The Daily Northwestern Tuesday, October 29, 2019
DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM Scan this QR code with Snapchat or your smartphone camera to listen to a new podcast episode on our website!
3 CAMPUS/Student Groups
SOFO committee will build a digital voucher approval process
Find us online @thedailynu 4 OPINION/Tekriwal
Where does politics stop and mortality begin?
High 43 Low 38
Campus Climate Survey breakdown Study sees higher response rate, gender disparities By DAISY CONANT
daily senior staffer @daisy-conant
(Noah Frick-Alofs/Daily Senior Staffer)
Dave Davis at Monday’s Planning and Development Committee meeting. Davis and his fellow Northwestern representative were given 10 minutes to make a presentation to the committee.
Council talks pro events at NU Aldermen introduce ordinance for pro sports events at Welsh-Ryan By SAM HELLER
the daily northwestern @samheller5
Evanston City Council voted on Monday to introduce a controversial proposed ordinance to allow for professional sporting
and other for-profit events to take place in Welsh-Ryan Arena. The vote came after the Planning and Development Committee passed the ordinance for council introduction earlier in the evening. The ordinance, passed in committee 6-3, would amend the U2 zoning district to
allow for Northwestern to host 13 for-profit events at the arena, with a max capacity of 7,000 people a year. This would see a large increase from the seven annual non-profit events currently allowed by the law. Residents within U2 zoning districts have voiced their concern
with the plans, with more than 700 members signing a petition to vote down the amendment. During the meeting, Evanston residents also had two experts speak on their behalf to give a presentation: economic consultant Tim » See RYAN, page 6
The Assocation of American Universities 2019 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct, released last Tuesday, recorded over one in five students reporting that sexual assault or misconduct is very or extemely problematic at Northwestern. About 25 percent of undergraduate and graduate students and one in three undergraduate students — almost 5,400 people — responded to the survey. This rate is “significantly higher” than the 15 percent participation rate from the first study conducted in 2015, according to Colleen Johnston, Title IX coordinator for the Office of Equity. The study also found undergraduate cisgender women and trans, genderqueer or nonbinary and questioning — noted as “TGQN” — students reporting sexual harassment, intimate partner violence, stalking and nonconsensual sexual contact at higher rates than others surveyed. For Spencer Colton, a
member of the Student Advisory Board for the Office of Equity, the numbers were disappointing but not surprising. “It’s of course unfortunate, but just knowing what I know from other work that I’ve done about rates of sexual violence in those communities, that was pretty expected,” Colton said. “These numbers show the work that we need to be doing here, seeing that (these students) are still affected so strongly by sexual violence. It really shows that we have a lot to do in terms of acceptance and understanding of that community.” Broken down by gender, the study showed 30 percent of undergraduate cisgender women and 30 percent of TGQN students reported being victims of nonconsensual sexual contact by inability to consent, coercion or physical force — either by penetration, sexual touching or a combination of the two — since entering school. Of the undergraduate cisgender men surveyed, 11 percent reported they were victims of this conduct. The survey asked students where sexual misconduct or assault had occurred on campus, either in the case of victimization or interference. Most frequently reported locations include » See TITLE IX, page 6
Illinois sues gov’t over changes to Endangered Species Act Conservationists emphasize the importance of focusing on enviornmental factors over economics By ZAMONE “Z” PEREZ
the daily northwestern @zamoneperez
In August, the Trump administration announced that it would make some of the largest changes to the Endangered Species Act in the law’s 46-year-history. Originally, the law prioritized protected species over development, such as building dams or drilling for oil. Now, the administration aims to weigh in economic factors before granting species and lands protected status. In response to the announced revisions, 17 states including
Northwestern ends fiscal year with surplus
President Morton Schapiro said after two years of operating in a multi-million dollar deficit, the University ended fiscal year 2019 several million dollars in surplus. “Instead of being 47.5 million in the red, we’re going to be
Illinois filed a lawsuit to prevent the changes from going into effect. In a news release, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul argued that the “rollbacks” make the law void by stripping it of its most essential provisions. “With these new rules, the federal government is once again turning its back on science and putting these species and the environment at risk,” Raoul said. Evanston legislators also supported the lawsuit and the current version of the Endangered Species Act. State Rep. and Chair of the Illinois Legislative Green Caucus Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) said the lawsuit presents an
opportunity for Illinois to stand by the law and be a leader in environmental advocacy. “The repeated attempts at rolling back important protections for endangered species in Illinois is an example of how special interest groups use state level policy to advance their agenda,” Gabel said in an email to The Daily. “With environmental protections under attack federally, Illinois can and will be an environmental leader at the state level.” Prof. Keith Woodhouse, director of the Environmental Policy and Culture Program at Northwestern, said the law
modestly in the black,” Schapiro said in an interview with The Daily. Provost Jonathan Holloway first alerted Faculty Senate about a deficit in January 2018. In January 2019, the University drew $100 million from its endowment to finance the $94 million budget deficit from fiscal 2018. In 2019, Holloway also announced a seven-year capital improvement plan to lift the University from its budget crisis and
to factor into all future financial decisions. According to the plan, the University was to remain in a deficit in fiscal 2019 and 2020 and was given permission to continue to take money out of the University endowment. Though Schapiro said the audited numbers have not been finalized, the president estimated a surplus of around 5 to 30 million for last year. Schapiro said moving forward, Northwestern will work to increase funding in areas such
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
» See ENDANGERED, page 6
(Sun Ruibo/Xinhua/Sipa USA/TNS)
Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, feeds himself inside an enclosure at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, Kenya, on April 18, 2015. Illinois joins multiple other states in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act.
as IT, salaries for faculty and staff, filling vacant positions and financing student affairs. Schapiro credited the unexpected surplus to higher sponsored research and several large donations that came in over the course of the summer, including a $50 million gift to financial aid. However, moving forward, he said the University will take extra precaution to prevent a large scale deficit from happening again. For example, budget
meetings — which prior to the deficit occurred quarterly — have been taking place weekly. The credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service knocked Northwestern down from the top rating of Aaa to Aa1 earlier in October, a decision Schapiro said was largely due to Northwestern’s recent budget crisis. While Schapiro said he was sorry the University lost the top credit score, the change did not cost the university financially,
equating the market penalty of the downgrade to “basically just a rounding error.” He said the surplus, though smaller than previous years, will allow the University some flexibility in its spending. “I’m really glad we’re back in the black, because the last two years have been hard on a lot of people — everybody in our community,” Schapiro said. — Amy Li
INSIDE: Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | Opinion 4 | Classifieds & Puzzles 6 | Sports 8