrators to move to test-optional admissions?
the daily northwestern @awstinbenavides
Schapiro: No. I’ve written a lot about that. If the test score is the thing that gets you in, then that’s a problem. But I don’t see why you don’t look at people’s test scores as long as you evaluate those test scores based on the opportunity of that person to get high test scores. There are certain schools — if you can somehow get a 1200, that’s the highest anybody in your school’s gotten in a decade — and there are certain schools — if you get a 1450, you say what happened? Everybody’s getting 1500. You have to put it in perspective. But I’m not a fan of test-optional. The Daily: One of the problems exposed in the college admissions scandal was the ability to bribe coaches in order to facilitate students’ admission into selective admissions. Could that ever happen at Northwestern? Schapiro: No, we have a very different relationship. I mean, all of
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email about sticker
Daily file photo by David Lee
University president Morton Schapiro. Schapiro discussed Northwestern admissions in an interview with The Daily.
admissions, all the coaches, it all goes through our senior administrator (deputy director of athletics) Janna (Blais), and she’s the only one who’s ever allowed to talk with Chris Watson, who is in charge of undergraduate admissions. Jim
Phillips is not allowed to talk to, as much as we all love him, he’s not allowed to talk to admissions. Fitz, as much as we love him, is not allowed to talk to admissions. It all » See SCHAPIRO, page 6
In an email sent to students Monday,Provost Jonathan Holloway and Craig Johnson, senior vice president for business and finance, wrote that the recent racist incidents on campus “do not reflect our values and are unacceptable at Northwestern.” The email comes after a second sticker with the white supremacy slogan “It’s okay to be white” was found on campus Saturday evening, making it the second one discovered in a month. The sticker was found in a bathroom stall in Main Library, making it the third such incident in recent weeks. In the email, the administrators wrote the student took down the sticker, threw it away and “forwarded a picture of the sticker to investigators.” Weinberg senior Samuel Webber told The Daily he found the sticker just after 6 p.m. on Saturday. University Police did not find any other stickers in the common areas of University, Deering, and Mudd libraries, the administrators wrote, but they said: “It’s possible
additional stickers could be placed on our campus in the days and weeks to come, and community members could find them.” The first sticker was found two weeks ago in Allison dining hall, and one month ago a rope shaped into a noose was found in Henry Crown Sports Pavilion. Both incidents prompted criticism from students that the university was too slow in responding to the student body, leading to an Associated Student Government emergency resolution last Wednesday that asked University officials to acknowledge their “failure to adequately address them, as well as its failure to support Black students.” In the email, the administrators referred to Northwestern’s Title IX policy, writing that the university will “not tolerate such acts of hate occurring at Northwestern.” “Any such discrimination simply will not be tolerated,” University officials said. “Northwestern Police continue to investigate this incident, along with the previous acts reported to the community on Friday.” austinbenavides2022@u.northwestern.edu
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