Serving the Northwestern and Evanston communities since 1881
The Daily Northwestern Monday, May 16, 2022
DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Find us online @thedailynu
Arts & Entertainment
Extended May Special Issue
See page 5 for stories
John Fournier to be next City Manager Current employee of Ann Arbor to come to Evanston By JORJA SIEMONS
daily senior staffer @jorjasiemons
City Council intends to appoint John Fournier as Evanston’s next city manager, the city announced in a Friday news release. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Fournier currently works as the assistant city administrator of the City of Ann Arbor, where his primary focus areas included transportation policy Previously, he worked in the City of Pittsburgh as deputy chief of staff to former mayor Bill Peduto. In addition to working on multi-modal transportation and municipal parking systems, Fournier authored the city ’s Act 47 financial recovery plan, which requires the state of Pennsylvania to assist municipalities
ex per iencing f inancial difficulties. During a May 3 virtual town hall alongside finalist Snapper Poche, Fournier discussed equity, staff management and climate action, and he listed specific recommendations to improve Evanston’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan. Some of these steps include solarizing city facilities and prioritizing pedestrian infrastructure. With contract negotiations underway, the city said it will make a decision in the coming weeks. Council’s intent to select Fournier comes as the conclusion of a three-month nationwide search by consulting firm Stanton Chase — which the city contracted for $70,000. Interim City Manager Kelley Gandurski, who has held the role since October 2021 following the departure of Erika Storlie, will step down for the new official’s appointment. jorjasiemons2024@u.northwestern.edu
Photo courtesy of Yanni Economos
Attendees of the sophomore prom on the dance floor of the Congress Plaza Hotel.
NU celebrates Second Year Prom
Event commemorates sophomores’ missed high school landmarks By KRISTEN AXTMAN
the daily northwestern
Students who graduated high school in 2020 faced many
disappointments during their senior spring due to the COVID19 pandemic. They missed out on classic high school celebrations and had to enter college during online school.
On Saturday, however, Northwestern students had a chance to make up one of those traditions by attending the second year prom, hosted by the Wildcat Welcome Back Planning Committee. All
sophomores and first-year gapyear students were eligible to reserve a free ticket for the Great Gatsby themed prom on Saturday.
» See PROM, page 10
Groups talk social media organizing NU to limit PCR Reproductive justice advocates talk benefits, costs of online work By LILY CAREY
the daily northwestern @lilylcarey
Content warning: This story contains mentions of sexual assault and rape. In January, an Adams County, Illinois justice reversed his decision that convicted an 18-year-old man of rape. The judge said the young man had served enough jail time and threw out his conviction. But because of an online petition, the case didn’t end there. Carrie Ward, CEO of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said she remembers seeing hundreds sign a petition supporting the 16-year-old survivor, ultimately leading to the judge being reassigned. In her 25 years of work for ICASA, a network of rape crisis centers across Illinois, Ward said this case showed her how social media can change survivors’ lives. With a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion threatening to overturn the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade, sexual health advocates are working to broaden their reach using social media platforms. While social media
Recycle Me
provides a means for activists to raise awareness about sexual healthcare and reproductive rights, some experts say it can also be used to spread misinformation. “We have seen instances in which social media has been absolutely helpful,” Ward said. “We’ve also seen instances in which offenders have used social media to say horrible things about survivors and share those things far and wide.” Grace Barter, the campaign and events organizer for Illinois-based reproductive rights advocacy group Personal PAC, said abortion advocates flooded the group’s inbox after a federal court upheld a Texas bill that bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. The amount of people seeking information and support from her organization opened her eyes to how impactful Personal PAC’s social media presence and online resources can be, she said. “There’s a lot of responsibility with (having a social media presence) and also so much on the line,” Barter said. “It literally is life or death for some people.” In Evanston/Skokie School District 65, Erin’s Law, which provides guidelines for traumainformed school programming
test distribution University will only distribute PCR tests for sponsored travel By MAIA PANDEY and IRIS SWARTHOUT
daily senior staffers @maiapandey @swarthout_iris
Illustration by Olivia Abeyta
Lisa Battisfore, the founder and president of Reproductive Transparency Now, helped organize the march and is working to spread information — and combat misinformation — about healthcare access in Illinois.
on sex education and healthy relationships, aims to protect children against sexual violence and online abuse. The state implemented Erin’s Law in 2011, and it has been passed in 37 other states since 2009. These federal and state guidelines have provided a framework for educators to expand their outreach to social media. Yet social media can also amplify the messaging of anti-abortion groups, said Lisa Battisfore, the founder and president of Reproductive Transparency Now. RTN seeks to inform people
about Crisis Pregnancy Centers, which often use the same language as abortion providers but ultimately aim to prevent people from getting abortions. RTN also helped organize Saturday’s rally for reproductive justice in downtown Chicago, drawing thousands to help spread the word about the dangers of CPCs amidst attacks on legal abortion protections. “Hashtags on Instagram in particular are very important, and what’s really interesting is that a lot of anti-choice
» See SEXUAL HEALTH, page 10
Northwestern is only offering PCR tests on a limited basis to faculty, staff and students who are required to obtain a PCR test for University-related travel, University spokesperson Erin Karter told The Daily in a May 12 email. Instead, Karter said NU’s primary testing infrastructure will continue to rely on rapid antigen testing because these tests have been proven reliable to identify individuals who are “most likely to be contagious.” For Weinberg sophomore Aidan Ocampo, a former Daily op-ed contributor, rapid test reliability has been mediocre. He moved into 1835 Hinman after a positive test result collected Thursday, May 5. However, Ocampo said he first began experiencing symptoms the Tuesday before, but his rapid test that day came back negative. His next test, collected on Thursday, was his last before he entered 1835 Hinman, but according to Ocampo, he isn’t
the only one in his friend group who received a false negative. “My friend came (to Hinman) with me after I tested positive,” he said. “She had tested negative that morning and went to get another test because I tested positive.” Weinberg sophomore Valentina Velasco said she had a similar experience when her friend tested positive. After receiving a false negative, Velasco tested positive on a non-NU-distributed, at-home test and proceeded to test positive again at the Donald P. Jacobs Center. She added that she attempted to get a PCR test between when she received a false negative and her at-home positive test result. However, she said the University did not respond to either of her calls to Northwestern Medicine Student Health Service Evanston at Searle Hall in hopes of getting one. After these experiences, Valesco said she no longer believes NU’s testing apparatus is as reliable as she used to think it was. “I do wish I could feel more comfortable,” she said. “Especially since testing isn’t mandated anymore, it just makes me feel a lot less confident in knowing how active COVID is on campus.”
» See PCR, page 10
INSIDE: Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | A&E 5 | Classifieds & Puzzles 10 | Sports 12