Diving into Northwestern’s longstanding partnership with the Veterans Health Administration. | pg. 24
Movements fade, rules shift, but Northwestern’s legacy of mobilization endures. | pg. 31
This holiday season, Northwestern students are finding ways to say thanks to the Evanston community. | pg. 50
PRINT MANAGING EDITOR Katie Keil
ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Mya Copeland
SENIOR PREGAME EDITORS Jessica Y Chen, Indra Dalaisaikhan, David Sun
ASSISTANT PREGAME EDITORS Esther Lim, Olivia Teeter
SENIOR DANCE FLOOR EDITORS Eleanor Bergstein, Sarah Serota
ASSISTANT DANCE FLOOR EDITORS Jamie Neiberg, Helen Ryan, Heidi Schmid
SENIOR FEATURES EDITORS Sam Bull, Noah Coyle, Gabby Shell
SENIOR HANGOVER EDITORS Bennie Goldfarb, Natalia Zadeh
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jessica J Chen
ASSISTANT CREATIVE DIRECTOR Laura Horne
DESIGNERS & ILLUSTRATORS Claire Boma, Leila Dhawan, Sarah Jacobs, Maanya Kejriwal, Yelim Kim, Chelsea Peng, Alex Rosenzweig, Jackson Spenner, Ilse von Heimburg, James Wilson, June Woo, Fiona Wu
PHOTOGRAPHERS Olivia Brown, Dylan Lanier, Trois Ono, Christine Shin, Sarah Yoo
Arden Anderson, Jack Baker, Zoe Chao, Rachel Cheng, Conner Dejacacion, Marie-Synclaire Gdabedo, Teresa Jia, Yana Johnson, Zoe Kulick, Jezel Martinez, Maya Mukherjee, Libby Nook, Gideon Pardo, Kate Pollot
COVER DESIGN BY JESSICA J CHEN
COVER PHOTO BY OLIVIA BROWN
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Conner Dejecacion
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Mya Copeland
EDITOR EMERITA Christine Mao
MANAGING EDITOR Arden Anderson
ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS Indra Dalaisaikhan, Maggie Rose Baron, Chloe Pestano Que
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION EDITORS
Yasmin Mustefa, Mariana Perez Flores
SECTION EDITORS
NEWS EDITOR Gaby Striano
POLITICS EDITOR Jezel Martinez
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Mary Amelia Weiss
ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Angela
McKinzie
LIFE & STYLE EDITOR David Sun
ASSISTANT LIFE & STYLE EDITOR Jacqueline Emerson
SPORTS EDITOR Mariana Bermudez
INTERACTIVES EDITORS June Woo and Randy Truong
FEATURES EDITORS Yong-Yu Huang, Sarah Serota
ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR Maya Mukherjee
OPINION EDITOR Lydia Tallarini
CREATIVE WRITING EDITOR Ava Paulsen
ASSISTANT CREATIVE WRITING EDITOR Mark Wang
AUDIO & VIDEO EDITORS Jessie Chen, Dallas Thurman
PHOTO EDITORS Kaylen Ng
GRAPHICS EDITOR Jessica J Chen
GAMES EDITOR Gabby Shell
INSTAGRAM EDITOR Mariana Flores
TWITTER EDITOR Katie Tsang
PUBLISHER Stephania Kontopanos
AD SALES Alice Tao
OUTREACH Alice Tao
EVENTS CHAIR Yasmin Mustefa
WEBMASTER Randy Truong
For many, Fall Quarter represents new beginnings, as students arrive in Evanston and begin settling into the comforts of campus. Yet, as we welcome the Class of 2028, North By Northwestern takes a reflective look on the past, present and future at Northwestern.
Our Pregame section takes you behind the scenes of the Northwestern University Press, an award-winning publication hub located just outside the confines of campus. Behind the camera, we spoke with several Northwestern “campus celebrities” about their claim to fame. In Dance Floor, we explore the thoughtful musings of Trip Rothschild during his time at Northwestern in the 1970s. You may even learn more about two of Northwestern’s most (in)famous courses directly from the professors who teach them.
In Features, students speak out about Northwestern’s new demonstration policies and how the University’s long history of protest has shaped its culture of activism and engagement. We delve deeper into the postaffirmative action era in college admissions while also exploring how Medill is approaching changes within the journalism industry. Our cover story, “Giving back,” highlights three organizations within the Evanston and greater Chicago areas, encouraging students to get involved with the community as we approach the holiday season.
Our magazine closes with a how-to guide for the hundreds of potential new members in preparation for primary recruitment this upcoming Winter Quarter. And our senior Hangover editors provide valuable wisdom on how to take those valuable relationship lessons into practice.
I am eternally grateful for my staff of editors, designers and writers this quarter. As the rare non-Medill Print Managing Editor for NBN , running an organization seemed impossible at times without the vast skill set acquired through years of experience in journalism. Yet this staff believed in me, trusted me and allowed me to take the reins as we crafted this magazine page by page. I hope that this magazine encourages you to dive eagerly into challenges that may seem daunting at first but are ultimately worth the try.
Sincerely,
Katie Keil
The spice is right
Need a lift?
Guide to the galaxy
Hot off the press
Who’s that Wildcat?
How green is NU, really?
Behind the ballot
In the scrum
Infamous courses
Collaboration in care
Don’t forget to write home
Student activism: Now and then
After affirmative action
Off the record
Giving back
My dearest random roommate, I feel the rush
Hangover tries: Running
Were you popular in high school?
How to have sex
6
The spice is right
8 9
Guide to the galaxy
Hot off the press
10 12 Need a lift?
Who’s that Wildcat?
Join Pregame as they go full-on Christian Girl Autumn mode with PSLs.
WRITTEN BY PREGAME EDITORS // DESIGNED & PHOTOS BY LEILA DHAWAN
Nothing says autumn quite like a warm and cozy pumpkin spice latte (PSL). Whether it’s making a cameo in your Instagram boomerang story or sitting on your desk during a study session, PSLs have become a beloved symbol of channeling your inner Christian Girl Autumn. Join Pregame as we embark on a quest to find Evanston’s best pumpkin spice latte, savoring every pumpkin-y sip along the way.
Esther: Just here for the autumnal vibes
Jessica: Aspiring coffee enthusiast, restricted by digestive consequences
Olivia: Only had one cup of coffee in her entire life
David: Likes coffee, does not like gourds
Indra: Doesn’t know what pumpkin tastes like
Passing along the plastic cup, we each took a sniff and, encouraged by the promising waft of autumnal spices, a cautious sip. Despite the blend of spices — we identified cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg — there was one gigantic piece missing from this inoffensive-at-best drink: pumpkin. Sure, the sprinkle of cinnamon on top is a nice touch, and the aftertaste? Spicy fall goodness. But pumpkin? Nowhere to be found.
Despite a promising start, with the best presentation and nicest smell of all the PSLs, things quickly took a downward turn. Upon first sip, the predominant taste was, surprisingly, just water. This was when Olivia recalled that despite ordering a PSL, she was instead rung up for a chai latte with pumpkin spice syrup. Dreams of autumn in a cup dashed, our gaze returned to the sad, watery chai latte that just barely flirted with pumpkin syrup. Rather than the familiar hug of cinnamon, nutmeg and joy, what hit our taste buds was more like pumpkin’s distant cousin, twice removed and twice as bland. For the hefty price of $7 including tax, we can only recommend that you order this if your favorite flavor is disappointment.
This latte came with some extra flair and fluff in the cup, so already we were intrigued. You’d think this would be a given, but it actually smelled like pumpkin and coffee — finally, some truth in advertising (unlike some others in this list). From the first sip, we could tell that this PSL was different. The warm blend of spices tampered down the coffee taste, creating a subtle blend of both flavors. Indra described it as cozy and homey, creating that warm-blanket feeling that comes with the season. Olivia — shockingly — approved, possibly because it didn’t taste too much like actual coffee. Jessica, however, remained skeptical, openly questioning the appeal for pumpkin flavors. The rest of Pregame thought it was the best one.
The classic. The OG. Three words and 17 letters synonymous with shorter days, UGG boots and cooler temperatures. For many, autumn doesn’t begin until Starbucks drops its fall menu. Starbucks’s concoction was a perky, tangerine orange, a pastel fall dream the trees around Evanston would never achieve. But it was still no match for us. The Pregame team was heavily divided. While Indra realized four drinks in she didn’t like pumpkin, Jessica said it tasted artificial. David, showing up over an hour late to the coffee crawl, thought it was just fine. Esther didn’t know what pumpkin tasted like anymore.
After an hour scouring Evanston for PSLs, Pregame wanted to shake things up. That’s when we ended up with Kung Fu Tea’s own spin on Christian Girl Autumn-themed drinks. Served in its iconic black and red cup, the drink itself was a delightfully normal tan color. Upon first sip, everyone agreed that, despite choosing the regular sugar level, it was way too sweet. Rather than a cozy and pumpkin-y milk tea, Kung Fu Tea gave us a drink that tasted like melted white chocolate. If you have a sweet tooth though, we definitely recommend this drink.
WRITTEN BY INDRA DALAISAIKHAN // DESIGNED BY YELIM KIM
Reddy Gurramkonda, 78, glances at the glowing phone screen, reading the details of his next pickup location. The steady hum of the engine fills the quiet night as he waits on Sheridan Road, ready for the student to arrive.
Many Northwestern students opt to take the University’s free transportation service, Safe Ride, to travel across campus safely after dark. For the 2024-25 academic year, in partnership with Via Transportation, Safe Ride introduced company-owned vans and a new carpooling system, allowing drivers to pick up multiple passengers during a single trip.
I spent the night with two Safe Ride drivers to see first-hand how they — and students — are adjusting to the new system.
6:45 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Turning the steering wheel, his golden ring capturing the glint of traffic lights, Gurramkonda starts his shift at 7:00 p.m. sharp. Instead of picking up students in his car, Gurramkonda drives to 800 Elgin Road to use Northwestern’s new Safe Ride vans — easily recognizable with the iconic purple “N” embellished on its sides.
Gurramkonda says this change has helped him save costs on gas and mileage on his car, now exclusively reserved for his day job as a school counselor.
HYPOTHETICAL SCHEDULE OF A SAFERIDE DRIVER
BY INDRA DALAISAIKHAN
Guided by the GPS’s monotone voice, Gurramkonda picks up two students from Foster-Walker Complex. As they set their bags down, he encourages me to ask them about what they think of the new system.
“I like the new Safe Ride. It’s cool because I feel like it’s faster, and you end up seeing people you know,” McCormick second-year Aditi Ladd says before being dropped off at the Technological Institute.
In comparison to last year’s usual 30 to 40-minute waiting time, getting a Safe Ride now usually takes 10 to 15 minutes due to students being picked up and dropped off all in one trip.
As I sit beside Gurramkonda, he pulls up to another Safe Ride van in front of the Kellogg School of Management. He rolls his window down, grinning when he recognizes the driver in the next van.
He ushers me to interview Zabiuddin “Zab” Ahmed, 65, a beloved Safe Ride driver of seven years, and I rush out to switch vans.
9:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Safe Ride drivers are now contracted employees, meaning they are federally limited to only working five days and 40 hours a week. Last year, drivers worked up to seven days a week for 70-80 hours.
Ahmed previously worked as an Uber driver but decided to switch to Safe Ride after hearing about safety concerns in Chicago, even though Uber offered better pay. This year, changes to Safe Ride have led to reduced driver salaries. Though the
7:00 p.m. Pick students up from a long day at Mudd library and drop them off at their homes.
10:00 p.m.
reason isn’t clear, Ahmed attributes it to “less hours, less money.”
However, the new paid 30-minute break was a welcome update.
“[Last year,] whatever the time you take, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, one hour, half-hour — they used to cut from your pay,” Ahmed says.
Pointing at Via Transportation’s provided phone, Ahmed explains that the app allows him to take a paid break in the middle of his shift.
In the cup holder beside him, Ahmed keeps cookies and coffee at all times to keep him energized on shift. For students tired from studying, he keeps an emergency gym bag of chips and cookies tucked in the front seat.
“They are away from their families. They are not eating homemade food … so at least I’ll keep them happy,” Ahmed says as he waves his hand to signal a student to get in.
12:00 a.m. Pick up tired Bienen students up from their practice rooms and drop them off.
How outreach efforts at Dearborn Observatory bring the cosmos to the public.
KATE POLLOT // DESIGNED BY MAANYA KEJRIWAL
n ominous red light shines through the viewing window in the Dearborn Observatory dome on Friday evenings. These lights preserve viewers’ night vision so they can bear witness to celestial bodies, from the moon’s craters to Saturn to distant stars.
The Dearborn Observatory hosts two rounds of tours every Friday night in the fall: one reservation-only tour at 8 p.m. and one walk-in tour at 9 p.m., both available to the public for free. Attendees explore the observatory, ask student tour guides questions and view the night sky through what was once the largest telescope in the world.
“The history of the Dearborn telescope, I think it’s amazing,” Weinberg secondyear and Dearborn host Franke Gordon says. “It’s just such a rich piece of history, and that gives me a whole new appreciation for it.”
Tours begin with a summary of the observatory’s history, focusing on the telescope upstairs. The 18.5-inch lens was originally constructed in the 1850s for the University of Mississippi and surpassed the two largest lenses in the world at the time by 3.5 inches. After sitting idly for years during the Civil War, the lens toured Chicagoland, taking up residence at the University of Chicago for 23 years and the Chicago Astronomical Society before finally landing at Northwestern University in 1887.
The telescope made one last trip to the Dearborn Observatory — 664 feet to the southeast — to make room for the construction of the Technological Institute in 1939.
Director Dr. Michael Smutko, who has worked at Dearborn for 22 years. After shadowing current hosts leading Friday night tours, they finally take a “driver’s test” to prove they can operate the telescope.
There is no archetype for being a host: Dearborn boasts both graduate and undergraduate students with a wide range of interests. Gordon, for example, is studying history and economics, while Kierstin Sorensen, another host, is a sixth-year Ph.D student in the physics department studying gravitational waves.
Sorensen also works with Northwestern’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA).
On the last Friday of every month, Dearborn hosts “astronomer evenings,” in which a CIERA astronomer introduces a specialized topic, such as astrophotography and black holes. Like tours, these free sessions are open to the public.
“I’m always wanting to do public outreach, wanting to have opportunities to teach,” Sorensen says. “I love working with the public on observing nights.”
Sorensen, Gordon and Smutko all agreed that one of the most memorable aspects of the tours is watching people of all ages see the solar system and galaxy
in clear focus for the first time in their lives. The observatory receives over 2,000 visitors annually, many of whom have never seen planets or moons in such vivid detail.
“You can see their eyes light up,” Smutko says. “You can see that their horizons have expanded, that these things that they read about or have seen online — they’re real, and they’re looking at them with their own eyes.”
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Tucked behind the Noyes Street tennis courts sits a small red-brick house. Inside the door, at the top of a short flight of stairs, is an interior lined with wall-to-wall books, papers scattered across tables and a cozy sense of community. While the building may appear indistinguishable from the outside, it is home of the Northwestern University Press.
Founded in 1893, the Press publishes creative nonfiction, poetry and plays for general readership, in addition to traditional scholarly writing. Run by a staff of 14, the Press is striving to build and continue its prestigious place in the publishing world.
“Without print publishing and university presses in particular, we wouldn’t have the same breadth of books
in the world,” says Nicola McCafferty, a graduate student and assistant at the Press from September 2023 to August 2024.
The Press’ publications have received many honors, including prestigious translation awards and two National Book Awards for poetry, won by Nikky Finney’s Head Off & Split and William Meredith’s Effort at Speech: New and Selected Poems. The Press often publishes imprints, also known as trade names, that link books with shared characteristics. Northwestern’s TriQuarterly, an awardwinning fiction and poetry imprint, is one of the Press’ most prominent imprints. The Press also publishes series, curated by an expert in a particular field.
