The Daily Northwestern — October 8, 2020

The Daily Northwestern Thursday, October 8, 2020

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arts & entertainment

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A&E

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Student bikeshare company closes eo shuts down after Evanston grants sole rights to Lyft

By HANNAH FEUER the daily northwestern @hannah_feuer After almost two years in operation, the studentrun bikeshare company eo announced Sept. 7 they would be shutting down “due to circumstances that were out of (their) control.”

Those circumstances? The city of Evanston struck a deal with Lyft, which owns the company that operates Divvy bikes — giving them exclusive rights to bikeshares within city limits.

“We had something that was solving a real problem,” eo co-founder Drake Weissman (Weinberg ’20) said.

“To have that be eliminated because of monopolistic deals and legal bureaucracy is very disappointing.”

Since the company became fully operational in spring 2019, Weissman said eo has accumulated about 500 active users and 70 bikes with more than 20,000 collective rides.

Evanston is not the first city Lyft has made these agreements with. In spring 2019,

the Chicago City Council granted Lyft exclusive rights to Chicago’s bikeshare system.

Lyft also has exclusive rights to operate bikeshares in San Francisco.

As part of the Chicago agreement, Lyft would invest $77 million in transportation projects and give the city 5 percent of its revenue after bringing in $20 million.

Weinberg sophomore Matt Schneller, the current CEO of eo, said he “didn’t want to fight something as overwhelmingly powerful as an agreement with Lyft.”

But for a company with the mantra “for students, by students,” Schneller said Divvy bikes and eo don’t compare.

“One of the biggest things we have as a company that no other bikeshare company has is its community,” Schneller said. “Because when you get to the corporation level, nobody’s really passionate or dedicated to supporting some brand name like Uber or Lyft.”

Weissman said eo did extensive market research, interviewing students to find out how to best fit their transportation needs. For example, while Divvy bikes include docks, eo bikes were dockless — making them ideal for » See EO, page 6

Illustration by Carly Schulman

Survey gauges resident water issues ‘We Are Water’ project stems from misunderstandings about Great Lake

By DELANEY NELSON

daily senior staffer @delaneygnelson

When Clare Tallon Ruen worked with students in Evanston/Skokie School District 65 to teach kids about water in their

community, she said she encountered a lot of misconceptions about Lake Michigan. Some students thought the lake was an ocean.

Others thought there were sharks in it.

Tallon Ruen said she saw this as an overall misunderstanding of the lake she sees as central to the

community, which sparked her interest in residents’ self-identification with Lake Michigan. In March, the Evanston Community Foundation approved a grant for the Watershed Collective, started

by Tallon Ruen in 2016, to explore just that: community members’ rel ationship with their water.

The project, called “We Are Water,” is run by Tallon Ruen, Liliana Hernandez Gonzales, an Environmental Engineering graduate student at Northwestern, and Vidya Venkataramanan, a postdoctoral fellow in the » See WATER, page 6

Three candidates vy for city manager Former GPhi alum Chosen from pool of 70, one will fill spot vacant since last September

By JACOB FULTON

daily senior staffer @jacobnfulton

Evanston announced three finalists for its city manager position, all of whom will participate in a community forum on Wednesday.

The list of finalists includes Aretha Ferrell-Benavides, the current city manager of Petersburg, Va.; Marie Peoples, who is serving as Coconino County, Ariz.’s deputy county manager; and Erika Storlie, the city’s current interim city manager. The three were chosen from among 70 applications of employees of cities and metropolitan areas across the country.

The city manager position was vacated in September 2019, and since then Storlie has served in the position in the interim.

The previous city manager was Wally Bobkiewicz, who left Evanston for Issaquah, Wash., and the search for his successor was delayed by COVID-19.

In response to the closure of the application process, nine grassroots organizing groups called on the city to choose a

clash on abolition On Facebook, exmembers disagree with movement

By ISABELLE SARRAF

daily senior staffer @isabellesarraf

Photos courtesy City of Evanston, Historic Petersburg Foundation

The three finalists for Evanston’s city manager position. From left to right, the finalists are Aretha FerrellBenavides, Marie Peoples and Erika Storlie.

candidate who will value racial equity and support the city’s Black residents. In a questionnaire all applicants answered, the three finalists said they have each worked within their own municipalities on ensuring

Serving the University and Evanston since 1881

equity, and are committed to continuing that work in Evanston.

After the community forum on Wednesday, City Council will evaluate the three finalists and select a winning candidate.

Evanston’s next city manager is scheduled to be announced in an Oct. 19 special City Council meeting where their contract will also be determined. jacobfulton2023@u.northwestern.edu

Content warning: This story discusses harmful language about gender dysphoria.

As part of the Abolish Greek Life movement, Northwestern’s chapter of Gamma Phi Beta voted to relinquish its charter this summer and was approved by its International Council to indefinitely suspend chapter activities. Now, older alumnae of the chapter are fighting back against the suspension and questioning the goals of the Abolish Greek Life movement.

Following the charter suspension, alumnae of the chapter formed a private Facebook group called “Save the Epsilon Chapter” to express their thoughts — both for and against — the council’s decision and the abolition movement.

According to former GPhi Financial VP Lily McClain, while some more recent graduates sided

with calls to abolish Greek life, older alumnae advocated to reform the institution instead. A handful were blatantly opposed to changing the system, McClain added.

“I don’t think that the intention of the group was to be a hateful place, which doesn’t excuse any hate comments that were said in that space,” McClain said. “My overall feeling of the group is that people were trying to have a discourse and understand everyone’s perspectives.”

There were a couple times, McClain said, when there seemed to be a complete cognitive dissonance coming from older alumnae about the abolish movement. Specifically, she said, there were comments circulating regarding the LGBTQ+ community or mental illness that were indicative of a generational gap.

In one screenshot obtained by The Daily, one alumna said she felt a “twang of reverse racism,” asking if she would be allowed to rush Alpha Kappa Alpha — a historically Black sorority.

“Would being ‘inclusive’ mean rushing a male who suffers from the psychiatric disorder gender » See GPHI, page 6

INSIDE: Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | A&E 4 | Classifieds & Puzzles 6 | Sports 8

2 NEWS | THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2020

AROUND TOWN

Not so spooky: Ghost kitchens boost eatery revenues

By SAM HELLER

daily senior staffer @samheller5

When scrolling through a food delivery app like Grubhub or Seamless, Evanston residents can find restaurants without physical locations in the city, like Mac & Me and Bob’s Pizza.

