The Daily Northwestern Wednesday, November 8, 2017
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Political science Profs. Jacqueline Stevens, Alvin Tillery entangled in legal fallout from rift By PETER KOTECKI and NORA SHELLY daily senior staffers @peterkotecki, @noracshelly
More than a year after a meeting between political science Profs. Jacqueline Stevens and Alvin Tillery resulted in a rift, the two are
embroiled in a lawsuit over claims made about that day. On March 8 last year, Tillery invited Stevens to his office to discuss her course schedule, which he told The Daily was a normal part of his duty as associate chair of the department. Stevens said Tillery yelled at her during the meeting, while Tillery claimed she “erupted into
an outburst.” Later that day, Stevens emailed Sara Monoson, chair of the political science department, and alleged Tillery had slammed the door in her face and talked to her in an “aggressive” tone, according to a copy of the email obtained by The Daily. The incident contributed to Weinberg Dean
Adrian Randolph’s decision to place Stevens on immediate leave in late July. More than a month after Stevens’ September return to campus, Tillery sued her for defamation and for casting him in a false light. Stevens then sued NU in March 2017 for breach of » See IN FOCUS, page 4
NU voices DACA support University joins 18 peers in filing amicus brief
By MADDIE BURAKOFF
daily senior staffer @madsburk
Katie Pach/Daily Senior Staffer
City clerk Devon Reid speaks at a Tuesday Town Hall meeting. He proposed for his office to take jurisdiction over the FOIA redaction process.
Citizens urge FOIA reform City clerk seeks greater control over redactions
By NIKKI BAIM
the daily northwestern @nikkibaim22
Citizens asked city clerk Devon Reid to ease the burden of filing a Freedom of Information Act request on Evanston’s online database at a Tuesday Town Hall meeting. Reid — who was recently
appointed Evanston’s FOIA officer — fielded concerns from roughly 15 community members about the city’s FOIA database. He proposed greater jurisdiction over the redaction process for his office. The database had publicly disclosed the names of juvenile offenders and sexual assault survivors. Going forward, Reid said he would only release information
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
about individual arrests to the requester, while requests made about general arrest statistics would be released publicly. Some citizens said they did not see a need for the publication of requests, but Lesley Williams — a former Evanston Public Library librarian — argued that the public database » See FOIA, page 7
Northwestern, along with 18 peer institutions, filed an amicus curiae brief Nov. 1 challenging President Donald Trump’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The DACA program was created by an Obama-era executive action, and protects “Dreamers” — undocumented immigrants brought to the United States before the age of 16 — from deportation. The Trump administration
Jessica Williams to visit campus, talk to students as A&O guest
Comedian Jessica Williams will come to Northwestern on Sunday night as A&O Productions’ fall speaker, the group announced in a Tuesday release. Williams formerly served as the first black woman and youngest correspondent on “The Daily Show,” and now hosts a podcast, “2 Dope Queens,” with her friend and fellow comedian Phoebe Robinson, the release
announced Sept. 5 that the program would end by March 2018. The brief, filed in federal district court in the Northern District of California, supports legal challenges by the states of California, Maine, Maryland and Minnesota to the Trump administration’s decision, University spokesman Bob Rowley told The Daily in an email. Other plaintiffs supported by the brief include the University of California system, six DACA recipients and the city of San Jose, California. “The brief argues that educating undocumented students
is vital to the missions of distinguished American institutions of higher education,” Rowley said in the email. “We argue that DACA students enrolled at our institutions are some of the most gifted and motivated young people in the world, and that rescinding DACA harms our students and alumni.” Nearly 800,000 people have been approved for the DACA program since its creation in 2012. DACA recipients are able to live and work in the U.S. for renewable twoyear periods without risk of
said. The Nov. 12 event — coorganized by A&O, College Feminists, One Book One Northwestern and the Multicultural Filmmakers Collective — will be held in Cahn Auditorium. A&O speakers chair Kelly Eichenholz told The Daily that Williams is an “emblematic example” of diversity in the entertainment industry and meets some of A&O’s goals of bringing “relevant and dynamic” stand-up comedians to campus. “She has a lot to say about identity and equality, or lack of equality in the industry,” the Communication senior said. “It’s really this great
combination of entertainment and productive thinking so that people can walk away after enjoying themselves and also have those important discussions.” Williams has also appeared in HBO’s “Girls” and stars in Netflix’s film, “The Incredible Jessica James.” “Williams is a talented comedian, writer and performer who has garnered the attention of television audiences with her influential voice, perspective, and wit around pop culture conversations in media,” the release said.
» See DACA, page 7
— Ally Mauch
INSIDE: Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | Opinion 6 | Classifieds & Puzzles 7 | Sports 8
2 NEWS | THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2017
AROUND TOWN Evanston gallery celebrates 30 years By JAKE HOLLAND
daily senior staffer @jakeholland97
Eve Alfillé’s path to owning Eve J. Alfillé Gallery & Studio — which marked its 30th anniversary last month — was neither simple nor direct. The 82-year-old jewelry maker from Paris, France, came of age during the height of World War II, and said the experience was “harrowing” but helped her become more flexible and resourceful. After the war ended, Alfillé moved to Canada and then the U.S., working as an archaeologist, high school teacher and certified public accountant, among other jobs. Humanity’s “fascination” with jewelry over the years pushed her to open shop, she said. “One of the things that I am interested in and thrive in is history,” Alfillé said. “Especially the history of human culture, of human civilization.” Alfillé said she has been at the same space since Oct. 20, 1987, after neighbors complained to zoning officials that she was working from her home and was forced to establish an official studio. To this day, the studio gallery, located at 623 Grove St., continues to attract customers from the North Shore and beyond, Alfillé said. Annie Coakley, executive director of Downtown Evanston, said Alfillé’s gallery endures partly because of its experiential nature. Customers aren’t faced with bland shelves and anonymous products, but rather with a “unique, in-store experience” and “museumquality” jewelry, Coakley said. “With Eve’s gallery, it is important that she makes everything on site because her pieces are so unique,” Coakley said. “Going into her store is an experience.” Julie DiNanno, an Evanston resident who works at the gallery, echoed Coakley, saying it’s “unique” to be able to talk to the artist herself when shopping for jewelry. She added that Alfillé’s designs are “magical” and often whimsical, something that’s a “lost art” in today’s technology-driven world. “They have a movement to them without moving,” DiNanno said. “They have a story that’s attached
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Eve Alfillé, owner of Eve J. Alfillé Gallery & Studio, at her shop at 623 Grove St. The studio gallery, which specializes in handmade jewelry, celebrated 30 years in Evanston last month.