“The unique thing about a university press is almost all of our books are peerreviewed, meaning the manuscripts are sent to, typically, two different scholars in the field,” says Faith Stein, senior acquisitions editor for scholarly titles at the Press.
One of the main goals of the Press, Stein says, is to maintain a strong identity, which has been sculpted throughout its history,
“If I’m going to quality.” to be of high read a book by I know it’s going Northwestern Press
now spanning more than 130 years since its founding in 1893.
“I want our catalog, both trade and scholarly, to be identifiable, to have a particular profile,” Stein says, “So that when someone sees a book on the shelf, they see the title, they see the contents, they open it and they think, ‘Yeah, that’s an NUP book.”
Mark Eleveld edited the poetry collection “Ground Zero,” written by slam poetry movement founder Marc Kelly Smith. Eleveld brought the book to the Press in part because of director Parneisha Jones’ previous work with artists and poets.
“A lot of the poets that [Parneshia] has published are comfortable with her,” Eleveld says. “I remember Avery Young when he [was] 14 years old and at open mics in Chicago, and now he’s a Chicago Poet Laureate. That’s in large part because Parneshia helped him to put a book together and what it means to publish, and she’s done that with lots of people.”
Eleveld says the Press creates a space for up-and-coming and blossoming artists and poets, shaping its reputation in the writing community.
“If I’m going to read a book by Northwestern Press, I know it’s going to be of high quality,” Eleveld says.
The physical books the Press publishes are not going anywhere or losing importance despite new formats like e-books, Jones says. For humanities genres, physical books are especially valuable as a form of artistic expression and creativity.
“Consider books intellectual furniture,” Jones says. “It’s always going to be present — you can go out with CDs, you can go out with LaserDiscs, but books are a long-standing thing.”
Stein agrees that print books are still a large market.
“People like paper, people like reading in hard copy, people like writing in the margins with pencil and pen,” Stein says. “Dog-earing the pages, underlining key terms, sticking a receipt in between the chapters to mark what they know they want to come back for.”
McCafferty, who primarily worked with the
acquisitions and editorial teams during her time as a graduate assistant, says the Press is fairly separate from the student body but is aiming to connect more, especially with graduate students.
“A lot of people don’t know that NU Press has a trade arm and that more than half of the books they publish are trade and not only academic books,” McCafferty says. “One of the things that the graduate assistant position is trying to do is bridge that gap a little bit more.”
When publishing work, the Press aims to reflect the diversity of new research and art being introduced. Stein says the Press factors diversity into conversations and every step of the process, including selecting authors and peer-reviewers and giving peer-reviewers guidelines to evaluate work.
As a non-profit, mission-driven organization, the Press is always thinking about sustainability, community and campus
“People like like reading in hard copy, people like writing in the margins with pencil and pen.”
Faith Stein
University Press Senior Acquisition Editor paper, people
partnerships. Looking forward, Stein hopes the Press is endowed so they can keep offering their authors “modest but equitable contract deals.” Additionally, Stein says her goals include using the Press’ distinct mission to make its catalog more readily identifiable and to grow its existing well-known lists and series.
“I don’t want to try and innovate out of that and lose what has built up such a prestigious legacy for us,” she says, specifically mentioning the Press’ wellknown philosophy list.
Jones says one of the keys to the Press’ success is the staff’s love for books, creativity, curiosity, and commitment to the mission of the Press.
“We get to contribute to the world in a very cool way,” Jones says. “Where the only thing that is the same for us every day is that you have to think outside the box.”
WRITTEN BY LIBBY NOOK // DESIGNED BY LAURA HORNE // PHOTOS BY TROIS ONO
If you need help feeding the geese, a new favorite song to jam to or top-notch pictures for the ‘Gram, look no further than the confines of campus. For Northwestern students, campus celebrities have the ultimate status and are known from Jones to Bobb for their varying talents and passions. Let’s take a look at three iconic Northwestern campus celebrities.
Weinberg second-year Zach Wolk, also known as the “Goose Whisperer,” felt inspired after watching a YouTube video of an old man who frequently fed park geese. Ultimately, the geese imprinted on him, thinking that the old man was their father.
“[The geese] would be very excited every day when he would go to the park. I was like, ‘Wow, that’s cool,’” Wolk says.
Wolk decided to try feeding the geese himself with corn. While they were originally standoffish, the geese eventually started to approach Wolk more and more.
An anonymous student snapped a picture of Wolk feeding geese with 10 goslings between his legs. This photo circulated around Northwestern social media platforms, where it received around 2,200 likes. According to Wolk, many people began to comment, and things only kept going from there.
“I definitely get the occasional, ‘Hey, you’re the goose guy, right?’” Wolk says. “But overall, it’s pretty cool. Definitely a positive experience.”
Americana singer and Weinberg fourth-year Ava Earl has no recollection of how she even became a campus celebrity, but her longtime passion for music is evident.
“I’ve been a musician for a long time, since I was a kid, and I’ve been performing since I was about 12 years old, so almost 10 years,” Earl says.
Earl often includes humor and personal stories in her performances to appear relatable and authentic.
“I’m an oversharer on stage,” Earl says. “But I consider myself a storyteller and a lyricist above anything else.”
Recently, she’s slowed down the number of performances, but still finds time to play at least one show on campus a year, plus other venues in Chicago like Uncommon Ground.
“It’s just funny to me when I hear that people refer to me as a campus celebrity,” Earl says.
Medill third-year Josh Sukoff gained his celebrity status from behind the camera on the sidelines of Northwestern sports and in the byline of nearly every official Northwestern Instagram post.
Sukoff began his Northwestern photography career by taking photos on campus and then tagging official Northwestern accounts on social media. He then seized the opportunity when he saw a job posting with the Northwestern social media team.
While his campus landscapes are iconic, his most sought-after flicks are in the stadium. Sukoff originally got involved with Wildside, Northwestern’s student section, and soon, he was regularly snapping photos of fans from the sidelines. In no time, he became known as the “photo guy.”
“It’s kind of this symbiotic relationship,” Sukoff says. “ I take photos of people because I get joy out of it, and they also get the photos, so they get joy out of it.”
A V A
How green is NU, really?
Behind the ballot
In the scrum
Infamous courses
Collaboration in care
14 16 19 22 24 27
Don’t forget to write home
How Northwestern is working toward a more sustainable future.
WRITTEN BY HEIDI SCHMID // DESIGNED BY LAURA HORNE & ALEX ROSENZWEIG
When SESP second-year Gracey Ninmer decided to join an on-campus environmental organization, she chose Fossil Free Northwestern, which advocates for Northwestern to divest from fossil fuels and engages in environmental justice projects.
“I went to a bunch of intro meetings because we have a lot of environmental orgs here, and I just found that Fossil Free was one of the most engaging,” Ninmer says. “And it also felt like [where] I could do the most and we would have the largest impact on a deeper scale.”
She was disappointed to discover Northwestern could be doing more to work towards a more sustainable future and provide transparency on its progress.
Cria Kay is the Program Administrator for sustainNU, a program at Northwestern dedicated to minimizing the University’s negative impact on the environment. She says their next sustainability report will be published before the end of the academic year. The program has not released an annual report since 2022.
In the meantime, sustainNU is engaging in various initiatives to lead Northwestern toward a more sustainable future.
“We are in the middle of a fiveyear contract with Ameresco Incorporated which is a leading cleantech firm in the Chicagoland area and beyond, who specializes in energy efficiency,” Kay says.
This contract will help Northwestern upgrade its buildings to be more energyefficient. According to sustainNU’s 2021 report, Ameresco will help with lighting upgrades, heating-cooling system optimization and water reclamation.
Along with upgrading buildings, Northwestern Transportation & Parking is also getting a green makeover. SustainNU is working with other University departments on an initiative to make all Northwestern shuttles fully hybrid by 2025.
“It will both reduce the carbon footprint of the shuttle, as well as prevent and decrease the harmful pollutants that are put into the air, like nitrous oxide associated with the standard diesel shuttles,” Kay says.
This is part of a University-wide project to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Net zero emissions — the idea of attaining a balance between emitting and absorbing carbon — is central to Northwestern’s sustainability efforts.
Ninmer says this is not the same as the University halting any fossil fuel emissions, but rather investing in outside resources that help counter the impact of carbon emissions, such as solar panel fields. Ninmer is frustrated that the University is not doing more to completely move away from fossil fuel investment and campus emissions.
“By 2050, carbon neutrality, to me, just doesn’t make sense as a stepping stone,” Ninmer says. “I think we’re past that point of having stepping stones. I think we should be actively working towards a survivable future.”
According to sustainNU’s 2021 reports, efforts in energy efficiency have been effective, resulting in a 17% reduction in building energy use from 2010 and a 15.7% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 2012.
One department where Northwestern makes further strides in energy efficiency works outside of the Evanston campus. Rather than being a Northwestern-specific program, the Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy works to help with national or global projects.
Michael McMahon, the Assistant Director for Partnerships at the Trienens Institute, works to connect different
I think we should be actively working towards a
“I think we’re past that point of having stepping survivable stones . future.”
departments and schools within the University, and with outside organizations that help with sustainability efforts.
“When it comes to climate [and] energy sustainability issues, we want to see solutions that are able to be taken out of the lab and put in a space where they can make a true impact outside of our campus walls,” McMahon says.
Most recently, the U.S. Department of Energy and partner companies invested nearly $4 million for the Trienens Institute to develop a Midwest Nuclear Direct Air Capture (MINDAC) hub in Illinois.
According to McMahon, the hub will include large machines that capture carbon dioxide to reduce the effects of greenhouse gasses. The hub is one of two in the Midwest area and one of two hubs planning to utilize nuclear energy as a power source. Once complete, the DAC Hubs are expected to collectively capture 1 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.
“The Trienens Institute is critical in taking the scientific expertise to facilitate solutions to the problem of decarbonization,” says Georgie Geraghty, the executive director and Midwest partner of The Nature Conservancy in Chicago and an executive council member for the Trienens Institute.
Geraghty says that, while the work of the Trienens’ Institute is important, local student involvement is still vital.
“This is your planet and decisions that have been made by your forebears are already having profound consequences,” Geraghty says. “It’s not someone else’s problem to solve.”
The Trienens Institute has several programs that offer opportunities for student participation on campus. The Institute partnered with the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications on a scholarship for graduate environmental reporting. They also offer several study abroad options and even have an undergraduate certificate program in environmental sustainability.
“Northwestern actually does a great job when it comes to interdisciplinary collaboration, which is something that is really heartening when you think about climate, energy and sustainability issues, which is pretty interdisciplinary in nature,” McMahon says.
McMahon encourages students to connect with the Trienens Institute and attend information sessions about research or global sustainability efforts.
Clubs like the Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Society also focus their initiatives on getting students involved in and educated about sustainability.
“We put together projects for sustainability purposes, gather groups of civil engineers and environmental engineering students so that they can get
to know each other better and create a network of sustainable students,” Medill second-year Maya Schwartz says.
Currently, the club is involved in the Solar Cup challenge, a competition between schools to explore strategies for turning solar energy into electric energy in an economical and scalable way.
Whether it is Northwestern-specific projects or off-campus initiatives, Northwestern is involved with energy efficiency and hosts many opportunities for students to embrace sustainable practices.
According to Geraghty, the need for younger generations to get involved in the environment is more important now than ever.
“It’s not a lost cause, there is room for real hope and changes can be made,” Geraghty says.
Kay encourages everyone to take these issues seriously. She says everyone should be a part of building a more sustainable Northwestern, from students to staff to the broader community.
“Sustainability and environmentalism is everybody’s problem, no matter what you’re studying, no matter what you’re looking to do with your life,” Kay says. “We all live on this planet.”
WRITTEN BY JACK BAKER // DESIGNED BY JAMES WILSON
Before the 2024-25 school year began, Medill third-year Lillian Ali sat down with her parents to fill out an absentee ballot request. Weeks later, she arrived in Evanston to find her ballot hadn’t arrived.
“I wasn’t able to find [my ballot] in my mailbox anywhere. I had to call [the voter sevices office] and say, ‘Hey, you said you sent me my ballot and it’s probably not here.’ They said, ‘We’re going to send a new one,’” Ali says. “I still haven’t gotten that.”
Ali says that even though requesting her ballot was simple, Ohio’s reliance on
the postal service to transport it across state lines meant the state could not provide a clear explanation for its disappearance.
“I think my absentee ballot problems are logistical, and they are not the result of bad laws,” Ali says. “At the same time, there are so many ways that voters are suppressed in this country, especially those who are marginalized.”
Ali’s experience is not a one-off occurrence among out-of-state student voters. At Northwestern, NU Votes aims to combat obstacles to voting by providing resources and support to students.
When the Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) was established in 2009, it became the permanent home for all non-partisan voter registration efforts. Students and faculty started NU Votes in 2011 to increase voter registration and turnout among young people at Northwestern. Katrina Weimholt is an assistant director at the CCE and oversees NU Votes.
“[NU Votes] is part of Northwestern’s strategic plan to promote civic engagement, and it’s also required by the Higher Education Act [of 1998] that all federally funded colleges and universities offer registration services to every student,” Weimholt says. “When we first started, we questioned what it would look like to really fulfill that requirement.”
In 2011, NU Votes partnered with the Wildcard Office to reach students standing in line to obtain their IDs. This approach was modeled after the 1993 Motor Voter Act, which requires states to provide voter registration opportunities to individuals applying for a driver’s license. That year, NU Votes offered every
state’s voter registration form for the first time, and in 2012, it began distributing absentee ballot requests.
“We’ve since expanded our voter registration and ballot request services to include pop-up stations all over campus so that students who need these services can easily find us,” Weimholt says.
The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement reports that NU Votes has significantly increased voter participation among the Northwestern student body. In 2016, during the most recent presidential election for which data is available, over 90% of Northwestern students were registered to vote, and 64% ultimately cast a ballot.
Weimholt says NU Votes has made Northwestern a national leader in student voter engagement. She notes that Northwestern’s voter turnout rates are higher than those at similar institutions and frequently surpass the voter turnout rates of young people nationwide.
NU Votes helped simplify a confusing ballot send-off process for Weinberg second-year Taylor Massey from Missouri. Massey requested her ballot a few weeks before she returned to Northwestern, where it would be delivered to her oncampus residence. Her ballot arrived approximately five days after she returned to school.
“There are so those who are especially many ways that in this country,
Getting her ballot was the easy part. But per Missouri policy, absentee ballots must be notarized.
“I remember I called my parents and I asked, ‘Where do I even get this notarized?’ I know you can go to banks and there [are] certain places, but I wasn’t exactly sure,” Massey says.
Massey first tried her luck at Norris, which she knew offered notary services. Massey found, though, that they would only notarize Northwestern-distributed documents. She then went to the CCE, where NU Votes offered free notary services and stamps for ballots.
NU Votes not only simplifies the absentee ballot process but also helps educate students about the voting process. Since its founding, NU Votes has formed partnerships with student groups and introduced voter education programs, online tools and a student ambassador program.
To become an ambassador, students apply to the program and go through a training session. NU Votes ambassadors volunteer for two to four hours every week through Fall Quarter leading up to the election in early November.
Weinberg fourth-year Paz Baum became an ambassador during the 2022 midterm elections. She finds it equally inspiring to engage with students who are eager to register and those who are completely unaware that an election is taking place.
laws from all 50 states.
“Students often see our table in Norris or Sargent [Hall], and they say, ‘Oh, it’s an election year. I guess I should do that.’ Then, they end up voting,” Baum says.
Weimholt notes that, on average, 30 to 40% of incoming Northwestern students are already registered to vote. However, by the end of Wildcat Welcome, the registration rate among first-year students typically exceeds 90%.
