The Daily Northwestern - Oct. 26, 2012

Evanston residents tackle the » PAGE 2 tough racial issues

sports GAMEDAY Fitzgerald may be young, but he’s old in the B1G. » INSIDE

opinion Nunez NU, where you can be yourself » PAGE 4

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Friday, October 26, 2012

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Project Pumpkin

increases need only a majority vote in the General Assembly to pass. The referendum would amend Section 5.1 to Article XIII of the Illinois Constitution. Michael Madigan, speaker of the Illinois General Assembly, sponsored bill that placed the referendum on the ballot. The legislation was co-sponsored by two additional House representatives, as well as three state senators. “It’s a modest step in what is going to be a very long march to try and get pensions systems in Illinois to a point where they can be sustained,” said Steve Brown, Madigan’s spokesman. Brown said the amendment would require the

Northwestern trustee Ben Slivka apologized Thursday for participating in a heated exchange about race relations with an NU student on Facebook. The private conversation came after Weinberg sophomore Pleshette Strong, who is black, posted a Facebook status saying former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney exercised “white male privilege” when he interrupted the moderator and President Barack Obama during the first presidential debate earlier this month. “White male privilege? Why are you getting all racist on your FB wall?” Slivka, who is white, asked Strong in his initial message, according to a digital version of the Facebook exchange posted Tuesday night on an NU student’s blog. In a statement, Slivka (McCormick ‘82) admitted he used the “wrong tone and choice of words” in addressing Strong, who he said he met at Norris University Center last year and shortly thereafter added as a Facebook friend. “Through my Facebook messages, I had hoped to initiate a discussion with this student about the issues of race, gender and power,” Slivka said in the statement. “I realize that I probably have now done so in a much broader way. While that is not what I intended, I do hope that some good will result from it.” “Again, I apologize to this student, to my fellow trustees, and to the University community,” he added. Strong did not respond to several requests for comment Thursday. The Strong-Slivka squabble began in early October, when the student took issue with Romney cutting off Obama during the first presidential debate in Denver. “Romney interrupting the mediator and Obama thinking that (expletive) is ok is just a result of that white privilege that he has benefited from for so long,” Strong wrote in the Facebook status, according to an account she shared with student groups early Wednesday morning. In a later message, Slivka pressed Strong to provide a specific example of encountering “white male privilege” at NU. Strong apparently did not respond, as Slivka sent a consecutive message telling Strong she owed him the “courtesy of a reply.” Slivka’s final message opened by saying Strong is “writing about beliefs, not truth.” The conversation was circulated on social media and student group listservs in the weeks after it happened. It sparked an impromptu discussion in at least one African-American Studies class. In his statement, Slivka said he enjoys having “spirited discussions” with his Facebook friends, many of whom are current or former NU students, and reached out to Strong with the same intention. Slivka is most famous for leading Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team through a major update in 1996. His name is on the North Campus residential college focused on science and engineering. In an email to several listservs obtained by The Daily, Strong urged students to pursue a broader dialogue.

» See AMENDMENT, page 8

— Patrick Svitek

By zachary elvolve

the daily northwestern

For two and a half hours Thursday, Project Pumpkin transformed the Norris University Center into a halloween festival filled with candy, games and fun for children. Project Pumpkin is sponsored annually by the Northwestern Community Development Corps, a student organization that engages in Northwestern students in community service. “We need to be reminded we’re not just college students and we are a part of a community here and this is a good way to do so,” said NCDC co-Chair Amalia Namath. This year is probably one of the most successful yet, the Weinberg senior said. More than 1,000 boys and girls of various ages came to Project Pumpkin. “We have double the booths, we’re using the ground floor of Norris for the first time, we have had more sites more students signed up, more coming than we’ve ever had before,” she said before the event. Project Pumpkin is one of the largest student-run community service projects at Northwestern and has been around since the 1980s. Every year on the Thursday before Oct. 31, children are able to enjoy the fun of Halloween in a safe and entertaining environment. Trick-or-treating is just one of dozens of activities that took place from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Norris. Themed rooms, a giant pumpkin bouncy house, a haunted house and face painting highlight just a handful of the activities offered. Students not only hosted

Teal Gordon/The Daily Northwestern

cat-o’-lantern Local children line up for a halloween-themed moon bounce at Northwestern University’s Project Pumpkin at the Norris University Center on Thursday. More than 1,000 children participated.

booths but also served as chaperones and went “trick-or-treating” in Norris, clad in costumes alongside the costumedonning children they escorted. “It’s not only fun but it’s a nice opportunity to give back to the community, said Weinberg freshman Min Lee. “It’s also fun way to celebrate Halloween.”

Project Pumpkin is open and free to the public. NU faculty and staff are encouraged to bring their children, and many obliged. Project Pumpkin attracts not only Evanston and other local children, but families from Chicago, such as Tinise Moore, who brought her family to

Norris for Project Pumpkin. “A program that I’m in is a program that helps a lot of disadvantaged children,” Moore said when speaking about how she heard of the event. “I’m loving it.” zacharyelvove2016@u.northwestern.edu

Students: Football Pension amendment concessions unsafe goes to vote in Illinois By junnie kwon

the daily northwestern

Some students who have worked at Ryan Field concession stands are now telling potential customers to avoid buying the food. Northwestern’s primary food and facilities management services provider, Sodexo, Inc., hires student organizations to prepare and sell food at sports games. Some students who have worked in the booths are suspicious of the level of food sanitation regulation. “The only thing they care about is how much money you make and how little you waste,” said Jane Jones, a McCormick junior. “If something falls on the floor or seems like it can be used again and it’s pretty sanitary,

they’re totally fine with that.” Jones, who worked concessions with the NU Sailing Team, recalls finding dead birds around the booth area and in between storage boxes of food twice early last fall. The team has worked at a booth every home football game in the past several seasons and continues to work at games this year. “We put (the bird) in a cup to get rid of it somewhere, because we don’t even have trash cans really,” she said. “They got mad that we used the cups, not even that there was a dead bird.” Sodexo Sports & Leisure, a division of the food service company, claims to uphold strict sanitation requirements. Regional manager » See CONCESSIONS, page 8

Proposal is a “donothing” measure, opponents say By ciara mccarthy

the daily northwestern

Illinois voters will decide in less than two weeks the future of a proposed amendment to the state constition regarding the threshold needed to pass pension increases. The amendment, HJRCA 49, would require a three-fifths vote from both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly to pass pension increases for public employees. Currently, pension

Trustee apologizes for race-related Facebook squabble