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The Daily Northwestern DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Monday, March 3, 2014
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DCF gives first annual awards By Edward Cox
daily senior staffer @edwardcox16
The nonprofit inspired by slain 14-year-old Dajae Coleman awarded its first annual achievement scholarships Sunday to local students. The Dajae Coleman Foundation, created after the Evanston teen’s shooting death, awarded the inaugural Dajae Coleman Achievement Award and accompanying $1,000 scholarship to students whose qualities and values mirrored those the teen exhibited. Board members raised money for the scholarships at the event at Koi Fine Asian Cuisine & Lounge, where Evanston Township High School students Jordan Wallace and Aaron Smith were presented with the award. The honor will be presented annually to two ETHS freshmen. The students will be able to use the scholarships once they graduate from high school, foundation board member Doria Johnson said. Candle lights illuminated a back room in the restaurant, 624 Davis St., where friends and family of Dajae chatted as a slideshow flashed images of basketball courts and of the ETHS freshman. Dajae’s mother, Tiffany Rice, said she hoped to spread the values of leadership, humility and academic achievement in her son, Dajae, who was fatally shot in fall 2012. “I knew that if those qualities were in him, I knew I could definitely find them in other students,” Rice said. To compete for the scholarships,
City, Chevron resume talks in 2013 federal pollution lawsuit
A federal judge sided with Evanston in a pollution dispute earlier this month when he denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case. Since then, the parties involved have resumed settlement negotiation and “have made substantial progress in their efforts to settle this matter,” according to a joint status report filed Wednesday. Evanston filed a lawsuit against Chevron in March 2013, alleging the multinational energy corporation had contaminated the soil and groundwater near the former Texaco gas station in west Evanston. The city’s amended complaint “alleges the release and migration of hazardous substances, specifically petroleum and its byproducts, from leaking underground storage tanks” underneath the former Texaco station,
USC prof talks God, agency By Preston r. Michelson
the daily northwestern @PrestonMich
successful or through black men to help other black men be successful,” Wallace said. Funding for scholarship money comes from money from an ETHS fund, Rice said. The school created a memorial fund in September 2012 after Coleman’s death. The foundation has raised about
A University of Southern California professor and Islamic scholar spoke Friday night about Islam in the age of modernity in front of a packed room in Harris Hall. The keynote address, titled “Submission and Agency in the Age of Modernity,” capped Discover Islam Week, sponsored by the Muslim-cultural Student Association. “Submission to God does not eradicate my ability to choose in any Scripture number of is not going to areas in my life,” said Sherdictate to me man Jackson, every choice that USC professor of religion I have to make in and Ameri- life. It’s impossible. can studies and ethnicity. Sherman “Even assumJackson, ing that I am USC professor the most committed Muslim that one could imagine, scripture is not going to dictate to me every choice that I have to make in life. It’s impossible.” Jackson is the King Faisal Chair of Islamic Thought and Culture at USC and was named to the 2013-14 list of the World’s 500 Most
» See DCF, page 6
» See islam, page 6
Annabel Edwards/Daily Senior Staffer
IN LOVING MEMORY Jordan Wallace, a winner of the Dajae Coleman Achievement Award, speaks at the award ceremony Sunday evening at Koi. Wallace and Aaron Smith each received $1,000 scholarships from the Dajae Coleman Foundation, founded in honor of 14-year-old Dajae Coleman, an Evanston Township High School student who was shot and killed in September 2012.
ETHS students wrote essays related to Dajae’s “My Belief Statement” paper which he wrote for his Humanities class shortly before his death. ETHS humanities teachers recommended students for the scholarships, said Anita Thawani, an English teacher who nominated Smith. Dressed in a dark suit, Smith said he wants to use his scholarship money to enroll at Northwestern.
“(The event) really turns a situation, a tragedy into something meaningful and purposeful,” Thawani said. “It’s outstanding to give students the opportunity to be recognized for character.” Wallace said he could relate with the topics Coleman touched on in his letter. “I think the (event’s) purpose is to help young black men to become
Franco discusses career steps
near the intersection of Church Street and Darrow Avenue. The contaminants “may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health or the environment” and are “known or suspected human carcinogens,” according to the city. In addition to the Chevron Corporation, other defendants include Texaco, Inc., Chevron Environmental Management Company and E-Town Community Ventures, LLC, the current owner of the property at 18011805 Church St. The space was a gas station starting in 1925 and was most recently operated by Texaco. The station has been vacant since it closed in the late 1990s. Chevron and Texaco merged in 2001. In 2000, the Illinois Fire Marshal conducted an investigation into the former Texaco gas station and concluded that two underground storage tanks containing gasoline and water had been “abandoned improperly” at the site.
James Franco shared his thoughts on acting and directing to a sold-out crowd Saturday night at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The event, presented by A&O Productions and NU Hillel, featured a discussion moderated by RTVF Prof. Jeffrey Sconce, and a question-and-answer session with the audience. Throughout the night, Franco discussed the development of his career, commented on specific movies and spoke about relationships with fellow actors — all while joking around with students. “Let me just cut anybody off who has the smart idea to ask me to smoke anything with them afterwards,” Franco said. “In case you were planning on asking that, I can’t.”
— Ciara McCarthy
» See FRANCO, page 6
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By Lan nguyen
the daily northwestern @LanNguyen_NU
Lan Nguyen/The Daily Northwestern
deja vu Actor and filmmaker James Franco speaks Saturday night at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Franco was the winter speaker for A&O Productions and the Fiedler Hillel Center.
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