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The Daily Northwestern Wednesday, February 12, 2025

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Cracks in the Collective Colectivo workers allege a “toxic” workplace culture at the Evanston cafe and unresponsive management. These reports contrast with the cafe’s pro-worker image.

Isabel Su/The Daily Northwestern

By CASEY HE and SHREYA SRINIVASAN

daily senior staffers @caseeey_he / @shreyasrin

Content warning: This story mentions sexual harassment and racism. As Mackenzie Ridenour and their coworkers wiped down counters, washed dishes and chatted about New Year’s Eve plans during the closing shift on Dec. 29, a coworker approached Ridenour, the shift leader. The coworker felt the store manager, Ridenour’s superior, treated her unfairly. He blamed her for minor mistakes at work — even ones that weren’t hers, Ridenour

recalled. The coworker said the manager also complained behind her back that she never took closing shifts but didn’t assign her any, Ridenour said. Ridenour helped their coworker file a complaint against the manager through Colectivo’s routine incident reporting system as the rest of the workers finished closing. The workers were scheduled to finish by 7 p.m. but clocked out at 7:27 that night. A week later, Colectivo fired Ridenour after two years at the Evanston cafe. “Because I helped someone with an incident report, I’m getting fired,” Ridenour said. “Not a write-up, not a tsk-tsk. Nothing. Immediately fired.” According to an initial termination report obtained by

The Daily, the reasons for Ridenour’s firing included time theft — spending work hours on non-work activities — falsification of complaints and violation of harassment complaint policy. The incident was the latest of a string of issues workers said they’ve had with the current store manager since he joined the Evanston cafe in late 2023, as well as the cafe chain’s upper management. Colectivo operates 21 cafes, six of which are in the Chicago area. Interviews with seven current and former employees and internal communications obtained by The Daily reveal that the chain has faced a host of mismanagement

» See COLECTIVO, page 4

Northwestern students Personal digs animate City elect ASG co-presidents Council candidate debates Student voting numbers increase from 2024 By JANELLE MELLA

daily senior staffer @janelle_mella

McCormick junior James La Fayette Jr. and Weinberg sophomore Jamal Omoniyi won the Associated Student Government presidential election and will serve as the next ASG co-presidents. There were 1,836 student votes cast, a 54.5% increase from the 1,188 total voters in the 2024 ASG presidential election. The voting was based on a ranked-choice system.

Recycle Me

La Fayette Jr. said the election was “very tedious,” especially while balancing homework and studying for midterms. He added that this year’s election was more challenging due to the larger number of candidates. Four candidate teams ran this election cycle — a number not seen since the 2013 ASG presidential election. It has typically ranged from one to two. La Fayette Jr. and Omoniyi credited their campaign’s success to the structure and support of their campaign team, particularly the ambassadors

they had representing each NU school. La Fayette Jr. added that what ultimately pushed him to run for president was this support. “I’m not running just because I want to be president, but because I truly feel like I can help serve these student groups who have reached out to me,” La Fayette Jr. said. “Getting that onthe-ground support from day one was really helpful.” The two also stressed the importance of working with groups that supported them,

» See ASG RESULTS, page 9

Tensions roared at Evanston forum Sunday By SHUN GRAVES

daily senior staffer @realshungraves

Unlike some earlier City Council debates, the marquee segment of Sunday’s Evanston candidate forum began with Mayor Daniel Biss and his challenger, Jeff Boarini, sharing pleasantries. Yet a palpable acrimony hung in the air of Evanston’s former Second Church of Christ. Then it struck with a vengeance. While discussing Evanston’s “weak mayor” governing structure, Boarini lampooned Biss’

leadership. “It’s a rather inverted process here, of being a strong mayor and having a very weak city manager as well,” Boarini said. The mayor soon chastised his challenger for launching a “snide attack.” Biss then began an impassioned defense — and blasted Boarini for taking a “strong mayor” stance by proposing to take over the city’s 311 services. Still, the broadsides between the two men vying for Evanston’s top office on April 1 seemed insignificant compared to multiple ward races where even a pretence of pleasantry never appeared. And beneath

the deeply personal attacks lay a foundational rift between two competing visions for the city. The battle for the 7th Ward — the site of Ryan Field, ground zero for residents’ frustrations with development — launched the hourslong forum with a bang. “How often do you adopt others’ opinions instead of forming your own?” Parielle Davis asked her opponent, Kerry Mundy, over his apparent support for Northwestern’s bid to commercialize a rebuilt Ryan Field. “I make my own decisions, and

» See FORUM, page 9