These enterprises, known as ghost kitchens, have popped up across the country since the start of the pandemic. They are take-out only businesses that operate out of a restaurant’s kitchen, usually owned by the same restaurant as a way to boost their revenue stream.

Phil Cocco, general manager of Farmhouse Evanston, started Mac & Me after he noticed a lack of mac and cheese restaurants in Evanston.

Although no mac and cheese-related items can be found on Farmhouse’s real menu, the restaurant’s chefs work in the same kitchen to make meals whenever Mac & Me receives a delivery order. He said it does not cost much more to add a ghost kitchen as a second business, and it became a necessity in the pandemic.

Farmhouse used to make an average of $85,000 a week, but is now lucky if it can make over $30,000 a week. It has struggled with a lack of consumer takeout demand in Evanston, especially because the up-scale restaurant is situated in a college town.

“Our price point is too high for college kids,” Cocco said. “I get it. It’s a $15 burger and Burger King has a $3 burger.”

Mac & Me, on the other hand, offers lower prices, and Cocco said he hopes it can provide

POLICE BLOTTER Man arrested for trespassing, burglary

An Evanston man was arrested for trespassing and burglary last Thursday morning.

On Sept. 30, the building manager of a multi-unit

Daily file photo by Zack Laurence

Farmhouse Evanston started a new mac and cheese take-out restaurant out of their kitchen, known as a ghost kitchen.

affordable meals college students will enjoy.

The biggest challenge has been marketing the ghost kitchen, Coco said. Right now, it can only

be found through third-party delivery platforms, which makes it hard to attract customers.

Cocco also opened a catering business that

building in the 1700 block of Ridge Avenue reported that he was informed of an unknown man in the building’s basement. The 54-year-old building manager sent a screenshot of the man from the building’s security footage to Evanston Police Department, police Cmdr. Brian Henry said.

By the time responding officers arrived at the

scene, Henry said the man was gone. Nothing was taken.

At 8:40 the next morning, the building manager told EPD one of the building’s tenants reported stolen camera equipment, as well as multiple articles of clothing and some cigars. Henry said responding officers located a suspect matching the

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delivers frozen or deconstructed versions of Farmhouse’s menu on Saturday. He plans to continue to create more ghost kitchens out of the restaurant and is working on adding a breakfast burrito kitchen, as well as a make-your-own salad service.

Bob’s Pizza, which is run out of Whiskey Thief Tavern, operates a bit differently than Farmhouse’s ghost kitchens — a better name would be a dual kitchen, General Manager Mark Hayashi said. Bob’s Pizza is on the Whiskey Thief ’s main menu. But on Grubhub, Bob’s Pizza and Whiskey Thief are presented as two separate restaurants with different menus and logos.

Bob’s Pizza was not created by the Whiskey Thief owners, but is an already existing restaurant in Pilsen. It is known for a completely new kind of pizza, Whiskey Thief bar manager Elohim Peña said.

“It is Neapolitan pizza meets New York City pizza,” he said. “There are unique specialty pizzas as well, like the sweet lobster and corn pizza.”

Whiskey Thief ’s owner is a partner in Bob’s Pizza, so when Bob’s became more popular during the pandemic, they decided to add Bob’s to Whiskey Thief ’s menu in order to attract more business, Hayashi said.

Unlike Farmhouse, which used its existing kitchen, Whiskey Thief needed to add a pizza oven to their kitchen.

“We do share a lot of menu items with the other Bob’s Pizza and you can eat it at Whiskey Thief,” Hayashi said. “It is kind of like Whiskey Thief, now serving Bob’s Pizza.” samheller2022@u.northwestern.edu description and security footage provided by the building owner at 8:47. The man had the items reported stolen on his person, and he was subsequently positively identified.

The man is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 16. ­— Jacob Fulton

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THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN | NEWS 3

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2020

ON CAMPUS

VP debate filled with non-answers

By JAMES POLLARD and DAISY CONANT

daily senior staffers @pamesjollard and @daisy_conant

With 147 inches between their podiums and miles separating their platforms, Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) debated the merits of the current administration’s coronavirus response and their running mates’ approach to climate change and racial justice.

Wednesday night’s debate between Harris and Pence took on greater importance last Friday, when President Donald Trump was hospitalized after he announced testing positive for coronavirus early that morning.

Following last week’s chaotic presidential debate, the night was marked by frequent shiftiness as both candidates tried to duck questions from USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page (Medill ’73).

Some criticized Page for deferring to Pence, who spoke over his debate partner almost two times as much as she interrupted him, and did not always follow up on the talking points either candidate reverted back to.

“The attempt on each person’s part to broaden the question beyond what was asked, to bring in embarrassing but relevant examples, would probably be the high point each of them had,” Communication Prof.

David Zarefsky said in a post-debate discussion with students and faculty.

Coronavirus

With more than 210,000 Americans dead and 30 million having filed for unemployment as a result of the coronavirus, Harris slammed the opposing slate’s response to the pandemic, calling it the “greatest failure of any presidential administration.” Pence touted the administration’s early ban on travel from China, which he noted Biden opposed at the time.

Harris said a Biden administration would ensure that a vaccine is free for all. Pence emphasized the progress made in several vaccine trials under the administration’s Operation Warp Speed, though many health officials still don’t expect a vaccine to be readily available until spring at the earliest.

Pence also accused Harris of undermining faith in a vaccine, telling her to “stop playing politics with people’s lives” just one day after Trump announced plans to stop negotiating a new federal stimulus package until after the election, a decision he later reversed in a tweet.

Supreme Court

The nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court could jeopardize the Affordable Care Act. When asked how the current administration would protect Americans with pre-existing conditions if the Act were struck down, Pence deflected, repeatedly asking whether a Biden administration would pack the Supreme Court.

Harris in turn refused to say whether or not a Biden administration would add more seats to the Supreme Court. She instead pointed out that none of Trump’s appointees to the court of appeals have been Black.

Policing and Racial Injustice

Pivoting to the topic of policing and racial injustice in the United States, Page asked each candidate whether they believed justice was done in the case of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by Louisville police in March. The officers currently face no indictments after being acquitted by a grand jury.

“I don’t believe so,” Harris said, adding that Taylor’s life was “taken unjustifiably and tragically and violently.”

