Minutes before 7 p.m. on Thursday, fewer than fifteen students fill in the rows of seats in the Northwestern room of Norris center. In the front of the room, a panel of three administrators face the sparse audience and ready themselves to speak and answer questions in the first of a two-forum sequence to give students an opportunity to hear and question the people who shape their Northwestern experience.

It was a nice idea in theory, but the forum was rather disappointing from the minute it started, the major letdown being Dean of Student Affairs Mary Desler’s absence. ASG publicized the event as “ASG to Hold Open Forums with Mary Desler, Other Top Administrators,” but the headline speaker was not sitting at the panel table. In her place sat Director of Judicial Affairs Jim Neumeister, who explained that Desler had a family emergency. That is completely understandable, but although Neumeister spoke about the topics that she had planned to cover, the forum should have been pushed back to a later date if Desler could not attend. The advertisement should fit the product, but the forum seemed to be missing a key component in Desler.

Almost as disappointing was the weak student presence at the forum. As the panelists were getting ready to start the forum, the few students in attendance looked around and asked in whispers why this event wasn’t more publicized. According to the event coordinator, Visraant Iyer, in a press release, “These two forums give students a chance to talk to administrators, one-on-one, and finally put faces to names they might have heard. These forums are all about bringing students and administrators to talk about our school, and see how we can make it better.” However, with so few students, there wasn’t much substantive dialogue between the two groups. The panel did a lot of explaining, but the questions asked weren’t very probing.

Unsurprisingly, what the panel did talk about did not seem particularly revealing. Sarah Pearson, vice president of alumni relations and development, spoke about how Northwestern holds on to relationships with its graduates, but students were mostly interested in how the university attempts to raise money in the hurting economy. Pearson tackled these questions by answering that she tries to make Northwestern a top priority for those who donate.

“Part of the American identity is to give, and what you give to during a recession depends on your values … Our job is for is for NU to resonate with their values so that if they can only donate to three areas, Northwestern is important,” Pearson said.

That’s nice. But how is this done, exactly? How does Alumni Services keep Northwestern a priority to benefactors? Where Pearson should have offered concrete and successful examples of their “high-touch, low-tech” method of raising money, she offered the abstract. She expressed their goal, but the actual practice of procuring donations was left unclear. Especially now, with this economy, Pearson should have been more prepared to answer economy-based questions.

Director of Health Education for Health Services Michele Morales mainly covered issues regarding alcohol and drug safety on campus. Although she thoroughly explained the alcohol and drug trends the health center sees, it was Neumeister who fielded more of the questions regarding alcohol on campus.

One trend that Neumeister saw was the rising number of reported alcohol-related emergencies on-campus every year, but neither Morales nor Neumeister knew why. Neumeister expanded on the three possible reasons behind this increase — the presence of CSOs in residence halls, the Evanston Police, and more students and others making phone calls during emergency situations.

Students wanted to learn more about Northwestern’s stance on alcohol amnesty. Neumeister discussed this issue at length and described why alcohol amnesty — is not the sole answer.

“What we really need to do is make sure that students know what alcohol poisoning is and what to do in emergency situations. Alcohol amnesty may part of something, but it’s not the answer,” he said. It’s a policy they are discussing but haven’t come to a decision on quite yet. Though, if medical amnesty can potentially help and so many other universities have implemented a form of the policy, why hasn’t Northwestern? Neumeister noted accidents like the death of a freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the loss of Matthew Sunshine, so the administration knows that students too frequently die from alcohol poisoning. Morales even cited a statistic of more than 1,000 student deaths nationally per year during the question-and-answer session.

Besides learning that SafeRide has been providing a record number of rides in the past couple quarters, I did not find this forum particularly enlightening into any aspect of the Northwestern administration. If there had been more students to ask a wider range of questions, perhaps the discussion would have been propelled to deeper depths, but the information disclosed seemed relatively shallow compared to what ASG advertised in its press release.

Before the forum fully came to a close, several students left early. Maybe they had an engagement to get to or a lot of schoolwork. Or maybe the forum was just a disappointment.

Photo by bradleypjohnson on Flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons.

