By PATRICK SVITEK daily senior staffer @PatrickSvitek A year aſter a falling beam fatally hit an iron worker on campus, ques- tions remain about what went wrong and how the accident could have been prevented as construction continues on the lakefront. Michael Kerr, a 57-year-old vet- eran of Chicago-area construction, was killed May 16, 2013, aſter a crane knocked a 16-foot, 70-pound beam off the sixth floor of the new Music and Communication Building. e fatal accident set off a months- long investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In November of last year, OSHA cited the project’s general contractor, Power Construction, saying the company, which was then based in Schaumburg, Illinois, did not protect its subcontrac- tor employees from falling objects. Although an OSHA spokesman said Tuesday that Power Construction has met all its obligations related to the citation, a wrongful death lawsuit continues to bring attention to the accident. Lawyers are currently con- ducting depositions in the case, which was brought by Kerr’s son, who is also named Michael Kerr. “We’re just looking for the truth,” said Louis Cairo, the younger Kerr’s attorney. “Just tell me what happened.” A tragic accident A police report obtained through the Freedom of Information Act suggests the beam was moved by the crane lines, which one detective observed were three feet away from the object’s original location shortly aſter the accident. A witness working “in close prox- imity” to Kerr told a detective the two workers were receiving and unhook- ing a load lowered by the crane shortly before the accident, according to the police report. Kerr was standing on the ground floor when the beam hit him in the chest and head. He was taken to Evanston Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than two hours later. Detectives wrote in the police report they were unable to find the crane operator for questioning. One detective said he was told the crane operator was too distraught to talk to police, while another detective wrote he was informed that the crane opera- tor wanted to wait 24 hours to talk to authorities or the company, citing his union’s advice. At the hospital, a detective said a representative of a safety group that The Daily Northwestern DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM Find us online @thedailynu Friday, May 16, 2014 SPORTS Lacrosse NU looks to avenge Florida losses, reach Final Four » PAGE 12 ASG examining communal spaces in dining halls » PAGE 3 High 48 Low 41 OPINION Douglas When can we disappear from the Internet? » PAGE 4 By CAT ZAKRZEWSKI daily senior staffer @Cat_Zakrzewski Antonitsa Vlahoulis struggled to get the words out as she remembered the medical ordeal that kept her away from her children and in and out of hospitals for months. Vlahoulis first came to Northwest- ern Memorial Hospital in 2006, when shortness of breath made it difficult for her to exert herself at her job. She was diagnosed with a condition called mitral valve prolapse, which caused her heart valve to leak severely. Months aſter having open heart sur- gery, Vlahoulis realized her surgeon, Patrick McCarthy, had implanted a ring that was part of a clinical trial she says to which she never consented. “How could you do that to someone?” the Niles woman told e Daily as tears formed in her eyes. “I felt like I was being treated like an animal.” Vlahoulis, 46, is one of more than 600 patients from 2006-08 who were implanted with the Myxo dETlogix 500 Annuloplasty Ring 5100, a triangular piece of silicone and metal that pinches together leaky heart valves. McCarthy, the chief of cardiac surgery at NMH, invented the ring. Another top doctor on the trial, Nalini Rajamannan, accused McCarthy of “human experimentation” aſter hearing Vlahoulis’ story in 2007. Her accusations sparked a U.S. Senate investigation. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) reig- nited the case this year when he accused NU of withholding information about the Myxo ring he first requested in an investigation five years ago. NU spokesman Al Cubbage said the University is preparing a response to Grassley’s April letter. Although Uni- versity President Morton Schapiro was not at NU in 2006, he said administra- tors have been looking into the issue “for years and years and years.” “ere are a lot of things that we review,” he said in an interview last month. “And typically move on unless we find something inappropriate.” “I think by and large ... the University has responded to all the requests we’ve received,” Cubbage added. McCarthy remains the chief of car- diac surgery at NMH. “Claims of human experimentation are absolutely false,” McCarthy wrote in an email to e Daily, declining a request for an interview. But eight years, a Senate investigation and at least two lawsuits later, Grassley says NU still hasn’t answered a simple question. “Did Northwestern implant an unap- proved device — which it knew, or should have known, required approval — in patients without obtaining their informed consent?” Grassley wrote in an April 28 letter to the University. Grassley says that answer will have major implications for a broader discus- sion about what patients deserve to know before receiving a medical device. ‘I just wanted to feel better’ In spring 2006, Vlahoulis was referred to McCarthy for surgery to fix her mitral Serving the University and Evanston since 1881 INSIDE Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | Opinion 4 | Classifieds & Puzzles 10 | Sports 12 1 year later, questions surround worker’s death Trial of the heart » See CONSTRUCTION, page 11 In Focus Senator investigates claim that NU doctor implanted an experimental device he created into woman’s heart valve — without her consent Graphic by Jackie Marthouse/Daily Senior Staffer » See HEART , page 6
Transcript
By PATRICK SVITEKdaily senior staffer@PatrickSvitek
A year a� er a falling beam fatally hit an iron worker on campus, ques-tions remain about what went wrong and how the accident could have been prevented as construction continues on the lakefront.
Michael Kerr, a 57-year-old vet-eran of Chicago-area construction, was killed May 16, 2013, a� er a crane knocked a 16-foot, 70-pound beam o�
the sixth oor of the new Music and Communication Building.
e fatal accident set o� a months-long investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In November of last year, OSHA cited the project’s general contractor, Power Construction, saying the company, which was then based in Schaumburg, Illinois, did not protect its subcontrac-tor employees from falling objects.
Although an OSHA spokesman said Tuesday that Power Construction has met all its obligations related to the citation, a wrongful death lawsuit
continues to bring attention to the accident. Lawyers are currently con-ducting depositions in the case, which was brought by Kerr’s son, who is also named Michael Kerr.
“We’re just looking for the truth,” said Louis Cairo, the younger Kerr’s attorney. “Just tell me what happened.”
A tragic accident
A police report obtained through the Freedom of Information Act suggests the beam was moved by
the crane lines, which one detective observed were three feet away from the object’s original location shortly a� er the accident.
A witness working “in close prox-imity” to Kerr told a detective the two workers were receiving and unhook-ing a load lowered by the crane shortly before the accident, according to the police report.
Kerr was standing on the ground oor when the beam hit him in the chest and head. He was taken to Evanston Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than two hours
later.Detectives wrote in the police
report they were unable to � nd the crane operator for questioning. One detective said he was told the crane operator was too distraught to talk to police, while another detective wrote he was informed that the crane opera-tor wanted to wait 24 hours to talk to authorities or the company, citing his union’s advice.
At the hospital, a detective said a representative of a safety group that
The Daily NorthwesternDAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM Find us online @thedailynuFriday, May 16, 2014
SPORTS LacrosseNU looks to avenge Florida losses,
reach Final Four » PAGE 12
ASG examining communal spaces in dining halls » PAGE 3
High 48Low 41
OPINION DouglasWhen can we disappear
from the Internet? » PAGE 4
By CAT ZAKRZEWSKIdaily senior staffer@Cat_Zakrzewski
Antonitsa Vlahoulis struggled to get the words out as she remembered the medical ordeal that kept her away from her children and in and out of hospitals for months.
Vlahoulis � rst came to Northwest-ern Memorial Hospital in 2006, when shortness of breath made it di� cult for her to exert herself at her job. She was diagnosed with a condition called mitral valve prolapse, which caused her heart valve to leak severely.
Months a� er having open heart sur-gery, Vlahoulis realized her surgeon, Patrick McCarthy, had implanted a ring that was part of a clinical trial she says to which she never consented.
“How could you do that to someone?” the Niles woman told e Daily as tears formed in her eyes. “I felt like I was being treated like an animal.”
Vlahoulis, 46, is one of more than 600 patients from 2006-08 who were implanted with the Myxo dETlogix 500 Annuloplasty Ring 5100, a triangular piece of silicone and metal that pinches together leaky heart valves. McCarthy, the chief of cardiac surgery at NMH, invented the ring.
Another top doctor on the trial, Nalini Rajamannan, accused McCarthy of “human experimentation” a� er hearing Vlahoulis’ story in 2007. Her accusations sparked a U.S. Senate investigation.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) reig-nited the case this year when he accused NU of withholding information about the Myxo ring he � rst requested in an
investigation � ve years ago.NU spokesman Al Cubbage said
the University is preparing a response to Grassley’s April letter. Although Uni-versity President Morton Schapiro was not at NU in 2006, he said administra-tors have been looking into the issue “for years and years and years.”
“ ere are a lot of things that we review,” he said in an interview last month. “And typically move on unless we � nd something inappropriate.”
“I think by and large ... the University has responded to all the requests we’ve received,” Cubbage added.
McCarthy remains the chief of car-diac surgery at NMH.
“Claims of human experimentation are absolutely false,” McCarthy wrote in an email to e Daily, declining a request for an interview.
But eight years, a Senate investigation and at least two lawsuits later, Grassley says NU still hasn’t answered a simple question.
“Did Northwestern implant an unap-proved device — which it knew, or should have known, required approval — in patients without obtaining their informed consent?” Grassley wrote in an April 28 letter to the University.
Grassley says that answer will have major implications for a broader discus-sion about what patients deserve to know before receiving a medical device.
‘I just wanted to feel better’
In spring 2006, Vlahoulis was referred to McCarthy for surgery to � x her mitral
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881 INSIDE Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | Opinion 4 | Classi� eds & Puzzles 10 | Sports 12
1 year later, questions surround worker’s death
Trial of the heart
» See CONSTRUCTION, page 11
In Focus
Senator investigates claim that NU doctor implanted an experimental device he created into woman’s heart valve — without her consent
Graphic by Jackie Marthouse/Daily Senior Staffer» See HEART, page 6
Around TownAs it gets closer, I’ve been getting a little nervous and a little scared.