This year, NU Votes has helped over 1,200 new students register to vote. “We’ve had a lot of people come up and tell us that they’ve been trying to do this but couldn’t figure out how to navigate the process on their own,” Weimholt says. “Sometimes it’s ‘I’ve been meaning to do this, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.’”
For example, when a student from Tennessee needs help with mail-in voting, where registration must be done in person, Baum says NU Votes is ready to explain the details and guide them through their options. This obscure rule had real-world implications for McCormick second-year Anisha Phade, who is from Tennesse.
“I registered to vote in Tennessee at Wildcat Welcome when I first came to Northwestern, but when I went to request my absentee ballot at the NU Votes station, they looked at me and said, ‘You’ve voted before, right?’ I said ‘No,’ and they told me that Tennessee is one of few states where you have to vote in person first,” Phade says. “So I had to switch my registration to Illinois, and I now have an Illinois ballot.”
Medill second-year Aidan Klineman appreciates that NU Votes also provides students with hands-on assistance, guiding them through tasks like notarizing ballot requests and obtaining stamps.
“In my opinion, most of the confusion comes when figuring out where and how to mail an absentee ballot on campus. Navigating the package center or [Evanston’s] post office can be stressful,” Klineman says.
Klineman, an Indiana resident, plans to drive home to vote.
“This election is very important obviously for a bunch of policy issues, but it’s also my first presidential election,” Klineman says. “That’s the main reason I’m driving home. I know that voting absentee counts just the same, but it feels a little less personalized.”
Recent polls have shown that, across the country, college students like Klineman are very enthusiastic about voting this year. An October survey of Northwestern undergraduate students conducted by The Daily Northwestern indicated that out of poll participants, over 90% who plan to vote are supporting Vice President Kamala Harris. The poll also found that 80% of Northwestern students surveyed identify as either “somewhat political” or “very political.”
“I know that voting absentee counts just the same, but it feels a little less
“Northwestern students care very deeply about politics,” Ali says. “No one wants to hang out on election night because everyone’s too busy watching the results.”
Communication first-year John Hughes is incredibly interested in politics and hopes to become a Congressman someday. The Oklahoma resident
assists fellow students as an NU Votes ambassador and notes that voting by mail in his home state also requires extra steps like notarization and signing an affidavit, which is a sworn statement that someone has the qualifications to vote.
“I requested my absentee ballot, and it did not appear in my mailbox for a week and a half,” Hughes says. “Once my ballot finally arrived, I went to NU Votes and signed my affidavit in front of a notary, and she stamped it.”
Hughes is now committed to making other students aware of these resources by employing a range of strategies to register and turn out students, including speakingin front of his classes and reaching out to friends via text.
Ultimately, Hughes views this year’s election as a pivotal moment in American history and says that the efforts of NU Votes represent a broader shift in political engagement among young people.
“Coming from a community where I’m one of the only people hosting voter registration drives, it’s really interesting to see how many people are preparing for this election,” Hughes says.
Ali’s experience demonstrates just how challenging absentee voting can be, but she hopes her story will make voting more accessible for future Northwestern students. Ali says legislators’ attempts to make voting more difficult make her determination even stronger.
“At some point, because there are so many hoops to jump through to cast an absentee ballot, I began to ask why,” Ali says. “When someone is trying to keep me from accessing [information], I want it even more.”
Ali believes exercising the right to vote is both a civic duty and an act of resilience.
“Voting is difficult,” Ali says. “But voting is also unfortunately necessary to make voting [in future elections] less difficult.”
WRITTEN BY MARIE-SYNCLAIRE GBADEBO // DESIGNED BY ILSE VON HEIMBURG
ucking drills, forwards and backs, scrums, lineouts, tries. These are words that Maura Madden, McCormick fourth-year and Women’s Rugby Football Club president and vicecaptain, mentions when describing a typical rugby practice.
A significant portion of the women’s and men’s club rugby teams couldn’t have told you what these words meant a couple of weeks ago, but they’ve since learned. Despite varying levels of experience with the sport, the on- and off-field successes of both rugby teams prove that it’s never too late to try something new.
Northwestern’s club sports allow students to play their sports of choice
rugby is Northwestern’s oldest club sport. The women’s team was founded in 1999.
“[Rugby is] a game of space and trying to manipulate your opponent’s space,” says Weinberg fourth-year Conlan Harrington, president of the men’s club rugby team.
Although Northwestern’s club rugby teams play at the NCAA Division II level, inexperienced players are eager and welcome to join the sport. Anyone, regardless of experience level, can play rugby as long as they fill out an interest form. This year, roughly 42% of the women’s team and 38% of the men’s team are picking up the sport for the first time.
The 2024-25 season comes on the heels of a very successful 2023-24
season for both rugby teams. The men’s team earned the title of Great Midwest 7s Champions and placed 12th at the National 7s tournament. The women are no strangers to on-field success either: their A-team came in first place and their B-team came in third at the 2024 Promball Rugby 7s tournament.
Despite rugby being Northwestern’s oldest club sport, both teams had trouble maintaining their organization during and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, in 2020, there was no women’s team. Madden realized this early on in her first year, when she showed up to the club fair and couldn’t find a women’s club rugby table.
“I go to the men’s table and they tell me, ‘Oh yeah, there’s a women’s team. Just show up to the practice at our
time,’” Madden says. “I walk over [to their practice], and I’m super nervous because at the time they tell me to show up, it’s all men. And it turns out there were one or two other women there playing, and then the [women’s] team kind of disintegrated.”
Disheartened by this experience, Madden didn’t keep up with rugby her freshman year, but she made it her mission to revive the team in 2022.
The women’s team was small at first, initially comprising only 14 committed members. They have grown since then to a team of 43.
Both teams support rookie players’ transition to a new sport. McCormick first-year Javier Perez says he was not nervous at all about joining the men’s rugby team, despite having no experience.
“It didn’t seem that difficult to learn, and I watched a lot about it before I got into it,” Perez says.
He emphasizes how helpful the team has been in teaching him the basics of rugby from the very beginning.
“I came late the first practice, and the first thing [the team] told me to do, they had another older player, one-onone, show me how to throw the ball and everything,” Perez says.
After the first game this season against UW-Platteville, the women’s coaches organized a rookie match with the opposing team. This gave players like Weinberg first-year Sierra
“[Rugby is] a game of space and trying to manupulate your opponent’s space.”
Conlan Harrington
Mannion a chance to play a match without worrying about playing against advanced players or affecting rankings.
Mannion enjoys being on the rugby team and says she has learned and improved so much just a few weeks into the season.
“I think I’m understanding the game a lot better. It’s just the technique and actually playing that is taking more time, but I understand the strategy and things like that,” Mannion says, “I just made the impact [substitute] team … which is really exciting.”
Behind the scenes, both rugby teams have an executive board that is responsible for bolstering the teams’ connections on and off the field. Board members are responsible for making new members feel welcome by helping teammates get to know each other and reaching out to the newbies.
Madden says the team organizes different introductory activities to help foster connections.
“[In the first practice] you had to find people from a different country, you had to find people from a different state, or you had to find someone who had a dog, or just all those kinds of icebreaker questions,” Madden says.
Perez and Mannion say they have been able to further bond with teammates through dinners, traveling to games together and other organized activities.
“Honestly, just the first game day was very helpful to cheer people along on the sidelines,” Mannion says.
Making sense of the field in a game of manipulating space.
Dead-Ball Line
Goal Post
There are many reasons why Northwestern students decide to play rugby in college. Madden and Weinberg fourth-year Olly Paterson had both played before college and highlight the positive culture surrounding rugby.
“It’s the best sport for camaraderie and respect and determination in the world,” Paterson says.
Perez and Harrington both played football in high school and wanted to continue playing a team contact sport in college but not at the Division I level. Mannion wanted to try rugby simply because she hadn’t done anything like it before.
“It’s the best sport for camaraderie and respect and determination in the whole world.”
Paterson Weinberg fourth-year
Players like Perez have seen a lot of improvement just weeks into the season.
“Just like learning the basics and everything, I feel way more concrete in rugby,” Perez says. “And also, athletically, my cardio has gotten a lot better just running around the field all day.”
Rugby is considered an extremely challenging and dangerous sport, ranked as the 13th-hardest sport by ESPN across 60 sports. However, Paterson argues that this is not always the case, citing soccer and American football as other sports that can result in similar injuries.
Paterson emphasizes that rugby has a reputation the players take pride in, one that anyone can participate in and come to love.
“You see a lot of people watch rugby for the first time, and it looks like a bunch of blokes running into each other, and it looks unorganized,” Paterson says. “But it’s so finely detailed and organized that people wouldn’t understand at times. And once you understand it, it’s a beauty.”
WRITTEN BY MYA COPELAND AND KATIE KEIL // DESIGNED BY CHELSEA PENG // PHOTOS BY DYLAN LANIER
Amidst a first quarter of college panic, I found myself enrolling late in one of the longeststanding, most famous (or infamous) courses at Northwestern. Welcome to SLAVIC 210-2: “Introduction to Russian Literature,” led by Gary Saul Morson. If you’ve been at Northwestern at any point in the last 35 years, you’ve probably heard of Intro to Russian Lit. Many a CTEC have lauded Morson as something akin to a god. This course, which has remained relatively the same since Morson took the helm in 1986, presents students with roughly 2,000 pages of literature to consume (plus two exams) in 10 weeks. So if you’re like me, that leaves you with nine weeks to read TheBrothersKaramazovby Fyodor Dostoevsky and AnnaKareninaby Leo Tolstoy.
I spent my first few weeks fighting the several hundred pages of weekly reading. Lucky for me, our first big themes included discussions of life and death. Jumping straight into these big concepts is exactly what Morson believes college students should be doing.
Russian novels are dense, which I quickly learned, but also surprisingly applicable. Dostoevsky discusses why suffering can either be a self-indulgent path to feeling superior or a path to meaning, so why not put yourself through suffering to receive that moral reward? A few times, I considered if I was doing the same thing trying to catch up before the midterm.
In classic “Intro to Russian Lit” fashion, we jumped straight into Anna Karenina after the midterm. This novel covered many of the same themes — life, death, human nature — and I started looking forward to drawing comparisons. The pace of the class was still demanding, but I did find myself engaging with the book, which is what Morson hopes.
“I want people to learn why these books were so wonderful,” Morson says. “They don’t have to take it in faith that ‘These are supposed to be great books so I have to think it’s a great book.’ I want them to see why.”
The “why” of Anna Karenina the title: Anna Karenina herself. The class went over why the novel is called that (she’s a bit of a narcissist) but also why she’s so compelling despite the narcissism. Tolstoy has a gift for writing incredibly realistic characters who, although you hate them for cheating on their husbands, stick with you.
That brings us to the end of my time in this storied class, wherein I finished my first quarter of college on a random Wednesday afternoon in December, left reeling with the implications of life, death, human nature and far too many confusing Russian names.
These books are explorations into the human condition through the stories of some incredibly messed up people. They’re engaging, dense, chaotic and still hold up today. Despite the intense nature of the workload (or maybe because of it), students continually reach out to Morson about how much the course
Real life things I wrote down during this course — if you know, you know
⚫ Essence of soul
⚬ Russian
⚫ I am a bug (Ivan remix)
⚫ Science!
⚬ Can’t doubt that ⚬ Marxism
⚫ Plagiarism <3
⚫ “All of you in Medill better realize that without the devil, you’re out of a job”
⚫ WYSTCNBDYMTON?
⚫ Thick-calf males
impacted them. For him, that’s the most important thing.
“What you want to do when you
Eli J. Finkel
WARNING: if you’reXcurrently in a relationship right now, you might not make it after taking this class.
Wondering why over 250 students sign up each Fall Quarter for a course that basically teaches you why your relationships are doomed to fail? Let me regale you with my experience taking PSYCH 313: “Relationship Science,” hosted by the one and only Eli J. Finkel. Highlights include a concerning amount of statistics on people’s sexual fantasies, clips from movies that have aged very poorly since their debut and way too much Couples Therapy (the show, not actual couples therapy).
I walked into Ryan Family Auditorium at 3:30 p.m. on a rainy Tuesday afternoon like most students: naive, yet eager to learn about the science behind why people fall in love. For Finkel, these questions are essential to
I mean viewing our intuitions as falsifiable hypotheses.”
The best way to model relationships? Triangles. Not only did we spend vigorous amounts of time in class unpacking Maslow’s infamous hierarchy of needs, but we also learned about the triangular model of love, which depicts intimacy, passion and commitment on a 3-D map that can then help determine whether two partners “match” or not. These three components, when combined, also form their own types of love. Unfortunately, my situationship went from romantic love (passion plus intimacy) to nonlove prior to the first exam. Fortunately, this made studying much easier. I could simply list out the ways in which my hierarchy of needs was consistently not met by my now-ex. Finkel would have been proud.
“I believe that there’s real value in trying to think rigorously about relationships,” Finkel says. “And by rigorously,
The real highlight here was the wonder of Finkel office hours. Here, like-minded intellectuals come together and discuss the intricacies of attachment styles while exploring the power of Finkel’s famous “Marriage Hack” — a strategy that encourages partners to utilize thirdparty perspectives in solving conflicts within the relationship. We talked, we laughed and I walked out of Swift 116 as the newest research assistant for the Relationships and Motivation Lab (RAMLAB). Who says office hours aren’t enlivening?
Much of the common criticism around the field of relationship science is that it is somewhat out of step with modern relationships. To rectify that perception, Finkel invited Emma McGorray, one of his Ph.D. students at the time, to present on diversity in relationships, where she argued that white heterosexual couples are overrepresented in relationship science studies while people of color, sexual minorities and non-Western cultures are significantly underrepresented.
On Ryan Gosling: “He’s just Ken.”
On eHarmony:
“That is the whitest ad I have ever seen.”
On states of sexual arousal: “And I don’t mean Iowa ... but maybe.”
On capitalism: Kyle (from LoveisBlind): “I was talking to that girl about capitalism...” Finkel: “I’ve tried that excuse.”
On age gaps:
Would you dare me to go to Finkel’s office hours and ask him about age gap relationships (A real text I once sent in the middle of class)
However, Finkel sees progress being made in how relationship science is beginning to discuss these topics.
“Just because there’s been a big cultural shift on certain issues doesn’t mean the state of the scientific evidence has changed that much, but we can talk about it in more inclusive and sensitive ways,” Finkel says.
By the end, this class forced me to take a closer look at my close relationships and how they are formed — resulting in a series of existential crises that ended in emotional breakdowns but also very cathartic spiritual breakthroughs. Relationship Science may be long over, but if there’s one thing I truly learned from this class, it’s that Northwestern students are definitely not relationship material.
Diving into Northwestern’s longstanding partnership with the Veterans Health Administration.
WRITTEN BY HELEN RYAN // DESIGNED BY FIONA WU
President Abraham Lincoln once promised, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.” The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), established in 1989, set out to fulfill Lincoln’s promise. It consolidated the Veterans Health Association (VHA), Veterans Benefits Association (VBA) and National Cemetery Association (NCA) into an executive agency.
It was Northwestern that stepped up to collaborate with the VA and carry out its plan.
Dr. Paul Magnuson, former professor and the chairman at Northwestern’s Feinberg Medical School, recognized a gap in veterans’ healthcare after World War II, when over 100,000 military veterans returned to the U.S. in need of medical attention. However, the VA had a doctor shortage.
As a solution, Magnuson wanted to staff VHA hospitals with medical school faculty and residents. In 1946, the new VHA Department of Medicine and Surgery began to establish academic affiliations, with Northwestern leading the way. While the University lent its skilled staff and students, the VHA created a place for veterans to receive specialized care and for Northwestern students to learn.
Dr. Robert Rosa, the vice dean for regulatory affairs, who has served on the dean’s VA committee for over a decade, says that in 1946, people believed that care of the “veterans who had survived WWII, and were home now, was suboptimal because it wasn’t being run at the level of quality or supervision that one sees in academic medical centers.”
