The Daily Northwestern — May 22, 2023

The Daily Northwestern BURSAR’S

Evanston looks toward home energy actions

Program, residents seek cost-effective, efficient solutions

By LILY CAREY daily senior staffer @lilylcarey

Eighth Ward resident Jane Neumann recently installed solar panels on her home — a “pretty easy” choice for her household — she said. Yet solar panels aren’t as common a sight in her neighborhood as they are in other parts of the city, she’s noticed.

In wards of the city with higher concentrations of wealthy residents, clean energy systems are far more visible, she said.

Symposium honors Black Studies

‘Black to Front’ event celebrates pending department renaming

By JOANNA HOU, JESSICA MA, KRISTEN AXTMAN daily senior staffers @joannah_11 / @jessicama2025 / @kristenaxtman1

The Department of African American Studies celebrated its renaming to Black Studies in a Friday symposium titled “Black

to Front.”

In April 2008, the department voted unanimously to change its name. According to the formal name change proposal, the new title aims to better reflect “the breadth of its scholarship and teaching” by expanding beyond U.S.-centric boundaries. The formal change will occur in the

next few months, pending final approval by Northwestern’s Board of Trustees.

“Black Studies is inclusivity and community,” said SESP freshman Noelle Robinson, who served as an emcee during Friday’s event. “I am Black, African American and Jamaican American. It validates all of our Black

histories and ancestors, not only the ones to live in this country.”

The event featured two keynote speakers, student creatives, a faculty roundtable and a graduate student panel. Speakers and artists also selected Black music interludes to play ahead of their

» See BLACK STUDIES , page 10

“You drive around neighborhoods and just look around — the north end of Evanston has a few more solar systems,” Neumann said.

Home energy-efficiency upgrades, like solar panels and heat pumps, have long been praised as a key way to cut carbon emissions in housing, which city Sustainability and Resilience Coordinator Cara Pratt said is one of Evanston’s biggest sources of emissions.

Yet many of these technologies require upfront investments of tens of thousands of dollars.The average solar panel installation in Illinois can cost more than $12,000, even with federal tax credits, according

to a May report from Forbes. If she was still financially focused on raising her children or saving for retirement, Neumann said, it would’ve been much more difficult to prioritize an investment in green technology.

As Evanston pushes toward carbon neutrality through its Climate Action and Resiliency Plan, government leaders and advocates are looking to make energy-efficient upgrades more accessible for lowerincome residents.

With officials looking to bridge the gap between affordability and efficiency, some residents said the city needs to prioritize the former.

“If our society is to make more energy efficiency a high-enough priority, (the city) needs to attach some dollars to that in a significant way,” Neumann said.

A main way the city is working to make energy efficiency more affordable for homeowners is through its One Stop Shop Housing Retrofit pilot program. The program will use American Rescue Plan Act funding to help income-qualified residents make home improvement upgrades to their electrical, mechanical, heating and cooling systems.

According to Robinson Markus, worker-owner and general manager at the Evanston Development Cooperative, the goal of the program

» See SUSTAINABILITY, page 10

Rebuilding Exchange repurposes home accessories

By SHANNON TYLER

daily senior staffer @shannonmtyler

Rediscovery is a closely held value for Rebuilding Exchange, a construction material reuse store in Evanston. At the establishment’s storefront, customers can find reclaimed wood, sinks, doorknobs, light fixtures and other large or little items that are looking for a new home.

Rebuilding Exchange is also a nonprofit that sells reclaimed home renovations goods, provides sustainable deconstruction services and free, paid workforce training programs.

“Our mission is achieved when objects can be reused,” Director of Social Enterprise Nika Vaughan said. “The things that come to us are fixtures that are very long lasting, quality made. And when another person buys it, the cycle has been completed.”

When longtime customer Kate Thomas moved into her apartment in a 1920s-era building in Chicago, she said there had been damage to the original kitchen flooring. She either needed to match about 4 square feet of the original hardwood flooring or

replace the entire floor, she said.

Thomas said Rebuilding Exchange had the exact materials she needed. She was able to replace the section of hardwood flooring with wood flooring Rebuilding Exchange pulled and repurposed from the old Masonic Lodge in Wilmette, which has been undergoing redevelopment.

“I have always had just an extraordinary experience with them,” Thomas said. “Both the quality of their merchandise and the interfacing with their staff has been great.”

Thomas said the Rebuilding Exchange’s great customer experience and its core values and mission brings her and her family back to the storefront for their home improvement projects.

While sustainably deconstructing homes and reclaiming materials is Rebuilding Exchange’s specialty, building community is a passion for the nonprofit, said Marketing Manager Zach Share.

With a loyal customer base and regular community events, Share said the Rebuilding Exchange fosters a connection between the organization and community by encouraging people to make an impact on their environment and delve into their creativity.

“We are making it accessible to the community to find materials they need and to inspire our community to use reclaimed materials,” Share said.

Rebuilding Exchange has two storefronts, one in Evanston and another in Chicago, which have both been operating for about 12 years as separate companies. The Evanston location was formerly called Rebuilding Warehouse. Then, in 2022, the Evanston store and the Chicago store officially merged under the name Rebuilding Exchange.

Share said Rebuilding Exchange diverts 3 million pounds of materials from landfills every year. The items in the storefront have all been collected from deconstructions or walk-in donations.

At the storefront and warehouse, people can also participate in workshops to learn how to craft and build projects from pictures frames to benches.

Share added that support goes for those in the apprenticeship program as well as customers and those who participate in the organization’s workshops.

The warehouse hosts several workshops ranging from topics like building a bench to artistic workshops to “everything you

need to know about your HVAC system,” Share said. These workshops are a space to learn and socialize, he added.

Rebuilding Exchange is a “system of support” for many, Share said.

Vaughan added that most materials and items at the store have increased value since many older things were made with higher quality materials to last longer. She said an investment in

these materials is also an investment in the community.

“Things that are either made super cheaply, like fast fashion for construction, unfortunately, are hard items to reuse,” Vaughan said. “Which then kind of plays into the idea of like, ‘Okay, should we be consuming those in the first place?’”

Share said as one of the only nonprofit building material reuse stores in the country, Rebuilding

Exchange’s sales from the storefront and deconstruction service help fund its workforce training program. The program serves as a jumpstart for those looking to pursue a career in the trades or gainful employment, according to Share. Rebuilding Exchange has two different workforce training programs: a pre-apprenticeship program and a transitional

Jacob Wendler/Daily Senior Staffer

Cydney Hope Brown speaks at the “Black to Front” symposium. Brown uses poetry to share her experiences with grief and pride.

Shannon Tyler/Daily Senior Staffer

in the Rebuilding Exchange stores have been collected from deconstructions or walk-in donations.

Niles West senior inspires again at Girls Who Lead

By JACOB WENDLER daily senior stafer @jacob_wendler

When Cherie Animashaun thinks back to Super Bowl LVII, she doesn’t recall the electrifying gameplay or even Rihanna’s sensational halftime performance.

Instead, the Niles West High School senior remembers the Apple Music short film that captured Rihanna’s “Road to Halftime.” With hit song “Run this Town” blasting in the background, the film follows a young girl as she strolls down Rihanna Drive in Barbados, where the R&B icon was born and raised.

At that moment, Animashaun knew what the theme would be for the second iteration of Girls Who Lead, a conference for young girls in Illinois and surrounding states: “Run This Town.” The conference aims to inspire leadership and confidence.

“It was just really beautiful to see that representation on screen, and I’ve definitely wanted that feeling to be embodied in Girls Who Lead,” Animashaun said. “It’s meant to show the girls that they can run the classroom, run the career field they want, that they can be in charge and that they can really lead the lives that they want to live.”

Animashaun, a published author and founder of the nonprofit Her Rising Initiative, came up with the idea for Girls Who Lead in 2020. At the time, she noticed a national climate of division that was detrimental to young girls.

Last year, the event came to fruition in Evanston with almost 100 attendees. The second conference will take place this Saturday at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center.

Animashaun and others hosted workshops Saturday focused on career fields such as STEM and the arts and offered seminars on confidence and mental health — two topics she feels are missing in other leadership spaces.

“We have Girls Who Code and different programs like that, but nothing that really addresses: How do we view ourselves? Do we

love ourselves? How do we talk to ourselves?” she said. “So, I wanted to address all those things at the same time.”

The conference also included more opportunities for the girls to bond and connect, she added.

After meeting Animashaun through the nonprofit Girls Play Sports, Kimberly HolmesRoss, the community engagement director for Evanston Cradle to Career, encouraged the Niles West High School senior to apply for one of EC2C’s Community Building Grants. These stipends of up to $1,500 support free and accessible projects that strengthen local communities.

Animashaun applied for and received a grant and used it to fund the Her Rising Initiative. EC2C also sponsored the Girls Who Lead conference last year, Holmes-Ross said.

“(Animashaun) can command a room and lead the group in such a thoughtful and respectful way,” Holmes-Ross said. “It may be because she’s not far in age from them, but she just has such a special connection with these middle-schoolers.”

While Animashaun said she hopes to eventually bring Girls Who Lead to communities across the country, much of her activism so far has taken place locally.

As president of Niles West’s Black Student Union, Animashaun worked with the faculty on the Curriculum Standards for School Improvement committee to develop District 219’s first African History course.

Animashaun’s work was recently recognized by both the Princeton Prize in Race Relations and the prestigious Coca-Cola Scholarship. Ore Lawson, one of the volunteers at Girls Who Lead, said Animashaun’s leadership skills and passion are an inspiration to her.

“She’s just not doing it for the recognition … She’s doing it because it’s something she’s passionate about,” Lawson said. “She’s very passionate about wanting girls to be able to know that: ‘Hey, you can do whatever you want and whatever you put your mind to, as long as you’re ready to work for it.’”

After graduating from Niles West High School this year, Animashaun will attend Cornell University’s Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy in the fall. She said she hopes to apply her passion for teaching others in academia or government in the future.

