Marquee matchup reveals Evanston divide
Between Biss and Boarini, a rif in visions marks the batle lines of
Rocked by controversy, District 65 could see election shakeup on board
By AUDREY PACHUTA daily senior staffer @AudreyPachuta
INSIDE EVANSTON DECIDES
By SHUN GRAVES daily senior staffer | @realshungraves
Seated just inches away from challenger Jef Boarini during a Feb. 9 candidate forum, Mayor Daniel Biss scolded his sole opponent for launching a “snide atack” on how he approached his perch atop the city’s government.
Tough they shared some chuckles and a handshake, moments of biterness cropped up repeatedly. Afer the stage cleared, however, Boarini felt some remorse for his atacks.
He later apologized to Biss, the political newcomer recalled during a recent sit-down with Te Daily.
“I explained that I get a lot of advice from people about how to proceed,” Boarini said. “And not all of it is good advice. Or not all of it — rather than good advice, not all of it is right for me, and I learned a litle bit from that.
And I was sorry for taking a few cheaper shots at him.”
Boarini remembered apologizing to the mayor at the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center.
And in many ways, the twoman contest for Evanston’s top job still sees plenty of formative moments like that hallway rendezvous.
representing Evanston in Springfeld. Afer unsuccessfully running for governor in 2018, Biss claimed the mayoralty in a landslide victory in 2021 Boarini hinted that he’s ridden a wave of discontent with the Civic Center, but the incumbent has vowed to enact further reforms on “urgent” issues like afordability and sustainability beyond those he spearheaded during his frst term. Te two camps have staked out their disparate visions for Evanston. Now, as the final stretch looms, each faces the challenge of winning a race some observers say has surprisingly tightened.
When Tracy Fulce, a parent from Evanston/Skokie School District 65, took the reins of a Facebook group for fellow district parents and guardians, it felt less like a typical social media undertaking and more like an extension of her family’s longstanding commitment to community service.
footsteps of her parents’ public service, as her mother was a District 65 teacher and her father was an Evanston police ofcer.
A 2nd Ward resident for most of her life, Fulce — whose husband, Lionel Gentle, is running for District 65 school board — has been deeply involved in eforts to improve her neighborhood. She hopes to follow in the
NU responds to DEI crackdowns
funding.
By JERRY WU daily senior staffer @jerrwu
Over the past few weeks, Northwestern, like other universities nationwide, has been complying with the new Trump administration’s hefy diversity, equity and inclusion initiative crackdowns.
In President Donald Trump’s frst week in ofce, he issued an executive order to eliminate DEI policies in federally funded programs.
At the start of February, only a few NU schools took any initiative to obey the order, scrubbing references to DEI eforts here and there on their websites.
But the stakes soon rose again.
In a Feb. 14 leter to universities, the Education Department presented colleges nationwide with an ultimatum: eliminate all diversity initiatives in the next two weeks or risk losing federal
Now that the deadline has passed, the efects at NU have been tangible. Te University has erased mentions of DEI in nearly all of its schools and colleges, as well as other department support sites.
In a statement to Te Daily, a University spokesperson said that “Northwestern is currently reviewing its policies and programs to ensure we meet all federal and state laws and requirements.”
Te spokesperson added that “equal opportunity for every member of the Northwestern community remains central to our core values and we are commited to ensuring that students, faculty and staf enjoy a community that is welcoming to all.” Here’s what remains on NU’s websites.
Feinberg School of Medicine
NU’s school of medicine was the frst to show signs of falling in line with Trump’s executive orders.
As the mother of a ffh grader at Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies and an older son who graduated from the district, Fulce said she has experienced
» See SCHOOLS , page 10
By JERRY WU daily senior staffer @jerrwu
Northwestern’s lobbying spending swelled to more than $1 million in 2024, the most it’s spent in nearly three decades and a roughly 150% increase from the previous year.
It comes as no surprise in a year when NU was embroiled in investigations of campus antisemitism from federal lawmakers and preparing for additional guardrails with President Donald Trump’s then-looming return to the White House.
“Like many of our peer institutions, as scrutiny of higher education has increased on Capitol Hill, we have increased our lobbying eforts to address legislative issues that could impact University research and operations,” a University spokesperson said in a statement to Te Daily.
NU’s lobbying expenditures in the second half of 2024 totaled more than $800,000, signifcantly more than any of its total annual spendings in the last decade.
Out of the eight recorded lobbyists, double the previous year’s
A full preview of the candidates, storylines and disputes ahead of the April 1 municipal election. Pages 7-10
amount, NU appeared to have enlisted a new throng of lobbyists from Harbinger Strategies, composed mostly of former stafers to Republican congressional leadership.
NU lobbied on a range of issues, stretching from research funding, endowment tax to patents rights and student-athlete compensation.
Many of these issues have already become flashpoints in the new Trump administration. Republican lawmakers have continuously foated the idea of raising universities’ endowment tax. And in the coming months, funding from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation could face further freezes and cuts.
In an expense report for $517,000, NU lobbied on bills including the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act, College Transparency Act and College Cost Reduction Act. Tere were also contributions to issues related to research securities, artifcial Intelligence and the NAIRR program, a pilot program aimed to lay out nationwide infrastructure for AI research.
Te report also indicates there was lobbying activity for “issues
Yet with less than a month before the April 1 election, a foundational divide between each man’s background and vision for Evanston has teed up a heated batle for the mayoralty.
Boarini, a 34-year resident and onetime McDonald’s creative director, stormed into the highly personal world of Evanston politics by challenging Biss, a longtime lef-wing organizer.
The incumbent came to prominence during his time
Uproar bespeaks rif Te batle lines hardened in January, when the uproar over Envision Evanston 2045, the sweeping overhaul of city policy, came to a head. Biss argued strenuously for fnalizing the
» See MAYOR , page 10
pertaining to House Education and Workforce May 23, 2024 hearing
‘Calling for Accountability: Stopping Antisemitic College Chaos.’”
Joining several other U.S. colleges, NU appeared to have lobbied on a homeland security bill that would restrict funding to institutions of higher education that had been funded by the Chinese government. In 2024, few other top-ranked
universities in the country recorded as much lobbying as NU — let alone such a drastic increase in spending. Harvard University and Princeton University’s lobbying spending hovered around $620,000 and $460,000, respectively, a slight fuctuation from the previous year.”
jerrywu2027@u.northwestern.edu
Photos by Shun Graves/The Daily Northwestern
With less than a month before the April 1 election, a foundational divide between Mayor Daniel Biss, lef, and his sole challenger, Jef Boarini, has
mayoralty.
Life Time opens new luxury tness club in Evanston
By BEN SHAPIRO the daily north,e-tern @benshapiromedia
Luxury health and fitness club Life Time opened a location in Evanston Saturday morning. The .0 , 000 -square-foot fitness center sits above the Sherman Avenue Target, on the former premises of the LA Fitness.
The Evanston location is the international fitness club’s 14 th in the greater Chicago area. It features open-concept cardio, strength training, recovery, group workout and athletic court spaces.
The new athletic club is the second Life Time in the country to house the company’s MIORA Performance and Longevity Clinic, where members can work with doctors, nurses, dietitians and personal trainers to create individualized health and wellness programs.
Natalie Bushaw, vice president of public relations and corporate communications at Life Time, said the company gutted the former LA Fitness to build a brand-new space for members.
“It was an opportunity for us to take a really, really great space in a really phenomenal location in Evanston and create and bring Life Time to life,” Bushaw said.
Life Time will be open from 4 a.m. to midnight Monday through Friday and from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Memberships start at $289 a month for adults and an additional $.0 per month per child under 14 Life Time’s membership prices are much higher than many other gyms in the area, which typically hover around $40 - 80 a month. But, fourth-year Medill student Alexia KadotaBrowner said the high sticker price is an “investment” into her health and wellness.
“Being a member my whole life, I’ve firsthand seen the experiences and the effects that this brand has on the quality of life,” KadotaBrowner said. “You never know how much of a positive impact the healthy way of life can have on you until you try it.”
Kadota-Browner said she was one of the
first members of her hometown Long Island, New York’s Life Time locations as a child. She completed her certification to be a trainer and group exercise instructor when she turned 18 , and took an internship with Life Time’s River North location at the end of her sophomore year at Northwestern.
The day she learned Life Time was opening an Evanston location, Kadota-Browner said she applied to be a group exercise instructor. She will now teach classes there twice a week.
“I find the fact that their name is Life Time to be really funny because I can definitely relate to the fact that this has been a part of my life for almost all of my lifetime,” Kadota-Browner said.
Bushaw said the new Evanston club is employing around 100 team members, a few of whom are NU students, like Kadota-Browner. Bushaw said she expects the majority of members to be Evanston residents and families, rather than NU students.
Downtown Evanston Executive Director
Andy Vick said he is optimistic that the opening of Life Time will attract more potential customers to downtown Evanston.
“Those people are going to be potentially dining in our restaurants before or after their workout, or they’re going to meet with friends for a drink after their workout, or they’ll pass by a store and see that that’s something they might want to come back to,” Vick said.
b.shapiro@dailynorthwestern.com
Ben Shapiro/The Daily Northwestern
Life Time debuted an Evanston fitness club Saturday morning.
O ce for Research follows other NU sites, takes down DEI page
The Office for Research has followed other Northwestern undergraduate and graduate schools, as well as support sites, in taking down its diversity, equity and inclusion web page following President Donald Trump’s January executive orders to put an end to DEI initiatives.
Though a federal judge largely blocked this order Feb. 21 , universities across the country feared the risk of losing federal funding should they not comply with the
NU improves on AntiDefamation League report card, F to D
The Anti-Defamation League released its 2025 Campus Antisemitism Report Card Monday, revealing Northwestern’s improvement from an F to a D grade.
The ADL evaluated 135 schools on a scale from A to F, an increase from (5 schools in the first report card last year.
The first report card was released in April 2024 in response to antisemitism after Hamas’ Oct. ) , 2023 attack on Israel.
ADL evaluates schools based on criteria of publicly disclosed administrative actions, Jewish life on campus, and campus conduct and climate concerns, according to the ADL website.
NU earned a rating of “above expectations” for publicly disclosed administrative actions, highlighting that antisemitism is included in NU’s code of conduct and that NU partners with Israeli institutions among others.
ADL gave NU an “excellent” rating for Jewish life on campus, citing the prevalence of Hillel, Chabad, religious services, pro-Israel groups and Jewish staff and faculty.
ON CAMPUS
direction, due to a threat from the Department of Education in a Feb. 14 letter to university leaders.
“Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding. Anyone who believes that a covered entity has unlawfully discriminated may file a complaint with (the Office of Civil Rights),” the letter read.
The OR site used to house a “Research DEI” page with tabs like “Resources,” “DEI Advocate Award,” “DEI Council” and “Events,” as well as an “About” page, which detailed OR’s motivation for championing DEI efforts, their DEI strategy and metrics relating to DEI research.
“Office for Research excels and exemplifies staff commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, justice and beyond,” the nowdeleted Research DEI site read. “By committing resources and staff, OR has demonstrated a firm belief in the practice and execution in these efforts which will be met through a multi-pronged approach.”
Now, users who click on the Research DEI page are directed to the OR’s homepage, which includes statements about the mission of the OR, their research priorities and an update about federal research funding, after executive orders called this funding into question.
Leah Schroeder
The ADL gave NU an “excellent” rating for Jewish life on campus.
However, the level of “severe” antisemitic and anti-Zionist incidents as well as the level of “hostile” anti-Zionist student government, student group staff and faculty activity were listed as reasons for NU’s high warning for campus conduct
concerns.
Overall, the antisemitism report card shows that 36% of schools now earn A or B grades, an increase from 23 5% in 2024
Maya Ikenberry
The Daily Northwestern www.dailynorthwestern.com
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A&E
NU hosts 8 groups at third Battle of the Bands
By SARAH LONSER
dail( )orth,e-ter)
the
Student band Static Transmission won “Best Band” at the Songwriters Association at Northwestern’s third Battle of the Bands Friday night. The showcase, held at the Technological Institute’s Ryan Family Auditorium, featured performances by eight different bands made up of NU students from various years and majors.
Static Transmission performed a grungeinspired set reminiscent of the .014 Tumblr aesthetic. The performance featured four original songs and a cover of Joy Division.
Communication sophomore and Static Transmission vocalist Angelina Randazzo shared how the band persevered despite technical difficulties, recalling how SESP sophomore and drummer Tyler Moyer broke his drumsticks and high hat during the performance.
“No one noticed and we still pulled through,” Randazzo said. “It still sounded awesome.”
Endurance performance speaks on immigrant struggles arts and entertainment
By MARISSA FERNANDEZ
the dail( )orth,e-ter)
For four hours, Weinberg sophomore Beatriz Sturn stood in front of e Rock, withstanding near-freezing temperatures for an endurance performance titled “I promise I am here legally” Wednesday a ernoon.
During the performance, Sturn, an international student from Brazil, recited information seen on a typical student visa. While she used her real name, country of origin and visa type as listed on her own visa, the speci c identi cation numbers of the document were falsi ed, she said.
For the entirety of the four-hour performance, Sturn repeated the visa information over and over again, only broken up by the phrase, “I promise I’m here legally” a er each repetition. She paused brie y to take sips of water and tea. Sturn said she only broke character once to ask a friend for a thicker coat.
Sturn organized this performance art as a nal project for her class “Durational Performance: Blood, Sweat, Tears,” she said.