— Caroline Colianne, swimmer
“ ” City resident to compete in Special OlympicsSee story on page 8
Senior suffers broken leg after bike crash near Arch
A 21-year-old female cyclist suffered a broken leg after she collided with a car at the intersection of Sheridan Road and Chicago Avenue near The Arch on Wednesday night, police said.
The incident occurred at about 10:50 p.m., Evan-ston Police Cmdr. Jay Parrott said.
The woman, a Communication senior at North-western, was crossing the intersection against the light
at the time of the accident, University spokesman Al Cubbage said.
Part of Sheridan Road near The Arch was blocked off following the accident. The driver was not cited, Parrott said.
“The vehicle had the right of way,” he said. “The bike went in the path of the car.”
The female cyclist was treated at Evanston Hos-pital, Parrott said.
Bailey Williams contributed reporting.
— Sophia Bollag
2 NEWS | thE daily NorthWEStErN friday, may 16, 2014
An educational program that connected Evanston/Skokie School District 65 elemen-tary school students with their surrounding Evanston community finished its pilot run in late April.
Called Project Researching Evanston and Community Horizons, the group was created by nonprofit Youth Organizations Umbrella in order to provide kids with a more extensive knowledge of Evanston and its resources. The first round of Project REACH, ended in April, consisted of 10 fourth- and fifth-graders from Oakton and Dawes elementary schools.
“Project REACH was really just a way for us to say, ‘We have some great kids. What can we teach them about their community?’” said Emily Fishman, the Oakton site coordinator
for Y.O.U. “It was really, really a great opportu-nity and a great way for our kids to understand that there’s a lot more out there than just their small sector of the community.”
Fishman worked with Y.O.U.’s Dawes site coordinator Tom Thornburg to organize field trips to expose students to parts of Evanston with which they weren’t already familiar. These included tours of the historical centers, local banks and Northwestern.
The program focused on introducing kids to places beyond the proximity of their schools and personal neighborhoods, Fishman said.
“We found that a lot of our students were spending most of their time right around where their houses were,” she said. “And there was all these great resources in central Evan-ston and north Evanston that our kids didn’t really know anything about. We realized that this could really become a great way for them to learn about what problems are in their com-munity and what they can do to change these
problems.”Each student took a location the group
toured, as well as a corresponding issue, to center their his or her project on. The kids were able to grasp and understand the com-plex community problems that arose, Fishman said.
At visits to middle and high schools, the children picked up on the effect of bullying on students. Following a tour of the Evanston History Center, 225 Greenwood St., she said students discussed the divides in their com-munity among race, religion and economic status.
“It was all their facts, their words,” Fishman said. “We picked them specifically because we knew that the students in this group had to be more mature kids who could handle something like this.”
Students created final presentations in April that demonstrated what they had learned about issues that face the Evanston community.
Fishman said the participants expressed inter-est in going through the experience again, an affirmation that Project REACH was a success.
Oakton principal Churchill Daniels touted the program’s ability to get students involved in their community.
“It takes a village to raise our kids,” he said. “We need to expose them to a wealth of differ-ent opportunities for them to take advantage of … and to just bring light to other areas of our community. If we take care of Oakton, we can take care of Evanston.”
Both Daniels and Fishman said they think Project REACH will continue in the future. Fishman introduced the idea of expanding the program with the same participants into high school in order to allow for students to go into more depth about the topics they focused on.
Rideshare regulation passes Illinois Senate, heads to Gov. Quinn
A bill that would create new regulations for ride-sharing services passed the Illinois Senate on Thursday and will now move to Gov. Pat Quinn for approval.
The bill, which has been criticized by com-panies such as Uber and Lyft, would require background checks, vehicle safety inspec-tions and a chauffeur’s license for ride-share drivers who work more than 18 hours per week.
Additionally, the bill would prevent ride-share drivers from soliciting customers in loading zones and taxi stands. It would also ban ride-share drivers from being hailed on the street.
Uber spokeswoman Lauren Altmin said the additional regulations would hurt the service.
She cited the 18-hour-per-week limit as something the company was particularly concerned about.
“This short-sighted cap would force hard-working drivers off the road and take dollars out of their pockets,” Altmin said in an email to The Daily.
“In a matter of weeks, Springfield has put forth a hasty, unfair bill that is worse for consumers and only benefits the existing taxi monopoly,” she added.
The bill passed the Senate 46-8.On Thursday, the state Senate also passed a
related, second bill that makes some minor changes to the main regulatory bill. That second bill now moves back to the House.
— Sophia Bollag
Setting therecord straight
In “Water bottle ban moves forward” from Thursday’s print edition, Julie Payne-Kirchmeier’s title was misstated. She is the assistant vice president for student auxiliary services.
The Daily regrets the error.
On CampusIt takes one person to care, one person to ask. We want to be that person who cares.
— Claudia Perez, human trafficking victim
“ ” Delta Sigma Theta event makes trafficking localSee story on page 9
friday, may 16, 2014 the daily northwestern | news 3
SPEND WINTER 2015 IN WASHINGTON D.C.
Have you ever dreamed of rubbing elbows with the movers and shakers on Capitol Hill? Would you like to learn how D.C. operates from the inside as legislators, the Obama administration and advocacy groups grapple with key issues facing the country?
The Northwestern undergraduate program in Washington is an exciting opportunity for students to gain invaluable knowledge and experience about how DC operates, working as interns in the mix of organizations involved in a variety of important national issues while taking seminars in privacy and civil liberties in an era of National Security Agency scandals, and presidential power versus congressional clout.
The program, which provides four units of academic credit through the internship/practicum and two seminars, also gives students the oppor-tunity to forge ongoing relationships with organizations and companies in D.C. that have yielded subsequent internships and jobs. The program is offered every winter quarter so that students are there to witness either an inaugural address or a State of the Union address. Students work out of Medill’s D.C. Bureau at 1325 G Street, NW, Suite 730, about two blocks from the Metro Center subway stop.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Winter 2015 program, attend a meeting on Friday, May 16, at 11am in McCormick Tribune Center, Room 3-127.
If you are interested but can’t attend the meeting, please contactProf. Ellen Shearer at [email protected].
UPS NU SPECIAL: 25% OFF SHIPPING SUPPLIES
SAVE YOU MONEY, TOO!
PACK YOUR STUFF
SHIP YOUR STUFF
STORE YOUR STUFF
The UPS StoreFor all your packaging and shipping needs.
NO REGISTRATION FEES!FOR INFO AND TO SIGN UP ONLINE:
www.chicagolandshipping.com
FREE PICK UP available FREE INSURANCE (first $100)
By jordan harrisonthe daily northwestern @MedillJordan
Associated Student Government and Resi-dential Services are working on an initiative to open up several dining halls to be used for stu-dent meeting space after normal operating hours, pending the evaluation of additional security and staffing measures.
Chris Harlow, vice president of student life, said ASG received responses from some dorms expressing a need for more communal space. ASG informally surveyed students and did walk-throughs in 29 residential buildings.
“One of the things we heard was a lack of community space in some buildings,” the SESP sophomore said. “In Allison, there’s this great
big first floor lounge, so lack of useful space wasn’t something we heard in some build-ings, but in others like Sargent, for example, they really lack a large, open community space where students can not only hang out and relax but also be able to use for studying.”
McCormick fresh-man Korri Hershen-house, a member of the ASG student life
committee and the head of the dining hall proj-ect, said at night, dining halls are a large unused campus space. So, ASG asked students if they would be interested in using them as meeting spaces.
“We thought about dining halls because they’re kind of a large source of untapped space at the school,” she said. “We contacted students in resi-dential halls and we asked them via an informal survey that was emailed to them through their residential hall listserv what hours they would
use it, would they use it, what they would use it for and why they would use it.”
Several security concerns would have to be addressed before the idea can be implemented, said Paul Riel, executive director of Residential Services.
“One is the ability to restrict access to the cooking areas and the servery where the food is prepared,” he said. “There’s some work on put-ting in some television cameras that we think would be important for monitoring the rooms at night.”
Riel said Elder and Willard dining halls already have a lot of the internal security needed to open after hours, but Sargent and 1835 Hinman dining halls present more challenges. He added that they would also need to consider extra cleanup to pre-pare dining halls for meals the next morning.
Due to the upcoming renovation of Kresge Hall, meeting space for student groups will be
limited, Riel said. He said he hoped a pilot would be started next fall.
“We acknowledge that with the Kresge reno-vation going on and some other renovation pro-grams happening, spaces on campus are really more and more at a premium, so we think using dining halls is a way to soften that demand on space,” Riel said.
Hershenhouse said administrators have con-sidered this idea for a few years, and ASG has been working on implementing the initiative for about two months. She added that members of ASG already have feedback on when students would like the dining halls to be available.
“They would like it open from about 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. on all of the weeknights and either open until an earlier hour on the weekends or not open at all on the weekends,” she said.
late night? associated student Government and residential services are working to open dining halls after operating hours for student use. administrators will have to update dining hall security before they can be used as meeting spaces.“One of the
things we heard was a lack of community space in some buildings.Chris Harlow,ASG student life vice president
The Daily NorThwesTerN is published monday through friday during the academic year, except vacation periods and two weeks preceding them and once during august, by students Publishing Co., inc. of northwestern University, 1999 Campus drive, evanston, il 60208; 847-491-7206.
first copy of The Daily is free, additional copies are 50 cents. all material published herein, except advertising or where indicated otherwise, is Copyright 2014 The Daily NorThwesTerN and protected under the “work made for hire” and “periodical publication” clauses of copyright law.
