Nearly 50 students gathered in Harris Hall for a town hall meeting Monday night, where they raised concerns about racial prejudice on campus and the status of Evanston’s three-unrelated ”brothel law” ordinance.
The meeting, which is held every quarter, was led by Dean of Students Burgwell Howard.
The discussion picked up on themes that began at a much more irate town hall meeting almost a year ago, when it looked as if the city would immediately enforce the three-unrelated ordinance, which prohibits more than three unrelated residents in one living unit.
Assistant Dean of Students Betsi Burns responded to questions about what the university is doing to help students, saying the university’s policy on this has not changed since the issue was first raised.
“If you choose to not follow the ordinance and you choose to sign a lease with more than three people, we can’t do anything,” Burns said. “It’s the law.”
Burns told the students that the university continues to lobby against the ordinance, though ultimately, it is the city’s decision. Howard also encouraged students to write to their alderman or alderwoman.
Students also used the town hall meeting to raise concerns about racial prejudice on campus, following up on the caucus held last week.
Several students spoke at length about the continuing problem of harassment on campus and suggested ways to help the situation like requiring faculty members, old and new, to undergo racial sensitivity training and better publicizing the university’s resources for dealing with incidents of harassment.
Bienen junior Rohan Lewis attended the town hall meeting specifically to talk about these issues. For him, however, the faculty’s response was less than encouraging.
“I don’t think anything got done, honestly,” Lewis said after the meeting. “I think that it’s progress that people are talking and listening, but I think that most responses were very abstract.”
For Dean Howard, though, this kind of dialogue with the students is helpful and is the first step toward change.
“It really is a conversation,” Howard said. “We’re all here at Northwestern. We’re working for the same objective.”