“(In our class), we study any performance piece that lasts longer than you would expect that action to last,” Sturn said. “So if you are thinking about
Randazzo added that she enjoyed the performance regardless of some of the mishaps the band faced.
Static Transmission’s palpable energy earned the band the majority vote for “Best Band,” winning SWAN’s prize of six hours of studio time at the Grammy award-winning Classick Studios. Randazzo said that Static Transmission is excited to get into the studio and hopes to use the band’s well-earned session to record their first original shoegaze song, “S T I T C H E S.”
The bands participating included Absolutely No Drinks, Static Transmission, Neptune, Miss Me, Inertia, Maple Ave, A Platypus? and The Transcontinental Slip n’ Slide. They performed a range of genres, including indie, pop, rock and punk.
In addition to the “Best Band” award, audience members also voted for “Best Individual Performer,” “Best Original Song” and “Best Rizz.”
Weinberg junior and SWAN’s external president Elsa Steen Koppell described the event as
an opportunity to spotlight all of the talent at NU. According to Steen Koppel, SWAN aims to create an accessible space for songwriters and musicians of all levels, genres and backgrounds.
“(The bands) play a bunch of different styles of music,” Steen Koppell said. “It’s a really good sampler for the diversity on campus, both musical and personal.”
Inertia, an all-girl indie rock band, amped up the crowd with its cover of Chappell Roan’s “Red Wine Supernova.” During the performance, SESP freshman and drummer Hailey Kim stood out amongst the band and earned the award for Best Individual Performance.
The Transcontinental Slip n’ Slide, who the crowd voted for “Best Rizz,” closed the show. The audience cheered to the band’s tune, “Tiny Hands,” which won “Best Original Song” and brought the event to a lively end with literal plastic tiny hands thrown into the excited concertgoers.
Attendees got to experience NU musical performances in an environment much
different from the typical venues for student bands.
“The (NU) music scene is very good, but a lot of the time it’s house shows and you’re all cramped in a basement,” Steen Koppell said. “That’s great for some people, but others want a more concert-like experience.”
SWAN’s Battle of the Bands wasn’t limited to NU students. Alumni, parents and Evanston residents also came out to support the bands.
Andrea Torelli-Lathulerie, a sophomore at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said she was brought along to the event with some friends from NU and appreciated the displays of creativity.
“I think on my campus you don’t see the art scene like this, or it’s a lot harder to find,” Torelli-Lathulerie said. “It was nice to see everyone showing up to something that’s so part of the school.”
sarahlonser2026@u.northwestern.edu
reciting your document information, you think someone will do that like once or twice in life, but then I did it for four hours.”
Other performers — international students, green-card holders and even a professor — joined Sturn and participated for anywhere between .0 and 90 minutes, she said.
Participants used fabricated visa information and were given the option to use real details including their names and countries of origin, Sturn said. She added that in addition to reciting visa information, performers also taped control numbers or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services numbers that matched the visa information they were reading to the front and back of their shirts.
“I think the word ‘control number’ — because it’s what they use to track the visas — really showcases how it’s like we’re counted as numbers at the end of day,” Sturn said. “I just wanted to call a ention to that while I was doing the rest of the (performance).”
Weinberg freshman and performer Ainée Wittayathawornwong said she joined the performance a er reading about it on social media.
For her, the performance brought “a moment of re ection” on the Northwestern “bubble.” Wittayathawornwong said she does not typically think
about her identity as an international student while at school, but the performance made her think of “a bigger context.”
“I just kind of realized a little bit of my origins, and also, ‘Why am I here?’” Wittayathawornwong said. “And that there are limitations to what I can do here and what I cannot do, and some things that (are) different, compared to me being an international student, to someone who’s a citizen.”
Wi ayathawornwong added that the performance serves as a reminder that there are others at Northwestern in similar situations.
Communication sophomore Cessa Lewis heard about her classmate Sturn’s performance in the performance studies class and a ended to see Sturn’s idea brought to life.
“I think now seeing it, I’m realizing how taxing it is to repeat that again and again — like on your voice — and then to just stand here in the cold,” Lewis said. “It’s so much more visceral, obviously, seeing it than when I heard it in class.”
Even though Sturn had the option of doing a non-public performance for her class, she wanted this performance not to just be something for herself nor her “own growth.”
Sturn hopes the performance causes people to reflect on how much endurance being an
immigrant requires, she said.
“Especially in the U.S., if you want to stay here for long, legally, you have to perform to be here,” Sturn said. “I (am) only able to have a visa because I performed enough academically that the University took me in. en, they were sponsoring my visa, and then I have to perform again to get a good enough of a job that they will sponsor my next visa. It’s this constant thing that you can never let the ball drop.”
marissafernandez2028@u.northwestern.edu
Se ing the record straight
An article published in Feb. 19’s paper misquoted Richard Gessert. e correct quote is as follows: “ ere were some ideas there about something transient, transformative or impermanent about the bu er y and its fragility.” e Daily regrets this error.
Sarah Lonser/The Daily Northwestern
SLIPPAGE lab explores expression through dance
By MARISSA FERNANDEZ
!he da&l( )or!h,e-!er)
e SLIPPAGE lab started over 2. years ago. Today, the lab is exploring a variety of topics, including Black social dance practices and the intersection of music and dance as abstract art forms.
e SLIPPAGE lab is a cross-disciplinary research arts lab that explores how people, especially people of color, interpolate and present research, Managing Director Shireen Dickson said.
e lab originated at the Massachuse s Institute of Technology, moving to Duke in 2.11 and then to Northwestern in 2.22
e lab a empts to provide a platform for people who might not otherwise have the means to present high-level research in spaces where people can understand and celebrate the work, Dickson said.
“One of the things that I am particularly proud
of working with SLIPPAGE is our commitment to encouraging people to think about research and archiving in ways that are non-traditional and that aren’t necessarily celebrated in more traditional Western institutions,” Dickson said.
SLIPPAGE’s Artistic Director and Performance Studies and eatre Prof. omas F. DeFrantz created the lab a er realizing that a space was needed to experiment through “form and thought” and thinking alongside others, DeFrantz said.
Most of the lab’s projects are in relationship to dance, DeFrantz said.
“Dance o ers a lever of expression that exceeds language. It’s more than language,” DeFrantz said. “Dance is an urgent capacity that people (use) to wonder with what could be next, or who else could we be. So dance, for me, o ers a terri c way to think with curiosity and empathy.”
e lab received a :5..,... grant from the Mellon Foundation in 2.23. It used this money to fund a project that explores how Black dance practices across the United States constitute African American identity and Black freedom,
DeFrantz said.
DeFrantz said the research is still ongoing, but the end result of the three-year research project will likely be two or three wri en works.
Another one of the lab’s projects is “Abstract Black.” e project began when DeFrantz and Musicology Prof. Ryan Dohoney were looking into a grant that encouraged collaboration between schools and departments, Dohoney said.
e two began to explore the intersection of dance and music as abstract art forms and the idea of “aesthetic abstraction,” which is a strategy that Black artists use, Dohoney said.
“I like this idea of (abstract being) kind of a refusal to be reduced to representing one thing and to mean one thing and to resist being pigeonholed,” he said.
Dohoney said that his and DeFrantz’s work led to a two-day event where musicians and dancers, mainly from the Chicago area, were invited to “re ect on abstraction.” e event, which took place in the fall of 2.23, included brief artistic presentations and time for collective dance improvisation.
Another “iteration” of “Abstract Black” is planned for this spring as a collaboration with another one of the lab’s projects, “Make Black Art Live Now!”
In addition to the lab’s projects, DeFrantz also o ers a class titled “Performance and Technology.” e class combines interactive media with technology, like robots and 3D printing, to bring together di erent students and is a collaboration with the Segal Design Institute, DeFrantz said. DeFrantz said researchers at universities can encourage “stronger social interactions.”
“Universities and the research that they produce are essential to any sort of shared future,” DeFrantz said. “ e rogue government that we’re experiencing right now trying to shut down knowledge, learning, wondering are examples of exactly why the research of di erent labs … around the planet are so incredibly important to our shared futures. … We must not let this be our future.”
marissafernandez2028@u.northwestern.edu
Lovers & Madmen cancel final show, students weigh in
By MADELINE KING & ASHLEY DONG !he da&l( )or!h,e-!er) @ashleydong.1
Content warning: is article discusses racism and the use of the N-word e Northwestern student body erupted into public discussion regarding the use of the N-word in Lovers & Madmen’s production of “Assassins” and the slur’s impact on Black communities this weekend. L&M, a student theatre board, canceled the show’s nal two performances and has since published an o cial apology, voicing the board’s commitment to prioritizing diverse perspectives going forward.
The cancellation announcement was made by an L&M member to attendees waiting to enter the Norris University Center McCormick Auditorium just before the 2 p.m. Saturday performance. Those anticipating the performance of the Tony-Award-winning Stephen Sondheim musical — based on America’s presidential assassins — talked to cast and production team members before leaving Norris with unredeemed tickets.
Preceding the decision to forfeit the remaining shows, “Assassins” garnered a great deal of a ention on social media a er production team members uploaded a content warning to the “Assassins” Instagram account on ursday. e post informed audience members of potentially unse ling content in the musical, including the use of the N-word by white character John Wilkes Booth — portrayed by a white actor — in the second song, “ e Ballad of Booth.”
e L&M board uploaded the same post separately to its Instagram account before opening night and included a link in the account’s bio to a one-page document of resources related to the usage of the N-word. e document additionally o ered three bullet points to explain what contextual and character development elements the use of the N-word adds to “Assassins.” e resources document referenced the following as being reasons for the N-word’s inclusion in the song: “breaks the audience’s building sympathy with Booth,” “places a signi cant contradiction in Booth’s world view and the lyrics” and “alleviates the tension building in the song” as audience members “are (subconsciously) waiting for this moment in the show despite it being shocking.”
The L&M board did not respond to The Daily’s requests for comment before the time of publication.
Some students took to social media to condemn the usage of the N-word in a production featuring a predominately non-Black cast and crew, calling upon the production to either remove the word from the song or cancel its nal two shows.
e calls to action mostly came in the form of Instagram stories and comments under the content warning post on the “Assassins” account. Other discussions occurred on NU’s Fizz, a college-speci c social media platform that allows students to post anonymous messages to others at their school.
L&M also came under fire for disabling the comments section under the content warning post on its Instagram page. Some commenters on the “Assassins” content warning post claimed owners of the show’s account had deleted certain comments calling out the show for its usage of a racial slur. As of the time of publication, comments on the “Assassins” Instagram account are turned on, but comments on two of the three most recent L&M posts are turned off.
SESP sophomore Noel Matthews was among
the commenters under the “Assassins” account post. Matthews said to The Daily that as a Black woman, it was “frustrating” to see the word used in this context and that advocating for its removal “should not only be Black people’s fight.”
“Pu ing on this play and using that word in that statement is a form of violence,” Ma hews said. “Whether you are complicit with it in solely a theatre sense or a non-theatrical sense, using the N-word is violent. It’s linguistic violence, and that should not be condoned by anybody.”
Other students echoed this sentiment. Communication sophomore Elebetel Negusse, who is involved in NU’s theatre community, described the usage of the N-word as a “racist action” with “nothing else to defend it.”
Negusse added that the inclusion of the N-word was “inconsiderate” of NU’s Black community.
“I think from now on, it’s about time to start having conversations within both Northwestern, but especially within the NU theatre community, about anti-Blackness and what it has done to the Black students in the theatre community, Black students in the artist community,” Negusse said.
Weinberg junior Aja Frazier, who served as the show’s dramaturg — a role that involved researching the show to provide important context and insights to the rehearsal room — also spoke out on social media Sunday.
“I am not a Black ‘artist’ who wanted to t in with NU white theater and therefore disregarded my community,” Frazier said in a statement linked on her Instagram story. Rather, she joined the production because of “its relevance to today’s climate” and wanted to “make it a safe environment in a white-dominant theater space,” she said in the statement.
ough Frazier joined the team a er the production process had initially begun, she was informed by other team members that conversations around the decision to include or exclude the N-word had started by the time the audition process began, she told e Daily. ese conversations involved Frazier once she joined the production and continued until mere hours before the show opened, she said.
Frazier, who clarified that she spoke to The Daily as an individual and not a spokesperson for L&M or “Assassins,” said she personally engaged in conversations in the rehearsal room surrounding the usage of the N-word. As the dramaturg, she researched what Sondheim said regarding the use of the slur in the musical and the views of theatre artists both advocating for and against the usage of the N-word in theatre, she told The Daily.
Frazier led “di cult” but “productive” conversations with those involved with “Assassins” that included discussions of comfortability, personal experiences and the history all concerning the N-word, she added.
However, even as part of the production team, Frazier told e Daily she was “in the gray” on what the nal decision would be. She found out with the rest of the crowd on opening night, at the 6:3. p.m. show on Friday.
“I don’t know, again, what decisions factored into what when it came to the use of the word,” Frazier said. “Even when I was si ing down in the seat, I was still wondering if any last minute changes were gonna happen.”
Ultimately, the two Friday shows included the use of the N-word.
Around 3 p.m. on Sunday, L&M released an o cial statement to its Instagram account regarding the slur’s usage. e statement said L&M “failed to engage in meaningful conversations
with the Black community” regarding the use of the N-word and will develop strategies for “preventing harm in the future.”
“We are profoundly sorry for the harm we caused,” the statement read. “Art should never come at the expense of the safety of Black and POC communities. Because of our actions and inactions, it did.”
e “Assassins” director, producer nor the actor portraying Booth responded to e Daily’s requests for comment.
