The relationship between Northwestern and Evanston was a major campaign issue for Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl and for new members of the City Council. But as the officials begin their terms, no legitimate steps have been made toward resolving what Tisdahl called the “100-year war.”
At a recent appearance in front of 13 students at the Communications Residential College, Tisdahl said she wanted to establish an “NU-Evanston Task Force” with the help of incoming University President Morton Schapiro.
If and when the committee does form, it will have a difficult job: trying to secure a mutually beneficial relationship between the city and NU. The two entities have a long history of tension, mostly because NU does not pay taxes on its 240-acre property.
The committee will be composed of members from the city and university and will study productive relationships, Tisdahl said.
“It will be appointed half by the city and half by Northwestern, and they will study best practices in town-gown relationships from across the country and come up with an Evanston model,” she said. “Once and for all end the 100-year war.”
But no such invitation has been extended to the current administration, officials said.
“No one from the city has contacted us,” said Eugene Sunshine, NU’s senior vice president for business and finance, in an e-mail Thursday. “We talk to and meet with city officials – both elected and appointed – all the time about areas of mutual interest and often about opportunities for collaborations.”
Members of the council said Tisdahl has not approached them about moving forward with the task force.
“I’m sure she’ll flesh out what her idea is and then present it to us,” Ald. Judy Fiske (1st) said.
Ald. Jane Grover (7th), a new member on the council, agreed, saying she had not heard of any specific plans for a task force with NU.
Both said they support the potential task force.
“I would always be in support of opening lines of communication, widening lines of communication and supporting it,” Grover said.
A relationship already exists between the city and university, Grover said.
“There is an existing kind of NU-city committee,” she said. “I don’t know if a task force would take a different shape than the committee that has also been part of Evanston’s government.”
Moving forward with the task force could not happen until the new school administration arrives in August, when Schapiro will take over for current University President Henry Bienen, Tisdahl said.
“I haven’t even met Dr. Schapiro yet,” she said. “The task force isn’t going anywhere until he and I meet and he decides it’s good idea, which hopefully he will.”
Brian Rosenthal contributed reporting.