to each piece and each series, and there’s a certain type of magic to that, too.” Each spring and fall, Alfillé selects a series theme — often accompanied by a poem or artist statement — that she draws inspiration from for many of her pieces. This fall’s theme, “In Great Spirits,” is anchored by the idea that humans need celebration, not isolation, to thrive, Alfillé said. “I started thinking about how people rejoiced across the ages and across civilizations,” Alfillé said. “Celebration always involves company –– people who break bread together. The idea of communal celebration was one I wanted to highlight.” She said throughout history, people have turned to some kind of fermented beverage to celebrate important events like deaths or births. This celebratory theme is reflected in many of this season’s pieces,
incorporating “lots of colors” through the use of gems like tourmaline and sapphire, Alfillé said. The series themes often come from an idea or paradox that Alfillé said she toys around with for a while. And though she said she hasn’t consciously changed her style, she has noticed shifts in her work. “Until about five years ago, my series dealt a lot with the passage of time and with history and the past,” Alfillé said. “In the last five years, I find I deal a lot more with the present and the future.” Alfillé said she “intends to live for a very long time” and continue making and selling jewelry in Evanston. “I kept thinking that I would like to be one of the people in that long and broken chain,” Alfillé said. “I’d like people to find what I make 400 years from now and be mesmerized.” jacobholland2020@u.northwestern.edu
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2017
ON CAMPUS PHA encourages reports to conduct Reporters talk By CATHERINE KIM
daily senior staffer @ck_525
The Panhellenic Association executive board encouraged students in an email sent Monday to report alleged “recruitment efforts” held by Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity to the Office of Student Conduct or PHA to ensure students’ safety. The email said PHA has received “numerous concerns about the alleged continued operation and recruitment efforts by former members of SAE,” which would violate the fraternity’s suspension. To address these issues, the email provided information about the Community Concerns Report in the Dean of Students Office, as well as PHA’s reporting form. “Know that Student Conduct will be acting to the fullest extent appropriate,” the email said. “You may not see an immediate impact from these reports, but please understand that all evidence that you can report matters.” PHA president Karalyn Berman told The Daily that PHA also wanted to update its members after a previous email, which criticized Interfraternity
Council for excluding PHA in its decision to cease recognition of SAE until 2021. “We just wanted to send out a short and sweet email to make sure that people were still up to date on what had happened and understood where things were,” she said. SAE spokesman Brandon Weghorst did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“
Our office reviews all reports we receive and does its best to determine if there is information which is actionable. Lucas Christain, Director of Student Conduct
In April, the University suspended SAE until September 2018 after an investigation found that the chapter “knowingly violated” its disciplinary probation last academic year. The fraternity had been “repeatedly hosting parties and providing
alcohol to minors,” University spokesman Bob Rowley told The Daily at the time. Prior to the suspension, the University announced in March that no disciplinary action would be taken against the fraternity after the conclusion of an earlier, separate investigation of allegations of druggings and sexual assaults. In an email to The Daily, director of student conduct Lucas Christain said the Office of Student Conduct encourages all students to report concerns regarding possible misconduct. “Our office reviews all reports we receive and does its best to determine if there is information which is actionable, regardless of the student(s) or organization(s) involved with the report,” Christain said. IFC president Rodney Orr told The Daily that IFC supports PHA’s statement. He said IFC is also looking into possible violations of SAE’s suspension. “Ultimately, if SAE does come back to the campus, come back to the community, we want to make sure they are coming back fully ready to engage with a lot of the cultural changes that we, IFC, have been trying to make,” Orr said. catherinekim2020@u.northwestern.edu
WINTER QUARTER 2018 Writing 303 The Art of Nonfiction: Telling Stories with ALEX KOTLOWITZ Mondays 2:00-5:00 p.m.
ALEX KOTLOWITZ, CWA Writer in Residence for Winter Quarter 2018, Award-winning author of There Are No Children Here, The Other Side of the River, and Never a City So Real. Contributor to The New York Times Magazine and public radio's This American Life. Alex Kotlowitz is renowned for his narratives of particular individuals whose concrete life experiences illuminate broad aspects of our nation's social and political landscape.
news coverage in Trump era By MARISSA MARTINEZ
the daily northwestern @mar1ssamart1nez
Three Medill alumnae and Washington bureau chiefs discussed the realities and misconceptions of journalism one year after President Donald Trump’s election during a Tuesday panel. About 250 people gathered at the McCormick Foundation Center Forum for the event, hosted by the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. Panelists included Elisabeth Bumiller (Medill ’77) of The New York Times, Julie Pace (Medill ’04) of The Associated Press and Susan Page (Medill ’73) of USA Today. All three oversee Washington news coverage for their respective publications. The panelists discussed how they covered inaccurate statements made by Trump. They said most news bureaus avoid the word “lie” in their stories because reporters are unable to prove the motive of untrue statements. Despite what readers may think, Pace said the issue of labeling inaccuracies is complex, and her responsibility is only to identify them, not comment on them. Pace said she disagrees with critics who claim media coverage had a negative impact on election results. She said AP coverage, which many local news outlets feature, focused equally on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Trump. Therefore, she said, it was up to readers to absorb all the news. “Our job as journalists is to provide people information; it’s not to influence their decisions,” Pace said. “Clinton was covered, Trump was covered, and voters made their decision. It’s not on us to force them in one of those directions.” Jah Jean-Leger (Weinberg ’17), who attended the event, told The Daily she was glad she could relate to the event’s topics because she majored in political science. She added that it can be “alienating” for average readers to interpret articles and fact-check for themselves. She said those who do not have a background in political science or journalism can easily be intimidated by “dense, polarizing” coverage. Tim Franklin, Medill’s senior associate dean, moderated the event and told The Daily that news outlets aren’t usually transparent about how they choose stories or report on events. He said he wanted to learn if reporters and news organizations had evaluated their successes and mistakes from the past year. “I didn’t want this to be a rehash of the president’s first year in office, because I think everybody does that,” Franklin said. “Any time you can get 250 to 300 people together, and you have smart journalists who can talk about the decisions they make, that’s a win.” Bumiller said being attacked by the White House for being “enemies” of the administration was “laughable.” Media outlets usually have low approval ratings because journalists often report on unpopular events, Bumiller said. Page, who has covered 10 presidential campaigns, said journalists consistently need to be “smarter” in their coverage of each election. “Even elections that weren’t as competitive as this one, they tell us something about the country that’s important,” Page said. “Too often, we’re covering the previous campaign, and not the campaign that we’re in.” marissamartinez2021@u.northwestern.edu
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Writing 303 FORM DEADLINE IS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2017 by 10 am FORMS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT: http://www.northwestern.edu/writing-arts/ Alec Carroll/The Daily Northwestern
Panelists Susan Page, Elisabeth Bumiller and Julie Pace react to each other’s commentary during a Medill event Tuesday. About 250 people filled the MFC auditorium and lobby overflow seating.
4 NEWS | THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN
IN FOCUS From page 1
contract over the University’s denial of her request for indemnification, in which she sought protection sometimes available to faculty members who are the subject of litigation over an action they take as part of their university duties. This July, Stevens filed another suit — against NU and Monoson — for breach of contract, intentional interference with contract and defamation. Stevens and Tillery’s case points to an issue with the way faculty resolve conflicts among themselves. Both said the current system, wherein faculty can bring grievances to their supervisors, is lacking.