For Members Only and the Black Mentorship Program, two student groups providing support and community to Black students and working toward justice, posted a statement jointly to the two groups’ Instagram accounts Saturday.
“The choice to include such language reflects a failure to consider the lived experiences of Black students and perpetuates a culture where our concerns are dismissed in favor of artistic justification,” FMO and BMP said in the statement.
Weinberg sophomore and FMO’s Associated Student Government Senator Ay Taiwo said she wrote the statement with SESP junior and FMO co-Coordinator Riley Morris. Taiwo said that although she understands why the production may have wanted to include the word to demonstrate the character’s racist beliefs, the oppressive and hateful history of the word “trumps portraying that he’s racist.”
“There’s a lot of other ways that you can get that point across without using such a historically-tied word to the Black community,” Taiwo said.
Taiwo said she does not believe “Assassins” team members engaged in “any communication with any of the Black student groups” when deciding whether to use the N-word in the song and added that some student theatre artists encouraged “Assassins” team members earlier on in the process to nd an alternative “more inclusive for everyone.”
At the time of publication, the L&M board and the “Assassins” director and producer had not responded to e Daily’s inquiry into whether members of the theatre community had asked “Assassins” to explore options not including the N-word.
Frazier told e Daily she thinks “the cast were put in a very di cult position” and feels that “the cast and the pit and crew are least to blame for this situation.” She added that she believes the conversations regarding minority representation in theatre spurred by “Assassins” are important to have, but wishes the “Assassins” criticism was accompanied by a recognition of the conversations that had occurred about the use of the N-word.
“I just wish that (the criticism of the show) had been done in a way that wasn’t so disregarding of the humanity and the things that went on behind the scenes that aren’t visible to the public, because, of course, these things go through layers and layers of edits and censorship and adjustments,” Frazier said.
Frazier still emphasized the hurt caused to those in the Black community, as “the history behind the word is indescribable.”
e “Assassins” production team cited copyright concerns as one of the main reasons for keeping the N-word in the song, Frazier said, adding that non-student advisors to both the Northwestern Student eatre Coalition and L&M pushed for the N-word to remain in the show for these reasons.
Music eatre International owns the rights to “Assassins” and does not permit any changes to the material unless the production company obtains approval from the licensing agency.
“I would like to say that there were alternatives proposed, multiple which involved substitution, audio manipulation and things like that,” Frazier said. “However, when these alterations were proposed, they were explicitly shut down by the advisors, saying that there would be severe legal implications.”
According to Frazier, MTI is known to watch NU’s shows to ensure productions maintain the integrity of their scripts.
Some weren’t convinced by this explanation. Communication junior and ASG Senator Ryan Lien was a rights representative for StuCo, a role in which he said he managed applications, contracts and payments to secure performance rights for all StuCo shows that required licensing. Lien said he believes the “Assassins” team could have found a solution to avoid saying the N-word in the show.
“I nd it unlikely that MTI would not allow for the removal of that word, seeing as I have worked on shows in the past in which we have changed harmful or outdated language, o cially with approval from MTI,” Lien said.
e L&M board and the “Assassins” director and producer had not replied to e Daily’s inquiry into whether they requested approval from MTI to omit the N-word by the time of this article’s publication.
Lien also posted a statement in his official capacity as an ASG senator to Instagram on Saturday, urging the theatre board to issue an apology and announcing his intentions to encourage ASG and the Student Activities Finance Committee to decrease L&M’s funding for the 2.25 - 2.26 school year if it does not address the harm done.
Bienen and McCormick junior and ASG coPresident James La Faye e Jr. posted on his Instagram story Saturday to condemn the usage of the N-word in “Assassins.”
La Faye e Jr. said that hatred is on the rise in the current political climate. ose carrying out oppressive acts are “encouraged to continue their hatred towards minorities” because those in power are doing so as well. erefore, it is important to raise one’s voice in the face of injustice, he said.
“Being silent about an issue like this is a form of being (complicit). If you choose not to care about it or not to say anything about it, that’s basically saying, ‘Yeah, this is okay. I’m not against this,’” La Faye e Jr. told e Daily. “I’m glad that a lot of students shared their opinions and that it spread around pre y quickly. Hopefully, that’s what pushed them to cancel it.”
m.king@u.northwestern.edu
a.dong@dailynorthwestern.com
arts & entertainment
Editor Madeline King
Assistant Editors
Marissa Fernandez
Dalton Hanna
Design Editors
Danny O’Grady
Rachel Schlueter
Resident directors foster community within dorms
By COURTNEY CHEN the dail( )orth,e-ter)
.e student residential experience would not be complete without resident directors. As part of the O/ce of Residential Experience and general Residential Services team, RDs live on campus and help manage one of four residential areas.
RDs have several responsibilities. Kristen Beck, one of North Residential Area’s RDs, said their role varies every day. .ey said the bulk of their time consists of supervising resident assistants and supporting programming within their respective campus area.
Beck added that all RDs serve in a 24/7 oncall rotation, always available to any students that need support on campus. .ey are also consistently checking facilities for any issues to submit maintenance tickets for, Beck said.
Aaron Klama, a Southwest Residential Area RD, worked as a residence assistant at Saginaw Valley State University prior to joining Northwestern’s RD team and said he enjoyed the experience.
“It allowed me to work with students in a capacity that I hadn’t before, and it let me help people in times of need,” Klama said. “My initial idea for becoming a resident director was to help students grow and foster a good environment for them to change into whoever they want to be.”
Another unique aspect of the RDs’ job is living on campus.
For Klama, living in their workspace is an interesting dynamic, he said.
“It’s a very unique experience that you only get so many times in your life,” Klama said. “It’s a very enjoyable experience, and you’re able to get involved in a lot of ways that other university professionals may not get the opportunity to.”
Klama also said he enjoys working with other RDs and the residential services team in general, especially in an environment where they can o er support to students.
According to Beck, Northwestern’s location allows them to be er enjoy Northwestern’s involvement within the community.
“Something I really love about Northwestern’s campus is we are situated right in the community and are part of the neighborhood,” Beck said. “We get to interact with neighbors and students, and I think that is really important.”
Beck also shared that another favorite part of living on campus is being on the lake, especially because they grew up on a Great Lake.
South Residential Area RD Dominique Peel said that Northwestern is a great t for him.
“I’m originally from the Chicagoland area, and Northwestern just had a lot of things that aligned with my values. With it being back closer to home, it was kind of a hand-in-glove t for me,” Peel said.
Because RDs are responsible for their own programming budget and overseeing s’ budgets, Beck said they initiated several events and activities for students to enjoy on campus.
Currently, Peel hosts “Desserts with Dominique” every other week. He said that he enjoys being able to engage with the residence halls with
sweet treats.
RDs also o er students opportunities to engage in outdoor activities. Klama hosts community walks for Southwest Area students to boost mental wellness because of his interest in advocating for mental health.
“(Community walks) can connect students with our partners over at (Counseling and Psychological Services), so students are aware that there is therapy on campus easily accessible to them,” Klama said.
Beck also shared some of their visions for current and upcoming programs in the North Area. Beck said that they are interested in art and advocacy, so many of their programs encourage students to engage in the wider campus community.
One of Beck’s programs teaches students how to make zines, or small handmade booklets, they said. .ey also hope to implement a program called “Paint your Point of View,” where students can paint something about their experience on campus and potentially showcase them to peers. Klama said that RDs are always working to create a be er sense of community.
“We are always striving to keep improving our processes and making sure that we are staying in the know with student trends and needs,” Klama said. “(We are) making sure that we are in touch as much as we can with the student body to make sure that we can best support folks.”
courtneychen2027@u.northwestern.edu
Courtney Chen/The Daily Northwestern
Resident Directors supervise resident assistants and support programming within their respective campus area.
EVANSTON DECIDES
FOR MAYOR
Daniel Biss incumbent
The longtime lef-wing organizer who served in Springfield for nearly a decade has set his sights on a second mayoral term afer his 2021 landslide. Mayor Daniel Biss touts reforms he led on Evanston’s policies on sustainability, housing and more. He strongly advocates for Envision Evanston 2045, a sweeping overhaul of city policy, as a means for “bold” action. In 2023, Biss cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of Northwestern’s bid to commercialize a rebuilt Ryan Field.
Tom Sufredin incumbent
A Springfield lobbyist by day, Ald. Tom Suffredin (6th) has served on City Council since 2017. Sufredin has emerged as an independent voice on the council, an opponent of the Ryan Field rebuild and one of two councilmembers not endorsing Biss for a second term. He pledges to address the city’s structural deficit and consult with residents before supporting zoning overhauls.
Bobby Burns incumbent
In his first reelection bid, incumbent and longtime Evanston resident Ald. Bobby Burns (5th) is campaigning to retain his City Council seat. Burns, a political consultant, entrepreneur and father of three, said he continues to run as a candidate who is “all in” to represent central Evanston. Burns said his top priority is expanding and promoting afordable housing opportunities because “if you can’t aford to live in Evanston, nothing else matters.”
Carlis Sutton
Born-and-raised Evanston resident Carlis Sutton is running because he is dissatisfied with the current representation of the 5th Ward. Sutton, a former educator and current Reparations Committee member, advocates for afordable housing policy, education expansion and increased job training opportunities. He said a top priority of his is supporting the possibility of afordable home ownership.
Jacqueline Mendoza
Candance Chow
Jef Boarini
Jef Boarini entered the race as the sole challenger to Mayor Daniel Biss’ reign. The 34-year Evanston resident, former McDonald’s creative director and political newcomer opened his campaign by promising to herald a new era of accountability and transparency in city government. He criticizes the Envision Evanston 2045 project for its speed and sweeping changes.
FOR COUNCIL
Parielle Davis
A co-founder of workforce development firm NextGroup, Candance Chow served on the District 65 board from 2013 to 2020 as finance chair for several years and as board president from 2016 to 2017. Chow touts her business and finance acumen, which she hopes to use to consider new revenue sources for the city. Chow supports moving to a new civic center and plans to consider multiple methods of improving housing afordability.
Parielle Davis, a Google sofware engineer and attorney, is running to represent the ward which contains a majority of NU’s Evanston campus. The founder of “Better than Biss,” Davis was a vocal critic of the commercial rezoning of Ryan Field. Davis seeks to increase municipal transparency, adopt a data-driven approach to housing afordability and eventually return city operations to the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center.
Kerry Mundy
Kerry Mundy is a stock trader and the acting chair of the Evanston Public Safety Civil Service Commission. Mundy, who previously served as a U.S. naval oficer and a senior aide to the chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, supported the commercial rezoning of Ryan Field. Mundy hopes to reduce the city’s dependence on consultants, maintain a positive relationship between Evanston and NU and cautiously implement zoning reform — but only near transit stations.
First-time candidate Jacqueline Mendoza is focusing on transparency and inclusivity in her campaign. Mendoza currently serves as the Facilities Supervisor for the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department. She prioritizes accessibility to ensure residents’ voices are heard. While she has only lived in Evanston for a short while, Mendoza already has a connection to City Hall — her sister, Stephanie Mendoza, has served as Evanston’s city clerk since 2021
Krissie Harris incumbent
Ald. Krissie Harris (2nd), who’s worked at Oakton College as senior manager of student life and campus inclusion, will run for her third term as 2nd Ward councilmember. She was first appointed to the position by Mayor Daniel Biss in 2022 and won reelection in 2023 against current challenger Darlene Cannon and teacher Patricia Gregory. According to Harris’ campaign website, she plans to focus on climate resilience, housing afordability and equity and inclusion on the next council.
Darlene Cannon
Community activist Darlene Cannon, who previously served as chair of Evanston’s Equity and Empowerment Commission, is running her third campaign for the city’s 2nd Ward seat. She narrowly lost to former Ald. Peter Braithwaite in 2021 before losing to incumbent Krissie Harris in 2023. Cannon plans to focus on supporting small businesses, equitable housing and community safety.
Jonathan Nieuwsma incumbent
Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th), a former CS2 Renewable Energy partner, is seeking his second City Council term. In 2021, he campaigned behind environmental sustainability, engagement, equity and economic development. This election cycle, he has emphasized his desire to be efective, citing eforts to collaborate with city staf, councilmembers and the community.
Meg Welch (write-in)
In her first City Council bid, Meg Welch says she’s campaigning to boost the voices of 4th Ward residents. With a background in management in the Disability Quality Branch of the Social Security Administration, Welch seeks to emphasize transparency in the legislative process, advance housing afordability and advocate for sustainable environmental policies.
Juan Geracaris incumbent
Devon Reid incumbent
Ald. Juan Geracaris (9th) was appointed by Mayor Daniel Biss in February 2022 to fill an open seat. Now, afer three years of public service, he’s running unopposed for his first full term as 9th Ward councilmember. Geracaris prioritizes afordable housing and climate justice and aims to create sustainable change for the city. He is the Senior Systems Administrator at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, and he also cofounded and served as Vice President of Evanston Latinos.
Devon Reid, who previously served as Evanston’s youngest city clerk, is setting his sights on a second term as 8th Ward councilmember. Since elected to the role in 2021, Reid has made afordable housing, worker’s rights and tenant protections key priorities. Reid also advocated for and supported the city’s participatory budgeting initiative, which allowed residents to more directly allocate funding.