Postmaster: send address changes to The Daily NorThwesTerN, 1999 Campus drive, evanston, il 60208. subscriptions are $175 for the academic year. The Daily NorThwesTerN is not responsible for more than one incorrect ad inser-tion. all display ad corrections must be received by 3 p.m. one day prior to when the ad is run.
Check out dailynOrthwestern.COM for breaking news
My high school’s class of 2014 graduation cere-mony takes place this weekend. As I think back to my own graduation day, almost a year ago, I real-ize my expectations for college were very different from reality. With the end of my freshman year quickly approaching, I have concluded that high school did not prepare me for the academic chal-lenges or responsibilities I have faced at North-western or the essential skills required in the real world. This problem isn’t personal; it is one that the class of 2014 will face in a few short months. The bottom line is that high school doesn’t really do its job of preparing kids for college or for their futures in society.
This was certainly the case for me. Through-out high school, late work was always accepted. In my first year at NU, none of my teachers have
accepted any late assignments. This is a policy that should be implemented in high schools with increasing stringency through the years in order to prepare students. Without a system like this, students are being set up to fail.
Also, in my experience at NU, the final grade in a class can be based off of as little as three assign-ments. In high school, there were tons of busy-work, all of which was collected for points and could be used to boost a grade. This should not be the case because it leaves students unprepared to deal with classes in which grades are based off of very few deeper assignments.
Moreover, high school fails to prepare students for the increased level of responsibility college demands. For example, at my high school, if a stu-dent was ever falling behind in a class, the teacher would speak to the student, call the parents, assign tutoring sessions and more. Though this may seem like an attempt at helping the student suc-ceed, it actually hurts him or her in the long run. In the first year of college, it seems as if literally no one cares if you do poorly in a class. No one will reach out to help you unless you ask for it. It is important for high schools to guide students toward taking on more responsibility for their own education in order to help them succeed in college.
Similarly, high school fails to educate students on essential life skills. I’ve heard many of my fel-low students joke about how they spent four years in high school and can find a derivative and recite the Pythagorean theorem but don’t know how to do their taxes, write a check or construct a resume. These skills, along with many others (like how to vote, file for loans, cook, use and understand credit cards and perform basic car maintenance), are simply never taught yet necessary for everyday life.
It’s sad to think of all the necessary abilities that many people lack simply because their high school, which is supposed to train them for the future, focuses on some unnecessary curriculum while underemphasizing other important skills. We shouldn’t let yet another class graduate from high school with this immense lack of real-world knowledge and skill. Students would greatly benefit if high schools started devoting time to teaching these things because they would be better prepared for college and the future.
Katy Vines is a Weinberg freshman. She can be reached at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this column, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected].
Join the online conversation at www.dailynorthwestern.comOpiniOn
Friday, May 16, 2014 PAGE 4
The Daily NorthwesternVolume 134, Issue 123
Editor in ChiefPaulina Firozi
Managing EditorsJoseph Diebold Ciara McCarthy Manuel Rapada
Opinion Editors Julian Caracotsios Yoni Muller
Assistant Opinion EditorCaryn Lenhoff
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR may be sent to 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, via fax at 847-491-9905, via e-mail to [email protected] or by dropping a letter in the box outside The Daily office. Letters have the following requirements:• Should be typed and double-spaced• Should include the author’s name, signature, school, class and phone number.• Should be fewer than 300 wordsThey will be checked for authenticity and may be edited for length, clarity, style and grammar. Letters, columns and cartoons contain the opinion of the authors, not Students Publishing Co. Inc. Submissions signed by more than three people must include at least one and no more than three names designated to represent the group.Editorials reflect the majority opinion of The Daily’s student editorial board and not the opinions of either Northwestern University or Students Publishing Co. Inc.
People rarely desire to be forgotten. Con-stantly surrounded and bombarded with the importance of fame and fortune, we actually fear it. But on Tuesday, the European Union’s high court ruled that it would be possible for people to request that Google take down information about them that they found unsavory. And Google must comply. It can-not remove the information entirely, but it also cannot link to it.
Simultaneously heralded and hated, this case began in 2009 as Mario Costeja Gonza-lez, a Spanish lawyer, discovered legal notices concerning debts online that he considered no longer relevant because they had been resolved.
In The New York Times’ front-page article on the ruling, David Streitfeld bluntly and glibly sweeps away any supposition that leg-islation like this could pass in America.
“In the United States, the court’s ruling would clash with the First Amendment,” he writes.
Oh, David. Give us a chance to talk about it first.
The First Amendment states that “Con-gress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.”
But what does that mean? Though cen-turies of scholars have tried, with varying degrees of success and failure, to define free
speech, I will add my voice to the chorus.Is freedom of speech a freedom to records
everything on the Internet for everyone to access? No. If anything, it does the opposite. Freedom of speech is a freedom to present yourself to the world. It is not a requirement that everything you say or do be recorded. It also includes — or should include — the right to be forgotten.
Another aspect of freedom of speech is the freedom of expression. This, according to
the U.S. court system, also includes the right not to speak. The right to have information erased is intertwined with the right not to speak or, perhaps more aptly, the right not to have spoken.
Is that changing or erasing history? Not at all. The information is still on the Internet, it just happens that Google cannot link to it anymore. The website where the information can be found still exists, just not as appar-ently so to the wider global community.
A fear that comes with this legislation — and, I will concede, rightly so — is that politicians and those in power will use the ability to erase bad business transactions, bankruptcy or scandals from their web-based records. However, even before Costeja Gon-zalez received his verdict, Google has had a way for information to be erased in Europe. According to Viktor Mayer-Schoenberger, a professor of Internet governance at the Oxford Internet Institute and the author of “Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age,” during a period of 30 years, the number of Europeans who have requested information to be deleted would be in the thousands.
As our nation and our world explore the depths of what it means to live publicly, it is important to give an opportunity to those who choose not to do so. Perhaps requiring that a search engine be responsible for tak-ing down information at someone’s whim is unrealistic. However, a mechanism must be created to allow people to obtain, as Mayer-Schoenberger says, “a little of the ephemeral-ity and the forgetfulness of pre-digital days” and to be able to live comfortably, knowing that they have control over the way they have presented themselves to the rest of the world. Though I may be drowned out by news juggernauts like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, I do believe in the importance of keeping an open dialogue.
Sam Douglas is a Communication sophomore. He can be reached at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this column, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected].
SAM DOuglASDaIly coluMnIst
Should you be allowed to disappear from online?
Most, if not all, experiences in life come with some good and some bad. Even if you are mar-ried to your dream partner, go to your dream school, have your dream job, work for your dream company or are going on your dream vacation, chances are you will experience some negative moments. Sometimes good and bad aspects of an experience are so intertwined that it’s hard to decide whether it was good or bad overall. Is it worth having the experience at all? Should we quit now if we are ultimately going to quit anyway? Should we stop and evaluate other options? How do we ever know?
I recently read an article about the psycholo-gist John Gottman’s “Magic Ratio,” in which Gottman established that for a newly married couple to sustain their marriage, they needed to have a positive to negative interaction ratio of 5:1; that is, a “magic ratio.” The lower the positive-to-negative interaction ratio drops, the less sustainable the marriage becomes, with a 1:1 ratio being a strong indicator of a looming divorce. In fact, Gottman and his colleagues observed 15-minute interaction between 700 newlyweds and correctly predicted the fate of their marriages 94 percent of the time.
The immediate question that arose in my mind was: If a ratio could be applied to predict something as volatile as relationships between two human beings with significant accuracy, could similar ratios be used for predicting the livelihood of other commitments that we make? Why commit to stay in a career for five years if we can predict that the career is not made for us after one month? Can we really tell from an initial ratio of positive to negative moments whether or not we will eventually end up quit-ting a commitment we made?
Almost immediately after, I had an even better idea — could we actually do something to achieve a high ratio of positive to negative moments (or experiences) and ensure that we fulfill our commitments? Given that we made the commitment in the first place, chances are we had good reasons, and most of us probably would like to see them to the end.
If your dream major is shaping up to be harder than you anticipated or you are
struggling and you feel like you have more negative moments in a course than positive, do you just quit one fine morning? It is likely that a low ratio makes you feel disengaged, doubtful about your initial decision and ultimately reluc-tant to pursue it. But almost all experiences will have some negative aspects. It could be that the major is not made for you. But it could also be that you just need to consciously take action and bump up your ratio of positive to negative moments to ensure that you see your commit-ments to the end.
Instead of focusing on a bad grade, long hours and the number of exams, think about the people you met through the course, how the course has challenged you and taught you something new. Always stop to give yourself credit for the hard work you have put in.
In fact, a higher ratio of positive to negative moments will likely help us feel more engaged and optimistic about outcomes of our commit-ments, thereby increasing our productivity in pursuit of our goals.
For instance, recent research has shown that working teams who had a ratio of positive to negative interactions of three to one among team members had higher productivity than teams who had lower ratios. Therefore a higher ratio of positive to negative interactions will actually optimize performance. If we are in a team, and possibly do not get along with all of the members and our faith in the team is dipping, what can we do? We can consciously attempt to create positive experiences to bump up the ratio. Perhaps giving each other recogni-tion for something good we’ve have done or simply acknowledging the merits of ideas put forward by team members is a good start.
