Good morning, Evanston, and welcome to a new era of town-gown relations.
My sincere apologies to those who like to envision the Evanston-Northwestern struggle as a battle between a poor budget-starved town and the blob that ate the tax base. The tired fight between administrators, including University President Henry Bienen, and their opponents on Evanston City Council has a new entrant.
With Weinberg junior Jane Lee’s landslide victory Tuesday, students said loud and clear that we need a say in what happens in the city. Administrators don’t represent all the interests of NU. They didn’t put up a fight when aldermen attempted to gerrymander the wards last fall to disenfranchise students. Lee did.
Lee ran on a record of accomplishment in getting students’ needs met in the city’s political process. She worked with Evanston businesses to organize Big Bite Night. She convinced the city to consider the importance of the student vote and won the respect, if not the votes, of many aldermen in the redistricting process.
And these were not isolated incidents. Aldermen will continue to vote on issues that affect students’ lives, whether students care to think about it or not. Just last night the city discussed a plan to hike fines for using fake IDs by 400 percent and discussed which Evanston residents should serve on a university-city committee.
These things matter
I’ll be the first to admit these things don’t sound too sexy. But next time you try to sneak into The Keg of Evanston or your next-door neighbor calls the cops without talking to you first, it will matter. And, in Lee, students can be sure they have a representative who will work with the City Council on their behalf.
Some might say Lee’s election didn’t send a message. After all, she beat McCormick sophomore Andrew Kaufman, the weakest presidential candidate since Carol Moseley Braun. But there’s no doubt other ASG presidential hopefuls looked toward other offices when they heard Lee was running. Her record of representing students simply outclassed everyone else in ASG.
Now that Lee is president-elect and no longer external relations chairwoman, she must not ignore city relations in favor of campus concerns. The cooperation and lobbying with the city must continue to improve.
A distinct voice
Aldermen, many of whom are accustomed to viewing NU as a Bienen-led monolith, shouldn’t see Lee as another member of an NU tag team. On some issues students may be more likely to side with aldermen than with the Bienen administration.
For example, when it comes to conflicts between students and neighbors, NU takes a position of damage control. The subtext is simple: “Oh no! Two football players busted down a woman’s door. This is gonna look bad in the Tribune.”
Unlike administrators, students and aldermen have an interest in resolving off-campus fights. Lee’s proposed community forums would bring students and residents together to open up communication about off-campus conflicts. They won’t solve the basic dispute between students who want to drink and listen to loud music and residents who want their kids to sleep comfortably without waking to the bassline of “The Way You Move.” But Lee’s proposal is at least a step in the right direction — and a much bigger step than Bienen has ever taken.
Plus, let’s be honest: Students don’t give a damn about NU’s fights over historic districts and ongoing lawsuits. With Lee at the helm, students can continue to forge a unique relationship with the council.
We are a legitimate interest group, even if our interest is more in Bud Lights and street lights than historic districts and nonprofit status.