Matt Rodgers, who previously served as Land Use Commission Chair until he resigned earlier this year, is challenging incumbent Devon Reid to serve as 8th Ward councilmember. During his time on the commission, Rodgers highlighted the need for community input and more work to be done on Mayor Daniel Biss’ Envision Evanston 2045 agenda.
Clare Kelly incumbent
Ald. Clare Kelly (1st), a lifelong Evanston resident, is aiming for her second term on City Council. The former Evanston Township High School teacher advocates for community-oriented policies, particularly in downtown Evanston. She is one of the few councilmembers who have not endorsed Biss, and she has pushed for transparency from the city, especially in light of the decision to commercialize Ryan Field.
Stephen Hackney
Stephen Hackney is a retired trial attorney and a board member for Connections for the Homeless and LINK Unlimited Scholars. He moved to Evanston in 2010, where he now lives with his wife and three daughters. Hackney is campaigning on a platform of renewing downtown Evanston, updating zoning codes to increase afordable housing and building a constructive and mutual relationship with NU.
Gennifer Geer
Gennifer Geer, an outreach coordinator for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, is challenging Shawn Iles and John Kennedy for the 3rd Ward Council seat. Geer has more than 10 years of experience in government, policy and communications. She previously served in an Illinois state senator’s ofice. At a Feb. 9 community candidate forum, Geer proposed a vacancy tax for retail storefronts that have been empty for two years, which she said would help combat the climbing rates of vacant space.
Shawn Iles
Shawn Iles — the Evanston Public Library board president, Evanston Rotary Club president and Lincoln School Parent-Teacher Association president — is running for one of two City Council seats without an incumbent candidate in the race. According to Iles’ campaign website, one of his top priorities is balancing the city budget by advocating for expanding the city’s residential tax base and increasing commercial tax revenue. Beyond budgetary goals, Iles plans to prioritize afordable housing and climate-resilient infrastructure.
John Kennedy
John Kennedy, a retired sofware executive and entrepreneur, is challenging Shawn Iles and Gennifer Geer for the 3rd Ward council seat. Kennedy plans to protect single-family housing in the Lakeshore Historic District, which he stated is threatened by Envision Evanston 2045 in his campaign website. Kennedy plans to prioritize balancing the budget, ensuring transparency on the council and ensuring developing Chicago Avenue with residents’ interests in mind.
Te Daily Northwestern City Desk
Editor in Chief Lily Ogburn City Editor Shun Graves Assistant Editors Sophie Baker, Marisa Guerra Echeverria and Clara Martinez
Special Section Contributors Henry Frieman, Nineth Kanieski Koso, Emily Lichty, Kamran Nia, Audrey Pachuta, Isaiah Steinberg and William Tong city@dailynorthwestern.com | 847-491-3222
Matt Rodgers
City Council races heat up with elections a month away
By HANNAH WEBSTER daily se(i)r sta,,er @hannahe_webster
With only a month before the April - municipal elections, City Council hopefuls have hit the .nal stretch of their campaigns as tensions — and fundraising — reach new heights.
February brought a series of face-to-face debates between candidates, a slew of news releases and a total increase in campaign funding of over /75,000. Fundraising is likely well above this level as only donations /-,000 and over are required to be reported outside of quarterly reports. Smaller donations are not re ected in current reporting.
Forums, fundraising and feuds
Mayoral and 3rd Ward candidates met for a Sunday forum at Evanston SPACE. Across both segments, a ordable housing and development took center stage.
Mayor Daniel Biss and challenger Je Boarini discussed Envision Evanston 2045, the city’s comprehensive and rezoning plan that has sparked intense debate over a ordable housing and zoning requirements. Both candidates seemed supportive of the plan, although they have di ered on their timelines for implementation.
“ e best thing about Envision Evanston and the comprehensive plan is its intention — the desire to protect the best of Evanston and (think about) what that’s like 20 years from now,” Boarini said.
Discussions of housing and zoning have pervaded recent campaign discourse, such as at a 2nd Ward forum on Feb. 6, where candidates Ald. Krissie Harris (2nd), Darlene Cannon and Jacqueline Mendoza tackled development in the downtown area and plans to avoid gentri.cation. e issue also surfaced at a Feb. : candidate forum hosted by Where e People Meet TV and e Daily.
At the same forum, the top-of-ticket candidates also clashed over the scope of the mayoral role, especially when Boarini suggested the mayor’s o ce absorb the city’s 3-- service.
“I doubt it’s legal. I would expect that it would
probably require a referendum,” Biss later told e Daily, adding that he respects the city’s form of government.
In February, Biss reported receiving /24,800 in donations, while Boarini reported /:,500
Last month, the 3rd Ward race reported the largest total donations of all aldermanic contests, with the three candidates — John Kennedy, Shawn Iles and Gennifer Geer — boasting a combined /-3,000. Geer led the pack with /7,000 reported in February.
During Sunday’s forum, the candidates also touched on Envision Evanston’s zoning implications, with all three expressing commitments to limiting building height. But when the topic shi ed to the future of the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center and a permanent home for city operations, their opinions diverged.
Iles advocated for a permanent move to downtown, while Geer said the city had not collected su cient information to make a decision about the building’s future. Kennedy pushed for more information about the cost of a partial rehabilitation of the Civic Center.
Kennedy’s stance echoed his remarks at a Friday press conference calling for the city to issue a request for proposals. Candidates from otherwise quiet races also participated in the press conference, including 5th Ward candidate Carlis Su on, 8th Ward candidate Ma Rodgers and 4th Ward write-in candidate Margaret “Meg” Welch.
Su on and Welch also both a ended the Feb. : candidate forum, where transparency and housing a ordability dominated conversation across each segment.
Rodgers, Iles and -st Ward candidate Stephen Hackney were not in a endance at the forum, leaving only Ald. Devon Reid from the 8th Ward, Geer and Kennedy from the 3rd Ward and Ald. Clare Kelly from the .rst.
Iles and Hackney took to the oor at the Feb. 24 City Council meeting during public comment, joined by Su on and Welch. Welch and Su on both commented on the motion to authorize the lease of the Harley Clarke Mansion, Hackney spoke in favor of the Healthy Buildings Ordinance, and Iles reemphasized his support for a permanent move downtown.
Candidates from the 6th and 7th wards further discussed a future home for city operations, as well as maintaining character on Central Street, at a panel hosted by the Central Street Neighbors Association ursday. e policy-focused discourse came in the wake of personal accusations from candidates in both races.
In the 7th Ward race, Parielle Davis began her remarks at the Feb. : forum by implying her opponent Kerry Mundy did not form his own opinion when he signed the petition in favor of the commercialization of Ryan Field.
Mundy is endorsed by Ald. Eleanor Revelle (7th), who is not seeking reelection, and Davis is endorsed by Mary Rosinski, who originally intended to run for the 7th Ward seat, but le the race in October.
Sixth Ward challenger Candace Chow accused incumbent Ald. Tom Su redin (6th) of being a
“walking con ict of interest,” citing his work as a state government lobbyist. Su redin, in turn, has criticized Chow’s history on the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education.
“(Chow’s record) consists of overspending, telling voters to raise their taxes to cover the overspending, hiring (former District 65 Superintendent) Devon Horton to run the district and then qui ing,” Su redin previously told e Daily in a statement.
Out of all the aldermanic races with only two contenders, the 6 th Ward race reported the most total donations in February, with Chow and Suffredin reporting /4 , 000 and /7 , 000 respectively.
Marisa Guerra Echeverria, Shun Graves and Isaiah Steinberg contributed reporting.
h.webster@dailynorthwestern.com
Low voter turnout expected for municipal election
By MARISSA GUERRA ECHEVERRIA daily se(i)r sta,,er @marisa_g_ech
In a heated Land Use Commission meeting last Wednesday, resident a er resident stepped up to the podium to provide their suggestions and complaints on the second dra of Envision Evanston 2045, a widely debated comprehensive and rezoning plan. Yet, Commissioner Max Puchtel provided the audience with a fresh solution to their Envision Evanston woes: He proposed they vote in the upcoming municipal elections.
“I’d have to imagine that anybody running for alderperson this spring is going to be very clear about their position on this hot-bu on issue,” Puchtel said. “ rough representation, you are voting for those people.” Less than a month out from Evanston’s consolidated elections, City Council candidates and mayoral hopefuls continue to canvas as concern lingers over voter turnout on April -
In the 202- consolidated election, the last one with all nine wards represented on the ballot, the turnout per ward ranged between -8 66% and 35 5-%, with the 5th and 6th wards having the lowest and highest turnout rates respectively.
Due to the relative sizes of each ward’s registered populations, the di erence of a few dozen votes can ultimately determine the winner in a contentious race. For example, Ald. Clare Kelly (-st) won her seat against former incumbent Judy Fiske by just 26 votes in 202Northwestern Political Science Prof. Mary McGrath a rmed that municipal elections bring lower turnout than national-level elections due to the la er’s nationwide campaign a ention and the increased amount of money in higher-level campaign co ers.
e pa ern falls true for Evanston voters: total turnout for the city in the 2024 national election was 77%, and ranged from 63% to 84% turnout across all
the wards.
In a volatile and decisive time for local politics with the stalling of Envision Evanston 2045 and the pending relocation of the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, Evanston’s ward candidates and political organizations strive to drive up voter engagement.
According to McGrath and her research, more personalized campaigning tends to drive up engagement and turnout for elections.
“A knock on the door is going to be more e ective than a mailer in the mail or and much more so than something like an automated phone call,” McGrath said.
In the .nal weeks of the campaign, candidates are in the midst of high-engagement, face-to-face canvassing.
So far, many candidates have developed varied engagement e orts for their campaigns, from hosting co ee chats and se ing up yard signs to cha ing local politics to passersby on neighborhood streets.
“(We’ll) keep knocking doors, keep calling, keep networking, just keep it going all the way up until the night before and even the day of (the election), just keep trying to reach people and engage with them,” 2nd Ward challenger Darlene Cannon said.
Local organizations, including the League of Women Voters of Evanston, are promoting voter engagement and awareness of municipal elections by hosting candidate forums and sending out candidate information sheets.
e league will be hosting their candidate forum for mayoral, city clerk and City Council candidates on Saturday, March 8
“We want to educate the voters,” League of Women Voters President Michelle Jordan said. “We want to make sure that the voters can vote and are not prevented from voting. And we want to make sure that the voters are educated,”
LWVE previously .led a report on voter turnout in municipal elections in February 2020, which noted that younger Evanston voters aged -8-2: had a consistently lower turnout compared to voters of other age groups
Stephanie Mendoza incumbent
in the 20-4 and 20-8 elections.
e driving factors identi.ed in the report for the disparities were a lack of in-depth civics education and of information on local candidates. e report recommended considering lowering the voting age in Evanston’s consolidated elections.
Kathy Hayes, president of the Democratic Party of Evanston, noted that the Trump administration’s policy shake-up at the federal level could embolden Evanston’s more progressive voters to turn out for local candidates.
“ e federal issues will also pull people to (vote) because they’re gonna say, ‘We’re not going to stand for it here, and we’re going to push back,’” Hayes said.
Hayes added the importance of building
FOR CITY CLERK
Incumbent City Clerk Stephanie Mendoza, the first Latina elected o icial in Evanston history, is seeking reelection against write-in candidate Vanessa Johnson-McCoy.
During her first term as city clerk, Mendoza focused on digitizing public records, the implementation of modern document management systems like Laserfiche and increased accessibility to city documents. Mendoza plans to promote the modernization of digital services, language accessibility, workforce development, youth programs and community involvement during a second term as city clerk.
community solidarity in turning out voters to the polls, including offering rides to the polls and neighbors helping each other out.
Overall, she emphasized the importance of county and local politics both on and o of election season.
“Teach your family members and your children that voting ma ers, not just with national elections, but it de.nitely ma ers for local elections that a ect how you live each and every day,” Hayes said.
Residents may register to vote by online application until March -6. Early voting will begin on March -7 and run until March 3-. Election Day is Aprilmarisaguerraecheverria2027@u.northwestern.edu
Vanessa Johnson-McCoy (write-in)
Vanessa Johnson-McCoy, who grew up in Evanston’s 2nd Ward, is running a write-in campaign against incumbent City Clerk Stephanie Mendoza. A graduate of Evanston Township High School, Johnson-McCoy has over seven years of experience as a licensed real estate broker. Johnson-McCoy has served on the Evanston Reparations Committee’s Housing & Community Unity Working Groups and will prioritize “accessibility, accountability and inclusion” as city clerk, according to her campaign website.
Daily file photo by Shun Graves
Kerry Mundy and Parielle Davis addressed hot-button issues during the 7th Ward segment of the Feb. 9 candidate forum.
Daily file photo by Shun Graves
In a volatile time for local politics, candidates and local organizers aim to mobilize voters.
Board candidates tackle District 65 troubles
Andrew Wymer
Incumbent? No
Occupation: Professor at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
On district finances: “We need to learn our lessons from (the Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies). We need to be able to articulate to the public how consolidations fit into a broader long-term plan. We need to also be really careful because the school closures have a long history of disparate impacts on our most marginalized populations.”
Other issues: “Everything we do as a district has to take that lack of trust into consideration and speak in ways that acknowledge that there’s history — not just around Bessie Rhodes. There’s regularly been folk in our community whose voices aren’t listened to. We need to be proactive.”
