The Daily Northwestern — Feb. 10, 2015

Page 1

Council delays arboretum path decision » PAGE 2

SPORTS Wrestling Shorthanded Cats can’t get past Scarlet Knights » PAGE 8

OPINION Stratton and Sawhney Head to head: Is Narendra Modi right for India? » PAGE 4

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The Daily Northwestern Tuesday, February 10, 2015

ASG to publicize UHAS overhaul By SOPHIA BOLLAG and OLIVIA EXSTRUM daily senior staffers @SophiaBollag, @olivesocean

Associated Student Government is working with administrators to better publicize how students can report sexual assault under the University’s new disciplinary hearing and appeals process, ASG officials said this week. Chris Harlow, who heads ASG’s Student Life Committee, said he is in discussions with administrators to improve the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution’s website to better explain the University Hearing and Appeals System, which was revamped in September. Although the current website is up to date, it doesn’t adequately explain the complex UHAS process, the SESP junior said. “Student Conduct’s website right now is just awful,” he said. “(We’ve) been harping on them for two months about this.” Harlow said he is meeting with Dean of Students Todd Adams this week to discuss the development of a new website describing the process for reporting a sexual assault. The Student Life Committee has started to discuss how to improve publicity of the process now that the committee is better organized and prepared to tackle the issue, Harlow said. Title IX Coordinator Joan Slavin said in an email to The Daily she is working to create a frequently asked questions section of the Title IX website, to answer “common questions” people may have about the process. Adams did not respond to requests for comment for this article Monday. The University overhauled the UHAS process in September, which included dissolving the separate process for handling sexual assault complaints — the Sexual Assault Hearing and Appeals System. Now, sexual assault complaints will be handled under the revamped UHAS process. In a change from the old system, students reporting sexual misconduct will not need

to be in the same room as the alleged assailant for the hearing. The hearing panels for sexual assault cases will also no longer include students. Harlow said that although it could have been publicized better, the new process is less complicated and easier to explain than the old one. “In the past … there were a lot of complexities, which made it a long drawn out process,” Harlow said. “The process now is better than the old process for sure. It places so much less burden on the victim (and) is much more victim-friendly.” However, he noted the new process is still challenging to explain. “If you go to the (Student) Handbook, it’s multiple pages in length because there’s many steps along the way,” he said. “To accurately convey that, which is what they want to do, is very challenging.” Tara Sullivan, director of student conduct and conflict resolution, said she and other administrators have given presentations about the new process to groups including ASG, resident assistants, student group leaders, Greek life leaders, Sexual Health and Assault Peer Educators and Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault. “Our approach to drafting and rolling out the new UHAS was very collaborative and included input from a number of student leaders and groups of students on campus,” she said in an email to The Daily. “Through the drafting phase and the rollout phase we hosted opportunities for students to provide input and learn about the new process.” ASG President Julia Watson said that although the new process is improved, it should have been better publicized. “We can always do a better job of publicizing these things,” the Weinberg senior said. “Chris’ committee is talking about publicizing changes and making sure the text in the handbook is word for word shown to students but at the same time translated to students (so they know) why they should care.” sophiabollag@u.northwestern.edu oliviaexstrum2017@u.northwestern.edu

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City crime through the years 432

Number of Instances

DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM

400

423 359

334

Aggravated Battery Burglary Robbery

143

126

96

114

93

73

76

79

63

54

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014 Graphic by Ghichong Lew

Crimes against persons down 21 percent in 2014

Despite the overall crime rate remaining flat in 2014, crimes against persons in Evanston decreased by 20.8 percent compared to 2013, according to newly released police data. Evanston police officers presented 2014 crime statistics to City Council on Monday night. Homicides decreased from four to one in 2014, and aggravated battery cases decreased by about 15 percent. Robbery cases dropped by about 11 percent. Evanston police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan said these crimes, which involved the harm or the threat of bodily harm to