The incident
The details of the March 2016 meeting between Tillery and Stevens have been contested by both professors. Tillery told The Daily he called Stevens to his office to ask if she would allow a newer faculty member to take a large lecture course she was scheduled to teach. The conversation turned tense, Tillery said, as
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2017 Stevens questioned his motives behind the request. Tillery said she accused him and other political science department administrators of having lied to her in the past. Tillery told The Daily he asked Stevens to leave, and later reported the incident to Monoson. Stevens, however, told The Daily the meeting proceeded differently. After she questioned Tillery’s motives for asking her to switch teaching assignments, she said Tillery became agitated and yelled, prompting her to leave. As she exited Tillery’s office, Stevens said he slammed the door behind her. In signed affidavits, three professors with offices on the same floor as Tillery indicated they did not hear anybody yelling in the hall on March 8. Two of the professors did not specify what time they were in their office, but all of them wrote they did not hear a door slamming. Two of the professors said their office doors were not closed that day. Political science Prof. Karen Alter, who signed one of the affidavits, told The Daily she does not believe an altercation happened. “Had any loud noises occurred, such as yelling or any kind of slamming, I would likely have heard the noise,” Alter wrote in her affidavit.
March 8, 2016 — Scott Hall meeting Political Science Profs. Alvin Tillery and Jacqueline Stevens meet to discuss Stevens’ teaching schedule for Fall Quarter 2016. Stevens claims Tillery yelled at her after she questioned his motive behind asking her to switch courses with another professor, and that he slammed the door after she left. Tillery, on the other hand, said Stevens began talking to him in aggressive tones, and that he asked her to leave his office. Both Stevens and Tillery informed political science chair Sara Monoson about the incident.
March 30, 2016 — Farrell Fellows grant Stevens is notified she has been awarded a Farrell Fellowship program grant through the political science department to hire students as research assistants.
April 6, 2016 — Cease-and-desist letter Almost a month after the Scott Hall meeting, Tillery sent Stevens a cease-and-desist letter demanding she stop making “further false statements” about him and retract her prior statements. Stevens rejected the requests, and then asked the University to indemnify her for all potential legal charges, prompting an investigation into the matter from a third party.
April 25, 2016 — Farrell funds revoked According to Stevens, Monoson informs her that funding through the Farrell Fellowship program has been revoked, citing “unspecified ‘issues that had been raised by students.’”
July 28, 2016 — Stevens is put on leave Weinberg Dean Adrian Randolph notifies Stevens that he is placing her on immediate leave. She is banned from campus, forbidden from contacting students and told she needs to undergo a fitness-for-duty evaluation before being able to return to campus.
July 29, 2016 — Indemnification denied Stevens is informed her request for indemnification has been denied.
Sept. 1, 2016 — The blog launches Stevens posts her first blog post, laying out the reason why she was banned from campus. She does not name Tillery, but describes their March encounter. Tillery wrote a Facebook status soon after the blog went live, revealing himself as “the Slammer.”
Sept. 19, 2016 — Stevens’ ban lifted Northwestern lifts Stevens’ suspension and campus ban following her completion of the fitness-for-duty examination.
Oct. 28, 2016 — Tillery files suit Tillery files a lawsuit against Stevens in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging defamation and false light.
Dec. 12, 2016 — Stevens’ office relocated Stevens’ office is moved from Scott Hall, where the rest of the political science department is, to Locy Hall.
March 9, 2017 — Stevens sues NU Stevens files a lawsuit against NU for breach of contract due to the University’s decision to not indemnify her for fees incurred amid Tillery’s lawsuit against her and other actions.
July 13, 2017 — Stevens sues NU and Monoson Stevens files a lawsuit against Northwestern and Monoson, alleging breach of contract, intentional interference with contract and defamation. Graphics by Colin Lynch
Stevens contested the veracity of these statements, saying she looked around the hall after leaving Tillery’s office, and believes at least two of the three professors were not in their offices. “I am absolutely positive that there were no doors that were open,” she told The Daily. In a signed declaration, a former NU student said he heard a “male voice yelling” the phrase “Get out!” before he heard a door slam. He then saw Stevens walking toward him “looking startled and flustered,” according to the declaration. The former NU student could not be reached for comment. After the meeting, Stevens emailed Monoson with her account of what happened. Stevens wrote that the former NU student was in the hall during her interaction with Tillery. “The student was so upset on my behalf that he offered to go in and ‘take care of this for you,’” Stevens wrote to Monoson, noting that he was a wrestler. In the email, Stevens said Tillery’s behavior was “out of character,” and that she was hopeful they could resolve the matter. Tillery said he later heard that the student wanted to address the matter with him. Tillery’s daughter often visited him in his office, and the professor said he was afraid she would witness someone harming him. Stevens told The Daily she does not believe her email to Monoson suggests any specific threats or an intent to hurt Tillery. Tillery said he was relieved to learn a few days after the March 8 incident that there was no evidence indicating a student wanted to physically harm him. However, Tillery said he wanted to distance himself from Stevens and asked administrators to move his office from Scott Hall. The University later granted him a temporary space in a different building, Tillery said. During this time, Tillery said he heard talk among his colleagues about Stevens’ claims that he had verbally abused her. “I’m just like, ‘What in the world?’” Tillery told The Daily. “It’s not like the fear that I’ll get punched in the nose, but it’s kind of the fear of what’s going to happen if this could happen?” After seeking advice from friends, Tillery said he decided to send Stevens a cease-and-desist letter to force the University to act on the issue. In the April letter, his lawyer said Stevens’ “false statements” to administrators and colleagues about Tillery were defamatory. The letter demanded that Stevens cease making statements about Tillery and that she retract those she had already made. According to Stevens’ lawsuit against NU, she sought indemnification after receiving the letter. Stephanie Graham, who works in the Office of General Counsel, told Stevens she “needed to submit to an investigation of the matter by an ‘independent investigator’” to be indemnified, according to the lawsuit. After interviewing Stevens, Tillery and other political science faculty, the investigator said in an executive summary of the final report that the “March 8 interaction appears to be inextricably linked to prior interactions/communications between Stevens and others.” The investigator concluded that the members of the political science department and political theory subfield were “in crisis.” The report said Stevens’ conduct toward colleagues “may constitute a breach of her duty of loyalty” to the University, potentially precluding her from receiving indemnification. In late July, Graham told Stevens the University would not indemnify her. Stevens was also banned from campus, forbidden from contacting students and told she needed to undergo a fitness-for-duty evaluation before being able to return, according to a copy of a letter obtained by The Daily. “Some colleagues state clearly that they fear you might physically attack them or instigate an attack against them,” Randolph wrote in the letter. University spokesman Al Cubbage told The Daily that the Office of General Counsel declined to comment. Randolph also wrote that Stevens’ account of her meeting with Tillery “does not tally with the very clear and coherent view of others.” An assistant to the dean told The Daily in an email that Randolph would not comment for this story. Stevens told The Daily the report disregarded information that “painted a very different picture.” In her lawsuit against NU, Stevens alleged the investigator — who could not be reached for comment — “refused to hear or ignored the e-mails, letters, and other evidence Dr. Stevens brought with her and repeatedly urged Dr. Stevens to withdraw her complaint.” The University denied those allegations in its response to Stevens’ lawsuit.
