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Wednesday, May 14, 2025

DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM 12 SPORTS/Christian Sarkisian

10 PHOTO/Kaibigan

7 A&E/Dillo Day Outfits

Christian Sarkisian named Northwestern Athletics’ general manager

The Pinoy Show captures the magic of Filipino mythical creatures, music and dance

Students curate carnival outfits ahead of Dillo Day

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NUGW reacts to new policies The organization mobilizes after funding freeze By SIDDARTH SIVARAMAN

the daily northwestern @sidvaraman

Eighty-three percent of Northwestern graduate students say they could last less than six months without a paycheck before being forced to drop out. That’s according to an April survey by the Northwestern University Graduate Workers union that garnered 300 responses after the Trump administration froze $790 million in federal funding for NU, issued at least 98 stopwork orders and terminated at least 51 grants for NU programs. The poll was part of a mobilization effort by the union including letters to university leaders, public protests and general membership meetings to counter the Trump administration. Third-year Ph.D. candidate in molecular biophysics and NUGW Chief Steward Gracie Siffer said her paycheck has not

been federally reimbursed since March. Her research, which studies proteins that could guide new drug designs, has stopped receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health, she said. NU has continued to pay her salary without federal reimbursement, but she said it was unclear how sustainable that practice would be. She added that she would be likely able to work for around three months without pay before being forced to drop out. Siffer said work like hers must be federally funded because privately backed research leads to companies raising drug prices and keeping findings private. “The only way to ensure that anything ethical happens in biomedical research is to do it through the federal government,” Siffer said. “That’s why the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation exist.” As a chief steward representing union members in Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences STEM programs, Siffer said individuals can’t do much about the federal

» See NUGW, page 11

Illustration by Danny O’Grady

Briston Maroney, Swae Lee and Maude Latour stand out as some notable recent Dillo Day performers whose popularity has grown significantly in recent years.

53 years of Dillo Day performers A look at the careers of artists after they perform at the festival By DANNY O’GRADY

daily senior staffer @dannymogrady04

Although the origins of Dillo Day are unclear, the most commonly known start to what is now

the nation’s biggest student-run music festival is that Donald Stout (Weinberg ’73) and George Krause (Weinberg ’73) founded the event their senior year. They named it Armadillo Day because they are both from Texas, where armadillos are the state

animal, and there is a concert venue located in Austin, Texas, named after the animal. Northwestern held its first Armadillo Day on May 13, 1973, and the event was called The First Annual “I Don’t Think We’re In Kansas Anymore” Festival and Fair.

Since the 1970s, the tradition has significantly grown in scope and has been headlined by world-famous artists. There is a belief that Mayfest Productions, the organizing body

» See DILLO, page 11

ETHS teacher disciplined for poster Reza’s closed ‘until The reprimand for his ‘Jewish acts of dissent’ poster caused backlash By JACK BAKER

the daily northwestern @jdowb2005

Community members at Monday’s Evanston Township High School District 202 Board of Education meeting decried school administrators’ reprimand of an ETHS teacher for displaying a “Jewish acts of dissent” poster in his classroom. Andrew Ginsberg, a social studies teacher who has taught at ETHS for nine years, said after a complaint alleged the poster was offensive, school administrators asked him to take it down. In response, Ginsberg replaced the poster with a letter to his students claiming it had been “censored at the insistence of the administration.” “This treatment came at the

urging of a small group of parents who are trying to censor speech, both in the broader Evanton community and within the Jewish community, my community,” Ginsberg said during public comment at the meeting. “By siding with a small group of litigious and aggressive parents, the school has taken a position which endorses and imposes on everyone else the Zionist view that political support of Israel is central to being Jewish.” The poster depicts a menorah displaying the word “dissent.” Additional messages on the poster describe an “absence of assets that make creative dissent possible” and claim that Judaism “came into being as an act of dissent.” Ginsberg said school administrators discovered the letter replacing the poster in early March, pulled him out of class, gave him a written warning and asked him

further notice’ The restaurant has not announced if they will reopen By HANNAH WEBSTER

daily senior staffer @hannahe_webster

Jack Baker/The Daily Northwestern

The poster depicts a menorah and displays the word “dissent” along with various statements about the role of dissent in Judaism.

to review policies on teaching controversial topics and maintaining appropriate contact with students. Ginsberg’s prepared remarks were finished by another speaker during public comment. They

concluded with a list of demands that included the district remove the written warning from Ginsberg’s personal file, issue

» See COUNCIL, page 11

Reza’s Restaurant on Sherman Avenue appears to have closed its doors. A pop up on the Mediterranean and Persian restaurant’s website reads, “Closed until further notice.” The storefront contains a sign announcing the restaurant is closed and encouraging patrons to order on UberEats. It does not indicate whether the restaurant will reopen. The Daily visited the restaurant during typical business hours on

Sunday and Monday. In each case, the restaurant was not open to customers. Reza’s, which first opened in Evanston in 2021, did not immediately respond to questions about whether the restaurant plans to reopen or if the connected lounge is also closed. The restaurant also has a delivery-only location in downtown Chicago. The phone numbers for both locations are out of service. Online ordering options are also unavailable. A Reza’s Restaurant location shuttered in Andersonville in 2023. Another in Oak Brook recently changed to operate under new management. Ben Shapiro contributed reporting. h.webster@dailynorthwestern.com

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