Yet Pence said he trusted the justice system and the grand jury’s acquittal. He then transitioned into an attack on Biden’s platform, calling Biden’s past assertions that law enforcement officers hold “implicit biases against minorities” a “great insult to law enforcement.”

Harris, by contrast, delivered a list of commitments from the Biden administration on police reform — including immediately banning the use of chokeholds, requiring a national registry for police officers who break the law, abolishing private prisons and the cash bail system, and decriminalizing marijuana.

climate accord, with Harris proudly stating her support for rejoining the Obama-era deal while Pence lamented the agreement, which the U.S. withdrew from under Trump.

While both candidates sought to clarify Biden’s position on the Green New Deal, the conversation quickly turned to the economy.

Though Pence repeatedly tried to pin an antifracking position on the Biden campaign, Harris affirmed that their administration would not ban fracking. Responding to Pence’s assessment that a Biden administration would “crush American jobs,” Harris pointed to an independent analysis that their economic plan would create 7 million more jobs than Trump’s plan.

Education

In the first public mention of student loans this presidential debate cycle, Harris said the Biden administration would be committed to making all two-year community colleges free, providing access to free four-year public education for those making under $125,000 a year, and cutting student loans by $10,000.

Pence did not comment on the administration’s education policy, beyond saying he and Trump will “fight for school choice for all Americans.”

Student reflections

McCormick junior Ryan Abbott, the secretary of public relations for NU College Republicans, said he felt satisfied with Pence’s performance, noting he believed the vice president had more “factual and reasoned rebuttals” that “gave him an edge in the final tally of the debate.”

Weinberg senior Adam Downing, the programming director for NU College Democrats, said he thought Harris did a “fantastic job,” proving she “absolutely deserves to be the Vice President of the United States.”

He also urged students, faculty and staff to “please, please, please go out and vote.”

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4 NEWS | THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2020

A&E arts &

entertainment Courtesy of The Block Museum of Art, Copyright Sean Su Photography

One of the sculptures featured on the Block Campus Art Walk, Barbara Hepworth’s Two Forms (Divided Circle).

Block Museum offers free self-guided sculpture tours

By MATT MARTH

the daily northwestern

As the Northwestern and Evanston community’s options for recreation become more constrained by colder weather amid COVID-19, Block Museum of Art’s Campus Art Walk provides an accessible and safe way to engage with the diverse collection of sculptures on campus.

The self-guided tour includes 16 sculptures, all located within a short walk from Block itself. An audio guide, accessible online and by calling a phone number, accompanies the walk, providing context and helping the viewer engage in different ways with each sculpture.

The Block Campus Art Walk, though seemingly tailor-made for this year, was developed largely by student interns in 2017. Isabella Ko (Weinberg ‘20) and Nicholas Liou (Weinberg ‘20), both curatorial

interns at the Block three years ago, completed research and recorded the audio guide for the Art Walk. The two also helped put together the Family Activity Guide, complete with prompts encouraging art enthusiasts of all ages to engage in new ways with these works.

Lindsay Bosch, the Block’s senior manager of marketing and communications, said the selfguided nature of the walk makes it very accessible to the public. The sculptures, many of which are located outdoors, continue to be valuable to the Block, which has a relatively small footprint.

“One of the fun things about the Campus Art Walk is that you don’t have to have a certain amount of time,” Bosch said. “If you’re visiting the campus, if you’re just passing through, you can see a couple, or you can go off and do them all.”

NU students will likely recognize many of these works, some of which can be found in the lobby of the Bienen School of Music while others dot the

green space south of Main Library.

The sculptures are broadly modernist, but span most of the 20th century with pieces from as early as 1922 and as recent as 2000. Renowned artists such as Spanish surrealist Joan Miró and English modernist Barbara Hepworth are featured as part of the tour.

For Corinne Granof, academic curator at the Block, the various works sprinkled across South Campus are lessons in 20th century modernist art and ways of thinking about abstract forms hidden in plain sight.

Granof also believes these works are particularly suited to this day and age.

“Many of them kind of provide this moment of pause or reflection, which I think also works well in this time of COVID,” Granof said. “They’re kind of calming or they provide a moment of solace or respite.”

Tom Bentsen, a Communication junior, said the sculptures enrich the beauty of campus, and make

otherwise busy days feel idyllic, similar to places on campus like the Shakespeare Garden.

Though he wasn’t familiar with the Art Walk prior to COVID-19, Bentsen said the sculptures were a constant, almost daily, presence in his trips to and from classes at the Wirtz Center.

The sculptures that make up the tour, most of which were donated to the museum by its namesakes, Mary and Leigh Block, are unique in their permanence. The Block’s main galleries always rotate, but these sculptures form the foundation of the Block’s permanent collection and most are on view for the public 365 days a year.

“It is the one thing that you can always return to, that will always be on view,” Bosch said. “In that way I think it invites our students and our community to have a kind of different relation with the art, because they’re yours and they’re always there.” matthewmarth2021@u.northwestern.edu

‘Trojan Women’ gets sets, lighting design even over Zoom

By VIVIAN XIA

daily senior staffer @vivianxia7

When Communication sophomore Arella Flur was selected to produce a show for the student theater organization Lovers and Madmen back in May, she could not have predicted that the actors would end up performing from their own homes for a virtual show. “The Trojan Women” will be live-streamed via StreamYard on Friday and Saturday.

Flur selected Communication senior Pallas Gutierrez to direct the upcoming show, and the two chose the play “The Trojan Women.” Based on a Greek tragedy written by ancient Greek playwright Euripides, the play follows a group of Trojan women after their city was ransacked, husbands killed and remaining family members soon to be taken away as slaves.

“We were drawn to the fact that it’s one of the few Greek plays that features women in a position of authority, and the women are actually going to tell their own stories,” Flur said. “They’re not just the wives or the damsels in distress -- they are loud and they are angry and they go through a full range of emotion and character development.”

Flur added that the women also struggle to navigate a new world that does not look like anything they had known before, which is relevant to the real world today amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the ever-changing climate.

In addition to drawing attention to women in power, Gutierrez, a former Daily staffer, said an important part about the play is how it touches on the issue of finding hope “when there is almost none” and finding a path in a future where everything seems “horrible,” which was relevant in May and still is today.

“The community that the women in the play find and the moments of hope that they find are super important,” Gutierrez said. “I hope that people who come see this show take that community and hope and defiance with them into their lives.”