Christopher DeNardo
Incumbent? No
Occupation: Personal trainer and former substitute teacher
On district nances: “When you’re deciding on a program to cut, the question isn’t: ‘Do you like it or not?’ It’s: ‘Does the program work or not?’ A lot of that is going to come down to surveying teachers, which will be di cult because, over the last 10 years, there’s been a real climate of distrust between the educators of District 65 and the administrators and board.”
Other issues: “Both of my kids go to Bessie Rhodes, so the rst school board meetings that I went to were as part of the parent protest group. Learning about how the board was operating around the closure of the school and seeing them walk back on their plan, or not having a plan at all, made me think: ‘Well, maybe we should get a couple of new board members out of this anyway.’”
Nichole Pinkard
Incumbent? No
Occupation: Northwestern professor in the School of Education and Social Policy
On district finances: “We have to right-size the budget and be clear about whatever changes are going to happen now and make sure we’re viewing them in light of … implications for learning down the line.”
Other issues: “For me, one of the big goals is to try to reimagine expectations for eighth graders graduating because there’s a phenomenal high school that everyone goes to. ‘How do I come out of eighth grade knowing my skill sets, and what’s possible so I enter that high school willing to take advantage of it?’”
Randy Steckman
Incumbent? No
Occupation: Associate at engineering firm Grumman/ Butkus Associates On district finances: “I was watching (board) meetings and seeing a need for someone with construction experience. My other concern was making sure that we didn’t forget about the kids when we were trying to figure out the financial crisis.”
Other issues: “I do facility assessments for a living, so one first step would be to go to every school and talk to the building engineers, janitors and principals. What’s working? What isn’t working? Then, getting really deep into the construction for the new Foster School — understanding the drawings and the contract.”
Brandon U er
Incumbent? No
Occupation: Clinical pharmacist practitioner for the Department of Veteran Affairs
On district finances: “It’s not necessarily the selling of buildings that’s going to turn the financial page of the district. It’s going to be making sure that our school cost per student per year is balanced across the district at the same time.”
Other issues: “It’s important to note that communication is a two-way process, and I think that the board and the district have made attempts to collect information. However, it’s not been necessarily a two-way communication, and that’s how I would define more communication. It’s got to be back and forth a little bit.”
Lionel Gentle
Incumbent? No
Occupation: Massage therapist, founder of Our Unseen
Roots
On district nances: “I don’t trust the board. Let them tell me what they will, actions speak louder than words for me. e way they treated Bessie Rhodes says everything to me. … In my opinion, we close the schools that have the lowest enrollment and the schools whose buildings are crumbling.”
Other issues: “My rst and foremost goal would be to make sure that our teachers are well-compensated and that they have the support that they need. I can have school anywhere, but if I don’t have teachers, then I have nothing. It ba(es me that our students have go)en this far, that the educational gap is so huge. We have some phenomenal programs, like Black SonRISE and Black Girl Magic (Book Club). Teachers are important, and then everything else is behind that.”
Peter Bogira
Incumbent? No
Occupation: Principal account executive in advertising at Roku
On district nances: “A lot of people would expect the rst and foremost goal (to be) to return to nancial sustainability... I would say when you talk about a term, it’s four years, and we can’t spend four years doing that. ere’s too many other things we have to tackle. I’d say the more overarching piece of it is a strategic vision for the district.”
Other issues: “While I understand there can be advantages through using technology in the educational environment, we have to be really careful of how we’re forming policies to align with our goals. If social-emotional wellness is one of those goals, we need to consider not just the advantages but the risks of not ensuring there’s proper guardrails in place.”
Maria Opdycke
Incumbent? No
Occupation: Vice president of clinical operations at Foodsmart On district finances: “Financial sustainability is very important to me. Upon seeing the decline of the financial situation and the board’s neglect of financial sustainability, I knew I had to step in. My skills and experience are well-suited to the issues that we have to deal with.”
Other issues: “My priority is transparency and community engagement. It’s critical for us to think of our district holistically and ensure that the community is aligned with our goals and understands how we are making the decisions that we’re making. And to get public feedback, because the closing of neighborhood schools has very widespread impacts for the communities that they serve.”
Chris Van Nostrand
Incumbent? No
Occupation: Founder of Strength Wise Barbell
On district finances: “The key is going to be establishing objective criteria early on. What is the basis for evaluating our current facilities (and) schools, and making decisions about which ones to close? We need to begin with ‘What is the long-term goal here?”
Other issues: “We need to look at our current crises as an opportunity to rebuild the academic culture and make sure we’re raising standards and expectations for everybody.”
Incumbent? No
Occupation: Midwest’s regional director for the Employment and Training Administration within the U.S. Department of Labor
On district finances: “We need to fix the fiscal crisis. Once we get a handle on that, it will help us establish trust in the community.”
Other issues: “We should push (all students) to do more. To do that, we have to look at classroom sizes. I think teachers want to help their students, but they can’t focus on individual students’ needs.”
Patricia S. Anderson
Incumbent? No
Occupation: Retired physical therapist for District 65
On district finances: “The financial picture of the district is really something that has to be addressed immediately. … So, building the board into a good working relationship and addressing the reduction plans. Then another thing is regaining the trust of the community because things haven’t always been transparent or welcoming.”
Other issues: “Part of the school board’s responsibility, and this is on the District 65 website, is each member is assigned to be a liaison to a school or several schools. But when I asked several schools about their liaison, they didn’t really have a strong relationship. There are a lot of things in place that, if they were instituted, would improve things immediately.”
Incumbent? No
Occupation: Retired pharmaceutical quality assurance director
On district finances: “(My first goal as a board member is to) return us to solid financial footing. That’s going to make sure that we project to our community and people that want to move here that we have good schools (and) good teachers. We need to present that we are stable.”
Other issues: “With the new standards-based grading that’s been adopted, based on comments at board meetings, it looks like it’s being difficult to be adopted by the teachers. So I would want to give them more training or resources on adopting it and executing it.”
District 202 candidates talk objectives
Pat Savage-Williams
Incumbent? Yes
Occupation: Retired special education and equity professional at New Trier High School
On the issues: “I’ve been focused on really making sure that all students have access to the resources that they need for success. Looking at the historical pa)erns, we know that there are some groups that don’t seem to have those resources, or at least they’re not readily available to them.”
Mirah Anti
Incumbent? Yes
Occupation: Assistant superintendent for diversity, equity and inclusion at Township High School District 113 On the issues: “When I rst joined the board, it was right a er COVID-1, at was a historic moment, and we’re in a new era with arti cial intelligence and other emerging challenges. I feel compelled to be part of navigating that transition.”
Patricia “Pat” Maunsell
Incumbent? Yes
Occupation: CEO of M Squared Communications Consulting On the issues: “It’s important to evaluate the big picture, but you have to consider the nitty gritty. What are our students saying? What do they need, and how are we addressing those needs? The answers are there, but the district is doubling down on this approach.”
John Martin
Incumbent? No
Occupation: Senior manager at a tax software company On the issues: “I find tremendous value in community involvement. Almost selfishly, I think public service is good for the soul — it’s gratifying to be part of something larger than yourself.”
Dan Lyonsmith
Heather Vezner
Chronicling public spat between Su redin, Chow
By ISAIAH STEINBERG daily s:;ior sta??:r
@isaiahstei(7
e enmity between Ald. Tom Su redin (/th) and Candance Chow — dueling candidates for Evanston’s /th Ward — began with a press release.
It was Feb. /. By that point, the ba le lines had already been drawn. Early in the race, Su redin, a two-term incumbent, had criticized Chow for her record on the Evanston/Skokie School District /- Board of Education.
By February, it was Chow’s turn to ght back.
Chow pulled no punches, describing Su redin as a “walking con ict of interest.” Aside from his council duties, Su redin works as a Spring eld lobbyist. In the news release, Chow called for Evanston to ban elected o cials and city employees from serving as lobbyists.
“We don’t know, at any given time, whether Tom’s votes and positions are his, (for) the people of Evanaton, for his clients or for those who are funding him,” Chow told e Daily.
On Feb. (,, Chow further condemned Suffredin’s principal profession, and the ethical impacts it could have on his decisions on City Council. In that mercurial missive, Chow tied Suffredin to the state’s “pay-to-play politics.” Speci cally, she highlighted the thousands of dollars in campaign donations Su redin has received from fellow lobbyists. She also targeted Su redin’s a rmative vote on a city contract with lobbying rm Drexwood Partners, founded by Michael Houlihan, who donated $(-0 to Su redin’s campaign in (0)7
“I have followed the law and been completely transparent,” Su redin told e Daily in a statement. “If any possible con ict arises, I recuse myself. at’s what I’ve
MAYOR
From page 1
plan ahead of the election, once calling it “immoral” not to act with speed.
Boarini seized on the remark. A er City Council rebu ed Envision Evanston’s original timeline by extending its contentious rezoning process by months, the challenger urged Biss to recognize “that honestly listening to constituents is be er than lecturing them on morality.”
e mayor, however, quickly moderated his stance. He applauded City Council’s decision. At the Feb. 9 forum, he called his “immoral” quip a “really stupid thing that (he) said.” And in late February, he delivered a lengthy message on the subject to his supporters.
“A er seeing initial dra s that were published late last year, some residents had concerns that things would move too fast to give adequate time for community participation,” Biss wrote. “I’m pleased to say that Council has been unanimous in their view that while this work is critical and therefore urgent, the top priority is to get it right.”
ough they took great issue with the process, Envision Evanston’s foes have also seized on its content. e broad changes include a proposal to eliminate singlefamily residential zoning, a lightning rod for many of Evanston’s quiet, low-density neighborhoods.
Biss’ support of Envision Evanston and Boarini’s skepticism have illuminated each candidate’s designs for the city’s future and the mayoralty. So did their
SCHOOLS
From page 1
rsthand how the Facebook group has become a vital refuge for parents frustrated with the district’s lack of transparency and leadership.
Ahead of the April ) elections, where four of the seven school board seats are up for grabs, the page has experienced an unprecedented surge in activity, mirroring a growing sense of urgency and discontent among local families.
Of the approximately ,,-00 members, .,0)( have engaged with the page in the past month — a level of interaction Fulce says she’s never witnessed during her time moderating the group.
“Engagement is very high because the stakes have never been higher,” Fulce said.
Fulce believes the district’s deepening nancial woes, its struggle to close achievement gaps in marginalized groups and its pervasive lack of transparency have crystallized the demand for change.
On the precipice of an election-induced shakeup, the board is staring down a seismic shi : four incumbents are exiting a er a tumultuous period. None are seeking reelection.
Since four new members entered the fray in (0(), the district has grappled with issues like the fallout from the COVID-)9 pandemic, an ever-worsening budget de cit and the controversial decision to close Bessie Rhodes a er the (0(--(/ school year.
ough the board unanimously approved a $). . million spending reduction for scal year (0(/ during their Jan. (7 meeting, questions about mismanagement of funds continue to be a ashpoint as residents prepare for the polls.
done my entire career and what I’ll keep doing.”
At a Feb. )0 candidate forum, Su redin challenged Chow to le an ethics complaint against him.
Ultimately, it was not Chow, but Evanston programmer Adam Finlayson, who did so.
Finlayson, a volunteer for Chow’s campaign, announced in a Monday news release that he led an ethics complaint against Su redin. e complaint alleges that Su redin has failed to disclose multiple con icts of interest related to campaign contributions and his Spring eld lobbying work.
“I think Tom’s completely con icted,” Chow said. “It’s not a speci c incident. It’s an ongoing condition.”
Finlayson failed to le the ethics complaint within the requisite .0-day statute of limitations following an alleged violation. But in an email to e Daily, Finlayson said he hoped it would still be considered.
Yet years ago, Chow faced her own share of ethical scrutiny.
While running for Illinois’ )7th District state representative seat in (0)8 — and while serving on the Evanston/Skokie District /- board — Chow was investigated by the district because her campaign sent materials to a District /- email account.
e district found that Chow’s actions violated its policy but did not recommend disciplinary action, calling her actions “merely careless” rather than malicious. Meanwhile, Su redin and his supporters have repeatedly lambasted Chow’s track record on the District /- board. According to a news release by a coalition of District /- community members, Chow played a role in selecting Superintendent Devon Horton, who Su redin argues led the district into nancial ruin.
“Her record speaks for itself: It consists of overspending, telling voters to raise their taxes to cover
respective launch parties.
Boarini’s came rst. e casual January bash, held in a brightly lit back room of DeSalvo’s Pizza, o ered up slices to a endees and swipes at the incumbent. Prominent Biss foes, like 7th Ward candidate Parielle Davis, dined alongside fellow Boarini supporters.
On Jan. (9, Biss held his own debut. High-pro le boosters like U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston) lled up the cavernous hall of Double Clutch Brewing Company. Servers passed out shepherd’s pies to beerdrinking a endees while Biss took the stage and tore into the White House.
His launch party address called for Evanston to serve as a defense against federal policy on issues like immigration. Fancy parties and big-picture issues aside, however, Biss maintains he keeps a close eye on his constituents’ day-to-day.
e Skokie water main break in February caused a boil order for residents in Evanston’s northwest. A er waking up that day with COVID-)9, Biss worked from his bedroom, he told e Daily.
“I sat on the phone all day long, because I didn’t feel great, but there was a crisis occurring,” the mayor said. “And we needed a mayor, and I wasn’t going to step away from that responsibility, obviously.”
A close race?
Still, Boarini has argued the mayor must take a more active role in seeking input from residents. His message has resonated with some residents who felt spurned by
But the story of District /-’s nancial struggles stretches far beyond the current iteration of the board.
