The Daily Northwestern Monday, November 9, 2020
DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM Scan this QR code to watch our latest video: Crowd gathers in Downtown Evanston following presidential election results
Residents join to celebrate end of election cycle By MAIA SPOTO
daily senior staffer @maia_spoto
When President-elect Joe Biden was announced as the projected winner for the 2020 presidential election Saturday morning, Evanston residents erupted into cheers. Hundreds flocked to Fountain Square, some draped in American flags. A spontaneous car parade streamed across Davis Street while onlookers danced and embraced, pumping Biden/Harris 2020 signs in the air. A bus driver honked their horn in solidarity. One person launched a confetti cannon. Another climbed to the top of an emergency blue light to sing “FDT (F–k Donald Trump)” by YG and Nipsey Hussle, a protest song criticizing President Donald Trump. Later in the day, residents took to the shores of Lake Michigan, where they held barbecues and played Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” on portable speakers. Some local business owners closed their stores early to join the festivities. Fireworks intermittently whistled over the city. “Today is a day of freedom, when I can stop holding my breath,” said Jexa Edinberg, a parttime homeschooled student who » See BIDEN, page 6
8 SPORTS/Football
Find us online @thedailynu 4 OPINION/Nevo
Cats bring bend-don’tbreak mentality to field
The path to healing from the last four years
BIDEN WINS
Maia Spoto/Daily Senior Staffer
Vehicles parade down Davis St, and one person sits atop a car holding two US flags. Hundreds gathered at Fountain Square after President-elect Joe Biden announced his victory Saturday morning.
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Students rejoice after Trump voted out By DAISY CONANT and JAMES POLLARD daily senior staffers @daisy_conant, @pamesjollard
After over four days of ballot counting, Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump on Saturday, prompting horn honkings throughout Evanston and student celebrations during the unusually warm November weekend. Late Saturday morning, news stations projected a Biden win in Pennsylvania, handing the former vice president the necessary electoral votes to take the presidential race. Cheers rang from apartments throughout Evanston, with some students blasting YG and Nipsey Hussle’s “FDT (F--k Donald Trump)” and others popping champagne. In a speech on Saturday evening, the President-elect emphasized it is “time to heal in America.” “For all those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment tonight. I’ve lost a couple of times myself,” said Biden, who ran for president in 1988 and 2008. “But now, let’s give each other a chance. It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again.” The President-elect was introduced by Vice President-elect » See REACTS, page 6
Local stores switch to cashless model Students work on With change, businesses risk alienating low-income residents
As election results roll in, Wildcats see results of their work
By SAMANTHA AGUILAR
the daily northwestern @samanthaagu1lar
A little over a year ago, Linmay Studio in Evanston joined the growing number of businesses owners around the country no longer accepting cash. The number of cashless businesses in the U.S. has increased over the last few years, spiking at the beginning of the pandemic in an effort to minimize interpersonal contact and mitigate the risk of infection. Square, the mobile payment service that Linmay Studio uses, reported that on March 1, 8 percent of businesses using its products were effectively cashless, meaning that they accepted 95 percent or more of their transactions through credit or debit cards. By April 23, that number had climbed to 31 percent, indicating a spike in the number of businesses switching to a contactless model during the pandemic. Lindsay Mayuga, hair colorist and owner of Linmay Studio, said she made the change to heighten security and to modernize the salon. “I didn’t want to be working alone as a woman in the salon and have people coming in knowing I kept cash there,”
political campaigns By ANDREA BIAN
daily senior staffer @andreabian_
Illustration by Meher Yeda
The coronavirus pandemic led many businesses to switch to a cashless model, policymakers worry it would exclude the unbanked population that is primarily Black, Latinx and lower-income.
Mayuga said. “It just elevated the experience from a professionalism standpoint to just have it be all like tech-y and not have it be so old fashioned.” For Mayuga, the cashless movement seemed like a logical step in terms of safety. However, cashlessness has been met with strong criticism. Some activists and policymakers say cashlessness discriminates against
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people who rely on cash or do not have access to banking. In fact, Philadelphia, San Francisco and the state of New Jersey banned cashless stores in 2019. In Illinois, Rep. Edgar Gonzalez (D-Riverside) introduced House Bill 5255 to the state legislature in February. The bill would prohibit businesses from refusing cash for goods or services, posting signs that say
cash is not accepted or charging higher prices for paying in cash. According to a 2017 survey from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 25 percent of American households are unbanked or underbanked, meaning they either don’t have a bank account, or have a bank account but still use financial » See CASH, page 6
After graduating from Northwestern this past year, Linda Sandor (SESP ’20) knew she wanted to be involved in politics. She’d taken a speechwriting class with political science Prof. Cody Keenan (Weinberg ’02) her senior year, and at his suggestion, got involved with Organizing Corps 2020 — which led her to a job with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. It’s a job she said she’s wanted since 2016, when President Donald Trump was elected to his first term. “I was totally blindsided on Election Night,” Sandor said of the 2016 election. “I knew I would be graduating in 2020, and I knew I wanted to work on the campaign of whatever Democrat was running against Trump that year.” As the nation awaits the results of the presidential election, Sandor is one of many current and former NU students who have dedicated their time to the election for much longer than the first week
of November.Through Organizing Corps, Sandor was accepted into a training program for field organizing in Wisconsin, after which she applied to a field organizing job with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Sandor’s remote job involves volunteer recruitment and management, as well as phone banking and volunteer training. She was ecstatic to see Wisconsin flip blue on Wednesday, especially after working countless hours over the past few months to register new voters in what may be a record national turnout. “What we did in Wisconsin this year was so much bigger than just flipping it blue for Biden,” Sandor said. “We contributed to this long-term, progressive movement in Wisconsin that’s strengthening the party for years to come.” Communication senior Stella Cole also got involved with a state’s Democratic party this election season. She became a fellow for One Campaign For Michigan, the Michigan Democratic Party’s effort to elect former Vice President Joe Biden to the presidency and re-elect U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.). Michigan also flipped blue on Wednesday for Biden, and Peters was narrowly elected to a second term. » See CAMPAIGNS, page 6
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2 NEWS | THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020
AROUND TOWN ETHS seniors navigate college application process By DELANEY NELSON
daily senior staffer @delaneygnelson
With Evanston Township High School remaining virtual, club meetings and school dances have all been canceled and seniors have been left without many of the memories of their last fall at the school. But one show goes on: college application season. In some ways, the college application process looks different this year. Beth Arey, college and career counselor at ETHS, said extenuating circumstances have prompted widespread implementation of test-optional and test-flexible policies by schools across the country. In fact, approximately 70 percent of the nation’s colleges and universities are applying test-optional policies this year, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing. If a school has a test-optional policy, an applicant can choose whether or not to send a test score. Arey said the college may look more heavily at a student’s extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation and personal statements. Additionally, while some schools may not require tests for admission, they might mandate scores for merit-based scholarship eligibility, Arey said. Because of financial barriers and racial biases present in tests, the current standardized testing system creates hurdles for students in a regular year, especially for first-generation, low-income students. COVID-19 has added challenges to the
POLICE BLOTTER Retail theft Two pairs of Skullcandy wireless headphones were stolen from Target on Thursday. An employee reported that a customer left the store between 11 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. on
process, as the frequency and availability of ACT and SAT testing has decreased. Some students have traveled to different states to take tests, but that’s often not an option for lower-income students, she said. Carmiya Bady, ETHS senior and District 202 student representative, said most of the schools she’s applying to aren’t requiring test scores, and she doesn’t think any school should do so. “It’s very based on class and if you have enough money, you can take it as many times as you want to get the best score that you need,” Bady said, adding that asking students to take tests can also put their health at risk. Arey said there’s also been uncertainty among college advisors and students about whether schools are truly test-optional, or if a lack of test scores will hurt a student’s chance of admission. Northwestern, for example, is not requiring applicants to send an ACT or SAT score for consideration this year, but has stated on their website that “if you have test scores you feel duly reflect your academic potential, we welcome them.” Arey said the university’s wording indirectly encouraged students to send in test scores. “For kids, they think, ‘You’re telling me I need a score, and I’m going to travel three states away to take that test so that I can get in and sacrifice time, money and my health,’” Arey said. “That was an unfortunate perception to put out there from the university.” COVID-19 restrictions have also prevented many students from visiting colleges, which Arey said can be an integral part of choosing a school. As a result, she said students have expressed more
Thursday with headphones they had not purchased, Police Cmdr. Brian Henry said. The employee was reviewing security footage at the time of the theft. The headphones were valued at $58.98. Evanston Police Department has a suspect at this time, but no charges have been made yet.