If some experience or commitment is start-ing to appear not worthwhile and you are considering quitting, stop for a second and think of ways to bump up your ratio of posi-tive to negative moments; find your own very magic ratio. It just may help you resuscitate your commitment and fulfill the promises you have made to others or the goals you may have set for yourself. If that does not work, maybe then you should seriously start considering the option of quitting.
Raisa Chowdhury is a McCormick junior. She can be reached at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this column, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected].
rAiSAChOwDhuryDaIly coluMnIst
The ‘Magic Ratio’ and sustainable happiness
kAty vinESDaIly coluMnIst
What high school won’t teach you about the world
Graphic by Brooke sloan/the Daily northwestern
Mom always loved you best...
Breakfast, Brunchor Lunch
Buy one entree atregular price and getyour second entree of equal or lesservalue for just 99¢
Offer good Monday-Saturday only
Offer good only at restaurants listed
Limit one offer per coupon
Mon. - Fri. 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.Sat. - Sun. 7:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Breakfast, Brunch or Lunch
She always wantedyou to have agood breakfast.
Breakfast at Le Peep.
Mom would be pleased.
Offer expires 10/22/07Offer expires 11/19/07
Breakfast, Brunch or LunchEvanston, 827 Church St.
(847)328-4880
Mom always loved you best...
She always wanted you to have a good breakfast.
Breakfast at Le Peep.Mom would be pleased.
Mon. - Fri. 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.Sat. - Sun. 7:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
99¢Breakfast, Brunch
or LunchBuy one entree at regular price and get your second entree of equal or lesser
value for just 99¢Offer good Monday-Saturday only
Offer good only at restaurants listedLimit one offer per coupon. Offer expires 05/30/14.
jiffy lube
NU students, faculty and staff - show your Wildcard & receive
jiffy lubeSIGNATURE SERVICE® OIL CHANGE
Sa lon Roul a
25% OFF Any fi rst time service *
20% OFF Future Appointments with Wildcard *
*with selected professionals. Not valid with any other specials or keratin services. Must present coupon.
V ISIT
The Daily ONLINE
www.dailynorthwestern.com
friday, may 16, 2014 the daily northwestern | news 5
Weinberg senior makes ‘Twenty in their 20s’ list By katherine richterthe daily northwestern @krichter_medill
Weinberg senior Zoe Damacela, a fashion entre-preneur, was named to the Crain’s Chicago Business “Twenty in Their 20s” list this spring, with the help of business and design savvy and ample Red Bull.
Damacela, 22, has made appearances on Oprah’s Angel Network, “The Tyra Banks Show” and the cover of Seventeen magazine’s October 2011 issue. She has also worked on President Barack Obama’s Startup America initiative, a program focused on encouraging entrepreneurship, for which she used her experience to improve legislation and services for entrepreneurs.
A double major in political science and history, Damacela studies at Northwestern while juggling her company Zoe Damacela Apparel.
“Not only did I start this company, but I did a lot of media exposure,” Damacela said. “I used my experience in fashion and business to help other people.”
Damacela said no one in her family was “remotely involved” in the fashion business — her mother was a nanny — but she got involved
because she wanted to make extra money in high school while avoiding retail work.
At 14, Damacela began her “side job” that quickly expanded by word of mouth. Soon, mentors and customers were clamoring to know Damacela and her fashion designs, she said.
Damacela said she had an understanding of fashion’s design and business side of the job, hav-ing participated in business competitions in high school. She said she received “amazing” legal advice, especially upon coming to NU when her business had become more established and she had hired employees.
Before attending NU, Damacela said she had always planned to attend fashion school and knew she wanted to pursue designing.
She toured several programs but said she felt they lacked the broad curriculum she desired, finding emphasis only on fashion technique such as garment construction, merchandising and marketing.
Damacela toured NU “randomly” and said she found having a liberal arts background — which would enable her to explore a variety of courses from costume design to linguistics — could be a career asset. Although her friends that attended fashion school had difficulty finding jobs, she said
was able to be selective with several offers, taking jobs at both Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s in New York City.
“Showing you can understand things besides ‘this is how a garment is made’ is essential,” Damacela said.
Despite all her accomplishments, Damacela said she made the right choice to major in something outside the industry she planned to enter.
Brian Longwill, Damacela’s boyfriend, said he finds Damacela extremely inspiring.
“She’s able to provide a different viewpoint that might be less considered,” Longwill said. “She works diligently and is able to adapt and overcome any adversity in front of her.”
Farah Damacela, Zoe’s mother and vice presi-dent of Zoe Damacela Apparel, said the company’s focus will shift as Damacela pursues a career in New York and begins applying for graduate school.
“She’s going to be working nine-to-five and also going to school,” Farah Damacela said. “She’ll still do speaking engagements and remain behind the design’s vision but will hire people to sew — she won’t do it start to finish anymore.”
Zoe Damacela advises not to be afraid of a great idea — “don’t let fear stop you from getting started” — and to be realistic about what one can
accomplish.“The very first thing is accept that you can’t do
everything,” she said. “You cannot be in a sorority, run a business, have a relationship and get a 4.0. You can’t be a champion at everything.”
Evanston resident arrested in connection with obstructing justice
Police arrested an Evanston man Monday morning in connection with obstructing justice and driving on a suspended license.
The man, 36, was driving in the 200 block of Ridge Avenue at 8:50 a.m. Monday when an officer pulled him over for a routine traffic violation, Evanston Police Cmdr. Jay Parrott said. The man gave the officer a false name, initially unbeknownst to police, Parrott said. When the officer asked the man to follow him to the police station, the man drove in the opposite direction. Police caught up with the man and pulled him over again, and they subsequently charged him with obstructing justice and driving with a suspended license. The man’s license was suspended because of a DUI charge.
He is scheduled to appear in court June 11.
— Ciara McCarthy
Police Blotter
Fast-food workers’ minimum-wage protests go global
Fast-food workers around the world rallied for a higher minimum wage Thursday in what organizers called the largest such protest of its kind.
The movement, which began as a single walk-out in New York in 2012 before sprawling across the U.S. last year, will spark gatherings Thursday in 150 U.S. cities as well as 33 countries on six continents, according to planners.
Protesters are calling for a $15-an-hour mini-mum wage and the right to form unions without retaliation from bosses.
In the U.S., where union ranks are thinning, the fast-food strikes have been called an attempt by labor leaders to boost membership.
On Thursday, the libertarian Cato Institute said that paying fast-food workers $15 an hour
could raise labor costs so much that companies will decide to slash headcount and boost menu prices. The right-leaning Employment Policies Institute said that nearly half a million workers nationwide could lose their jobs.
But protest participants say they want to emphasize that the demographic working the drive-throughs isn’t just teenagers looking for spending money.
Instead, supporters say, employees are often heads of households, many of whom must resort to public assistance to supplement their salaries.
Some cities, counties and states are proposing or pushing through minimum-wage increases. In September, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law raising the minimum wage in California to $10 an hour by 2016. Earlier this month, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray unveiled his plan for a $15 minimum wage in the city.
On Thursday, social media filled with pho-tos of crowds of protesters outside McDonald’s
restaurants, Burger Kings and KFC outlets in New York, Ireland, India, Japan and elsewhere.
In Los Angeles, the Rev. Al Sharpton is expected to join demonstrators outside a Cren-shaw Boulevard restaurant in the afternoon.
In a regulatory filing earlier this year, McDon-ald’s noted that “the impact of events such as boycotts or protests, labor strikes and supply chain interruptions” could “adversely affect” the company and its supply network.
In the same document, McDonald’s listed key factors that could affect its operations, plans and results.
On the list, the company placed “the impact on our margins of labor costs that we cannot offset through price increases, and the long-term trend toward higher wages and social expenses in both mature and developing markets, which may intensify with increasing public focus on matters of income inequality.”
— Tiffany Hsu (Los Angeles Times)
National News
source: Zoe damacela
Fashionably FEaturEd weinberg senior Zoe damacela made Crain’s Chicago Business’ “twenty in their 20s” list. damacela is a fashion entrepreneur and has been featured on the cover of seventeen magazine.
heart valve. Before the surgery, she said, she sat in his o� ce as he showed her brochures of the di� erent valves and rings he might implant in her heart.
McCarthy said he wouldn’t know exactly which one he would use until he opened her up, or whether he would replace her valve with a mechanical one or repair the valve with a ring. In any case, he said, it would be one of the types in the brochure.
� e Myxo annuloplasty ring wasn’t listed, she said.
Before her operation, she said she signed a standard surgical consent form.
She said McCarthy said he would do a “two for one” procedure that would change the electrical path conduction of her heart.
“He said once I had the surgery, I would feel like a million bucks,” she said. “I couldn’t wait to have the surgery done. … A lot of people, it’s open heart sur-gery, they have these fears. For me, I just wanted to feel better.”
But a� er Vlahoulis woke up, she knew something wasn’t right. Her shortness of breath was worse. She waited it out, thinking when the swelling from the sur-gery subsided she would feel better. But her condition only worsened, and she landed back at the hospital, this time in the emergency room three weeks a� er her � rst surgery.
� e then-38-year-old mother of two found herself being pushed through a revolving door of hospital visits. In November 2006, she couldn’t breathe a� er
even small exertions, like holding her 3-month-old godchild during a christening.
Vlahoulis continued to see her doctor, Rajamannan, who could not � gure out what was wrong. She tried to contact McCarthy when she was in the hospital again, but McCarthy referred her to a psychiatrist, she said.
