The Daily Northwestern Tuesday, February 20, 2018
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Aldermen discuss renovation funding Property tax levy proposed to cover $1.5 mil deficit By KEERTI GOPAL
the daily northwestern @keerti_gopal
Aldermen discussed moving forward with the Robert Crown Community Center project at Monday’s City Council meeting, reviewing plans for the project while continuing discussion on alternative funding options. The funding options presented by the city would leave a $1.5 million deficit, which staff said could be filled with a property tax levy. Next week, a construction manager will be presented to the council for approval. “How do we fill that deficit?” Mayor Steve Hagerty said. “Those are the decisions that we’ll have to make but ... (it seems) this Council is committed to moving forward with bringing a new Crown Center to Evanston.” Hagerty outlined several possible solutions, including increasing property taxes, selling assets and reducing expenditures elsewhere in the city budget. The staff ’s current plan included an increase in property tax, but city manager Wally Bobkiewicz said there will be continued discussions on alternate methods to obtain the required funds for the project.
Aldermen agreed that the renovation of the center is important for the Evanston community, and Ald. Judy Fiske (1st) said it should be a top priority. “I find that Robert Crown is basically unusable now,” Fiske said. “It has been an embarrassment for several years. … I can’t imagine putting this off, (and) I think if we put it off we are going to basically undermine the entire project.” The current Robert Crown Community Center provides sports and recreation programs as well as child care and access to free WiFi. The proposal for the new center includes three turf fields and a library, and Friends of the Robert Crown Center representative Pete Giangreco said the goal of the center is to bring the Evanston community together and increase equity. “Having all of these educational and recreational resources in one place is really a paradigmshifting opportunity,” Giangreco said. “The new Robert Crown as the city has envisioned is quite simply what our community needs and what our community is demanding.” As of Friday, FRCC has raised $11.1 million, mostly in fiveto seven-year pledges payable through 2023, according to city documents. The project cost estimate — including the $1.4 million spent in the past two years on fundraising and architectural and engineering services — is » See COUNCIL, page 6
Leeks Lim/Daily Senior Staffer
A panel including Provost Jonathan Holloway discusses ‘An Outrage,’ a film on lynching in the American South. Holloway said violence was a response to black people receiving opportunities during the Reconstruction Era and for “not behaving” in the eyes of white people.
Provost speaks on lynching film
Panelists discuss racism, history after screening of ‘An Outrage’ By ALAN PEREZ
daily senior staffer @_perezalan_
In the documentary “An Outrage,” Provost Jonathan Holloway said it’s important to remember the history of lynchings in the Jim Crow South because the pain and memory carry on for generations. “Being forgetful — truly forgetful — is a luxury that whites
could afford but blacks couldn’t,” Holloway said in the documentary. “And if you have that luxury, the problem is the system could keep repeating itself because no one remembers.” The documentary, screened Monday to an audience of about 60 in Norris University Center, seeks to tell the history of lynchings in the American South from the perspective of descendants, community activists and scholars. The 33-minute documentary was
Journalist talks #MeToo activism
Washington Post’s E.J. Graff speaks on campus about movement
By MADDIE BURAKOFF
daily senior staffer @madsburk
The #MeToo movement is a “wildfire moment” for the nation as emerging women have exposed the pervasiveness of sexual harassment, journalist E.J. Graff said at a Monday event. “They have been wandering in the wilderness, often traumatized,” she said. “Resentful of how these powerful creeps derailed their careers and their lives. Furious, as we now know.” Graff, currently the managing editor of the Monkey Cage at The Washington Post, spoke about the “#MeToo moment” to an audience of about 50 at Annenberg Hall. The event, sponsored by the Women’s Center, consisted of a presentation by Graff and a Q&A panel that also included Women’s Center staff. Other historical instances have similarly sparked national conversation and outrage, Graff said. For example, after U.S. attorney Anita Hill alleged she was harassed by her former boss,
current Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, more women than ever ran for office, Graff said. However, she added, social change requires time to “metabolize,” and no single moment can “change everything.” While the Anita Hill hearing brought much more awareness to the idea of sexual harassment, it did not stop harassment from occurring, she said. To create lasting change, Graff told The Daily, people have to follow through after the initial burst of energy ends and hold their institutions accountable. “There are wildfire moments and there are institution-building moments,” Graff said. “You need both. The wildfire can’t last; it’s just not human nature to stay in full outrage for too long.” In her presentation, Graff listed some ways she would combat sexual harassment if she were “queen of the world,” like by replacing every man ousted for sexual harassment with a woman and giving raises or promotions to five women for every year a predator worked at an
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Journalist E.J. Graff speaks at an event Monday. In the presentation and Q&A, Graff addressed the historical precedents and future possibilities for the #MeToo movement.
