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The Daily Northwestern DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Find us online @thedailynu
University added to BlueLight app By Tyler Pager
daily senior staffer @tylerpager
BlueLight, a campus safety mobile application, has added Northwestern to its nationwide network, allowing students to contact University Police with the tap of a button. The app serves a similar function to the physical blue lights on NU’s campus. When students request help, the app calls UP and shares the user’s physical location and contact information. Users can also share their location with family and friends and the app will send a notification when the user has arrived at their chosen destination. As part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, NU was added to the BlueLight network with nine other schools including the University of Chicago and the University of Kentucky. Preet Anand, BlueLight’s CEO, said around 80 colleges have the app, but students from more than 450 colleges have requested to have the app on their campuses. The app is available for both iPhone and Android. “It’s our goal to really bring personal safety and security into the modern age,” Anand said. “A lot of the standards are still built for when landlines was the principal way we communicated. We’re really excited to continue to do this at Northwestern.” Anand said the app is free for the time being with the long-term goal that the University will pay for the service. However, if NU decides not to support the app, students will
eventually be charged. He expects those talks won’t happen until the fall. SESP junior Connor Regan, a former Daily columnist and a former board member of Students Publishing Co., The Daily’s parent organization, requested BlueLight add NU’s campus to the app. “I had actually just downloaded the app and was using it myself for quite a while,” he said. “I was using it myself all the time and I noticed it had this feature where if you were a college student, you could recommend your campus.” Associated Student Government, UP and the Division of Student Affairs researched potential safety smartphone apps, but decided none of the third-party vendors fit the University’s needs. Instead, they chose to incorporate the safety features into another app, NUHelp, which is currently being developed and is set to have a beta launch by the end of the quarter. “After we kind of went through this vetting process for the thirdparty kind of mobile blue light apps, we saw an opportunity to combine the two projects,” said Kevin Harris, ASG’s vice president for community relations and a Weinberg junior. “There wasn’t a third-party vendor out there that we saw as a good fit for the University’s needs right now.” Similarly to the website, the NUHelp app will be a “one-stop shop” for student resources, Harris said. » See Bluelight, page 7
Daniel Tian/The Daily Northwestern
Community Effort Patrick Day (SESP ’92) talks Wednesday about the importance of deliberate leadership in community. Day spoke at the sixth annual Gregg A. Kindle Distinguished Lecture on Community, which all resident assistants were required to attend.
Alum talks leadership, change By Drew Gerber
the daily northwestern @dagerber
A Northwestern alumnus called on residential assistants and administrators Tuesday to lead changes in policy and engagement within the NU community to improve campus culture. Patrick Day (SESP ’92), vice president for student life at University of the Pacific, spoke to about 170 RAs and Residential Services administrators
Activist groups respond to graffiti By Tyler Pager
daily senior staffer @tylerpager
A group of 23 anti-Semitism watchdog groups sent a letter to University President Morton Schapiro on Tuesday asking him to take additional steps to combat anti-Semitism at Northwestern in light of the recent incidents of swastikas on campus. The authors said they were concerned with Schapiro’s email to the NU community after police found two swastikas in University Library. Earlier this month, a swastika was found on the wall of the men’s bathroom on the fourth floor of the library. Four days later, police said a swastika was discovered in a thirdfloor study room in the library. “While we are pleased that you issued a statement, we are concerned that your message neglected to publicly acknowledge that a swastika is an anti-Semitic symbol associated with genocide perpetrated against the Jewish people,” the letter said. The authors asked Schapiro to take four steps to prevent future anti-Semitic messages on campus. They recommended he publicly acknowledge that swastika graffiti is an anti-Semitic act and publicly
pledge to educate University staff in recognizing anti-Semitic hate crimes. Additionally, they urged Schapiro to have NU adopt the U.S. State Department’s definition of antiSemitism and designate resources to educating students about discrimination against Jews. Tannenbaum-Chabad House Rabbi Dov Hillel Klein said the letter to Schapiro was a reminder that discrimination against the Jewish community isn’t new. “Unfortunately, this is an act that takes place quite often on college campuses including our own,” he said. “I’m happy that national Jewish organizations have taken notice and are concerned about that here at Northwestern.” The letter said more than 18 college campuses have reported incidents of swastikas in the last year. Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, director of the AMCHA Initiative, an organization dedicated to combating anti-Semitism on college campuses, said this was the fifth or sixth letter she has been involved in sending to university leaders in the past few weeks. “We have seen an alarming increase in campus anti-Semitism over the last year,” she said. “We’ve seen a real increase in the type of