Illustration Catherine Buchaniec
ETHS students applying to college are navigating an application process impacted by the pandemic.
uncertainty than in previous years. ETHS senior Frances Wharton said she had planned on seeing schools in March, but since the pandemic hit, she hasn’t yet visited any of the colleges on her list. To compensate, Wharton said she’s been reaching out to people to ask questions about the schools. “That’s been really strange making my list of schools to apply to without even visiting any of them,” Wharton said. “All of this application stuff has been really weird, having to find all this
information about these schools without being able to really go on tours.” Despite the changes in the college application process, Arey said ETHS has seen an increase in students applying by several hundred applications. She also said more students have applied early action this year, and the school is on target with the amount of students applying to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
iPhones stolen from T-Mobile
At around 3:04 p.m, the customer took the phones and ran out of the store past Sherman Avenue. A black SUV drove away soon after, and Henry said the customer may have gotten in the vehicle. The items are valued at $2,490. EPD does not have any suspects at this time.
Three iPhone 12s were stolen from T-Mobile on Thursday. The employee at the store, located at 1732 Sherman Ave., reported that a customer was looking to purchase the phones. When he tried to purchase them using Apple Pay, the transaction failed, Henry said.
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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020
ON CAMPUS
NU expects surplus from last fiscal year By ISABELLE SARRAF
daily senior staffer @isabellesarraf
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Phone | 847.491.3222 Campus desk
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The Weber Arch. President Morton Schapiro said the University retained a “significant” amount of savings from job cuts and expense reductions.
not hit as hard as the University anticipated. The same held true for income from Big Ten Conference media deals, Schapiro added. In May, Schapiro announced 250 staff furloughs in addition to the anticipated budget deficit. Over the summer, Compass Group, the University’s food service provider, laid off about 230 NU dining workers who had been on temporary layoff since March. The University also cut 150 to 200 employees through a buyout program as a result of financial shortfalls caused by the pandemic. In September, Compass laid off about 100 staff members who had been recalled from layoffs to return for Fall Quarter — all because of the University’s decision to bring fewer students back to campus and subsequent dining hall closures. Since March, hundreds of NU service workers have relied on Students Organizing for Labor Rights’ mutual aid fund — which has raised over
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$80,000 — to pay for rent and feed their families. SOLR has called upon the University to support its laid-off service workers during the pandemic and redress past promises to pay its workers for lost wages. Now, Schapiro told Crain’s the University is considering new hires for junior and senior positions after previously announcing a hiring freeze for the 2020-21 academic year. Schapiro declined to comment to Cain’s on reversing any previous “costcutting moves” or rehiring furloughed employees. “Now that we came out of this much faster than we thought, we’re trying to allocate things, as I said before, that make us more efficient,” Schapiro said. “We’re not just going to replicate everything we did. We’re going to allocate our funds to the greatest return.” isabellesarraf2022@u.northwestern.edu
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Northwestern expects a budget surplus for the 2020 fiscal year despite a previously anticipated revenue shortfall of about $90 million due to the pandemic. University President Morton Schapiro told Crain’s Chicago Business the University retained a “significant” amount of savings from job cuts and expense reductions. He added that the University may disclose an additional surplus for the 2021 fiscal year, which began in September, saying, “it’s a pretty resilient place.” “We will be producing our fiscal 2020 final numbers soon and, in contrast to a number of our peer institutions who did come in $100 million or so in the red, we’re actually in the black,” Schapiro told Crain’s. University spokesperson Jeri Ward told The Daily the University is continuing to finalize its financial results and statements, and an audited statement will be available mid-December. Ward said the University’s “dramatic decline” in spending at the start of the pandemic contributed to the surplus because almost all travel and events were canceled. The University also implemented “painful” reductions, she added, such as layoffs and pausing contributions to employee retirement accounts. Any significant financial impacts related to the pandemic that did not affect FY 2020 will actually factor into FY 2021, Ward said, which could explain the anticipated surplus. The fall undergraduate tuition reduction, revenue losses from reductions in on-campus housing, a shortened football season and increased costs for more COVID-19 testing are all factors that Ward said the University will need to incorporate into FY 2021. Though he did not disclose the size of the surplus, Schapiro told Crain’s some revenue streams — including the Kellogg School of Management and School of Professional Studies programs — were
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"Barbershop Quartet" Mon. 11/09/20
ACROSS 1 End of a piece 5 High-end bathroom fixture 10 Stein top 14 Story of one's life, abbr. 15 Goodbye 16 Capital of Peru 17 Took the L 18 God of a purple line stop? 20 Belittles
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7 Like many home projects 8 Shoe width designation 9 Booty 10 Like some formal events 11 "______-tikki-tavi!" 12 "That is to say..." 13 K-______ 19 Heavenly food 21 Donald's portrayer 24 Capital of Costa Rica
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by Henry Alford 51 "You can say that Welcome to The Daily's new again!" student-created crossword puzzle. 52 Anthem opener Come back every Monday during fall quarter for nemesis a new crossword. 53 Austin Powers Answers on Thursdays. Dr. ______ 54 Film strand ACROSS 56 Package people 1 Restaurant head 5 Nile vipers 57 Agent, for short 9 Detest 14 Sphere divider? 15 You, a long time ago 16 Prolonged attack 17 Like objects 19 Flies high 20 Opera solos 21 *Mediterranean fish 23 Course starters? 25 Peruvian capital 26 *Morning jolt, for some 31 Southeast African plant genus 34 Small marchers 35 Keanu Reeves character in "The Matrix" 36 Ransack 37 Texter's mic drop 38 Houston slugger, for short 39 Tide movement 40 Particular bit 42 University of Virginia athletes 44 *Fourth and goal play, maybe 47 John Legend hit "All ____" 48 Tide school 52 *Annual game in the Big Easy 56 Pau or Marc 57 Grayish-green 58 Expensive Roman street 60 Starving 61 Fitzgerald dubbed "Queen of Jazz" 62 Spanish cat 63 Cowboy accessory 64 Northwestern's _____ Field 65 "Hold it!"