organization. John Wilson, an Evanston resident who attended the event, said while such solutions seemed unrealistic, it was refreshing to hear something aside from the “cynicism” many express. “In many ways it’s encouraging that she has a very optimistic view of this current movement, because it’s easy to look at the past and see where things haven’t changed,” Wilson said. “It’s good to hear those kinds of idealistic appeals.”
During the Q&A session, the panel addressed how to report on issues of sexual harassment and assault to an audience that included many journalism students and faculty. Graff stressed the importance of respecting a source’s decision to share or withhold their story. “No means no” when people do not agree to have their experiences or their names published, she said. Women’s Center director of » See METOO, page 6
followed by a panel discussion with Holloway and the film’s two directors, Lance Warren and Hannah Ayers. The film builds off of the statistics in a report by the Equal Justice Initiative, which found that more black people were lynched than previously thought. Warren said he originally planned to use only one story, but expanded the narratives after seeing that no lynching was typical and that there was a “disgusting
Medill Justice Project to offer spring classes
The Medill Justice Project will continue offering Spring Quarter courses to undergraduate and graduate students after its director, Medill Prof. Alec Klein, took a leave of absence following accusations of harassment and bullying. In a statement to The Daily, Medill Associate Dean Beth Bennett said the school will be “finalizing the faculty for that course over the next few weeks.” Students enrolled in the Winter Quarter Medill Justice Project course are currently being taught by Medill Profs. Patti Wolter and Peter Slevin. According to an email sent to Medill undergraduate students by Allisha Azlan, project coordinator for the Medill Justice Project, applications are open for the program’s two-unit spring course. Graduate students can also apply to join the Medill Justice Project in the spring, according to an email sent to students. The application for the project opens Feb. 19 and will close Feb. 23. Undergraduates will be notified of their selection by Feb. 26. Earlier this month, 10 former Medill Justice Project students
diversity” between instances. Holloway, a scholar on black history, said lynchings emerged after the Civil War because white people viewed former slaves as a threat to their economic wellbeing. Violence was a response to black people receiving opportunities during the Reconstruction Era, he said, and for “not behaving” in the eyes of white people. Tanikka Mitchell, the » See OUTRAGE, page 6
and employees published a letter accusing Klein of sexual harassment and said he displayed “controlling, discriminatory, emotionally and verbally abusive behavior.”The letter, widely circulated online, was sent to Provost Jonathan Holloway and Medill Dean Brad Hamm. A day after the accusations were made public, Klein took a leave of absence while Northwestern investigates the allegations brought up by the 10 women. Both graduate and undergraduate students can apply to the Medill Justice Project’s spring courses, which offer students a “ hands-on experience surrounding the criminal justice system through investigation, research and reporting on potentially wrongful convictions,” according to the email sent by Azlan. When the allegations were made public, Klein said in a statement to The Daily that he has “tried to lead The Medill Justice Project with honor.” In a statement sent to The Daily following the letter’s publication, Klein’s lawyer Andrew Miltenberg said Klein “denies the allegations that are being made … (and) intends to respect the confidentiality and privacy of Northwestern University and its internal process.” — Mariana Alfaro
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