Members of Sincerely, America set up eight tents near the Rock on Tuesday night to work to repeal the ‘brothel law,’ the Evanston zoning ordinance that prohibits more than three unrelated people from living together.
Organizers handed out voter registration forms and a petition to repeal the brothel law to passing students. They plan to send the petition to Ald. Judy Fiske (1st). The group also hopes to register 2,000 Northwestern students to vote in the April aldermanic election.
“If no one is registered, we have no voice,” said Alessio Manti, a SESP senior and Sincerely, America co-founder. “We wanted something we thought would be genuinely accomplishable.”
He said the brothel law is a Fourteenth Amendment issue that Sincerely, America may take to court if it has the financial resources.
“We’re thinking of raising a court issue saying it amounts to unequal protection under the law,” Manti said. “It’s prejudicial against students and low-income residents.”
Sincerely, America is a new political student organization that hopes to associate itself with “average” Americans who are not affiliated with either extremes of the political spectrum. The group started on campus in response to the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements.
In addition to this potential court fight, Sincerely, America will sponsor a candidate for alderman if Fiske does not vote to repeal the law.
“We’ll put financial and organizational resources behind another candidate to unseat her,” Manti said. “Northwestern students are the biggest potential voting block in the First Ward.”
McCormick junior Paige Humecki, a member of Sincerely, America, said the lessons of political organizing go beyond handing out voter registration ballots.
“It’s an excellent 101 in local politics,” Humecki said. “When we accomplish our goal, it will be a good lesson to others who need to organize in the Evanston community.”
The group has been more successful in getting students to sign the petition than in convincing them to sign the voter registration forms. Weinberg sophomore and group member Andrew Walker attributed the disparity to the cold, rainy weather in addition to student disinterest.
“The brothel law is a way for the Evanston community to enact power over us the way they see fit,” Walker said. “The First Ward is largely constituted of Northwestern (students), who are either too apathetic to vote or are registered elsewhere.”
VP of Community Relations for ASG, Steven Monacelli said he agrees there has been a lack of student involvement.
“I think there is some validity to the stance that (students) haven’t been getting as involved as they need to,” the Communication junior said. “If they showed up with more force, they’d have the opportunity to speak about their interests firsthand. I couldn’t say how many have chosen to contact aldermen or show up to ward meetings, but if they are really invested in the issue and do have something they’d like to say, they need to start engaging their local officials if they want feedback or see things move forward in their community.”
Nonetheless, Monacelli said he is happy to see students trying to get a conversation started about their concerns. But some NU students question whether their involvement would have an effect on the brothel law.
“I probably would have signed (the petition) just to support them, but I don’t know what good it would do,” Weinberg freshman Alexis Beasley said.
Similarly, Weinberg senior Josh Bay said signing petitions is not the most efficient way to solve the issue.
“The brothel law is kind of silly. There are deeper issues than what’s on the surface,” Bay said. “I think it just more about the Evanston community having problems with Northwestern students. Instead of trying to repeal the law, Northwestern should try to build a better relationship with the city of Evanston so that they won’t really want to enforce it.”
Bay said, however, that it can’t hurt to try to send the petitions anyway in the hope that students would not have to worry about this issue in the future.
Manti said Sincerely, America plans to counter indifference by following up with students via email and in person.
“We want to get in someone’s face, watch them sign the (voter registration) form and carry it to city court for them,” he said. “Everyone hates the brothel law, and it’s the perfect balance between school-specific and community issues.”