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“Barbershop Quartet” DOWN 1 Organic pets 2 Former Secretary of State Kissinger 3 Web address 4 Version shown in theaters, and a feature of the starred answers 5 Bread container? 6 Omar of Hollywood 7 Mayor Buttigieg 8 Growing plant 9 Takes for granted 10 Room for examining cultures 11 Get better 12 Shrek, e.g. 13 What's left 18 Son almost sacrificed, in the Bible 22 Like some green ice cream 24 Actor's deg. 27 Message on Alice's cake 28 Golden Rule word 29 Round number? 30 Some animal shelters 31 "Break _____!" 32 Spanish wolf 33 Kung Fu Tea drink 37 Studied 38 Ricky Martin hit infamously covered on "American Idol" 40 White sauce 41 Bean Boot competitor, for short 42 ____-mart 43 Cliché saying 45 Bread mounds 46 "Deck the Halls" refrain 49 "Save me ______." 50 "Just do it," e.g. 51 Throw for ______ 52 Aretha's realm 53 Radius neighbor 54 Some memes 55 Tricky 59 Delivery vehicle
OPINION
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Monday, November 9, 2020
After four tumultuous years, here’s how we can heal LILY NEVO
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
After four days of constantly refreshing the Associated Press website and after four years of nightmarish democratic havoc, Americans breathe a sigh of relief as Joe Biden is our president-elect. Even with a Trump defeat, Trumpism is here to stay. The supposed referendum on “the soul of our nation” revealed that we are still deeply divided on issues that many would consider nonnegotiable. The shameless bigotry and disregard for human life that has dominated the political rhetoric for the past four years seemingly did not faze 70 million voters. How do we begin to heal when the country is stuck in a moral schism? The first step to healing: we need to acknowledge that this country has never been great for all Americans. If Americans just learn about the evils of slavery, many will believe that devastating and dehumanizing racism was only present in our nation back then. We will never be able
to truly progress without a collective admission of guilt for the generations of inequality and oppression. If we frown upon the failures of the past without acknowledging our ongoing problems, we distance ourselves from accountability. Police brutality, transphobia, and the separation of children at the border are the realities of the country we live in. Taking responsibility for our flaws is patriotic. Demanding that we do better is not entitlement, but rather the utmost form of respect towards the values this country was founded upon. The signing of the Declaration of Independence should not be our final commitment to freedom. Some seem to believe that penning the words “all men are created equal” automatically translated to equality in practice, and that we are exempt from doing the work. In reality, now more than ever, we must not turn away from the evident hypocrisy of our founding, and instead renew our vows to freedom, equity and democracy. After a moment of reorientation, we must work to serve the coalition that propelled Biden to victory: Black voters. Early exit poll data shows that Biden won Black voters by a margin of 75 percent, and these voters are likely what
gave him the lead in key swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia. The cries for justice of this summer must not be ignored simply because Trump is no longer president. In fact, a new president does not excuse us from doing the work. It gives us all the more reason to keep going. To all my fellow White people, this is not the time to check out. Change is possible, but only if we all fight for it. We must also reconsider how we utilize morality, as it leaves no room for productive conversation. It is difficult to fight feeling with fact because data or science does not trump someone’s experience. The problem is that, given its rhetorical strength, we have resolved to using morality as the justification for just about everything. For example, Democrats like to claim moral high ground by condemning Republicans for only caring about the economy, while the economy is just as important an issue as something like healthcare. Likewise, Republicans tout the righteousness of their pro-life stance, yet many support the death penalty. It is time for both parties to step off of their moral pedestals and find some common ground. Lastly, while this election may not have been the landslide that Democrats envisioned, there
is much to be excited about. We have elected our first female vice president and she is also the first Black and South Asian person to hold this position. Transgender and nonbinary people have been elected to state senates and three Native American women have been elected to Congress, part of a record shattering 134 women already elected to Congress this year. I am hopeful for what the next four years will bring, but we cannot blindly trudge forward without acknowledging the work that needs to be done within every American. At the end of the day, no amount of policy can change the way we respect each other: Only our hearts can do so. There is much that we have lost over the past four years, but our empathy for one another does not have to be one such thing. Compromise and decency are far from the solution to many of our problems, but I fear that without them, our division may reach a point of no return. Lily Nevo is a Weinberg freshman. She can be contacted at lilynevo2024@u.northwestern.edu. If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to opinion@dailynorthwestern. com. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
In search of a distraction, I miss trips to the movies BEN BORROK
OPINION EDITOR
I was in need of a distraction on Tuesday. Election results would not begin to roll in for another few hours, and I had finished most of my assigned schoolwork. My social media feeds were hooked on the projected exit polls and discourse was beginning to run rampant. There was no escape. Without thinking twice, I instantly thought of going to see a movie. I had somehow briefly forgotten about the pandemic and its repercussions, envisioning a nice afternoon in the comfort of a movie theater. I always preferred the theater to watching movies at home. There is something about the big screen, the popcorn and the seating that just seems to fit the occasion. These blockbusters, like the Marvel projects and the Fast and Furious series, require years of preparation and planning, not to mention the thousands of moving parts that must come together in order to put together a cohesive project. It seems only appropriate that they are viewed as the director
and producer intended. There is so much excitement associated with the movie theater. There is the anticipation upon arriving and selecting a movie to watch, the previews and the potential to be transported to another reality. You leave the theater feeling changed, moved by the performances and story you had just viewed. For me, it has never felt the same on a television. With streaming services on the rise over the past few years, I have consumed far more content than I could have imagined. It is incredibly easy to sit down and find something that piques your interest, with loads of content fed to your account through algorithms. Despite this ease of access, I found myself paralyzed, both by the sheer amount of suggested content and by the presence of my phone and other devices in my vicinity. Unlike theaters, there is no social etiquette for watching content in your living room. Need to answer a text? Pause the movie. Want to check social media? Pause the movie. Someone needs to use the restroom? Pause the movie. It disrupts the rhythm of the story, but also makes it far more difficult to become engaged in the content as well. I know so many people who use Netflix and other services as
background noise while they scroll through Instagram and Twitter. We are now confined to our living rooms to look for a source for entertainment, and the pandemic has created an uphill battle for the entertainment industry, which was already losing ground to streaming giants. AMC Theaters, which operates 1,000 theaters nationwide, is considering declaring bankruptcy after widescale closures due to the pandemic. With no end in sight, AMC, along with many other theaters, may be just another casualty of COVID. There are a plethora of other reasons why theaters have fallen by the wayside; the prices for tickets and concessions are often more expensive than a few months’ subscription to Netflix. For families struggling with finances, it is no surprise why they would look to drop movie theaters from their budget. With inconvenient showtimes and substantially fewer movie selections, the industry needs to rapidly improve its product to keep people returning in the future. Despite all of this, I am desperate for theaters to return. With the losses incurred by the theater chains, it may be easy to say that they are something of the past, that it isn’t financially