“I’ve always wanted to be able to be in a position where, if someone has a problem, I have enough power … (or) resources to help them,” Animashaun said. “So I see myself using education, being a professor and also (in) government, to rewrite policies or use the funds to help those kinds of people.”

jacobwendler2025@u.northwestern.edu

Setting the record straight

In the May 1 story, “Graduate student TAs discuss feeling overworked by NU,” The Daily reported incorrectly that History Department TAs ‘don’t receive any teaching training prior to starting’ and failed to seek a comment from the department. In fact, graduate student TAs in the History Department receive training before and during their service as TAs. The Daily regrets the error.

Photo courtesy of Cherie Animashaun

The first Girls Who Lead conference. The event’s second iteration will occur Saturday at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center.

Q&A: Figora on AlertNU system issues

By JOANNA HOU daily senior staffer @joanah_11

Content warning: This article contains mentions of gun violence and death.

On April 12, a shooting on Clark Street Beach left an 18-year-old dead and two 15-year-olds injured. Students on campus at Northwestern University heard the shots. They reported feeling confusion and fear as the University took more than 30 minutes to issue a shelter-in-place order through email and social media channels. After receiving an emergency alert, students said they heard conflicting information from authorities. Those locked down in buildings including Kresge Centennial Hall and Locy Hall were forced to barricade themselves in classrooms after realizing the doors would not lock.

In the 24 hours following the tragedy, more than 900 students signed a petition calling on the University to reevaluate its emergency alert system.

Luke Figora, NU’s Vice President of Operations, sat down with The Daily to talk about these communications lapses and discussed some of the University’s planned changes.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The Daily: What caused the more than 30-minute delay between the University’s shelter in place order at 8:43 p.m. and when the Evanston Police Department first responded to shots fired on Clark Street Beach at 8:10 p.m.?

Figora: University Police were on the site at around 8:15 p.m. Initially, this was in response, so they were helping EPD on the ground.

EPD was controlling the site and so we were getting information from EPD into the 8:25 to 8:30 p.m. range. The information was “there is no active threat” at the time. That certainly informed the first message that was being prepared for the community.

As that was about to be sent, the information changed. It was close to 8:33 p.m. There was this question of whether there was a vehicle on campus that

Northwestern University

could have been related to the events. That was the pivot towards the shelter-in-place type message. That change in information occurring midway through the initial response certainly played a role in that overall timeline.

The Daily: About an hour into the shelter-in-place, students received a phone call that said, “University Police are responding to a report of a blank on the Evanston campus at blank.” The University later confirmed this message was sent in error. What caused the error, and what is NU looking to improve in the future? Who is involved in making these changes?

Figora: The system the University uses to send out emergency communications has some default messages in it. Those are messages that really can be sent at the click of a button to the campus community. When you’re not pushing that button, it requires active human drafting of a different message. What we’re trying to do is get an expanded set of canned messages.

The main focus from an emergency communications perspective would be the Department of Safety and Security, which handles dispatch for the University Police — and the office of Global Marketing and Communications, which helps with messaging to the community. One of the things that we’re working on is being really clear about who has the authority to push that button the first time.

The Daily: Students reported miscommunications with faculty and staff in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. Is the University hoping to establish protocols for workers, staff and faculty who might be present during these emergency situations?

Figora: Every individual in the community that’s impacted needs to have some level of situational awareness and every situation is going to be different, so it’s hard to have hard and fast rules. There is an opportunity for education in terms of what people should do when they hear certain things. Frankly, I think the term “shelter in place” is something we’re evaluating. With shelter in place, what you’re trying to do is just stop people from moving. Some may interpret that as barricading the room. Some may say, “We’re on North Campus and shouldn’t be impacted.” That’s one thing that we’re looking at, if you receive this type of message, here’s what you should do.

We’ve also got the video that’s been updated in the last year with kind of how to respond to active violence-type situations. One of the things we’ll work on over this summer is, “How do we expand that whether it be in video or other form, to educate people a layer deeper?”

joannahou2025@u.northwestern.edu

The Daily Northwestern www.dailynorthwestern.com

Editor in Chief Alex Perry eic@dailynorthwestern.com

General Manager Stacia Campbell stacia@dailynorthwestern.com

Holly and John Madigan Newsroom Phone | 847.491.3222

Campus desk campus@dailynorthwestern.com

City desk city@dailynorthwestern.com

Sports desk sports@dailynorthwestern.com

Ad Office | 847.491.7206

spc-compshop@northwestern.edu

The Daily NorThwesTerN is published Monday and Thursday during the academic year, except vacation periods and two weeks preceding them and once during August, by Students Publishing Co., Inc. of Northwestern University, 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208; 847491-7206.

First copy of The Daily is free, additional copies are 50 cents. All material published herein, except advertising or where indicated otherwise, is Copyright 2020 The Daily NorThwesTerN and protected under the “work made for hire” and “periodical publication” clauses of copyright law.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Daily NorThwesTerN, 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208. Subscriptions are $175 for the academic year. The Daily NorThwesTerN is not responsible for more than one incorrect ad insertion. All display ad corrections must be received by 3 p.m. one day prior to when the ad is run.

Joachim Schamberger, director Stephen Alltop, conductor Dunbar Festival Orchestra Cahn Auditorium, $18/8

Illustration by Lily Ogburn

Northwestern University congratulates the winners of the 2023 University Teaching Awards

Charles Deering McCormick Professors of Teaching Excellence

BENJAMIN J. GORVINE

The Alumnae of Northwestern Teaching Professor

BRENT E. HUFFMAN

Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence

DANIEL IMMERWAHR

Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence

ELIZABETH SPENCER NORTON

Charles Deering McCormick Distinguished Professor of Instruction

AARON PETERSON

Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence

REUEL R. ROGERS

Charles Deering McCormick Distinguished Professor of Instruction

LILAH D. SHAPIRO

(Note: Lilah Shapiro will participate in the 2024 ceremony)

Left to Right: Elizabeth Spencer Norton, Aaron Peterson, Reuel R. Rogers, Lilah D. Shapiro

Left to Right: Benjamin J. Gorvine, Brent E. Huffman, Daniel Immerwahr

Black student demands remain unfufilled on 55th anniversary of Bursar’s Office Takeover

By JACK AUSTIN daily senior staffer @jackaustinnews

Content warning: This article contains discussions of racial violence.

When Leslie Harris (Weinberg ’70) thinks back to his college years at Northwestern, he recalls an unwelcoming campus community that was at times hostile to Black students and other students of color.

Harris said a white student assaulted one of his classmates from high school on the street and recalled members of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity dressing in blackface at a party.

While Harris said his experiences left him with no “allegiance” to the University, he did graduate knowing he made a difference on campus. In May 1968, his sophomore year, Harris occupied the Bursar’s Office with more than 100 other students to advocate for resources and institutional support for Black students.

Students strategically selected the Bursar’s Office, an administrative building with cash holdings and financial records. The occupation ended after 38 hours, when University administrators committed to increasing support and services for Black students in admissions, curriculum, counseling, scholarship, housing and facilities.

A turning point in student activism at NU, the Bursar’s Office Takeover served as a peaceful but powerful confrontation of an educational system that failed to support Black students. Fifty-five years later, many student demands remain unmet.

The road to the Takeover

In 1966, after the implementation of the NU Chicago Action Program — an initiative to increase Black enrollment by recruiting from Chicago Public Schools — NU admitted the largest group of Black students in its history.

Before that year, an average of five Black students enrolled annually. In 1966, NUCAP’s first year, NU accepted 70 Black students, 54 of which enrolled.

However, many of these students faced discrimination and a lack of institutional support on campus.

Discrimination on campus

In the 1960s, a fraternity party featuring blackface was not out of the norm, according to several Black alumni and Charla Wilson, the archivist for the Black experience on campus. Black students walking down Sheridan Road in the ’60s heard racial slurs multiple times and were even hit with water balloons at times, she said.

Judge Stanley Lewis Hill Sr. (Medill ’70) said there was little to no support for the first large group of Black students that were not student athletes.

“We had to make a way out of no way. The University (did) not recognize some of the things that we

needed in order to have a happy college experience,” Hill said. “(We had to) make a way out of no way.”

Hill helped reactivate the Alpha Mu chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. It still exists as a Black fraternity at NU.

Overt and hostile racism plagued the campus in the 60s, according to Wilson. In several cases, Wilson said white students paired with Black students in dormitories would switch rooms to avoid living with a Black person. In addition, Black students convening in communal spaces were more likely to face noise complaints, she said.

Black women experienced an especially hostile environment filled with harassment, according to Hill. White fraternity members would aggressively shout at women as they walked down Sheridan Road toward Allison Hall, he said.

‘If something’s gonna go wrong, I’ll be with my friends’: The Takeover

According to Harris, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., which was one month before the Takeover, as well as the popularity of the Black Power movement, were catalysts for the occupation.

In April 1968, the premier Black student organizations on campus, For Members Only and the AfroAmerican Student Union, sent a set of demands to NU’s administration. The groups demanded the school recognize institutional racism on campus, create a space for a Black student union, direct admissions to set a goal of Black students representing 12% of the student population and hire more Black faculty members.

After the University failed to meet the demands by May 2, the occupation ensued the next day. It ended after 38 hours when University administrators said they would commit to increased support and services for Black students.

James Turner (Weinberg M.A. ’68), one of the protest leaders and president of the AASU, spoke with Jack Hinz, then dean of students. The resulting negotiations, which involved multiple students, led to a May 4th agreement. That agreement established the Black House and led to increased attention to Black history and literature in the curriculum.

Hill, who participated in the Bursar’s Office Takeover, said he is proud that several student demands at the time were met, including the creation of the African American Arts and History curriculum.

Another Bursar’s Office Takeover participant, Joanne Williams (Communication ’71), said students inside the building felt uncertainty all night. She didn’t know when they would leave or what might happen.

“I was a little bit afraid. But I felt what we were doing was important,” Williams said. “And all my friends were there. So I said, ‘If something’s gonna go wrong, I’ll be with my friends.’”

Students and Evanston residents passed food and supplies to the protestors through the windows of the

Bursar’s Office, according to Williams. Harris said the demonstrators exhibited remarkable courage.

“I’m proud that we all stood together. That we thought we were gonna be kicked out of school, but still, everyone stood together to do it,” Harris said. “We had watched police in other takeovers go in and attack people. But still, the students stood together. And I’ve always been so proud of them and their courage and their willingness to sacrifice their futures to make a statement.”