Flur said what differentiates “The Trojan

Courtesy of Rachel Schonberger

“The Trojan Women,” a classic play about a group of Trojan women following the fall of Troy, will feature the actors performing from their own residences.

Women” from other productions is how the team has “fully embraced the design world” of the piece, as the actors will be in full costume and makeup with the sets, lights and sounds the audience would normally get with an in-person show. The actors will be performing live from their own apartments or homes, but the show will be performed as though they were together.

“It was mostly difficult to reimagine how a lot of design elements would work -- lighting design and set design were particularly difficult because (with) costumes and props, you can mail people clothes and things, but (with) lighting and set, we had to sort of reimagine what those would look like,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez added that they are all excited about the team’s final design.

“The Trojan Women” has a partially virtual backdrop designed by McCormick and Communication sophomore Zoe Snead. She said, as the set designer of the show, the design element for this particular show feels “very personal” to her. After working on building pieces in her apartment and preparing green screens for people’s backgrounds, Snead sent the actors’ set pieces directly to their apartments and homes.

“I’m very excited to give this stuff to them and see how they put their character’s spin on these items because I’ve been putting so much thought into each item and going like, ‘Oh this feels like this to me’ and, ‘This exhibits this emotion’ and I just want to see how they play with that,” Snead said. vivianxia2023@u.northwestern.edu

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN | NEWS 5

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2020

Bienen community navigates offline, hybrid classes

By ANUSHUYA THAPA

the daily northwestern @anushuyathapa

On Sept. 22, Bienen Prof. Steve Cohen taught his first in-person class of the quarter.The following weekend, one of his students called him to tell Cohen they had been in contact with someone who tested positive.

Though the student later tested negative, the “scare with COVID” made Cohen rethink the risks he was willing to take while teaching his students.

Like Cohen, students and professors in the Bienen School of Music have been adapting to hybrid and remote classes this quarter.

Cohen’s in-person class was held in Lutkin Hall which accommodates 10 to 15 students with social distancing.

“The entire studio could be there, theoretically,” Cohen said. “I’m not quite sure how I feel about that now. ” Bienen Prof. Yasuko Oura, who teaches collaborative piano, has also incorporated a hybrid model for her classes.

Her class consists of seven students, three of which are entirely remote.The other four meet in two-person groups in a large hall where they can adopt social distancing measures. They no longer sing in classes, Oura said, and she wipes down the keyboards before

class begins. “(As) an applied music instructor, I do need to interact with students and I do need a piano, and we collaborate on top of that,” Oura said. “There’s some singing, some playing, some coordination, all of that.

I just find that it’s easier to do in person.”

Despite limited contact with her students, Oura said she was grateful to be able to do a part of her course in person. The nuances involved in playing the keyboard are more easily demonstrated in a live environment, Oura said.

Cohen, who teaches the clarinet, said that his instrument was especially difficult to listen to and teach virtually.

“If it goes from loud to soft, the soft disappears completely. Sometimes it fades out,” Cohen said. “The subtleties of what we’re trying to do in training people for professional life in music are not really there, so it’s very frustrating.”

Cohen said he is allowed to meet with each student individually up to four times this quarter. He said he has been trying to utilize these meetings and, when he can, avoid online instruction to get past the pitfalls of Zoom.

Bienen sophomore Brian Vogel, however, said the performance courses he is taking over Zoom are easier than his other online classes because they allow for better concentration. He said he is more easily distracted in a class with a great amount of students than

in his one-on-one lessons with Bienen instructors.

Sometimes, internet connections will be unstable and Zoom will cut out the audio, Vogel said. However, he said this was not as challenging as he initially thought it would be.

“If you have a Zoom issue, you can just go back and play it again because it’s not a performance setting. It’s a teaching setting and a practice setting,” Vogel said.

Bienen students who take private lessons are typically required to be in an ensemble. In Spring Quarter, this requirement was waived entirely. This quarter, however, the University has modified ensembles to meet social distancing requirements.

The official Bienen website states that students will be instructed in smaller groups such as quintets or octets through a mix of in-person and online meetings.

In addition, a fully remote alternative for the ensemble credit will be provided for students.

For Vogel, in-person classes are the “least of what (he)’s losing” with remote learning. Instead, Vogel said he misses the guest lectures, master classes, ensembles and other performances which he was only able to attend in person.

“I’m doing okay with playing my bassoon into a webcam every week,” Vogel said. ”The stuff I really miss is all of the great extra stuff that was an incentive to come to Northwestern and to come to (Bienen).” anushuyathapa2023@u.northwestern.edu

Daily file photo by Daniel Tian

The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts, home to the Bienen School of Music.

Professors and students have been adapting to hybrid and remote music classes.

New ‘music mode’ allows students to perform on Zoom

By LAYA NEELAKANDAN

the daily northwestern

Since the pandemic forced professors to switch to Zoom classes, musicians in particular have experienced difficulty learning and sharing music on the video conferencing platform. When playing their instruments, many reported that the audio would go in and out, and the overall quality was subpar.

In an effort to improve audio features for musicians performing virtually, Ray Mathew, Bienen’s principal technology officer, recently collaborated with Zoom to create more professional-grade audio settings.

Launched on Sept. 1, the new feature, called “high-fidelity music mode,” disables echo cancellation, removes audio compression and improves the audio codec quality. It can be found by navigating to the “Advanced Audio” section in Zoom’s settings, enabling “original sound” and “high-fidelity music mode.”

Because Zoom is built for the human voice, it uses background noise and echo cancellation, Mathew said.

But for musicians, these are essential parts of sharing music, so the platform posed a challenge for teachers and students alike.

“Trying to [teach music] remotely is crazy, but over Zoom, it’s even worse,” Mathew said. “Every school of music was having the same problem.”

To allow for a crisper sound and richer experience for musicians, Mathew and technology officers from over 30 different universities came together to

write a letter to Zoom in May. After getting in touch with Zoom, Mathew said, a smaller group of about five schools worked directly with the company from June to September, figuring out the ideal settings for optimizing audio for musicians.

Because the University is a not-for-profit, Mathew said, they would not have been the most significant or profitable customer for Zoom, but the company was excited to work with institutions nonetheless.

Additionally, the collaboration amid the pandemic has brought schools together, he said.

“The platform was really cool to work with…

(Zoom was) totally awesome and willing to work with us,” Mathew said. “A lot of times, we get wrapped up in what we’re doing (at Northwestern) and don’t collaborate as much with our sister institutions… but it was nice getting everyone together.”

