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THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2016

On Campus

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Looking back 35 years later, it’s very easy for me to see the cumulative effects of segregation on our lives.

— Mary Barr, author

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN | NEWS 3 Author discusses her book on Evanston civil rights Page 8

Justice speaks on post-apartheid South African law By MATTHEW CHOI

the daily northwestern @matthewchoi2018

The law can be both a force to liberate and a force to oppress, South African Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron said Wednesday, calling on Northwestern students to be forces of progress. Cameron spoke to about 250 students, faculty and Evanston community members at Harris Hall as part of a six-day visit to NU. Invited by Medill Dean Brad Hamm, Cameron discussed the roles of law and citizens in establishing racial, sexual and health justice, drawing from his experience serving in the South African legal system. Though law may have a basis in justice, it does not always lead to justice, Cameron said, referencing South Africa’s apartheid past. He spoke on how Nelson Mandela, who swore to defend South African law as a lawyer, encouraged disobedience to

promote justice against apartheid. The high court, recognizing the value of Mandela’s actions, overturned unjust laws in response. “The paradox … is that to use a legal system it has to have some conception of justice to it,” Cameron said. “Amidst the massive injustice of the system, there was still a conception that Mandela never forgot, that the law was designed not to suppress and subordinate and degrade, but the law was in fact designed for something quite different.” Cameron also discussed the limits of the law and the necessity for civic engagement in inciting change. He invoked the history of the HIV epidemic in South Africa, where civil protest in tandem with legal action brought about the reversal of the country’s policy restricting HIV treatment. South Africa now has an exemplary system for making antiretroviral drugs accessible for those who most need it, he said. “It’s a remarkable story,” Cameron said. “It’s a story I told because of its importance in

understanding what confronting prejudice and stigma and fear can do, and also what the law and activists can do.” Continuously referencing his own experiences, Cameron recognized the many ways different parts of his identity influenced his life. As the first openly gay and HIV-positive man to serve on the South African Constitutional Court, he discussed how he advocated for legal protection of LGBT rights. “I was involved in trying to get sexual orientation into the constitution and I was a gay man,” Cameron said. “At the time that I started my human rights practice in Johannesburg, I determined I would not apologize for something that was constitutive of my human soul.” Cameron has frequently worked with the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications’ South Africa Journalism Residency program. His visit to campus was an outgrowth of that relationship, said Medill Prof. Douglas Foster, who oversees the program.

Foster cited Cameron’s unique perspective on human rights both in South Africa and the United States as well as his accolades, which include being recognized by Mandela as a “new hero” of South Africa. The professor, who has worked closely with Cameron in the past, told The Daily he has long admired the justice’s perspective. “He’s somebody who’s thought deeply about how you create communities of people who can cross lines of culture, language, race, background,” Foster said. “Because that’s what the South African experiment is about.” University President Morton Schapiro, who also attended the event, told The Daily he admired Cameron’s candidness and courage. “He’s a wonderful speaker,” Schapiro said. “The way he tells such a deeply personal story for somebody who’s such a prominent figure in his country, I find deeply inspiring.” matthewchoi2018@u.northwestern.edu

Student-run coffee shop to open doors Fall Quarter By RISHIKA DUGYALA

the daily northwestern @rdugyala822

An entirely student-run coffee shop is scheduled to open on campus Fall Quarter under the guidance of Northwestern Dining and Sodexo. The location of the new shop has not yet been confirmed, but Director of Dining Ken Field said it would most likely operate in University Library’s Café Bergson. After learning that many neighboring universities, such as the University of Chicago, have student-run facilities on campus, Weinberg freshmen Lucas Philips and Brammy Geduld formed the group NU Student Coffee and contacted Field with their idea of creating a student-run coffee shop on campus. “Our vision for the coffee shop, we sort of want

it to be a place on campus that’s an escape,” Geduld said. “So a place that doesn’t sort of feel run by the University itself, but more of a place that reflects sort of a social, communal place where students actually want to spend their time.” Having an all-student staff running the shop would not only create a student-friendly environment, but would also foster experiential learning, Geduld said. Philips said he and Geduld sent out surveys to ensure students had a say in the type of vibe and food the establishment will have. The co-founders are working on putting together a dedicated management team consisting of a variety of students with different types of backgrounds and hope to provide work-study opportunities at the coffee shop in the future, Philips said. Field said Sodexo and NU Dining had begun cultivating a program for a student-run facility on

campus when Geduld and Philips approached him with their idea, essentially accelerating the planning process. Rachel Tilghman, Sodexo’s spokesperson at NU, has also been working closely with students regarding logistics. “There’s so much to running a business,” Tilghman said. “I am excited the students can do it in a protected environment where it’s OK to make mistakes and where we have plans and procedures to help them out. One day, they can build on what they learned here on campus when they go out into the real world.” Although Sodexo and NU Dining will provide helpful resources and the University will provide the space and machinery, Philips said the students will be the ones in charge of ordering the products, deciding on a menu and essentially running the establishment using a preset budget.

Field said he hopes the coffee shop will become a long-term enterprise here at NU. “Our goal is to try to build a foundation,” he said. “With the proper student input and drive behind this (enterprise) and enough student interest, it could go on and expand in additional locations across campus.” In the future, there is also a possibility that all retail locations around campus will become student-run, Field said. For now, NU Dining and NU Student Coffee are taking things slow to ensure that the shop is a success. “All of our peer institutions have some sort of student-run hospitality business, whether it be a coffee shop or a smoothie bar,” Philips said. “We don’t have anything like that. So I’m excited about this and … it’s time I guess for us to like catch up on that trend.” rishikadugyala2019@u.northwestern.edu

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