Banned from campus
Stevens told The Daily she believes the University banned her from campus partly due to her role in organizing opposition to the 2016 appointment of former ambassador Karl Eikenberry as the executive director of the Buffett Institute for Global Studies. Eikenberry, a former lieutenant general in the U.S. Army, pulled out of the appointment in April 2016 after some faculty and students raised concerns about his lack of a Ph.D. and his military background.
Political science Prof. Alvin Tillery Source: Alvin Tillery
Stevens said she believes the University retaliated against her because of her anti-Eikenberry activism. “(The University) really wanted to get rid of me, so I think they just went ahead and put that narrative out there regardless of the facts,” Stevens told The Daily. “(They) were hoping because they were this big, powerful university with an endless budget for lawyers that they could wait me out.” Monoson deferred comment for this story to Cubbage, who told The Daily in an email that NU is “firmly committed to academic freedom, as has been demonstrated on many occasions.” Cubbage declined to comment further. In early September 2016, Stevens said, she couldn’t contact students whose research she oversaw. She publicly described her concerns about the University’s actions by launching a blog with links to documents related to her case. The blog, Stevens said, allowed her to notify students about what had occurred without contacting them directly. Although Stevens did not name Tillery in her first blog post, Tillery told The Daily he received calls from reporters, messages from strangers and questions from colleagues about the posts. Some of the messages were “derogatory,” he said. Soon after Stevens published her first blog post in which Tillery is alluded to as the “Slammer,” he posted on Facebook revealing himself as the colleague Stevens was blogging about. In the post, Tillery wrote his altercation with Stevens had “absolutely nothing to do” with her opposition to Eikenberry. “Over the last six months, I have lost countless hours of sleep, as have members of my family,” he wrote, “because I have no idea what motivates her and what she is liable to do.” In September, Randolph informed Stevens in a letter obtained by The Daily that the University was lifting her ban from campus. According to the letter, Randolph told Stevens that administrators were determining whether disciplinary actions would be taken regarding her teaching and conduct.
Impact on Tillery
More than six months after the March 8 meeting, Tillery sued Stevens for defamation and false light, demanding damages and injunctive relief. The lawsuit alleges Stevens’ blog falsely accused Tillery of “threats, bullying, and retaliating.” “Once all of that came out and she was getting this media attention and I was getting hate mail, I figured that there would be no incentive for her to stop blogging about me,” Tillery told The Daily. “I had to act to prevent further reputational damage.” Tillery said the fallout from the meeting with Stevens impacted how he was perceived by NU colleagues and academics outside of the University. He was becoming known to people he had never met as the “Slammer” and as someone who verbally abused colleagues, he said. Although Tillery said he believes these statements could impact his career, Stevens said he is responsible for any repercussions. In summer 2016, Tillery said, he hoped NU would provide him with a statement saying the University had investigated the matter and found Stevens’ account of their March meeting inaccurate. Tillery said he reached out to the Office of General Counsel, but the office did not make a public statement on his behalf. “That left me with the impression that they would do nothing,” he said. Tillery told The Daily he believed he would win the case when he filed his lawsuit, but a judge told him continuing with the suit would be very
THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN | NEWS 5
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2017 expensive. A judge also dismissed his complaint without prejudice partly because his allegations were not “sufficiently specific.” Tillery — who then filed an amended complaint — said he wanted to stop Stevens from spreading “false statements” about him and to add witness statements that supported his account to the public record. Over the summer, Tillery told The Daily, his lawyers offered Stevens a settlement offer, in which he would drop his legal actions against her if she dropped hers against him. Her lawyers responded they would accept if Tillery made a public statement saying there is “no objective basis” for the claims that Stevens was a safety threat, according to an email obtained by The Daily. Tillery said he rejected that offer, and his lawyers filed a motion to dismiss Stevens’ counterclaims. Tillery told The Daily agreeing to Stevens’ terms would have undermined his efforts to preserve his reputation. He said he spent much of summer 2016 using an office in the African American Studies Department to avoid more fallout from his meeting with Stevens. He has since returned to Scott Hall, and although his lawsuit against Stevens is ongoing, Tillery said he is “perfectly ready to stop at this point.” “I’m just a guy that was sitting in my chair and something crazy happened,” Tillery said. “It’s not that complicated.”
Funds revoked
Stevens said the fallout from the March 8 meeting between her and Tillery had adverse effects on her students. Just a few weeks after the meeting, Stevens was awarded a grant through the political science department to hire students as research assistants. She claimed in her lawsuit against NU and Monoson that the chair instructed staff to not forward applications to Stevens from students applying to work with her. The lawsuit alleges that after Stevens asked Monoson about the applications, she said Stevens’ grant had been revoked — citing “unspecified ‘issues that had been raised by students.’” According to NU’s response to Stevens’ lawsuit, Monoson said she had concerns from five of six graduate students enrolled in a Winter Quarter course taught by Stevens. Stevens, however, claimed in the suit that Randolph told her the funds were retracted because “Al (Tillery) feels unsafe.” NU denied that claim in its response. Stevens told The Daily some students who had applied for the grant decided to volunteer for research projects during the summer. “The idea supposedly was that I was this big safety risk and they were trying to keep me from students,” Stevens told The Daily. “But then they actually didn’t because the students were still working with me.” Nearly a year after the funds were revoked, the Executive Committee of the Faculty Appeals Panel found that the action qualified as a major sanction under Faculty Handbook guidelines, according to a letter obtained by The Daily from the committee to Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, associate provost for faculty. In her lawsuit, Stevens contends that the University breached its contract with her, violating both its retaliation policy and her academic freedom. While Stevens contested the revocation of the grant, she said students who worked with her were often left in the dark. During her suspension later that year, Stevens — who is the director of the Deportation Research Clinic — could not contact students with whom she was working. “It was the worst feeling you can imagine,” she told The Daily. “These students I had been in touch with, sometimes like twice a day, were texting me and calling me and emailing me, and I couldn’t write back or tell them what was going on.” The ban disrupted the students’ research projects, putting a few on slower tracks and ending some others, Stevens said. Charles Clarke, who worked with Stevens at the Deportation Research Clinic, said the ban “couldn’t come at a worse time.” The ban interrupted Clarke’s work at the clinic and on his dissertation, which Stevens was supervising, he said. “There was a period there where I didn’t know what was going on at all, because the University never informed me,” said Clarke, who recently completed a dual-degree program in law and political science. “I was confused, and then frustrated that the work couldn’t continue.”