55 years later, resources appreciated but obstacles remain

Despite some progress from the Takeover, many Black students’ original demands remain unmet today. The University has yet to issue an official acknowledgement of institutional racism at the school. Student groups are still pushing for increased financial aid for Black students, separate housing options for Black students and a designated Black counselor for academic and mental support.

The Black House, however, offers cultural events and a safe space for community, according to Wilson and Weinberg senior Natalie Jarrett. Jarrett says she sees both the house and the African American Studies department as essential resources.

Mary Pattillo, chair of the African American Studies Department, said she appreciates that the Takeover helped spark her program.

“The first thing I take from it is always how incredibly intrepid, courageous, dedicated and inspired were these 19-, 20-, 21-, 22-year-olds,” Pattillo said. “I’m always humbled by what they were able to accomplish.”

“I see the Black House as commemorating history. That’s your first impression,” Jarrett said. “There’s thousands of photos that archive and maintain history, contextualize the present and give space for black students to enjoy that history.”

Weinberg sophomore Danielle Adekogbe said she joined FMO and the African Students Association her freshman year.

Now FMO’s assistant vice coordinator of programming, Adekogbe said she feels supported by the staff at the Black House who are willing to lend an ear to students.

“(The Black House) is just a place where we can escape from what feels like a very bleak environment at the school,” Adekogbe said. “It’s filled with joy and peace.”

Despite that support, Adekogbe said adequate resources for Black students remain missing on campus.

Adekogbe said she did not have a Black professor until she enrolled in an African American Studies course this quarter. As a computer science major, she said she sometimes struggles with the lack of Black students in her classes.

“It really does feel very isolating at times,” Adekogbe said. “Higher Black enrollment is so necessary, so students don’t feel isolated in their experience.”

Similarly, Elanta Slowek completed the School of Professional Studies’ Digital Content Management Certificate this March. Slowek said there were few Black students in her classes, which made her feel ostracized and obligated to speak for all Black people in discussions.

“I have not taken advantage of the Black House. I honestly didn’t even know it existed,” Slowek said. “So clearly, Northwestern did not make that clear to me at all.”

Students revive Bursar’s Office Takeover demands

In the past ten years, Black student activists have continued calls for more resources and enrollment of Black students, as well as asking for reduced policing around campus and in Black spaces like the Black House.

In November 2015, students protested at the groundbreaking of the Walter Athletics Center to demonstrate their solidarity with student activists at other universities and call for greater representation and resources for Black students at NU.

Following the protest, student organizers released a list of 19 demands, which later grew to 34. Many of the demands — including increased enrollment of Black students and increased hiring of Black faculty — echoed the list sent to the University in 1968.

Today, four demands from the Takeover still have not been met, according to current activists. In an April statement sent to the University, Black activists demanded in-person meetings with administration, an end to policing of Black spaces, consultation by Multicultural Student Affairs on decisions involving the Black House and the fulfillment of the original Bursar’s Office Takeover demands.

One day after the statement, which received signatures from 23 student organizations and more than 400 students, was sent to the NU administration, more than 200 student activists attended a painting of The Rock and protested to bring awareness to their demands.

University Spokesperson Jon Yates said Vice President for Student Affairs Susan Davis and University President Michael Schill have met with the student organizers. He added Davis and Schill will continue to meet with the organizers as they work to address issues raised in the petition.

The University did not respond to questions about the administration’s intended response to specific demands from the list.

Jarrett said she hopes the University begins to “take Black demands seriously.”

In the future, Adekogbe said she wants to see Black experiences at NU be transformed.

“My hope is that the Black experience truly does become better and truly becomes an experience of joy and (an) experience of peace,” Adekogbe said. “I really want it to be better for all of us.”

jonathanaustin2023@u.northwestern.edu

Illustration by Lily Ogburn

Black Studies Department comes to fruition

By KAAVYA BUTANEY daily senior staffer @kaavya_butaney

Last year, the African American Studies Department celebrated its 50th anniversary, 54 years after Black students demanded acknowledgement of Black art, culture, literature and history during the Bursar’s Office Takeover in 1968.

Following the demonstration, Northwestern hired two visiting professors, including historian Lerone Bennett, who would go on to serve briefly as the first African American Studies Department Chair.

Before the Takeover, there were only two professors on campus with any expertise on Blackrelated content, according to current department chair and African American Studies Prof. Mary Pattillo.

1968),” Pattillo said. “There weren’t even profes sors who were teaching Black Studies content … (Students) could take a course on the history of the South and not talk about Black people. It’s hard to imagine a curriculum, a class in political science on American political institutions without talking about Black people.”

lens. Other name options considered included Africana Studies and African Diaspora Studies, she added.

According to Pattillo, the name “Black Studies” also reflects the original demands in the Bursar’s Office Takeover in 1968, which asked for a Black Studies course. The department’s new name also reflects common usage of the term in movements like Black Lives Matter, she added.

Black studies is the shorthand used generally to refer to similar programs at different universities globally, according to fifth-year African American Studies Ph.D. candidate Nnaemeka Ekwelum.

“Black Studies programs in the U.S. have often been critiqued for being very U.S.-centric,” they said. “If we’re going to call ourselves a global Black Studies program, call ourselves Africana studies, (the department) just needs to make sure that we’re reflecting on those values in what we do.”

While Ekwelum said graduate students were involved in informal conversations about the name change, faculty were the primary voices in Ekwelum added they hope the name change is part of the department’s continual efforts to push African American Studies Prof. Martha Biondi, who wrote a book about Black student movements in the 1960s and early ’70s, said students across the country in the 1960s

the larger context of Black students using a variety of strategies to include Black history in universities’ curricula.

Pattillo also highlighted the role of the late African American Studies Prof. Leon Forrest, who became a “backbone” of the department after joining it in 1973, eventually chairing it more than a decade later. While Forrest was unable to hire many tenured or tenure-line professors for the department, she said visiting faculty, adjunct professors and Ph.D. students filled those roles.

Pattillo said Forrest established the African American Studies major in 1982 and constructed a series of courses, increasing the class enrollment. Before his death in 1997, she added, the depart ment’s strength can be attributed to Forrest and the people he brought together.

Pattillo added around 2000 University admin istration made a concerted effort build up the department with tenured and tenure-line faculty.

is important to remember that these programs matter.

“They shape the way we think about freedom, possibility (and) dreaming,” Ekwelum said. “So that is why they’re under attack: because they empowered that robustness and rigor and criticality, but also love and grace.”

kaavyabutaney2026@u.northwestern.edu

can Studies Department faculty unanimously approved a new name: the Black Studies Depart ment. More than a year later, the department’s renaming is almost official and is set to take effect in the next few months pending the Board of Trustees’ approval. Pattillo said though it required more than a decade of conversation, the new name reflects the department’s worldwide perspective.

Pattillo said the name African American Studies implies a U.S. focus that doesn’t accurately reflect the department, which explores a global

spectives and history, in addition to critiquing

“They wanted courses that would be very much engaged with contemporary struggles, contemporary social movements, contemporary critiques and analyses of society,” Biondi said. “They did not want to feel they were in this walled-off ivory tower disconnected from the urgent needs and aspirations of Black and brown communities in the United States.”

Biondi said her research included NU within

Then, in 2006, the University estab lished an African American Studies Ph.D. program, which Pattillo said helped create more Black scholarship.

She also said while Black Studies Ph.D. programs are not as common as those for English, for example, it is no longer rare and demand for courses grows every year. Each year, she said, the gradu ate student cohort is about three to five people.

Ekwelum said during a time when Black Studies and other theories of marginalized groups are being attacked and censored, it

Archivist records Black experience at NU

By CHARLOTTE VARNES

daily senior staffer @charvarnes11

A San Diego native, Charla Wilson knew she wanted to write about the history of the city’s Black community for her master’s thesis at California State University San Marcos.

Sifting through documents from San Diego’s

Young Women’s Christian Association, Wilson discovered the organization once had a segregated chapter in the predominantly Black community of Logan Heights during the early 20th century. Wilson and her relatives in San Diego had no idea the chapter existed, which she said sparked her curiosity about the group’s “unknown history.”

“It was an eye-opening project and a pivotal moment for me,” Wilson said. “It was the catalyst

for my decision to become an archivist. I had so many questions about how collections make their way to archives, what gets preserved (and) what doesn’t get preserved.”

Now, in her role as Northwestern’s archivist for the Black experience, Wilson embraces these questions day in and day out. Wilson said she centers Black students’ experiences at the University by communicating with students, faculty, staff and alumni about preserving their papers and records related to their time at NU. She also curates exhibits, supports researchers through answering questions about the archives and leads various other projects related to the experiences of Black community members.

The University created the archivist position in response to protests over proposed plans to combine the Black House and Multicultural Student Affairs in 2015. At the time, the Northwestern University Black Alumni Association called for the creation of a role dedicated to educating the community about Black student life. Wilson, who said she was limited in her ability to work with Black archives in her job in San Diego, said she felt the NU role would be a “perfect fit.”

Since she took on the new role in 2017, Wilson has worked on several different archival projects, including the Black Student Experience Audio Tour, the Decentering Whiteness Initiative and an online exhibit honoring the 50th anniversary of the Bursar’s Office Takeover.

Jill Waycie, a former archival processing specialist at NU, worked closely with Wilson for the Decentering Whiteness initiative. The project involved rewriting blurbs about items in the library’s collection to remove racist elements from them and center diverse voices.

Waycie said she appreciates Wilson’s “thoughtful approach” to her work.

“She makes sure to involve a lot of experts and stakeholders and get their feedback on the work we do,” Waycie said. “That’s really important. She’s built a lot of trust.”

Last summer, Deering Library debuted a collection of Frederick Douglass’ letters as part of the Decentering Whiteness initiative. Marquis Taylor, a thirdyear history Ph.D. student and the exhibit’s curator, worked with Wilson and Waycie to redescribe Douglass’ items. He said Wilson was supportive of him as he curated the exhibit in addition to being a Teaching Assistant, taking courses and working at the library.

Beyond working together on the Frederick Douglass exhibition, Taylor said Wilson has been a resource for professional growth.