It was this specific shortcoming of the healthcare system that prompted Northwestern’s partnership with the VA, and many other institutions followed suit.
“[The VA hospital] offers more for that particular patient than most general hospitals would offer,” says Dr. Murray Levin, professor emeritus of medicine in the division of Nephrology and Hypertension, who also held leadership positions at the VHA Lakeside Hospital in the 1970s and 1980s. “I do think that most community hospitals don’t have the facilities to offer, in terms of support, not only medical but social and psychological, for some of these veterans.”
As a research associate professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Northwestern Medicine and the Hines VA hospital, Dr. Theresa Bender Pape has first-hand experience with breakthroughs in partnership with the VA.
“The first person who I helped recover consciousness from one of my clinical trials was a veteran at the Hines VA. He’d been in the vegetative state for nine years,” Bender Pape says. “Hines VA donated everything so he could get that treatment, and then I just paid for the ambulance ride over to Northwestern for the imaging. And after 21 treatment sessions… he said ‘Hi’ for the first time, and his family recorded it and sent it to his brother who was deployed in Afghanistan.”
While doctors like Bender Pape can conduct groundbreaking research, veterans receive high-quality and life-changing care centered on the specific conditions they face after
their time in the military. In fact, for most veterans, the VA hospitals are their primary and only source of healthcare and treatment.
“That’s what the VA brings to the table, in my opinion, the expertise on our most complex conditions,” Bender Pape says.
“We were their doctors of choice and of necessity.”
Dr. Robert Rosa Vice Dean for Regulatory Affairs
“The residents who are in training [at Northwestern] are being trained by some of the best, and those residents are learning about the uniqueness of veterans.”
The partnership between the institutions is highly effective and mutually beneficial, according to Bender Pape.
“Northwestern gets to give back to society, back to our veterans and they recognize the clinical expertise that the VA clinicians have,” Bender Pape says. “I think the partnership’s critical to being able to provide continued excellent care to our veterans. I don’t think one system alone can do it.”
The partnership gives medical students and faculty at institutions such as Feinberg the chance to work at VA hospitals and pursue impactful research by working with the VA and veteran patients.
The VA trains around 120,000 healthcare professionals a year, with 70% of all U.S. doctors having worked with the department. Annually, 195 Feinberg medical students spend part of their training with the VA, as well as 438 residents during the 2019-20 academic year. Working in VA hospitals has become an integral part of medical education around the country, and it started with Northwestern’s partnership.
“We were their doctors of choice and of necessity. So there was also a feeling that we have an obligation to take care of these individuals because they were veterans,” Rosa says.
Many of the cases doctors at the VA faced stuck with them as they learned about the patient’s history as a veteran. Levin reflects on a veteran’s case that particularly struck him, a man who suffered from many scars and adhesions on his abdomen after serving at Omaha Beach.
“He had been machine-gunned. He stayed in an army hospital for two and a half years, requiring multiple surgeries getting his intestines all hooked up again. Then he started developing adhesions,” Levin says. “When I saw him and I heard his history … I said to him, with this, you must be on 100% disability. And he looked at me and he said ‘What’s that?’ I said you mean it, you’re not on disability? And he said ‘I’ve never heard of it,
nobody ever told me about disability.’”
The veteran he treated was African American, and according to Levin, systemic racism within the healthcare system likely contributed to his lack of access to disability information and resources. After hearing about this, Levin helped him get 100% of his army salary.
“A lot of the academic centers are focused on studying disparities in the U.S. healthcare system, and the Chicago
VA has about a 70% minority population, so there’s that need.” says Dr. David Bentrem, professor of surgery at Northwestern and surgery service chief at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. “It serves a great role.”
According to Bender Pape, the medical care provided through this partnership is heavily centered on veterans and the unique struggles they face after their time in the military.
“The VA’s biggest knowledge set is the uniqueness of the care our veterans need, particularly the most vulnerable veterans, those with every complex, chronic condition you can think of, who are also really impoverished economically. Those clinicians in the VA understand these veterans and their needs,” Bender Pape says. “The VA’s unique research is important because they make the veterans their priority … The VA studies issues that are pertinent and specific to the veterans.”
Running for over 75 years, the partnership between the VA and academic institutions continues to be an essential part of veterans’ well-being and a cornerstone of Northwestern’s medical education. In recent years, the VA has provided training for over 118,000 people, and there are more than 1,800 institutions associated with VA medical centers.
“There’s a long-term haul for what we do as
researchers, so those memories, those moments, they’re encoded in my longterm memory,” Bender Pape says.
The Jesse Brown VA Hospital, where Northwestern’s partnership is centered, is receiving an updated electronic record system. The VA operates on an integrated system in which a veteran’s medical records can easily travel with them from one VA hospital to the next. According to Bentrem, the hospital is looking forward to the new system and improving the hospital experience for veterans.
“The economic realities are there and we do all that we can to try to meet the needs of the patients, whether it’s flexible
“We
Dr. Robert Rosa Vice Dean for Regulatory Affairs
scheduling or accommodating them when they can make it,” Bentrem says. “We work very hard to improve the access to the hospital.”
As the VA hospitals work toward innovation, Northwestern is right
alongside it. The partnership has been successful for decades, and even as Feinberg continues to change, the University remains committed to the veterans and their healthcare.
“It is a wonderful place to learn the practice of medicine,” Rosa says. “And, the patients need it, they deserve it, they’re very responsive and grateful for their care. We owe them for their service.”
Letters from 1968-72 reveal one student’s campus experiences and generational Northwestern truths.
WRITTEN BY JAMIE NEIBERG // DESIGNED BY SARAH JACOBS
“Dearest
All, Am sitting here tonight nervously waiting to hear my draft status. I will know tonight if I will have to serve. … Have my sociology paper due Thursday so will have to start working on that. I have done my interviews so all I have to do is present ten pages worth of crud.”
As an undergraduate from 196872 at Northwestern, Irwin “Trip” Rothschild wrote and called home weekly. His calls were brief to minimize long-distance fees from Evanston, Ill. to Los Angeles. His letters, now preserved in Special Collections at Main Library, highlight the experiences and anxieties of Northwestern students: ones that are both timely and timeless.
On a Monday night in 1969, in advance of the Selective Service System’s draft for Vietnam, Rothschild typed onto his monogrammed stationery, before he summarized his finals schedule, “Pray for me tonight, I need it … Will I live or will I die?”
More than 50 years later, Rothschild says over the phone that his letters were just part of his routine. “I have never seen [them] and don’t want to,” he chuckles. He dismisses them, critiquing his grammar, but the casual nature of his accounts resonates across generations.
When Rothschild started at Northwestern, it was amid the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy and the violent 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Campus, too, was tumultuous. Rothschild recalls “what a racist university” Northwestern was at the time. He arrived in Evanston under an eerie shadow from the prior year. He recalls hearing about Black students who “crashed” a fraternity party in the spring of 1968 and the fraternity brothers who threw furniture down onto them.
Throughout Rothschild’s undergraduate career, global events became more and more integrated into Evanston life. Rothschild’s longest letter home, dated May 14, 1972, is a six-page account titled “A Week of Revolution.”
It describes campus life after Richard Nixon’s address, where he announced that the lives of 60,000 American troops in Vietnam were still at risk and that the nation needed to continue taking “decisive military action.”
Students marched to the Northwestern president’s office, protesting for George McGovern, a Northwestern alum and the 1972 Democratic candidate for president. Meanwhile, the administration took the inopportune moment to increase the housing price by 20% per room and raise tuition by $300. In protest of the
During his years in Evanston, Rothschild’s love life was a rollercoaster:
“Five different girls have turned down my offers in less than two weeks,”
“The women are finally discovering what a good thing I am,”
“Nancy is really the one,”
“Some guys can snap their fingers and the girls come running and I can talk to a girl every day in class and still not get dates with them.”
Ultimately, Rothschild dated a student named Barb, whom he “spent half his life with” in college. Now, over fifty years later, Rothschild remembers Barb as his first serious relationship.
Vietnam War and systems thought of as “oppressive” more broadly, students barricaded Sheridan Road at Chicago Avenue, causing police to redirect traffic. They protested all night and voted to go on strike, canceling classes.
Rothschild noted the strike felt like “a carnival … No one seemed to be taking the protest seriously.” By the next morning, the students lifted the blockade. Students migrated to Sheridan Road and passed out pamphlets to “the
“It wasn’t like the kind of division you had this year on campus between the [pro-Palestine]
protesters and many others.”
rich bastards going home to their North Shore mansions.” They asked drivers to turn on their lights for peace. “Most drivers cooperated. Many cooperated because they agreed with students; many others out of intimidation by thousands of students,” Rothschild wrote. Even today, Rothschild still recalls the scene of flashing car lights.
Reflecting on campus protests now, Rothschild remembers when thenCongressman Floyd Spence (R-SC) spoke
at the Northwestern Vietnam protests. Rothschild recalls politicians speaking of “bombing Haiphong so it’s no longer on the map.” Rothschild says, “That was certainly not a popular view.” Yet, no matter who was speaking on campus, he says students “attended and were very respectful — there was no shutting down anyone.”
Comparing the campus atmosphere of today to that of the early 1970s, he notes how the students and faculty were once united in protest.
“It wasn’t like the kind of division you had this year on campus between the [pro-Palestine] protesters and many others,” Rothschild says.
Rothschild wrote home about big fears, but he was just as preoccupied with the day-to-day at Northwestern. Rothschild, who is Jewish, rushed a fraternity. He initially was interested in independent life at Northwestern, as he wrote in his letters, and then “realized that there was, in reality, none.” He visited many fraternities during rush week “and found one thing in common: They didn’t want me.”
“I felt I made a very good impression on them, but because I have a name that ends with Rothschild, I am excluded,” he wrote.
Eventually, he decided to pledge Sigma Alpha Mu, a Jewish fraternity, but only after he confronted the feeling
built up in him that “Jewish fraternities were nothings.”
Throughout his undergraduate career, Rothschild worked with renowned Northwestern history professor Richard Leopold, with whom he completed an independent study. Leopold would assign Rothschild more than 450 pages of weekly readings and invite him back to his Evanston apartment to discuss the material. Leopold wrote Rothschild’s law school recommendation letter; Rothschild still has a copy of it that he rereads occasionally.
“I talked [law school applications] over with Dr. Leopold and he told me I was too jittery about the whole thing,” Rothschild wrote in one letter. “His words were, ‘You are too worried, there are very few Trip Rothschilds.’”
After Rothschild graduated, he attended law school at UCLA for $700 a year. He then moved to the D.C. metro area, where he began working at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This was the office where he met his wife, with whom he shares two daughters (one a Northwestern graduate) and three grandsons. He retired in late 2015 after more than 40 years working for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. His reason for retiring: more time to canvass, phone bank and write postcards for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
Being at Northwestern during such a politically active time prepared Rothschild for a lifetime of political involvement. In 1972, Rothschild wrote to his parents, trying to convince them to vote against Nixon. “This country is now as corrupt as any in the world. … My politics are governed by one thought. Richard Nixon must be beaten in November.”
Rothschild’s political convictions remained just as strong during the 2024 election. This fall, he canvassed regularly and wrote more than 1,100 postcards to Democratic voters in Ohio by the middle of October.
“I
requested my absentee ballot tonight,” Rothschild wrote in a 1972 letter home.
“In New York, they are not allowing absentee balloting. They must be afraid of the student vote. … I think I should end this letter (diatribe). I hope you found it entertaining, informative and provocative. I believe every word I wrote in this letter. If you still claim me, I look forward to hearing from you later in the week.
Peace, Love and Alienation, Trip.”
Medill’s Master of Science in Journalism program is one year and teaches modern storytelling methods with a foundation in fact-based reporting and editing.
Students participate in a one-week immersive reporting trip (either U.S. or abroad) during winter quarter.
WRITTEN BY GABBY SHELL // DESIGNED BY CLAIRE BOMA
*Editor’s Note: Names have been changed to protect students’ identity.
As the sun sets through the window of University Hall Room 112, its off-white walls, aging projector and half-broken desk chairs are put to use for one more hour, now as a ‘guerilla’ classroom, an egalitarian educational space where students learn from, teach and discuss with each other. There are no professors in sight.
Leaving his lectern, the discussion leader distributes a stack of stapled papers. His peers surround him, many wearing keffiyehs — white and black linen scarves dotted and lined with red, yellow or green — a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian people. The students begin to collectively dissect the meaning of the text in front of them: the new Northwestern demonstration policy.
The class was part of a series of teach-ins for Disorientation Week, a “week of raising consciousness and building movement” through educational and social programming held by a coalition of student activist groups on campus, according to the initiative’s official Instagram.
The programming highlighted various causes — climate justice, labor rights on campus and navigating resources for marginalized students — but one issue in particular dominated the week. Every group that helped plan Disorientation Week is explicitly pro-Palestine, using their platform at Northwestern to highlight the mounting death and destruction in Gaza from Israel’s continued military campaign. Since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack into Israel that killed or captured around
1,500 people, Israel has killed an estimated 3,000 Lebanese and 43,000 Palestinians in its multi-front war as of Nov. 10.
Earlier in Disorientation Week, on the war’s one-year anniversary, Northwestern Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organized a pro-Palestine rally at the Rock. The rally was held at 1 p.m., a direct violation of Northwestern’s new demonstration policy implemented in September, which prohibits demonstrations at the Rock before 3 p.m. and elevated sound in the area before 5 p.m. Ninety minutes in, protesters were ordered to disperse or face suspension. Within three days, multiple attendees received emails that they were under investigation for breaching the code of conduct.
In addition to time, place and manner restrictions on the Rock and surrounding area, the new policies prohibit demonstrations that obstruct movement on campus, impede University events or occur overnight. Their definition of demonstration is wide-ranging, including protests, parades and teach-ins, among other displays. To prevent future encampments, the policy forbids all tents except one for guarding the Rock.
Seen largely as a response to the proPalestinian encampment on Deering Meadow last spring, these new restrictions have drawn criticism from activists for their ambiguity and unequal enforcement. These regulations are just the latest chapter in Northwestern’s
Students gather in front of Deering Library for an anti-Nazi rally in 1980. The Meadow has long been a popular place for demonstrations, owing to its size, visibility and history.
Color was finally flooding back to campus: Pastel flowers peeked out of the light green shoots, sparkling as the warm sun reflected off of the morning dew. Students flocked outside to Deering Meadow — but not to admire the landscape of the hardwon spring or fawn over the newest crop of baby animals.
The anti-war movement had come to Northwestern.
For a week straight, student protesters occupied Deering Meadow and Sheridan Road. The air was fresh, the spirit revolutionary. Smells of hot-cooked meals wafted across the “liberated” lawn, through student-led teach-ins on race, war and imperialism, communal song sessions exhorting peace and hope, and chants demanding the end of American involvement in the foreign war. The year was 1970.
Over half a century later, student activists were back.
For five days last April, the “Northwestern Liberated Zone” on Deering Meadow monopolized campus discourse. By commandeering a central and historic part of campus, organizers hoped the community would be forced to grapple with the devastation in Gaza and the ostracization of Arab students at Northwestern.
“You had to walk past Deering, you had to confront what was going on,” Communication fourth-year Ethan* says. Ethan*, who spent nearly all of those five days on the Meadow, believes the encampment’s visibility fostered
many necessary conversations about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at times across ideological lines.
This conversation wasn’t just limited to the Meadow or even Northwestern: In 1970 and in 2024, Northwestern’s anti-war encampments influenced the national conversation. In the ‘70s, the University’s advanced radio presence propelled the story nationally; last spring, Northwestern made headlines after successfully negotiating an end to the encampment, making various commitments in the name of increased financial transparency.
Both movements successfully controlled the dialogue in part because of the Meadow’s visibility, right on Sheridan Road. But the location was more than just strategic, explains Jeff Rice (CAS ‘72), one of the organizers for the 1970 Sheridan barricade and then-president of the Northwestern chapter for Students for a Democratic Society.