Redesigning a dreaded McCormick class SIMONA FINE
ASSISTANT OPINION EDITOR
Design Thinking and Communication, also known as DTC, is the dreaded two-quarter course sequence that McCormick students must take during their freshman year. On paper, DTC seems like a fantastic and innovative experience where teams of engineering students work with real clients to design a prototype in order to solve an assigned problem. In reality, it’s a stressful extended group project that can consume all of your time. Of all the projects conducted by DTC students, there is one assignment that has never been tackled — fixing the course itself. Granted, thinking about all the issues with the current class took me more than the traditionally allotted week of brainstorming, but nevertheless, it’s been a design challenge that I’ve spent free time pondering over the past year. In the current curriculum, groups are assigned and given a client to work with for the duration of the quarter. After learning about their client’s problem and researching any similar products, teams deliberate, construct and document a prototype. The class’s timeline only gives students one week to build their prototypes in the shop, while they simultaneously prepare their final papers and
presentations, culminating in an insane amount of work to accomplish over a very short period of time. This process is then repeated for a second, valueless quarter. During the first course, most teams work on projects proposed by the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, a rehabilitation hospital in downtown Chicago. My group worked on an exercise mat that played music to help motivate our client, a child with cerebral palsy, to complete her physical therapy tasks. Assignments for the second quarter are a lot more varied and often are sponsored by on-campus individuals. Taking the same class twice is needlessly repetitive, especially when the design process can be applied to other engineering disciplines. Instead of spending two quarters designing products in the shop, engineering design should be addressed in a different context for the second quarter of DTC. McCormick majors can roughly be divided into three categories: labbased, shop-based and computer-based. Both quarters of the current DTC curriculum address shop-based engineering, but students should alternatively take three different classes, each of which would focus on one of these types of engineering. Since the first-year engineering curriculum is already so tightly packed, lab-based engineers don’t usually have time to take a class more relevant to their intended field of study. I spent a year completing these basic McCormick courses without getting to dive into my major at all, and I was constantly questioning whether or not I
wanted to remain in engineering. Even though this system would theoretically add another course into the first-year curriculum, it would expose students to all aspects of engineering and give them a chance to gain experience in their own field. The issue of an additional class could also be solved by shortening the Engineering Analysis sequence, since the third quarter repeats a significant amount of material taught elsewhere. Not only would this give everyone the opportunity to explore something related to their respective majors, but it would expand the students’ perspectives about how design, thinking and communication can be applied to a broader range of scientific applications. Engineering is more than constructing consumer products and building large scale items, but currently, that’s what the first-year curriculum largely covers. McCormick students need to be given a chance to explore more of the fields that fall under the umbrella of engineering before committing to a select subject, and altering the DTC sequence would reduce the redundancy of the curriculum and provide this opportunity. Simona Fine is a McCormick junior. She can be contacted at simonafine2022@u.northwestern.edu. If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to opinion@dailynorthwestern.com. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
worth it to support the industry. I understand this line of thinking, but I prefer to consider theaters from a different standpoint, one that considers what we could lose. For many small towns across America, theaters are the community center of entertainment, a place for people to open their minds to the stories and perspectives of others. We would miss out on defining moments of our culture, those movies that you just have to see, the ones that are discussed in every school and workplace. I am not sure if that can be replaced by a Netflix notification and discourse on Twitter. At a moment like this, where everything seems to be taking a turn for worse, it would sure be nice to have a distraction as fun and engaging as a trip to the movies. Only time will tell, but I can’t wait to be seated once again in front of the silver screen. Ben Borrok is a School of Communication junior. He can be contacted at benjaminborrok2022@u. northwestern.edu. If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to opinion@dailynorthwestern.com. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
The Daily Northwestern Volume 142, Issue 15 Editor in Chief Marissa Martinez
Opinion Editor Ben Borrok
Managing Editors Austin Benavides Sneha Dey Molly Lubbers Jacob Ohara
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THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN | NEWS 5
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020
Community Not Cops outlines abolition, reform By ISABELLE SARRAF
daily senior staffer @isabellesarraf
Northwestern Community Not Cops discussed the differences between police reform and abolition at a Sunday teach-in in collaboration with For Members Only. NUCNC has called for the abolition of University Police and has been hosting daily actions since Oct. 12. Sunday’s event focused on defining abolition and laying the groundwork for the work the student-led group hopes to do on campus ahead of abolitionist Angela Davis’s virtual visit at FMO’s State of the Black Union this Thursday. A central tenet of abolitionist thought, one organizer stated, is that police do not keep the community safe. Rather, she said safety should come from the continued building and development of strong relationships and connected communities. “Across the board, increased police presences usually actually correlate with increased unrest
and increased lack of safety, as reported by communities,” she said. “Police were not created to protect or serve communities, and they do not serve in this capacity to this day.” With about 100 participants, organizers led a game of Kahoot in which audience members were given a concept and had to decide whether it was a goal of police reform or abolition. Body cameras, increased training, civilian review or oversight boards and the prosecution of police officers who have killed or abused civilians were among ideas of police reformists. The consequences of these policies, an organizer said, are that they aren’t transformative, they don’t require healing and restitution for harm done and the root cause isn’t addressed, leaving room for harms to remanifest. Suspending paid administrative leave, withholding pensions, holding police liable for misconduct settlements and prioritizing spending on health, education and affordable housing were listed as ideas held by abolitionists. One danger of reformist practice is the prison system, which an organizer said was introduced as
a reformist alternative to forms of corporal punishment. Instead of physically punishing people, she said penitentiaries became a reformist way of dealing with a problem instead of solving it. “In looking to reform a broken system, we instead created an entirely new apparatus of harm, which has caused even more subsequent damage and further made the problem worse,” she said. In addition to dismantling the police, one organizer said abolitionists demand reparations, restorative justice and life-giving institutions. Abolition involves adopting a lifestyle and practices that she said focus on the goals of the movement. Abolitionists do not believe in alternatives to police, one organizer said. She compared the police system to a house with a weak foundation, offering radical change from the ground-up as a solution rather than mending the symptoms of the system. “For a house to work, you need to have a strong foundation for everything on top of that to work,” she said. “So if your house has a bad foundation,
Evan Robinson-Johnson/Daily Senior Staffer
One protestor holds up a sign that reads “Abolish NUPD.” NU Community Not Cops’ Sunday teach-in focused on distinguishing between reformist and abolitionist ideas.