“If there’s an opportunity she thinks I might be interested in or might be beneficial to me, she’ll loop me in,” Taylor said. “That’s a testament to how she really cares about the work she does and who she’s engaging with.”

Wilson said one of her favorite experiences during her time at NU was inviting Kathryn Ogletree to speak on campus for the 50th anniversary of the Bursar’s Office Takeover. Wilson said Ogletree, who played a central role as a student negotiator during the Takeover, was previously overlooked in the archival collections. She said Ogletree’s discussion of her experience during the Takeover had a “tremendous impact” on her understanding of the power of oral history.

Beyond working on larger projects, Wilson said she loves speaking with Black students, alumni, faculty and staff and helping them preserve their history. Working with Black archives as a whole is a “dream come true,” she said.

“Interacting with history in a tangible way is really neat,” Wilson said. “I’m just amazed — like, ‘Wow, I get to do this as a job.’”

Jacob Wendler/Daily Senior Staffer

Faculty say the legacy of the Bursar’s Office Takeover looms large in the history of NU’s African American Studies Department.

Photo courtesy of Charla Wilson/Shane Collins

Since she took on the new role in 2017, Wilson has worked on several archival projects about the Black experience at NU.

Photos courtesy of University archives

Student activists reflect on life since Takeover

By JESSICA MA

daily senior staffer @jessicama2025

Charles McBride

Charles McBride (Weinberg ’72) was part of a 10-person contingent of students who entered the Bursar’s Office. The team was “on pins and needles” about what was going to happen, he recalled.

The group planned to enter through the revolving doors and open the back door for protesters to come in. Then, the students would chain the doors closed. Accessing the revolving doors without interception

by a security guard presented a challenge, McBride said.

“We planned to have a diversion where some Black students would try to get the attention of the security guard … running around, making a lot of noise,” he said. “That plan worked.”

After graduation, McBride worked as a probation officer at the Cook County Juvenile Court for 25 years.

He felt his impact in the job was “minimal” while working with children. McBride said he found it difficult to maintain his optimism while working within the criminal justice system, he said.

“It seemed there was very little that I could do to make any difference in their lives, because the odds were stacked against them,” McBride said. “If I was

Adegoke Steve Colson

To prepare for the Takeover, Adegoke Steve Colson (Bienen ’73) snuck under the Rebecca Crown Center to locate underground passageways. He helped the demonstrators mark out the location of the Bursar’s Office.

Adegoke Steve Colson said Black students pulled together for the Takeover. The protest required trust because only a few people knew what was going to happen, he said.

“Anybody could have said, ‘I’m not going to do it,’ but the student body was involved,” Adegoke Steve Colson said. “You can’t predict whether you will get people to follow you into something where

Daphne Maxwell Reid

For Daphne Maxwell Reid (Weinberg ’70), participating in the Takeover was a “duty.” While growing up, Maxwell Reid’s family consistently participated in civil rights and peace demonstrations. “My upbringing is what mostly affects how I view things,” Maxwell Reid said. “I come from a family who were activists. My mother never saw a cause she didn’t rally for or against.”

Maxwell Reid sat in the bursar’s office for about two days. When she called her mother during the Takeover, all she said was “let me know if you need

any money for bail,” Maxwell Reid recalled.

Today, Maxwell Reid is an actress and bestknown for her role as Vivian Banks in NBC’s hit sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” Maxwell Reid, who is also a former model, became the first Black woman to don the cover of Glamour while studying at NU — which she said the University didn’t acknowledge at the time.

Maxwell Reid was also NU’s first Black Homecoming Queen, which she described as a “horrible” experience. Nobody was pleased, she said, and the University ignored the fact that she was awarded the honor.

able to make a difference in one kid’s life, then I would consider that a success.”

McBride said the Takeover was the first step of his commitment to improve the experiences of Black students.

In 2018, he returned to NU to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Takeover. The visit allowed him to reconnect with fellow activists and look at NU’s progress in response to the original demands, he said.

“(I was) pleasantly surprised to see all the Black faces (and) all the Black students on campus. That was such a big difference from my tenure at Northwestern,” McBride said. “I felt I played a small role in making that possible.”

… you could lose your ability to be a student at the institution.”

In May 2020, Adegoke Steve Colson, who has performed jazz internationally, received a grant from the American Composers Forum, for which he wrote an original piece that premiered at the Logan Center for the Arts. Colson has worked with leading performers like saxophonist David Murray and master poets and activists Amiri and Amina Baraka.

He and his wife Iqua Colson, a singer and educator, maintain their own record label, which keeps them busy, he said.

As the only Black male in his entering class at the Bienen School of Music, Adegoke Steve

There was no picture or statement in the yearbook acknowledging she was Homecoming Queen, Maxwell Reid said. When she asked the editor why she wasn’t featured, the editor claimed Homecoming wasn’t important, Maxwell Reid recalled.

Maxwell Reid was a member of university boards at NU and Virginia State University, but left both. She said the NU board was not making enough progress toward the goals she envisioned.

“Activism is part of everyday living,” Maxwell Reid said. “Either you’re quiet or not. And I’m not.”

jessicama2025@u.northwestern.edu

Colson played piano, saxophone, string bass, trumpet and clarinet while also pursuing a vocal minor.

Though Adegoke Steve Colson studied classical artists, he also practiced jazz in his free time and helped form a jazz band his freshman year.

As a student, Adegoke Steve Colson wanted to explore Chicago’s jazz scene and played with jazz tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson, who lived in Evanston at the time.

“My idea was fairly set by the time I was 15 about what kind of music I liked and what kind of music I wanted to perform,” Adegoke Steve Colson said. “I was listening to jazz when I was young, and I wanted to be a jazz musician.”

NU commits to diversity before SCOTUS cases

By LUIS CASTAÑEDA the daily northwestern @luiscasta220

Prior to 1966, an average of five Black students per year enrolled at Northwestern. That year, NU’s race-based recruitment infrastructure changed with the inception of two new programs: the NU Chicago Action Program and a special summer program which aimed to encourage Black students to enroll.

“Although not all black students participated in this summer program, the program must be considered to be the primary reason for the increasing enrollment of black students,” according to a 1970s progress report on the admission of Black students since the fall of 1965.

The University recruited students from Chicago Public Schools through NUCAP. By 1969, over 100 Black students were enrolling at NU per year.

But, this upcoming June, the structures put in place by NU and other universities in the 60s could be in jeopardy. The Supreme Court is set to rule on affirmative action in two cases against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, respectively.

Plaintiffs in the first case allege Harvard’s admissions policy discriminates against Asian American students, while the other argues the University of North Carolina discriminates against Asian American and white students.

If the Supreme Court rules against current precedent, universities may change their policies on race in the admissions process.

Earlier Supreme Court challenges to affirmative

action outlawed racial quota systems. Legal Studies Prof. Joanna Grisinger said the Court found schools couldn’t set aside certain seats on the basis of race in 1978.

Grisinger said the 6-3 conservative-leaning makeup of the current Supreme Court indicates affirmative action policies will change.

“It seems likely that this composition of this particular Supreme Court is very hostile to affirmative action and will say that schools cannot consider race at all as part of an admissions process,” Grisinger said.

NU student activism has centered on increased admission of Black students for decades. The original list of demands presented to the University in the Bursar’s Office Takeover in 1968, when students occupied the Bursar’s Office for 38 hours, included a request for greater racial diversity in admissions.

“It is hoped that in the future, through the combined efforts of the black students and the Office of Admission, a greater number of applications will be received from black high school students,” reads a May 4, 1968 agreement between the Afro-American Student Union, For Members Only and the University. “If such efforts are successful, it is realistic to assume that the black community in the nation at large will soon be proportionately represented in the Northwestern student body.”

NU has made significant strides toward proportional representation since then. Black students make up 12% of the Class of 2025 — which nearly mirrors the proportion of Black people in America in 2021.

Students are demanding the University prioritize protecting its current race-conscious admissions process ahead of upcoming rulings.

A list sent to the University by Black student activists

last month called for “an in-depth review of how the University plans to adjust recruitment and admissions in response to the upcoming 2023 Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action.”

Broderick Turner (Kellogg M.S. ’18, Ph.D. ’20) said he thinks students should demand more from the administration.

“If the students are asking for what the plan is, that’s a fine request, but you can ask for more,” said Turner, co-founder of the Technology, Race and Prejudice Lab. “In America, when you bring value to somewhere, you should be compensated for that value.”

In a Thursday morning letter to the student body, University President Michael Schill said the school is committed to student diversity, emphasizing it as a critical component of a well-rounded education.

“Regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court cases, we will work hard, within the law, to protect our diversity and will remain committed to practices that have helped us in recent years and be open to new strategies,” Schill said in the letter.

Schill listed six ways the University will protect its diversity policies in light of the upcoming decision. NU will continue its holistic review of applications, temporary test-optional policies and partnerships with college-access organizations such as QuestBridge, STARS College Network and College Horizons.

University spokesperson Jon Yates said a cross functional team has been working over the past several months with students, faculty and staff to adapt to potential changes in the legal landscape.

Turner said research shows that prioritizing diversity in admissions is a “win-win” for universities.

“It’s hard being an underrepresented minority in a majority-white environment,” he said. “All research bears out mental health (and) all these things are much worse. It’s a tougher experience.”

In a 1991 report about University efforts to recruit Black students, then-Assistant Director of Admissions Allison Jefferson (Medill ’86, ’87) noted the challenges that NU’s lack of diversity posed to the recruitment of Black students at the time.

“Rightfully so, many African American parents … are encouraging their children to investigate predominantly black institutions instead,” Jefferson wrote in the report. “Once students have decided that they would be more comfortable at a Black college, it is extremely difficult to attract them to a predominantly white school.”

In response, the Office of Admissions set recommendations to increase Black student enrollment, formally organizing Black alumni, assisting Black students with financial aid forms and getting students involved with local, community-based education programs.

Grisinger said previous Supreme Court decisions have reaffirmed the argument that universities have an interest in building diverse student bodies, meaning the state should support that interest. Still, she said, the Court outlawing race-based admissions could be hard for universities to interpret.