“[Deering Meadow] was where students played frisbee, where students smoked dope, probably where students fell in love, where ROTC practiced their marching, where protests of 50 or 5,000 people took place,” Rice says. “It was the communal space on campus.”
Many student organizing movements at Northwestern have successfully occupied spaces to confront the administration. In 1968, several Black students chained closed the revolving door to a small, nondescript red brick building. The group had taken over the building housing the Northwestern Bursar’s Office, which oversees all tuition collection.
Thirty-eight hours later, the students walked back out with an agreement securing a Black Studies program, on-campus housing reserved specifically for Black students and University-provided space for the Black House, among other promises.
On May 3, 1968, a group of Black Northwestern students took over the Bursar’s Office. Supporters who opted not to occupy the building showed solidarity by picketing the office until the administration met a list of demands.
Less than a hundred steps away stands the Rebecca Crown Center, a sprawling Brutalist office complex home to many of the administration’s most important offices. It was also the battleground of a 1985 push for Northwestern to divest from Apartheid South Africa.
Northwestern police arrested 95 antiApartheid protesters for a sit-in outside then-President Arnold Weber’s office. Students responded by renaming the building the “Mandela Center” and occupying the courtyard for the next seven days. The pressure was undeniable: The Board of Trustees agreed to consider divestment. Six months later, they amended their investment policy.
Sometimes, protests just generate disruption and awareness. When choosing where to hold their “Pay, Power and Protections” rally last fall, the Northwestern Graduate Workers Union (NUGW) set their sights on the courtyard outside Silverman Hall.
“We need to get people to turn up for their coworkers and colleagues and for themselves,” says Mounica Sreesai, the union’s current solidarity chair, area chief steward and contract bargaining committee member. “We wanted to be really visible in a spot where that would be possible, especially in the STEM disciplines.”
The rally energized and mobilized many graduate students, crucial in building a base of support as NUGW continued to bargain with the University for a union contract — one they secured in February.
The only place on campus singled out in the new demonstration guidelines, the Rock is increasingly the face of current campus activism. While demonstrations
around it are limited in time and manner, the Rock is now the sole place on campus where a tent is permitted overnight.
For Medill fourth-year and Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) organizer Isabelle Butera, the Rock is “almost the last place of unrestricted free speech on campus.”
Since September, the usual club promotions on the Rock have been regularly interspersed with calls for a free Palestine and fairer treatment of Northwestern workers, among other causes.
But the Rock’s protest power goes beyond just painted slogans — it is home to the longest protest encampment in Northwestern history. In 1995, members
During the holiday of Sukkot, the Northwestern chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace paints the Rock for Palestine. Long a show of student spirit, the Rock is now one of the last places for free expression on campus, activists say.
Nearly 500 anti-Vietnam war protesters march on Rebecca Crown Center in 1970. The building houses the offices of the President, Provost, Registrar and Board of Trustees.
removed from Deering Meadow on Oct. 16 for violating the new policies, JVP decided to paint the Rock, using their rebuilt structure as the “tent.”
A sukkah is a temporary outdoor structure without a roof, built to celebrate Sukkot, a week-long Jewish festival in the fall.
According to the administration, though, it did not qualify as a tent. Within an hour of erecting their sukkah, JVP watched as the University’s Event Support Team carted it away.
“The Rock has always been a symbol of Northwestern student spirit — spirit in the broadest sense of the word,” Pendakur
When Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) mentioned his name on Capitol Hill in May, Medill professor Steven Thrasher read the writing on the wall. He stood at the precipice of a legal and academic fight with the Northwestern administration.
Thrasher, part of a small group of staff and faculty that participated in the Deering protest on April 25, blocked police as students set up their initial encampment.
Banks’ comment came during a hearing about antisemitism where Northwestern President Michael Schill testified on the encampment to the House Committee on Workforce and Education.
Referring to Thrasher as a “goon,” Banks demanded to know if he was still teaching students. When President Schill refused to comment, Banks just shook his head: “Had your cake and ate it, too.”
While on the hill, President Schill refused to acquiesce to any punitive demands — but it wasn’t long before the administration was doling out discipline.
In late June, Thrasher received notice that Northwestern was pressing criminal charges for obstructing police officers. Two other Northwestern faculty members and one graduate student were charged with the same crime. But Thrasher alleges that the human chain the few faculty and staff members cobbled together was a symbolic show of support for the students; it was the campus police, he says, that chose to escalate the situation.
“They could have just walked around us,” Thrasher says. Instead, “the [Northwestern] police just came in and hit us and kicked us and tried to push us down and tried to knock us down.”
Aside from Thrasher’s case, the administration declined to punish protesters, negotiating with organizers for an end to the encampment without any further arrests. In context, the deal made between the University and the encampment’s organizers seemed like something to celebrate, says Weinberg fourth-year and encampment participant Paz Baum.
But when Northwestern rolled out their revised demonstration policies in September, Baum’s short-lived optimism faded.
“These new policies have shown me that they don’t actually care about the safety of their students,” she says.
The policies drew scrutiny from current and former student activists for their obscure language that seemed, to many, to restrict free speech on campus.
“The fact that it is so open-ended almost [punishes] a lot of things that aren’t protesting,” says Weinberg third-year Ruth Debono, a member of the climate justice advocacy group Fossil Free Northwestern. “We don’t know what’s technically allowed.”
The new policies have come along with increased surveillance. When the Northwestern Event Support Team came to remove JVP’s second sukkah, Butera was told, despite her mask, the administration
knew exactly who she was; hours later, she received an email that she had three compounding disciplinary infractions.
“They are very much actively watching all those cameras and identifying people,” Butera says.
“
These new policies have shown me that they don’t actually care about the safety of their students.
- Paz Baum Weinberg fourth-year ”
For Pendakur, who remembers a much friendlier administration, this new attitude towards student protesters is worrying for the future of both campus activism and the nation, as students internalize the consequences of speaking up.
“What lesson are we teaching [current students] when we erode or subvert democratic principles of organizing protest, resistance, et cetera, through fairly Draconian time, place and manner restrictions?” she asks.
1933
Northwestern
1946-1954
Student activists successfully fight to eliminate racist housing practices at Northwestern and in Evanston.
1968
A group of Black students take over the Bursar’s Office to protest racist policies at Northwestern; University administrators negotiate to get them out.
1975
Several anti-NROTC protesters are arrested after a picket turned into a violent scuffle with police.
1979- 1984
1970
Anti-Vietnam war students barricade Sheridan road, shutting down class for a week.
The student-led Anti-Apartheid Alliance organizes a years-long campaign of pickets, sit-ins and shanty towns to persuade the University to divest from Apartheid South Africa.
But Northwestern has no legal imperative to protect the speech of students — as a private institution, the University’s free speech guidelines are “constrained only by its normative commitment to open inquiry and debate,” says Medill Professor Craig LaMay, currently teaching a class on media and First Amendment law. Even if it was a public school, LaMay says, the new limits fall well within established constitutional guidelines.
“If you’re teaching in University Hall and there’s some guy out there with a bullhorn or people yelling or making it difficult for students to get to class, it obviously infringes on the prerogatives of the nonpublic forum, the classroom,” LaMay explains. “It’s always hard to claim that your speech should trump mine.”
For members of the Northwestern community who disagreed with the pro-Palestine encampment, the new guidelines show the administration is making a clear effort to protect students’ safety and heal the campus climate after a divisive and politically charged spring.
Weinberg fourth-year Sari Eisen, the current Hillel student president, welcomes the new demonstration policies.
“[The encampment] made it harder to focus on my academics,” she says. “I put all of my attention towards that. I was
being distracted by chants and signs and social media.”
Eisen recalls the mental toll of passing signs with antisemitic imagery on the way to class; one sign, she remembers, showcased the Star of David crossed out, and another depicted President Schill, who is Jewish, with horns and blood around his lips, reminiscent of the ancient “blood-libel” trope.
While there were no physical barriers on campus, she says, there were instances where professors canceled classes or relocated them to Deering Meadow, forcing Jewish students who may not have agreed with the pro-Palestinian encampment to choose between their education and their ideology.
It is difficult for some community members to justify the most disruptive elements of these protests at the expense of other students’ education, a call that has followed major student movements through the years.
“The students who want to go to class, the students who are Jewish and want to get their education without fearing for their safety, should be able to do so without running a gauntlet,” Stuart Gibson (Medill ‘73) says.
Gibson felt similarly as a student back in 1970; while he respected the anti-war protests, he grew increasingly frustrated when their tactics — obstructing walkways, drowning out lectures and shutting down class for a week — began to impede his learning.
But for many student activists, disruption is key to the message.
“The point of an action is to remind people that we are not living in a normal time right now and that there is something going on that you need to know,” Sandy*, SESP third-year and a member of multiple current student activist organizations, explains.
While the new demonstration policies may be intended to cool tensions on campus, student activists see them as a hostile — and motivating — message.
“I have never been more angry and fired up and wanting to speak out and to continue organizing for Palestine than I am right now,” Butera says.
Butera says the policies are also indicative of the University’s true priority: protecting its bottom line. For many activists, including her, it was hard to reconcile the new policies with messaging in classes and official marketing that celebrates Northwestern’s rich progressive history.
“This school will be unabashedly hypocritical in that it will have renowned professors of social justice — in fact, an entire school committed to social justice — and a renowned school of journalism claiming to care about free speech,” Butera says. “It will celebrate activism of the past and then condemn it in the present.”
1988
Students protest CIA recruitment at Northwestern, dozens are arrested.
1995
The AAAB organizes a 23day hunger strike at the Rock for the creation of an Asian American Studies program; the program opens in 1999.
1999
Students protest the presence of Matt Haye, a white supremacist, near campus.
2017
Northwestern students shut down a guest lecture from an ICE agent.
2019
2020
As Black Lives Matter protests mobilize the nation, students at Northwestern advocate for the abolition of campus police and the resignation of then-President Morton Schapiro.
Former attorney general Jeff Sessions is invited by NU College Republicans to give a speech; protesters disrupt the talk both inside and out of the hall.
2024
Northwestern students organize a five-day pro-Palestiniam encampment, pressuring administration to divest from companies with holdings in Israel.
Disruption may be critical to raising awareness, but student activists highlight the importance of education in building a cohesive movement.
“We were always of the belief — and this is very important — that you had to have a series of actions and then you had to have a series of teachings,” Rice says of the 1970 anti-war movement.
These teach-ins counter dominant narratives that often exclude marginalized viewpoints, activists explain. Importantly, they empower students and community members to share knowledge and challenge their existing thoughts.
The sessions played a similarly important role in the 1995 hunger strike, where students and graduate workers hosted regular classes on Asian history, literature and political organizing, and even tried to engage those who disagreed with them.
“You don’t have to agree with the premise [of these encampments],” Pendakur says. “But then you have to engage with the premise, to debate it, to discuss it, to figure out ‘What are your hang-ups about it?’”
For the hunger strike, teach-ins drew large crowds that showed the administration a clear demand for an Asian American Studies program.
While activists often run teach-ins alongside protests and political campaigns, they aren’t necessarily mutually intertwined. Not all the teach-ins have a political bend, either. Throughout the October Disorientation Week, groups hosted classes on the Northwestern administrative structures, understanding the rights laid out in the updated student handbook and histories of Northwestern activism.
For Sandy * , seeing students internalize these lessons — whether or not they engage with the broader cause — is worth it.
“Even if it just means that you read an email from President Schill and you think twice about it, or you’re in a dining hall and you spend an extra two minutes talking to the worker,” they say. “If that’s all you’re doing based on something we put together, some event or some materials we sent out, that, I think, makes such a huge difference.”
The immense student support for Palestine present last spring has, to some extent, dissipated. Throughout Northwestern’s history, student groups have found a way to pick up the pieces and keep moving forward — even if that means reassessing the channels they’re working through.
“We have these big, direct actions,” Sandy* says, recalling the encampment last spring. “But the important work that really sustains the movement and creates opportunities for gains to be made happens after, too.”
Fossil Free is shifting away from a 10year fight for institutional fossil fuel divestment to campus-level sustainability initiatives. Organizers say the change is part of a new chapter, not an end to their fight for climate justice. The group is currently investigating ways to build allies in the administration and ensure the work continues long after current students graduate.
“
We’re sitting in a room with somebody who has eyes and ears on us, and also the ability to remove us from this university.
- Sandy* SESP third-year
”
Finding administrative allies has long been a tactic for student activists pursuing change. In 1997, the fight for an Asian American Studies program was sped along when UCLA English department chair Eric Sundquist assumed the position of dean of Weinberg College. His support for the Asian American Studies program was crucial as student activists worked to convince the rest of the administration. Two years after Sundquist came to Northwestern, the program officially opened.
But finding sympathetic allies in administration isn’t always clear cut,
current activists lament, especially with the increased surveillance.
“We’re not just sitting in a room with somebody,” Sandy* explains. “We’re sitting in a room with somebody who has eyes and ears on us, and also the ability to remove us from this university.”
Student activists say the University is often purposefully opaque. Xelena González (Weinberg ‘01), a member of Latin American student alliance Alianza and an advocate for the creation of a Latino studies program during her undergrad years, says administrators would offer compromises that, when parsed through, offered the students few real benefits.
They were “very skilled at placating people,” she says, recalling her frustration with her peers who often took the deals at face value.
Current activists echo González’s frustrations; pointing to the University’s commitment to full disclosure in the Deering Meadow Agreement, Ethan* says the financial holdings that have since been released are far from accessible.
“They have made that information so incredibly hard to decipher and comb through — it’s just such a joke,” Ethan* adds. “It’s totally done on purpose.”
For most student activists, even when they found strategic allies within the administration, it still felt like they were pushing up against a wall. Sreesai recalls
the struggle to get a contract for graduate workers last fall even while working with some sympathetic faculty.
“The [administration] was constantly trying to stall,” Sreesai adds. The only way graduate workers pushed their contract forward was by showing the administration it wasn’t just the 25 members of the bargaining committee who were fighting, “but that there are all these other people who are organized to take action.”
Repeatedly, student activists — past and present — highlight the importance of one word: community.
Facing arrests, suspensions and isolation, organizers say it can be
challenging to convince members of the movement that the cause is worth it.
Pendakur and other members of AAAB similarly struggled in the aftermath of the hunger strike. While their encampment at the Rock generated broad student support, it ended with few tangible results.
When the leaders of AAAB returned the next fall, they faced two compounding realities: Many of their members had shifted their focus back to other commitments or were struggling with burnout. To keep the movement alive, they realized they needed to first focus on their people.
“How do you break bread together, make community together and find joy together? Because it can’t all be struggle,” Pendakur says.
As student activists explore what organizing looks like this year, many have
A professor of Naval Science speaks in front of interested students at a 1971 teach-in. Across movements, activists have hosted teach-ins to expose students to viewpoints and histories not often taught by the University.
come to the same conclusion that AAAB did nearly 30 years ago. In addition to strategic and political meetings, many of the groups are hosting movie and game nights for “collective care and healing,” Sandy* says.
“At the end of the day, it’s just a space for like-minded people,” Ethan* says.
While cultivating a community of care may be difficult, Northwestern students have proven it can be done. For nearly a decade, one offshoot of the Northwestern antiwar movement managed to strike this elusive balance.
Born in 1971 from the liberated basement of Scott Hall, the Amazingrace Coffeehouse became a local hub for music, food and leftist causes. Two of the founders, Jeff Beamsley (Engineering ‘72) and Andy Frances (Speech ‘71) were inspired by the community in the 1970 encampment.
The coffeehouse “was this cultural touchstone [where] people who still had interest in politics, alternate lifestyles and exploring the hippie ethos of peace and love, could gather,” Beamsley says.