Underage drinking is not an uncommon occurrence on college campuses, and as a result, neither are alcohol-related emergencies. If a student drinks too much and becomes unconscious, it is imperative that he receives the medical attention he needs as soon as possible, but usually, students in this predicament can’t call 911 themselves. It therefore becomes the responsibility of his friends to seek out the urgently needed medical help. If, however, their records and futures are risked by making that phone call, then a student’s life hangs in the balance.

Considering these types of situations, I have to believe that an official medical amnesty policy will always be the safest option for students. Under such a policy, universities will not take disciplinary action against a student needing medical attention for alcohol consumption, seeing that the student follows up on any counseling recommended by the university. Likewise, students who called the authorities on behalf of the intoxicated student will be safe from disciplinary action by the school as well. Since it’s a one-time kind of deal, universities don’t have to worry that students will abuse the amnesty offered. Because the program’s primary purpose is to safeguard the student from serious injury or death, it is a policy that all universities should implement.

Although some of Northwestern’s current protocol regarding alcohol-related emergencies on campus is similar to existing medical amnesty programs (i.e. the wellness treatments usually prescribed by the Office of Judicial Affairs), there is no promise that the reporting student will be safe from any disciplinary measures. If there is even the slightest chance that a student’s record will be affected, it is quite possible that the intoxicated student will not get the attention he needs. The indemnity provided by the policy will encourage students to act more quickly in getting the required help for their friend — not even a second would be lost to hesitance.

As a policy that protects both the student receiving medical attention and his friends against disciplinary action from the school, medical amnesty has the potential to save lives. Brown, Dartmouth, Emory, Harvard, NYU, Ohio State, Princeton, Tulane, University of Pennsylvania and Yale are only some of the schools that already have a policy in effect. One must then wonder why Northwestern hasn’t incorporated a similar program into its own disciplinary proceedings.

“We’re always looking for ways to address issues and concerns that come up on campus.”
– Director of the Office of Judicial Affairs Jim Neumeister

Jim Neumeister, Director of the Office of Judicial Affairs, explained, “We’re always looking for ways to address issues and concerns that come up on campus. We are aware of medical amnesty on other campuses, and we’re always evaluating if something like medical amnesty is right for Northwestern — it may or may not be.”

He has a point in that Northwestern shouldn’t haphazardly put such a plan into effect. Structural changes to the judiciary process should be seriously deliberated on, keeping in mind what is safest for students. Such consideration, though, should show that medical amnesty is a good policy to adopt because it shatters any hindrance standing before students in contacting authorities in emergency situations.

Furthering his explanation of Northwestern’s current modus operandi of handling alcohol-related emergencies, Neumeister said, “We take it on a case by case basis. It’s really going to depend on the details. Our paramount concern is the student’s safety.”

He stated that the Office of Judicial Affairs will likely dish out some sort of disciplinary response, most likely a type of probation, but these measures are generally coupled with wellness matters, such as having the student meet with specialists at University Health Services. Also, if the student is younger than 21 years of age, the office might also contact the family to establish a support network for him. Most of the time, Neumeister explained, the Office of Judicial Affairs doesn’t even know who the friends are, and he strongly recommends that 911 be called in emergencies because the safety of the student is the chief concern.

There is no doubt that the Office of Judicial Affairs cares about the safety of Northwestern students. It does more than just carry out judicial proceedings; it genuinely cares about student safety on campus. The safety of the student, though, is much better insured through an official amnesty policy than no policy at all. If there is a foundation of trust between students and the university, students will feel safe about contacting authorities for help.

A relationship based on fear might deter students from acting quickly in emergencies.

On the other hand, a relationship based on fear, knowing that there’s a chance that they could get in serious trouble with the university, might deter students from acting quickly in emergencies.

That’s not to say that without such a program, students would need to think at length before seeking professional help. Most students would probably (hopefully) alert the authorities without worrying about their own records. Still, student immunity would be highly effective in lowering the occurrences of preventable tragedies because there is the guarantee of immunity.

A study of Cornell’s policy proves the necessity of alcohol programs on campuses. Since the university implemented medical amnesty in 2002, the school has found “an increase in both calls to the emergency medical services (EMS) and hospital emergency room visits of acute alcohol intoxication with nonconcurrent increase in the amount of drinking on campus.” Cornell students get the help they need right when they need it due to their effective policies regarding alcohol. There is no fear and no hesitation for the students to call for help. This is precisely why we should have our own policy.

