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Wednesday, October 15, 2025

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Hear about some of the past week’s top stories

City establishes ‘ICE free zones’ Resolution passes amid growing safety concerns By FEMI HORRALL

daily senior staffer

Over one month since officials first warned of federal immigration agents’ arrival in Evanston, community members are expressing worry about safety in the city. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss confirmed ICE was present in Evanston Sunday morning in an X post the same day. Multiple community members were taken, according to the post. “People in our community are not going to work because going outside is not safe,” 2nd Ward resident Kate Jaggard Tyo said during public comment at Monday’s City Council meeting. “Parents are keeping their children home from school because they are terrified of what could happen. People are afraid to go to the grocery store.” In response to growing concerns, City Council voted 7-0 to adopt a resolution prohibiting the use of city property, like parking lots and garages, in federal civil immigration enforcement operations. The resolution resembles the “ICE Free

Zone” executive order Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed last week. The resolution directs staff to use physical barriers to limit access to City-owned properties as necessary. It also directs staff to print and disseminate signage for renters and private property owners to use to delineate nonpublic areas of property where civil immigration enforcement activities are restricted. “I think all of us have a moral duty, in this case, not to allow life to go on as usual,” Biss said Monday. “Whoever you are, your community is under attack right now.” In September, the council also passed a resolution calling on state and national legislators to prohibit federal law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings. City Clerk Stephanie Mendoza urged locals to support each other however they can. She suggested that employers, when possible, continue paying employees who are afraid to show up to work. “Just help people out in the best ways that you can, so they can be protected and they can stay home and they can feel safe,” Mendoza said. “Even if you don’t have time to be a

» See ICE, page 15

Christina Lin/The Daily Northwestern

Joel Mokyr, history and economics professor at Northwestern, was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday.

NU Prof. Joel Mokyr wins Nobel

Econ and history professor wins half of 2025 prize in economic sciences By NINETH KANIESKI KOSO and CARLOTTA ANGIOLILLO

daily senior staffers @ninethkk / @carlottaang76

Early Monday morning, economics and history Prof. Joel Mokyr noticed a missed phone

call from a +46 dialing code. That missed call originated from a Swedish number and was meant to inform him that he had won half of the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Mokyr won the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences for his work

demonstrating how technological processes have led to sustained economic growth, identifying three prerequisites for growth: useful knowledge, mechanical competence and institutions conducive to technological growth. The other half of the award is shared between Philippe Aghion

of Collège de France and the London School of Economics and Peter Howitt (Weinberg Doctorate ’73) of Brown University for their work creating a mathematical model for the theory of sustained growth through creative

» See PRIZE, page 15

D65 Board teeters on closure plan NU courses cover Under new leadership, board members search for wiggle room By SIDDARTH SIVARAMAN

daily senior staffer @sidvaraman

The Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education signalled openness to extending its discussion timeline or staggering a three-school closure plan at a special board meeting Tuesday morning. The potential school shutterings are part of Phase 3 of the district’s Structural Deficit Reduction Plan, in which District 65 aims to eliminate $10 to $15 million in spending, set to go into effect for the 2026-27 school year. Scenarios were first announced at a Sept. 29 board meeting. Newly-elected Board President Patricia S. Anderson said the board may need to extend Phase 3 of the SDRP for district staff to model alternative scenarios based on board members’ new ideas or community members’ pitches at the district’s scenario feedback sessions. District staff are collecting input from sessions at each of the district’s middle schools and the Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center this week. The board must request

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additional models from district administrators before its Nov. 3 meeting to be prepared for its current Nov. 17 scenario decision deadline, said Stacy Beardsley, assistant superintendent of performance management and accountability. “If the deadline begins to slide, the feasibility to do it well becomes questionable,” she said. The push for closing three schools one after another, instead of all at once, was led by board member Omar Salem, who wasn’t present at the Sept. 29 meeting. Spreading out closures and ensuring that students wouldn’t be impacted multiple times would buy time for the administration to project financial effects more precisely, he said. It would also help the board proceed through multiple closures with more care, he added. “I don’t see how that doesn’t work for us,” Salem said. Salem said he had asked the board to schedule a special meeting before community feedback sessions on the administration’s proposed scenarios began Tuesday evening. Anderson takes on board presidency as Sergio Hernandez steps

Israel-Hamas war Faculty urge civil discourse amid rising scrutiny By CATE BOUVET

daily senior staffer @catebouvet Siddarth Sivaraman/The Daily Northwestern

The board must request additional models from district administrators before its Nov. 3 meeting to be prepared for its current Nov. 17 scenario decision deadline.

down from leadership role As board members and onlookers settled into their seats following a recess three hours into the meeting, a shrill whistle broke through the chatter. “Don’t make me use my ‘teacher’ voice,” Anderson told the crowd. Although she remained in the same chair she occupied as a member, the moment offered a glimpse of what a board might look like under Anderson’s gavel. In her opening statement as board president, she said she would welcome different perspectives from the district’s bargaining

units, parents and other community members. She also emphasized the need for creative solutions to ensure participation from marginalized groups. “I’m the board president because I’m the most pragmatic person here,” Anderson said. “This is a team of eight, and there are eight different opinions.” After three years in the role, Hernandez announced he would step down from the presidency in the wake of former Superintendent Devon Horton’s federal indictment Thursday.

» See D65, page 15

From Jewish Studies 280-4: Violence in Israel/Palestine: A History to Humanities 370-4-23: What is Antisemitism?, Northwestern offers several classes that touch on topics related to the Israel-Hamas war. NU faculty are teaching courses on the politically charged conflict amid the Trump administration’s freeze of $790 million of the University’s federal funding over alleged antisemitism. The University has recently made several efforts to fight antisemitism and Islamophobia. History Prof. David Shyovitz taught What is Antisemitism? for the first time in Winter Quarter of 2024, shortly after the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas. “There were many students in the class who, for different kinds

of reasons, also felt that the stakes of this felt very personally high to them, and that could have taken us off the rails,” Shyovitz said. “But fortunately, it really added to the educational experience, that was my perspective at least. The more invested someone feels in the topic, the better.” He said the course met a need particular to that moment, exploring concepts of hatred, violence and discrimination toward Jewish people throughout various historical periods. The course will be offered again in Winter Quarter 2026. In Jewish Studies 280-4: Violence in Israel/Palestine: A History, Jewish and Israel Studies Prof. Shira Pinhas, focuses on the history of violence in the region in the 20th century with a technological focus. Beginning with the Ottoman Empire, the class goes through the British mandate to establish the state of Israel and some of the major conflicts and military technologies used in the late 20th century. Pinhas said she tries to avoid pretending that the topic is neutral,

» See CLASSES, page 15