Football

NU, Illinois to play to play 3 games at Soldier Field

Northwestern and Illinois will play three games at Soldier Field in 2015, 2017 and 2019, the Fighting Illini announced Monday. The move continues a trend of the two schools moving contests to Chicago’s historic professional stadiums. Illinois hosted Washington at Soldier Field in 2013, and, per Monday’s announcement, has agreed to add on three more home games at the location

another person, are of particular importance to the department. Dugan told The Daily standard practices, including deployment efforts, have been more focused and effective, which is demonstrated by the 8 percent decrease in deployment-related crimes including robbery, aggravated battery and burglary. When it comes to gang violence, Dugan said the police department has partnered with Skokie Police Department and the Chicago Police Department in Rogers Park to pass along information. “We’re being proactive in our measures of dealing with (gangs),” he said. Criminal sexual assault decreased from 10 reports in 2013 to three reports last year. Dugan said honing and improving newer forms of regular law enforcement

practices, such as Text-A-Tip and DataDriven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety, has played an important role in these decreases. “DDACTS reduces traffic accidents as well as provides high visibility patrols in critical areas,” Dugan said. The department has also taken less traditional steps that “all together add up.” “We try to engage the community in different levels outside of law enforcement activities like Coffee With a Cop and mentoring programs for youth,” Dugan said. Crimes against property, which make up more than 90 percent of incidents in Evanston in 2014, increased by about 3 percent, accounting for the overall less than 1 percent increase in crime.

with the series against the Wildcats. “We’re thrilled to now be playing eight of 12 regular-season games in 2015, and six of nine Big Ten Conference games in 2017 & 2019, in the Chicagoland area,” NU athletic department spokesman Paul Kennedy told The Daily in an email. “Opportunities are rare to play a road game in a venue accessible from campus by public transportation. Particularly over a holiday weekend, this is incredible news for our student-athletes, coaches, families and fans going forward.” NU has also dipped into the city’s pool of professional sports stadiums. In 2010, the Cats hosted Illinois at Wrigley Field. Three years later, NU and the Chicago Cubs entered into a

multi-year partnership that would net the University several sporting events for a number of its varsity teams. The deal included five NU football games to be played at the stadium. Since the beginning of the Wrigley agreement, the Cats have competed in multiple events at the historic stadium. In baseball, NU faced off against Michigan at Wrigley in 2013, and the Cats battled Southern California in lacrosse last April in the 101-year-old ballpark. The 2015 contest between Illinois and NU was originally scheduled to be played at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.

— Julian Gerez

— Kevin Casey

NUDivest, Coalition meet in panel talk By EMILY CHIN

the daily northwestern

Sean Su/Daily Senior Staffer

POLITICAL PANEL Weinberg junior Noah Whinston speaks on behalf of NUDivest at a panel hosted by NU Political Union. NUDivest and NU Coalition for Peace formally met for the first time at Monday’s discussion.

Serving the University and Evanston since 1881

Students involved with Northwestern Divest and Northwestern Coalition for Peace met in person for the first time at a panel hosted by Northwestern Political Union on Monday night. NUDivest is a movement pushing for the University to divest from six major corporations it believes NU invests in that are “profiting off of the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands,” according to its website. Coalition for Peace does not believe divestment from Israel is the solution in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and rather argues for a two-state solution. More than 200 people attended the panel to hear about each campaign’s

objectives, especially because the two had never met before and there was “no real communication between the two sides,” Political Union co-president Alexi Stocker told The Daily. The Weinberg junior said that when he reached out to the two campaigns about putting the event together, they were both receptive despite controversy on social media surrounding both. “I hope people take away each of their main messages and people can make informed decisions on who they want to support,” Weinberg senior Connor Tatooles, Political Union speaker, said. Tatooles mediated the panel, and asked two Coalition for Peace members and two NUDivest members five questions » See PANEL, page 6

INSIDE Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | Opinion 4 | Classifieds & Puzzles 6 | Sports 8


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