no matter how many rooms you build, walls you paint, decorations you hang — none of that’s going to change the fact that you have an unstable house, and it’s going to crumble.” isabellesarraf2022@u.northwestern.edu
Evanston hosts recreational activities, adapt programs By SAM HELLER
daily senior staffer @samheller5
Evanston’s Parks and Recreation Department has had to adapt its recreational sports programs to meet safety guidelines this fall — an increasingly difficult task as the weather gets colder. In an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID19, the state of Illinois has restricted recreational sports. Currently, only sports labeled low-risk, such as tennis and softball, can partake in intraconference games. High-risk sports like basketball and hockey are only allowed to be played through no-contact practices. The city has been working to provide residents with the best and safest way to abide by these guidelines, said Raymond Doerner, the city’s recreational manager. So far, Evanston has focused on hosting more outdoor activities,
whether that means creating new outdoor COVID-19-safe activities, or moving indoor programs outside. Doerner said residents have responded well to the changes, with many looking for de-stressing activities. “Our community recognizes the needs and desires to have recreation, to have things for them and their families and their kids to do,” he said. “There’s definitely a high level of interest and enthusiasm for the things we are able to offer.” Even with the city’s adult women’s softball league canceled, those who still want to play have created socially-distanced and safe alternatives. Members of the adult league arranged pick-up games, where players were required to wear masks, said Biz Lindsay-Ryan, a coach in the adult league and the children’s house league. “Everybody was so grateful for this outlet,” Lindsay-Ryan said. “We were able to play
while everybody really respected each other’s boundaries.” Even though the children’s travel softball league generally takes place in the spring, parents and coaches were able to throw together a last-minute league, she said. But as the weather gets colder and activities move inside, the city has to learn to make the indoor activities as safe as the ones they have been able to host outdoors, Doerner said. Many popular indoor sports, such as basketball and hockey, are high-contact. As a result, the city cannot host leagues. However, they have been able to host basketball and hockey drill camps, Ann Marie Heiser, recreation manager of the Robert Crown Community Center, said. The city has been able to lead fall camps at various centers throughout the city. Kenneth Cherry, recreation manager of the FleetwoodJourdain Community Center, said the full-day
camps provide young children with a place to complete their remote learning while also engaging in recreational activities, all under adult supervision. Cherry said the Fleetwood-Jourdain Center hosts around 40 children a day in these camps, and makes sure they wear their masks at all times and are socially distanced. In the beginning, Cherry said parents were cautious of the program. During the first week, many parents would stop by in the middle of the day to ensure the program was following safety precautions. But parent response to the new program has been positive. “They were coming in to make sure that we don’t just follow protocol when they’re here,” Cherry said. “But we have gotten outstanding reviews from parents.” samuelheller2022@u.northwestern.edu
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REACTS From page 1
Kamala Harris, whose victory marks several notable firsts for the nation. When she is inaugurated in January, Harris will be the first female vice president, as well as the first Black and South Asian person to hold the office. “It really hit me on Saturday that this election is going to be one of the most historic elections in US history,” Pamela Chen, the director of public relations for Political Union, said. “It was a repudiation of the entire Trump presidency... It’s been a good week, even though it took a while to get here.” The election call came on the 48-year anniversary of Biden’s first election to the Senate, which would propel the Scranton, Pennsylvania native to a 36-year career representing Delaware in the upper chamber — an experience he will bring with him to the White House this January, when he has repeatedly suggested Republicans will return to the negotiating table after the chaos of the Trump regime. Despite the red mirage of in-person Election Day votes, Biden took the lead in several key states as more mail-in ballots were counted, allowing Adam Downing, the programming director for NU College Democrats, to breathe a sigh of relief. Although the Weinberg senior said he was confident Biden would secure the presidency, Saturday morning’s news was still thrilling. “I did run outside and bang pots and pans when I heard,” Downing said. “It was amazing — and
BIDEN
From page 1 also attends Nichols Middle School. “I’m non-binary. I can finally hope again.” Stephanie Smith, Edinberg’s mother, said Saturday marked a new beginning for the country. Smith, who does environmental work, said she sees Biden’s win as a turning point for climate justice, water equity and racial justice — all issues close to her heart. “The past four years have been really challenging to get anything done that feels meaningful,” Smith said. “That doesn’t feel like it’s going backwards. To me, this is such a joyous day and moment, and a glimpse into what the future is going to be.” While Biden swept Illinois Tuesday night, winning
CAMPAIGNS From page 1
Cole had never participated in a political campaign before, but events over the past few months inspired her involvement. “Especially with all the momentum the Black Lives Matter movement has seen in the last six months, I felt like I had to get involved,” Cole said. “It didn’t really feel like a choice.” Like Sandor, Cole’s work also involves virtual activities like phone banking and training new volunteers. However, leading up to this week’s election, the Biden campaign shifted to a hybrid model of organizing in Michigan, allowing Cole to knock on doors and interact with voters on the ground. Cole said her involvement gave her a different perspective on the election — one that allowed her to see the realities of how people vote in a battleground state like Michigan.
