About this time last year, Northwestern administrators and student demonstrators reached an agreement to end the pro-Palestinian encampment on Deering Meadow under several conditions.
This agreement included terms about the removal of the encampment, disclosure of NU’s holdings and additional support for Jewish, Muslim and Middle Eastern and North African students.
When testifying before the House Committee on Education and Workforce last May, University President Michael Schill said he planned to follow the conditions of the agreement.
Since then, the University has taken steps toward implementing each of the stipulations.
Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility
The University agreed to reestablish the ACIR in the fall with student, faculty and staff members. However, the ACIR was not fully reconstituted until Winter Quarter, holding its first meeting since reestablishment in February.
The ACIR advises the Board of Trustees on investment concerns stemming from the university community. The committee currently consists of seven members who are faculty, staff, students and alumni. NU Vice President and Chief Investment Officer Amy Falls serves ex officio.
Kellogg Prof. Therese McGuire, who is currently the only faculty member on the ACIR, said another faculty member will be added.
“I hope that this committee is viewed as a transparent and deliberative body for all constituents on campus for faculty, students, staff (and) anyone with a concern about the investment portfolio of the endowment,” McGuire said.
As of April, McGuire said the ACIR has only held one meeting, with another scheduled for May. She said the committee has not yet received any resolutions from the community to review.
The ACIR was initially created in 2016, after a student proposal for the University to divest from coal companies was rejected by the Board of Trustees.
In the committee’s original iteration, the Associated Student Government nominated the committee’s two undergraduate representatives and the Graduate Leadership Advisory Council nominated two graduate representatives. The Faculty Senate nominated two faculty representatives, the Alumni Association nominated two alumni representatives and NU Staff Advisory Council nominated two staff representatives.
However in its newest iteration, all appointments to the ACIR have to be approved by Schill.
“(With the previous nominations), there was a lack of continuity (and) understanding of what it’s about,” McGuire said. “Putting it into the president’s office’s hands was to get more structure, formality and continuity.”
The University also introduced a recusal policy that required all members of the committee to excuse themselves from decisions in which they are deemed to have a conflict of interest. However, critics say the policy will affect the diversity of voices and prevent the committee from advocating for change.
The University did not respond to multiple requests for comment on who would determine when an ACIR member would need to recuse themselves or how that decision would be made.
University holdings disclosure
As part of last year’s agreement, the University agreed to answer questions about specific holdings to the fullest legal extent from any internal stakeholder within 30 days. If unable to do so, it would “provide a reason and a realistic timeline” when they would respond.
The Daily sent the University a list of questions about its holdings in February, which officials failed to answer within 30 days. The University did not provide a reason for the delay or a timeline for a response. The Daily resent the questions to the University on March 30, which NU referred to the ACIR for review on April 3. The Daily has yet to receive a response.
Supporting visiting Palestinian faculty and students at risk
The University agreed to support two visiting Palestinian faculty members for two years and provide full cost of attendance for five Palestinian undergraduates to attend NU during their undergraduate careers. It also committed to fundraise to sustain this effort beyond the current timeline.
The Daily has confirmed one Palestinian faculty member is currently a visiting scholar through the At-Risk Students and Scholars Program, which is facilitated at NU by the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs.
The University did not respond to The Daily’s questions about the number of currently supported Palestinian undergraduates at NU.
Space for MENA and Muslim students
The agreement stated that the University would provide an immediate temporary space for MENA and Muslim students. The University agreed to renovate a house for MENA and Muslim students after the completion of the Jacobs Center renovation, expected in 2026.
Until then, the University has provided a temporary space on the third floor of Norris University Center for MENA and Muslim students. The windowless rooms can host about 20 people each, with both the MENA Student Association and Muslim-cultural Students Association using the space.
Weinberg sophomore Daniel Ibrahim, a member of MENA’s advocacy team, described the space as “cramped.”
“We can’t even really safely make it open to everyone because of potential overcrowding,” Ibrahim said. “The whole point of a space is that it’s a place where people can go and meet other people of similar backgrounds and find some sort of solace there. But obviously that’s not being fulfilled with the current space.”
With more than 250 people in the MENA SA, Ibrahim said the club is unable to host events in the room and uses it to only host board meetings.
Ibrahim also raised concerns about MENA students being grouped together with Muslim students in the same space.
“I’m personally Coptic Egyptian, so I’m Christian. There are plenty of Muslims who aren’t MENA, and there are plenty of MENA people who aren’t Muslim,” Ibrahim said. “So the fact that we’re continuously combined is just unintelligent, to be honest.”
Additional support for Jewish and Muslim students
The agreement also stated that the University would provide additional support for Jewish and Muslim students within Religious & Spiritual Life.
Because of the Deering Meadow agreement, Weinberg senior and member of NU’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace Paz Baum said JVP has partnered with RSL to get funding for weekly Shabbat dinners on Fridays.
“It has enabled me to build Jewish community on campus that I wasn’t able to do before because I didn’t feel welcome in Hillel and other Jewish spaces on campus,” Baum said.
The Shabbat dinners include food and a reservation at Parkes Hall, but Baum said getting a rabbi for these dinners has proven difficult. Baum said JVP previously asked the University to hire a new rabbi, rather than one subcontracted through Hillel, but it has yet to do so.
Dining services
The University agreed to include students in a process that provides broad input on University dining services, including for residential and retail vendors.
In a previous statement to The Daily, the University said more than 20 students serve on a Dining Advisory Board. The Board meets regularly to evaluate residential and retail dining, according to the statement.
Isaiah Steinberg contributed reporting.
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