Through the years, Amazingrace cycled through locations and students, but the central message remained the same. Show after show, the ‘Gracers sold out; the sets were so popular students who couldn’t get in would sit outside just to listen.
“We failed at the big things,” like voting Nixon out of office or ending the Vietnam War, Beamsley says. “But I believe that we succeeded at the small things, changing the world by changing the lives of its inhabitants — one at a time.”
But even Amazingrace had an expiration date — evicted from their venue in The Main in 1978, the few remaining ‘Gracers called it quits after an eight-year run.
“It is difficult to sustain any altered state of reality,” Beamsley reflects. “Ultimately, people burn out.”
As student activists at Northwestern navigate the new demonstration guidelines, they are also running up against the quintessential problems of student organizing: leaders graduate, people on the periphery tune out and the movement loses steam.
The pro-Palestinian encampment last spring boasted thousands of students at its peak, but, since school has resumed session this fall, organizers for SJP and JVP have struggled to draw even a fraction of that crowd.
To sustain organizational knowledge as members graduate, activist groups encourage underclassmen to take on more responsibility, Sandy* says. This means helping newer members find the roles that best suit them — roles they can play in or out of these organizations.
For Pendakur, training the next generation was of utmost importance. The more activists foster knowledge and skills within their movement, “the more likely it is that it’ll be developed and carried forward even if [the University does] take away parts of it,” she says.
Student activists at Northwestern may be stuck forever walking through a revolving door, but that means every year, they walk out with their experience.
How the Supreme Court’s ruling is forcing Northwestern to rethink its admissions strategy — and what that
means for future students of color.
WRITTEN BY TERESA JIA & YANA JOHNSON // DESIGNED BY JUNE WOO
On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that left college admissions offices across the nation scrambling.
For decades, universities like Northwestern had taken race into account when considering an applicant’s overall profile. This policy, commonly known as affirmative action, was established to benefit students from marginalized backgrounds and help diversify historically homogenous elite institutions. As many admissions officers argue, it was also implemented to broaden the span of ideas and experiences on college campuses.
But in an instant, the Students for Fair Admissions, Inc (SFFA). v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina et al. decisions made it final: The affirmative action era of American higher education was over.
During the 2023-24 college admissions cycle, Harvard University experienced a decrease from 18% to 14% undergraduate enrollment for Black-identifying students.
The University of North Carolina (UNC) system also saw changes to policies and cuts to DEI staff, in what its Board of Governors called an effort to maintain “institutional neutrality.”
At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the UNC' system's flagship school, incoming students who identified as Black made up just 7.8% of the first-year population this fall, compared to 10.5% last year.
On Sept. 24, 2024, Northwestern announced its profile for the Class of 2028, appearing to defy the odds. While other elite institutions across the country saw sizable decreases in enrollment of Black-identifying students, Northwestern’s enrollment of first-year Black-identifying students rose to 15.4%, an all-time high. Enrollment of first-year white-identifying students dropped nearly 5% from last year.
An Education Reform Now study found that Northwestern’s Black-
identifying enrollment increased by 11% from the previous two years’
of 2027, for example, over 20% of the first-year class indicated holding two or more races/ethnicities. Additionally, 16% of the Class of 2028 are the firstgeneration college students.
Northwestern’s reaction to the Supreme Court decision was swift and decisive — regardless of any ruling, its commitment to championing diversity would remain unchanged. However, as is the case with many elite, predominantly white institutions (PWIs) in the United States, Northwestern’s history of fostering racial representation is complex and not always reflective of what Northwestern stands for today.
complicated past
Compared to other elite universities, Northwestern’s history of admitting and adequately serving students of color is somewhat unremarkable. The school’s first Black-identifying student to earn an undergraduate degree, Lawyer Taylor, was a member of the graduating Class of 1903, decades after Harvard College graduated its first Black-identifying student in 1870. However, Northwestern was still decades ahead of Princeton University, which awarded its first B.A. to a Black-identifying undergraduate in 1947.
Northwestern’s history of racial discrimination is well documented. Black-identifying graduates from decades past remember a campus that was deeply exclusionary and discriminatory, both within the classroom and the social sphere. As late as the 1960s, white
students placed in a room with Black students frequently — and successfully — requested to switch to a room with other white students. Black students making the same request, however, were often denied.
offer all citizens equal treatment by law. Additionally, he had written in an earlier case that universities only value diversity on campus in order to “obtain their aesthetic student body.”
“I think the removal of affirmative action requires that Black students, Hispanic students, [their identity] needs to be a core part of their application.”
Margarita Williams Medill second-year
There were demonstrations in support of fair housing in the time leading up to and, to a lesser extent, as part of the 1968 Bursar’s Office Takeover, in which student activists occupied the administrative building for 38 hours.
Factoring race into college decisions was intended to edify a campus’ student body, not diminish its value. Opponents of affirmative action, however, saw the policy as solely achieving the latter.
Many of those against affirmative action policies felt it minimized the competitive nature of selective schools by parceling off spots that they believed should go to the student most academically qualified, rather than the student who fulfills a racial quota. Justice Clarence Thomas, who voted in favor of barring racial exclusions from the college admissions process, argued in a concurring opinion that factoring race into collegiate decisions was a violation of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, which orders that states must
In her dissent for the SFFA case, Justice Sonia Sotomayor provided a counter to Thomas’ argument, writing that the Court exhibited an “unjustified exercise of power” and the Court’s opinion “will serve only to highlight the Court’s own impotence in the face of an America whose cries for equality resound.”
The Supreme Court decisions came in June, months before the beginning of another college application season, which added an extra layer of concern for students who now wondered what the change would mean for their ability to be accepted into the schools of their choice.
“I have colleagues that have had students, or have students, that thought, ‘Is it illegal for me to apply to college now?’” says Carolyn Blair, a high school college counselor in St. Louis, whose students were among the first affected by the policy change.
She believes the loss of affirmative action may create disparities in how colleges approach policy changes, which will impact diversity within higher education.
“There’s just sort of different ways that colleges will figure out how to pool the class of best students best fit for their students,” Blair says.
While history may have shown otherwise, the last two incoming classes at Northwestern have become increasingly diverse in terms of racial and demographic statistics. The University has not only formed classes representative of America’s racial demographic, but it has also statistically overrepresented racial minorities such as Black, Latinx/e and Asian American students.
Though the Northwestern University Admissions Office could not be reached for comment, President Michael Schill has previously been quoted speaking about the concerted efforts Northwestern takes to ensure a diverse student body.
“Holistic admissions review and widening college access reflect Northwestern’s values. Now we get to see those values bear out in this remarkable new class,” Schill says in Northwestern Now.
One way that Northwestern reacted to the affirmative action ruling was by changing their application essays. Instead
of the traditional "Why Northwestern?" prompt, prospective students are asked to write a 300-word response detailing how their background, identity or community impacted how they see themselves engaging in the Northwestern community.
Though the prompts were open to all interpretations of the concept of identity, many students and applicants saw it as Northwestern’s attempt to bypass the Supreme Court ruling.
“[The new essay prompts] got the ‘Why Northwestern’ concept behind it,” Weinberg second-year Hannah Kim says. “Maybe they are trying to compensate for the kind of actions that have been taken against affirmative action … I think it’s a new approach, and it covers different bases.”
Medill first-year Lizzy Sidman sees it as a strategic move by Northwestern to adapt to a changing admission landscape. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision, they say it’s smart that Northwestern is finding ways to prioritize the same goals as before.
“It was a good choice on Northwestern’s part,” Sidman says. “You could write about your identity, and you could write about all the experiences that you’ve had in a way that could let Northwestern know what struggles you’ve had.”
For some students, however, this workaround presented them with conflicting emotions. On the one hand, they acknowledge the need for space to disclose racial identity, yet they find the way that this space has been opened to be cheap and performative.
“I think the removal of affirmative action requires that Black students, Hispanic students, [their race] needs to be a core of their application and a core of their
identity,” Medill second-year Margarita Williams says. “And I don’t think you should have to do that to prove you’re Black, or you’re Hispanic, or whatever.”
Williams, who described herself as being “a very Black-centered person,” says it was natural for her application to be very focused on her racial identity and the pride she has in it. Yet, she argues, there is a disingenuity that comes with requiring students of color to disclose and elaborate on that identity if they want that identity to be factored into their application. Forcing students of color to advertise themselves as such, she feels, is little more than poor advocacy on the part of universities.
“If that’s a part of who you are, the fact that you would have to brand yourself as an advertisement is really disingenuous,” Williams says. “I think it moves us in a backward direction.”
However, for Medill first-year Elsa Qin, the impact of the affirmative action ruling has been “very minimal.” She says that her admissions outcome would have likely been the same regardless of her race.
“I didn’t really think too much about it, and I don’t think it’s going to make a big impact,” Qin says.
The revised application also includes five optional essays, of which applicants are encouraged to submit one or two. These questions ask students how they envision themselves participating in various aspects of campus culture, including academics, student groups and painting the Rock.
Along with the change, Northwestern has discontinued alumni interviews and introduced a new “Alumni Conversations” program for the 2024-25 undergraduate application season. The
Alumni Admissions Council (AAC), a global network of alumni representing Northwestern in their communities, previously conducted optional alumni interviews as part of the application process. These one-on-one conversations with AAC members will now “recruit prospective students rather than evaluate applicants under review,” the Office of Undergraduate Admission wrote in an email to the AAC in July.
Although Northwestern has removed alumni interviews from the application process, Blair says that even the removal of one element that can be considered as part of a student’s college application does not necessarily disqualify them from acceptance. Many students are qualified for admission to an elite academic institution; admissions committees look for what makes different individuals distinct.
“They're working to meet their admissions goals, whatever those may be,” Blair says. “If they need a tuba player, and that player’s GPA isn’t as high as others but they believe they can handle the work, they'll admit that tuba player.”
Despite the potential ramifications following the removal of affirmative action in collegiate admissions, students say they still feel that Northwestern has been effective in maintaining and encouraging diversity.
“As I am looking around, look at my class, everyone I’ve talked to is from diverse countries, [with] diverse perspectives, different gender, sexualities, races, ethnicities, nationalities,” Sidman says. “I don’t know how it has been before this, but from my perspective, Northwestern has done a relatively good job.”
For Medill first-year Desiree Luo, the promise of a diverse student body was part of why she chose Northwestern. Diversity, she explains, is integral to making the classroom a better place.
“Diversity is more perspective,” Luo says. “And the way you learn is by learning about other perspectives, by hearing about things that you’ve never heard of before.”
Coming from a racially homogenous high school, she chose Northwestern partly to immerse herself in an environment different from the one she grew up in, and have a chance to meet people with different experiences.
Williams, who herself came from a high school she described as primarily made up of Asian American and white students, shares a similar sentiment. And though she describes Northwestern as “a lot more diverse” than her high school, she stops short of defining Northwestern as a diverse school.
What the affirmative action era brought to collegiate practices was the value of upholding and appreciating not only racial and financial diversity in the classroom and on campus, but also diversity of experience and thought. The era’s loss begs the question of whether Northwestern can still uphold those values, without judicial rulings in place expecting it to do so. Additionally, it raises the question of how successful Northwestern was at upholding those values to begin with.
Williams admits that occasionally she laments not choosing a school with more diversity, such as the large state school she considered prior to choosing Northwestern. Football games, Black social life and the size of the spaces allocated for students of color all at some points make her wish she had chosen a different, larger, more diverse school.
“I see the HBCUs, the homecoming and stuff, and I’m like, ‘Where is our homecoming?’” Williams says. “I want to have that.”
The days of affirmative action in American collegiate practices are over. Northwestern, as well as all other universities grappling with what this means
“Diversity is more perspective. And the way you learn is by learning about other perspectives, by hearing about things that you've never heard of before.”
Desiree Luo Medill first-year
for their admissions processes, can only look forward. However, many students feel the best course of action can only be gained from a critical gaze into the past. Northwestern’s community, and those who hope to join it, seem to suggest that by listening to what they want from their peers and their administration, Northwestern may easily find its path forward.
They may start with students such as Williams, who, despite her list of concerns with the performative nature of Northwestern’s treatment towards students of color, emphasized her fondness for Northwestern, regardless of what she sees as its flaws and shortcomings.
“I still love Northwestern,” Williams says. “I don’t think there is a better-fitting university, academically, than this one.”
Luo, despite recognizing that the University may face challenges in upholding and affirming diverse voices,
REPORTING CONTRIBUTED BY RACHEL CHENG, CONNER DEJECACION & DYLAN LANIER
find the stories for tonight.
Sometime before 1 p.m.: 1:30 p.m.: 6:00 p.m.: 10:00 p.m.:
The managing team stumbles out into a cold night, their breath freezing in the chilly wind off the lake. Notion is back online, website accounts are fixed and the newsletter is out. They head home and congratulate themselves for getting through another day of section meetings.
Wondering why these students put themselves through this experience week after week? Many of them do it for the resume, some for the networking connections and others because they love to tell stories, write, edit and film.
According to Medill’s website, 95% of journalism students have another area of study. For Daniel MacKenzie, the director of undergraduate academic advising at Medill, this is just one of the benefits of Medill he highlights to prospective students.
“When our students double major, they are double-majoring in a world-renowned political science department or econ department or gender studies department,” MacKenzie says.
MacKenzie emphasizes that the versatility of journalism itself is often a draw for new Medillians, and students see opportunities in Medill to pursue a wide variety of interests. He saw students’
and current, say that Medill lacks a holistic perspective, leaving out important viewpoints and advances in journalism and shying away from issues that currently impact the industry.
Though Ali Bianco (Medill ‘24) did eventually decide that she wanted to join the field, she says there are steps the industry and Medill need to take to report on a constantly evolving world.
Since the beginning of 2022, 8,297 journalists have been laid off in the U.S. — nearly a tenth of all newpaper, broadcast and online journalists, reporters and editors, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
Needless to say, students are concerned about job security in journalism, despite Medill’s struggle to keep the curriculum current with the state of the industry.
“It’s a really scary time to be an undergrad in journalism right now,” says Bianco, reflecting on her experience.
Throughout her time at Northwestern and as a reporter, Bianco grew comfortable with some degree of uncertainty regarding her future in the industry. Due to the rapid nature of technological advancement and information dissemination, she understands that a future career in journalism will require learning as she goes and being flexible.
“I’m going to be working as a journalist in a job that probably doesn’t exist yet,” Bianco says.
As the world changes, new types of journalism have developed. At the same time, local news has shrunk in many places, particularly after the pandemic. According to the 2024 State of Local News Report, published by Medill in October 2024, local newspapers are shuttering at a rapid pace and local news deserts are spreading. Both of these are key factors in the “local news crisis.”
For Medill Dean Charles Whitaker (Medill ‘80, ‘81), the instability of the journalism industry is concerning for
as Medill’s Local News Initiative are important to ensure that students have jobs once they receive their diplomas. According to an article published in Medill Magazine, Whitaker believes that Medill has a responsibility to lead the journalism industry, particularly local news sources, to innovative solutions in an ever-changing industry.
“The industries that we serve are in such turmoil that if our students are to have jobs, to have industries to go into, those industries need leadership, research and someone outside the industry to help them think outside of the box and chart a path forward,” Whitaker says in Medill Magazine. “If they implode and cease to function, there will be no place for our students to go.”
Another aspect of Medill’s involvement is the Midwest Solutions Journalism Hub. Deborah Douglas, Medill professor and director of the hub, describes the program as outward-facing — that is, working with media outlets and practitioners to shift how they frame stories.
The growth of solutions journalism represents a shift away from the “typical” news story that details only what has gone wrong in a situation, according to the Solutions Journalism Network’s website. Instead, solutions journalism focuses on coverage of the responses to societal issues and whether the initiatives work.