As her condition worsened, Vlahoulis searched for the warranty card for the device McCarthy implanted that the manufacturer, Edwards Lifesciences Corp., had sent her. She said she tried to research the McCa-rthy Annuloplasty Ring, as it was called at the time, but found nothing. She said it was not in the brochures McCarthy showed her.
When Vlahoulis asked Rajaman-nan, who initially co-authored the Myxo ring trial with McCarthy, why she couldn’t � nd anything about the ring, Rajamannan was confused. She told Vlahoulis she signed a consent to be part of a clinical trial.
Vlahoulis said she never did.
Blowing the whistle
Rajamannan says she was in shock when Vlahoulis told her that she did not know she had consented to an experimental procedure. She said she reported misconduct to Northwestern in July 2007. She says McCarthy believed everything was by the books and continued with the trial, without her name on it.
But Vlahoulis’ ring was too tight, and a� er proce-dures continued to fail at NMH, she found herself back
in McCarthy’s o� ce, seeing the doctor for the � rst time since her unsuccessful surgery, a year later.
She and her husband asked McCarthy why she was not told she was part of an experimental trial.
“He looked down, with his legs crossed, twiddling his thumbs,” Vlahoulis said. “� en he changed the conversation.”
Vlahoulis said McCarthy told her the mitral valve in her heart would need to be replaced. But Vlahoulis said she knew she could no longer trust McCarthy to do it,
and even though it meant being far from her children, she went to the Cleveland Clinic to have the ring removed on May 21, 2007. She had her valve replaced with a mechanical one and had a pace-maker implanted.
After some complications with the pacemaker, Vlahoulis found herself back in the hospi-tal and needed to return again to Cleveland in August 2007. Rajamannan � ew there with Vla-
houlis, who had another surgery to � x the pacemaker. A� er, she said she “felt like a new person.”
The aftermath
� e entire ordeal le� Vlahoulis and her children traumatized, she said.
“I don’t want to be part of a trial,” Vlahoulis said. “I’m too young to be part of a cardiac trial.”
Rajamannan, who said she was seen as a rising star
at NMH, found herself on the receiving end of hostility from NU. She was terminated in fall 2011, when she was denied tenure.
Vlahoulis and Rajamannan sued NU in the wake of the unsuccessful surgery, but the pair eventually dropped the lawsuit due to mounting legal fees.
Another patient also sued the University: Mau-reen Obermeier, a then-50-year-old patient who also received a Myxo ring implant, continues a legal battle with NMH, Northwestern Medical Faculty Founda-tion, McCarthy and the Myxo ring manufacturer. Obermeier su� ered a heart attack in November 2006 on the operating table during the implantation, but she says no one told her at the time.
McCarthy’s attorneys denied all these claims.
A hole in the system
According to a 2009 letter from the Food and Drug Administration to Vlahoulis, the Myxo annu-loplasty ring was not submitted for FDA approval until October 2008. Since July 2009, it has been deemed “investigational.”
But according to a clinical trial that McCarthy pub-lished, the ring was � rst implanted in patients in March 2006. Vlahoulis received hers in April 2006.
In a letter to patients who received the Myxo ring in January 2009, NMH wrote that the ring was not inves-tigational and was commercially available at the time of their surgeries. � e letter followed media reports alleging the FDA had not approved the ring.
“We have relied upon the manufacturer, Edwards Lifesciences, to follow proper regulatory process to
6 IN FOCUS | THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2014
FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2014 THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN | IN FOCUS 7
Jan. 2006: Antonitsa Vlahoulis experiences shortness of breath. She is diagnosed with a condition that caused a leaky heart valve.
April 2006: Vlahoulis goes to Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Dr. Patrick McCarthy for surgery. He implants the Myxo ring, not yet approved by the FDA, in her heart valve. She says she never gave consent for the device to be implanted.
May 2006: Vlahoulis lands back in the hospital a� er her condition does not improve.
May 2007: Dr. Nalini Rajamannan, a co-author of the Myxo ring trial, learns of Viahoulis’ story.
May 2007: Vlahoulis has the ring removed at the Cleveland Clinic.
July 2007: Rajamannan accuses McCarthy of “human experimentation” and ultimately withdraws from the trial.
2008: Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley begins investigating the Myxo ring.
January 2009: Northwestern Memorial Hospital writes a letter to patients, ensuring them the Myxo ring manufacturer, Edwards Lifesciences, followed the “proper regulatory process.”
September 2011: Rajamannan is dismissed from NU.
April 2014: Grassley accuses Northwestern of withholding information about the Myxo ring.
FROM SURGERY TO SENATE: THE MYXO RING CASE
HeartFrom page 1
clear the device for market and we have been assured by Edwards that it did so,” the letter read.
� e Myxo annuloplasty ring falls in a gray area in the FDA approval process for medical devices. Accord-ing to a letter addressed to Vlahoulis, the Myxo annu-loplasty ring “was not originally covered” under the 510(k) approval process, which evaluates new devices before they are sold. As such, the ring would have to be studied under an “investigational device exemption.”
But McCarthy, NU or Edwards Lifesciences did not submit the Myxo ring for FDA for approval until October 2008.
� e Myxo ring did not receive full FDA approval until 2009. Rajamannan says that approval was based on the clinical trial McCarthy published, which did not include Obermeier because she was exempt from the study due to another heart condition.
� e FDA was unable to comment by press time.Because medical devices evolve so rapidly, the stan-
dards on when companies need to notify the FDA about changes made to medical devices remain a gray area.
Grassley says his inquiries about the Myxo ring are particularly important because of this ambiguity.
“Are patients learning of the risks associated with the medical device they will receive and giving informed consent for the device?” he wrote in an email to � e Daily.
New documents
Grassley has again probed into the Myxo case, a� er Rajamannan uncovered new documents she said show
that the Northwestern Institutional Review Board said the trial results McCarthy published in � e Journal of � oracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in 2008 did not require patient consent.
� e IRB is an ethical committee responsible for reviewing biomedical research involving humans. According to the University’s IRB handbook, car-diovascular annuloplasty rings, like the Myxo ring, fall under what is known as “signi� cant risk devices.” FDA rules require that informed consent be obtained for studies using both signi� cant and non-signi� cant risk devices.
According to a document obtained by � e Daily, McCarthy signed an IRB form that waived patients’ right to informed consent to be used in his clinical trial in June 2006. � is was two months a� er he had already implanted the ring in Vlahoulis.
� e University denied accusations that patients did not receive informed consent, writing to Rajaman-nan in 2008 that “use of patient data from the registry was IRB approved and proper informed consent was obtained.”
Vlahoulis also received a letter from the Univer-sity in 2008 saying she had consented to the release of her medical records for research purposes. Don Workman, then-executive director of the o� ce for the protection of research subjects, and Ann Adams, then-associate vice president for research integrity, attached the consent form Vlahoulis signed to be part of the atrial � brillation database McCarthy proposed to the IRB in 2005. However, the consent form makes no mention of the Myxo ring.
Rajamannan says the IRB should have looked into
McCarthy’s June 2006 proposal more carefully when he requested to use the Myxo ring in his clinical trial.
Grassley said the documents related to McCa-rthy’s June 2006 request, including the patient con-sent waiver, should have been included when he � rst requested documents from the University in 2008 and 2009.
In a March letter responding to Grassley’s inquiry about the miss-ing documents, the Uni-versity wrote it believed it had fully cooperated with the senator’s sta� in 2008 and 2009, and provided the additional documents Grassley requested. Grassley’s o� ce could not pub-lish NU’s attachments because they contained privileged information.
Grassley replied that the documents reveal continuing inconsistencies in the case of the Myxo ring. He said McCarthy made con� icting statements about the Myxo ring and how it compared to existing annuloplasty rings on the market.
In one report, McCarthy writes the ring is “sig-ni� cantly larger than existing commercial remodeling rings.” In another, McCarthy said he was assured by Edwards no FDA approval was needed for the new ring because it was a “minor modi� cation” to an
existing product.
‘Never the same’
Rajamannan, now a cardiologist at the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Cardiology and Valvular Institute as well as a visiting scientist at the Mayo Clinic, says she wants patients to know the truth about the devices that were implanted in their hearts.
In February, Rajamannan found the June 2006 IRB consent waiver signed by McCarthy in Cook County Court. She submitted it to the Judiciary Committee, prompting Grassley to reopen his investigation.
“� e study should have stopped and informed con-sent given to patients,” Rajamannan wrote in an email to � e Daily. “(I’m) trying to protect the patients and to protect the integrity of Northwestern University from unauthorized human experimentation during open heart surgery.”
Grassley has called on the University to respond to his most recent letter by Friday, Rajamannan said.
Vlahoulis said she is “very grateful” to Grassley for following through on his investigation.
Since Vlahoulis � rst had surgery more than eight years ago, she said, she feels the e� ects of her heart condition and ensuing complications every day.
� e once-active mother said she can no longer bike 13 to 20 miles a day like she once did or get through a day at work without getting tired.
“I’m never the same,” she said. “Dr. McCarthy walked away without even a slap on the wrist.”
The Muslim-cultural Students Association hosted its spring speaker event Thursday night, with several talks on the role of religion, specifically Islam, in bod-ies of authority.
About 70 people attended the event, “Religion as the Oppressor? A Look at Authority, Freedom, and Faith,” which featured three speakers — Hamid Mavani, Haroon Ullah and Usama Canon.