Podcast: The Weekly: Week 8 Recap
After days of waiting, Joe Biden is the projected winner of the 2020 Presidential Election. How did Northwestern students react to Biden’s win, and what does this mean for the Democratic Party? Also this week, the proposed Illinois Fair Tax Amendment did not pass. Why did some Evanston residents support the proposed amendment? Why
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020 amazing probably doesn’t do it justice. It feels like this nightmare that we’ve been living in as a country for the last four years has finally come to an end.” Downing said he and Democratic students at Northwestern “firmly believed” Trump was both a bad president and the wrong president for the country, noting they predict Biden can “take the country in the right direction.” While student Democrats expressed relief and jubilation Saturday morning, NU College Republicans were feeling differing levels of disappointment and “wronged anger,” said Ryan Abbott, the group’s secretary of public relations. The McCormick junior stressed that although the group is “OK with a Biden presidency,” many members are wary of the media’s call of the presidential race, as the Electoral College will not officially meet and declare a victor until December. “Some people were more emotional about it than others, but no one was particularly off their rocker,” Abbott said. “It was more just, ‘Well, this isn’t good. What the heck is happening?’” Abbott added that if Biden is sworn in, he doesn’t “have much confidence at all that the cultural divides in America will be healing.” NUCR is confident, however, that the Senate will remain in conservative hands. Democratic hopes of taking back the Senate were tempered throughout the week. The current breakdown of the next Congress is 46 Democrats and two left-leaning Independents to 48 Republicans, with the GOP expected to win two more races in North Carolina and Alaska. That sets up a battle for control over the upper chamber in January, when Georgia will
hold two runoff elections. For McCormick junior Nora Chambers, there is no future in which a Biden administration can carry out any dramatic change without the Senate. She said she hopes to do a “decent amount of phone banking” for Georgia’s Democratic candidates, and is even considering travelling to the state over Winter Break to canvass in-person. “I’m hopeful, but I won’t be too hopeful yet until that special election,” Chambers said. “After that, it’s going to be important to put pressure on Biden to follow through with the really ambitious things he said he was going to do in his platform.” The sentiment of cautious optimism around a Biden presidential agenda was echoed by SESP sophomore Samantha Anderson, who emphasized how many people overlooked Biden’s past, including sexual assault allegations against him, because his opponent was so “terrible.” While she’s happy Trump will be out of office, she isn’t convinced Biden will push for “actual change,” especially for members of marginalized communities — and she’s worried others will lose the fire fueled by the last four years. “I’m scared that many people, especially White liberals, will not acknowledge many problems around racism and other forms of oppression that have shown very brightly in the Trump presidency because they’ll see Biden as all that ending,” Anderson said.
55.3 percent of the state’s ballots and 72.9 percent of Cook County’s total votes as of Sunday night with 89 percent of votes reported, national results were delayed for over three days after polls closed. After a surge of mail-in votes slowed vote tabulation in key swing states, the Associated Press and other news outlets called the race for Biden on Saturday after he won Pennsylvania and crossed the threshold of 270 electoral votes necessary for victory. Robert Bacon, a Virginia resident, traveled to Evanston to watch his son play in Northwestern’s football game Saturday. His family kept one eye on the game and the other on election results all morning, he said. As the press announced the result, notifications from Bacon’s friends started pouring in. “We were pulling for Biden,” Bacon said, “That’s
who we wanted to win. So we were extremely happy.” Biekhal Alkhalifa, who visited Fountain Square Saturday evening, said her daughter has been updating her “every second” with election results since the polls closed Tuesday. For Alkhalifa, the stakes were high this presidential election. She said her parents-in-law, who currently live in Iraq, hope to immigrate to the United States. But with President Donald Trump’s immigration policies in place, their plans have been on hold for the past four years, Alkhalifa said. “We needed a change,” she said. “I was really looking for this. Now we can expedite and process the application, and bring them back here, hopefully.”
“In rural Michigan, there are a lot of Trump signs. There are a lot of people driving around their cars with Trump flags on the back,” she said. “This is not a joke.” Communication senior Sophia Blake spent the beginning of this year volunteering for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) presidential campaign, where she canvassed in Iowa and spoke with rural voters. But after Biden won the Democratic nomination, she shifted her energy toward other Democratic races down the ballot. Blake interned this summer for Sara Gideon, the Democratic nominee for the Maine Senate seat, challenging incumbent U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). “(Collins) is really in Trump’s pocket,” Blake said. “When I heard that there was a fairly progressive, younger woman running against her, I was very excited about that.” After Gideon won the nomination in July, her campaign was absorbed into the Maine Democratic Party,
where Blake continued her internship. As a result, Blake also began making calls and campaigning for Biden, as well as down-ballot candidates. Gideon conceded the race for the Senate seat to Collins on Wednesday. But due to her work within the broader Maine Democratic Party, Blake was still able to make an impact on races up and down the ballot — like with U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), who won re-election to represent Maine’s 1st Congressional District. She was also able to work with others who initially supported different candidates in the Democratic presidential primary than she had. “Seeing everybody in this campaign world kind of come together around this and recognize the importance of… attaining the presidency has been really beautiful,” Blake said. “And seeing a lot of my friends from the Warren campaign be able to make that transition helped me get behind it.”
daisyconant2022@u.northwestern.edu jamespollard2022@u.northwestern.edu
maiaspoto2023@u.northwestern.edu
didn’t others? And finally, Evanston re-elected Representative Jan Schakowsky and Senator Dick Durbin, both Democrats. Are any changes to be expected to come from both Schakowsky and Durbin’s re-elections? For answers to these questions and conversations with the reporters and editors who covered these stories, check out The Weekly every Monday on SoundCloud, Spotify and Apple Music.
andreabian2022@u.northwestern.edu
“The Weekly” talked to reporters and editors about this week’s top stories. Scan this QR code to listen.
