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The Daily Northwestern DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Thursday, September 24, 2015
FAFSA changes to aid students By MARIANA ALFARO
daily senior staffer @marianaa_alfaro
Current and prospective Northwestern students will have an easier time filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid after modifications made by President Barack Obama’s administration this year. The updated application now allows students and their families to apply for federal financial assistance starting in October rather than in January, and also lets them use information from previous tax years rather than waiting until the tax season to complete their applications. “Learning about aid eligibility options much earlier in the college application and decision process will allow students and families to determine the true cost of attending college — taking available financial aid into account — and make more informed decisions,” the White House said in a statement last week. Associate Provost for University Enrollment Michael Mills believes the changes to the FAFSA process will give students a better estimate of how much a college education will cost them, but said it is hard to tell what the overall effect of the new policies will be. “I don’t know what the impact will be of having prior year income,” he said. “I think it will be pretty minimal but good for the President to do this because the financial aid community
has been asking for something like this for a long time.” Mills said he doesn’t believe the changes will make a big difference in the actual financial aid packages in most cases, but the earlier dates will allow students more flexibility when deciding on a school. “The only way I could see it having a big impact if you’re looking at two years-worth of income data versus one, would be in a situation where there was a radical change one year to the next,” he said. “Certainly that happens to individual families from time to time, but I can’t imagine it having a big impact. If this had happened in 2007 or ‘08, when the financial meltdown took place, then I could see it having an enormous income, because you could have one year of fantastic impact, followed by two parents laid off all in a year.” He also said the changes will force other financial aid services used by NU, like the College Board financial aid profile, to change. Amanda Walsh, Communication senior and president of NU’s Quest Scholar Network, said the FAFSA changes will likely affect new or prospective students more than current students, since those already enrolled in the university know what to expect of their financial aid package and how to file the paperwork needed. “Students who are applying for financial aid for the first time … are going to have a much easier time » See FAFSA, page 6
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NUDivest continues campaign Up to Date
Daily file photo by Nathan Richards
DIVESTMENT DEBATE Students raise their hands in “silent applause” as an NUDivest member speaks in favor of the collective’s resolution at The Senate’s Feb. 18 meeting. The body would go on to pass the resolution at the end of the meeting.
By SHANE MCKEON
daily senior staffer @Shane_McKeon
Omar Shanti framed the article and put it up on his bookshelf. “ASG narrowly passes NUDivest resolution,” the headline reads, accompanied by a photo of cheering supporters. But no policy changed when the votes were counted, and no
money was divested when the gavel sounded. As it enters its second year on campus, Northwestern Divest hopes to codify the demands made in its resolution: that the University pursue socially responsible investment, and that it divest from six corporations the group says violate Palestinian human rights. But administrators haven’t shown much support for the group’s ideas, and no investment policy has changed since the
group formed during Winter Quarter 2015. Shanti, a McCormick junior who is a member of NUDivest, said members have met with administrators to discuss the collective’s goals, but progress is slow. Shanti alluded to the University’s tepid responses to past divestment movements, specifically those targeting South Africa and Sudan. In » See DIVESTMENT, page 6
New startup incubator hires director EPD launches new By BENJAMIN DIN
daily senior staffer @benjamindin
In her position as head of Northwestern’s new startup incubator, Silicon Valley veteran Melissa Crounse hopes to turn the space into a hub of entrepreneurship and innovation. Crounse, who started Sept. 1, is the first executive director of The Garage, which launched in June. The area is a place for students to develop ideas and receive help to turn those ideas into startups. Housed in a parking garage on the second floor of the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion, it features two classrooms, meeting rooms and a kitchen. “We want a place where students can come from all corners of the university and be able to collaborate, create, innovate,” said Alicia Loffler, the executive director of NU’s Innovation and New Ventures Office. “We want a place where students can try many times and fail and try again. It’s a place where ideas will get built.” Loffler, who said Crounse was chosen from hundreds of candidates in a national search, highlighted Crounse’s passion for students and her tech experience at Google, IBM and three startups, including one she founded. “She breathes Silicon Valley culture,” Loffler said. “She relates very well with people at all levels. She loves the students, so she was perfect.”
In addition to being a physical space, The Garage will grow into a community of students, alumni and faculty interested in starting companies, Crounse said. Crounse said she looks forward to getting to know students and figuring out what they need. Because The Garage opened recently, she is looking for more staff members and currently holds a very fluid role. “I do everything right now, because this is very much a startup for me,” she said. “It’s everything from defining the vision of what is The Garage all the way down to students approaching me about how to get a job, how to find a mentor.” The Garage offers a residency program, which gives student teams working on a startup idea 24/7 access to the space. It also has entrepreneurs-inresidence, successful alumni who have sold their startups and are working on their next ideas. The entrepreneurs-inresidence work in the space and help mentor students working on their own ideas. Crounse said there are also plans for an accelerator program — a 10-week cycle that helps foster students’ ideas into a startup — and a mentorship program to launch this year. Another one of Crounse’s goals is to give the space a more comfortable vibe by doing small things such as providing snacks for students. “I’m trying to make this space more comfortable, this idea that this is a home for entrepreneurship,” Crounse said. “I want the vibe of the place to be a place
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
law literacy program By AMANDA SVACHULA
daily senior staffer @amandasvachula
Source: Melissa Crounse
where … it feels a little more like a Silicon Valley or a New York tech company when you come in here.” John Kelley, a McCormick junior who founded Lucid Goose Design with two other friends last fall, works in The Garage after NU’s previous incubator space at 600 Davis St. closed in August. The amenities, specifically the meeting rooms and TVs, have helped facilitate meetings with clients, he said. “The Garage has been much better than the 600 Davis space,” he said. “It pretty much has everything you need to work.” From talking to students, Crounse said » See GARAGE, page 6
The Evanston Police Department is launching a new law literacy program this month aimed at combating violence and strengthening relationships between police and community members. Evanston officials brought the new program, “The Law and Your Community,” to the city in partnership with Chicago’s Metropolitan Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement (NOBLE). In the wake of two recent Evanston homicides that police believe are gang-related, the city is taking action to reduce violence and restore a sense of safety among residents, Ald. Delores Holmes (5th) said at Monday’s City Council meeting. “It’s a response to violence in the community,” Holmes told The Daily. “It’s about strategies between the police and people. Police can’t (decrease violence) by themselves.” About seven Evanston police officers were certified by NOBLE as official instructors in May, Evanson police officer Enjoli Daley said. Within the program, officers will teach participants more about how laws are devised and
what law enforcement’s place in the larger criminal justice system. Instructors also address topics like robbery, battery crimes and cyber-bullying as well as how individuals should interact with law enforcement, Daley said. Officers will hold classes in churches, community centers and after-school programs in Evanston, police said. The sessions are customizable to the needs of individual organizations and are accessible to all ages. Chicago, which implemented the program in January in its public schools, is one of 59 NOBLE chapters in the U.S. The pilot of the law literacy program was tested in Ferguson, Missouri, after tension between police and the community flared in response to the shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer. “Recent national events show that there is a need for healing on both sides,” said Carla Kupe-Arion, director of community relations for Chicago’s NOBLE chapter. “There is a need to educate the community of the right way and wrong way, but also for law enforcement to engage and talk with the community to solve problems of tension.” » See LAW PROGRAM, page 6
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