“What if someone writes their essay about a personal experience they have that involves race? Can they not read that? Well, that seems unlikely. So then how do you then prove you aren’t taking it into account?” she said.

luiscastaneda2026@u.northwestern.edu

Illustrators

Lily Ogburn

Shveta Shah

Anna Souter

Jacob Wendler

Graphic by Luis Castañeda

Photos courtesy of Syllabus Yearbook

Scan this QR code for an online exclusive offering: Paul O’Connor’s podcast about national context on student movements in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

A&E arts & entertainment

Planet Dillo blasts off with star-studded performances

By ELLA JEFFRIES daily senior staffer @ellajeffriess

Northwestern students waved their phone flashlights in the air at Dillo Day on Saturday as headliner Offset took a moment to remember his late cousin and former Migos member Takeoff. His performance elicited the biggest audience of the event, with some having camped out at the front of the stage all day to be up close for his highly anticipated set.

Mayfest Productions, along with For Members Only, hosted the event, which is the country’s largest student-run music festival. This year’s celebration on the Lakefill marked the 51st Dillo Day, with an Area 51 space-alien theme: “Planet Dillo.” With blue skies and sunny weather — much more favorable conditions than last year’s cold temperatures and rain — students decked out in accessories like holographic pants, astronaut suits and glitter body paint to celebrate.

For Weinberg freshman Caroline Corr, the festival exceeded expectations, and the sight of students dressed to the nines in space-themed apparel was a highlight.

“Seeing everyone’s outfits was like the Met Gala. Everyone was just so into it,” Corr said.

Battle of the Artists winners Muse etc., DJ Lu and Tavern kicked the day off on the Main Stage with an energetic crowd cheering them on. Student artists FreePlanet and RHOME performed on the FMO stage, followed by featured performers Chef Yeaboy, Zeph France, BIGBABYGUCCI, Lil Kayla and Blvck Svm.

McCormick freshman Ty Bennett said the festival was well put together and added that he loved the constant stimulation from live music, unique decorations for photos and variety of food vendors.

One of Bennett’s favorite moments was seeing BIGBABYGUCCI, whom he didn’t know before Dillo. Bennett said seeing the rapper’s performance made him a big fan and even got the opportunity to take a photo with him after his performance.

“It was just crazy to think, ‘Wow, I’m watching

these artists, and if I look 100 feet past the stage, that’s where I do my studying in the library,’” Bennett said.

Weinberg freshman Varun Popli said he appreciates the fact that the University provides undergraduate students the opportunity to both attend and be part of organizing a music festival.

Popli’s favorite parts of the day included eating empanadas from the 5411 Empanadas food truck, seeing Briston Maroney with friends and enjoying the high-energy environment of the campus.

“It’s very much the entire Northwestern community coming together to celebrate the end of the year, which I think is really awesome,” Popli said.

Offset ended the night with an hourlong set featuring songs from Migos albums “Culture” and “Culture II,” as well as fan favorites “Ric Flair Drip,” “ZEZE,” “Clout” and “Slide.” The three-time Grammy nominee was accompanied by DJ Ray G, who pumped the crowd up with popular hits “Just Wanna Rock,” “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” and “Party In The U.S.A.” before Offset began.

While onstage, Offset interacted with the audience by taking a video on a Mayfest member’s phone and even ventured into the crowd to stand on the barricade during “Bad and Boujee,” eliciting joyful screams from the audience.

Corr arrived at the Main Stage during Briston Maroney’s set, where Maroney played his top tracks “Freakin’ Out on the Interstate” and “Under My Skin” — just in time to be in the crowd for Offset’s performance.

Corr said Mayfest’s lineup announcement motivated her to listen to all of the artists on Spotify, but Offset was ultimately her favorite. She described his Migos-filled set as “fun nostalgia” for her and her friends.

“Spending 12-plus hours with my favorite people was definitely a marathon, but I couldn’t have asked for a better time and bonding experience,” Corr said. “It’s so cool to see so many people go all out for something so special to our school community.”

ellajeffries2025@u.northwestern.edu

Open Tab: Taste oodles of pasta at Noodles & Company

By JAY DUGAR

daily senior staffer @dugar_jay

An affordable dining option with a variety of delicious noodle dishes that’s also just a ten-minute walk from campus would be any college student’s dream. But it’s time to wake up, because Noodles & Company is here to stay.

Evanston’s Noodles & Company, located at 930 Church St., offers a great and fast-casual dining experience. The restaurant, open from 10:30 a.m. until 10 p.m. everyday, is a convenient option for college students.

The versatility of the Noodles & Company menu is honestly commendable — I can’t remember the last time I was eating udon noodles next to a family enjoying Western-inspired pasta dishes.

Noodles & Company is a great spot for those like me who are fans of Asian food but might have friends who do not enjoy the cuisine. During my visit, I tried the Wisconsin Mac and Cheese, 3-Cheese Tortelloni Rosa and Japanese Pan Noodles, while my friends had the Pesto Cavatappi with Grilled Chicken.

Is Noodles & Company a hidden gem that changed my life? Probably not — especially since it’s a fast-food chain. But the food was completely fine across the board, and I’d probably go again.

The Mac and Cheese wasn’t the most visually

striking dish, with shredded parmesan cheese sprinkled throughout. However, once I mixed the cheese in, the dish worked really well. It was both creamy and cheesy, and tasted homemade in the best possible way.

The 3-Cheese Tortelloni Rosa was my favorite dish of the night. The tortelloni was very wellconstructed, filled with ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, onions and garlic. As a plus, the added tomato cream sauce gave the dish a great kick. The inclusion of mushrooms, Roma tomatoes, spinach and extra parmesan also added extra flavors that complemented each other really well. Again, the rosa wasn’t revolutionary or groundbreaking by any means, but for $9.25 it was well-worth it.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Japanese Pan Noodles. The dish, which featured udon noodles, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli and cilantro, also sported a flavorful and creamy sauce with a soy base. I particularly enjoyed the dish’s slight spice, which added a new dimension to the noodles’ flavor. It was also great to see Noodles & Company offered solid vegetarian Asian options, making it a great choice for those seeking plant-based meals. My friends who had the Pesto Cavatappi with Grilled Chicken seemed to enjoy it overall. They said the noodles were buttery, the chicken was moist and the mushrooms were juicy. However, they added the dish was similar to a grocery store frozen dinner in many ways and may not be the right choice for everybody.

The restaurant’s ambiance was fairly traditional for a fast-casual eatery. There was a warm and inviting atmosphere conducive to both casual dining and intimate gatherings with colorful walls and fun posters of pasta lining the walls. The ambience certainly contributed to the restaurant’s comforting vibe, which really elevated the entire experience.

Overall, Noodles & Company is a pretty solid choice for a midweek meal. Whether you’re a fan of Asian cuisine, a pasta enthusiast or are just looking for a nice meal, Noodles & Company may have exactly what you are looking for.

jaydugar2025@u.northwestern.edu

Seeger Gray/Daily Senior Staffer

Jay Dugar/Daily Senior Staffer

Noodles & Company, near Evanston’s Davis Street CTA station, is a great option for college students and features noodle dishes from across the globe.

Liner Notes: Capaldi sings same old song on new LP

By BEATRICE VILLAFLOR the daily northwestern @beatricedvilla

Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi released his highly anticipated sophomore album “Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent” on Friday. He indulges fans with 12 new tracks, four of which were prereleased.

After listening, I, too, am broken by desire. I had high expectations before listening to Capaldi’s album and was left dissatisfied with the latter half of his newest LP.

At midnight Friday, I pressed play, not knowing what to expect from Capaldi. I wondered whether the “Someone You Loved” hitmaker could recreate the success of his first album with his newest project.

And for the first part of “Broken By Desire,” I was convinced he would triumph. When I first listened to “Forget Me,” the album’s opener and first

single, I was reminded of what originally drew me to Capaldi’s discography. His gritty voice, paired with his raw songwriting, perfectly conveyed postbreakup pettiness.

On the other hand, “Wish You The Best” feels like the flip side of the bitterness described in “Forget Me.” Capaldi slows the tempo, and his voice takes on a somber tone as he relinquishes control over a failed relationship, despairing over how he missed “the green in (his former lover’s) eyes.” As someone who has an ex with green eyes, I did take this ballad personally, and loved all three and a half minutes of it.

“Pointless,” on first listen, had me crying for the unconditional romance Capaldi describes. But Capaldi subverts the preconceptions of a love song with the track’s music video. Its depiction of a single mother and her son throughout the years as the backdrop of the singer declaring “everything is pointless without you” had me sobbing even harder.

One of my favorite songs of all time is The Smiths’ “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.” So it was a delight to see a reference to the track in “Heavenly Kind Of State Of Mind,” with Capaldi remarking, “I ain’t afraid to die if it means I’m by your side / It would be such a heavenly way to say goodbye.” The upbeat track emphasizes the wit and strength of Capaldi’s writing with lines like, “It’s almost cruel, the blue in your eyes / The kind of blasphemy that makes a congregation cry.”

But the musical formula that sets these tracks apart becomes predictable by the album’s latter half. In the most egregious example, “Burning” and “Any Kind Of Life” are sonically very similar. Both instrumentals swell by the chorus and are marked with Capaldi’s charming croon, making them identical tracks simply written in different fonts. The musical blueprint that makes these songs boring to the ear is worsened with overused cliches like the “sinking ships” sung about in

“Burning.” While the tracks weren’t bad, they weren’t novel enough for me to enjoy.

“The Pretender” and “How I’m Feeling Now” are the saving graces to the lackluster second half. They illustrate Capaldi at his best as he tackles intensely personal insecurities in the face of success — keep these songs away from those with impostor syndrome. The latter has Capaldi admitting, “So here’s to my beautiful life / That seems to leave me so unsatisfied.” The lyric poignantly captures the feeling of when you’re supposed to feel gratitude for your life but somehow cannot muster up any.

Through “Broken By Desire,” Capaldi displays the grounded honesty that made him a viral sensation and keeps listeners eager to hear more. But the album as a whole falls squarely in the realm of what we’ve come to expect from the Scotsman.

beatricevillaflor2026@u.northwestern.edu

UNITY Charity Fashion Show spotlights subculture

By DAVID SAMSON the daily northwestern @dpsamson

A half hour before UNITY Charity Fashion Show was scheduled to start, the line to enter PALMHOUSE had already wrapped around the building.

