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NU Robotics Club gears up for future contests
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Community members say administrative actions, external organizations and campus culture render Northwestern neither safe nor free for conversations about Palestine and Israel By WILLIAM CLARK
daily senior staffer @willsclark01
Content warning: This piece includes mention of Islamophobia, racism, antisemitism and death.
Throughout this story, some names have been changed to protect students’ safety. Many sources who requested anonymity did so to protect themselves from being blacklisted on Canary Mission. Sources who have chosen to remain anonymous will be indicated with an asterisk next to their name on first mention.
In spring 2021, airstrikes, rocket attacks and police violence against protesters in Palestine and Israel left 261 Palestinians, including 67 children, and at least 13 people in Israel, including two children, dead. At times, Northwestern’s administration has emailed community members about events that
impact students, faculty and staff student body, such as police brutality and global health crises. Yet to many students’ frustration, the administration stayed silent in spring 2021. Ava*, a Palestinian alum who graduated in
» See IN FOCUS, page 6
Student leaders discuss Renters can’t access reparations proposed GSRC in Plex One-year deadline to use grant approaches for recipients By LEXI GOLDSTEIN
the daily northwestern @lexipgoldstein
Many students, like Communication senior Jo Scaletty, came to Northwestern looking for people who can understand challenges that can come with having queer identities. “I feel like I have a perception that queer people just kind of find each other,” Scaletty, who is also external president of Rainbow Alliance, said. “I think it’s sometimes bizarre
— even to me — how it just happens over and over again, but it happened for me, so I was very glad.” About a quarter of NU’s undergraduate population identifies as LGBTQ+, which is triple the 2013 figure, according to 2021 data from the Consortium on Financing Higher Education. Multiple new queer student spaces have been founded in recent years, including the Society of Trans and Non-binary Students and an Out in Science, Technology,
» See QUEER LIFE, page 10
By RACHEL SCHLUETER
the daily northwestern @rschlueter26
Kenneth Wideman has lived in Evanston nearly his entire life. He tells people how much he loves his hometown whenever he travels, he said. “I was raised here,” Wideman said. “My blood is here.” His Evanston pride grew in 2019 when he learned the city was creating
a Restorative Housing Program to address the city’s historic discriminatory housing policies and practices. Wideman, 77, applied for the program along with his 75-year-old sister. In January 2022, they were both selected to be in the first group of 16 residents to receive a $25,000 grant for home purchase, mortgage payments or home improvement. However, Wideman said neither he nor his sister have been able to use their $25,000 because they rent their apartments and don’t own property.
Neither has plans to buy property, he said. According to the city website, the reparations program doesn’t provide cash payments because doing so would subject recipients to taxes. In March 2022, the city told Wideman he and his sister had a one-year deadline to use their reparations money, according to Wideman. With the reparations grant set to
» See RENTERS, page 10
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