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The Daily Northwestern Friday, September 25, 2015
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Up to Date
Diversity distro still under review By BENJAMIN DIN
daily senior staffer @benjamindin
Catch up on the biggest ongoing news stories affecting Northwestern and Evanston with The Daily’s new explainer series: Up to Date.
Jeffrey Wang/The Daily Northwestern
NOTEWORTHY Hundreds attended the ribbon cutting ceremony in front of the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts on Thursday. The building, shared by the Bienen School of Music and the School of Communication, was dedicated to the Ryan family in recognition of their support of the arts at Northwestern.
New arts building dedicated By DREW GERBER
the daily northwestern @dagerber
Hundreds attended the dedication of the new Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts on Thursday evening with speeches commemorating the Ryan family’s impact on the University. Plans to renovate and expand Bienen — as well as performance spaces belonging to the School of Communication — have been stalled for years, said Bienen Dean ToniMarie Montgomery. National economic downturns, namely the Great Depression and the 2008 Great Recession, forced NU to set these plans aside despite the poor condition of the music buildings, she said. Former NU President Henry Bienen, who spoke with his wife at the dedication event, described touring the Music Administration Building at
711 Elgin Road with Montgomery in 2003 as she sought to convince him of the need for new facilities. “Inside, it was a disaster,” Bienen said.
“
The most beautiful part of the campus now is about music and theater and the arts. Morton Schapiro, University President
Recognizing the need for a new building, he ordered a feasibility plan to be completed, and the new building plan was announced in 2008. The Music Administration Building, which was built in 1874, closed last spring. The Ryan Center for the Musical Arts is the latest addition to the campus’ Arts Circle, which includes venues such as Block Museum of Art and The Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center
Financial aid cash available earlier By MARIANA ALFARO
daily senior staffer @marianaa_alfaro
Students receiving financial aid can now receive a cash advance from their financial aid packages weeks before classes begin in an effort by the University’s Financial Aid Office to ease the transition between the end of the summer and the beginning of the academic year. Before, students who received financial aid for books, supplies, rent and food could only receive it once the academic year started. Now they will be able to claim up to $500 in an advance refund before classes start to cover these expenses. “Northwestern has a goal of trying to bring in more low-income students to the undergraduate student population and, as we are having some success with that, it occurred
to us that these students should have any funds that they’re due in their hands as they arrive on campus so they’re not at a disadvantage,” said Michael Mills, associate provost for university enrollment. This new policy was made available starting this year, however, its launch posed certain technical issues for both the Financial Aid Office and new students. “In CAESAR, you have to be registered as a full-time student in order for your aid to disburse and new freshmen … all registered on this Friday,” Mills said. “So we had to come up with some creative ways to try to fool the system into thinking the kids were registered full time.” Communication senior Amanda Walsh, president of NU’s Quest Scholars Network, said the new changes will make life easier for » See STIPEND, page 15
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for the Performing Arts. Montgomery said one of the requirements set by the University was the creation of a “village-like setting for collegial encounters,” not only among the Bienen and Communication students and faculty who share the building, but also the campus as a whole. Communication Dean Barbara O’Keefe said the new building’s impact is already evident in how it has facilitated what she called a Communication “renaissance” at NU, including the hiring of new faculty and the creation of new programming. The consolidation of administrative offices in the new Ryan Center has opened spaces for students in the Wirtz Center and in the Frances Searle Building that will allow for on-screen acting classes and a new interdisciplinary sound arts and sciences program, she said. The cross-collaboration encouraged » See DEDICATION, page 15
Following the July start date of new Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences dean Adrian Randolph, students are looking to further the conversation about implementing a U.S.-based Social Inequalities and Diversities requirement in the Weinberg curriculum. The requirement was proposed February 2013 by the University Diversity Council, following a string of racially insensitive incidents in 2012. However, the motion met controversy this spring when members of Weinberg faculty indicated a desire to shift the proposed requirement’s U.S. focus to a more international one. In response to the potential change in focus, Associated Student Government launched a petition to keep the proposed requirement U.S.-focused and co-hosted a student forum where student opinion was in favor of a domestic focus. This academic year, ASG will continue its support for the U.S.-centric requirement, said Matt Herndon, ASG vice president for accessibility and inclusion. “Obviously global perspectives are important, but seldomly do we focus on issues of social inequality based on identity that’s based … right here in the United States,” the SESP junior said. “The biggest point of the requirement (is) to get people who don’t really learn about these things
at Northwestern to confront these realities that we have here.” Dona Cordero, former assistant provost for diversity and inclusion and chair of the University Diversity Council who left NU last October, told the Daily in February 2014 that the goal of the requirement is “to interact with people who have different life experiences, who come from different cultural backgrounds in order to one, work together in the academic environment, but two, to work together in the larger society.” Although the transition to the new dean has slowed down the implementation process, Herndon said it is important to make clear what the student opinion is to the dean and the faculty. “We’re going to have to push the dean on getting this to the table,” he said. “I think one of the most important things … is talking to faculty members about showing up for the vote when it does happen.” In order for the requirement to be approved, a revised proposal needs to go through a three-stage process: First, to a meeting with the Curricular Policies Committee, then to a faculty meeting for discussion and then to another faculty meeting for a vote if a consensus is reached, Mary Finn, Weinberg associate dean for undergraduate academic affairs, told The Daily in February. Spanish and Portuguese Prof. Frances Aparicio said it is important to address diversity because NU admits a more diverse student body each year. “That in itself is already an indication that we need to talk particularly about race, only because race is a topic so many people don’t feel » See DIVERSITY, page 15
City selects public works director By JULIA JACOBS
daily senior staffer @juliarebeccaj
The city announced Tuesday the director of its new Public Works Agency, tasked with reorganizing the department’s operations by the end of this year. Dave Stoneback — currently the director of the city’s Utilities Department — will lead the new agency, which combines public works and utilities functions, city manager Wally Bobkiewicz announced. The restructured Public Works Agency will contain four bureaus: water production, environmental services, infrastructure maintenance as well as capital planning and engineering, assistant city manager Marty Lyons said last month when he presented the concept to City Council. Stoneback has led the Utilities Department since 2010, following his seven-year term as the city’s water superintendent, Bobkiewicz
said. During his 30 years working for Evanston, Stoneback served as the architect for the 12-year sewer improvement plan — the city’s largest public works project in history. Most recently, Stoneback has been working toward water sale agreements between Evanston and surrounding cities as they gravitate away from Chicago’s increasingly expensive stock. “Dave Stoneback brings a unique mix of engineering, management and infrastructure experience to this new position,” Bobkiewicz said in a press release. “He is the right person to lead the city’s public works operations as we begin a new chapter.” Stoneback is currently interviewing candidates for the agency’s four bureau chiefs, who he said will likely be announced within a week. Stoneback said he will then focus on working with the chiefs to further define the purpose of each bureau and the job descriptions of its staff. Evanston’s public works and
Source: City of Evanston
Dave Stoneback
utilities operations were combined into one agency five years ago, Bobkiewicz said. But in 2010, Bobkiewicz said there was a growing need » See PUBLIC WORKS, page 15
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