Moderator Omer Mozaffar, a lecturer who spe-cializes in contemporary Islamic issues, introduced Mavani, an author and translator focusing on Islamic theology and political thought. Mavani centered his argument on the problems inherent in the establish-ment of an Islamic state. He said many tend to idealize Islamic history, which prevents real issues from being discussed.
“The romanticized understanding of our history does not meet the test of historicity,” Mavani said. “There were wars and inter-Muslim rivalry. We need to be realistic and pragmatic, and we must be really honest as scholars and as devotees.”
Mavani said there are two extremist understand-ings of Islam. The maximalist position, he said, believes Islam covers every aspect of life, while the minimalist position argues the Quran teaches nothing
about dealing with public policy. Mavani said both positions are incorrect.
“The Quran is not a book of laws, and it is not a manual on how to establish an Islamic state,” he said. “That is not the core purpose. What it aims to do is to cultivate certain moral and ethical virtues.”
Mavani concluded his portion of the discussion by covering the drawbacks to instituting an Islamic state. He said there is no such thing as the Islamic state.
“If anything goes wrong, Islam is to be blamed,” he said. “This kind of amalgamation becomes a prob-lem, because it creates disillusionment and alienation because nobody is accountable. It becomes an instru-ment for grabbing power.”
The conversation was then turned over to Ullah, a member of Secretary of State John Kerry’s policy plan-ning staff since last year. Ullah discussed the concept of secular neutrality. He said there are three myths about that concept, including that state neutrality limits faith-based engagement, state neutrality limits individual religiosity and state neutrality is a key part of democratization. Contrary to popular belief, Ullah said, state neutrality does not diminish the role of religion in a society. In fact, it often helps it thrive.
“State neutrality can allow it to move forward,” he said. “A lot of these religious organizations are allowed to flourish because they have to make that choice. There are certain incentives they can put into place to mobilize.”
The idea of choice carried over into Ullah’s last
remarks, when he told the story of Rais Bhuiyan, a Muslim student who was shot by extremist Mark Stroman 10 days after the Sept. 11 attacks. Bhuiyan survived and went on to forgive Stroman and work toward getting him taken off of death row. In the end, Stroman was executed, but Ullah said it was the per-fect example of the way Islam teaches the ideals of choice and compassion.
The final speaker, Canon, studies Islamic sciences and is the founding director of Ta’leef Collective, a nonprofit that assists people who convert to Islam. Canon converted in 1996 and said he sees Islam as an “intersection of real spiritual practice and a force for justice.”
“What does it mean for us as Muslims living in America?” he said. “Does being left to our own con-ventions strengthen or weaken our faith?”
Canon stressed the importance of seeing America’s relationship with the Muslim community as a work in progress. Otherwise, he said, religious freedom could be compromised. He added people need to recognize local issues and take meaningful action to change them.
“The prophet called both the oppressor and the oppressed your brother,” Canon said. “In the attempt to end oppression, we do that in the spirit of fraternal love.”
Weinberg sophomore Owais Ansari, the organizer of the event and executive vice president of McSA, said he chose the topic because he felt it was relevant
to students both in the U.S. and abroad.“We wanted to compare the experiences of living in
a nonsecular and secular nation,” he said. “We wanted to get these two faces of how it feels to be religious in those two societies.”
City resident to swim in upcoming Special OlympicsBy tori lathamthe daily northwestern @latham_tori
An Evanston resident has been selected to be a member of the aquatics team in the 2014 Special Olympics USA Games this June.
Caroline Colianne was chosen to compete on the Special Olympics Illinois delegation. She is eligible to compete in this year’s games because of “her gold medal-winning performance at the 2013 Special Olympics Spring and Summer Games,” according to a news release from Charliese Agnew, the commu-nity engagement specialist for Evanston. Colianne
will compete in the 100-meter backstroke, 100-meter freestyle, 100-meter individual medley and the 4x50 meter medley relay.
“I’m excited to see how the competition is,” Coli-anne said. “I know that it’s going to be a lot harder than what I’m used to. As it gets closer, I’ve been getting a little nervous and a little scared.”
Colianne has been involved with Special Olym-pics Illinois since 2006. She first joined to run track, but soon started to practice swimming and bas-ketball. She said she never had the goal to enter local or national competitions when she got into swimming.
“I had actually done track and field in high school and wanted to continue with my sports,” she said.
“I wasn’t always good at swimming. When I first started, it didn’t come so easy to me, but I guess I got better, and now I’m going to nationals.”
Colianne trains with Leonard Woodson, Evan-ston’s special recreation program manager. He said working with Colianne as the Special Olympics head coach has been a joy and he wishes the best for her — even if she does not win her events.
“It’s like I tell all my guys, even if they don’t get a gold medal, if you can tell me at the end of the day that you left everything out there, then I’m most proud of you for that,” Woodson said.
Woodson said he remembered how anxious Colianne was when she began competing and has noticed her progress as an athlete.
“When she first started, her nerves were really rattling,” he said. “Fast forwarding to now, when she goes to meets, I don’t think the butterflies are nowhere near as bad as they were.”
Colianne said she is looking forward to the Spe-cial Olympics and will continue to train once she returns from it. Right now, she said she is mostly focused on the upcoming competition, but has some goals for the future.
“I’m hoping to go to state for track next year,” she said. “I don’t know if I’ll get chosen for nation-als again or not. It’s definitely a once in a lifetime thing.”
religion and authority dr. hamid mavani speaks at a panel exploring the effects of religion within power structures. the muslim-cultural Students association held the talk thursday evening in harris hall.
2014 NUSYLLABUS YEARBOOKS ARE HERE
Forgot to order? You can still buy a book.Call 847.491.7206 or visit NUSYLLABUS.com
PICK UP AT
THE ROCK Friday 10am–2pm
NEXT WEEK in Norris.
10 NEWS | thE daily NorthWEStErN friday, may 16, 2014
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis
1 Trick or treat, e.g.5 Center of
authority9 One on the lam,
perhaps13 DH, usually14 Novelist Jaffe15 Mixed bag16 Be a part of
treatynegotiations?
19 “Silver Lining”album maker
20 Tulsa sch.21 Satisfied sound23 Bay State cape24 Unexpected
politicalupheaval?
29 Trick or treat, e.g.31 Irish __32 It helps smooth
things out33 Palm Pre
predecessor34 Like “la” in Fr.35 Smelting waste36 “White Fang,” for
example?40 Words after give
or take43 Nice setting44 Touch48 Humorous50 Item tied with a
O’Casey53 One full of hot air54 Clairvoyance59 Is more than a
bystander61 __ Dolorosa62 French
quencher63 Pack animal64 Deli choice
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
Puzzle Spot: Drag PDF of AD into the box. Size is 14p8 x 18p6
For RentHelp Wanted
Help Wanted
It is the policy of The Daily Northwestern to accept housing advertising only from those whose housing is available with-out discrimination with respect to sexual orientation, race, creed or national ori-gin. The presumption is therefore, that any housing listing appearing here is non-discriminatory.
SOLUTION TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE
Complete the grid so eachROW, COLUMN and 3-by-3BOX (in bold borders)contains every digit, 1 to 9.For strategies on how to solve Sudoku,visit www.sudoku.org.uk
Daily PoliciesTHE DAILY NORTHWESTERN is not responsible for more than one incorrect insertion of an ad. Corrections must be received by 10am on the day before ad runs again, call 847-491-7206. All Classifeds must be paid in advance and are not accepted over the phone. To run online, ad must run in print on same day. The Daily does not knowingly accept misleading or false ads and does not guarantee any ad or claim, or endorse any advertised product or service. Please use caution when answering ads, especially when sending money. CLASSIFIED ADS in The Daily Northwestern
are $5 per line/per day (or $4 per line/per day if ad runs unchanged for 5 OR MORE c onsecutive days). Add $1/day to also run online. For a Classified Ad Form, go to: dai-lynorthwestern.com/classifieds FAX com-pleted form with payment information to: 847-491-9905. MAIL or deliver to: Students Publishing Company 1999 Campus Dr., Norris-3rd Floor Evanston, IL 60208. Payments in advance are required. Deadline: 10am on the day before ad is to run. Office Hours: Mon-Thurs 9-5; Fri 9-4. Phone: 847-491-7206.
FIND A JOB.OR A TEXTBOOK.
OR AN APARTMENT. Go to:
DailyNorthwestern.com/classifieds
Place a Classified Ad
HELP WANTED ADS are accepted only from advertisers who are equal opportu-nity employers. The presumption, there-fore, is that all positions offered here are available to qualified persons without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual ori-entation, marital status, age, handicap, or veteran status.
3, 4, 8 BDR UNITS - NU STUDENTS!LAUNDRY, BASEMENT GATHERING SPACE. 443-844-4770, [email protected] seeks editorial assistance in
submitting 200 page cook book to publisher. Proof read, collate and submit microsoft word documents and jpegs in a meticulous fashion Help de-velop table of contents and appendix. Must be detail orientated and willing to work at Skokie location for brief meetings. Excellent pay.
1/2 block from campus. Incl: all utilities, cable, high speed internet,
FREE washer & dryer. 12 month lease $2000/mo.
1922 Orrington Kenn 847-514-2800
DST event aims to raise awareness of traffickingBy Mark fickenthe daily northwestern @Mark_Ficken
Representatives who work with a Chicago-based halfway house spoke at Northwestern on Thursday night in an effort to raise awareness about human traf-ficking, both worldwide and in the Chicago area.
About a dozen people attended the discussion, sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., as a part of the organization’s national May Week, which provides programming events that seek to spur con-versation on social justice issues.
