This week at Northwestern: Hunger strikes and Mexican food
Ever feel like you want to attend one or two of the many events happening at Northwestern, but you’re overwhelmed by the choices, and end up doing nothing at all? We sympathize. So we have chosen a few of the most notable, newsworthy, generally cool things happening each day this week to help you stay busy — but not too busy.
Monday
Northwestern students are encouraging dialogue on NUPD’s arrest of an illegal immigrant last week. There will be a forum at the Multicultural Center at 4 p.m. to discuss the event. A protest march, originally planned for Monday, will take place on Thursday.
Tuesday
If you’re a die-hard Cinco de Mayo celebrator, Northwestern may not have everything you’re looking for. But at least you’ll be able to feast on some Mexican food in the dining halls. Once you’ve had your fill, expand your horizons a bit and head to the University of Chicago to see authors, Northwestern professors and MacArthur Genius grant-winners Aleksandar Hemon and Stuart Dybek discuss their craft in Classics Hall 110 at 5 p.m.
Wednesday
Northwestern students and other concerned citizens continue their staggered hunger strike in protest of the continued detention of Medill graduate Roxana Saberi in Iran. If you want some more insight on the subject of human rights, Northwestern University Conference on Human Rights will present a panel discussion called “Divine Intervention: Faith and Humanitarianism” at 7:30 p.m. in Swift 107.
Thursday
Students are (tentatively) taking to the streets to protest NUPD’s treatment of an illegal immigrant last week. In the event description on NU Link (originally slated for Monday), the organizers of the march say: “This is unacceptable. We will not allow our tuition dollars to pay for cops to pursue our fellow brothers and sisters on the streets of Evanston.” And if you’re in the mood for something more adrenaline-pumping, Boomshaka is performing, trash cans and all, at 8 p.m. in McCormick Auditorium.
Friday
Stressed out after a long week? Counseling and Psychological Services is offering a seminar on relaxation strategies. Or, you can take matters into your own hands and drop a class (Friday is the last day to do it without academic review). Alternatively, you could make your way to Dearborn at 9:00 and get some perspective on things, quite literally, during the free observation hours.
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i hope you dont actually think these are what will make this a good week. pathetic!
knowledge
May 4, 2009 at 3:33 am
The people who are protesting the recent arrest of the illegal immigrant by NUPD have misunderstood the subject, and I really do wish that people would give it a more thorough consideration.
Look, NUPD’s (or EPD’s, or Chicago PD’s, for that matter) policy on illegal immigrants very well may be flawed. I would be the first to say that no NUPD should ever be intentionally going on the prowl for illegal immigrants to be marked for deportation, just because that’s not their job. But you need to look at the context of what happened. While on patrol, the NUPD pulled over a driver on suspicion of drunk driving. They went up to the car to check the sobriety of the driver, and then realized that the man couldn’t produce any form of identification. They soon realized that the reason he couldn’t produce any form of valid ID was because he didn’t have legal status in the United States.
Now, if you’re a police officer in this situation, what do you do? It’s your JOB to turn that person in. It is what you are required by law to do. The Northwestern University Police Department has the same powers as any local municipal police department in the state of Illinois, thanks to Illinois State law. That helps keep us safer on campus, and it’s something that most people never point out as a problem.
But with that equal power also comes the full responsibility of law enforcement. Those NUPD officers were not out on patrol looking to pull over or deport an illegal immigrant, they just happened to pull one over. And it just so happens to be that the law on that is clear. What were they supposed to do? Just let him keep driving? Take him into the station and then just write down (strictly legally speaking) completely useless identification information and let him go? You can’t blame them for doing there job. What do you expect from them?
What these students should be attacking is the policy itself. I do not think that otherwise law abiding illegal immigrants (this is besides the fact that this man was pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving) should be deported. Far too often they’re scapegoated, and towns and states place the burden of problems those immigrants are not responsible for on their shoulders. That is where I agree with the students. But it is COMPLETELY irresponsible to be attacking the NUPD for simply carrying out their job. There are real men and women involved in this that could lose their job or their badges because of a hyped up controversy, which makes the significance of the protest that much greater.
Consider this example: I support the legalization of weed. But if I was caught smoking pot by a cop, I wouldn’t blame him for arresting me or sending me to court, because that’s exactly what they’re supposed to be doing. These are real people on the other end of the law. Don’t blame them, but the people who wrote up the laws in the first place. It’s misunderstanding the issue.
So seriously, it’s actually kind of annoying to see people suddenly take up an issue when it becomes “hot button” without really giving it much consideration. A lot of people might be stirred by the call to action when they hear an NUPD arrested an illegal immigrant and may have gotten him deported, but there’s more to the story than that. Come on, we should all be smarter about this. I expect better
Misunderstanding the subject
May 4, 2009 at 8:48 pm