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Thursday, April 6, 2023
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Returning students struggle with housing room. She said Residential New roommates, her Services seemed uninterested dorm relocations in helping her navigate her cause frustration problem. “If a student is calling you in By ERICA SCHMITT
daily senior staffer @eschmitt318
W hile some students spent Winter Quarter in San Francisco and others were in Washington D.C., many came back to campus with the same problem: an uncomfortable new living situation. When students embarked on Northwestern’s winter offcampus programs, including the Bay Area Immersion Program and Medill on the Hill, they moved out of their oncampus residences. Since their return, they’ve been assigned to new dorms. Some students and their former chosen roommates said they faced mental health challenges after experiencing significant changes to their living situations. Medill sophomore Emiliana Betancourt attended Medill on the Hill this winter. Prior to the program, she lived with her friends in a Schapiro Hall suite. Betancourt called Residential Services in Fall Quarter with concerns about losing
distress, don’t be mean about it,” Betancourt said. “I just feel like they aren’t really here for the students.” One of Betancourt’s concerns was storing her belongings. As an international student from Venezuela, she said she had to pack large bags and almost all of her things with her to D.C. McCormick sophomore Rishi Kothari is an international student from Mumbai. Before attending the Bay Area Immersion Program, Kothari said he had to move his stuff to an off-campus storage unit a mile away with no personal vehicle to help him with the move. “Some people are able to go home and stuff. But all my stuff is here in the University and stays within Evanston always,” Kothari said. He said that he thinks Residential Services should offer accommodations, like on-campus storage options, to international students. Otherwise, international students face increased barriers to
» See HOUSING, page 7
Kimberly Espinosa/Daily Senior Staffer
Voters came to the polls Tuesday despite heavy thunderstorms and hail.
Incumbents sweep across the board Residents rush in rain to vote in aldermanic, school district elections By COLE REYNOLDS and KATE WALTER
the daily northwestern @charcole27 / @katewalter03
Residents sprinted from the parking lot into Robert Crown Community Center to cast their votes Tuesday, using books to shield themselves from golfball-sized hail and torrential rain. Despite a severe thunderstorm
warning, voters across Evanston still came to the polls, many saying the tangible impact of local elections brought them out. “I think it’s really important to be engaged in local politics as well as just local happenings,” resident Dalton Long said. “How else are we going to go ahead and have our voice heard?” Tuesday’s consolidated election saw incumbents Ald. Krissie
Harris (2nd) and Ald. Juan Geracaris (9th) win their aldermanic races in the 2nd and 9th Wards. Mirah Anti, Monique Parsons, Liz Rolewicz and Leah Piekarz earned posts on the Evanston Township High School District 202 Board of Education. Mya Wilkins, Sergio Hernandez Jr., and Omar Salem will fill the three open seats on the Evanston/Skokie School District 65
board. Even with only City Council and Board of Education races on the ticket, voters said the importance of the local races motivated them to brave the rainstorm. School boards attracted much of voters’ attention on Tuesday, with 2nd Ward aldermanic candidate Darlene Cannon crediting
» See ELECTION DAY, page 7
Students demonstrate for gun safety Ryan Field groups Protestors, residents call for national firearm restrictions at The Rock By KRISTEN AXTMAN
daily senior staffer @kristenaxtman1
Content warning : This article contains mentions of death, suicide and gun violence. Since the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, there have been 377 school shootings in the U.S., according to data from The Washington Post. On March 30, three children and three staff members were killed in a shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville. About 35 Northwestern students and community members joined thousands of students across the country to protest gun violence, gathering at The Rock Wednesday to advocate for gun control legislation. During their 10-minute speech, four members of NU Students Demand Action called attention to The Covenant School shooting. “Together, we remember the six beautiful lives lost,” said Weinberg junior and
Recycle Me
SDA co-Lead Lily Cohen said. “ We remember the (more than) 9,800 people killed by gun violence since the start of 2023.” The protesters held a moment of silence while the speakers read the names and ages of the victims from The Covenant School shooting. Weinberg junior Mirabella Johnson, co-lead of SDA, said guns don’t just kill people in mass shootings. She said each year, domestic violence, identity-targeted gun violence, death by suicide and unsafe gun storage contribute to thousands of deaths nationwide. There were more than 20,000 firearm deaths in the U.S. last year, excluding suicides, according to The Trace. SESP freshman Anusha Kumar said gun violence is rooted in colonialism and white supremacy, which disproportionately affects marginalized people. “Gun violence in America is a racial justice issue,” said Kumar, SDA’s events lead. “We should not live in a community where Black Americans are 10 times more likely
present priorities
Construction ComConstruction firms panyTurner is headquartered in New share goals in initial York City, while Walsh Conhails from Chicago. community forum struction Community neighbors and By SHANNON TYLER
daily senior staffer @shannonmtyler
Kimberly Espinosa/Daily Senior Staffer
The Rock. NU Students Demand Action staged a rally for gun safety there Wednesday.
as white Americans to die from gun violence.” Kumar added members of the LGBTQ+ community are twice as likely to be victims of gun violence. These facts are often left out from conversations about gun violence, she said. Evanston resident Jacob Goldsmith came to the protest with his wife and 7-yearold son. He said he’s tired
of hearing “dishonest” arguments from pro-gun groups. Goldsmith said he hopes events raising awareness about gun violence and direct action can eventually contribute to substantive change. He compared the U.S.’s response to gun violence to that of other countries like Australia, where gun violence
» See GUN SAFETY, page 7
Northwestern University announced a partnership March 23 between Turner Construction Company and Walsh Construction to oversee the Rebuild Ryan project. The university and the two companies hosted an initial community outreach session to introduce the team and announce new project plans Wednesday morning. Pamyla Fountain-Brown, Community and Citizenship Director of Turner, made promises to “look local first” when it comes to the project’s contracting in construction, food and T-shirts, to ensure the stadium is a community asset. “We are visitors to your community,” Fountain-Brown said. “We are visitors here and so we’re going to need your partnership to help us understand.”
businesses interested in working on the project –– along with representatives who traveled from other cities and states –– gathered in Welsh-Ryan Arena to hear about the project plans. The University announced plans to renovate Ryan Field following a $480 million donation from the Patrick and Shirley Ryan Family last September. In its initial announcement, NU declared it would ensure 35% of its total subcontracted spending is local, minorityowned and woman-owned businesses, with priority given to businesses and individuals located in Evanston. Fountain-Brown said the Evanston community is integral to the agency’s work on Ryan Field. NU executive director of Neighborhood and Community Relations Dave Davis said the school chose to hire Turner because of their commitment to
» See RYAN FIELD, page 7
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