In (0)7, nearly 80% of Evanston voters approved a referendum for an eight-year plan to generate $).- / million, beginning with $), - million in property taxes in year one.
e funds were intended to help address a projected $))( . million operating de cit while leaving a $(. . million reserve to improve educational opportunities and fund initiatives designed to create long-term progress rather than merely sustaining day-to-day operations. e referendum was meant to shield the district from looming budget shortfalls projected through (0(-
But instead of stabilizing the district, the funds were quickly depleted, even with the additional allotment of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds — federal grants that provide schools with COVID-)9 relief.
As a result, the district now faces an overwhelming nancial crisis, leaving families like Fulce’s scrambling for accountability as April elections approach.
Former District /- parent Shira Hammann said the most troubling aspect of the nancial crisis is how resources have been misallocated in ways that do not best serve her child’s needs.
She recently removed her 7-year-old son from Walker Elementary School due to concerns about his well-being and the quality of his education.
Additionally, Hammann said she was frustrated with the lack of emphasis placed on hiring the right teachers and training them in specialized areas — particularly those that most a ect marginalized communities.
“It’s hard to parse the di erence between the nancial responsibility a acks on the current board that
the overspending, hiring Devon Horton to run the district and then qui ing,” Su redin told e Daily in a statement. “She’s o ered explanations and excuses –claiming she bears no responsibility for what happened at District /-. I don’t think that’s credible.”
Chow served on the District /- board from (0). to (0(0, as nance chair for several years and as board president from (0)/ to (0)7
Horton was hired in (0)9. With Horton at the helm between (0(0 and (0(., the district plummeted from a $7 ) million end-of-year surplus to a nearly $7 - million operating de cit.
“She’s responsible for hiring Devon Horton and the chaos going on at D/- now,” Su redin told e Daily in a statement. “She wants to distract voters from that.”
In an interview with e Daily, Chow defended her District /- record. She said the district was nancially stable when she resigned in February (0(0 because of family circumstances. She has since criticized Horton’s leadership, claiming that he ignored her scal roadmap. Su redin previously criticized Chow’s relationship with Tracy Qua rocki, the publisher and executive editor of the Evanston RoundTable. Qua rocki cofounded the recruiting rm NextGroup with Chow and others in (0)9. Chow went on to serve on the RoundTable’s advisory board from (0(0 to (0(, ere certainly isn’t any con ict of interest going on,” Chow said.
In a statement to e Daily, Su redin said he is less concerned about Chow’s connection with the RoundTable as he was previously.
Chow also castigated Suffredin’s attendance at City Council meetings, particularly in (0((, when his in-person attendance dropped to ,9%, according to Evanston Now. His term average stands at 7,% — last place among sitting
Envision Evanston’s rapid takeo e message that I started out with, that residents are not being heard, I think that it continues to amplify itself as we go on,” Boarini said. “I’m hearing it at ward meetings, I’m hearing it from many of the candidates running for wards and I think this is a legitimate and urgent concern for residents, particularly regarding Envision Evanston.”
e challenger entered the race in October before the Envision Evanston debate heated up. “It’s always been a steep hill to climb” against the incumbent, Boarini said. But he remains con dent in his cause.
High-dollar donations to Boarini picked up over the past two months, though he still faces a significant financial disadvantage compared to his well-connected opponent.
Biss, the commi eeman in charge of the Democratic Party of Evanston, touts the support of high-powered o cials from Evanston and beyond. Several councilmembers, both of Illinois’ U.S. senators and Evanston’s state lawmakers have endorsed his bid. He boasts a six- gure war chest.
Sebastian Nalls, who unsuccessfully ran against Biss in (0(), said the odds of another landslide for the mayor seem slimmer, citing the controversies over Envision Evanston and Biss’ vote in favor of NU’s bid to commercialize Ryan Field.
Former mayor Steve Hagerty, who preceded Biss and has contributed to his campaigns, concurred.
“I think it’s shaping up to be a closer race than people may have anticipated from the outset,” he told e Daily. ough each candidate has di erent visions and
are truly about nancial responsibility and the a acks that name nancial responsibility, but may be racism in disguise,” Hammann said.
As the mother of a Black child, Hammann said she is also disillusioned by the school system’s hollow commitment to restorative justice without seeing meaningful outcomes. She points to the district’s ongoing “lip service” to equity without producing results as a major motivator ahead of the elections.
ough Hammann is still ve ing candidates and considering campaign promises, she is certain of one thing: e district is in desperate need of a major overhaul. She described the current state of district a airs as “a deep failing” and noted that she wished she would not have had to remove her son from public school had she and her partner not deemed it necessary.
According to Christopher DeNardo, a lifelong Evanston resident now running for a seat on the board, the idea that a school board thinks it can address some of the historical issues impacting marginalized communities may be an “arrogant” expectation.
“I think a school board, in general, has powers that are very limited. You have bus schedules, hiring and ring teachers, and maintaining school buildings,” DeNardo said. “I think that is a fairly limited tool set if the mission you’ve given yourself is to solve a century’s worth of educational reparations.”
DeNardo, a father of two Bessie Rhodes students, said his campaign was fueled by the board’s “messy” decision to disregard community input when they voted to close the school.
He said that if he wins, he hopes to facilitate a be er process for communicating the decision-making process to families, particularly regarding school closures. e new board will be forced to grapple with school
councilmembers by a narrow margin.
“Tom just isn’t doing the job that he’s elected to do,” Chow said.
As the adversaries prepare for the fast-approaching April ) municipal election, they have each secured key endorsements from Evanston bigwigs.
Chow has been endorsed by former mayors Steve Hagerty and James Lytle; Alds. Krissie Harris ((nd) and Melissa Wynne (.rd); former District /- Superintendent Paul Goren; and several former councilmembers.
“Candance’s commitment to Evanston is unwavering,” Hagerty told e Daily in a statement. “She collaborates well with people; she listens and engages productively on di cult issues. Tom on the other hand is one of the most unengaged members of the City Council, unless it’s election season.”
Goren also praised Chow in a statement to e Daily. Su redin’s supporters include the Chicago Federation of Labor, State Rep. Ann Williams (D-Chicago) and several other labor unions.
Several of Su redin’s backers did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication. Chow said the /th Ward needs a councilmember who will provide regular updates and participate more actively in commi ees. Su redin, meanwhile, told e Daily he consistently holds Evanston accountable to his constituents.
“I’m an advocate, and accountability and transparency ma er to me,” Su redin told e Daily in a statement. “I am not afraid of having the hard conversations, asking the di cult questions — because our community deserves answers.”
isaiahsteinberg2027@u.northwestern.edu
di erent bastions of support, both will face unavoidable issues over the next four years.
“We have a structural de cit,” Biss said. “ at’s really important for us to acknowledge that basic fact. We can have all kinds of opinions about the right way to move forward, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to question basic, veri able facts.”
e city’s nancial quagmire, especially as it spends through COVID-)9 pandemic-era federal aid, could call for scal austerity from the new City Hall, set to open fully by election day.
Beyond the barbs and the challenges, however, both candidates say they respect each other.
“I appreciate what he has learned in four years, certainly that,” said Boarini, who commended Biss’ speaking abilities. “He has a great command of facts, gures and names. And experience with many things that is legitimate. And for that I give him credit.”
e challenger maintained that he would criticize the mayor’s behavior, not Biss himself. Boarini’s partner, Ald. Clare Kelly ()st), had long stood as one of Biss’ chief critics.
e incumbent praised Boarini, calling him a “kind person.” Biss said he enjoys spending time with him.
“Lately, we’ve only just sort of seen each other at events,” Biss added. “But I always make a point to spend a minute checking in with him. He’s gracious. I hope he would say that I’m the same.” shungraves2027@u.northwestern.edu
consolidations in Phase . of the Structural De cit Reduction Plan.
Fulce said the lack of transparency surrounding the school’s closure was a source of motivation for her and her husband’s increased involvement. She said the situation was “mishandled in a way that was shocking and disappointing at best,” as she received much of the information from other community members rather than the school administration.
roughout her life, Fulce said she’s realized that Evanston residents’ sense of solidarity makes it distinctive from other communities.
“It’s hard for people to understand who don’t sort of come from that same kind of collectivist culture,” Fulce said. “It’s di cult to watch something be such a mess and not intervene.”
Fulce, Hammann and DeNardo all mentioned a ending school board meetings and engaging in public comment as ways to make their voices heard. But DeNardo argues that deep-rooted distrust between the board, administration, educators and families has made it nearly impossible to drive meaningful change.
Fulce expressed frustration with the district’s approach to her son’s education at Bessie Rhodes, feeling as though he has been treated experimentally rather than recognizing it as his one chance at a ful lling middle school experience.
Above all, Fulce’s greatest concern in the upcoming election is that she knows the district could do be er with the right people in leadership roles. “ e level of educated populace here is amazing. … How is it possible that District /- has turned into a dumpster re?” she asked.
audreypachuta2027@u.northwestern.edu
Biss, Boarini debate transparency, afordable housing
By SOPHIE BAKER
the daily northwestern
Evanston’s mayoral hopefuls debated a wide slate of issues at a Tuesday forum hosted by the Central Street Neighbors Association.
Incumbent Mayor Daniel Biss and his challenger, Jef Boarini, are squaring of in Evanston’s upcoming April 1 consolidated elections. Te two faced questions Tuesday from longtime CSNA President Jef Smith about issues ranging from government transparency to afordable housing and zoning.
Early in the forum, the candidates exchanged lighthearted jabs, but the congenial tone shifed once they moved to the topic of Ryan Field.
Biss has encountered community backlash since his October 2023 tie-breaking vote in support of the commercialization of the Ryan Field rebuild. At the forum, Boarini criticized Biss for his alleged lack of transparency in this deliberation process.
“I believe that you certainly missed an opportunity with Ryan Field on being transparent with the Evanston public,” Boarini told Biss.
Boarini said he has constructed his campaign around the transparency he sees as lacking in Evanston’s government.
Biss, on the other hand, said he’s “proud” of the Ryan Field decision and said he views it as one of the many examples of the ways he has increased transparency during his tenure as mayor. He also pointed to his eforts supporting participatory budgeting and his push to translate public meetings into Spanish.
Te two candidates also touched on rezoning, which has been a prevalent topic of discussion as the city deliberates the newest draf of the Envision Evanston 2045 comprehensive plan. Troughout the forum, rezoning eforts were tied to afordability initiatives, environmental goals and diversity.
Biss emphasized he isn’t density-averse. He said he sees zoning as a chance to diversify housing stock, which is a step toward afordability and increasing the availability of missing middle housing.
“Zoning changes alone certainly can’t fix everything,” Biss said. “In fact, zoning changes by themselves, without other smart policy may not fx much, but they create the foundation on which we can address our afordability crisis.”
Biss said that the recent efort to strengthen the city’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance was an example of these necessary corresponding policy initiatives.
Smith critiqued this support of housing growth.
“If we’ve been building and building and building, we’ve added thousands of units, but during that time, Evanston has goten more expensive and moved in at least some directions away from the diversity and climate that we cherish,” Smith said. “Why do we think that doing more of the same will have a diferent result?”
Smith said part of the problem with growth lies in the efect of the construction of taller buildings on the climate.
Boarini seemed to agree, focusing his remarks on the need for preservation.
Te greenest building is the one that already exists,” Boarini said.
Biss countered this claim and said that there are
evolving techniques by which the construction of tall buildings can be done in a way that lowers climate cost.
Te candidates also turned to the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center relocation. Both candidates expressed their support of fnding the most costefective option, but with diverging ideas in mind.
Boarini questioned the validity of current cost projections for moving the civic center, saying that the process again needed to be more open to the public. Biss dismissed this critique.
Te truth is the truth, and the numbers are the numbers. We don’t beneft anybody by pretending otherwise,” Biss said.
Te two candidates, however, found consensus in their respect for public participation.
Boarini repeatedly referenced his plans to harness the expertise of Evanston residents, in part by creating working groups underneath current boards and commissions.
“People have deep expertise on a variety of topics, from afordable housing to economic revitalization to housing to all kinds of things construction, and we can utilize that to make this city beter,” he said.
While Biss thought these working groups would further convolute Evanston’s government, he did point to the need to gain productive feedback from the entire broader Evanston community, not just those that regularly atend council meetings.
Troughout the event, both candidates referred to the challenges Evanston may face from the new presidential administration in Washington, with Biss highlighting his desire to resist and stay true to Evanston’s core values.
Boarini, for his part, is optimistic.
“I think that the future will be challenging, but it’s bright at the same time,” Boarini said. sophiebaker2028@u.northwestern.edu
Sophie Baker/The Daily Northwestern
At the forum, Boarini criticized Biss for his alleged lack of transparency in the Ryan Field deliberation process.
OPINION
Hackney: Helsinki 2 another “national embarrassment”
STEPHEN HACKNEY OP -ED CONTRIBUTOR
While President Donald Trump has subjected us all to no small number of outrages and embarrassments, few people will ever forget his shambolic and stooge-like performance on July 16 , 2018 in Helsinki, Finland. It was there that a sheepish and uncertain Trump seemed to almost literally bow before Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
When asked whether Trump accepted the judgment of the American intelligence community that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election or Putin’s protests that it had not, Trump picked Putin. It was a national embarrassment. To this day, I can still remember the palpable sense that I could not believe what I was seeing.
I wasn’t alone. 2018 was only seven years ago, but judging by the amount of Republican criticism leveled at Trump after Helsinki, it seems like another time and place.