Indemnification denied
Stevens filed a lawsuit in March for breach of contract due to the University’s decision to not indemnify her for fees incurred from Tillery’s lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges NU violated its indemnification policies as well as its academic freedom and due process protections, and that the University retaliated against Stevens for reporting Tillery’s alleged misconduct. The suit asks NU to provide injunctive relief and pay Stevens’ legal fees moving forward. “(Stevens) will suffer irreparable harm due to her inability to adequately defend herself,” the lawsuit said. According to the lawsuit, the University Statutes have few exceptions to indemnification. Among them are breaching one’s “duty of loyalty” to NU, seeking indemnification for internal University proceedings, not acting in good faith and intentionally
Political science Prof. Jacqueline Stevens Daily file photo by Zach Laurence
committing misconduct. Although Stevens agreed to cooperate with the investigation in 2016, she questioned why an investigator was necessary for the University to rule on her indemnification request. According to the lawsuit, Stevens had previously been indemnified when she was subpoenaed in 2014 for a deposition during litigation involving another NU faculty member. Back then, Graham — who works in the Office of General Counsel — agreed to indemnify Stevens during a phone conversation, according to the lawsuit. NU’s basis for not indemnifying Stevens are allegations that she lacked civility and was possibly disloyal to the University, the lawsuit claims. In its June response to Stevens’ complaint, NU denied this claim. The lawsuit also alleges the University did not specify any instances of “‘uncivil’” or “‘aggressive’” behavior, and claims the allegation that Stevens violated a duty of loyalty was “simply not in good faith.” In its reply to Stevens’s complaint, NU denied that she is entitled to indemnification and said it did not retaliate against her. The University also said Stevens was not denied employment benefits due to her exercise of academic freedom.
Appealing decisions
Stevens said she has appealed the actions taken against her to the Committee on Cause — a body that reviews faculty disciplinary matters — multiple times since March 2016. A few weeks after her meeting with Tillery, Stevens said she appealed the retraction of her Farrell Fellowship funding. Stevens said she was told the Committee on Cause couldn’t act until Randolph handed down a decision, but he never did so. She also appealed to the Committee on Cause after she was banned, but the committee was not convened until after the ban was lifted, and its decision notes it can’t rule on past matters. Stevens said she then appealed to address Monoson’s decision to move her office from Scott Hall. The Committee on Cause deemed the action disciplinary but the provost overturned its recommendation. In March 2017, the Executive Committee of the Faculty Appeals Panel met to evaluate Stevens’ complaints over the withdrawal of her research funds, her suspension and her office move. The executive committee unanimously recommended that a Faculty Appeals Panel be formed to evaluate Stevens’ case. “The documents provided to the executive committee of the FAP left many unanswered questions about whether the administration appropriately followed the procedures described in the Faculty Handbook when determining and implementing the disciplinary actions taken against Prof. Stevens,” the committee wrote in its report. Faculty Senate President Robert Hariman, who was on the Executive Committee, said no Appeals Panel was ever formed after then-Provost Dan Linzer determined no major sanction had occurred. Last month, Stevens said she again appealed the decision to move her office. She said she was initially told the move would be temporary. Stevens’ lawsuit against NU alleges she was denied the chance to oppose the University’s decision to not indemnify her — which she called “a reprimand and/ or a minor sanction.” The Faculty Handbook indicates that faculty can contest such actions.
In its reply to Stevens’ complaint, the University acknowledged that faculty can contest minor sanctions or reprimands before a committee but that she did not utilize all available options — like “filing a grievance with the Faculty Grievance Committee.” Stevens, however, claimed in a July motion for judgment that a Faculty Grievance Committee does not exist. The next month, the University filed an opposition to Stevens’ motion, saying it was “not well-founded.”
and administrators indicating they perceived that Stevens was disabled. Among the examples cited is a Facebook post from Tillery in which he wrote Stevens had a “break from reality,” a letter from Monoson in May 2016 saying she had “reason to believe (Stevens) is unstable” and a letter Randolph sent Stevens in July 2016 saying she displayed “erratic and uncivil behavior.” “The idea was that they were responding to me as though I had a mental disability,” Stevens told The Daily. “And even if you don’t have a bona fide mental disability, if people discriminate against you based on the claim that you do, then that’s still grounds for a civil rights complaint.” In June 2017, the OCR said it would open an investigation into the allegations that NU violated the ADA by requiring Stevens to undergo a fitnessfor-duty examination, and for moving her office out of Scott Hall. The last allegation — that the University discriminated against Stevens when it revoked her research funds — will not be a part of the OCR’s investigation because the complaint was filed more than 180 days after the alleged discrimination occurred. Cubbage, the University spokesman, declined to comment about the OCR complaint.
Seeking solutions
One of the University’s ways of resolving faculty conflicts is the ombudsperson, a position approved in 2009. But the program is not widely known or used, Hariman said. According to Stevens’ motion for judgment in her lawsuit against NU, the Faculty Handbook does not state if the ombudsperson’s responsibility is to evaluate indemnification appeals. The ombudsperson was not responsive to Stevens, the lawsuit alleges. Art history Prof. Stephen Eisenman told The Daily that the ombuds position was intended to be held by professors emeriti who could offer relatively independent recommendations on disagreements between faculty. In March, Faculty Senate passed a resolution recommending the establishment of an ombuds office to serve as an “impartial, neutral, and confidential third party” to resolve community conflicts. Hariman said the resolution was not prompted by Stevens’ case. Faculty Senate will look at other ways to improve the conflict resolution process among faculty, he added. Various Senate committees will research best practices at peer institutions, Hariman said, with recommendations to come in the spring. Eisenman — who helped revise the Faculty Handbook while he was Senate president — said he would like to see professors have more involvement in the faculty grievance process. The provost and president, Eisenman said, “may feel they have to do something to protect the brand of Northwestern.” “A committee of faculty, obviously we care as much or more about the reputation of the university,” he said. “But we also have a direct interest in maintaining the rights and prerogatives of faculty members.”
