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The Daily Northwestern Thursday, January 15, 2015
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NU plans 10-day MLK celebration By MARIANA ALFARO
the daily northwestern @marianaa_alfaro
Northwestern will hold its annual 10-day Martin Luther King Jr. celebration starting Saturday with a day of service. The events include a candlelight vigil Monday night in Alice Millar Chapel and a speech by civil rights lawyer and activist Michelle Alexander. For the first time in NU history, the celebration will include a student oratorical contest held Monday at Norris University Center’s McCormick Auditorium. Three students will recite orations inspired by King, and the winner will speak during the keynote event. “This is the first time we have tried to engage students in actively participating in and thinking about King and also giving an opportunity for the students to be showcased in the keynote address,” said Medill Prof. Charles Whitaker, a co-chair for the celebration’s planning committee and a Students Publishing Company board member. The keynote speaker this year is Alexander, who currently works at both the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University. She will speak at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall on Jan. 26 at 6 p.m. “Michelle Alexander’s book ‘The New Jim Crow’ is a really trenchant work that looks at the issues of today that are affecting the African-
American community,” Whitaker said. “It is a new way of looking at institutional racism and beginning to address the still nagging problems of racism.” Alexander also helped lead a national campaign against racial profiling through law enforcement while serving as the director of the Racial Justice Project for the ACLU of Northern California. Members of Alpha Phi Alpha at NU are collaborating This is with University Chaplain the first time Timothy Stewe have tried vens on this to engage year’s candlelight vigil students in honor of in actively King. “Dr. participating King was an Alpha and in and thinking about King. the Alphas Charles have taken Whitaker, the lead in Medill professor helping the University organize the proper celebration of Dr. King, even before there was a holiday,” Stevens, the planning committee’s other co-chair, said. Carol Moseley Braun, former ambassador of the United States to New Zealand and Samoa, will speak during the candlelight vigil. The former presidential candidate remains the only African-American woman to have ever served in the U.S. Senate.
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» See KING, page 7
Sean Su/Daily Senior Staffer
LITTLE CHAMPS Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West baseball team meets Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips. The team was honored at Welsh-Ryan Arena for its accomplishments at the 2014 Little League World Series.
Little Leaguers visit NU, city By ELI PANKEN and KHADRICE ROLLINS the daily northwestern @elipanken, @KhadriceRollins
Jackie Robinson West, the 2014 Little League National Championship baseball team, made an appearance at an Evanston restaurant Wednesday night and was later honored at Northwestern’s men’s basketball game against the University of Illinois. A crowd of more than 35
Evanston residents greeted the team at Chicago’s Home of Chicken and Waffles, 2424 Dempster St., at about 6 p.m. The players were able to meet attendees and eat at the restaurant before heading to NU. The team won the U.S. title at the 2014 Little League National Championship after defeating Nevada. The Chicago team then lost the International Final to South Korea. Darold Butler, the head coach of the 13-player team, said the dinner
Senate chooses ASG election commission By OLIVIA EXSTRUM
daily senior staffer @olivesocean
Associated Student Government voted Wednesday on a new election commission, which serves as the judicial body during ASG elections and monitors campaign violations. Seven spots were available on the commission, and seven students were nominated for the positions. “I think it’s time for me to get much more involved in ASG,” said Weinberg sophomore and nominee Matt Cowen, senator for Shepard Residential College, Allison Hall and Public Affairs Residential College. “I’m someone who pays attention to national elections, so here I’m very much looking forward to doing a good job and working to make sure it’s a well-run election.” Weinberg senior Dana Leinbach, who has served on the election commission and was also nominated, said there were no campaign violations last year, although it varies from year to year. She also said the commission is responsible for the vice presidential and presidential debates and the creation of the election ballot. Last year’s elections were “unmessy” because ASG shortened the election timeline, said Weinberg sophomore and nominee Lauren Thomas, senator for Bobb Hall,
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
D202 board OKs capital improvements
Polish-American Student Alliance was allotted $450 to fund a performance group for a Polish culture night. Real Food at NU received $100 of funding for copies of the book The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food by Dan Barber to give away » See SENATE, page 7
— Stephanie Kelly
Sean Su/Daily Senior Staffer
with candidates and being available for questions is key to elections running smoothly. All seven nominees were elected to the commission. Senate also accepted three proposals for the Wild Ideas Fund. The new Christian magazine Veracity received $150 to distribute 300 copies and the
» See ROBINSON, page 7
The District 202 Board of Education on Monday unanimously approved the district’s capital improvements projects for 2015 and the proposed five-year capital improvements plan. Projects at Evanston Township High School include a new tennis center, updates for the planetarium and an outdoor site for the Geometry in Construction class that built an affordable house last year and will build another this school year. Other improvements include Voice over Internet Protocol phone system upgrades and cooling tower renovations, which will reduce costs and improve efficiency for the district, officials said. The ETHS Educational Foundation’s raised money and other sources, such as bonds and grants, will fund the capital improvements projects. In its recommendation that the District 202 board approve the five-year plan, the district also requested that $4.9 million be transferred to the capital improvements fund, according to a news release. “Thanks to the ETHS Educational Foundation, careful budgeting and setting priorities, we have been able to make significant improvements and upgrades to our facilities” superintendent Eric Witherspoon said in the news release. “We are giving ETHS a new look while at the same time being good stewards and taking care of this beautiful school.”
COMMISSION VOTE Speaker of the Senate and Weinberg junior Noah Star discusses the Associated Student Government election commission Wednesday. Seven ASG members were elected to the commission.
College of Cultural and Community Studies and GREEN House. She also said the election guidelines are too complicated and suggested the commission simplify the process. Leinbach said she has been on the commission during both very contentious and less contested elections. She said going through the guidelines
was an important experience for his team so that they could understand the significance of their win. “During the whole series, we were focused on winning,” Butler said. “That gained us a lot of national support and Chicago support, and I think it’s important that we meet the people who watched us the whole way.” Throughout the evening, members of the team took pictures with
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