NEWS On Campus Former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke to speak at Northwestern » PAGE 3
SPORTS Women’s Basketball Northwestern’s season ends in WNIT as comeback bid falls short » PAGE 12
OPINION Cooper Importance of maintaining optimism in sports, life » PAGE 4
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The Daily Northwestern Tuesday, March 29, 2016
DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Alice Millar vandalism case to continue in Cook County Court By MADELINE FOX
daily senior staffer @maddycfox
The two Northwestern students charged with felony vandalism in connection with the Alice Millar Chapel graffiti are set to appear in Cook County court next month, after a court hearing on March 15 at which only one appeared. At the hearing, Weinberg freshman Matthew Kafker requested and was granted permission to return to his family’s home in Swampscott, Massachusetts provided he returns to Skokie for his court dates. The students’ next court date is set for April 28. Kafker and Weinberg freshman Anthony Morales, who did not appear for the March 15 hearing, were released earlier this month on bond, a spokeswoman for the Cook County Sheriff ’s Office said. Morales’ lawyer could not be reached for comment. The bonds for Morales and Kafker were set at $50,000 each, with 10 percent posted for their release from custody, Cook County Sheriff ’s Office spokeswoman Sophia Ansari told The Daily in an email on March 13. The students were charged with institutional vandalism, hate crime to a place of worship and criminal damage to property in connection with graffiti found in Alice Millar Chapel. The graffiti included a swastika, male genitalia and the word “Trump.” It was painted in various parts of the chapel and religious center, including
RECORD-LOW RATE 23.1%
Acceptance Rate
Students to appear in court next month
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18% 15%
13.9%
13.1%
13% 10.7%
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2016 Graphic by Remy Afong
Northwestern gets historic number of applications By DAN WALDMAN
the daily northwestern @dan_waldman
Northwestern’s acceptance rate dropped once again this year, with the University only admitting 10.7 percent of applicants. NU accepted 2,690 students to the class of 2020 from the Regular Decision pool earlier this month, adding to the 1,061 students the University admitted through Early Decision. The University’s admissions rate declined 2.3 percentage points from last year, marking the seventh consecutive year the acceptance rate has dropped. Along with its historically low admissions rate, NU also set a new record for total number of applications received with 35,099 — an increase of roughly 9.5 percent over last year’s total. Christopher Watson, dean of undergraduate admissions, said the University
accepted about half as many students through Regular Decision as it did five or six years ago. He said this class was one of the most qualified application pools ever, and the smaller freshman class — which will shrink from 2,025 students to 1,925 students for the Class of 2020 — forced the University to make challenging decisions. “The academic quality is just phenomenal,” Watson said. “We had some very difficult choices to make because of that. We could have admitted several other classes just based on the quality of the students we couldn’t admit, but it was for just lack of room.” University spokesman Al Cubbage said having a smaller freshman class size allows the University to allocate more resources to each student, providing a better first-year experience. Cubbage said during the past few years, the University has overshot its 2,025-student benchmark, resulting in a larger-thanexpected freshman class.
“This is an effort to make sure we’re at the size that we feel is ideal,” he said. Following Early Decision admissions, the University had already filled more than half of its incoming class. NU also admitted a record number of international and Chicago Public Schools students during Early Decision. Watson said after the Regular Decision process, the University either broke or nearly broke the record for the most international students accepted in a class, and NU did set a new mark for Chicago Public Schools students accepted. But Watson said the main focus during the application process was making NU more inclusive. “We certainly were focused heavily on — with all of the initiatives — recruiting … students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds,” Watson said. “We did, despite one of the lowest Regular Decision admit » See ADMISSIONS, page 8
» See VANDALISM, page 8
Council approves Ryan Field renovations By NORA SHELLY
the daily northwestern @noracshelly
City Council supported plans for Northwestern to renovate the Ryan Field west parking lot Monday night despite initial objections from the community. The final plan, which was worked on by Ald. Eleanor Revelle (7th), NU officials and Evanston residents who live in the neighborhood adjacent to the lot, increases the number of parking spots, replaces the lot’s lighting and adds additional sidewalks around the lot, among other improvements. Residents, who said they have long dealt with the negative effects of living next to the stadium, had expressed concern at first with the increase in parking lot lighting, the
Daniel Tian/Daily Senior Staffer
FUSS OVER FIELD Evanston residents collaborated with aldermen and University officials to agree upon renovation plans for NU’s Ryan Field.
creation of a permanent walkway from the neighborhood to the lot and the reduction of vegetation between
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
their homes and the lot, Mary Rosinksi, who lives near the stadium, told The Daily. Neighborhood
Man found shot dead in Evanston basement
members, though, put together an organized effort to revise the plans in conjunction with NU officials and the council, and many felt pleased with the final product. “The plan as it is now is perfectly fine,” Rosinski told The Daily. “It is collaborative, everyone gave something … everyone feels like we can be really good neighbors now.” The revised plans hope to address some of the issues neighbors had by reducing the height and illumination of light poles throughout the lot, as well as increasing the amount of vegetation that will be planted between the alleyway and the parking lot. Additionally, a fence will be installed that will block off the parking lot from the neighborhood. Some residents raised concerns at Monday’s meeting that the revised
A 19-year-old male was found dead Friday evening in the basement of the multi-unit Evanston residence in which he lived, police said. Evanston police officers responded to a call around 5:35 p.m. reporting a deceased subject in the basement of the building in the 1200 block of Harvard Terrace, Evanston police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan said. The man, who has since been identified as 19-year-old Star I. Paramore, was shot in the head, Dugan said. Police are investigating the death as a homicide and are working in conjunction with the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force.
» See RYAN FIELD, page 8
— Marissa Page
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