A civil rights complaint
In January, Stevens filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights claiming NU’s actions violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The complaint alleges the University violated the ADA on several occasions, including the fitnessfor-duty examination, the suspension and the denial of research funds. The complaint lists comments from colleagues
Ongoing problems
Stevens and Tillery are still locked in a legal battle. After Stevens filed a counterclaim to Tillery’s suit, his lawyers filed a motion to dismiss her claims. A hearing on the matter is set for December. Stevens’ two other suits are ongoing as well: On Oct. 31, a judge denied her motion to rule on her indemnification suit, and recommended they move forward with discovery. The third lawsuit has not yet gone to court. Though they contested each other’s claims about the March meeting, both professors said the current system that addresses faculty conflicts is flawed. Stevens told The Daily there is no process “clearly available” to appeal any potential retaliation against faculty from an administrator. “It’s kind of funny, the problem with the grievance process is that all of the power for initiating it is in the hands of the administration,” Stevens said. “It assumes that people are acting in good faith.” Tillery told The Daily he stepped down from his position as associate chair after last year, unwilling to serve in a job “where I’m exposed to such risks.” He said he wishes the Faculty Senate would do a better job adjudicating disputes. “But the fact of the matter is that no one is doing this and that leaves people vulnerable to false claims,” Tillery said. “So the best solution is to just stay in your office, do your work, don’t take on a job — particularly a free job — for the University. Don’t ever close your door, right?” peterkotecki2018@u.northwestern.edu norashelly2019@u.northwestern.edu
Locy Hall Brian Meng/The Daily Northwestern
OPINION
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Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Fraternities are unsafe spaces NU should downsize SHANE MCKEON
DAILY COLUMNIST
In this series, a writer examines the history and influence of Northwestern fraternities — and proposes what to do about it. He is a former member of an IFC chapter. Allow me to say the same thing three different ways so that we might wrap our heads around it: There are 26 Greek houses on this campus. Northwestern sets aside 26 buildings exclusively for Greek organizations. The University provides 26 spaces that allow 26 individual communities to exist, and it’s done that for decades. Not all of these organizations are bad. For many students, these are their homes. (A huge number of students feel this way, apparently. As I’ve written, roughly 1,000 students live in Greek housing.) That said, 26 houses is a lot — especially when you consider that there are 28 undergraduate housing buildings. It’s a number staggering enough to warrant certain questions: Why does Northwestern set aside so many spaces for Greek communities to flourish? Instead, it should begin to downsize Greek spaces and look to fill them with other communities. Take the Black House for example. It’s the only space on campus set aside exclusively for black students. It exists because
black student activists demanded a space of their own during a 1968 sit-in on the Bursar’s Office. The house had to be earned, and in recent years, it’s had to be defended. Two years ago, administrators planned to move some offices into the building, but after black students and alumni organized in opposition, the plans were canceled. That fiasco led to the Black Student Experience Report, a remarkably frank and comprehensive study of the myriad ways black students do not feel welcome at Northwestern. The report is part data analysis, part policy prescriptions and part oral history. It is organized into fourteen themes, including “the importance of space.” “(There is a belief that) Black social and Greek life are not accessible due to lack of space. This lack of social space is directly linked to Black student dissatisfaction,” the report reads. A student on a women-specific focus group that was part of the report added: “Let us have parties at the Black House. We promise not to have alcohol. Let us do something here. Something like that would really enhance our social life and make us feel like we can have a good time in college.” Beyond campus, the meaning of “safe space” has become wholly unmoored from its original intent. Pundits and readers now imagine these as places where “snowflakes” can shelter themselves from uncomfortable ideas. It’s part of a larger trend in which lazy journalism and a generational divide conspire to paint today’s college students as overly sensitive and against free speech. In reality, “safe space” is a less-than-perfect term that aims to illuminate an upsetting truth about college campuses, including Northwestern: Some students enjoy ample
on-campus spaces to build community, while others have few or none. Of all students, no one controls more space than fraternity men. Northwestern sets aside 15 houses for IFC frats, and they operate with only scant supervision. We might fairly call IFC’s houses unsafe spaces. Greek women have reported as much: A PHA survey of its members found that more than 80 percent of respondents felt a frat had “placed its own interests above their safety or comfort.” Black students, too: The report I cited above spends an entire section explaining that most Black students “do not feel a part of — sometimes even shunned by — the predominantly White fraternity and sorority community at Northwestern.” The students who belong to these houses aren’t safe either. They get hazed. Many are put through mind games in dark rooms. Some are made to eat onions and swallow gallons of cheap beer. Blindfolds, handles of bitter vodka and early-morning workouts can figure heavily, too. Pledges’ bodies and minds are dominated by their older brothers. For some men, hazing reinforces the lie that’s been fermenting in their psyches since they were boys: that there’s virtue in domination. Toxic practices breed these sort of toxic assumptions, and vice versa. Frat houses incubate both. These are unsafe spaces. Luckily, some slow, frustrating work of reforming them is underway. Survivors and their allies continue to pressure IFC to do better. SHAPE and MARS conduct trainings for new frat members. Programs like NÜ Men let men interrogate and deconstruct their own masculinity. This is all progress. To educate and regulate frats is a noble project. But that project should unfold
alongside another longer-term project: a years-long, deliberative downsizing of the fraternity system. Northwestern needs a new frat policy. Today, its policy is one of willful institutional amnesia. It’s a policy that seems less motivated by logic and more by an apparent fear of losing alumni donations. The cycle unfolds as follows: A chapter is suspended or banished, but a few years later it returns, only to degenerate again. Nothing changes. This Hydra-like policy serves fraternities and their alumni boosters, who are more likely to donate to their alma mater than their nonGreek peers. Instead of allowing frats to “recolonize,” Northwestern should repurpose ex-frat houses for literally anything else. A multicultural frat. A co-ed service frat. A new res college or upperclassman dorm. Office space for student groups or University staff. Literally anything else. The hollowed-out SAE house would be a perfect place to start. Morty has drawn headlines for defending safe spaces in the abstract, but what if he actually brought some new ones into being? Think of it: the most notorious unsafe space on campus could be gutted, refurbished and reborn. It’s not fanciful. This is something we could do. Don’t let your cynicism convince you otherwise. If you do, nothing will change. Shane McKeon is a Medill senior. He can be contacted at shanem@u.northwestern.edu. If you would like to respond publicly to this column, send a Letter to the Editor to opinion@dailynorthwestern.com. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
Liberals’ response to Charles Murray is dangerous JOSE TREJOS
DAILY COLUMNIST
Last week was rather hectic for College Republicans. We were thrilled to host a nationally renowned scholar after a sudden opening in his schedule. Charles Murray has spent decades studying the way socioeconomic divisions have stratified Americans. Despite being written in 2012, his book “Coming Apart” reads as a particularly insightful “how we got Trump” story that made many of us personally interested in hearing his thoughts on U.S. politics. The thesis commonly explored in Murray’s work is that higher-IQ people are increasingly separating themselves from the rest of society; smart people prefer to marry smart people and naturally earn higher incomes. Consequently, their children gain both better genes and opportunities that can further separate them from others in society. Murray argues this is a problem because the less fortunate become both less productive and less affluent, which gives them less opportunity and happiness. As
society separates along these lines, the cultures of these groups become entirely distinct. In my understanding, this is central to how a figure like Donald Trump could win the presidency despite him and his voters being utterly reviled in largely affluent communities like Northwestern. The reaction we got for inviting Murray was saddening, if entirely predictable. Three separate opinion articles were published by The Daily attacking him and our organization as racist and malignant — mostly because his work had been condemned as such by some left-wing groups. Despite being in my third year at NU, it continues to amaze me how often liberals merrily use accusations of racism to attack those they disagree with. Liberal claims of Murray’s alleged racism base themselves on two tactics. The first is simple deliberate misquoting of his work, which many liberal groups use to attack a researcher who advocates for a smaller welfare state. For example, Ariel Sheffey’s op-ed last week argued Murray was racist because he writes about “dysgenic” forces in society, in which socially undesirable genes start to crowd out more desirable genes like intelligence. The problem with this claim is that “The Bell Curve” only ever deals with this phenomenon
as it occurs within racial groups rather than between them. Murray substantiates the larger part of this argument with data that only includes white people, in an explicit attempt to avoid race as an irrelevant confounding variable. Those who claim this specific part of his research is racist either fail to understand it or pretend to. The other reason Murray is attacked is much more concerning: he simply studies a controversial and unpleasant subject. The idea that people with higher IQs are on average more economically successful is common sense, and the idea that wealthier people achieve a higher IQ through better access to education is well grounded in research. However, the direct conclusion that the average high-income person will have a higher IQ than the average low-income person is unpleasant, even though Murray conducts his work not out of elitism but a growing concern with the conditions of poor Americans. Murray intentionally tries to keep “The Bell Curve” from aiding racists, explicitly calling attention to the unequal social treatment of minorities as a primary cause for the disparities he measures. The liberal impulse to label disagreement as racist is devastatingly harmful to our national discourse, and it also threatens
crucial academic freedoms when applied to data-gathering and research. If Murray is still to be called a racist — even after calling attention to social conditions and making repeated calls against racism — then liberals seem to proclaim that certain social phenomena should just not be researched for fear of condemnation. The irony is that by attacking the study of these disparities, we restrict our understanding of their causes and effects, which only serves to harm underprivileged groups in the long-run. The troubling tendencies of liberal writers aside, I see a silver lining in the reaction to Murray’s talk. When Murray tried to host a similar event at Middlebury College, the liberal professor escorting him ended up with a concussion as a result of violent student protests. It is strange to say, but I am oddly proud as a Northwestern student that all I have to deal with are poorly reasoned op-eds. Jose Trejos is a Weinberg junior and a member of College Republicans. He can be contacted at josetrejos2019@u.northwestern.edu. If you would like to respond publicly to this column, send a Letter to the Editor to opinion@dailynorthwestern.com. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
The Daily Northwestern Volume 138, Issue 38 Editor in Chief Peter Kotecki
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DACA
From page 1 deportation. Though the program does not offer a path to citizenship, the brief said, it provides security and opportunity to its recipients, who are “American in everything except immigration status.” “Ending DACA forces future scholars, innovators and leaders to choose between withdrawing to the margins of our society and national economy or returning to countries that they have never called home,” the brief said. Other universities participating in the brief include the University of Chicago and all Ivy League institutions. Provost Jonathan Holloway told The Daily on Tuesday that speaking out about DACA is “consonant” with the values of the University, and is especially relevant in the current political climate.