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan said, “There is no moral equivalence between the United States and Russia, which remains hostile to our most basic values and ideals,” adding that there was “no question” Russia had interfered in the 2016 election.
In a statement, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said, “No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant.” Even the ultimate Trump sycophant, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), was quoted as saying it was a “missed opportunity… to firmly hold Russia accountable for 2016 meddling.” At the time,
A response to Gordon as the director of ‘October 8’ film
I’m the director and executive producer of “October 8.” As a proud Northwestern Medill alum (Medill ’93) and former Daily reporter, I welcome a passionate and broad exchange of ideas. However, as a journalist trained at Medill and steeped in the old-school model of rigor and fact-checking, I fnd Te Daily Northwestern’s Leter to the Editor from sophomore Franke Gordon troubling.
Gordon did not atend the screening of “October 8” and he has never seen the flm, which releases to
OPINION
President Donald Trump decided to add a whole lot of fuel to the fre currently raging in the United States on Feb. 25, 2025. While signing an Executive Order alongside U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump decided to uter the following statement:
“We’re going to be selling a gold card. You have a green card. Tis is a gold card. We’re going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million and that’s going to give you green card privileges, plus it’s going to be a route to citizenship. And wealthy people will be coming into our country by buying this card.”
Tis card would replace the EB-5 program, which is meant to stimulate the U.S economy by providing green cards to foreign investors in return for investments that create jobs in places with high unemployment and rural areas.
Te mere fact that Trump shamelessly said this to a pool of reporters and millions of Americans is candidly disgusting and a mockery when compared to his active mass deportations that are inficting harm onto many already residing in the country.
With this standalone statement, you’d think that it couldn’t get any worse, right? Well, do I have some news for you.
Afer Trump said that the cards would be sold in about two weeks, the press asked him if he would consider selling them to Russian oligarchs. Trump simply responded: “Yeah, possibly. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.” Sorry? Pardon? Did I read that correctly? Is
I was not sure I had ever seen a more embarrassing act of foreign diplomacy than Trump in Helsinki.
Until this past Friday. As I watched video footage of the Oval Office meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a gaggle of the least serious people you could possibly imagine, I found myself at a loss to describe the emotions I felt.
The word “rage” only begins to scratch the surface. It was an absolute abomination. Apparently, Trump felt it was time to reprise his Helsinki performance, but this time without Putin and on our own shores. However, you can be sure Putin was watching from Moscow with glee.
Back when I was on Twitter, I vividly remember opening the app on Feb. 25 , 2022 and seeing Zelenskyy and the senior members of the Ukrainian government standing in the center of Kyiv on the first night of the Russian invasion. Many wondered if Zelenskyy and his cabinet would flee the country.
Zelenskyy went around the circle, identified each individual and reassured the Ukrainian people that each of them was still there. It was one of the bravest things I had ever seen, and it gave me the chills. What also gave me the chills was the thought that followed watching the video, which was, “This guy is probably going to be dead by the end of this week.”
Three years later, President Zelenskyy is not only not dead, but he and his countrymen and women have improbably battled Russia to a standstill. It has come at a stunning cost. While accurately assessing the loss of life is difficult, The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Ukrainians estimate their casualties
at 80 , 000 killed and 400 , 000 wounded. That’s just the troops.
In addition, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights estimates that an additional 12 , 605 civilians have died. To add insult to injury, Ukraine estimates that 19 , 000 of its children have been illegally taken to Russia. It was against this backdrop that President Zelenskyy had to suffer the indignity of being humiliated by Trump and Vice President JD Vance (and even Marjorie Taylor Greene’s boyfriend).
While both Helsinki 1 and Helsinki 2 (as I have unaffectionately captioned this past Friday) are both national embarrassments, what strikes me are the massively different strategic implications.
Helsinki 1 did not involve any meaningful evolution in U.S. foreign policy. If anything, it just reflected Trump’s personal unwillingness to concede he had had any help winning in 2016 , an unwillingness that extended even to siding with Putin over the FBI. Other than needlessly elevating Putin’s status (and likely emboldening him to invade Ukraine in 2022 ), the Russians were granted no meaningful concessions.
Helsinki 2 is much more serious. In abandoning a democratic ally in favor of an autocracy and trying to force the Ukrainians to make peace on Russia’s terms, Trump has signaled the end of the post-World War II world order that legendary diplomats like Gen. George C. Marshall, George F. Kennan and W. Averell Harriman worked so hard to create.
And while Ukraine isn’t a member, Americans and Europeans alike can fairly question whether the North Atlantic Treaty
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
theaters on March 14. He presumptuously asserts that the flm “primarily features an Islamophobic and genocide-supporting bigot –– Mosab Hassan Yousef.” To be clear, Yousef is the son of Hamas’ co-founder, Hassan Yousef, and he has witnessed Hamas’ operations up close for decades. Yousef has about 7 minutes of screentime in a 100-minute flm.
Gordon also writes that the “documentarians have also recreated one of the longest standing tropes against Middle Easterners claiming ‘this is no longer about Jews or Israel, Tis is about Western civilization.’” Ten Gordon goes on to write, “Tis rhetoric is nothing new; claiming Muslims are a threat to Western civilization was also used to justify the illegitimate Iraq War and the USA Patriot Act.”
Gordon apparently watched the film’s 2-minute trailer,
citizenship in the U.S. now the equivalent of a Costco membership? If this is the case, this truly redefnes what it means to be American. As long as you have the fnances, you are free to pay $5 million and gain “green card privileges-plus.”
I genuinely don’t know how we, as a collective, allow this behavior and atitude to be tolerated in the frst place. In the U.S., we have pressing issues such as homelessness, afordability and underrepresented communities being actively targeted by this administration. But we think this is okay? Got it. At frst glance, you would think that this would solely impact those outside the U.S. But in reality, it impacts everyone one way or another. From benefting international students who seek to study in the U.S. to deciding what classifes an individual as worthy enough for citizenship, there are clear lines drawn between who wins and loses.
Though international individuals would pay this insane price, it still makes the statement that the Trump administration only welcomes the wealthy and disregards the average working citizen who is actively trying to maintain their livelihood paycheck to paycheck.
Not to mention, the conversation of how we should classify citizenship is more necessary than ever. Countries such as Latvia and Spain have some sort of a “gold card” program that serves as a privilege solely reserved for those who can aford it. Does the U.S. really need to follow suit? I don’t think so.
If those who have the fnances to throw away $5 million for U.S. citizenship, then what does that mean for those who have resided in this country for years who are actively working towards citizenship? Te answer is unclear, but what is solidifed is that Trump’s administration solely prioritizes those with the privilege of wealth and access to elite resources.
While trying to sell this ridiculous product, Trump has used Guantanamo Bay as a migrant
which is available online, and jumped to conclusions about the film. The lack of critical thinking and deepseated ideology is what’s problematic in our culture today. So perhaps it’s not surprising to see a Leter to the Editor like Gordon’s. But, to clarify, “October 8” unpacks how we got to this moment at the most elite universities in America, where Hamas is celebrated as freedom fghters rather than as terrorists. It exposes how Hamas in America has been seeding its messaging and playing the long game for decades, intentionally targeting media institutions and American college campuses.
Te flm reveals a 1993 FBI wiretap that took place in a Marriot Hotel room in Philadelphia, where viewers can hear Hamas leaders discussing how to appeal to lef-wing Americans (use language
detention center, conducted raids that have been broadcasted on live television and made it easier for places of worship to be targets for more deportations to occur. Tese actions aren’t a mistake; they are an active atack on immigrants, who have built, contributed and strengthened this country for generations.
On Feb 5., my best friend of almost six years, Ariana, texted me saying that her close family friend, Jorge, was detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while on the way to work. Not only did he have a clean record, but he was also sent to an ICE detention center for weeks without a true reason for detainment.
Just yesterday, Ariana notified me that Jorge had his court hearing and a bail of $25,000 was set for his release. There were three options available: pay the grand amount within 24 hours, wait in prison for six months to cut the amount in half or accede to being deported. Thankfully, the balance has been paid off, but this doesn’t excuse the fact that these realities are occurring.
Out of quite literally anything else, the gold card is on the priority list for the Trump administration? Tis doesn’t help out the average, hard-working American in the slightest bit. It just adds to the ever-evolving division and loss that many are experiencing.
If this gold card does come to fruition, I wonder how many will reconsider if their citizenship within the U.S. aligns to their personal values, stances and overall view of where Trump decides to take the country next.
Alexander Hernandez Gonzalez is a Medill sophomore. He can be contacted at alexanderhernandezgonzalez2027@u.northwestern.edu. If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Leter to the Editor to opinion@dailynorthwestern.com. Te views expressed in this piece do not necessarily refect the views of all staf members of Te Daily Northwestern.
Organization has continued vitality after this betrayal of a Western democratic nation.
Indeed, Germany’s next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, called for Germany (and Europe) to increase its independence from the U.S. Merz said, “It is clear that the Americans are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe.” That statement was made before the embarrassment of Helsinki 2
My grandfather, Roelf Munneke, was a member of the Dutch Resistance during World War II. My Aunt Ginny, born in 1942 , can still recall that he had to be away for most of the war so as not to endanger them. When he did visit, she had to pretend that he was her uncle, lest the Nazis catch on to his real identity.
When I took my own daughters to visit Normandy so that they could understand the enormity of German aggression, I heard an insightful take on the rise of Trump and his ilk. This person said, “Is it any surprise that just as the last of our troops to hit the beach at Normandy are dying at the age of 100 that fascism is again on the rise? It doesn’t matter how much is written in history books. History is emotional knowledge.”
Underneath my shame and outrage at the way our country treated a hero like Volodymyr Zelenskyy is my genuine concern about what comes next.
Stephen Hackney is a candidate for Evanston’s 1 st Ward. If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to opinion@dailynorthwestern.com. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
of apartheid and colonialism) and right-wing Americans (use language of patriotism).
Tirty years ago, Hamas supporters in America were sophisticated and well-funded; today, even more so. Its infltration into American institutions has paid of Tis is evident in the Hamas-supporting toolkit that was circulated afer the Oct. 7th atack to Students for Justice in Palestine chapters on college campuses across the U.S. While I welcome the diversity of opinions, as a journalist who has triple-fact-checked every claim in the flm and must go through rounds of legal reviews, I’m appalled that Te Daily would accept a leter that’s not only ill-informed but is a dog whistle for hate. — Wendy Sachs
The Daily Northwestern Volume 148, Issue 8
Editor in Chief Lily Ogburn
Opinion Editor
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR may be sent to 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, via fax at 847-491-9905, via e-mail to opinion@ dailynorthwestern.com or by dropping a letter in the box outside THE DAILY office.
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Community gives blood for Red Cross in Norris
By ALEXIA SEXTOU the daily north,e-tern
Northwestern community members rolled up their sleeves in Norris University Center’s Lake Room Tuesday as participants in a blood donation drive organized by the American Red Cross.
The drive saw around .5 blood donors — varying from students, faculty, staff and Evanston community members — but more volunteered to donate through walk-in appointments, phlebotomist and Red Cross volunteer Zyria Washington said.
American Red Cross offers volunteer and on-the-job training for various health and humanitarian services. Washington said this was her third time volunteering at a blood drive on NU’s campus.
“Today’s blood drive is just to get as many people to come in and donate,” Washington said. “The whole purpose of blood drives is for students to come to save lives.”
A busy drive can see up to 200 donors a day, she added.
Washington said the donated blood goes to a variety of groups in need — including children, mothers that recently gave birth and cancer patients — and the donations have reached people across the U.S. and even Mexico.
Weinberg sophomore Kate Worden said she enjoys donating blood regularly and finds it convenient that it’s hosted on campus.
“My entire family is just really big on blood donation. My grandpa loved to do it, so now we just all go as much as we can,” Worden said. “It’s five minutes from where I live, so I couldn’t not come.”
Worden said there also come some “perks” to donating blood — such as access to snacks and T-shirts. From check in until the very end of the procedure, she said the donation process doesn’t usually take longer than around 30 minutes.
The process includes verifying identity, health history and blood tests. Specifically, Washington said donors are asked to answer a series of questions to see if they are eligible to donate blood that day and
are checked for metrics such as blood pressure, temperature, pulse rate or hemoglobin levels.
While people with all blood types are encouraged to donate, Washington said they often prioritize those with O positive and O negative.
Former NU Red Cross Club president and Weinberg senior Sarah Huang — who is a universal blood donor — said she has donated blood on campus at least five times since her
freshman year. Huang said she encourages other students to join the Red Cross club at NU to follow along with volunteering opportunities and other community impact efforts. Additionally, Washington said that people who are interested in helping out with the Red Cross do not necessarily have to be donors. Many staff members came from backgrounds such as warehouse work or the food service industry, she said.
Washington said the Red Cross provides a thorough training program that lasts approximately seven weeks and covers essential procedures and policies, similar to those in medical labs.
“We don’t discriminate against what you did in the past,” Washington said. “This is just a job if you want to just help people. This is a place for you.”
a.sextou@dailynorthwestern.com
Alexia Sextou/The Daily Northwestern
The blood drive initially had around 45 donors with appointments, but the number increased with walk-in participants.
DEI WEBSITES
A litle more than three weeks afer Trump frst issued his DEI-related executive order, Feinberg quietly went to work.
On Feb. 13, its original web page for its Ofce of Diversity & Inclusion appeared to have been largely scrubbed of the words “diversity” and “inclusion.”