Equally important as protecting students is curbing the dangerous drinking habits that make medical amnesty a necessity. Because the program is coupled with mandatory counseling, alcohol-awareness sessions and rehabilitation programs, students who demonstrated dangerous behavior with alcohol can re-evaluate their actions and develop safer drinking habits. This policy, in effect, can serve as an avenue of learning about alcohol safety for students.

Though our major concern should be trying to curb unsafe drinking on college campuses, we need a formalized medical amnesty policy to guarantee the safety of students while we try to make this big change. Through amnesty, not only may a student live beyond a night of excessive drinking, he will also have the opportunity to learn in counseling and rehabilitation programs how to handle alcohol in a much safer way. Looking both at the short and long run, medical amnesty, though not the solution to everything, can be highly effective in implementing the change we need to see.

]]> http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2009/01/17482/do-we-need-medical-amnesty-at-northwestern/feed/ 3 http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2009/01/18574/green-cup-kicks-off-its-fourth-year/ http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2009/01/18574/green-cup-kicks-off-its-fourth-year/#comments Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:22:02 +0000 Sandra Chung http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/?p=18574 May the smelliest dorm win!

Tuesday marked the beginning of the fourth annual Green Cup, a competition between residence halls to save energy and water. From Jan. 20 to March 3, Green Cup will measure Northwestern students’ efforts to be environmentally conscious, whether by taking shorter showers or doing fewer loads of laundry.

The brainchild of SEED, Green Cup is headed by Weinberg junior Laura Christian and Communication sophomore Elisa Redish, with the support of Engineers for a Sustainable World, Environmental Campus Outreach, Facilities Management, Student Affairs, Center for Student Involvement, University Housing and the Residence Hall Association.

For the second year in a row, the Green Cup will last six weeks, in contrast to its original inception as a two-week challenge.

“With a two-week-long competition, students did not really have to make lifestyle changes to save energy and water,” Redish wrote in an e-mail. “Instead, they could just not do their laundry for two weeks and voila, energy and water reductions. In a six-week-long competition, students have to make actual, conscious changes in how they go about their daily business in order to conserve energy and water.”

To measure residences’ water and energy conservation, Facilities Management will compare a baseline reading of all the dorms to a final reading at the end of Green Cup.

Dorms are divided into two categories: those with dining halls and those without. The dorm in each category that has the highest per capita water and energy consumption reductions will win environmentally-friendly giveaways and a party including live music and food, according to Redish.

As an additional incentive, the leading dorms in each category after three weeks will win 25 to 30 $5 Starbucks gift cards, which will be distributed by CAs.

This year, Christian and Redish wanted the competition to be about more than just conserving water and energy. The two co-chairs saw Green Cup as an opportunity for students to learn about environmentally friendly lifestyles.

In an effort to raise students’ awareness about green living, Green Cup will host speakers and firesides which students can attend to gain points for their dorm. These points will count for 25 percent of the overall score.

Christian and Redish also set up many other activities for the competition including events like an ARTica event, a DM “Green” Trivia Night and an event at Whole Foods Market.

“We set up these events so that Green Cup would be more interactive and to sustain interest in and motivation for participating in Green Cup,” Redish said.

But Weinberg junior Daniel Burgener said he doubted many students would change their habits because of Green Cup.

“I feel like there’s a lot of apathy, and a lot of students don’t take it seriously,” he said. “But it if helps some students live more environmentally friendly lives, it’s a good thing.”

Green Cup is the real deal for the Green House, according to its president, Jacqueline Beard.

“We had a brainstorming session with residents to talk about things we can do to reduce our water and energy usage,” the Weinberg sophomore said, mentioning competitions over who could take the shortest showers and studying in common rooms to save electricity.

According to Beard, the Green Cup’s effect will go beyond the six weeks of the contest.

“You can’t regulate industries as individuals, but in terms of being aware of the impact of each of our individual lives has on the earth, on its resources, on the ability of the earth to sustain us […] Individual choices are the things that make us really value the earth’s ability to do that,” Beard said. “And Green Cup helps people be aware of their impact.”

Chloe Benoist contributed to this report due to a conflict of interest between the author and Jacqueline Beard.