Around 300 Northwestern students and Chicagoarea residents attended Thursday evening’s show in Evanston, which highlighted this year’s UNITY line –– alongside the work of over a dozen designers.

This year’s theme was “Subculture: The Intersection of Expression, Identity and Fashion.” According to the show’s opening statement, the theme showcased the unique ways designers craft their pieces and emphasized how each represented different artists’ cultures.

“It blew me away. I was really impressed by the breadth of talent coming from the designers all

throughout the Chicagoland area,” Medill freshman Bazil Frueh said.

In its second show since the COVID-19 pandemic, UNITY raised over $3000 for its partner charity, Arts of Life. The organization aims to support artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities pursue their passions.

UNITY typically chooses a new charity each year, but the group’s executive director, SESP junior Anthony Engle, said Arts of Life won group members’ hearts for the second year in a row.

“We actually got to meet the artists and tour their studio,” Engle said. “We got really well connected with the artists, but also the people running the nonprofit.”

Ariée Carter, an artist with Arts of Life, featured her designs in the UNITY line. The line’s collection of pieces concluded the show.

Engle said Carter reached out to UNITY last summer and wrote to them about her passion for fashion

and drawing, and asked if she could be part of the show.

“She offered to wash dishes. She was like ‘any way that I can help the show, I want to do that,’” Engle said.

UNITY’s clothing committee brought several of her designs to life, including a dress made of pink bows. In the show’s program, Carter said the look was inspired by Coco Chanel and represents the kind of fashion that makes her feel “comfortable.”

Engle said they started crying as the models took to the runway, emotional after seeing a year’s worth of hard work come to fruition.

“When you see it come together, that’s the moment where you’re so happy and overwhelmed with emotions and gratitude,” Engle said.

Several designers outside of the UNITY line were featured, including a few NU students and even one Downers Grove North high school student, Audrey Gorey.

UNITY exhibited a vast and varying dimensions

of fashion genres and aesthetics through its diversity of designers, according to Frueh.

“I was impressed by just the depth of skill coming from a lot of people at such a young age,” Frueh said.

Medill freshman Eleni Tecos attended the fashion show to support their girlfriend, who was a model. Tecos said they were especially fond of the designers that showed off casual streetwear looks.

Other artists featured more formal designs, including floor-length gowns and deconstructed suits.

Though the styles varied, every designer maintained the core purpose of UNITY: using people’s love of fashion for good.

“Everyone in UNITY is so invested in the success of the show because it has such a good purpose behind it,” said Engle.

davidsamson2026@u.northwestern.edu

Indigo De Souza brings raw honesty, emotion to Thalia Hall

By MJ GUDIÑO the daily northwestern

North Carolina native Indigo De Souza played at Thalia Hall in Chicago Thursday night to promote her latest album, “All of This Will End,” released April 28.

Indie folk three-piece Sluice opened for De Souza, bringing its shared North Carolinian heritage to the stage. Before the group’s last song, De Souza took to the stage and encouraged the audience to listen more closely.

“It breaks my heart to watch people talking over the people I care about,” she said, addressing those having conversations at the venue’s bar in the back.

As De Souza and her bandmates walked onstage and prepared to perform, the song “Are You Having Any Fun?” by Elaine Stritch played in the background, highlighting De Souza’s playful nature and ironic sense of humor.

The Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter kicked off her show with the track “How I Get Myself Killed”

— inspired by the process of aging — from her 2018 debut album, “I Love My Mom.” Its lyrics, “Come when you’re called / If this is all we’ve got to work with then it’s all we’ve got to blame,” are directed towards the past and current versions of herself.

The care and emotion De Souza showed to her openers became exceedingly clear in her performance; her voice during the set was full of hurt and love as she sang about her deeply personal experiences.

The second song of her set, “You Can Be Mean,” featured the lyrics, “You know what you did / You know what you took from me / It makes me sick to think about that night,” a piece De Souza wrote about an abusive relationship.

Violinist Libby Rodenbough, drummer Avery Sullivan, bassist Landon George and guitarist Dexter Webb accompanied her onstage throughout the performance. The whining melodies of Rodenbough’s blue electric violin were hauntingly gorgeous in their accompaniment of De Souza’s expressive singing style that often included emotive and throaty vocalizations.

In the middle of her set, she paused and

addressed the audience with a whispered “Thank you,” posing the question, “You gotta get it out somehow, you know what I mean? How do you guys get it out?” De Souza, the only writer on her 2023 album, said she practices self-acceptance and processes her emotions through song.

The energy of the crowd was overwhelmingly positive, as audience members danced and jumped. De Souza’s comforting and candid demeanor created a lovely energy in the performance hall as criss-crossing streams of light in complementary colors illuminated the stage.

De Souza closed her show with an encore of “Real Pain” from her 2021 album, “Any Shape You Take.” A song about heartbreak and grief, “Real Pain” ended the show on an emotional note and included an audio collage of screams sent in by fans.

With raw and achingly honest lyricism, De Souza’s music served as a safe space for listeners, and singing along to her songs provided an emotional release. As De Souza’s audience showed, there are few experiences more liberating than

screaming your heart out.

mjgudino2026@u.northwestern.edu

arts & entertainment

Editor

Ella Jeffries

Assistant Editors

Lexi Goldstein

Beatrice Villaflor

Design Editors

Valerie Chu

Danny O’Grady

Anna Souter

BLACK STUDIES

From page 1

discussions and performances, ranging from Thundercat’s “Them Changes” to Little Simz’s “Point and Kill.”

Political science, sociology and African American Studies Prof. Barnor Hesse, who also served as an emcee, said Black music is part of Black history and studies. He encouraged attendees to “to work through, think through and feel through” the art in the symposium.

Hesse also discussed the relationships between Black studies and the world. While many disciplines exclude or refrain from including Black experiences, ideas and perspectives, Black studies prioritizes these experiences. In turn, Hesse said it “cannot avoid” critically examining Western epistemology, instead of assuming it is the standard.

“Black Studies doesn’t just see democracy. It sees democracy and white supremacy. The only democracy we’ve ever known in Western society is a white democracy,” Hesse said. “Black Studies doesn’t just see Western civilization. It sees as the conditions of Western civilization, Western barbarism. So you see, with that angle of vision, how the world seems to tilt almost on its axis.”

Trinity College Prof. Davarian Baldwin, who teaches American studies and serves as founding director of the Smart Cities Research Lab, was the first keynote speaker. In his talk, “Black Studies and Thoughts on an Abolitionist University,” Baldwin pointed toward the relationship between Black Studies, African American Studies and the education debate in the U.S.

Baldwin argued while the ongoing debate about controlling curricula in higher education revolves around certain controversial topics like AP African American Studies, arguments center on censoring ideas that Black Studies promotes.

“Higher education was never designed to serve at the sight of democratic possibilities, but actually the symbol of exclusion and privilege of inheritance,” he said. “Black Studies always understood the broader campus complex as a site of struggle for liberatory possibility … they understood that the higher education institute — the campus — was the battleground for global hegemony.”

Black studies originated at the intersection between the campus and the broader community, Baldwin said. For example, in 1968, Columbia University students in the Black Panther Party organized a movement known as Gym Crow, which criticized the potential construction of a university gym in nearby Morningside Park.

REBUILDING

From page 1

employment program. The first program is a free 6-week training that prepares people to build trades apprenticeships and the second is a 20-week paid

Classified Ads

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN is not responsible for more than one incorrect insertion of an ad. Corrections must be received by 10am on the day before ad runs again, call 847-4917206. All Classifieds must be paid in advance and are not accepted over the phone. To run online, ad must run in print on same day. The Daily does not knowingly accept misleading or false ads and does not guarantee any ad or claim, or endorse any advertised product or service. Please use caution when answering ads, especially when sending money.

It is the policy of The Daily Northwestern to accept housing advertising only from those whose housing is available without discrimination with respect to sexual orientation, race, creed or national origin. The presumption is therefore, that any housing listing appearing here is non-discriminatory.

The gym would have created a physical barrier between the Harlem neighborhood and the campus, but he said students and residents occupied the administration buildings to put a stop to its construction.

Modern-day diversity, equity and inclusion efforts — which center on diversifying curricula, faculty and students — have used diversity to “meet administration and corporate needs of brand management,” Baldwin said, moving away from the intentions of Black Studies.

Baldwin said he recommends coupling DEI with the principles of abolition, reparations, investment and security, known as ARIS.

“(ARIS) is built on the 1960s liberation moment to see the campus as a site for not just the production of knowledge, but a core fulcrum and today’s knowledge economy,” Baldwin said. “(Black Studies) was directly engaging the role that higher education was playing within the political economy and American empire.”

A roundtable with history and African American Studies Prof. Sherwin Bryant, religious studies Prof. KB Dennis Meade, Communication and African American Studies Prof. Dotun Ayobade and African American Studies Prof. Kennetta Perry then discussed the question: “What is the Black in Black studies?”

The panelists then explored the topic by examining how Black Studies functions across the world.

Ayobade said many Africans would not call themselves Black, but many trends that have started in Africa were inspired by Black Power movements challenging colonialism worldwide. For instance, in the 1970s many Nigerian artists smoked marijuana, practiced nudity and made music as part of a global movement of Black anticolonial resistance, he said.

Ayobade added scholars often do not address the modern complexities of Africa in their studies.

“Africa tends to show up as a kind of historic, ancestral space of origin, when in fact, Africans continually engage with the legacies of empire colonialism,” Ayobade said.

Following the panel, Communication freshman Cydney Hope Brown shared her poetry. Through her work, she discussed her experiences with grief and pride. Over the summer, Brown said she plans to write a series of poems from the vantage point of famous Black women in history to inspire young Black girls.

She then recited a poem entitled “Black Girl,” which she said depicts her refusal to let other peoples’ assumptions control her worldview. Self-love is an active choice, Brown said, and is important

career training program.

With these programs, Rebuilding Exchange helps break down existing barriers to trade careers, Share said.