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“Universities like ours — elite, private, wealthy universities — are being taken to task politically for being who we are,” Holloway said. “And I think (we have) all the more reason to stand up and articulate our values.” University President Morton Schapiro previously condemned the decision to end DACA in a Sept. 5 email to students, in which he called the decision “deeply disappointing” and said the University was committed to protecting its undocumented students. The University also joined two other amicus briefs earlier this year in opposition to the Trump administration’s travel ban. By participating in the Nov. 1 brief, NU reaffirms its commitment to protecting its DACA students and creating a diverse learning environment, Rowley said. Holloway said the University’s support of DACA aligns with its dedication to educating students of different backgrounds. Many DACA
Daily file photo by Jeremy Yu
Garrett Dickerson and Cameron Green celebrate a touchdown. The Wildcats made their first appearance of the season in the college football playoff rankings, coming in at No. 25.
College Football Playoff committee ranks Cats as No. 25 team in country
David Lee/The Daily Northwestern
University Hall at 1897 Sheridan Road. Northwestern joined 18 other universities in filing a Nov. 1 amicus brief opposing President Donald Trump’s decision to roll back the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
FOIA
From page 1 is necessary. She said emails released from the library in a FOIA request revealed “very damaging things” that would not have otherwise been brought to the public’s attention. “It makes a huge difference in terms of keeping government honest and providing information for the public,” Williams said. Reid told The Daily that the public’s comments have encouraged him to take a second look at
the way his office interacts with residents. He proposed moving the redaction process from the jurisdiction of the city’s Law Department to his office. Marlon Millner, a Northwestern doctoral candidate in religious studies, said he thinks the government is being “unduly burdensome” by using complicated language in FOIA documents. “It’s incumbent on those who are paid, are elected into the roles in which they serve, to create the ease of use and not expect the expertise and knowledge to be on the citizen,” he said.
Northwestern is ranked No. 25 in the College Football Playoff rankings, released Tuesday. It’s the first time the Wildcats (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) have been ranked in any major poll this season. NU earned the spot after securing its third straight overtime win Saturday against Nebraska. Two of those three victories came against current top-25 teams in the College Football Playoff poll — No. 12 Michigan State and No. 20 Iowa. The Cats have also recorded wins over Nevada, Bowling Green and Maryland this One way the office plans to make FOIA requests more accessible is by changing the format of the documents. In his experience as a requester, Reid said he received many government documents in PDF files, which are hard to analyze. He added that in the future, his office would release documents in more user-friendly formats like Excel. Since he took office six months ago, Reid said he has received about 100 FOIA requests per month. “The number of FOIA requests since we
season. NU is joined by five other Big Ten teams in this week’s rankings. In addition to the Spartans and Hawkeyes, the committee recognized Wisconsin, Ohio State and Penn State. This year, NU has been paced by senior running back Justin Jackson, who leads the team with 798 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, and junior quarterback Clayton Thorson, who has thrown for over 2,000 yards and 10 passing touchdowns while adding seven rushing scores. Together, they’ve accounted for 26 of the Cats’ 32 touchdowns on the season. NU returns to action against Purdue on Saturday. — Joseph Wilkinson
implemented the NextRequest system has been on the increase,” he said. “I did notice that during the period we took the NextRequest system down to have a review of it, that we actually decreased the number of FOIAs that were coming in, so having a site that is easily accessible for folks actually increases the requests.” Reid said he will publish his proposed FOIA policy by Thursday and plans to present the draft before City Council next week. nikkibaim2020@u.northwestern.edu
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SPORTS
ON DECK NOV.
10
ON THE RECORD
It’s really just about being mentally tough and getting up and racing even when you’re tired. — Alex Grimes, swimmer
Men’s Basketball No. 19 NU vs. Loyola (Maryland)
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Wednesday, November 8, 2017
WOMEN’S SWIMMING
Wildcats look to continue success against Badgers By RACHEL KUPFER
the daily northwestern @rachkupfer
As the training level rises for Northwestern, so too will the level of competition when the Wildcats return to the pool Saturday against No. 18 Wisconsin. NU (4-2) dominated its most recent meets, beating its opponents by more than 40 points in each matchup. But now, against the Badgers (3-4), senior co-captain Aja Malone will remind her teammates to focus on their own lanes and races, she said. “Obviously they’re a big team,” Malone said. “They’re a good team, but we’re a good team, too.” The meet will feature the season’s first 400-yard individual medley event, which coach Abby Steketee said will be good practice for the TYR Invitational, which begins Nov. 17. This weekend will also be the first in which the Cats can focus on a single opponent, as NU competed
No. 18 Wisconsin vs. Northwestern Evanston, Illinois 9 a.m. Saturday
in multiple meets in all previous weekends. “I’ll be really interested to see how they compete with one meet versus two,” Steketee said. “I know they’re all going to try as hard as they can and fight for every inch.” Instead of the usual Friday meet, the Cats will have practices to finish off the third week of their competitive training phase. Previous weeks have emphasized stamina, but this block also includes a big increase in speed, power and pace training, Steketee said. “It’s really getting us prepped to just get up and race fast on the weekends,” junior Alex Grimes said. “It’s really just about being mentally tough and getting up and racing even when you’re tired.” The training block has also given every member of the team room to work on different technical and
strategic corrections. Steketee singled out freshman Ilektra Lebl as one of the swimmers taking advantage of this opportunity to explore ways to attack races differently. “We’re looking to see if our details are a little more polished after having more practice with starts and turns in the competitive phase, and looking to identify anything else we want to fix before TYR,” Steketee said. Despite the personal and competitive challenges to come, the Cats can count on support from their teammates on the men’s side. The two teams are a lot closer now than in previous years, Malone said, so it’s important to have the men on deck at meets. After the meet, the teams will share the football field instead of the swimming pool when they are honored during Saturday night’s home game against Purdue. “That’ll be really fun,” Grimes said. “Whether we win or lose, it’ll be a good experience for all of us.” rachelkupfer2021@u.northwestern.edu
Daily file photo by Alec Carroll
A Northwestern swimmer takes a breath. The Wildcats have a chance to extend their winning streak to five against Wisconsin on Saturday.