]]> http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2009/01/18574/green-cup-kicks-off-its-fourth-year/feed/ 7 http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2009/01/16005/nu-campus-may-close-due-to-severe-weather/ http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2009/01/16005/nu-campus-may-close-due-to-severe-weather/#comments Tue, 13 Jan 2009 04:18:18 +0000 Sandra Chung http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/?p=16005 Campus may close Tuesday due to snow and high winds in the area, according to the university.

“The National Weather Service has issued a severe weather alert for the Chicago area with snow and high winds possible tonight and tomorrow. A decision on whether to close the University on Tuesday will be made early Tuesday morning,” said an e-mail sent out to the Northwestern community as part of the university’s emergency management system.

The e-mail urged students to refer to the Breaking News box on Northwestern’s home page Tuesday morning to find out what the university’s decision. Additionally, the emergency management system will call and send text messages to alert students of the status of Tuesday classes.

The Weather Channel Web site predicted on Monday that severe weather conditions would begin that night and continue into Tuesday afternoon. Although expected to range from 0 to 10 degrees Farenheit, the temperature will feel as though it’s below zero throughout the day.

A similar alert was sent out Dec. 18 over winter break. The university, however, remained open.

The last time NU canceled classes because of weather conditions was Feb. 6, 2008. Only evening classes were canceled.

Before last year, the most recent weather-related cancellation occurred in 1979. After a weekend blizzard, the university closed for two days.

Read the e-mail below:

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Message sent – 1/12/2009
Weather alert for Jan. 13, 2009

This is a message from the Northwestern University emergency notification system.

It is the night of Monday, January 12, 2009. The National Weather Service has issued a severe weather alert for the Chicago area with snow and high winds possible tonight and tomorrow. A decision on whether to close the University on Tuesday will be made early Tuesday morning. On Tuesday, check the Breaking News box on the Northwestern home page, www.northwestern.edu, to find out whether the University is open or closed. You also will receive an e-mail and text message Tuesday morning advising you of the University’s status. If the University is closed, that information also will be sent to Chicago-area media for inclusion in their school closing lists.

If the University is open but you believe it is unsafe to come to work, then you should stay home.

]]> http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2009/01/16005/nu-campus-may-close-due-to-severe-weather/feed/ 0 http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2009/01/14770/prison-for-krzyston-is-unfair-and-wont-curb-underage-drinking/ http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2009/01/14770/prison-for-krzyston-is-unfair-and-wont-curb-underage-drinking/#comments Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:14:45 +0000 Sandra Chung http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/?p=14770 This story’s language has been clarified to emphasize that Krzyston has not been convicted of a crime.

Foster House, the dorm where Matthew Sunshine died on June 9, 2008. North by Northwestern stock photo.

On Jan. 14, Alexander Krzyston will attend the preliminary hearing regarding his role in the death of Matthew Sunshine, who died after playing a drinking game with others in his residence hall. Krzyston, who police allege provided the alcohol for Sunshine and others on the night of the death, was charged on Dec. 14 with the felony count of “unlawful delivery of liquor to a minor.” This makes him culpable in Sunshine’s death, according to the Evanston Police press release.

If Kryzston did supply alcohol on the night of Sunshine’s death, the law implicates him as responsible. The 21+ law exists precisely to prevent deaths like this from happening, as 21 is supposedly the age where we can be trusted to handle the responsibility of alcohol. But to hold Krzyston up as the single cause of Sunshine’s death is unfair. Underage students obtaining alcohol from older friends is a frequent and common occurrence on college campuses, and making an example out of Krzyston won’t teach anyone safer drinking practices.

Freshmen and sophomores face few obstacles in procuring alcohol. The majority of students in Norris and on Sheridan Road informally polled said that they had either illegally obtained alcohol or given liquor to someone younger than 21 in the past. Most of the underage students who admitted to getting alcohol from an older student went on to say that they have multiple friends who could provide alcohol for them. If John can’t do it one night, then Sally certainly can. If Krzyston didn’t provide the alcohol that night, somebody else would have.

Most of the underage students who admitted to getting alcohol from an older student went on to say that they have multiple friends who could provide alcohol for them. If John can’t do it one night, then Sally certainly can.

It’s nothing short of devastating when someone dies as a result of alcohol poisoning, but it is important to note that underage students aren’t being forced to drink the alcohol. They ask for it. It is their decision to drink. Although the Evanston Police Department wouldn’t comment on whether the authorities believe Krzyston forced the alcohol on Sunshine, it’s not likely that anyone was coerced into drink that night. And while nobody drinks expecting the night to go horribly wrong, social drinking, whether legal or illegal, safe or unsafe, is a personal choice.

