In the whirlwind mediastorm that erupted Tuesday over Evanston’s “Three Unrelated” ordinance, campus was temporarily ablaze in confusion, anger and panic.

The overwhelming reaction to the increased enforcement of this law has proven the power of collective student action:. Evanston was equally swift in responding to the NU community: When 500 students crowd a meeting, NU and city officials pay attention.

But the broader takeaway: Evanston politics matter. The decisions made in the City Council chamber have potentially enormous impacts on NU students. The Daily has repeatedly emphasized this in editorials, imploring students to vote in local elections and make their voices heard.

Still, year after year, these elections see pitifully low voter turnout from students.

While students were certainly not to blame for the apparent miscommunication within the city this week, we hope this incident will act as a wake-up call for them to start paying attention.

Unfortunately, students are already falling into old habits. Only a handful of students showed up at Thursday night’s meeting over the potential closing of the Foster El stop.

This past week has shown NU students can affect real change. It’s time students use their voice to make a lasting impression on Evanston.