Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

43° Evanston, IL
Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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Black House opens on weekends to satisfy student interest

For black students at Northwestern, the Black House, 1914 Sheridan Road, provides a real home — a place where they can see friends and unwind at the end of the day. And now students can enter their house on weekends.

Carretta Cooke, director of African-American Student Affairs, added extra hours to the Black House schedule. The new hours, which began Sunday, grant students additional access to the house from 4 p.m. until midnight on Sundays and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

The house’s regular hours did not change. Students can enter between 8:30 a.m. and midnight Monday through Friday. About 30 students attended an October forum at the house to voice concerns about enforcement of those hours, saying they had been allowed to stay after closing in past years.

“There’s still a concern about safety and access to the house,” said Cooke, who is in her first year as director.

After the forum, Cooke asked students to submit a proposal for new hours. No proposal was submitted, so Cooke added new weekend hours and allowed the front door to be open until midnight. Before, the door would be locked at 9 p.m. But she kept the weekday hours the same and will enforce the midnight closing.

Cooke said she is concerned with the safety of students coming to and from the house late at night, and she is talking to University Police about installing an emergency phone on Sheridan Road. The closest emergency phone to the Black House is at Foster-Walker Complex.

The house is most crowded during the later hours when students catch up with each other at the end of the day. That community is what makes the Black House important to the black community, said Chavis Richardson, For Members Only coordinator.

“(The house) made it seem like (we were) a family,” said Richardson, a Weinberg junior. “When it was closing earlier, people stopped coming by.”

Richardson said he usually spends four to five hours each day at the Black House for meetings or just to relax in the basement TV lounge. Because of the additional weekend hours, Richardson and other FMO executive board members will volunteer their time to supervise the house, sharing shifts with work-study students.

Besides providing a social outlet, the house offers study tools and academic help. On the second floor, students can take advantage of a computer lab, study room and library. Students also can receive free tutoring in the evenings for subjects like calculus, physics and organic chemistry.

“As far as a tutoring and as a social gathering place, it’s important because students know if they ever need to see other students like them, they can come here,” said Natasha Harvey, a Weinberg sophomore who spends three days a week at the house for club meetings and tutoring.

Alea Huggins said she has spent six hours at the house every day for the last two weeks to study for midterms.

“In my dorm it gets kind of loud,” said Huggins, a Weinberg freshman. “I can just study here. It feels like a home rather than being locked up in a tiny dorm room.”

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Black House opens on weekends to satisfy student interest