CASH
From page 1 services outside the banking system like payday loans. Cashless businesses would also disproportionately affect Black and Latino households — another point of contention with opponents of the movement. A 2019 FDIC survey showed around 14 percent of African American households and 12 percent of Hispanic households don’t have bank accounts, compared to less than 3 percent of White households. Sue Loellbach, manager of advocacy at Connections for the Homeless, said her organization works with many people who are trying to open bank accounts, which are necessary to attain housing or jobs. But there are challenges. Banks can charge fees or penalties for balances that go too low, and many people don’t trust banks, she said. “For people that don’t have a steady income, a bank account might not make a lot of sense,” Loellbach said. Economics Associate Prof. Scott Ogawa said he supports cashlessness and thinks people who prefer cash are coming from a Libertarian perspective of distrust in the system. In order to support cashlessness, he said, you have to buy into the institutions of modernity and banks, and have to accept that your purchases will be tracked. “I’m a no-cash person. Zero. Like I literally haven’t touched a dollar bill in months,” Ogawa said. “If you sort of are very distrustful about all of this system, then somehow you like cash better.” According to Ogawa, economists generally view cashlessness favorably because it lowers transaction costs. He said cashlessness is a purely profit-driven decision companies make when they decide the money saved in streamlining transaction processes outweighs the number of potential lost customers. But for Mayuga, the hair colorist, her business did not have to sacrifice clients. She said the decision to switch was made in accordance with the elevated and simplified design of her studio that caters to the “modern day, professional woman.” Mayuga said cashlessness brought more professionalism to her hair-coloring business. “I think of myself as an artist and a professional,” she said. “I felt like it just kind of cheapened the industry that I’m a part of that already works really hard to be taken seriously and as a craft.” Mayuga said her clients are used to the constant upgrades, and were open to the switch because they almost always paid with a card. She completes transactions on an iPad using Square and doesn’t keep a cash register in her store. “My target clientele is just not someone who would be turned off by that,” Mayuga said. “They’re all about convenience.” Ogawa said that while he thinks there should be a bigger push for cashlessness, he recognizes that it creates a new problem in a sector of society that doesn’t have access to banking. According to Loellbach, Connections hasn’t heard many complaints about cashless businesses from those experiencing homelessness, but if people start carrying less cash with them, panhandlers could be negatively affected. She said she always makes a point to carry cash on her in case someone asks. If cashless businesses start to prevent those experiencing homelessness from shopping, Loellbach said Connections would work with them on solving that problem, but for now, it doesn’t seem to be a threat. “In terms of the cashless economy, they may need to start adapting. They haven’t had to yet, but the time may be coming,” Loellbach said. samanthaaguilar2023@u.northwestern.edu
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THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN | NEWS 7
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020
FOOTBALL
Cats defense doubles down for win against Nebraska By ANDREW GOLDEN
daily senior staffer @andrewcgolden
Senior safety J.R. Pace stared at the referees in disbelief. Teammates threw their hands up in the air in shock. An irate Pat Fitzgerald screamed at the officials from the sideline. On a third-and-goal from the six-yard line late in the fourth quarter, Pace was called for pass interference in the end zone to set Nebraska up with a fresh set of downs from the two-yard line down by eight points. Northwestern’s streak of not allowing a point in the second half of this season was in jeopardy. But two plays later, senior linebacker Chris Bergin picked off Nebraska quarterback Luke McCaffrey on a tipped throw. As has been the theme for the Wildcats defense all season, the unit as a whole found a way to make the necessary plays when it mattered the most. And this was evident once again in the second half. The Cornhuskers had one final chance to win the ballgame at the very end. McCaffrey drove the team down to NU’s 14-yard line with seven seconds left, but NU forced a fourth-down incompletion to cap off the victory. “Penalties are a part of the game of football and we don’t think too much about it,” Bergin said. “It’s no different than a big play and we just respond. If we were to just sit there and think about it, we would’ve given up a lot more points.” Apparently, if the Cats’ opponents don’t have a lead by halftime, they don’t stand a chance at winning this season. But Nebraska went into the locker room after thirty minutes with all of the momentum and a six-point lead. NU struggled to stop junior quarterback Adrian Martinez early on and the Cornhuskers followed his lead. Nebraska finished the first half with 226 total yards compared to the Cats’ 134. Martinez led the way on the ground, racking up 41 of his team’s 114 rushing yards. Nebraska finished with 4.6 yards per carry in the first half. Even in the second half, the team struggled to contain McCaffrey’s legs when Nebraska turned to him late in the third quarter. “We let them get loose a few times out of
Evan Robinson-Johnson/Daily Senior Staffer
Brandon Joseph intercepts the ball in the endzone. The redshirt freshman safety has three interceptions in the last two games.
the pocket and it creates another threat on the ground,” Bergin said. “We could play a lot better in that aspect. We let Martinez and McCaffrey get loose way too many times.” Brandon Joseph ended Martinez’s day with an interception on Nebraska’s second drive of the second half, and Frost changed quarterbacks citing that the team needed a spark offensively and he wanted to get McCaffrey extra touches. Joseph, who won the starting safety job after Travis Whillock opted out, now has three interceptions in the last two games. The Cats’ defense wasn’t stellar in the second half, but didn’t let the Cornhuskers garner any
momentum. Nebraska had five possessions in the second half: two of them didn’t reach NU’s side of the field, two ended in turnovers and the final possession ended in a turnover on downs to seal the ballgame. The Cats have forced nine turnovers so far this season as a team, a marked improvement from last season when they collected a dismal 14 in a 12-game season. NU also finished the game with nine pass breakups and eight tackles for loss. It still wasn’t a perfect day for the defense — it gave up an average of five yards per play, only had one sack and had four penalties in the secondary in the second half.
But what matters is that the defense responded to adversity. And that’s a main reason why the number of losses it has so far matches the number of points it’s given up in the second half of their three games — zero. “Life is 10 percent what happens to you, 90 percent what you do about it,” Fitzgerald said. “Things are going to happen and you have to respond to it. I honestly think we gotta be better at it… but I thought our guys were awesome on the field. I thought they had a great look in their eye. I thought they had great confidence.” andrewgolden2021@u.northwestern.edu
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SPORTS
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Monday, November 9, 2020
FOOTBALL
Northwestern shuts Nebraska down in second half By GREG SVIRNOVSKIY
daily senior staffer @gsvirnovskiy
Evan Robinson-Johnson/Daily Senior Staffer
FOOTBALL
Northwestern’s defense led the way in a 21-13 win over Nebraska, which saw the cats extend a season-long second half shutout streak to four. Dating back to last season’s Land of Lincoln victory over Illinois, the Wildcats have yet to allow a single point in the second half of games. This time, they got there with timely red zone interceptions and inspirational offensive playmaking — leaving the Huskers without any answers. NU’s offense got off to a flier. Graduate quarterback Peyton Ramsey’s first play of the game was a chip shot to graduate tight end John Raine for an easy 17-yard pitch and catch. That got the Cats on their rhythm. Six straight plays later, NU capitalized on its fast start with a 41-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back Drake Anderson — the longest rushing score of his career. Starting in place of the injured Isaiah Bowser, Anderson used his deceptiveness and speed — and timely blocking from senior lineman Nik Urban and Raine — to slip by an aggressive Nebraska defense. But things unraveled as the half continued. Senior kicker Charlie Kuhbander missed a 42-yard field goal. Then Ramsey threw two interceptions. The first came when his throw to an open Riley Lees popped off the senior wide receiver’s helmet and up to Nebraska’s Myles Farmer.