Mathew said Northwestern was lucky that the new mode was rolled out at the same time Fall Quarter began. He also pointed out that it’s important to note that high-fidelity mode “does not make your sound better, it makes it truer,” so it provides a more accurate

Photo by Laya Neelakandan

Bienen junior Jaime An plays her cello over Zoom, utilizing the newly improved audio features. By using highfidelity music mode, the sound is clear and consistent.

Windows project revitalizes empty storefronts

By ANGELI MITTAL

the daily northwestern @amittal27

Vacant storefronts across downtown Evanston shed their brown paper wrappers to become vibrant art galleries through Evanston Made’s “Art Under Glass” initiative at the start of October.

The exhibit, which has locations on Church Street and Sherman Avenue, was created by members of Evanston Made, a nonprofit organization focused on empowering and advocating for local artists. The project grew from a City Council recommendation to renovate the exterior display of retail vacancy spaces.

Economic Development Manager Paul Zalmezak said he expects the number of vacancies to increase this

Courtesy of Lisa Degliantoni

An art installation in “Art Under Glass.” Evanston Made installed art into vacant storefronts across Evanston.

winter. However, he said he hopes the project might make the empty storefronts more welcoming.

“If you have a block that doesn’t have lighting or looks like all the stores are closed, you’re just not going to walk by it,” Zalmezak said. “You’re not going to bother. But if you’re looking down a block and you see bright colors… it gives people a reason to come out and actually see the art.”

Lisa Degliantoni, the founder and executive director of Evanston Made, said the initiative provides needed support for artists, who are facing decreased engagement and sales due to COVID-19.

She said walking by shuttered favorites — like Andy’s Frozen Custard, which closed at the end of March — makes people sad. But “Art Under Glass,” Degliantoni said, could help alleviate some of the pandemic’s weight.

“I love the concept of accidentally running into art in places that it was unexpected,” Degliantoni said.

To foster interpersonal connections virtually, Evanston Made’s “Art Under Glass” also allows the public to get to know the artist “beyond the walls” of a storefront.

Degliantoni said each window features a poster and a QR code that links to a website with artist profiles.

Evanston Made is also conducting interviews, creating podcasts and hosting virtual interactions with artists that are open to the public.

“That personal connection, we did not want to be lost,” Degliantoni said. “Even though physically the artist isn’t going to be there to talk to people, you can scan the QR code and go learn more about that, and you can read a little bit more about their process.”

Degliantoni works with Downtown Evanston Executive Director Annie Coakley, who connects landlords with “Art Under Glass.”

Coakley said “For Lease” signs are important, but she’s glad to spotlight a different image of the

storefronts.

“Art seems to be a better fit for these windows,” Coakley said. “We’re exposing some new talent that maybe some Evanstonians don’t know about.”

“Art Under Glass” was piloted about a decade ago, but with the recent influx of vacant windows, Coakley said City Council reaffirmed its desire to replace the “boarded up” windows. Now, Degliantoni is modernizing the idea to include non-traditional mediums, like collage, household materials and graffiti, as well as classic easel board paintings.

One such artist is Barbara Ruiz, whose company Retro*Fit creates fashion products from upcycled “garbage,” as Ruiz put it.

“It takes creative passion to cut an octopus out of a piece of fabric and sew it onto a handbag,” Degliantoni said.

Also featured are Christie Russert’s abstract poster collection, which draws from the 1960s peace movement, as well as Destiny Wesley and The Ready Generation’s fashion line, which seeks to spread awareness of social justice issues specifically affecting Black people.

While the current installations are temporary exhibitions for the month of October, Degliantoni said “nothing is ever just for the month of anything when (she’s) involved.” She sees “Art Under Glass” becoming a city-wide, year-round initiative.

“When it comes to art being made in our community, there are so many people of so many different backgrounds and ages that are making stuff in this town,” Degliantoni said. “We want to support letterpress artists and poster makers. We want to support people who are making sweatshirts with money going to Black Lives Matter.” amittal@u.northwestern.edu

representation of someone’s playing, removing the factor of faulty technology.

But student opinions seem to differ on the results.

Bienen junior Jaime An, who trains in cello, said she has noticed a significant difference using the new update.

“Before, the audio would crack on low notes, [but now] things have gotten much better,” she said. “It’s super clear… the audio doesn’t go in and out like it used to.”

On the other hand, Bienen junior and trombone player Joe Nedder said he has not noticed much improvement with his online learning experience.

While he said the listening quality has gotten better, which has helped him in some of his music classes, he has not had a similar experience to Jaime.

“I personally haven’t noticed too much of a difference because it’s still over a computer screen, and it’s always not going to be great,” Nedder said.

While the timing and process of collaborating with Zoom worked out for the best, according to Mathew, there is still more to be done.

Since the feature is still quite new, Mathew plans on checking in with students and professors to assess what needs to be fixed.

“In what has been a completely crazy time where we have no idea what is going to happen a week from now, this has been a piece of good news that we can give to everyone,” he said. laya@u.northwestern.edu

A&E arts & entertainment

Editor Rebecca Azin Assistant Editors Jack Austin Yonjoo Seo Designers Emma Ruck Carly Schulman Staff Matt Marth Angeli Mittal Laya Neelakandan Anushuya Thapa Vivian Xia

6 NEWS | THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2020

WATER

From page 1 University’s Department of Anthropology. The team has completed the first phase of the project, a survey distributed across the community asking residents questions about the safety of drinking water, flooding concerns, infrastructure and more.

The goal, Hernandez Gonzales said, is to give city officials insight into residents’ priorities when it comes to water.

“If I’m a city official, I could be doing something that I think is important, but maybe that’s not what the resident thinks is important, or what they need,” Hernandez Gonzales “It will give the city and everyone a better understanding of what is happening.”

Hernandez Gonzales said the team distributed the survey to over 620 residents, from all wards, ages and races. The group also provided forms in both English and Spanish. However, she noted the majority of

survey responses are from older, White members of the community.

The We Are Water team will now analyze survey results and move to the second phase of the project, which involves interviewing community members to understand residents’ responses and potential trends.

In this stage, Hernandez Gonzales said they will try to interview people from a wide range of backgrounds and demographics.

