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The Daily Northwestern DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Find us online @thedailynu
Watson, Zorn reflect on time in ASG By Shane McKeon
the daily northwestern @Shane_McKeon
Julia Watson might never have run for Associated Student Government’s highest position. Minutes after swearing in her successor as ASG president, Watson delivered a short farewell address to senators, admitting it wasn’t the easiest road to the top. When Senate rejected her bid for vice president for public relations by one vote during her sophomore year, she said she didn’t take it well. “I left that night in tears,” she told senators, “questioning why an organization I had been a part of tore me apart like it did.” She thought about quitting, she said. She even thought about taking a quarter off. Instead, she sat down with “each person who had a problem” with her and talked it out. “Too often, we are told that the outcome of a conversation should be harmony,” she said. “I can name only a few projects, Therapy Dogs being one of them, where everyone is happy at the end of the day.” Obviously, she didn’t quit. She was later re-nominated and confirmed unanimously. As Watson and former Executive Vice President Erik Zorn look back at their now-completed term as ASG’s top two officials, the Weinberg
seniors spoke of a shift in campus culture where students now more willingly engage in complicated, sensitive social issues. In the last year, Watson said, marginalized voices were significantly “amplified” on issues including sexual assault, racism and socioeconomic status. That shift, she said, reflects her view of what ASG’s main role should be. “If ASG is not working on those issues, what are we working on really?” Watson told The Daily. “Yeah, we can fix dining hall hours and shuttle routes, but that’s not really meaningful in changing the Northwestern experience, in changing campus culture.” Discussions of sexual violence permeated Watson’s term. The White House’s “It’s On Us” campaign launched a national examination of the issue on campuses, just a few months after philosophy Prof. Peter Ludlow was accused of sexual assault by a then-Medill junior. Watson said a reformed University Hearing and Appeals System and increased resources have better positioned NU to deal with sexual violence. “We’re in a really good place,” she said. “We’re coming into the spring with way more staffing, way more funding and way more attention to these issues.” Watson specifically noted recent
Daily file photo by Nathan Richards
END OF AN ERA Julia Watson and Erik Zorn just completed their term as Associated Student Government president and executive vice president, respectively. Watson and Zorn said they are proud that the organization has become better at listening to students before it acts.
hires at the Center for Awareness, Response and Education. Zorn agreed and said students now understand sexual assault as a “Northwestern issue,” not solely a
national one. “With the ‘It’s On Us’ campaign, we have been able to refocus the conversation,” Zorn said. “It’s not something we’re immune to, so it’s
something everyone needs to be involved in.” On another front, as the deaths of » See Watson, page 6
Contentious spin studio to close 2 alumni win Pulitzer Prizes for reporting By Tori Latham
daily senior staffer @latham_tori
After years of dispute with Evanston residents, a local spinning studio will close its doors next month. Revolution X, formerly known as Revolution Spin, has been in an ongoing struggle with two
Evanston women since it opened in 2011. The back-and-forth has proved too much to handle for Jason Bressler, the owner of the studio at 904 Sherman Ave., who said he has decided to shut down. “The only reason I’m closing is because of these two women,” he said. “They have made it hard to run a profitable business.”
Daily file photo by Susan Du
SPINNING SEND-OFF Local spin studio Revolution X will close next month after a dispute with Evanston residents that has lasted many years. Two local women have been complaining about the studio’s noise since it opened in 2011.
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
The two women, Martha Moser and Peggy Tarr, complained about the loud noise coming from the studio shortly after it opened, they both said. They said they had previously asked Bressler to install soundproofing materials, but he refused. “We filed a petition and he ignored that,” Tarr said. “I’ve talked with the aldermen and the police about the noise, but nothing has been done. This is a real relief.” Moser added that she brought the issue to City Council, but it did not enforce the city’s noise ordinances. Moser used to own a sewing studio next door to Revolution X, but said she had to close down in late 2012 because Bressler convinced the landlord not to renew her lease. “He put me out of business,” Moser said. “He stole my livelihood and that is something I am angry about.” Bressler denied those claims when he spoke to The Daily in January 2013. “Ms. Moser didn’t pay her rent,” he said. “Her lease was terminated, and I took over the space and expanded into it.” Even after leaving the space, Moser continued to complain with Tarr, Bressler said. He said the women continually confronted and yelled at clients, making them feel uncomfortable. “It wears on everybody,” Bressler » See REVOLUTION, page 6
By Mariana Alfaro
the daily northwestern @marianaa_alfaro
Two Northwestern alumni were part of reporting teams that won the highest award in journalism Monday. Rebecca Kimitch (Weinberg ‘98) won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting and a Seattle Times team that included Brian Rosenthal (Medill ‘11) won the Pulitzer for breaking news reporting. Kimitch won the award for her work uncovering corruption in a small school district for The Daily Breeze, a newspaper in Torrance, California. Kimitch and her colleagues Rob Kuznia and Frank Suraci discovered the
Woman charged in connection with police attack
Police arrested a 36-year-old woman Friday in connection with attacking and throwing a bleach bottle at an Evanston police officer, authorities said. The Evanston woman was charged with two counts of felony aggravated battery and one count of felony resisting arrest, Evanston police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan said. An officer responded to the 1500 block of Dempster Street around 11:30 p.m. Friday to reports a car parked on the street was playing “excessively loud” music, Dugan said. The officer discovered two women sitting in the car with an open
superintendent of the school district was receiving a total compensation of $750,000 along with other perks. “It’s been a really surreal afternoon,” Kimitch told The Daily. “It’s just great to get recognition for a lot of hard work that you’ve done for a long time.” Rosenthal, a former Daily editor-inchief, helped cover the 2014 Oso mudslide that killed 43 people. The team reported on the tragedy and explored whether it could have been avoided. “If you ask anybody at the Seattle Times, they will tell you how it’s bittersweet because of how many people died and how much devastation there was,” he told The Daily. “Being up there, it was » See PULITZER, page 6 container of alcohol, Dugan said. When the officer checked the car’s registration, it came back as suspended due to an insurance violation, police said. In that situation, police confiscate the license plates and send them to the Illinois secretary of state, Dugan said. The two women then exited the car, Dugan said, and one started yelling at the officer. The 36-year-old woman then threw a bottle of liquid bleach at the officer, striking him in the arm, Dugan said. The officer tried to arrest the woman but she resisted, scratching him on the face and arms with her fingernails and trying to bite him, Dugan said. Other officers arrived at the scene and helped arrest the woman, police said. — Paige Leskin
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