Northwestern officials are urging students to remain vigilant and informed as thousands of foreign dignitaries, protesters and journalists descend on Chicago for the NATO summit this weekend, the first time the United States has hosted the international gathering outside of Washington, D.C.
University Police Cmdr. Shaun Johnson said his agency is monitoring the demonstrator activities surrounding the foreign conference “on a constant basis at this point.” He heads a special task force that was assembled earlier this year to prepare the University for the NATO summit and includes representatives from 16 NU offices, ranging from Risk Management to Information Technology. University spokesman Al Cubbage admitted there is “always the unknown” with such a high-profile event, but NU is as ready as possible for all scenarios.
“It’s definitely our hope that there’s not going to be an emergency situation,” he said. “At the same time, we wanted to be prepared. And I think we are.”
Despite minor tweaks to some class locations and transportation schedules, NU officials have emphasized that both the Chicago and Evanston campuses will stay “open for business” during the NATO summit.
The conference will bring ambassadors from 62 countries and several international organizations to McCormick Place on Sunday and Monday, with President Barack Obama arriving at O’Hare International Airport on Saturday night. Although the formal meeting lasts two days, protesters have already begun demonstrating in the Loop, voicing their opposition to NATO’s involvement in military campaigns across the world, including the war in Afghanistan.
On Monday morning, eight protesters were arrested after refusing to leave the lobby of Obama’s reelection headquarters at the Prudential Building. Members of Occupy camps from at least eight cities have been bused into Chicago throughout the week, according to The New York Times.
Protests are likely to intensify this weekend, with several demonstrations and marches slated to unravel within blocks of NU’s Chicago campus. McCormick Place, the summit’s official site, is about four miles away from the Chicago campus. In late March, the University announced it would move classes in the Kellogg School of Management at Wieboldt Hall on the Chicago campus to several academic buildings on the Evanston campus, such as the Allen and Jacobs centers. Wieboldt Hall will instead house students in the School of Continuing Studies, according to an NU news release from March 29.
Since then, the University has accounted for possible disruptions in its shuttle operations, canceling the Chicago Express Shuttle for Saturday and advising students that the Intercampus Shuttle may be delayed or rerouted Monday.
Chicago-bound students will encounter similar complications on other forms of public transportation this weekend.
Metra announced earlier this month riders should expect screening and baggage checks, especially on the Electric Line, which runs under McCormick Place and will operate with limited service Saturday through Monday.
The El is expected to run as usual, but 26 bus routes will be altered during the summit, according to the Chicago Transit Authority. In an email to students Tuesday, University Services recommended campus commuters allow “substantially extra time” if they must travel to and from Chicago this weekend.
University Relations launched what Johnson described as a “NATO landing page” on the NU website earlier this week. Cubbage called the information portal a “common link” for all the barrage of NATO-related emails students have received over the past few weeks. In a notice to students on the ad hoc webpage, Vice President of Student Affairs Patricia Telles-Irvin wrote the University “does not anticipate a large protest presence on Northwestern campuses.”
Still, law Prof. Joshua Kleinfeld predicted an “overwhelming number” of faculty members will avoid the Chicago campus Friday and Monday.
“My sense is, here on the Chicago campus, a lot of people are expecting there to be sufficient enough disruption to ordinary business that they expect to work from home,” Kleinfeld said, noting the School of Law is already out for the summer and most law professors would not be heading to the Chicago campus over the next four days anyway.
He added his colleagues are anticipating parking and traffic problems, but the “nature of the difficulties are not 100 percent clear” at this point.
Occupy Evanston organizer Jack Sigel stressed that any demonstrations his group is involved in will be “family-friendly events.” He accused local schools of taking an “exactly upside-down” approach to free speech, dismaying students from engaging in the NATO protests with scary-sounding bulletins.
“Unfortunately, Northwestern, Loyola – they’re all buying into the line of intimidation that has been put out in the drum beat of the announcements of the last few weeks,” Sigel said. “(Occupy Evanston is) committed to peaceful, nonviolent protests. NATO has the monopoly on violent protests.”
Although the University has been centering its preparations on the Chicago campus, some students and faculty in Evanston are already gearing up for the weekend.
Prof. Elizabeth Bennett emailed her multimedia journalism students Wednesday, advising them to travel in pairs and talk with their instructors before covering NATO-related events for upcoming class assignments. She attached a document with safety guidelines usually reserved for higher-level Medill courses.
“I think that this is something everyone is considering right now and paying close attention to,” she said Thursday. Bennett added she has told her colleagues to remain aware of any potential emergencies through the NotifyChicago program, which was created for the NATO summit and sends free text and voicemail messages about any safety updates this weekend.
Johnson echoed Bennett’s advice, saying students’ best bet is to keep checking NU’s NATO preparedness page over the next few days. “Everybody should always be concerned about their safety and security and should take personal responsibility for that,” he said. “And part of taking that personal responsibility is to be informed.”