During the event, two representatives from the Chicago Dream Center, based out of the New Life Covenant Church in the Humboldt Park neighbor-hood of Chicago, spoke about their personal experi-ences working with trafficking victims.
Heather Morse, human trafficking outreach coordinator for the Chicago Dream Center, said the biggest issue is awareness. She explained that most of trafficking’s victims don’t even realize they have been trafficked.
She described one woman in particular who had escaped from her captor, but even after the police investigation, believed she hadn’t been trafficked.
“The newspaper article said (the captor) would urinate on them, whip them with chains and she still didn’t believe she was a trafficking victim,” she said.
Claudia Perez, a victim of human trafficking in El Salvador, also told the story of how she began work-ing as an advocate for the issue.
After her mother died and her sister abandoned her when she was 12, Perez said she worked her way through high school, eventually graduating first in
her class. Once in college, she said she needed to find an income source to earn her tuition, which led her to volunteer to grade papers for one of her profes-sors. At her first meeting, the professor attempted to abuse her, resulting in her decision to leave college at age 19.
“I met people,” Perez said. “There were many dif-ferent offers. I said no because I wanted to do better for my mother.”
When Perez became homeless with no money, one of her “so-called friends” offered to find her a job. This “job” led her into a prostitution ring, where her only way out of the house was if a client paid to have her for the night.
Perez recalled clients entering the room and pick-ing which woman they wanted. One night, Perez was picked.
“He looked at my face and he said, ‘You don’t belong here. What are you doing here?’” Perez said.
The man helped her escape and Perez moved to the U.S., where she now spends her Friday nights with a group of women reaching out to trafficking victims on the South Side of Chicago.
The Chicago Dream Center takes the victims in and offers them counseling, classes and a place to stay to help them find a stable job and a home.
“It takes one person to care, one person to ask,” she said. “We want to be that person who cares.”
Event organizers said they held the discussion because they wanted to help show that the recent kidnapping of more than 200 girls in Nigeria is part of not only an international issue but one that affects individuals closer to home as well.
Communication junior Maya Collins, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., said she hoped the event would help inspire students to bring attention
to the problem on campus.“I think the first step is raising awareness, and we
wanted to take an active role in that part,” she said. “As college students, we may not have the resources that an organization does but we can still reach out.”
Morse stressed that anyone, regardless of their skill level, can get involved in fighting trafficking
and encouraged college students to reach out to their peers to join the effort.
“Awareness is a huge thing,” she said. “It all just depends on your personal passion. … Find your talent and offer it.”
TRAFFICKING TALK a student speaks at the dialogue on human trafficking on thursday evening in harris hall. members of the Chicago dream Center led the discussion, which was held in light of the abduction of more than 200 Nigerian girls on april 15.
Illinois Sen. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) won an award last week from a Chicago nonprofit for his work in finding solution to retirement insecurity.
Biss won the Woodstock Institute’s Community Investment Award, which recognizes the accom-plishments of community members who “exem-plify what it means to work locally with a national impact,” said Katie Buitrago, a spokeswoman for the Institute, a research and policy group that works on lending and financial reform.
“The award is meant to honor individuals
and organizations that have contributed to the community investment movement in Chicago,” Buitrago said. “Sen. Biss has been championing a policy for a secure choice retirement saving program ... (that) the Woodstock Institute has supported.”
The bill Biss is sponsoring, the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act, would establish “a retirement savings program in the form of an automatic enrollment payroll deduction IRA with the intent of promoting greater retirement sav-ings for private-sector employees in a convenient, low-cost, and portable manner,” according to the General Assembly’s website.
“The goal is to have more people in retirement savings accounts so that they don’t retire into des-titution,” Buitrago said. “Over half of employees
in the Illinois public sector lack retirement sav-ings accounts.”
Katharine Eastvold, a spokeswoman for Biss, said the award was particularly important because the senator’s most high-profile legislative works have been related to state-sponsored pension plans.
“The focus, a lot of times, has been on the cuts that had to be made in order to preserve the systems for the people who are retiring out on them,” she said. “So now for him to have the opportunity to work on a private sector plan to make sure that retirement security is there not just for public sector employees, but also for pri-vate sector employees and to prevent older people from retiring into poverty is very important for him.”
Biss spoke at Northwestern in February to talk about his political background and Illinois fiscal issues, including his efforts to reform public pen-sions, at an event hosted by the Political Union.
Along with Biss, the Chicago Community Loan Fund and journalists Alby Gallun, Micah Maidenberg and David Matthews from Crain’s Chicago Business also received the award.
The Chicago Community Loan Fund is being honored for its programs providing financing to affordable housing and community development projects, Buitrago said. The three journalists are being recognized for an interactive story they did on Chicago-area foreclosures, vacant properties and the housing crisis.
works for Chicago Steel Construction, the Merillville, Indiana-based subcontractor that employed Kerr, told the detective it would be conducting its own investigation, according to the police report. It remains unclear whether the probe was completed and if so, what its findings were.
OSHA steps in
Hours after the accident, OSHA announced it would investigate the construction site. Dur-ing a roughly six-month period, the agency inspected the location, interviewed employees and witnesses and reviewed Power Construc-tion’s safety practices.
The OSHA citation, issued Nov. 14, faulted Power Construction for providing “no means of protection” from falling objects for Kerr and his co-workers. The agency classified the violation as “serious,” meaning the employer
knew or should have known about a potentially life-threatening hazard.
OSHA asked Power Construction to pay a $7,000 fine, which it did 10 days before the Dec. 27 deadline, OHSA spokesman Scott Allen said. The general contractor also com-plied with OSHA’s recommendation to provide training to “prevent displacement” of the kinds of beams that killed Kerr.
In addition to Power Construction, OSHA put Chicago Steel Construction on alert. In a letter dated Nov. 13, the agency asked the company to make sure its employees are aware of safety practices related to swinging and mov-ing loads. Allen said the letter was sent as an advisory notice, meaning Chicago Steel Con-struction is not required by law to respond to it or follow OSHA’s advice.
Construction officials did not provide fur-ther detail this week on how they responded to the issues raised by OSHA. Jeff Karp, CEO of Power Construction, said Wednesday he had no comment “relative to the accident from a year ago,” while Chicago Steel Construction did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Gregory Pestine, a Chicago-based expert in construction safety, said he was not surprised Power Construction did not fight the citation. He explained most major contractors have plenty of incentives to put similar incidents behind them and maintain their safety record, such as being able to attract more employees to keeping their insurance costs low.
“The lawsuit,” Pestine said, “is going to be what’s going to be huge.”
‘I just miss my brother’
The four-count law-suit aims to hold Power Construction account-able for the accident, accusing it of neglecting safety practices, includ-ing failing to properly secure building materi-als and inspect the work environment. NU is not named in the lawsuit, which seeks at least $200,000 in damages.
Cairo said the legal process has not yet revealed any new information about the accident, but he expects that to change when Power Construction officials and the crane operator are deposed in the coming weeks.
“The wheels of justice are in motion,” Cairo said. “We’re doing what we need to do.”
Pestine said it is not uncommon for lawsuits like the one filed by the younger Kerr to last more than three years from the date of the incident. Millions of dollars can be at stake in such cases, especially considering lost wages and less tangible factors such as emotional distress, Pestine added.
Cairo has said Kerr’s death has been especially tough for his son, with whom he lived and last saw before heading to work on the morning of his death. On Tuesday, Cairo said Kerr’s family remains “very close” and supportive of each other as the one-year anniversary of his death approaches.
Jackie Rowles, Michael Kerr’s sister, said he has another sister and brother in Florida, and they may put on a memorial service to mark the occasion. For the most part, Rowles said she does not pay attention to developments in the lawsuit.
“I just miss my brother,” she said. “He’s gone, and there’s nothing that can change that.”
BUsiness offiCe staff hailey arterburn, arielle Chase, megan hernbroth, Kelly hwu
megan mcCormack, taylor mitchell___________________
adVertisinG ProdUCtion staff annabel edwards, Brandon Chen,
Virginia Van Keuren___________________
Constructionfrom page 1
source: Jackie rowles
One yeAr lAter Construction worker michael Kerr, left, died exactly one year ago while working on northwestern’s new music and Communication Building after a crane knocked a beam from the sixth floor of the building.
College administrators learning to be sexual misconduct detectives
Butte College administrator Al Renville was never trained as a police investigator, but that’s close to the job he found himself in when two students had a sexual encounter off campus that led one to file a complaint with the school.
Renville said his inquiry took at least 200 hours, cost $100,000 and awkwardly bumped up against a parallel police investigation.
And because the accuser appealed the outcome to the federal government, the small college in the Sierra Nevada foothills suddenly found itself in the national spotlight, named as one of 55 colleges and universi-ties under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education for their handling of sexual misconduct allegations.
“What’s frustrating for college administrators is that we are not a police entity. We have no subpoena power, no way to compel testimony, no forensics ability,” Renville said. “But we are responsible for investigating these cases and ultimately to make recommendations.”
As the federal government launches an unprec-edented campaign against campus sexual assault, colleges and universities are struggling to meet a raft of new requirements to prevent the misconduct and handle it when it occurs.
Many administrators worry about tackling cases they are not trained to undertake. And they are concerned about being placed in investigatory roles without law enforcement tools or training.
In the last three years, the education department has launched more investigations, released more guidelines, received more complaints and issued more fines against universities for faulty reporting of sexual misconduct and harassment than ever before.
Officials further stepped up the campaign with the April 29 release of a White House task force report on how to deal with the problem, a 53-page document providing specific guidelines and, a few days later, the first-ever naming of campuses under investigation.
