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The Daily Northwestern Thursday, November 17, 2022 12 SPORTS/Cross Country
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Students discuss FGLI experience, finding community at Northwestern
The sensationalization of Black pain must end
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Residents protest antiBlackness at council Black city employees recently criticized work conditions By YIMING FU
daily senior staffer @yimingfuu Illustration by Gemma DeCetra
Students propose policy revisions
Administration to review suggested changes to demonstration policy By JOANNA HOU
daily senior staffer @joannah_11
After several years of debate between activists and Northwestern administrators over NU’s demonstration policy, talks are underway to rewrite several parts of the document. The University has revised its policy multiple times over the past five years. After a 2017 campus visit from a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement representative sparked protest, administrators worked with activists to revise the policy. While it underwent routine review in 2020, only
the FAQ section received changes. In recent years, demonstrations like the NU Community Not Cops protests throughout fall 2020 and an on-field student protest at a home football game during Family Weekend 2021 have led the University to reiterate its demonstration guidelines. But as senior University officials have emphasized the policy, activists have scrutinized it. Protesters have expressed frustrations with the demonstration policy for multiple reasons, including its vague language around potential consequences for student activists. Last year, Margot Bartol (Weinberg ’22) and Karina
Karbo-Wright (Weinberg ’22) discussed the policy with several administrators and activist groups, including NUCNC, Fossil Free NU, NU Dissenters, Students Organizing for Labor Rights and Students for Justice in Palestine. After gathering key complaints and concerns from these groups, the two annotated the current demonstration policy with proposed changes. Now, McCormick junior Molly Whalen, Associated Student Government’s executive officer of accountability, is advocating for those revisions. Whalen plans to talk with NU’s Policy Review Committee in hopes of implementing some of these proposals in 2023. Here
are some of the most significant proposed changes to the demonstration policy.
Understanding the disruptive nature of protest The current policy states demonstrators should notify Student Organizations and Activities at least 48 hours before the planned start of the event. While SOA cannot bar protests from occurring, it asks for notice so it can “best facilitate planning.” According to the policy, community members cannot “obstruct” regularly scheduled
» See DEMONSTRATION, page 7
Community members packed the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center to stand with Evanston’s Black employees at Monday night’s City Council meeting. The action comes after an anonymous coalition of around 30 Black city employees released a letter earlier this month detailing workplace disparities in pay, promotion and discipline. More than 100 people attended the meeting, and a group of 15 stood up in solidarity each time a speaker expressed their support for the City of Evanston Black Employee Action Group. Several public commenters said Evanston’s HR failures reflect a continued pattern of racism and anti-Blackness, despite the city’s “diverse” and “equitable” reputation. Community Alliance For Better Government President Lesley Wiliams read a statement on behalf of the Black Employee Action Group to demand funding, transparency and accountability. Williams said the group reached out to her to represent them by proxy because many
employees fear or have already faced retaliation for speaking up. In the statement, Williams criticized the lack of response from Evanston’s elected officials thus far. Since the letter’s Nov. 1 release, there has been no public response from the city. The statement also referenced Evanston’s 2019 “Commitment to End Structural Racism and Achieve Racial Equity,” which promises to redress historical inequities. Despite that commitment, she said the city continues to mistreat its Black employees. Williams encouraged City Council to follow 20 action steps presented in the group’s initial letter to address racism in city government, which include hiring an external agency to perform a full HR audit and investigation, and implementing a pay equity ordinance. “Simply implement the very reasonable action plan the employees provided to you, not anaction plan that you develop,” Williams said. “Black employees are no longer interested in the City of Evanston figuring things out, as history has shown us that that does not work well.” Kevin Brown, Evanston’s former community services manager, also spoke in support of Black employees. Brown filed a lawsuit in 2019
» See COUNCIL, page 7
Faculty, student Q&A: ETHS student talks COP27 sign amicus briefs Climate activist Emmet Ebels Duggan attends UN conference in Egypt Supreme Court to make decision on affirmative action By DAVIS GIANGIULIO
