Top leaders from Northwestern and Evanston met Thursday night to discuss student behavior and safety in the city, but the only students who attended the meeting were there for a class assignment.
City staff, four aldermen, NU and Evanston police chiefs and NU administrators, including Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Eugene Sunshine, gathered for a meeting of the City/Northwestern Neighborhood Issues Task Force on Thursday to discuss student discipline, safety, off-campus housing and lighting issues.
“I’m glad to see you here, Mr. Sunshine, because it indicates the seriousness of the university’s concern,” said Ald. Arthur Newman (1st) when he opened the meeting.
The task force was established in the fall to address concerns affecting the city, neighbors and the university.
Ald. Elizabeth Tisdahl (7th) asked university officials if they had any student representatives with them, but the only students present were covering the meeting for a journalism class.
Aldermen said they were pleased to hear administrators had met with 119 of the 120 students who received citations from Evanston Police Department and University Police last fall. They said they were also pleased that administrators had disciplined most of them. Cate Whitcomb, assistant to the vice president of student affairs, said students were hearing about the discipline, and it eventually will serve as a deterrent.
“Students will talk,” she said. “Students say this is a serious thing. It is not okay to go out in the neighborhood and break flower pots.”
Neighbors encouraged police to respond quickly to break up “mobs” of students and stop them from being loud or destructive, especially when they have been at parties.
“You guys want your neighborhood to be treated with a certain amount of dignity no matter who lives there, students or not,” Newman said, summarizing their concerns.
Evanston Police Department Chief Frank Kaminski reported that eight NU student residences had been designated nuisance properties, and one was given a $200 fine from a citation.
Aldermen and residents laughed at the amount of the fine. Newman asked the city staff to see if the fine range could be increased from $200-$750 to $1,000-$10,000.
He also said the city council was considering funding another inspector to watch properties for violations near campus, especially over-occupancy.
The task force also discussed students’ safety. City staff reported that brighter lights would be installed near campus this spring. Jane Evans, who lives on the 800 block of Gaffield Avenue, also volunteered to coordinate a “safe house” program for students so they could have a place to go if they feel unsafe.
