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The Daily Northwestern Thursday, September 28, 2023
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Learning resources with an open license a team to incorporate OER at their Big 10 schools start respective universities within the no-cost library for Big Ten Academic Alliance. The team found out that the two-year learning , teaching grant that they began working on a By LEAH SCHROEDER
daily senior staffer @lmschroeder_
Sonya Dymova/The Daily Northwestern
Protestors opposing the new Ryan Field marched down half of Sheridan Road toward the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center. They began at Lighthouse Beach and were accompanied by a car caravan.
Protesters march against rezoning
NU Accountability Alliance asks for Ryan Field legal agreement By SELENA KUZNIKOV
daily senior staffer @selenakuznikov
About 100 members of the Northwestern Accountability
Alliance and Evanston residents gathered to pressure Evanston city government to require NU to establish a community benefits agreement on the Ryan Field rebuild at a Tuesday evening march.
Manager Kevin Brown (Weinberg ‘85) stood outside the house, announcing to the crowd that the University needs to “respect our community” as attendees cheered
The rally began near Lighthouse Beach and traveled down Central Street to stop in front of NU President Michael Schill’s residence. Evanston resident and former Evanston Community Services
» See PROTEST, page 10
At the start of each quarter, students all feel the familiar pain of shelling out hundreds of dollars to purchase textbooks and access codes for classes. To combat this issue and encourage equity, NU Open Education Librarian Lauren McKeen McDonald has worked to introduce Open Educational Resources at Northwestern. The initiative provides teaching and learning resources with an open license, meaning resources can be freely used, shared and customized. “The thing that we’ve been talking a lot about at Northwestern is the cost of course materials and use of access codes and other supplementary materials and how it continues to rise,” McDonald said. “OER is a way for us to be able to provide low- or no-cost course materials to students, so it provides a more equitable learning environment.” McDonald and librarians from Penn State University and the University of Minnesota have formed
year ago and proposed in February was funded this August. With the grant, the team’s ultimate goal is to create a shared learning infrastructure between BTA universities. “We had been working on this project for a long time, and I think that it’s something that’s really needed,” McDonald said. “There’s not a lot of cohesive information about what (open homework systems) do, what subject areas they’re appropriate for and what open textbooks they might pair well with. I think that the work that comes out of this project will really fill a need within that open education space.” To incentivize professors to utilize OER, NU introduced a $5,000 OER faculty grant to develop, use and publish OER for their courses. Math Prof. Aaron Greicius said he uses OER in his classroom because of the added accessibility it offers. Greicius wrote an OER textbook that he uses for his linear algebra class and hopes to establish it as the official textbook of the department in the next year. “I believe it doesn’t have to be so costly,” Greicius said. “There’s lots
» See OER, page 10
Illinois law targets Students’ new mom away from home family influencers Wilmette mother starts service to drop off food, prescriptions and more New legislation protects children featured in content By KATE WALTER
daily senior staffer @katewalter03
Last month, Illinois became the first state to pass legislation that entitles the children of influencers to a percentage of their parents’ earnings from content they’re featured in. Senate Bill 1782 amends the state’s Child Labor Law to protect children featured in online content. The law applies to children featured in 30% of their parents’ content over a 30-day period. It requires influencers to share their earnings with children featured in the content if it earns at least 10 cents per view. The funds must be set aside into a trust fund, accessible to children when they turn 18 or are emancipated. If their earnings aren’t set aside, the law grants them the ability to sue their parents. The law was
Recycle Me
signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in August and will go into effect in July 2024. State Sen. David Koehler (D-Peoria), who sponsored the legislation, said the rise of family-related “influencing” has led to the need to protect children shown in content. “This is one of those things that really kind of took off and is now kind of a mainstream occurrence within social media,” said Koehler. “We need to have legislation that puts some safeguards in place.” Johanna Grange, a Chicagobased content creator and co-founder of social media agency Oak Street Social, said she supports the bill’s entitling children to a percentage of the earnings, but not with the means of legal action. “I struggle a little bit with the suing spot, just simply because parents worked their tails off to provide for their families,” said Grange. “On the flip side of things, I think it’s really important to include them in the conversation so
» See INFLUENCERS, page 10
By SAUL PINK
daily senior staffer @saullpink
Ten days after McCormick freshman Liv Bernstein said goodbye to her parents on Deering Meadow, she said hello to her “Northwestern mom” outside of McCulloch Hall. Heather Metz, 48, had driven to Evanston from Wilmette on a sunny Friday afternoon, a dozen cupcakes — nut-free — in the back of her SUV. The trip wasn’t an act of motherly love. It was an act of commerce — the first delivery of Metz’s new business. In June, she launched the NU outpost of mindyKNOWS, a service founded in 2019 at Washington University in St. Louis. Through mindyKNOWS, parents of college students can hire locals to perform tasks like picking up prescriptions, dropping off gifts and even delivering chicken soup for their child. When Metz reached the North Campus dorm, she texted Bernstein. The first-year student, dressed in shorts and a white Budweiser T-shirt, exited
her dorm room and descended the stairs to receive the cupcakes. They were a gift from Bernstein’s parents in New York City, a confectionary congratulations for completing her first week of college. The two women chatted briefly about classes and dorm life. Then, Metz snapped a photo of Bernstein and the cupcakes, which she sent to Bernstein’s parents. “I got to share [the cupcakes] with my roommate and my friends and they all enjoyed it,” Bernstein said. “So it was a nice thing to have.” Metz’s business stands at the intersection of two defining features of college life in the 2020s: helicopter parents and swift delivery services. “We are not Mom or Dad,” reads a card that Metz hands out to prospective clients, “but we’re the next best thing.” The next best thing doesn’t come cheap: Metz’s services cost $55 per month, $500 a year or $1,850 for a four-year membership — plus delivery fees. Her one-off offerings include an $85 Chicken Soup Care Package, which comes with
Saul Pink/Daily Senior Staffer
Heather Metz (right) hands cupcakes to McCormick freshman Liv Bernstein (left). It was Metz’s first delivery as part of a new business where parents of Northwestern students can hire locals to help their kids, from picking up prescriptions to celebrating birthdays.
a quart of hot soup, a loaf of bread, scones, juice and a handwritten note. Metz also offers a Cookie Care Package — which gifts students a personalized cookie cake, eight plates, napkins and a handwritten card for
$75 — and a Happy Birthday Cupcake Care Package for $130. Although she hasn’t sold any memberships yet, Metz says the personal touch justifies the
» See MOM, page 10
INSIDE: Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | O pinion 9 | Classifieds & Puzzles 10 | Sports 12