In tragic circumstances like Sunshine’s death, it’s human to want to find someone to blame; but pointing the finger at a single person accomplishes very little. After MIT freshman Scott Krueger’s death at a Phi Gamma Delta rushing event in 1997, the MIT committee on discipline revoked the diploma of Charles Yoo, the Phi Gamma Delta pledge master, making his role in Krueger’s death comparable to Krzyston’s role in Sunshine’s death. That disciplinary action was taken against Yoo is fair, but that MIT singled him out was undeserved. Both Krzyston and Yoo are essentially made into scapegoats in these circumstances. Yet, Phi Gamma Delta was made up of a brotherhood of men, not just Yoo, and a drinking game cannot be played alone.

Making one person take the fall for these deaths does not make up for the loss of Krueger or Sunshine nor does it make any progress toward curtailing unsafe drinking habits on college campuses. Research by the American Psychiatric Association shows that four out of five college students drink and about half of college student drinkers engage in heavy episodic consumption. Furthermore, binge drinking trends among college students, in fact, has neither dramatically risen nor declined in the last 15 years, according to the Monitoring the Future Project at the University of Michigan. Despite the example made of Yoo and the potential example made of Krzyston, college students still drink and will continue to drink.

As Krzyston’s hearing nears, we should remember that the goal is to promote safer drinking practices, not to prosecute someone that could’ve been anyone. As there are 1,400 alcohol-related deaths per year among college students, it’s clear that there’s a breakdown in communication between universities, public authorities, and students. It’s not a matter of whether someone is 18 or 22 years old. It’s a matter of counseling college students of all ages on safe alcoholic consumption.

Pointing the finger at a single person does little to curb unsafe underage drinking.

Although the loss of Sunshine is a grievous and painful memory, sentencing Krzyston to 1-3 years in prison and making a criminal of him is not the way to promote better drinking habits among students. Perhaps, it would be a step in the right direction to model Krzyston’s punishment on that of Michael McCullough and Brandon Overlie after the death of University of Minnesota student Kyle Sharbonno, 19, in 2007. Like Krzyston, McCullough and Overlie (21 and 22, respectively) faced possible prison time for providing alcohol to an underage student who passed in an alcohol-related accident. Instead of prison, however, McCullough and Overlie were sentenced to two years of probation and 80 hours of community service. Additionally, they were required to wear electronic monitors for six months and attend alcohol awareness counseling.

The probation, community service, and counseling prescribed to McCullough and Overlie will undoubtedly do much more to lessen unsafe underage drinking than will sentencing Krzyston to prison. At the very least, training and counseling is more of an appropriate punishment than putting an average college student behind bars.

There is definitely no easy solution to reduce unsafe drinking. Otherwise, young men like Sunshine, Krueger and Sharbonno wouldn’t be so tragically lost. Clearly, though, the mechanisms that universities currently have in place are not working. Students are not receptive to the PowerPoint presentations they are forced to sit through during freshman orientation, and thus, there is no progress toward increased student safety on campus.

There are many different roads to explore, but however we try to achieve safer drinking practices, we should work together as a community. Krzyston, a member of this community, will hear a decision at his hearing that will change his life. If found guilty, I hope he will be given the chance to learn how to drink safely with us, not barred away from us.

]]> http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2009/01/14770/prison-for-krzyston-is-unfair-and-wont-curb-underage-drinking/feed/ 13 http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2008/10/12217/how-important-is-the-classroom/ http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/2008/10/12217/how-important-is-the-classroom/#comments Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:29:02 +0000 Sandra Chung http://www.northbynorthwestern.com/?p=12217

Looks like no one made it to lecture today. Photo by Eric James Sarmiento on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons

You went to bed way too late last night and a mere six hours later, your alarm is incessantly blaring into your ear. Snooze after snooze, you don’t or can’t get out of bed. “If I get up now, I’ll be 15 minutes late to lecture, so I may as well not go.” Yes, this is a very common scenario. So, with such a handsome number of students opting for sleep over their history seminar, where are we really getting our education? After we graduate, what will be Northwestern’s most valuable gift to us — the lectures, activities, or experiences? As the last day to drop classes, November 3rd, quickly approaches, we may need to reassess what really matters.

