Issuu

Serving the Northwestern and Evanston communities since 1881

The Daily Northwestern Find us online @thedailynu

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM

1 YEAR LATER

Students mourn, protest to commemorate one-year anniversary of Oct. 7

One year after Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that escalated decades of devastation in the Gaza Strip and sparked turmoil on college campuses across the U.S., Northwestern’s campus was marked by vigils, ceremonies and demonstrations to honor

the tens of thousands killed in the last year. Events held across campus mirrored the gatherings organized in the immediate aftermath of the attack, which killed about 1,200 Israelis, according to

Israeli officials. Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza has since killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian officials.

» See OCTOBER 7, page 8

Evanston budget Faculty criticize free speech protocol down $9.3 million Professors object to lack of transparency surrounding new guidelines General Fund could decrease to net zero by 2027 By ISAIAH STEINBERG

daily senior staffer @isaiahstei27

Evanston’s General Fund balance is projected to decrease to nearly zero by 2027 if the property tax levy is not increased, Budget Manager Clayton Black said at Tuesday’s Finance and Budget Committee meeting. Evanston’s property taxes, which have remained mostly unchanged since fiscal year 2020, will contribute about $9.4 million to city operations in 2025, keeping the city’s portion of revenues from property taxes constant, according to the city’s proposed budget this year. “A majority of the City

Recycle Me

Council told us that, as long as we have the reserves we have, there’s a hesitancy to raise property taxes, so we did not include that in our proposed budget,” Black said. The city was able to keep the property tax levy flat due to one-time permit revenue from Northwestern for the Rebuild Ryan Field project and from staff vacancy savings, Black added. The city projects $128.4 million in General Fund revenue, excluding operating transfers, and an ending fund balance of $39.7 million by the end of 2025, which is a decrease from between $45.0 million and $52.3 million in 2024, Black said in his budget overview presentation. The decrease is due in part to stagnating revenue from sales taxes, he said. To prevent the decrease in General Fund revenues, city

» See BUDGET, page 8

By KELLEY LU

daily senior staffer @kelleylu_

Following Northwestern’s recent move toward institutional neutrality and the announcement of new demonstration policies, some faculty members have expressed concern about the lack of transparency regarding enforcement of these protocols and their implications on academic freedom. “All these announcements that central administration sends out, whether it be (University President Michael) Schill or (University Provost Kathleen) Hagerty, it’s all about defending freedom and defending speech, but it’s actually all about closing it down,” Spanish and Portuguese Prof. Jorge Coronado said. Alongside universities across the country, the President’s Advisory Committee on Free Expression

and Institutional Speech wrote that faculty, staff and administration should make statements not as official representatives of their NU institutions “to avoid coercing dissenting community members into silence.” The updated demonstration policy, released in September, includes restrictions such as set times to demonstrate at The Rock, policies for hanging up flyers and banners, and mandatory removal of face masks and coverings by students when asked by authorized University officials. Coronado said he was not surprised by the new policy and statement but was shocked at the extent of the restrictions, calling the additions “a severe restriction of academic freedom.” “We have a right to speak from our expertise, whether that be individually or collectively, as scholars, not only a right but a responsibility to speak about these matters,” he

said. “It seems to me that the goal is to stop statements in official capacities from these sorts of faculty and to stop collective statements from departments and units.” He said the University was unclear on who the statement applies to and how it will be enforced, which might cause people to refrain from speaking out. Coronado said that, because of the ambiguous enforcement procedures, “some understand that if they go against these new restrictions, there might be some form of retribution.” He pointed to the misdemeanor charges of three faculty members and a graduate student over the summer for their involvement in April’s proPalestinian encampment. Political science Prof. Jacqueline Stevens said these actions “make it clear that (Schill) is not somebody who actually upholds those kinds of values.” Coronado and Stevens are both on the executive committee

of NU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, dedicated to advancing and protecting academic freedom and its principles at the top of the Faculty Handbook. Stevens said because of the lack of transparency, the statements on institutional neutrality lack credibility. Following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas, Schill made his own statements condemning the actions of Hamas and emphasized the stance as “the view of Mike Schill, citizen, Jew and human being.” She said despite Schill labeling his addresses as personal and separate from the University, “he needs to explain why the policy outcomes that are coming out under his leadership all just happened to line up with the policy preferences of Mike Schill, individual.”

» See REACTIONS, page 8