#NU Administration
At ASG’s first meeting last fall, Tommy Smithburg, who played the Al Gore technocrat to then-President Mike McGee’s charismatic Bill Clinton, unveiled a small proposal that underscored a revolutionary idea. The senior wanted to hand control of ASG’s airport ride-sharing and shuttle services over to Northwestern Student Holdings, a private consortium that helps students develop enterprises using NU resources. Smithburg had pushed to create a taxi-sharing network in 2008, before his vice-presidential run. But after another member of Smithburg’s committee suggested adding shuttles on big travel weekends, the venture became too big for ASG, which lacks a bureacracy to implement services, to run. When the shuttles debuted, the senators charged with running them miscalculated demand, losing $250, and later said they were too swamped with other projects to focus on improving them.
Asked what ASG should be, one respondent wrote, “Useful. It’s not. Influential. It’s not. Appealing. It’s certainly not.”
On a rainy Wednesday afternoon in April 2007, about 200 students met at the Rock with signs, shirts, and 1,801 postcards from students addressed to then-NU President Henry Bienen. They sought to end Northwestern’s investments in foreign oil and energy companies that do business with Sudan, whose Arab government was funneling money to militias waging war against the black minority in Darfur. more 
NUPD officer accuses his own of racial discrimination
A Northwestern University Police Department officer has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal agency that handles charges of employer discrimination, alleging that other NUPD officers directed racially discriminatory remarks at him. more
Schapiro bought Evanston a half-million-dollar firetruck
In an attempt to improve town-gown relations, Morton Schapiro is gifting a half-million dollar firetruck to the Evanston Fire Department. The Tribune reports that he met with Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl (also new in office) a few weeks ago. She brought chocolate chip cookies…and a grocery list of things the city of Evanston needs. A new firetruck was at the top.
In case you don’t remember, NU doesn’t pay Evanston property or sales taxes, so the university doesn’t technically fund any firetrucks that come to our rescue. We hit the fire department up for help 607 times last year alone. Maybe the new state-of-the-art firetruck (it’s a pumper, not a perhaps more appropriate ambulance) will make townies less resentful when we jaywalk across Sheridan and host loud, trashy keggers off-campus. Or, you know, not.
[Source: Chicago Tribune]
Is a lawsuit between NU and the Sunshine family inevitable?
Ever since Matthew Sunshine died from alcohol poisoning in June 2008, his parents have been threatening to file a wrongful-death suit against NU, hoping to spur changes to university rules. By the time Evanston Police arrested former NU student Alexander Krzyston for supplying Sunshine with booze, Jeffrey Sunshine—Matthew’s dad—had retained Chicago über-lawyer Robert Clifford and began his own investigation into the night his son died. Clifford, a personal injury litigator, frequents best-attorney lists such as the National Law Journal‘s “10 Best Litigators,” and the one above (you can read about quite a few more on his 37-page résumé). Two months ago, he announced the family’s intent to sue or settle. more
Latest Comment
[...] Daily editor discusses the aftermath of coverage on the brothel law [...]