So far, survey results show around half of residents surveyed treat their tap water in some way, by filtering it, for example, which indicates to Tallon Ruen that at least half of residents don’t trust their water. Tallon Ruen said she wants to change this by educating the community about the city’s water and in doing so, increase residents’ connection with and appreciation for Lake Michigan. She said she sees Evanston’s water as safe, and thinks the public works department is wellrun. According to the Water Utility Report, Evanston’s drinking water was deemed safe last year.

“This isn’t for granted that we have this body of water at all,” Tallon Ruen said. “It’s a one time gift of the glaciers. Many different countries at many different times have tried to buy it.”

If the community builds a stronger identity with the lake, Tallon Ruen said residents will be more cognizant of where Evanston’s water goes and how it is used, and can also reduce the likelihood of privatization of the city’s water source in the future, if the city were in a bind for money.

Richard Lanyon, Evanston resident and member of the Watershed Collective, said one of the reasons he moved to Evanston was because of the lake. He said he appreciates residents’ access to “this source of clean water at (their) doorstep,” but public education about the water filtration and cycling process is important.

“A lot of people take water for granted,” Lanyon said. “We open the tap and the clean water is there.

You don’t think about where it comes from… People should know more about that and give it more

Courtesy of James Jia

Study shows 80 percent of Americans back stimulus bill passage

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday afternoon that his team plans to stop talks on a new federal stimulus package until after the Nov. 3 election.

House Democrats recently passed a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill on Oct. 1, which Trump called a “bailout” to “poorly run, high crime,

Democrat States (sic).” In a Tuesday night tweet, Trump said he would sign a standalone bill for $1,200 stimulus checks to go out “immediately” to Americans.

But a new survey by a joint research project out of Northwestern and three other universities found that 80 percent of Americans support the passage of a new relief bill.

The researchers, who include political science Prof. James Druckman, found strong support for a new bill coming from Americans on both sides of the aisle.

Democrats, Republicans and independents

delaneynelson2023@u.northwestern.edu

EO

GPHI

riding short distances around campus.

He got the idea to start eo while learning about bikeshare companies in a social entrepreneurship class his sophomore year.

Weinberg senior Brian Meng, a former photo editor for The Daily, was eo’s top rider in spring 2019, completing 49 rides in the span of just two weeks. Meng said he liked that eo was student-run, and he didn’t find the Divvy bikes on campus as affordable or convenient as eo’s.

“It kind of sucks because Evanston is just a small dot in the mind of Lyft,” Meng said.

“They’re not going to focus on making it easier for students.”

Schneller said eo was considering expanding to college campuses in other cities, but since the pandemic cut their revenue significantly, they didn’t have the capital to expand.

“We did what we could to stay around,” Schneller said. “But it became pretty apparent very quickly that this wasn’t something we could work around.”

dysphoria?” another comment read.

NU’s Panhellenic Association, which governs 11 sororities, has since acknowledged the harmful history of the Greek system, calling on Greek organizations to consider disbanding.

PHA told The Daily that many chapters and leaders had faced pressure from those opposed to abolition to vote a certain way in releasing its statement. The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life also released a statement supporting calls to address harm in Greek life but opposed PHA’s call for abolition.

In its September statement, PHA cited resistance from national chapters, the University and alumni as obstacles to disbandment. McClain said she’d seen a few posts in which GPhi alumnae were disappointed in the University not explicitly condemning the abolition movement.

“Personally, I did not donate to NU this year, breaking a fairly long streak,” one GPhi alumna wrote in a post, “and I have every intention of letting them know it is because of the (@abolishnugreeklife) Instagram account and their seemingly lack of support for our chapter.”

hannahfeuer2023@u.northwestern.edu

isabellesarraf2022@u.northwestern.edu

From page 1

An eo bike at The Garage, where the company was founded. The student-run bikeshare recently shut down due to a city contract with Lyft.

thought.”

Hernandez Gonzales said in the survey, people also expressed concern about lead pipes, aging infrastructure, rising lake levels and, since the start of the pandemic, concerns about water shut-offs. Darrell King, Evanston’s water production bureau chief, said residents don’t need to worry about water shut-offs because the city has implemented a moratorium on water shut-offs until April 2021.

Through Connections for the Homeless, the team also interviewed people experiencing homelessness, who shared their difficulties with accessing water to drink and bathe. Tallon Ruen said the city can provide more safe public water fountains and bathrooms to increase water access.

The team plans to complete the project by spring of next year, when they hope to publish a report to provide city officials.

From page 1

all agreed that direct cash payments were their preferred choice for additional aid, but the survey showed they differed in their subsequent preferences. Democrats favored aid to hospitals and unemployment insurance supplements, while Republicans favored small business loans.

“The cross-partisan support is interesting given the political divisiveness of the times.

It suggests a strong need for relief,” Druckman said.

— Isabelle Sarraf

Daily file photo by Brian Meng

Scott Hall, 601 University Pl. A recent survey led by four universities, including Northwestern, found 80 percent of Americans support the passage of a new federal stimulus package.

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THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN | NEWS 7

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2020

Firefighters provide support to other first responders

By WESLEY MURPH

the daily northwestern

Glenn Vanek was a 27-year-old firefighter in 1993 when his station received a call: a home was on fire and a family was trapped inside. When Vanek arrived at the fire, he saw a woman pointing frantically at a burning home.

“She kept saying her husband and children were inside,” he said.

Immediately, Vanek entered the burning home and began battling the blaze. Despite their efforts, Vanek and his team were unable to save the woman’s husband or children. He said the incident stuck with him for a long time afterward.

Vanek participated in a critical incident stress debriefing and talked with his co-workers to help ease his pain. However, he didn’t feel like the support system in place was adequate.

“A lot of those discussions were around a bottle of beer,” Vanek said. “It’s not the healthiest thing. But it got me through.”

Today, Vanek volunteers with Illinois Firefighter Peer Support (ILFFPS), a nonprofit organization in Evanston that connects firefighters and emergency

Daily file photo by Evan Robinson-Johnson

Evanston firefighters use a fire rescue saw. Many have turned to peer support groups after experiencing jobrelated trauma.

medical personnel with a trained peer they can talk to.

ILFFPS Executive Director Tom Howard said firefighters are uniquely capable of supporting other firefighters because they have similar experiences.

Howard got involved with the organization after he reached out to a licensed counselor 20 years ago to

talk about job-related trauma. He said it was difficult for him to contact the counselor and actually go to the appointment, since he felt that as a firefighter, he was expected to deal with his emotions alone. After he shared a horrific situation with the counselor, he said he was uncomfortable returning.