“We’re embracing the future with a narrative practice that we feel like can be a part of the transformation that journalism
While Medill is looking out into the field as it stands today and educating practicing journalists, the other three universities involved in this program — Arizona State University, Stony Brook University and the University of Georgia — are integrating solutions journalism more directly into their undergraduate curricula. But both approaches focus on education and forward-thinking, elements that Medill continues to emphasize, to varying degrees of success.
Medill’s emphasis on education that focuses on the future means adjusting the curriculum t o keep up with a rapidly changing industry. Annie Krall (WCAS ‘19, Medill ‘20), attended Medill’s graduate program from 2019-20 and taught the undergraduate first-year sequence from 2022-23.
“I felt like the messaging that I was teaching my students was genuinely different than what I was learning three to four years before,” Krall says.
Although Medill is working to stay with the times, some students have noticed places where the school seems stuck. Often, Medill third-year Raven Williams says, Medill teaches a black and white narrative rather than the complete picture, with all its depth and nuances.
“You don’t prepare students for [the real world] with this fantasized lens,” Williams says. “It’s kind of hard to teach it properly and reflect the emphasis on issues students
Classes and programs within Medill also focus on the ways in which the world is advancing technologically. There’s a new AI class in the course catalog, and the Knight Lab, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Certificate, Bay Area Immersion Program and new JR sites in non-traditional fields all help students prepare for a post-graduate life that will almost certainly be impacted by developing technology and industry standards.
Several years ago, Medill rearranged the introductory sequence for incoming first-years. Before the 2021-22 academic year, the sequence started with JOUR 2011: “Reporting & Writing,” the infamous weed-out course for incoming first-years. The sequence then continued with JOUR 201-2: “Multimedia Storytelling” and JOUR 202: “Philosophy of Modern Journalism.”
The old sequence gave students who did not have journalism experience a chance to catch up, Bianco says. She entered Medill without the journalism camps and extracurricular pedigrees that many incoming first-years sport, including the Medill-sponsored Cherubs program. She believes that taking “Reporting & Writing” first gave her a boost, given the intensity of student publications at Medill.
& Writing’ first was a cold bucket of water of the reality of the situation,” she says. “It forced me to focus and be like, ‘Okay, this is a new skill, and I’m choosing to learn this, and this is what I want to be doing.’”
switched the sequence: First-years took “Philosophy of Modern Journalism,” the ethics course, followed by “Reporting & Writing” and “Multimedia Storytelling.”
North by Northwestern 2022, and noticed that, because of this new sequence, students sometimes landed at zero journalism experience. Bianco and time, Coop Daley, overwrote the publication’s entire onboarding program, called “
teaching the fundamentals should be left to the professors, rather than college students in their own first few years of learning to be news writers. This process disadvantages those who are essentially being taught by other students in their first exposure to college journalism.
arrived at Northwestern in Fall Quarter 2022, when the switch in the curriculum was being set in stone. She came into Northwestern with some basic reporting skills, but believes that Northwestern better than Northwestern classes during her first quarters.
“I learned how to write a story from The Daily Northwestern. I would just say that, point blank,” Ogburn says.
Northwestern boasts an almost overwhelming number of student publications — there are 35 entries under “Media & Journalism” in the Wildcat Connection catalog. These publications are nebulas for incoming student journalists to learn the basics of reporting, according to Ogburn, and offer pre-professional experience.
Another foundational aspect of the Medill experience is JR, a program that places students in various media outlets around the world for one quarter.
“You don’t prepare students for
Students are guaranteed to graduate with professional journalism experience, which can be a huge advantage in the job market.
This pre-professional experience has also changed over the years. When current JR director Tracy Van Moorlehem (Medill ‘91) was an undergraduate, the program was called Teaching Newspaper, one of three track-based options (the other two being Teaching Magazine and Teaching Broadcast). Van Moorlehem has seen the program evolve into areas beyond traditional, newspaper-style journalism. Now, JR includes marketing and public relations companies.
“It’s a little bit more of a choose-yourown-adventure kind of program,” Van Moorlehem says.
According to Medill fourth-year Ellie Skelly, JR is an essential part of the school’s program; she says Medill recognizes that one of the best ways to learn journalism is to do journalism.
“What you’re able to do in JR is just get your ass out there and work, as Kim Kardashian said,” Skelly says.
Professional experience through JR, Medill programs and student publications are often the things that students find most worthwhile in their education, and what encourages them to stick with journalism. However, some students still aren’t convinced that it is the right path for them.
Vanessa Kjeldsen (Medill ‘23) found herself split between the journalism and business worlds during her time at Medill. She reported, produced and anchored for the Northwestern News Network (NNN) but was also president of the Institute for Student Business Education (ISBE) her senior year. Ultimately, she landed at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) after graduating.
“I felt at the time, [consulting was] definitely a more stable career path,” Kjeldsen says. “The saying is that consulting is a recession-proof industry, and that businesses will always need the help of consultants, even when the economy is not doing so hot.”
Consulting and business are common alternate career paths for student journalists; the skill sets for both are often supplemented by the Medill curriculum.
Like many of her peers, Medill third-year Beatrice Villaflor considered doublemajoring in economics to aid her path toward business. She ended up choosing computer science instead and is now planning to pursue tech after graduation.
Villaflor, whose resume includes multiple editorial roles at The Daily and nuAZN as well as co-president of ISBE, nevertheless believes that the skills she’s learned at Medill will pay off in her future tech career.
research and user experience design that I’m really interested in,” she says. “That’s part of the reason why I don’t feel like I’m compromising, really, because those research skills and being able to interview people is really interesting when you’re developing stuff in tech.”
more common, as students enter the workforce after Medill in careers that are not in traditional media. Senior Lecturer, Director of Experiential Learning and Employer Engagement and IMC Career Services Neil Golden says that journalism students’ education often overlaps with other careers and areas of study, including marketing.
student to recognize the skills that he or she has as a result of journalism, and recognize the multiple ways that it could be applied,” he says. “[These skills have] application in a lot of different areas. And if those areas are intriguing, I’d stay open to that as much as possible.”
tech industry, medical school, law, consulting or marketing, Medill students go into a variety of fields.
However, many students also stay the course and find a career in journalism after graduation.
Though Bianco is currently an intern at POLITICO, she struggled with the decision
of cultivating those alumni relations so that networking is made easier, and so that upcoming graduates have the chance to connect with people from every major newsroom, because there’s at least one Medill person at every major newsroom,” Bianco says.
Ogburn believes that innovations and fresh ideas are untapped and have potential to be important job opportunities for Medill graduates. She also emphasizes the models of journalism that are changing the field, such as the new digital, nonprofit, donor-independent newsrooms like The Texas Tribune.
“There’s so many aspects of journalism that you can dive into even if you don’t want to be a reporter,” Ogburn says.
When Whitaker graduated from Medill, he entered an industry that was divided into two siloed categories — print and broadcast — and full of journalists who did not have any knowledge of the business aspect of journalism. He says in many ways, his peers at the time were naive about what it took to keep a journalism enterprise afloat.
Now, he says, students “zig and zag” in different areas of journalism. For Medill itself, this zigging and zagging means trying to keep up with an everchanging industry.
“The trick is to try to stay attuned to what is happening, experiment in experimental classes and then determine whether or not this is something that’s going to be a long term investment,” Whitaker says.
But it’s hard to stay ahead of the game, Whitaker says, and schools like Medill are always playing catch up. For this and other reasons, many people are leaving the journalism industry.
Even for those who leave the industry, it’s possible to return to journalism. After working at BCG for five months, Kjeldsen shifted back to journalism. She now works for Gray Television in Wisconsin.
“You can always find your way back home,” Kjeldsen says. “Just because you become a consultant for two years, or you are a journalist for two years, doesn’t mean that you can never be anything else ever. You are making a choice, but you’re not stuck in whatever you choose.”
The journalism industry is evolving, and students, journalists and editors alike need to learn and adapt. Though everyone in the field may need to focus more on the business side of journalism, learn to create content in this new era of technology and continue to adapt to a changing industry, the core tenets of journalism are still prominent driving forces.
“I really do believe in the existence of the fourth estate, and that this country was built on the existence of journalists in whatever capacity they serve to society, both as watchdogs and communicators and to tell fun and entertaining stories,” Skelly says. “When I get very philosophical about it, I think that’s why I’m here. My purpose on this planet is to serve people in that capacity.”
This holiday season, Northwestern students are finding ways to say thanks to the Evanston community.
WRITTEN BY ZOE CHAO, JEZEL MARTINEZ & GABBY SHELL
DESIGNED BY LAURA HORNE // PHOTOS BY OLIVIA BROWN
REPORTING CONTRIBUTED BY GIDEON PARDO
It is noon on a Tuesday, and the corner of Morse and Ashland avenues is bustling. People of all ages line up underneath a canopy of browning leaves, brightly colored signs marking their place in line. First 10, then 20, 40, 70 — the line grows as volunteers wheel food out of the striking red brick church.
A woman patiently waits her turn; finally, she reaches the front of the line. After checking in at the desk, she walks around the street corner and chats with a volunteer. Moments later, she’s met with a cart full of groceries.
Every year, Chicago-based nonprofit Care for Real distributes nearly 3 million pounds of food to people in need. Originally established in Edgewater in 1970 by local Jewish and Episcopalian leaders, Care for Real expanded to Rogers Park in 2020 to fight increased food insecurity caused by the pandemic.
Care for Real’s Rogers Park location operates out of the United Church of Rogers Park, a Methodist church “for all God’s people in the heart of the neighborhood,” according to their website.
Last winter, Medill professor Louise Kiernan brought her Rogers Park-based reporting class to the pantry. Instead of having them write a story, Kiernan and
Care for Real coordinated a chance for students to witness the distribution site in action. Interested students stayed after to work a volunteer shift of their own.
“I wanted to find a way to connect the students with the community in a context that wasn’t simply journalistic where, ideally, we could feel as if we were giving back,” Kiernan says.
Medill third-year Nora Rosenfeld visited Care for Real’s Rogers Park location as part of Kiernan’s class. After that first visit, she returned to the pantry to help with their distribution every other week for the rest of the school year, drawn in by the promise of giving back to and learning from the community.
“You’re chatting with [the clients] and you’re walking with them to their friends and helping them load up on their food and getting to meet lots of great people,” Rosenfeld says. “A lot of times, it can be just a gift to lend an ear for them, to listen to their story.”
Uplifting the dignity of all community members is central to Care for Real’s neighbor-based mission. In September, Care for Real served nearly 2,500 people across its two locations. For many of its clients, the pantry is a crucial lifeline.
“When I became ill, I lost my job and my pension. My social security wasn’t enough to make ends meet. Care for Real has improved my quality of life,” reads one anonymous testimonial provided by Care for Real staff. “I am disabled and their volunteers and staff are always cheerful, helpful and bring a smile to what otherwise could be a dismal day.”
As the Thanksgiving season approaches, Care for Real is always looking for extra volunteers. Students can get involved by sorting donations, helping with food distribution, organizing product and clothing drives, or hosting fundraisers.
Kiernan encourages students to leave the Northwestern bubble and get involved with community-based organizations like Care for Real.
“If we can [volunteer], it is part of our responsibility as a member of the communities in which you live,” she says. “And I think it is enriching for you personally to be able to feel that in some small way, you’re helping make a difference right around you.”
Whether through dog walking, cat cafés or foster events, the spirit of camaraderie shines through at the Evanston Animal Shelter, where constant volunteer smiles can warm even the coldest days.
“It’s winter, it’s miserable, you have an Econ final coming up and then you go in for three hours and have these little kittens climbing all over you,” Weinberg third-year Amber Lueth says.
Lueth has volunteered at the Evanston Animal Shelter since her first quarter at
Northwestern. Missing her cat at home, she jumped at the chance to interact with the cuddly local kittens, she says.
Her time at the shelter has shown her the type of collaboration and teamwork necessary to properly care for the cats. But beyond that, it puts into perspective the positive effects the facility has on the animals.
The Evanston Animal Shelter’s mission is to give “animals the best chance at the life they deserve through rehabilitation, foster care, adoption and community support that keeps pets with the people who love them,” according to its official website.
They opened up a zero on-site carbon emissions building at 2310 Oakton St. at the beginning of October. After extensive time in temporary locations,
the new 8,800-square-foot shelter has plenty of space for its furry friends.
Evanston Animal Shelter Executive Director Vicky Pasenko says the new facility’s natural sunlight benefits the animals and workers. Moreover, Pasenko says the location allows for more volunteer opportunities — from engaging with the cats and dogs to working in their Pet Pantry, which provides free pet food for Evanston-area residents.
Lueth’s love for volunteering, combined with her adoration for animals, led her to All Paws In, a club for Northwestern students who want to give back to Evanston’s furrier residents. As the club’s current president, she says the group hopes to serve as a “mouthpiece” for the Evanston Animal Shelter.
As Northwestern’s only animal shelter advocacy and volunteer club, All Paws In’s primary partnership is with the Evanston Animal Shelter. The club hosts quarterly events on behalf of the shelter to generate money and publicity.
The shelter always welcomes more volunteers, and All Paws In hopes to engage more Northwestern students, says Amanda Ward, Weinberg fourthyear and media director for All Paws In. Volunteering at the shelter offers many benefits: For Ward, it was a community outside of Northwestern that helped manage her stress levels.
“It allows you to get outside of the Northwestern bubble, so you can reassess and realize you’re not just stuck in one thing, in one stressful area,” Ward says.
One of All Paws In’s initiatives, the annual Dog Foster Fair in May, includes five Chicagoland shelters that educate the Northwestern community on the resources available for fostering pets. All proceeds from the event’s booths are donated back to the shelters.
Pasenko says students can get as much from the animals as they give them.
“I think that especially for students, [the resilience of animals] reinforces that we are all going to be okay,” Pasenko says. “Just seeing how they live in the moment, how bad things happen but they move on and are good, that’s a great reference for human beings to follow.”
Pushing open the grand doors of the Woman’s Club of Evanston at the Holiday Bazaar, visitors are greeted with holiday cheer — live jazz from Evanston performers, lights and garlands strung across the marble entrance hall, warm smiles of Woman’s Club volunteers, and booths packed with jewelry, cookies, crochet animals, colorful pottery and everything in between.
“The idea is to raise money and have fun doing it,” says Ina Strickland, this year’s co-chair of the Holiday Bazaar. “We always try to have vendors that appeal to everybody, and we do that by hosting it in a beautiful historic clubhouse that has a warm, festive and inviting atmosphere.”
The annual Holiday Bazaar hosted by the Woman’s Club of Evanston runs from Nov. 22 to 24, kicking off the holiday season with over 50 local vendors in the Evanston community.
“It’s a time when people might be traveling and might want to take something very unique to the family or their friends, or they might want to find something good for themselves,” Strickland says.
By shopping handmade, attendees support small businesses and give back to the community. Proceeds from the Women’s Club-run silent auction and raffle go toward the Club’s Community Grants Program, which supports local nonprofits Bazaar patrons can support.
Founded in 1889 by women’s suffrage leader Elizabeth Harbert, the Woman’s Club of Evanston is more than an association of women — it’s a pillar of philanthropy in Evanston. Members are connected through “a shared purpose of volunteerism, social empowerment, and community support,” their mission statement reads. The Woman’s Club hosts various events throughout the year, including an annual prom boutique for Evanston Township High School girls, the Spring Benefit supporting local organizations, monthly soup kitchen visits, “Yap & Yarn” sessions for members, clothing drives and the Holiday Bazaar.
This year, the Community Grants Program seeks applications from nonprofit organizations that “combat loneliness or isolation” in the Evanston community. Patrons simultaneously support Evanston nonprofits and local businesses.
“It’s just a win-win for [vendors] and for us to showcase their things, and for us to help out smaller businesses,” says Liz Weislogel, vendor manager of the Holiday Bazaar. “Sometimes it’s a hobby, sometimes it’s a real business. The types of vendors that we have sort of run the gamut.”