Te ofce was also renamed the Ofce of Health Equity, driven by the goal “to advance healthcare and improve health for all people.”
At the time, a University spokesperson said updates on the website were “a long-planned evolution” added to beter align with NU’s “shared eforts with clinical partners at the Chicago academic medical center regarding community and community engagement.”
Mentions of various, long-standing Black Feinberg afnity groups, including the Daniel Hale Williams Society and Emma Reynolds Circle, were also taken down.
Kellogg School of Management
Almost a week afer Te Daily reported the change, Kellogg removed its DEI Pathway from its list of course oferings on its website.
Te DEI Pathway frst debuted in 2021, joining other options, such as entrepreneurship, sustainability and technology management. Each pathway is meant to be a designed sequence of courses geared toward a specifc industry or skillset.
Te webpage detailing the specifcs of the DEI pathway has now been completely erased.
Other diversity-related content, including a press release on a staf member who won a DEI-related award, has also been taken down.
Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
Weinberg’s website on its commitment to DEI was soon to follow, as Te Daily reported on Wednesday.
Te website included information on diversity components in the college’s curriculum and existing research fndings related to DEI.
McCormick School of Engineering
In similar fashion, McCormick’s DEI website was also removed entirely.
Its old website, boasting that diversity was essential to the school, has seemingly been replaced by a webpage about the school’s “commitment to community and belonging.”
Tere are no mentions of the words “diversity” or any adjacent terms.
School of Communication
Te School of Communication scrubbed its DEI webpage, as reported Wednesday.
Te old webpage highlighted initiatives like NU’s DEI Task Force and the Black Arts Consortium.
Medill School of Journalism
A day later, Medill took down its web pages centering on its mission statements to DEI.
An article about the hiring of Robert Brown as Medill’s Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Outreach seemed no longer accessible.
In an email to Te Daily, however, Brown confrmed that he is still employed at NU.
Bienen School of Music
On the same day, Bienen’s webpage for DEI went
down. Its mission statement went missing on its homepage, too.
School of Education and Social Policy
SESP appeared on Friday to have deleted its “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice” page, which previously contained some links to the school’s DEI-related research and civic engagement programs.
Te webpage has since been replaced with one entitled “Our Commitments” and elucidates its intellectual mission without any of the former mentions of diversity.
Former links to DEI programs have now been substituted by SESP’s general research and community engagement initiatives.
Pritzker Law School
Pritzker appeared to have erased its DEI website, as reported Sunday. It’s now been replaced with a web page that explains that NU is now reviewing “policies and programs to ensure we meet all federal and state
laws and requirements.”
Te old webpage contained a list of DEI resources, initiatives and scholarships — now, all gone.
Te Graduate School
TGS also removed its web page, as reported Sunday. Te old website, containing an extensive diversity statement and initiatives supporting underrepresented students in doctoral programs, has now been replaced with the same pending review webpage.
Other support sites
Support sites for the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center, Multicultural Student Afairs and Student Enrichment Services have been taken down. Site visitors are similarly lef with the pending review screen. Northwestern Career Advancement, NU’s Ofce of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance and NU Libraries have all struck out their respective DEI web pages, too. jerrywu2027@u.northwestern.edu
Daily file photo by Rose Carlson
NU’s Feinberg School of Medicine was the first to show signs of falling in line with Trump’s executive order.
Sustain Evanston allow businesses to go greener
By EVELYN HEATH the daily north,e-tern
Kalpana Waikar, founder and CEO of Inspired Indian Cooking, couldn’t imagine reaching the sustainability goals of her restaurant anywhere besides Evanston.
Committed to using energy-efficient and sustainable appliances, she said she is extremely grateful for what the Sustain Evanston grant, which gives funding to make businesses more environmentally friendly, has offered her small business.
“I was really focused on having a really energy-efficient space,” Waikar said. “If I had not received the grant money, I probably wouldn’t have been able to afford the equipment.”
Waikar said she took the grant money she received in .0.3 and .0.4 , a total of $.5 , 000 , to completely gut and renovate her restaurant space, which is located on 914 Noyes St., with induction cooktops, Energy Star-certified refrigerators and updated electric appliances.
In .0.3 , Sustain Evanston began allocating a total of $.50 , 000 to help local businesses become more sustainable. This year, the city’s total allocation increased to $750 , 000 with grant applications reopening on Feb. 17
It is not just Waikar’s restaurant that is closer to a more sustainable future. Cesar Marron, head brewer and managing partner of Sketchbook Brewing Company, said he immediately applied for the grant in .0.3
“I have always been very involved in everything locally related to environmental sustainability,” said Marron, who co-founded the brewery around 10 years ago. “My personal belief is that if we want to be on this Earth for much longer, we need to treat it as a place that we love to live.”
Marron said he used the Sustain Evanston grant to upgrade to more energy efficient refrigeration — one of the brewery’s biggest expenses — and a larger cooler for the Evanston location.
The Sustain Evanston grant also has been instrumental in helping the Woman’s Club of
Evanston with a $90 , 000 renovation, member
Michelle Salazar said.
“It updated us and made us feel much more relevant,” Salazar said. “The members feel really good about that.”
The Woman’s Club of Evanston switched its old kitchen equipment, which Salazar said was over 50 years old, to electric.
Salazar said companies and charities cannot make such large sustainability investments without support from the city.
“It’s a big chunk of change for a charity to take on because that’s money that would be going to the community otherwise,” Salazar said.
Like Salazar, Waikar said she understands
the difficulty of reaching sustainability goals as a small business.
Marron also said the city has great goals to achieve energy efficiency, which can only be achieved by far-reaching involvement of local organizations and businesses.
evelynheath2027@u.northwestern.edu
The Daily Northwestern
Winter 2025 | An independent voice since 1923 | Evanston, Illinois
EDITOR IN CHIEF | Lily Ogburn
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Evelyn Heath/The Daily Northwestern Kalpana Waikar completely gutted and renovated her restaurant’s kitchen to reach her sustainability goals.
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
SPORTS
UCLA pulls away as Senior Night comeback falls short
By AUDREY PACHUTA daily se(i)r sta,,er @audreypachuta
If you were to walk into Welsh-Ryan Arena Monday night to see Northwestern take on UCLA in its -nal home contest of the season, you may have mistaken it for a matchup of years past as the amplitude of a revitalized home crowd loomed large.
In a game that honored three players who de-ned the program throughout their careers, alongside two more who joined the fray for their -nal season of eligibility, the Wildcat (.6-.4, 7-.2 Big Ten) faithful roared to life when the hosts cut what had been a double-digit Bruin (2.-9, .2-7 Big Ten) lead with a minute to play down to just one point 35 seconds later.
NU fell short of mounting the full- edged Senior Night comeback, though, ultimately falling 73-69 as a agrant foul called on freshman guard
K.J. Windham dealt the -nal blow.
“It’s March now, so you never know what can happen,” graduate student guard Ty Berry said postgame. “We just tried to claw our way back and even though we fell short, I’m just so proud of my guys.”
For nearly 30 minutes, the contest remained tight, with neither team leading by more than -ve points, as the lead ipped back-and-forth .4 times throughout the contest. e Bruins came out strong, but NU quickly answered.
When junior forward Nick Martinelli found the basket for an and-one oater that cut an early 7-2 Bruin advantage down to just three, the building ruptured. en, just over two minutes later, graduate student Ty Berry nailed his -rst of four 3-pointers on the night, igniting the crowd once more.
A triple by junior guard Justin Mullins kno ed the game at ..-.. to send the contest into the -rsthalf .6-minute media timeout as NU quieted the visitors’ early energy.
In the dying seconds of the half, a:er a fruitless
NU possession, the Bruins followed up with a 3-pointer on the other end, only for Martinelli to respond with a perfectly timed pass to graduate student center Ma hew Nicholson, who slammed home a dunk with four seconds le: to play.
By the end of the -rst half, NU led 35-34 with almost all of its scoring dispersed between Martinelli, Berry and Windham — who nailed longrange a empts on consecutive possessions right around the nine-minute mark.
As the ’Cats traversed into second-half territory, an equally topsy-turvy .0 minutes ensued as the teams traded bucket-a:er-bucket and players from both sides dove for the ball on the oor, refusing to relinquish an inch.
When graduate student center Keenan Fitzmorris hit a near-baseline jumper with ;:.; le: to play and the Bruins turned the ball back over, he sprinted up the court, threw his hands in the air and turned to the crowd, then to his own bench.
But UCLA would soon jump ahead by six a:er a second chance a empt spiraled down the drain
— the largest lead either squad had seen prior to that moment. Moments later, as the visitors knocked down two free throws, the likelihood of an NU victory began to slip away as coach Chris Collins called a timeout.
e Bruin lead ballooned to .4 points with just over three minutes le: to play, but the ’Cats’ veteran stars — Berry and Nicholson — refused to relent in the game’s -nal moments.
Down by .0 points with 56 seconds on the clock, the duo combined for nine points, seeking vengeance for a senior night they missed out on due to injury last season.
“We both knew in the back of our heads (last season) that we were going to get another one,” Berry said. “So tonight we really made sure to cherish that moment together.”
Following the loss, NU will travel to College Park, Maryland, for its -nal regular season game against the No. .3 Terrapins Saturday.
audreypachuta2027@u.northwestern.edu
Big Ten Championships bound for Welsh-Ryan Arena
By SIDDARTH SIVARAMAN
Welsh-Ryan Arena will be packed this weekend — but not for a basketball game. Instead, some of the best wrestling programs in the country and thousands of their fans will descend on Evanston for the 2025 Big Ten Wrestling Championships, hosted by Northwestern for the -rst time since 20... Here’s everything you need to know.
It’s tournament time
College wrestling has three types of meets: opens, duals and tournaments. Opens are usually early in the season, allowing coaches to test redshirting wrestlers or experiment with their roster.
Most of the season consists of dual meets, where two schools face o in ten head-to-head bouts, one for each weight class. e winner of each bout scores at least three team points, with bigger wins granting more team points. e school with higher team points at the end of ten matches wins.
At long last, the postseason is here. In the Big Ten Championships, all .4 wrestling programs send one competitor for each weight class. Each class has a
tournament bracket. e goal for each wrestler is the championship bout, but if one loses along the way, they are sent to the consolation bracket, which determines placements for the top eight wrestlers in each division. Teams score points by winning bouts, and the team with the most points at the weekend’s conclusion wins the Big Ten Championships.
Wrestlers can qualify for the 2025 NCAA Championships in Philadelphia by placing in top spots, with the cuto determined by the quality in that particular weight class. For example, the Big Ten has seven allocation spots for the .4.-pound weight class, so the top seven .4.-pounders at the Big Ten Championships will automatically qualify for the NCAA tournament. Weight classes with more than eight allocation spots have extra rounds to determine additional placements.
It doesn’t get much bigger than the Big Ten e Big Ten boasts each of the last .7 NCAA champions, a record likely to be extended by either No. . Penn State or No. 2 Iowa. Nine of the conference’s programs are ranked in the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s Top 25, including -ve in the top seven. Iowa and Penn State’s dominance has resulted in large fan bases — the schools boast the highest a endance numbers in the country, with Iowa drawing an average of .4,;47 fans in 2023-24 e only two-day
passes remaining on NU’s ticket website for this weekend are in the far- ung nosebleeds, and student tickets were not made available.
Hosts look to play spoilers
Led by coach Ma Storniolo, the Wildcats will host the championships a:er posting a middling 4-7 dual record this season, including a 2-6 record in the Big Ten gauntlet. Most of NU’s wrestlers will likely spend their weekend -ghting through the consolation bracket for a spot in the national championships, but a few have the potential to pull o major upsets.
Redshirt junior and eighth-place -nisher at the 2024 Big Ten Championships Evan Bates is a competitor to watch in a stacked .97-pound -eld, while No. 9 graduate student .57-pounder Trevor Chumbley is a bona -de contender in his weight class. Redshirt freshman No. 33 .25-pounder Dedrick Navarro could also make a statement a:er upse ing No. .9 Blake West of Northern Illinois in his -rst dual of the season. NU should improve upon its last-place -nish at the 2024 Big Ten Championships. Bates, Chumbley and Navarro are joined by No. .; redshirt senior .65-pounder Maxx May-eld and No. 27 redshirt freshman .49-pounder Sam Cartella as the Wildcats’ ranked wrestlers, making for a more formidable team compared to last season, when the ’Cats went just .-9
in the dual season.
Tournament pre-seeding will be announced Wednesday based on a consensus ranking from the Big Ten coaches and will be announced Wednesday. e top Wildcat wrestlers will likely be seeded around the No. 6 to No. ; range. A No. 6 seed or lower has made it to a championship -nal in three of the last four years, though, so anything can happen in March.
When and how to watch
Saturday, March 8 (All times subject to change)
.0 a.m. to 2 p.m.: First Round, Quarter-nals, Consolation First Round - Big Ten Network, Big Ten Plus 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.: Consolation Second Round, Consolation ird Round, extra bouts for national quali-cation - Big Ten Plus
7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Semi-nals - Big Ten Network, Big Ten Plus
Sunday, March 9 (All times subject to change)
.2 p.m. to 3 p.m.: Consolation Semi-nals, Seventh-Place Matches, national quali-ers -nals - Big Ten Plus 4:30 p.m.: Championship Finals (Big Ten Network); ird-Place, Fi:h-Place Matches (Big Ten Plus) siddarthsivaraman2028@u.northwestern.edu
Henry Frieman/The Daily Northwestern