Fatima Goss Graves, vice president of the National Women’s Law Center, which has worked on this issue for four decades, welcomed the focus on the issue by the Obama administration, colleges, policymakers and student activists.
— Teresa Watanabe (Los Angeles Times)
Across Campuses
“The
wheels of justice are in
motion. We’re doing what we
need to do.Louis Cairo,
Michael Kerr’s attorney
SPORTSFriday, May 16, 2014 @Wildcat_Extra
ON DECK ON THE RECORDLacrosseNU at Florida, 1 p.m. Saturday
Everything that you did is to get to this point, and this is the moment that you wait for.
— Kelly Amonte Hiller, lacrosse coach
MAY
17
By mike marutdaily senior staffer @mikeonthemic93
On Thursday, The Daily sat down with women’s tennis senior Veronica Corning to talk about her road to Northwestern. Behind Corning’s leadership, this year’s team earned a record of 20-7 overall and 10-1 in conference.
The Wildcats triumphed over the Michigan after a thrilling rally to win the Big Ten Tournament two weeks ago but Notre Dame knocked the team out of the NCAA Tournament last weekend in the tournament’s second round.
The Daily Northwestern: What got you into tennis originally?
Veronica Corning: I started through my parents, both of them played. My dad (played) since he was really young and my mom, when she moved to the U.S., started playing because of my dad and they loved the sport so they got me into it and I really liked it.
The Daily: Are there any profes-sional tennis players that you really follow?
Corning: Not really. There are some that my other coach actually wants me to look at and thinks I should be like, like (Victoria) Aza-renka for example, but I try and watch her now and then but I haven’t followed religiously on someone.
The Daily: Are there any particu-lar players that you model your style of play after?
Corning: Well, one of the play-ers that I’ve always (idolized) and I really like is Kim Clijsters. I’ve always loved her even though she’s obviously retired. I’ve always valued her game and her movement and the way she plays, I’ve just always loved watching her play. I guess that’s one person I like to follow, but I do try to act and play like Azarenka I guess.
The Daily: What made you first decide on going to Boston College for playing tennis?
Corning: I guess it was more that it was a local school. When I went to visit, I loved the campus, I loved the team, the coach was really nice. It turned out the program wasn’t exactly what I was looking for when I transferred, so I decided that was the best move for my tennis even
though I loved the school and every-one in it. That was the right choice for me.
The Daily: What drew you here?
Corning: Definitely Claire (Pol-lard) and the team. I mean the school is obviously a huge pull; it’s a great academic school. I had heard so many great things about this pro-gram and how they improve players and that’s what I was looking for: to improve. This program really helped me to do that.
The Daily: So you won an award recently, most improved player, how did you feel winning that?
Corning: It felt good that all my hard work paid off somehow, and
I know that I have improved a lot over the years, it’s nice to be recog-nized for it.
The Daily: What’s the plan since you’re a senior?
Corning: After finishing up summer school, I’m going to try the pro circuit and see how it goes. I’m going to try it for at least a year and see how it goes. It’ll be fun!
The Daily: What’s the dream, then? Either with tennis or otherwise?
Corning: The ultimate dream is to play in grand slams and get a high enough ranking to make a living off of. The small step goals is, in the first year, to get into the top 300 and from there, build my way up and see if I really have what it takes. Either way, it’ll be a great
experience traveling, making con-nections and seeing if I can find a career through there.
The Daily: Have you ever thought about coaching?
Corning: No, I don’t really want to coach. Hey, if that’s what I want to do later on, but right now it doesn’t look too appealing to me.
The Daily: What’s your greatest memory for you in this program over the last three years?
Corning: Winning the Big Ten is one that I’ll definitely keep for-ever, as well as many other memories we’ve made together. But that was definitely really spectacular.
By BoBBy Pillotethe daily northwestern @BobbyPillote
For Northwestern, hopefully the third time is the charm.
The No. 5 Wildcats (13-6) have battled the No. 4 Florida Gators (18-2) twice this season, losing each game by a single goal. In the regular season and in the ALC Tournament, NU had the advantage of playing on its own field, but for Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinal, the Cats will travel to Gainesville, Florida. At stake is a ticket to next weekend’s Final Four in Towson, Maryland.
In spite of the two losses, coach Kelly Amonte Hiller isn’t changing her preparation for the game.
“I don’t think the approach is any different,” she said. “You just have a lot more of a familiarity with the team, so it’s important for us to continue to work on our strengths and what we need to do to be successful.”
That may be for the best, because it’s difficult to pinpoint what exactly went wrong for NU between the first two games.
In the regular season matchup, the Cats did a great job of shutting down Florida midfielder Shannon Gilroy, holding her to just two goals. Gilroy otherwise steamrolled her competition this year, leading the nation in scoring with a staggering 83 goals, an average of 4.4 per game against teams not named NU.
In the first game, with all the attention focused on Gilroy, other players in Florida’s dynamic offense were free to score and keep the game out of reach for NU. The Cats made a valiant comeback at the end of regulation, but it was too little,
too late.In the ALC title game, NU
seemed to have cured every ill, taking a comfortable 7-2 lead at halftime. Up to that point, Gilroy was scoreless and Florida’s second-leading scorer attack Sammi Bur-gess had just one goal.
But it all fell apart in the sec-ond half, as the Cats yielded to an impressive Florida comeback and ceded the conference crown to the Gators.
Senior draw control specialist Alyssa Leonard drew criticism for
some poor draws, but a collapse of that magnitude had much more to do with a sputtering offense and reeling defense than it did with any one player.
What remains to be seen in the third contest is if following the same approach can finally deliver NU to victory. The players, at least, certainly believe so.
“We know more of their tenden-cies,” said senior midfielder Kate Macdonald on playing Florida a third time. “We’ve played them twice in such a short amount of time, so it’s fresh in our memories. ... We’re able to focus more on our-selves than focusing on them.”
Macdonald added the players aren’t looking ahead to a potential Final Four trip.
“Totally blocked out,” she said. “We’re definitely just focused on Saturday. There’s nothing beyond Saturday for us right now.”
The Cats are a veteran squad and have been deep in the postseason before, winning the national cham-pionship two years ago and falling in the Final Four in 2013. That experience will have to be enough to overcome the Gators’ apparent preponderance of talent.
“When you’re in the NCAA Tournament, it’s the best time of the year,” Amonte Hiller said. “This is where you want to be. ... Every-thing that you did is to get you to this point, and this is the moment that you wait for.”
ROAD WARRIORS Alyssa Leonard scans the field to make a pass. The senior draw control specialist has 4 goals in two games against Florida this season, but NU will have to face the Gators on the road for the first time.
Brian Lee/Daily Senior Staffer
gOIng PRO Northwestern’s Veronica Corning prepares to serve. The senior plans to take her talents to the pro circuit following her time in summer school.
The Big Ten Conference announced May 6 the Verizon Center in Washing-ton, D.C. will enter the rotation to host the men’s basketball conference tournament, along with Chicago’s United Center and Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
As someone who grew up a mile north of D.C. and ten minutes away from Col-lege Park, Maryland, I was ecstatic. The Verizon Center is a fantastic venue, and now I have an excuse to go home every third year.
I was also excited when the Big Ten announced it was adding the University of Maryland and Rutgers University to the conference. I’m not a fan of the overuse of the word “literally,” but I literally cannot wait for those lacrosse matchups.
But most Big Ten fans didn’t share in my excitement of either conference development.
Fans argued the Big Ten was losing its geographic significance, its Midwestern home base. The addition of two more East Coast schools back in 2012 was bad enough, but asking fans to travel to D.C. to watch basketball — our gritty, heart-felt, Midwestern basketball — was a line too far.
But Big Ten fans can’t be upset about the geographic expansion of the conference; proximity barely matters to college athlet-ics anymore. It’s easier to travel between cities, easier to stream conference-specific channels on your laptop, easier to stay up-to-date on your phone. Conferences such as the athletic and academic hodgepodge that is the Big East and big interconference moves like Texas A&M’s to the Southeast-ern Conference also disprove the relevance of geography.
In fact, clinging to geographic proxim-ity to prove Big Ten worthiness only really benefits Northwestern. In every other way but proximity, Maryland and Rutgers fit in with the Big Ten crowd more than NU does.
In the case of conference “belonging,” I think sports blogs and social media have it right. When Maryland and Rutgers first signed on with the Big Ten, the first questions that came up after the initial responses all had to do with one topic: “Can Maryland and Rutgers tailgate like we can in the Big Ten?”
The question draws attention to what’s more important than geography when it comes to conferences: culture.
I can’t speak as much to Rutgers’ athletic atmosphere, but I know Mary-land’s fan culture will live up to Big Ten standards.
Maryland might have faced similar problems Northwestern does in accru-ing a passionate fanbase in and around a major metropolitan area, but the school’s size — and the size of its local alumni base — is large enough to prevent those issues of involvement that separate NU from the rest of the Big Ten cheering squads. Maryland’s large student body and alumni base means rowdy tailgates and a deep investment in the happenings at the ath-letic department, similar to the rest of the Big Ten.
Sure, Maryland doesn’t have the ath-letic tradition of a Michigan football or Indiana basketball, but its fans are excited and devoted, and its student body takes pride in its regional identity.
That regional identity now also includes the nation’s capital, thanks to the addi-tion of the Verizon Center to the Big Ten Tournament rotation — which means a bigger fan base and more exciting game atmospheres.
All in all, “D.C.’s Big Ten Team” sounds pretty good to me. It’s up to the rest of the Big Ten to get on board.