Dawn Hastings, direct marketer by trade and owner of Evanston-based LouWeez Cookies in her free time, sets up her booth in the same space on the second floor of the clubhouse every year. Her paint-your-own cookies are a hit with tiny tots and grandmas alike.
“You see generational families come through, with the little ones and the great grandmas,” Hastings says. “I’m
excited to see [the shoppers]. I’m excited that they remember me.”
Last year, Hastings experienced an increase in orders after the Bazaar, even baking cookies for the bridal shower of a board member’s daughter. Hastings also enjoys the opportunity to be “in the same space, meet people, sell some of our things and talk to the community.”
With gifts ranging from handmade jewelry to fall-themed cookies, there is something for everyone.
“For some local residents, this market might be the only time they come to the Clubhouse all year,” says Angela Valavanis, the Woman’s Club president. “But for the length of their visit, they will experience the warmth, togetherness and community spirit that are at the core of Woman’s Club membership.”
My dearest random roommate,
I feel the rush
Hangover tries: Running
Were you popular in high school?
58 59 60 61 62
How to have sex
(Not even a restraining order can keep us apart.)
WRITTEN BY ZOE KULICK // DESIGNED BY YELIM KIM
to roomie
8:45 AM (5 hours ago)
Dear roomiekins,
What an utter pleasure it’s been being your roommate this quarter, even though I know you don’t feel the same about me. You see, last week, I found your roommate change request when I went through your laptop to get rid of its viruses. Of course, I completely respect your decision. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t address the grievances you filed.
I watch you sleep at night to ensure you are safe and breathing. I think you may have sleep apnea, which can be really serious; you should probably get it checked out. In fact, I’ve already made an appointment for you with a local ENT doctor who gets great reviews.
It’s not that I was stealing underwear from your hamper, it’s just that you really don’t do your laundry enough. So, whenever I did a load, I just thought it’d be a good idea to toss in some of your intimates. Didn’t you notice that they were folded perfectly in your drawer every Monday? And don’t worry, I never used tumble dry on that sexy lace pair. Who are you wearing those for, by the way? What’s their name and address?
I ate your food because you complain about your stomach hurting every time you have dairy, so I thought I’d help by just eating all the yogurt, ice cream and cheese you buy every week. It pains me to think about you in pain.
I feel like an idiot — I totally should have been more clear on the whole toenail and hair collection thing. As a bio major, I thought it was obvious: I was collecting your clipped toenails and jumbled hairballs for cell samples in a clinical study that has the potential to cure cancer in a few years and save millions of lives. You’re so caring and generous, so I knew you’d want to be part of such a virtuous project.
While I’m sure you have brilliant and funny things on your phone, I actually wasn’t “going through it constantly,” as you claim. Your mom is always blowing up your phone with hundreds of texts begging you to call her. She misses you! Who can blame her? So to alleviate some of your burden, every so often, I send your mom a few texts and pictures so she gets off your back. She thought your first-day-of-class outfit was super cute, by the way. And who do you think convinced her to pay for your Sabrina Carpenter tickets? That was all me — I’m the reason she only spins to “Espresso” now.
Babes, being your roommate has been life-changing. You have a beautiful soul and an even more beautiful, curvaceous body. I’m going to miss you so much — the baby cam monitor I’m installing in your new dorm just won’t be the same. As my last act as your roommate, since I wish the absolute best for you, I’m going to edit and resubmit your roommate request because it’s just lacking a sense of urgency and, frankly, there are tons of grammar mistakes. You’re welcome!
Love, Your future wife
WRITTEN BY MYA COPELAND // DESIGNED BY LEILA DHAWAN
Hey girlie pops!!!!! My name is Aliviyah, your personal rush consultant. Now, you may be thinking, “Aliviyah, rush isn’t until Winter Quarter.” No, silly!!! Rush started two months ago. You’re late. But that’s OK!!!! I am a Theta (#TLAM4LIFE), which means I’m better than you. But even if you can’t get into Theta, I will for sure probably still get you in somewhere. Most likely. LOL, anyway!!
It’s super important that you know what to say, wear, do and think when you’re rushing. We wouldn’t want you to meet new people in a comfortable situation, would we? And that’s where I come in! This is just a super cute little casual course to get you into a top sorority!
**Just for you, I’m offering this course for the low cost of $2,000! Venmo payments can be made to @northbynorthwestern.
Brace yourself! This is where you’ll meet every single natural blonde on Northwestern’s campus (all two of them) and the gaggles of giggly girls that make up the sororities. You’ll talk to five dozen girls for approximately 2.37 minutes each. If the room is spinning, it’s just from the strain of smiling for so long! Don’t look at the lights for too long, and ignore the empty Ziplocs between the couch cushions. Take a chill pill! No, seriously — take a Klonopin from your full Ziploc.
Now it’s time to see where you’ll be living next year!! Well, maybe more like one quarter before you drop halfway through your second year. But this is where the magic happens: Every room looks like the Walmart version of those beautiful Bama rooms — if you’re really lucky, you might even get to live in the attic! A fairytale come true, with tons and tons of sisters who definitely don’t want to sleep with your boyfriend.
What’s philanthropy? Oh! It’s that thing that sororities promise they do — but actually, it’s just an excuse to design a cute graphic with something alliterative on Canva. I love Canva! Know that all of us sisters really love to help the less fortunate, especially if there’s a good photo op! (Can you even imagine being middle class??? The horror!) The sorority squat is just sooo cute and really comfy to pose in through the 30 different photo angles your big insists you take.
So pref is where you say which house you want to be in and they say which girls they like. This is really serious. It’s totally, like, medical school, or whatever. So get out your tiny white dress, heels and your Canada Goose coat (this is Chicago in January, after all) and stuff your pockets full of Kleenex — you and your future sisters will need them to fend off all the girls not invited back to DG or ABC, or whatever.
So you got in...
Great!!!! That’ll be $300 more ($308.99 with processing fees). Oh, and if they ask you to get a nose job, you probably should. They were being really generous accepting you in the first place. Love you, future sisters!!!
And if you didn’t...
$342. Cash. Meet me in the back alley by Insomnia tomorrow night at 11:11 p.m. I’m not even mad. I’m just disappointed.
WRITTEN BY BENNIE GOLDFARB & NATALIA ZADEH // DESIGNED BY MAANYA KEJRIWAL
Your senior Hangover editors, coming to terms with their age and senility (and FOMO), have decided to participate in what seems to be the Class of 2025’s senior tradition. While we question why said tradition couldn’t have been getting SPAC massages or skipping our classes to throw eggs at freshmen, who are we to complain? We are sheep. And sheep follow the herd… up, down and around the running trails of Evanston. That being said, we are also going to complain. A lot. Isn’t that the job of a journalist anyway?
Bennie: Before the half, I knew it would be pretty easy for me. I mean, I’m really good at finishing super fast (See: “How to have sex”), plus I’m built like a gazelle. However, the dew point this morning is looking a little high so overexertion is definitely possible.
My diet has been strictly keto for the last six months while prepping for this. I have gels in my pocket for when I start to crash. And a hydration pack for after mile six when I start to become dehydrated. Also, I’ve been following the half training plan incredibly closely, only missing a single day when my grandfather mysteriously and suddenly died.
Natalia: I bought an AlpacaBak from Temu. I feel ready.
Bennie: Wow. I’m averaging a six-minute mile. This will surely last the entire run. There is no possibility that I will crash in roughly six minutes from now…
Natalia: I wonder how many people will congratulate me on my half once I post about it on my Threads? Surely this won’t be the only thing I talk about for the rest of my life.
Bennie: It turns out that I will indeed crash soon. Maybe instead of both running a half, we can collectively run a single half 6.55 miles sounds much easier than 13.1. Only 6.30 miles to go!
Natalia: Why is Bennie turning green?
No comment.
You guys…we are the most athletic, sexiest students at Northwestern now. It says so on the medals that the marathon people gave us. Although…now that I’m thinking about it… they looked a whole lot like my stepmother and my roommate. But they were wearing mustaches. So they were definitely legit.
To end, we wanted to express our gratitude to our family, and even friends, and also fans for supporting us through this harrowing time. It means the Earth to know that you were here to uplift us in our darkest moments (running) and celebrate with us during our brightest (stopping). The next time we decide to run a half-mile, we’ll know who to call.
START HERE!
Your parents were at EVERYTHING.
WRITTEN
BY
Twihard? Edward or Jacob.
Probably not.
HEIDI SCHMID // DESIGNED BY JACKSON SPENNER
Periodic table song or the pi song?
Periodic table song or the pi song?
You don’t NEED to drink to have fun.
Did your crush ask you about the homework because you’re a Timothee Chalamet lookalike or cause you take notes on each reading before coming to class?
My clarinet’s name is Harriet.
Were you a little TOO good at an instrument? (sorry Bienen kids) What’s up?
Did you love your sophomore-year history teacher like a father?
Still obsess over the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Rankings?
* (Technically we’re #4 for my major)
Do you use “Guns & Ships” as a pregame song so you can flex your rapping skills? Alternatively, do u fw A. Ham?
I am not throwing away my shot, but I may throw it up…
WRITTEN BY BENNIE GOLDFARB & NATALIA ZADEH // DESIGNED BY JESSICA CHEN
Are you a loser? Does your roommate hate you? Have you never run a half-marathon and thus never posted about it on your Instagram story? Look no further. We know you’re a virgin, but we’re here to help. After four years at Northwestern, we’ve had a ton of sex. Like so much. God, we are such beasts. To put it in perspective: Some people’s drug of choice is cocaine or alcohol. For others, it’s caffeine. Ours is having sex. Every day. Everywhere. With everybody. We collect STIs like Pokémon cards. (Just ask Student Health Service!) We’ve been where you are (missionary in a Bobb twin XL, 30 seconds max). It sucks. So sit your ass down and listen. Accessibility is crucial for you because you’re probably awful at sex, so we’re gonna break this down for you. First — the Old Testament.
Book One of Rizzalations: Always trust in the Rizz
The 10,000-hour rule is a popular idea that states 10,000 hours of practice is required to master a complex skill or field. However, if you took an average schmuck and Albert Einstein and gave each 10,000 hours to come up with the theory of relativity, our bets are on Einstein. We’re like the Einstein of sex (see below for references), and after 10,000 tireless, strenuous, sweaty hours of research, we conceived the theory of rizzativity (Goldfarb & Zadeh, 2024). General rizzativity describes the law of gravitation — which, trust me, you’re gonna want to use.
Simply put, if you feel a gravitational force from across the basement party while a stupid white-boy song plays in the background, use it to your advantage. If the vibe doesn’t feel right, just turn to your friend and start rizzing them up instead. Remember, practice makes perfect. And now, you’re making out with your freshmanyear roommate. Win-win.
But if that doesn’t work, your other, far more sinister option is to download Hinge and come up with funny responses to the prompts. How awful. Everybody knows you’re not funny. Let’s get you started:
What If I Told You That… Nothing beats weekend hikes with the kids soaking in the fresh air and spotting birds. I’ve become a Weather app superuser.
My Greatest Strength: The FitnessGram™ Pacer Test is a multistage aerobic capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues. The 20-meter pacer test will begin in 30 seconds. Line up at the start. The running speed starts slowly but gets faster each minute after you hear this signal. Beep! A single lap should be completed each time you hear this sound. Ding! Remember to run in
a straight line, and run as long as possible. The second time you fail to complete a lap before the sound, your test is over. The test will begin on the word start. On your mark, get ready, start.
My Greatest Weakness: Birds. The Wizard. And loving too much. Oh, and I’m a men’s shoe size 6.5.
Book Two of Rizzalations: Take it slow and steady (DO NOT CUM IN LESS THAN TWO MINUTES) *In case of emergencies, refer to Appendices*
Rome wasn’t built in a day. And yeah, sex is like Italy. You may be constantly out of breath from traversing her crevices, but the natural beauty of the world (and her body) is an art only God can construct.
The Colosseum. Her vagina. Both are so vast and have such rich history. Since you’re a virgin, your only goal is to not make a fool of yourself. Also — make her as wet as the Trevi Fountain.
As the veteran in the bedroom, she’ll take the reins; just sit back and go with the flow. Also, try to think about the stock market and don’t cum immediately. The worst that can happen with a veteran is that you find out a few fingers up your ass can actually be a good time (consent given, ofc), and your scheduled colonoscopy next year is something you can now look forward to!
Book Three of Rizzalations: Post-coitus
Part I: Aftercare
Aftercare is a tricky part of sex and one that is very dependent on the person you’ve done the deed with. For this reason, refer to the many ideas we’ve come up with for you:
Show them sketch comedy videos of yourself. If they seem disinterested, start showing them clips of you skating. Show them your entire camera roll. If they seem disinterested, start showing them clips of you skating. Make conversation! Ask if they want to have children. If that doesn’t work and they call the question off pudding, tell them they should be off-pudding! Then watch “Between Two Ferns” on YouTube because that shit is funny as fuck. Then show them clips of you skating.
When in doubt, use the tried-and-true gum massage method (referred to by the experts as the GMM). It’s no secret most people like fingers in their mouths.
Turn on the white noise machine, turn down the lights, pull out their Kindle, ask if they want a cup of tea, give them a back massage and then tell them the last three months have been really fun but you’re not sure you’re ready for a relationship. Like you’re still kind of into your ex and your therapist said it wouldn’t be the best idea to get into a new relationship right now. But you could continue fucking if they wanted.
Lie there in silence? No. Boring. Overdone. Awkward. YAWN! Discussing your papa’s thyroid condition? Yes. Fun. Unexpected. A little scary.
We know pillow talk is daunting. Should I tell them I think I’ve fallen in love? Should I offer him a bag of Funyuns? Is it too early to tell her I’ve recently come into a great inheritance after my grandfather’s sudden and unexpected overdose of pain meds and subsequent criminal investigation conducted by Daniel Craig? (You should definitely tell her.) SO many possibilities!! Lucky for you, we are awesome. We have provided you with the Rosetta Stone of postsex conversation topics. While your arm falls asleep under her shoulder as you both stare up at the popcorn ceiling listening to music (Weezer? Fred Again? IDK, let your freak flag fly), try some of these out!
1. The American Fundamentalist Movement of the 21st Century and its foray into U.S. pop culture through the medium of reality TV
2. Catholic Opulence in the 16th century and its implications on Spanish architecture in the modern day
References
3. Rabbits
4. How to write a cover letter
5. How I just showed you the best 30 seconds of your life
These are the only acceptable topics of conversation. We’re not kidding. If you deviate even a little bit, expect an especially gruesome death by ghosting. Or by a curiously placed quicksand that envelops you. You’re welcome.
You might be thinking, why do these people think they are so qualified to write the Book of Rizzalations (decidedly the third most important text about sex behind 1. the Kama Sutra and 2. the Bible). We are so glad you asked! We have references. 1. My high school ex 2. My ayahuasca dealer (former)
Appendix of Rizzalations: Hey! Yeah, you, we’re talking to you! It’s no secret that sometimes (or every time — this is a shame-free zone) shit hits the fan (unless that’s literally happening to you. If that is the case…consider abstinence?) Whatever. Anyway,
Appendix A: EMERGENCY: YOU BLEW A GASKET
Plan B: SEE ABOVE.
Appendix C: THE PERSON SHITS ON THE BED
Appendix D: BAD HOLE WRONG HOLE (How the fuck did I end up in her ear?)
Appendicitis:
Go to hospital
Bennie: “On a scale starting at 10 and also ending at 10, how good was I at sex?”
Iris: [CUT]
Bennie: Okay, fuck this. No, we’re cutting this interview from the story. No. Fuck you. I’m sorry I could never do it for you. You’re a narcissistic asshole anyways.
Blaze (short for Henry): The ocean takes me in, To watch you shake it, Watch you wave your powers, Tempt with hours of pleasure (“Sextape,” Deftones, 2010).
Natalia: Hours?
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