“We’re helping to create a more equitable future for the trades,” Share said. “We’re definitely seeing an

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN is not responsible for more than one incorrect insertion of an ad. Corrections must be received by 10am on the day before ad runs again, call 847-4917206. All Classifieds must be paid in advance and are not accepted over the phone. To run online, ad must run in print on same day. The Daily does not knowingly accept misleading or false ads and does not guarantee any ad or claim, or endorse any advertised product or service. Please use caution when answering ads, especially when sending money.

HELP WANTED ADS are accepted only from advertisers who are equal opportunity employers. The presumption, therefore, is that all positions offered here are available to qualified persons without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age, handicap, or veteran status.

DAILY SUDOKU

to her lifestyle.

Culture and film critic Zeba Blay, who served as the second keynote speaker at Friday’s event, gave a talk titled, “What it Means to be Black and Carefree in an Unfree World.” Her speech centered freedom, which she said requires the unpacking of fear.

Being a “fat, dark-skinned, immigrant, queer, neurodivergent Black woman” comes with inherited traumas, she said. Though she experiences fear, Blay said, she has resonated with radical Black artists like Nina Simone, who have created “portals to dream.”

“I exist in a world that consistently devalues people like me, a world that simultaneously ignores and actively perpetuates the violences, both physical and spiritual, against folks who look and live like me,” Blay said. “The world has always been chaotic, dangerous (and) precarious for Black folk.”

Blay wrote a 2021 collection of essays titled “Carefree Black Girls,” which paints a portrait of Black women in pop culture as a way to explore representation, rest and liberation. In 2013, she was the first to use #CarefreeBlackGirl on Twitter after coming across a video of 20th-century Black movie star and dancer Josephine Baker dancing.

Blay said she was enthralled by Baker’s movements, which exuded freedom, and wondered how she could channel similar energy into her own life. Though Blay wrote about carefreeness and celebration, she felt trapped and unfree — a tension Blay wanted to explore in her own writing.

Carefreeness can be a tool to fight for freedom, but Blay said defining freedom is an “elusive task.”

The U.S. uses freedom as a branding tool intertwined with a sense of entitlement and violence, she added.

Blay said she aimed to understand how to claim carefreeness as less of a performative gesture on social media, but rather as a “lived, embodied experience.” Freedom encompasses the political, social and economic dimensions of Black life, she said, while carefreeness centers the spiritual dimension. Blay added freedom and carefreeness need each other to survive.

“Freedom requires sober dedication. It requires work,” Blay said. “Being carefree entails experiencing ease, joy, lightness and liberation, despite the overwhelming fear.”

Jay Dugar contributed reporting.

joannahou2025@u.northwestern.edu

jessicama2025@u.northwestern.edu

kristenaxtman2025@u.northwestern.edu

improvement for that; we’re getting people jobs and it’s amazing.”

In the spirit of building community, Rebuilding Exchange will host its Summer House Party on June 3 at the Chicago location. The event will include local craft vendors,

food trucks, music and the organization’s “Scraptacular Challenge” — where competitors take scraps of building materials and craft them into something new. shannontyler2025@u.northwestern.edu

From page 1

is to ensure residents and landlords do not have to pay out of pocket for sustainable home upgrades.

Pratt said the One Stop Shop upgrades will focus on “improved health outcomes, energy efficiency, reduced carbon emissions (and) reduced utility bills.”

The program’s pilot is set to launch in the next few months. It will serve up to 50 Evanston households in two census tracts, located in the 5th and 8th wards, which Markus said have higher concentrations of affordable housing units, low-income residents and residents of color.

Bob Dean, chief strategy and program officer for the Center for Neighborhood Technology, said organizers are also looking at state and federal grants in hopes of securing long-term funding for the One Stop Shop program.

While 50 homes is “a drop in the bucket” in terms of addressing the need for affordable housing improvements, Dean said, he hopes to make the program “bigger and better” in the coming years.

“Evanston is a pretty residential city, and so you really have to do something about housing stock in order to get us on a good path,” he said.

With opportunities like the One Stop Shop still waiting to launch, more residents have been looking into ways to install their own energy-efficient systems.

Ninth Ward resident Jeff Balch’s home has had solar panels on its roof since he moved into it in 1996. While the original solar panels were installed by the last homeowner, Balch recently upgraded them after they were damaged during a storm.

Balch said seeing solar panels on just one home can spark interest by neighbors, creating a domino effect.

“There are, I think, five homes within a couple hundred yards of our house that have solar and got it in the last couple of years,” Balch said. “We’ve had a number of calls from friends who see our system, and they’ve come by and they’ve asked for an explanation.”

While upfront costs for technologies like solar panels remain high, homeowners like Balch and Neumann said they’ve gotten significant savings in the long term. Because buildings with solar panels produce much of their own energy, residents don’t have to pay typical amounts on electric bills.

Contractors often refer to a “payback period” for solar panels. If residents use them for several years, they will often save enough from not paying energy bills to offset the initial cost of solar panel installation. In Illinois, the average payback period for solar panels is less than nine years.

There’s still an “activation energy” needed to get residents educated about the economic benefits of solar panels, Balch said. And local groups like Climate Action Evanston alongside residents and city officials, are trying to figure out ways to boost awareness of sustainable technology, according to CAE Energy Program Lead Joel Freeman.

“We’re trying to make this transition (to clean energy) into a strategic plan, as opposed to an emergency,” Freeman said.

lilycarey2025@u.northwestern.edu

DAILY CROSSWORD

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

Students reflect on transition from high school to NU

By KRISTEN AXTMAN daily senior staffer @kristenaxtman1

When McCormick sophomore Camila Solis arrived at Northwestern from a large public school outside of Fort Worth, Texas where “almost no” students attend Top 50-ranked universities, she found college to be intimidating.

For first-generation and/or low-income students, like Solis, the transition to college and adjustment to NU courses can prove especially difficult. Many FGLI students say courses at the University can be both demanding and overwhelming.

“When you get here, everyone’s like, ‘Oh, you belong here. You made it. You deserve being here,’” Solis said. “I was like, ‘But I’m gonna fail my classes actually, and everyone else seems to understand what they’re doing,’ so it’s just really terrifying.”

Though she found success in Advanced Placement classes in high school, she said she felt defeated by fast-paced academics at NU. Solis added she had to “catch up” on subjects like linear algebra, which her peers may have been taught in high school.

Solis said the time and effort she puts into her NU classes is not always reflected in letter grades. Between work-study jobs and the demand of NU classes, especially given the quarter system, she feels like a “human output machine.”

Solis said she “lived in office hours” her freshman year at NU and enrolled in Peer-Guided Study Groups, which were both helpful in her studies. McCormick students helped support her through the difficult coursework, she added.

“I was talking with another friend and we were just sitting there crying with each other and (asking), ‘Why do we feel like we work 20 times as hard as these other kids and then get none of the results?’ she said. “But, even having each other there together, feeling the exact same way was so much better than going through that alone.”

Weinberg sophomore Vivian Bui, a FGLI student who attended a large New Jersey suburban public school, said many students who share her academic and financial background learn to be more self-sufficient.

She said encountering class differences at the University also made the social transition to

NU difficult.

For Bui, the Arch Scholars programs — a series of programs for incoming students from high schools with little or no AP/IB preparation, those with financial need or first-generation college students — helped her with the transition process. As an Arch Scholar, Bui took a month of NU courses the summer before freshman year, introducing her to the style of the University’s classes.

“There’s a lot of gaps to be filled, but it definitely was a start,” Bui said. “It’s something that I don’t think a lot of other universities have.”

She said the BIPOC and FGLI advisors in the Office of Fellowships and the Office of Career Advancement were also helpful in her transition to NU. These advisors helped her realize her identity does not need to put her at a disadvantage for job applications and other academic and career opportunities, she said.

Weinberg sophomore Jeanette Nguyen, who is a

first-generation college student, attended a highly selective college prep school in San Francisco. She said found her transition to high school from a Catholic K-8 school was more difficult than her academic transition to NU. Many of the white, affluent students in her high school were “out of touch with reality,” which can also happen at NU, she said.

“They thought a lot of their success had to do with their merit and not because of privileges they grew up around,” she said.

Nguyen described her high school as a feeder institution that marketed itself as one of the most rigorous schools in the area. But she said she felt some of the classes were not as difficult as the school said they were. Nguyen added she had strong support from teachers. However, at NU, she said she doesn’t always take advantage of the resources offered.

“When you’re really coddled and someone’s

holding your hand the whole way through high school, you’re not really used to seeing that out for yourself,” Nguyen said.

Solis said she “never imagined” how difficult the transition to college would be. She added even hearing about her peer’s extracurricular activities and knowing they do need to do work study jobs makes her not feel like a part of the NU community.

Now, Solis is a Peer-Guided Study Group leader and she advises students facing similar struggles to find a mentor. She joined the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, which she said made her feel less alone.

“When I’m struggling here, I have to remember, ‘You from 10 years ago would be like, ‘you’re in college, and just that is amazing,’” Solis said.

kristanaxtman2025@u.northwestern.edu

Chloe Braswell

Wyatt Browdy

Maxine van der Donk

Theo Faugeres

Aja Frazier

Zach Gershowitz

Jason Huang

Inaya Hussain

Scott Hwang

Andres Kaneb

Leo Kurland

Jovana Lakic

Cate Rose

Janice Seong

Margaret Sprigg-Dudley

place photo by Madison Bratley

Illustration by Lily Ogburn

From handling the academic rigor of NU classes to dealing with class differences at NU, McCormick sophomore Camilla Solis said the transition to college can be “overwhelming.”

Northwestern enjoys perfect NCAA regional round

By RACHEL SCHLUETER the daily northwestern @rschlueter26

No. 12 Northwestern (41-11, 20-3 Big Ten) went 3-0 in its regional round, punching a ticket to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for the next round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats finished their season undefeated in 14 games at Sharon J. Drysdale Field for the first time under coach Kate Drohan.

“I think we’re a little emotional because it’s our last game at (home),” graduate center fielder Skyler Shellmyer said. “It’s a very special day for us, and the fact that we were undefeated here is really awesome.”

NU kicked off its tournament run with a 2-0 pitcher’s-duel victory over Eastern Illinois (34-21, 16-6 Ohio Valley) on Friday.

Graduate pitcher Danielle Williams started in the circle for the Cats. She pitched a complete game, allowing three hits and no runs while striking out 10 batters.

