SPORTS Women’s Basketball Wildcats stun No. 5 Ohio State in 86-82 victory » PAGE 8
NEWS On Campus NU’s general counsel has years of ties to NU » PAGE 3
OPINION Balk Schedule recommended by task force is flawed » PAGE 4
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The Daily Northwestern Friday, January 15, 2016
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Profs submit major proposal Asian-American studies major to face faculty review By FATHMA RAHMAN
the daily northwestern @fathma_rahman
Weinberg faculty read the Asian American-studies major proposal for the first time Wednesday at a faculty meeting following a 20-year history of campus activism for the program’s creation. Professors Ji-Yeon Yuh, Nitasha Sharma and Shalini Shankar from the Asian American Studies Program developed the proposal as part of the Weinberg-specific process to introduce new majors to the school. Yuh led the initiative, authoring and guiding the proposal in accordance to Weinberg’s curricular policy guidelines, Sharma said. “This one has been extremely challenging because it’s been 20 years in the making,” Shankar said. “But these final steps have been better because of the timing of when we proposed it, in addition to so much public support — from the student body especially.” Weinberg’s guidelines first require a reading of the proposal, which was publicly introduced at the Weinberg faculty meeting on Wednesday for question and comment. Sharma said ideally, the AsianAmerican major would debut in the fall for students to declare as a major. The proposal is not an open-ended
“petition” for the major — it’s the contents of the major, Sharma said. It provides a general overview of reasons the faculty believe the major is important, as well as specific courses that students will be asked to take and the list of requirements they must meet. “There was no negative sentiment toward the major (at the meeting),” Sharma said. “In the next faculty meeting, the faculty will vote — so it looks like it is going to happen.” Weinberg senior Kevin Luong spearheaded a student petition for the major in Oct. 2015. The petition, which is no longer collecting signatures, has amassed 707. Student campaign for the major stems from a student activist push from the 1990s, in which students staked out The Rock for 23 days in a hunger strike. “We haven’t put forth this proposal until now, and that’s key as well,” Sharma said. “Part of that has to do with the devaluation of Asian American Studies with regard to our understaffing. We’re a small program and we’re not granted any more tenure track lines than we already have.” Luong said he joined in on leading the movement last year because he wanted to build upon his experience in the existing minor of the Asian American Studies Program. “It was really amazing and inspiring for me to learn about those specific narratives in class,” Luong said. “My classes became a lot more involved with one » See PROPOSAL, page 6
Daily file photo by Daniel Tian
WORK IN PROGRESS Students gather before marching to Sodexo administrative offices in solidarity with food service workers at NU in November. Contract negotiations between the workers’ union and Sodexo are still ongoing despite student pressure.
Sodexo, workers still in talks Admins refuse comment on negotiations By RISHIKA DUGYALA
the daily northwestern @rdugyala822
Administrators declined to comment about the ongoing negotiations between Sodexo and the Northwestern dining hall workers’ union despite a recent student protest. Robert Buzz Doyle, the Sodexo general manager for campus dining, said he could
not speak on the ongoing labor negotiations or the protests by the students, in which they delivered a petition calling for support of workers’ rights. However, he said it was “fantastic that the students love the workers and want to be involved.” Doyle also said Sodexo and Northwestern Dining are very committed to workforce development and building a diverse as well as inclusive team. Creating a positive working relationship is a priority, Doyle said.
“Are there going to be hiccups?” Doyle said. “Yes. But we value all of our employees and Sodexo values this particular contract with Northwestern University.” Vicky Scheerer (Weinberg ’11) is an organizer with UNITE HERE Local 1, the union negotiating with Sodexo. Scheerer said that although the students do not currently have other events planned on the workers’ behalf, additional negotiation » See SODEXO, page 6
City to downsize committees CTA ridership grows By ROBIN OPSAHL
the daily northwestern @robinlopsahl
City officials began the process of consolidating its 46 committees and commissions this month, hoping to cut the number of committees down by as much as half. City Council’s Rules Committee discussed consolidation at their meeting Jan. 4 after hearing an annual report on the city’s boards,
commissions and committees. City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz said the goal of consolidation is to make sure citizens volunteering are getting good use out of their time and able to actively participate in community processes. “Some committees are just reading reports and not getting to recommend anything to Council, and that’s frustrating,” Bobkiewicz said. “We want committees that can be as action-oriented as possible.” Bobkiewicz said the process of
Daily file photo by Daniel Tian
COMMITTED City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz attends City Council. Evanston officials are planning to downsize the number of committees in an effort to streamline decision-making.
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
consolidation would center around finding overlap between different committees and combining them without removing any community voices. Cities of similar size, such as Madison, Wisconsin and Pasadena, California, often have about 20 committees, but often don’t have as much community engagement as Evanston, Bobkiewicz said. “We have between 350 and 400 people serving on boards and commissions in Evanston,” he said. “A lot of committees means a lot of people get heard. But we have to make sure we aren’t wasting their time.” Although the number of committees allow for more voices in government, it also makes it harder for people to work effectively, especially in areas of overlap between committees, said Oscar Murillo, an International City/County Management Association local government management fellow in Evanston. “When you have so many commissions and boards it’s a little more difficult to get people to commit to doing things when others are trying to do the same actions,” he said. Murillo also said the number of committees presented a transparency issue for Evanston. With so much work being done over the span » See COMMITTEES, page 6
after NU partnership By TORI LATHAM
daily senior staffer @latham_tori
New data suggests students and faculty seem to not miss the Ryan Field shuttle, which was replaced by the Chicago Transit Authority’s 201 bus in September. The free rides for WildCARDholders contributed to an increase in ridership on the 201 route by 19 percent during the weekdays and 14 percent on Saturdays for the months September through November, CTA spokesperson Jeffrey Tolman told The Daily. “It’s been trending upward every month since we started, and that is absolutely correlated to the CTA’s partnership with Northwestern,” Tolman said. “We have heard extremely positive feedback.” The CTA announced last July it would allow NU students and employees to ride the 201 route — which follows Central Street and Ridge Avenue — for free starting Sept. 1. That month alone, there were more than 10,000 one-way rides taken by NU students and employees, said Paul Merkey, NU’s transportation services manager. Typically,
3,000 to 3,500 people would ride the Ryan Field shuttle in a month, marking a significant increase in ridership. “It was good for all of September, and especially very good for that first month when students weren’t even back to campus yet,” Merkey said. When the plans for the service were first announced, University officials emphasized the reduction in traffic that would occur by taking the Ryan Field shuttle off the road and the increased service offered by the CTA route — including the availability of transportation on Saturdays. Marge Grzeszczuk, University Services’ manager of support services, said additional service is always being requested by the NU community. The 201 route provides service to the Westfield Old Orchard shopping center and the CTA’s Howard Street station. Because the CTA bus provides more hours than the Ryan Field shuttle, it also gives faculty and staff an additional hour of time to commute, Grzeszczuk said. New attributes, like the environmental impact of eliminating a shuttle and the community relationship the partnership promotes, also became apparent once the service began. » See CTA, page 6
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