It was a brilliant stroke of bad luck. The second wasn’t. Ramsey’s poor throw fell straight into the arms of Farmer, who almost turned the play into a pick-six. The Wildcats took a 13-7 lead by way of a three-yard rushing score from Dedrick Mills on the ensuing play. But Ramsey wasn’t rattled. “The first one was a freak deal,” Coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “If he puts one more yard on it, it’s an explosive play. It sure helps to have a veteran at that position. I think he’s been really good when things haven’t gone well coming to the boundary and I think he’s just tough as nails.” Both teams were punished for mistakes. The Huskers’ penalties ended drives and pushed them back. For Ramsey and the Cats, it was about the interceptions — which directly contributed to ten Nebraska points. “I just talked to the offense like, ‘You guys seem bored, you’ve been out there for like nine minutes, so it would be cool to get something going here,” Fitzgerald said. They listened. Ramsey’s 16-yard scramble at the beginning of the third quarter helped take NU into the red zone. Raine capped off a five-minute drive with a twoyard touchdown haul from Ramsey — giving the Cats a one-point lead. They extended that lead to eight points with ten minutes to play in the fourth quarter. That drive was all about Lees. His 33-yard punt return set the drive up in good field position. He finished it off with a 10-yard touchdown catch and put a defender in the spin cycle to put the Cats
up 21-13. “He was actually yelling at me before I threw the ball, clapping his hands out, telling me he was open,” Ramsey said. “He made a great play. Caught the ball, got vertical, reached out and got in the endzone. So it was good for us, a big momentum booster.” The defense held on with two interceptions to end promising Cornhusker offensive drives. Redshirt freshman defensive back Brandon Joseph came up big late in the third quarter, intercepting Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez in the end zone. Senior linebacker Chris Bergin’s takeaway all but ended the game with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Cornhuskers had capitalized on two questionable calls to the tune of a first and two shot at the Northwestern goal line. And then Nebraska backup quarterback Luke McCaffrey threw an ill-advised pass which bounced into Bergin’s waiting arms. He and the rest of NU’s senior linebacker core of Blake Gallagher and Paddy Fisher all came up big in the win. The Cats moved to 3-0 in Big Ten play for the first time since 2000. “That group of three with Gally and Bergy and Patty. It goes back to the way they prepare,” Fitzgerald said. “If it’s Nebraska or Iowa or Maryland or next week against Purdue, these guys are relentless. They will do everything in their power to film study. They practice the same way they play. I’ve gotta slow them down at times.” gregorysvirnovskiy2022@u.northwestern.edu
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Ramsey leads NU to win, but not at his best
Nine new Cats step onto the field
daily senior staffer @thepeterwarren
Northwestern’s women’s soccer team must wait until the spring to step back on the pitch, but the Wildcats were still able to welcome nine new additions to the team this fall. The newcomers putting on the purple and white include Josie Aulicino, Meg Boade, Elyse DeSchryver, Nicole Doucette, Ingrid Falls, Ella Hase, Bridget Mitchell and Sydney Panek. University of Arizona transfer Hallie Pearson joins NU with two remaining years of eligibility. The eight freshmen moved onto campus July 27 and formed a COVID19 isolation pod together before they could join the rest of the team. “In the beginning, it was awkward between all of us, but we’re actually really close now,” Doucette said. As the freshmen texted in group chats, planned dinners and walked two miles to Evanston Township High School for skill work together, Doucette said their team chemistry strengthened, and they became closer on and off the field. Because she feels connected to her teammates on a personal level, Doucette said she expects the team will play well together when games start up in the spring. A few of the freshmen were familiar with each other before they moved to campus. Doucette and three other first-years are Illinois natives — two of them, Falls and Mitchell, have been Doucette’s teammates for over a decade. “Over the years, we’ve all developed such a special bond together just playing with each other. I can’t really imagine it being any other way,” Falls said. “I’m really excited to go through this with them.” Although Mitchell has a knee injury, she is happy to have a taste of home on the Cats’ campus.
By PETER WARREN
Late in the second quarter of Saturday’s matchup against Nebraska, graduate quarterback Peyton Ramsey and the Northwestern offense looked more shaken than a baby’s rattle. After throwing his second interception of the day just a few minutes prior, Ramsey was looking to quickly take the Wildcats down the field and get some points before halftime. It didn’t happen. Ramsey dropped back to pass on a 2nd-and-1 play and was blasted by Cornhuskers linebacker Luke Reimer, the force of the hit knocking the ball out of Ramsey’s hands. The quarterback recovered his fumble, but the momentum was lost. For most of the first half, it was that type of day for Ramsey. But he didn’t wilt or fade. He responded like a confident veteran, and it resulted in NU picking up its third straight win of the season. “Not my best for sure,” Ramsey said. “I can be better, I know I can.” Both of Ramsey’s interceptions came from underthrown footballs. On the first, he tried hitting Riley Lees on a deep route over the middle of the field. The ball was a few feet short, bouncing off the white helmet of Nebraska’s Marquel Dismuke up into the air, allowing Myles Farmer plenty of time to grab the interception. Farmer bested Ramsey on the second interception too, jumping an out route and taking the ball to the NU threeyard line, which set up the Cornhuskers’ only touchdown and lead of the game. Coach Pat Fitzgerald said Ramsey’s had a couple of plays this week and last week against Iowa that have left him wondering how his quarterback will bounce back. “His response is consistent in the
same mindset each time: ‘I’m fine, let’s go,’” Fitzgerald said. “That’s what you want out of your quarterback. That’s what you want out of your offensive leader.” Out of halftime, Ramsey went on the attack. He had a couple of mediumyardage passes to senior wide receiver Kyric McGowan and sophomore wide receiver Malik Washington before an impressive 16-yard scramble set up NU inside the five-yard line. Two plays later, he floated a pass perfectly in the direction of graduate tight end John Raine to put the Cats up 14-13. After a big kick return from senior wide receiver Riley Lees early in the fourth quarter, Ramsey took control of the NU offense. He started the drive by getting redshirt freshman running back Evan Hull involved on a 23-yard pass play and ended it by finding Lees across the middle for a touchdown. Ramsey finished the game with 169 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 16 of 27 passes. He also added 28 yards on the ground and was 6-for-10 for 75 yards on third down. Last season, poor play from the quarterback position reverberated around the team like a pebble being dropped tossed into Lake Michigan. Two firsthalf interceptions leading to 10 points would have been the beginning of the end in any Big Ten matchup. That’s not the case this year. Despite having less than a year of time with this group, Ramsey has earned the entire trust of the Cats. Even when he’s not at his best, the team believes it can still win. And his response on a beautiful day at Ryan Field illustrates that. “He is 1-0 three times,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s all that matters. The hallmark of a good quarterback is (to) lead your team to victory, and he’s done that every time now.” peterwarren2021@u.northwestern.edu
By LAWRENCE PRICE
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Photo Courtesy of Ingrid Falls
First-years Nicole Doucette and Ingrid Falls hustle and run through practice drills. The women’s soccer freshmen moved to campus in late July.
“I am really excited to get on the field and play with my teammates,” Mitchell said, “because I feel like that brings us closer than anything else.” Practicing five days a week to continue preparing for the postponed season, the Cats are working not only on their physical strength, but also their mental fortitude. The players have started a program called Big Cats and Little Cats, in which an older player mentors a newcomer to check in on their well-being and fitness every week. “It was comforting to know someone was there, because obviously, things were not so great back in March,” Mitchell said. “Even besides
the Big Cats, I think that the older girls really care and they know that it is hard for us coming into this.” The returning players and newcomers alike share a goal of finishing their season at the top of the Big Ten. Doucette said she believes the restrictions around COVID-19 will narrow NU’s focus this season. “Going into that knowing we could be Big Ten champs is something that’s really driving us forward,” Doucette said. “I think that is the end goal in sight — to get to be Big Ten champs and then ultimately get into the NCAA Tournament.” lawrenceprice2024@u.northwestern.edu