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anti-Semitic graffiti that were found at Northwestern.” Schapiro responded to the letter Tuesday afternoon, saying he appreciated the suggestions, but was not concerned about any threats to the safety of Jewish students on campus. “If we believed that a threat did exist to Jewish students — or any other students — we would take the appropriate actions in order to ensure the continued safety of our students,” Schapiro wrote in an email to Rossman-Benjamin obtained by The Daily. He added NU has a vibrant Jewish community and the University has increased its commitment to the academic study of Jewish history through the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies. Rossman-Benjamin said the group was pleased Schapiro took their recommendations into consideration. “(The letter) wasn’t really a criticism of him so much as was sharing our experiences about the growth of anti-Semitism on campuses, its linkage to certain kinds of behavior on campus and a set of best practices for how address future acts of antiSemitic bigotry,” she said. tylerpager2017@u.northwestern.edu
about the importance of building crosscultural and diverse communities. Day emphasized that community building requires deliberate leadership. “This notion of community, this idea of community, is one that doesn’t just happen,” Day said. Day, who is black, drew upon his own experience at NU, showing the audience a picture of himself with a group of mostly black students. He said at NU this type of experience — “defaulting into places” — can easily happen. “We are a community that is not as
City implements pesticide-free park program
A new program to keep Evanston parks pesticide-free will launch soon, the city announced Tuesday. The city has chosen five local parks — Ackerman, Burnham Shores, Eiden, Perry and Trahan — that will be maintained without the use of pesticides for one year, the city said. “Evanston strives to keep our parks a healthy place for all our residents and visitors to enjoy, and we are excited to launch this Pesticide-Free Parks Pilot Program, which is our largest Adopt-a-Park partnership to date,” Paul D’Agostino, the city’s assistant director of public works, said in a news release. The program is being launched with the help of Greenwise Landscaping & Lawn Care Services, a local landscape company, and the Midwest Pesticide Action Center, a Chicago-based organization that promotes safer alternatives to pesticides, the city said. “Midwest Pesticide Action Center applauds Evanston’s commitment to limit the use of pesticides in order to create healthy places to play,” Ruth Kerzee, Midwest Pesticide Action Center’s executive director, said in a statement. “People want pesticide-free parks where they can go with their children and pets and not worry about being exposed.” Marc Wise, the founder of Greenwise, also said he was excited to be involved in
deliberate about creating our desired community as we could be,” Day said. Day spoke at the sixth annual Gregg A. Kindle Distinguished Lecture on Community, presented by Residential Services in honor of former Director of Residential Life and Assistant Dean of Students Gregg Kindle. During his tenure, Kindle focused on creating inclusive community programs on issues like LGBT and sexual assault awareness. Day told the audience three things » See Community, page 7 the program. “Greenwise loves this opportunity to give back to the community we call home and is thrilled to partner with the Evanston to promote organic land management,” Wise said in a statement. “This is a great way to tell the folks of Evanston to get out and enjoy your parks. To avoid the use of pesticides, the city will use alternative weed control methods and improve soil health to increase natural weed resistance. Martha Logan, the city’s community engagement manager, told The Daily the city has been working for more than five years to better Evanston’s park district. “The city has really been considering public health and the environment when conducting park maintenance activities,” Logan said. “We are trying to reduce the usage of pesticides to create the most livable city in America.” The program will mark the fifth anniversary of the city’s pesticide reduction policy, which was implemented to show Evanston’s commitment to protecting the health of its residents, the city said. Along with the program, the city is also encouraging residents to take advantage of natural lawn care practices. The city recommended that community members water deeply no more than once a week, keep their lawns at least three inches high, use organic fertilizer and naturally dispose of weeds. If the program is successful within its first year, the city said it could be extended and include more parks in the future. — Tori Latham
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