daily senior staffer @giangiuliodavis
As the Supreme Court considers two cases that could potentially outlaw affirmative action, Northwestern faculty and community members are getting involved by creating and signing onto amicus briefs in support of both the defense and prosecution. Initiated by anti-affirmative action advocacy group Students for Fair Admissions, the lawsuit argues that the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause requires race neutrality in higher education admissions decisions — which would render affirmative action unconstitutional. Harvard University and the University of North Carolina’s admission processes are under the spotlight in these cases. Affirmative action stems from an executive order issued
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by President Lyndon Johnson’s administration stating that organizations receiving federal contracts and subcontracts must expand employment opportunities for minority populations. History Prof. Deborah Cohen said considering the court’s conservative lean, she’s not surprised to see it reconsider the long-time precedent. Given her career experience, Cohen said she thought it was important to write a brief in defense of affirmative action. “I’ve been lucky in that almost all of my career has taken place in classrooms in which affirmative action was a guiding principle of the constitution of the student body,” she said. “The brief argues that precisely the diverse classroom is both an educational good and also a social good.” African American studies and sociology Prof. Mary Pattillo said she signed onto Cohen’s brief to show there is support among university professors to maintain affirmative action. Pattillo said she is particularly concerned of what doors could be opened if affirmative
» See AMICUS, page 7
By AVIVA BECHKY
daily senior staffer @avivabechky
Emmet Ebels Duggan spent last week speaking with global climate leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. A senior at Evanston Township High School and the hub coordinator for E-Town Sunrise, Ebels Duggan has advocated for climate solutions for about three years. They joined It’s Our Future, a Chicago-area organization that mentors young climate activists, in September 2021. And at the beginning of November this year, they traveled to the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference — commonly called COP27 — with four other students from It’s Our Future to interview government officials and other attendees and build community with activists. There, Ebels Duggan said they primarily explored “pavilion” displays, hearing from the presidents of Botswana and Zimbabwe and learning at the Pacific Islander and Indigenous People’s pavilions, in particular. They flew home with the other students Saturday, though the conference is continuing.
The It’s Our Future group is now planning to compile their interviews into a short film for the One Earth Film Festival. The Daily spoke with Ebels Duggan about their experience at COP27 and takeaways for activism in Evanston. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity. The Daily: What changes do you want to see from COP27? Ebels Duggan: One of the biggest topics at COP is loss and damage: the idea of richer countries that have contributed more to emissions and climate change providing financial contributions — a separate fund for countries that have suffered the most from the effects of climate change. The fact that we are already at the stage of repaying the things that have already gone wrong is frustrating, and frankly, scary. (But) I’m hopeful that this COP will end with some significant commitment to loss and damage funding. The Daily: Are there moments from the conference that stood out to you? Ebels Duggan: A thing to understand about COP: This
Photo courtesy of Emmet Ebels Duggan
event is sponsored by Coca-Cola, which should tell you a lot of what you need to know. It’s a corporate event. And it is a corporate event that does a better job of addressing climate change than those that don’t. But it’s also an event that a lot of countries and companies are able to take advantage of to greenwash their contributions to global emissions. There are meeting rooms that have the Shell logo on the door, and nothing radicalizes you faster than that. The Daily: Do you think there’s potential for change outside a corporate environment? Ebels Duggan: A big part of what I have experienced in Evanston in my work with Sunrise has been that when you can talk directly
to the people that you want to talk to, that need to be doing certain things, when you can have interpersonal relationships with them — that is where the most effective change and the most effective work in climate justice comes from. That looks like working in our communities, working with our city and county governments, and even state governments. The Daily: What role do you think high school and college students should play in affecting change? Ebels Duggan: What youth high school and college students bring is this just unrelenting, idealistic energy. The idealism can often be frustrating — to me, and
» See ETHS UN, page 7
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