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The Daily Northwestern Friday, January 30, 2015
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NU adds parent leave benefits By OLIVIA EXSTRUM
daily senior staffer @olivesocean
Northwestern staff members who have recently adopted children or whose partners have recently given birth can now take paid parental leave. Eligible staff members can take a paid leave of 10 to 12 weeks after they or their partner gives birth. Previously, only mothers who had just given birth were allowed four to six weeks of paid leave. The new policy, which went into effect Jan. 1, also allows staff members who adopt children to take four weeks of paid leave. Professors were already eligible for paid leave after their partners gave birth. “The parental leave benefit really came together as a result of a lot of staff concerns around, ‘Why don’t we as staff have benefits that are more in alignment with what faculty have?’” said Anne Fish, director of benefits in the Office of Human Resources. Before the new policy, staff members were guaranteed job protection under the Family and Medical Leave Act if they chose to stay at home longer than the allotted six to eight weeks but without pay, Fish said. Fish said the office proposed the policy changes to University
President Morton Schapiro and Provost Daniel Linzer in July. “We’ve been talking about it for a few years,” she said. “We finally got it on paper. … It applies to new dads or new moms. It applies whether you give birth or It applies adopt. to new dads or We’re really new moms. It trying to be inclu- applies whether sive with you give birth it.” or adopt. We’re Howreally trying to be ever, Fish said, inclusive with it. there are Anne Fish, paramHuman Resources eters Office benefits around director eligibility. Staff members must be in a benefits-eligible position — working at least 37.5 hours a week — and must have worked at the University for at least three years. “We didn’t want to become the employer of choice for everybody who’s pregnant,” she said. “Even still, people were very receptive to it.” Lori Anne Henderson, director of work and life resources in
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» See PARENTAL, page 8
Sean Su/Daily Senior Staffer
SALTY The price of road salt from Evanston’s suppliers has increased 30 percent this year, following record-breaking snowfalls in 2014. The city’s reduced need for salt this winter may make up the difference and avoid a budget strain.
Road salt price spike hits city By JULIA JACOBS
the daily northwestern @juliarebeccaj
The price of road salt from Evanston’s suppliers has increased 30 percent this year, which could lead to a strain on the budget if winter weather ramps up, said Suzette Robinson, the city’s public works
director. Last year’s harsh winter resulted in a salt price rise of about 20 percent nationwide, according to the Wall Street Journal. Because last winter’s demand for salt was abnormally high across the country, salt companies began dipping into supplies designated for this winter, said James Maiworm, Evanston’s assistant public works director. The low supply at the beginning
of this winter led to a necessary budget increase in Evanston to cover the higher price, Maiworm said. “We broke the record in terms of number of inches of snow in Evanston with the snow season last year, so if we go back and have a normal snow season, we could quite easily strain the budget,” » See SALT, page 8
Rabbi speaks at NUDivest event Superintendents
discuss local schools
By MARIANA ALFARO
the daily northwestern @marianaa_alfaro
By MARISSA PAGE Rabbi Brant Rosen, co-chairman of the Jewish Voice for Peace rabbinical council, spoke Thursday night to a crowd of about 60 students, faculty and Evanston community members about the importance of demonstration and conversation regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict. The event was hosted by NUDivest, a student group that calls for the University to “divest from corporations that are profiting off of the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands,” according to its website. Rosen, who identifies as an activist and advocate for peace in Palestine, spoke about misconceptions and misunderstandings about groups like NUDivest — which follows the Boycott Divestment Sanctions model — and the role of Jewish activists in the struggle for peace and justice for Palestinians. He compared his role as a pro-Palestine activist to that of a mandated reporter. “A mandated reporter … is mandated by law to report abuse that you know is going on,” said Rosen, the Midwest regional director for the American Friends Service Committee. “In the triage of things that you need to do when abuse is ongoing is to make sure that people or persons who are being victimized is no longer victimized. The first order of business is to end the abuse.” That, he said, is a model of how he addresses the Israel-Palestine issue.
the daily northwestern @marissahpage
Sophie Mann/The Daily Northwestern
‘MANDATE REPORTER’ Rabbi Brant Rosen, Midwest regional director for the American Friends Service Committee, speaks to a crowd of about 60 students, faculty and community members at an event hosted by NUDivest.
“There is very real abuse going on against Palestinians, inflicted by Israelis right now,” Rosen said. “We know this, I know this. It takes many different forms.” Rosen said the occupation of the West Bank and the military occupation of Palestine by Israel are some examples of how Palestinians are being pressured and abused. “Nobody is holding the abuser to account,” he said. “There is no government in the world, no international body is telling Israel it can’t do this … it is required of us to call out this abuse, to
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shine a light on it publicly and to do what we can to end it.” That, he said, is where the BDS movement comes in. “This is not an effort that is being done on behalf of Palestinians from outside Israel-Palestine. This originated from Palestinians themselves. It is a call from Palestinian society,” Rosen said. “(Various Palestinian groups) basically put out a call to the world to support their struggle for human rights, for civil rights.” NUDivest, which Rosen considers » See RABBI, page 8
country?” Despite her praise of districts 65 and 202, Newsome reflected on microaggressions she endured throughout her secondary education because of her race. Students of color are a majority both at ETHS and in District 65, and both superintendents discussed the importance of providing equal opportunities and instruction to students from all backgrounds. “Our challenge by addressing the disparities in achievement between our students is that unfortunately there is often a predictability based on race and there is no excuse for that,” Witherspoon said. “You cannot come up with a logical reason that says that’s okay.” Goren discussed, among other things, District 65’s top five priorities in the coming years: high quality teaching and learning, a thriving workforce, family and community engagement, safe and supportive school climate and financial sustainability. One major topic of discussion was the implementation of Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers standardized testing in schools, as part of the new Common Core standards
Superintendents of District 202, which serves Evanston Township High School, and Evanston/Skokie School District 65 delivered a “State of the Schools” address at ETHS on Thursday evening, the first event jointly hosted by the districts in recent history. Throughout the hour-and-a-half program in the ETHS auditorium, District 65 Superintendent Paul Goren and District 202 Superintendent Eric Witherspoon discussed the current statistics, programs, challenges and goals of their respective districts, as well as collaborations between the two. District 65 and District 202 alumna Jacqueline Newsome opened for the superintendents, discussing the academic foundation Evanston’s school system provided her to later attend New York University and the University of Chicago Law School. “The Evanston public school system is one of the best school systems in this country,” Newsome said. “Where else can a little black girl whose parents grew up on the West Side of Chicago grow up to attend the No. 4 law school in the » See STATE OF SCHOOLS, page 8
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