Northwestern students will have the opportunity to ask Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl any burning questions they might have in person Wednesday.
Tisdahl and other city officials will attend the weekly Associated Student Government Senate meeting to clarify confusion surrounding the housing ordinance controversy in an open forum, said Ethan Merel, the ASG external relations vice president. The forum will be held in Fisk Hall 217 at 7 p.m. Students are encouraged to dress in “business casual” wear.
Along with Tisdahl, Ald. Delores Holmes (5th), Ald. Mark Tendam (6th) and Ald. Jane Grover (7th) will be present, said Ald. Donald Wilson (4th).
Wilson said he previously planned to attend the meeting, but will not be able to make it because of prior engagements. However, town-gown relations and the meeting are vital to the Evanston City Council, he said.
“The NU student body, faculty, staff, everyone, they’re all part of the community,” he said. “The community can only succeed as a whole.”
Tisdahl’s attendance at the meeting will be her first this school year.
Merel and ASG President Claire Lew scheduled a meeting with Tisdahl after the controversy surrounding the “brothel law” was brought to the NU community’s attention in January. The meeting is important, as it will allow students to talk to city officials directly instead of through NU administrators as they did at the Jan. 25 town hall meeting, Merel said.
“What we’d like to communicate is that NU students are still thinking about this issue,” he said. “It hasn’t gone away from our side.”
Tisdahl and the aldermen will give brief opening statements before taking questions submitted from both ASG senators and unaffiliated NU students. Students can submit questions for Tisdahl by e-mailing either Merel or Speaker of the Senate Tyris Jones until 4 p.m. Students can also ask questions at the meeting, although pre-approved questions will get first priority, Jones said.
While the housing ordinance issue is important, the forum is also an opportunity to move past the controversy and develop better town-gown relations, he said.
“Getting a mayor to come to a student government meeting, I think that shows at least a willingness to begin conversations,” he said. “This is somebody who is at least interested and invested in trying to figure out town-gown relationships.”
Weinberg freshman Aaron Zelikovich said he agreed that the meeting should not focus on the housing ordinance issue.
“We shouldn’t harp on the issue,” said the ASG Hillel senator. “People get very passionate about it, and they sometimes come off as rude.”
Zelikovich said he submitted a question asking Tisdahl what she thinks is the best part of NU and what it can do to improve its contribution to the city. The forum is a way for students to get to know Tisdahl on a more personal level, and vice versa, he said.
“It’s one of the things I feel like we lack, that we don’t have a connection to public officials,” he said. “We’ll get to meet them and see they’re trying to make the lives of NU students better.”