“I remember seeing the counselor’s body language change,” Howard said. “I remember feeling I needed to stop saying stuff. And if I can’t talk about what’s going on, there’s no reason for me to go to a counselor.”

To become a peer support specialist, Howard and his team provide two days of training to firefighters and emergency support personnel. Volunteers learn how to talk about vulnerability, build trust with someone and listen actively. They also discuss addictions, suicide, PTSD and the structural changes that occur in the brains of first responders.

Alexis Chancellor, an Evanston firefighter since 2012, reached out to the ILFFPS for help after she began having anxiety and flashbacks after a gruesome call. She was connected with a female firefighter involved in peer support and said she was able to work through some of the trauma she faced.

“People do not need to be afraid or ashamed to reach out and talk to someone,” Chancellor wrote in an email. “Many people struggle with mental health and are in denial that they need help. You never realize how much having someone to talk you through the hard times can really benefit until you hit that point.” wesleymurph2022@u.northwestern.edu

‘Pandemics’ class illustrates cyclical disease history

By BINAH SCHATSKY

daily senior staffer @binahschatskyjo

On Oct. 5, four days after President Donald Trump announced he tested positive for COVID-19, the students in Medill Prof. Steven Thrasher’s class were meeting on Zoom.

“Has there been anything in the news about viruses this weekend?” Thrasher asked the class, followed by a few seconds of muted laughter from the students’ screens.

Thrasher proposed the idea for “The Viral Underclass: How Journalists Cover Outbreaks, Depict Humans as Viruses and Make News Go Viral” in fall 2019. He wanted a space for students to think and learn about viruses, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, Ebola and more.

Then, the novel coronavirus hit, sweeping across the globe and completely overturning conversation of viruses as they previously stood.

“The Viral Underclass” is a joint journalism and gender studies course that provides a space for students to think and learn about how viruses intersect with issues such as race, sexuality, disability, economics and the news media.

The course is debuting in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. But unlike most public healthoriented spaces, in Thrasher’s course, the coronavirus functions alongside the stories of three other viruses — HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis (A, B, C) and influenza.

At the beginning of the quarter, students were split into four research groups of eight to 10 students each. Each group was assigned one of the four above viruses, and each week the group is responsible for discussing and synthesizing outside materials, relating their group’s virus to the course topic for the week.

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Weekly course topics include “Surveillance, Sickness and Mourning,” “Race/Racism” and “Scapegoats,” among others.

Weinberg sophomore Maddie Brown is in the coronavirus group. She said taking this class in the midst of the pandemic has helped her contextualize current events.

“In looking at COVID in light of these other pandemics, you just see how cyclical history is,” she said.

In Monday’s class, Brown presented on COVID19 as it relates to the “Race/Racism” course topic. She emphasized the disproportionate effects that COVID19 has had on Black, Latinx and Indigenous individuals and communities, in the United States in particular.

Medill senior Amar Shabeeb is in the influenza group, and she emphasized that her research has shown how historically, pandemics reflect patterns of “systemic afflictions,” such as the disproportionate impact of outbreak on communities of color, even if

this dynamic is omitted from mainstream reporting.

“What you keep hearing is that this is an ‘unprecedented time,’” she said, “but it really isn’t.”

This examination of viruses as partners-in-crime to systemic inequalities is something that has guided Thrasher’s work since the beginning.

In 2014, Thrasher was in Ferguson the same week Michael Brown was killed. He has an extensive background reporting on the Black Lives Matter movement and researching the intersection between racism, homophobia, policing, medecine, incarceration, culture and health. In his classroom, he emphasizes both journalistic and academic methods of learning. He said he sees viruses as a powerful way of understanding society.

“We’ve learned how to use police violence as a way to understand structural racism,” he said. “I’ve started using viruses.” binahschatsky2022@u.northwestern.edu

SPORTS

@DailyNU_Sports

Thursday, October 8, 2020

CROSS COUNTRY

Back to running, team members try to return to norm

By CHARLOTTE VARNES

the daily northwestern @charvarnes11

Coach Jill Miller and the Northwestern cross country team are back running through Evanston after an abrupt end to the spring track season and the 2020 Big Ten cross country season’s postponement.

The team began socially distant in-person practices following Wildcat Wellness. Senior Mandy Davis said practice is “more normal” than she expected, considering the new regulations. Workouts and other major aspects of her routine remain the same — the main differences, she said, are wearing masks while running and splitting into pods for locker room usage.

Coach Jill Miller added that she prioritizes keeping practice “as normal as possible” and focusing on the athletes’ well-being so the team will feel ready to run whenever it’s time to compete again.

“We’re making sure our studentathletes’ energy stays high and they

never feel like they need a break in their training, because competition could come back on the radar sooner than later or later than sooner,” Miller said.

Davis said Miller adapted quickly to the season’s changes and was effectively “rolling with the punches.” In addition to the season’s general uncertainty, Miller and the athletes are now dealing with the Lakefill’s partial closure where the team typically runs, forcing them to move some of their practices to Floyd Long Field by the residence hall at 560 Lincoln St. With no return to competition on the calendar, some seniors say they’re left wondering if they will ever run in a collegiate meet again.

Davis said the uncertainty feels like “a more abrupt transition to what graduating from college and collegiate running” will be like, but that Miller is working with her to help make the most out of the situation.

“Something that Jill says that I love is to make sure that running is adding energy to my day and not detracting any,” Davis said. “I’ve totally shifted my weekly mileage to make sure that

I’m doing what’s right for me during this time.”

Amidst all of the uncertainty, sophomore Kalea Bartolotto said the team is still managing to stay connected virtually. They have had team meetings on Zoom, talk through a group Snapchat and send each other baking pictures, she said.

“We’re trying to make the most of it and make it fun and enjoyable,” Bartolotto said.

Miller said she’s been impressed with the team’s efforts to stay positive and grow, despite all of the challenges they have faced since March.

“Mentally, we’re stronger than we’ve ever been and the team culture is in a fantastic spot, which helps everything move forward,” Miller said. “I’ve been really proud of this team and what we’ve been able to do even though we haven’t been able to physically be very connected. That excites me for the future. We still have a lot of work to do and a lot of room to grow, but it’s been exciting to really feel things clicking with the team.”

