Serving the Northwestern and Evanston communities since 1881
The Daily Northwestern Friday, February 11, 2022
DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM AUDIO/Culture Shock
6 A&E/Harry Potter
Defining Safe: Navigating NU as an international student
Definitive ranking of “Harry Potter” books
A&E
Find us online @thedailynu 12 SPORTS / Lacrosse
Williamson speaks at Lutkin Hall
Pritzker to lift mask order The requirement will end if cases continue to decline
Political Union hosts former pres. candidate
By AVANI KALRA
the daily northwestern @avanidkalra
Gov. J.B. Pr itz ker announced Wednesday that Illinois’ indoor mask mandate will be lifted on Feb. 28 if positive cases continue to decline. The mandates w ill remain in place in schools, day cares, healthcare facilities, federal buildings in high-risk areas, long-term care facilities and on public transportation, among other specified locations. Chicago officials said they will also end the city’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement to enter certain venues at the end of February, under the same conditions. Pritzker said his decision was inspired by the state’s progress, adding that Illinois ended 2021 with fewer COVID-19 hospitalizations per capita than any other state in the Midwest. More Illinois residents are vaccinated than anywhere else in the Midwest, he said, and nearly 80% of eligible seniors have received a booster shot. “Throughout this pandemic, we’ve deployed the tools available to us as needed,” Pritzker said. “We’ve used masks more when infections are raging and hospitals are stretched thin. We’ve used masks less when spread is diminished and hospitals have enough bandwidth.” Pr i t z ker sa i d t h i s approach has saved lives while keeping the economy open and growing. At three weeks past the peak of the omicron variant surge, he said, the state is seeing its most rapid decline in hospitalizations since the pandemic began. Illinois follows in the footsteps of states like California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he will end the state’s indoor mask mandate for vaccinated individuals on Feb. 15. “We are on track to come out on the other side of this latest COVID storm in better shape than even the
» See MANDATE, page 10 Recycle Me
High 46 Low 17
NU to start season against Boston College
By LILY CAREY
the daily northwestern @lilylcarey
Illustration by Olivia Abeyta
As community members remain split on school resource officers in Niles Township high schools, District 219 administrators fail to act By OLIVIA ALEXANDER
daily senior staffer @oliviagalex
Content warning : This story contains mentions of police violence and gun violence. When Jasmine Sebaggala’s 15-year-old daughter went to get a drink during her lunch period at Niles West High School in November 2021, she was stopped by two school security officers. Before studying with a teacher during her break, Sebaggala’s daughter tried to enter the cafeteria. To get in, she had to show identification, Sebaggala said. She had used a photo of her ID before with no issue, but this time, the officers threatened to report her to the dean for not showing a physical form of identification. During the interaction, Sebaggala said her daughter was respectful to the officers and asserted that she didn’t do anything wrong. But the officers asked her why she was there, questioning whether she was assigned to that lunch period. After about 30 minutes, a Niles West dean arrived and resolved the situation, allowing Sebaggala’s daughter to get a drink. But Sebaggala said the interaction demonstrated how the district continues to ignore the well-being of Black children in its schools by policing students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly half of American public schools had some form of armed law enforcement personnel in 2018. Advocates say these personnel, including school resource officers, help keep students safe, but critics say their presence could instead expose students to police brutality and worsen the school-to-prison pipeline. The SRO debate made its way to District 219 in summer 2020 when school board members heard more than 50 public comments on the topic of school resource officers at the board’s June 9 meeting. This public outcry continued throughout the summer and led district leaders to establish a task force to evaluate safety and security. However, conversations with District 219 parents, teachers and board members revealed the task force did little to resolve the harm school resource officers inflict on students of color.
Sebaggala, who is a Black mother, said allowing a school resource officer in the building is a sign that the district “doesn’t care about (her) Black daughter.” “They’re continuing to not consider the plight and the feelings of our Black children, how unsafe they feel, how they already have to deal with not seeing teachers that look like them,” Sebaggala said. A community split on SROs The purpose of the SRO at Niles North High School is to serve as a law-related enforcer, counselor and presenter. Niles West outlines its officer’s duties to also include roles such as community liaison and educator. But Nicole Reynolds (Niles North ’98), a physical education and health teacher at Niles West, said during most of her time at the school, many of its SROs have rarely interacted with students. Reynolds recalled never seeing these SROs in the halls, only patrolling the cafeteria. “I never saw him have a relationship with the kids. And I’ll be honest with you, if there’s a gun on the third floor and he’s in the cafeteria, what good is he going to do?” Reynolds said. “It’s a waste.” Niles North parent Elline Eliasoff said she thinks school resource officers can help keep students safe. Eliasoff, whose children have been in the district for more than 10 years, said this type of presence is reassuring in light of recent school shootings across the country. “Does one police officer in the school ensure that our kids are always going to be safe? No,” Eliasoff said. “But does one police officer in the school help get the emergency rescue services there? Can they have disaster plans in place? Can they lock down the school when necessary? Do things happen quicker when there’s a police on premises? 100%, yes.” During her time as a parent in District 219, Eliasoff said there have been two bomb threats leading to school evacuations. In those circumstances, she said the school resource officer put the evacuation plan into place. Matthew Cuellar, who researches school safety and climate at the University of Alaska Anchorage, said school resource officers can be a determining factor in the culture of a school. When these officers develop relationships with students, it can create a safe space, he said.
» See IN FOCUS, page 4
Former Democratic presidential candidate and spiritual leader Marianne Williamson spoke to a 150-person audience Thursday night about how to heal the United States’ political divisions and her perspective on spirituality in politics. Williamson drew on religious and spiritual roots to provide a “metaphysical” perspective on America’s divided political sphere. In her opening speech at the event, which was hosted by NU’s Political Union, she took the audience through the nation’s history of political and social change within a spiritual context and encouraged listeners to “look deep within” to find solutions to modern problems. “We have been infected by a malignant consciousness, by the thought that ‘it’s all about me,’” Williamson said. “We have an economic and political system that reflects it.” After her initial speech, Williamson opened the floor to audience questions, which were moderated by Weinberg junior Will Secker, head of external events for Political Union. The co-presidents of the Political Union, Weinberg senior Pamela Chen and Medill junior Felix Beilin, said they were interested to see how students would react to Williamson’s views. “I’m just excited to see the student body interact with her,” Beilin said. “What (Political Union) really wants to do is provoke the student body with opinions and perspectives they haven’t encountered before.” With midterm elections coming up later this year, Williamson said she plans to voice her support for “progressive, non-corporatist” candidates in the coming months. On Feb. 16, she will host a virtual panel to announce which Congressional primary candidates she thinks align with these beliefs. Williamson emphasized the “corporatist corruption” she sees in the American government throughout her speech
» See WILLIAMSON, page 10 INSIDE: Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | In Focus 4 | A&E 6 | Classifieds & Puzzles 10 | Sports 12