The Daily Northwestern Wednesday, October 12, 2016
DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM 8 SPORTS/Men’s Soccer
3 CAMPUS/Activism
Wildcats fall to crosstown UIC 0-2
New social justice organizing group, Student Action NU, takes shape on campus
Find us online @thedailynu 4 OPINION/Column
MARS approach not fully inclusive
High 55 Low 44
Schapiro walks back word choice NU president says use of ‘idiots’ in speech was mistake By PETER KOTECKI
daily senior staffer @peterkotecki
Daily file photo by Zack Laurence
Coach Pat Fitzgerald looks up during Northwestern’s Oct. 1 game at Iowa. The team’s football handbook rules were previously “overbroad,” according to a September National Labor Relations Board advice memo.
Football handbook rules revised
Complaint to NLRB dropped, players termed ‘employees’ in memo By MAX GELMAN
daily senior staffer @maxgelman
An associate general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board referred to Northwestern athletes as “employees” in the footnote of a memo issued last month and made public in recent days. The advice memorandum, dated Sept. 22, deemed past team rules for athlete conduct
on social media and media interaction “unlawful.” Following the University’s voluntary revision of the handbook’s policies, the memo called for the dismissal of a complaint filed by a California labor lawyer against the University alleging that the football team’s handbook violated the players’ rights as employees. “Although Northwestern disputes the General Counsel’s assumption that Northwestern’s scholarship football
players are employees, the rules of the former Football Handbook that were the subject of this charge have been modified,” University spokesman Al Cubbage said in a statement. “We agree with the NLRB Advice Memorandum’s statement that it would not effectuate the policies and purposes of the NLRA to issue a complaint in this case and that the charge should be dismissed.” The charge was withdrawn Sept. 28, according to
the NLRB website, and the advice response memo was made public recently after ESPN.com filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the material. University President Morton Schapiro reiterated the position that football players are not employees in an interview with The Daily on Tuesday. A request for comment from coach Pat Fitzgerald was declined through a » See NLRB, page 6
Universit y President Morton Schapiro said the nature of his comments criticizing opponents of trigger warnings and microaggressions during his convocation speech in September were a mistake. In the speech, Schapiro said people who do not believe in trigger warnings are “lunatics,” and those who deny the existence of microaggressions are “idiots.” “Did I mean to call people idiots? I certainly didn’t,” Schapiro told The Daily on Tuesday. “It was a mistake because…it made it easier for people who don’t believe in the existence of microaggressions.” In a Washington Post op-ed published last month, David Bernstein, a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School, said Schapiro “utterly failed to meet even the minimum standards of appropriate discourse” in his convocation speech. Schapiro noted that he did not prepare remarks for this particular speech. He said unlike many university presidents, he does not rely on speech writers. His comments about people who decry safe spaces
were not the “main thrust” of his speech, he said. His main point was to emphasize that everyone has safe spaces, Schapiro said. He said his synagogue is a safe space for him, noting that he hasn’t missed Shabbat in more than a year. Schapiro also considers the Institute for Policy Research and golf courses to be safe spaces for him, he said. “Nobody ever follows me around the (golf ) course and says, ‘Oh, you’re too politically correct. You’re coddling students,’” Schapiro said. “We all have safe spaces.” Still, those who say the idea of safe spaces violates the First Amendment are “wrong,” he said. He added that saying trigger warnings reduce faculty autonomy is “misdirected,” and the questioning of microaggressions is “inconceivable.” “It’s inconceivable to me that anyone … could ever look at their past and say that they weren’t deeply damaged by when they thought they were in a comfortable group and among supportive people, and all of a sudden said something that just … is devastating to them,” Schapiro said. However, Schapiro said he does not consider classrooms to be safe spaces. Classes should allow students to learn new things and may make them uncomfortable, but that viewpoint is not at odds with one that » See SCHAPIRO, page 6
Vigil at Rock mourns LGBTQ people lost to violence Student gathering held on National Coming Out Day meant to demonstrate solidarity, offer support By MARIANA ALFARO
the daily northwestern @marianaa_alfaro
Students gathered at Th e Rock on Tuesday afternoon to honor the lives lost to violence against LGBTQ people and to celebrate the solidarity that exists in the community at Northwestern, organizers said. The vigil — held annually during NU’s Rainbow Week— was planned for the same day as National Coming Out Day. Nine students and Multicultural Student Affairs assistant director JT Turner attended the gathering, where they shared coming out stories and perspectives on being a member of the LGBTQ community at NU. During the vigil, Weinberg junior Yamari Lewis said although coming out is a big
and impactful moment in a queer person’s life, the community must remember that there are many people in the world who can’t come out for fear of being judged or because society doesn’t understand them. Lewis, a member of Rainbow Alliance’s programming committee, said it is lucky that the school, state and country are places where people are more accepting of the LGBTQ community, compared with less-accepting societies. She said although the community must mourn the lives lost to violence and societal pressures, they should also celebrate the lives of those who are able to be who they want to be without feeling alienated or attacked. “Th is event is important because it’s one of those days when we’re able to come together in solidarity,” Lewis
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
told The Daily. “We have to understand that it’s a spectrum: there are people that are out; there are people that are in the process, people that will never be out.” The vigil is a staple of Rainbow Week, a time for students to reflect on the different situations members of the LGBTQ community face, recognize their strengths and come together as a community, Lewis told The Daily. Turner — who uses “they/ them/their” pronouns— told The Daily they were happy students were able to commemorate Coming Out Day this way. “It’s a national event; it’s our way of just supporting Northwestern Wildcats who are on the process of coming out or can’t come out,” Turner said. “(It’s a good way to) show » See VIGIL, page 3
Noah Frick-Alofs/The Daily Northwestern
Weinberg junior Yamari Lewis speaks at The Rock on Tuesday at a vigil held in honor of lives lost to violence against the LGBTQ community. Lewis is a member of Rainbow Alliance’s programming committee.
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