FOOTBALL

Notebook: Fitzgerald shares plans

By DREW SCHOTT

the daily northwestern @dschott328

After a summer in which the Big Ten football season was both postponed and restarted, coach Pat Fitzgerald feels like Northwestern’s return to practice is a victory.

“I kind of feel like we’re 1-0 right now,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s really, really exciting. I think our guys are going to be stoked.”

With two-and-a-half weeks until the season opener against Maryland, the Wildcats are in the full swing of competition. On the field, Fitzgerald wears a face shield during drills and said the team is back to practicing with contact.

Additionally, coaches are checking in with players to see how practices are going, as well as to ensure the Cats are physically and mentally ready for the start of the season.

“We’ve got to put every policy and procedure we can in place to keep our guys healthy and safe,” Fitzgerald said.

“And then, just get ready to adjust accordingly.”

Off it, NU is taking precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as wearing masks and conducting team and unit meetings on Zoom.

Fitzgerald said he has even entered his own “pseudo-bubble,” traveling only between work and home.

While taking advantage of their limited practice opportunities, Fitzgerald said he and his staff are receiving medical advice from Dr. Jeff Mjannes, director of sports medicine, and Kevin Kikugawa, senior associate athletic trainer. He hopes these efforts can not only limit the program’s COVID-19 exposure, but also allow NU to perform on the field without any health concerns.

“Our number one goal is to win,”

Former Wildcats talk minor league cuts, COVID-19 effects

With 20 varsity sports, keeping track of all of NU’s teams can be challenging for even the most devoted fan. For a regular deep-dive into NU

Daily file photo by Alison Albeda

charlottevarnes2024@u.northwestern.edu

CHEERLEADING

Cheerleaders weigh in on season challenges

By GABRIELA CARROLL

daily senior staffer @gablcarroll

Daily file photo by Noah Frick-Alofs

Pat Fitzgerald. The head coach of Northwestern football said the Wildcats’ limited practice opportunities are key for helping NU prepare for their season opener against Maryland on Oct. 24.

Fitzgerald said. “We’re playing to win the Big Ten West, we’re playing to win a Big Ten Championship.”

to compete in shorts,” Fitzgerald said.

“It’s been great competition and we’ll see how things continue to go.”

Fitzgerald confident in offensive line

Odds and ends from Fitzgerald

Last season, the Cats’ offensive line was strong. With team leader Jared Thomas at center and Rashawn Slater staring at tackle, the position group was a highlight of a disappointing campaign. With Thomas graduated and Slater opting out of the 2020 season to prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft.

Fitzgerald has said senior Gunnar Vogel, senior Nik Urban and junior Sam Gerak have stepped into the leadership void left behind by Thomas and Slater. The three have started a combined 50 games in Evanston and all were nominal starters in 2019.

Fitzgerald said the return of practice has only increased the work being done by the group.

“It’s kind of tough as an O-lineman athletics, check out The Daily Northwestern’s sports podcast, ‘Cats Corner.

This week, we speak with three former members of the NU baseball team now playing professionally in the minor league. How did they feel about the cancellation of their season? How has COVID-19 affected their future with baseball? Has Major League Baseball done enough to protect their

Some Cats players have decided to opt out of the 2020 season, but Fitzgerald did not elaborate because he said he wanted to focus on the players that were playing the forthcoming season He added that an official announcement will come in a few days and the football program will support them in their decision.

Fitzgerald also said he heard from the Big Ten that if a game is not played, it will be counted as a no contest.

Additionally, he said every NU player is eligible and as a result, “everybody will play,” because of the NCAA’s decision to give all fall athletes an extra year of eligibility. drewschott2023@u.northwestern.edu players? What will be the impact of the proposed cutting of multiple minor league teams?

For answers to these questions and a behind-the-scenes look at these former ‘Cats lives beyond the ballparks, check out ‘Cats Corner on SoundCloud, Spotify and Apple Music.

— Sophia Scanlan and Ellen O’Brien

The Big Ten worked tirelessly to find a way to safely bring back football, but Northwestern cheerleaders say they’ve been left behind in the school’s plans. Cheerleaders will not be allowed at Ryan Field for games this fall per a Big Ten mandate.

Men’s and women’s basketball, the only other sports for which cheerleaders cheer, are scheduled to begin in late November.

The Daily spoke with senior Hayden Richardson and sophomore Catherine Zdunek about their plans and involvement in the 2020 football season and 2020-21 basketball season.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

The Daily: What was your initial reaction to learning the Big Ten canceled its fall sports season?

Zdunek: At first I was really shocked.

I definitely understood why, but they really did not make it seem like they were going to cancel it. Especially for cheer, with everything going on, we didn’t get a lot of communication with the Athletics department, just because they were really focused on football.

The Daily: Were your underclassmen allowed to return to campus this fall?

Richardson: Since we’re not NCAAsanctioned or technically a sport at Northwestern, we are not eligible for exemption, so the first- and second-years are off campus right now.

The Daily: Have you been practicing this fall?

Zdunek: We’re trying to social distance, so we haven’t had any practice or

Scan this QR code to listen to our newest podcast Cats Corner: COVID-19 Throws Curveball to Minor Leaguers

anything like that. I think if we would be cheering for basketball season, that’s when they would start practice again. I think for now, they just don’t want to have more people being in contact with each other.

The Daily: Has Northwestern communicated with you on whether you will be a part of basketball season?

Richardson: (Vice President for Athletics and Recreation) Jim Phillips said that we wouldn’t be having a season for football because our first- and secondyears weren’t on campus. And then he included at the end that we would be ready for basketball season in November, which didn’t make a ton of sense, because my first- and second-years still won’t be in Evanston.

The Daily: Does participating in an indoor basketball season scare you at all?

Zdunek: I think personally that maybe it would be better to wait until things are really good. It’s October now, so I don’t know if things would drastically be able to change in a month, but I think maybe for cheer they could at least wait for halfway through the season, if anything. It’s just bringing more people in and then more people are coming in contact with each other.

The Daily: Do you think the volatility of this year’s football season is responsible for the lack of communication you’ve had with the Athletics department?

Richardson: Most definitely. If we’re making a comparison, football has administrators and things that are full-time. They work for football, so they were able to make preparations. Since cheerleading doesn’t have that, and right now our current coach is furloughed, we don’t have anyone advocating for us. gabrielacarroll2023@u.northwestern.edu