After exchanges between University President Morton Schapiro and NU Community Not Cops this fall, Northwestern Hillel tackled questions about Zionism, anti-Semitism and racial justice in a weeklong symposium this month.
After demonstrations outside his home in October, Schapiro said in an email to the University community the protesters’ rhetoric toward him held anti-Semitic undertones. In response, NUCNC said they condemned anti-Semitism and their words had been misconstrued by Schapiro because “anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism.”
Hillel Social Justice Coordinator Lydia Greenberg, who helped organize the symposium, told The Daily many Jewish students felt “hurt, confused, (and) frustrated” either at the administration or other students after the heated back-and-forth in the fall.
Biss said the role of the police in the realm of public safety has become too broad.
“Over the course of the last really 50 years in American life, we have massively cranked up the number of problems to which we’ve decided that the solution is a guy with a gun,” Biss said. “And it has, most of all, harmed the communities… whose problems are attempted to be solved in the wrong way.”
Biss, a former state senator representing Evanston and a 2018 gubernatorial candidate, is campaigning for Mayor of Evanston in the city’s upcoming municipal elections. He will run against local activist Lori Keenan and recent Evanston Township High School graduate Sebastian Nalls.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Northwestern’s Alpha Mu Chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity held its 42nd annual candlelight vigil in honor of the civil rights leader, who was a member of the fraternity at Boston University.
The hour-long vigil was a part of MLK Dream Week, a University-organized series of virtual events in celebration of Dr. King’s legacy. The Northwestern Community Ensemble opened Monday’s event with a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” followed by a performance from spoken word poet Timothy Mays and a prayer led by Chaplain Tahera Ahmad, NU’s director of interfaith engagement.
Student group NUCNC meets publicly with central administration to address unmet demands and District 219 community members demand reforms to address racism. The Weekly: Week One Recap breaks down The Daily’s top headlines with the reporters and editors who covered those stories.
ALEX CHUN: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Alex Chun.
JORDAN MANGI: And I’m Jordan Mangi. This is The Weekly: a podcast that breaks down our top headlines each week.
ALEX CHUN: Here’s what’s been happening in the headlines. On campus, Northwestern has opened more dorms and on-campus housing this winter quarter.
JORDAN MANGI: With the return of most freshmen and sophomores, the University has also announced that Compass group is rehiring 97 percent of workers laid off last spring.
In their first public interaction with University President Morton Schapiro and other members of the central administration, NU Community Not Cops organizers expressed their disapproval of the University’s response to police abolition demands on Tuesday.
Five members of NUCNC met with Schapiro, Provost Kathleen Hagerty, Vice President of Student Affairs Julie Payne-Kirchmeier, Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Craig Johnson and Community Safety Advisory Board chair Clyde Yancy. The students steered the meeting, asking administration to respond to a series of questions, including several prompts they said they sent to administration in advance.
“We understand that you would like for this meeting to be a dialogue,” organizer Liz Curtis said. “However we would like for all of you to understand that you lost that privilege months ago. You had ample time to reach out to us since we sent our petition letter to you 223 days ago. None of you have done so.”