FOOTBALL
Writers ruminate on NU’s season, Big Ten landscape
in the conference. If winning games is the most important thing, Wisconsin is the clear choice, but the Badgers are untested. Take Penn State and any other Big Ten team on a neutral field today, and I like the Nittany Lions.
By TIM BALK, MAX GELMAN, and COLE PAXTON daily senior staffers @timbalk, @maxgelman, @ckpaxton
Northwestern has made it through three quarters of its season, and what a season it has been. After stumbling out of the gate — losing in a stunning rout at Duke and dropping conference games to Wisconsin and Penn State — the team has hit its stride, rolling up four straight wins. The last three have come in overtime fashion, with a triple-OT win over vaunted Michigan State sandwiched between victories over Iowa and Nebraska. With three games remaining, three Daily football writers discuss the No. 25 Wildcats and the rest of the Big Ten.
3. What will NU’s final record be? And will it constitute a successful season? Balk: The Cats will win out. Purdue, healthy, might represent a 50-50 game on a neutral field. But NU has its mojo going, and it should pull out a win under the lights at Ryan Field. Minnesota, meanwhile, is taking on water. The Golden Gophers have lost five of their last six games and can’t score. Illinois is Illinois. It’s a bummer the Cats played a mediocre game at Wisconsin in October, because that game was winnable and NU would be right in the thick of things for an appearance in the Big Ten title game if it had. That said, 9-3 would be a solid showing from what has to be one of the most talented and fun teams in program history.
1. The toughest portion of NU’s schedule lays behind it as the team faces Purdue, Minnesota and Illinois to close the season. None of those squads have been spectacular this fall — they’ve combined for just three Big Ten wins. But which of them is most likely to knock off the Cats? Cole Paxton: A week ago I would’ve said Purdue, but then the Boilermakers lost starting quarterback David Blough to a dislocated ankle. Backup Elijah Sindelar has some experience, but he’s not a Big Ten-caliber starter. So I’ll say Minnesota. The Golden Gophers have been disappointing in P.J. Fleck’s first season, but have a history of playing NU competitive. Think last year’s 29-12 Minnesota beatdown — the two teams were roughly equals, but the Cats flopped completely. It’s still unlikely the Golden Gophers beat NU, but if Clayton Thorson struggles like he did in the third quarter against Nebraska, it’s possible. Max Gelman: I’m also going to go with Minnesota. Even though the Golden Gophers haven’t been spectacular in P.J. Fleck’s first season, they still have the makings of a trap opponent. Minnesota is a team that nearly knocked off Michigan State in a similar fashion to the Cats, falling by three at home. Additionally, despite their 1-5 conference record, the Golden Gophers have posted the fifth-best defense overall in the Big Ten, better than ranked teams Penn State and Iowa. Though a Minnesota victory is still a long shot, it’s shorter than a Purdue or Illinois win.
Daily file photo by Jeremy Yu
Justin Jackson prepares for impact. The senior leads the team with 798 rushing yards on the season.
Tim Balk: Guys, Purdue is not half-bad! Yes, they will enter Saturday banged up and with Blough done for the season. No matter, Purdue still represents the greatest challenge left on the slate for NU. The Boilermakers’ defense is vastly improved from the outfit the Cats shredded in West Lafayette a year ago, and it has held opponents to under 20 points in four of the past five games. Saturday’s game should develop into another mucked-up grind. Even with NU seemingly hitting its stride and a riled up nighttime crowd expected at Ryan Field, things could get dicey if the Cats offense plays as sloppy as it did in Lincoln against the Cornhuskers. As for Illinois and Minnesota, they’re both more than half-bad. NU will have a wide margin for error in each contest. 2. The Big Ten has gotten wacky lately, as both Penn State and Ohio
State fell this weekend. Which team is the best in the conference right now? Gelman: If I had to take any Big Ten team on a neutral field right now, it would probably be Wisconsin. The Badgers are the only undefeated team in the conference while everyone else has at least two losses, and even though they play in the inferior West division, they can still match up well with anyone. Wisconsin has two contests left against ranked opponents Iowa and Michigan, but both will be played at Camp Randall and should be no problem for the Badgers, who might just be the Big Ten’s last shot at a playoff game. Balk: Wisconsin’s a fair pick, but the Badgers still haven’t played a team better than the Cats (pour one out for the Big Ten West), and their creaky offense doesn’t inspire incredible confidence. So
I’ll still go with Penn State. The Nittany Lions ran into a buzzsaw the past couple of weeks at Ohio State and at Michigan State. But that’s an absolutely brutal back-to-back, and Penn State might have escaped it undefeated if not for a bonkers comeback from the Buckeyes and wild weather in East Lansing. The Nittany Lions are the conference’s most complete team and have the league’s best quarterback-running back combo. For my money, Trace McSorley is the scariest quarterback in the conference. Penn State is the scariest team. Paxton: I also think Penn State is the best team in the conference. Yes, they’ve lost consecutive games, but they played well in both and still have the best players. They outplayed Ohio State until late in the game and suffered the wacky loss at Michigan State last week, and Saquon Barkley is the best playmaker
Gelman: Given the unpredictability of Wildcats football, I’m hesitant to predict NU winning its last three games. But the remaining schedule is just so awful I can’t imagine the Cats losing to anyone. Purdue, Minnesota and Illinois have combined for *three* Big Ten wins in 18 games. Even in the lackluster Big Ten West, that’s really bad. A 9-3 record would be somewhat of a success for NU, given the relatively high expectations entering the season, but only a bowl victory would truly be a triumph in Coach Pat Fitzgerald’s eyes, I’d imagine. Paxton: The Wildcats will be 10-3, and that will make the season a qualified success. NU should roll through Purdue, Minnesota and Illinois, and the muddle in the middle of the Big Ten means the Cats will end up in a mediocre bowl against an unimpressive opponent. Ten wins is a big deal for a program that doesn’t reach that mark often, and more credit to Fitzgerald. But there was enough talent on this roster to mount a charge in the Big Ten West, and three ugly losses early in the season deflated the season somewhat. timothybalk2018@u.northwestern.edu maxgelman2018@u.northwestern.edu colepaxton2019@u.northwestern.edu