NU opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning when junior third baseman Hannah Cady singled to left center, handing the Cats a 1-0 lead.

Two innings later, freshman designated player Kansas Robinson homered to center field. Robinson tallied six home runs in the regular season, and the slugger built on her momentum in the postseason.

While NU’s offense didn’t fly out the gates Friday, the Cats started hot Saturday against Kentucky (31-22-1, 10-14 SEC). NU had won the teams’ last battle 9-3 on Feb. 25.

Kentucky put up three runs in the first inning, but graduate catcher Jordyn Rudd ignited the Cats’ offense with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first to bring the score to 3-2. In the top of the second, Kentucky catcher Kayla Kowalik struck a three-run home run to give her team a 6-2 lead.

But NU punched back in the bottom of the third. Robinson maintained momentum from Friday, sending a solo shot over the wall. Graduate first baseman

Nikki Cuchran’s sacrifice fly and senior left fielder Angela Zedak’s RBI single brought the score to 6-5.

Graduate shortstop Maeve Nelson gave the Cats a 7-6 lead on a two-run bomb, before Robinson sent a three-run blast over the wall to stretch the advantage to four.

By the end of the Saturday shootout, NU produced just enough magic to capture a 10-8 win.

Heading into Sunday, NU was just one win away from the super regional round. But a fiery underdog in Miami (Ohio) (40-17-1, 24-5 Mid-American) stood in the way.

With junior pitcher Lauren Boyd starting in the circle, Miami scored first off a solo home run. The Redhawks added to their lead on a walk with the bases loaded in the bottom of the third.

NU’s bats then came alive in the top of

the fourth. Cady singled to the right side and Cuchran came behind with a two-run blast, tying the score at 2-2.

Williams entered the contest in the bottom of the fourth, after Boyd tied her career high of nine strikeouts in 3.2 innings pitched.

With the score tied in the top of the fifth inning, Rudd singled to right, bringing Shellmyer home for a 3-2 NU lead. However, Miami first baseman Holly Blaska retook the lead on a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth.

During freshman right fielder Kelsey Nader’s sixth-inning groundout, Zedak dashed from second to home, tying the score 4-4.

NU reaches Final Four in rout

By JAKE EPSTEIN

No. 1 Northwestern entered Martin Stadium on Thursday just 60 minutes of NCAA Tournament action away from a potential fourth consecutive Final Four berth. The team’s opponent, No. 8 Loyola Maryland, boasted a Baltimorean brick wall: the second-ranked scoring defense in the country.

With a trip to Cary, North Carolina, hanging in the balance, the Wildcats (191, 6-0 Big Ten) turned to graduate student attacker Izzy Scane.

And in her proverbial Tewaaraton moment, Scane scored 10 points to propel her team past the Greyhounds (19-3, 9-0 Patriot League) in a 16-6 bludgeoning.

“After that close game on Sunday, we all kicked into gear,” Scane said. “People were working hard together and working for each other.”

After more than two minutes of defensive play by both teams to start the game, Scane scooped a ground ball on the edge of the offensive zone and charged toward the goal. She fed freshman attacker Madison Taylor for the game’s opening score.

Graduate student attacker Elle Hansen doubled NU’s lead with 9:01 remaining in the first quarter, but Loyola Maryland midfielder Chase Boyle cut the deficit just 41 seconds later.

Both defenses reigned supreme in the next four minutes. Scane then registered her first goal of the game on a free-position play, barrelling in front of the cage before finishing on an off-balance effort.

From there, coach Kelly Amonte Hiller shifted sophomore midfielder Serafina DeMunno into the draw circle, attempting to counteract Loyola Maryland midfielder Jillian Wilson’s dominant display.

“Serafina went in and she started to do really well,” Amonte Hiller said. “We needed some speed on the circle (and) put (senior defender) Johanna Kingsfield in there, and she did amazing.”

While the Cats didn’t reap benefits on the next draw, senior attacker Erin

Coykendall connected with senior attacker Dylan Amonte to cement a 4-1 lead for NU heading into the second quarter.

When play resumed, the Cats’ graduate student attacking assassins activated. First, Scane spun into a diving effort, extending NU’s edge to four goals. Then, graduate student attacker Hailey Rhatigan converted an unassisted tally on the next possession. Three minutes later, Hansen buried Scane’s feed to stretch the margin to 7-1 with 8:09 left in the frame.

The Greyhounds tried to capture momentum past the quarter’s midway point, but Scane slammed the door shut.

The Tewaaraton finalist unleashed a textbook stick check and completed her hat trick from point-blank range to widen the lead to seven scores.

“Our main focus is going into that ride with a sense of urgency,” Scane said. “After you don’t score, it gives you an extra kick to try and get that ball back.”

Despite Loyola Maryland attacker Georgia Latch’s responding score, the Scane Train steamrolled ahead. The attacker assisted Coykendall on a pinpoint pass and scored her 86th goal of the season on the next possession.

Wilson delivered a late goal for the Greyhounds, but the Cats flew into the locker room with a 10-3 lead.

Sophomore midfielder Emerson Bohlig jumpstarted proceedings less than five minutes into the second half, and Coykendall grabbed a player-advantage

goal for a nine-goal difference. After Scane tallied her fifth goal of the night, NU activated the running clock with 6:53 left in the third quarter.

With the period winding down, Scane stepped back up to the eight-meter and buried a bullet in the back of the net, solidifying a 14-3 gap.

Scane’s scoring show persisted into the final frame, as junior defender Kendall Halpern hit the attacker for her seventh goal and 10th point of the day — Scane’s highest goal tally since the March 15 matchup against Michigan.

“If your best player can have 10 points, you’re in pretty good shape,” Amonte Hiller said.

While Loyola Maryland midfielder Sydni Black and Boyle combined for three fourth-quarter scores, Coykendall completed her hat trick, and the Cats ran away with a 16-6 quarterfinal victory.

NU will face No. 5 Denver in a semifinal showdown in Cary on May 26. The Pioneers (22-0, 6-0 Big East) own the nation’s top defensive unit and held No. 3 UNC scoreless in the second half Thursday.

Nevertheless, graduate student goalkeeper Molly Laliberty — who registered seven saves — said the Cats will approach the contest like any other.

“It’s just lacrosse, so it’ll be business as usual — just go out there, have fun and keep playing our game,’’ Laliberty said.

jacobepstein2026@u.northwestern.edu

“Angela Zedak is not the fastest player on our team, but she has the fastest second-to-home time,” Drohan said. “She takes great pride in that specific baserunning move.”

With the game still tied in the top of the seventh, Shellmyer led off with a single up the middle.

Robinson came up next, bunting Shellmyer into scoring position. Rudd then sent a double to the center field wall, scoring Shellmyer and giving the Cats a 5-4 advantage.

Deep in the bottom of the seventh and with no outs, the Redhawks had the bases loaded. But Williams, the Cats’ ace, struck out two and forced a ground out to clinch

a victory.

Even with Williams’ and Rudd’s heroics, Drohan said each player on the team contributes to its success.

“A lot of people talk about our fifthyears, and a lot of people talk about our freshmen,” Drohan said. “There is a sophomore, junior, senior class, who are the glue of our program.”

NU will play No. 5 Alabama (43-19, 14-10 SEC) next in the Tuscaloosa super regional on May 26. The Crimson Tide advanced to their regional after beating Middle Tennessee in a winner-take-all game Sunday.

rachelschlueter2026@u.northwestern.edu

Price: Series represents season of lows for Cats

By LAWRENCE PRICE daily senior staffer @lpiii_tres

After floating on cloud nine following Tuesday’s walk-off win at Wrigley Field, Northwestern crashed back down to earth this weekend.

Seeking to end the season on a high note, the Wildcats’ (10-40, 4-20) discouraging 15-3 loss to the Hawkeyes in game one was quickly overshadowed by a reassuring 6-4 victory in game two. However, the rubber match’s comical result of a 10-0 Iowa victory summed up the Cats’ treacherous season so far — expecting a successful season was a stretch.

Prior to this season, NU’s program changed its coach and lost most of its production and future talent to either the transfer portal or graduation, including multiple All-Big Ten honorees. The program was turning into the Big Ten’s version of a pit stop made during a road trip — a place freshman could use as a launching pad to more successful programs or a chance for graduate students to live out their dreams as Big Ten athletes.

Every program needs a foundation or form of consistency, and NU hasn’t built one in years.

A similar tale was told in 2021 when the Cats lost most of their key contributors to the MLB draft or graduation, including shortstop stud Shawn Goosenberg, and top arms Mike Doherty and Tyler Uberstine. That year was topped off by personnel change in which long-time coach Spencer Allen stepped down.

NU hit the reset button that offseason, and it clearly had to be pressed again in 2022.

For every great program, it can take years and a village to see progress achieved. Although coach Jim

Foster’s winning resume provides hope, as English playwright John Heywood once said, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

The only two positives from NU’s weekend series against Iowa was that the team broke its 16-game conference losing streak. Now that the season is over, coach Foster will have a chance to evaluate and put together his first recruiting class. Each of NU’s worst nightmares that have haunted them all season came true Friday and Sunday — a lack of success at the plate and on the mound.

Of course, the Cats’ lineup faced two of its toughest matchups on those two bad days, facing top arms in Marcus Morgan and Brody Brecht who both hold a top-six ERA in the conference. However, it doesn’t end with that duo, as the Hawkeyes are carried by a pitching staff with the lowest overall ERA in the Big Ten.

But NU can still be cut a little slack. Facing such a strong out-ofconference schedule to begin the season, the Wildcats needed time to mesh but never had a chance to do so, hence the 0-12 start to the campaign. NU’s midseason schedule was an opportunity to finally reinvent themselves, but by the back half of the conference schedule, when one would hope all the suffering would pay off, NU was met with top Big Ten teams miles ahead of the Cats.

Hopefully, this upcoming offseason won’t become a repeat of 2022. Also, don’t expect the Cats to climb up the Big Ten standings next season out of nowhere — it doesn’t work like that. If there’s one thing NU men’s basketball’s historic season proved, it’s that experience and development take time, and for this baseball program, we can write the same tale.

Katie Chen/The Daily Northwestern

Photo courtesy of Northwestern Athletics