There is no doubt that Northwestern is one of the nation’s top universities. Students here are serious about their studies and competitive to be the best in the classroom. But Northwestern students are rarely just Northwestern students — they are community volunteers, newspaper editors, artists, club presidents, musicians and athletes. With so much more on our plate than reading Kant by tomorrow’s 9 am lecture, can we get our real education through our non-academic activities?

SESP junior Allie Kerr places the most value in learning in the classroom and feels little motivation to join any clubs. As an education major, she learns from seeing how her own professors teach. “My tuition money is paying to see people highly respected in their fields. Classes are the most important thing, especially as you get older, you’re out of those large intro classes, and the classes get more personalized.”

Indeed, our tuition money is for the academics — I’m not paying thousands of dollars a year to be a volunteer for OASIS. But at the same time, I’m hard-pressed to believe that someone can receive a truly diverse and valuable education from classes alone.

Megan McGee, a Medill freshman, notes that although the academics are important, activities are just as essential. “Each component has something different, but equally valuable to offer. The academics are important, but the activities expo helps establish a little niche in which you belong.” If the overwhelming number of displays set up at the ASG Activities Fair is any indication, there’s no shortage of learning opportunities outside of the classroom at Northwestern.

Kim Castle, a Communication sophomore, finds that not only are both spheres important, but her experiences in the classroom and involvement in activities influence each other. “Certainly, a good percentage of [my education] comes from the classroom. A lot of the background knowledge needed to do the work outside of the classroom through student groups, I learn in class. And involvement in student groups influences how I approach material in class and what I get out of it.”

But in the end, there is something that activities and experiences can offer that lectures simply cannot. While we probably won’t remember any of the material we learned after finals week is over, we’ll always remember the strength we felt at the 28th hour of Dance Marathon or the late nights we spent planning Sex Week. Although Nancy Fru, a Communication junior, sees the value in the duality of lectures and experiences, she acknowledges that there is something she gets through her position as the African Student Association president that no professor could ever give her. “I get a chance to pull my sleeves up, get entirely into the experience and take something away from it. Lecture is a one way communication stream — we take in what the professor says and must digest the information then and there.”

But what would a sage professor — the person who’s giving us our lecture tomorrow — consider to be more important? Looking back on her own years as an undergrad, art history professor Sarah Teasley remembers that “classes were as important as activities as what my friends were doing that day as what band was playing that night… through activities, you’re learning about organization and producing something. At the time and even looking back, everything [the classroom and activities] was equally important.”

English and gender studies professor Nick Davis finds that the partnership of learning in the classroom and living your life to be an “unbeatable team.” Davis finds value in the “two simultaneous educations, the one you get from living your life and the one you get from working, hard and deliberately, to learn things you don’t know and to think in new ways about new ideas. In the best cases, these two learning processes feed each other.” There you have it — even the sources of our classroom learning don’t want us to concentrate purely on academia.

There is absolutely no denying that what we learn from our professors is incredibly important, but the true value of a Northwestern education comes from an emphasis on pursuing your interests outside the classroom. Let’s face it: You won’t be using Plato to solve that problem at work; rather, you’ll remember how you negotiated at Mock Trial. So come November 3rd when you’re thinking about dropping that seemingly useless class to make more time for yourself, consider your priorities. With so many mediums through which we can learn — lectures, clubs, and experiences — we have no time to spare on devoting our life to a single cause. Sitting through class will produce the diploma, and those extra experiences will produce the spirit and know-how needed for the real world.

Caitlin Kerr, a Weinberg freshman, keeps it classy in class. Photo by author.

To be honest, I was surprised on the first day of class when I saw so many fashionable students walking to and from class, dressed ready for a party. As a transfer student from Boston University — an institution with an eclectic mix of designer-garb-only fashionistas and hipster elitists — I never thought that Northwestern, a school in the Midwest, could exceed BU’s fashion-forward status. But with so many students strutting down Sheridan like it’s a catwalk, I couldn’t help but assume that NU students would be as judgmental as some of my former classmates when it came to clothing.

On the first day of classes, I wore skinny jeans, a plain tee, and a pair of sandals. Hardly a catwalk outfit, but far from disheveled — and my neighbors eagerly introduced themselves. Before my very first lecture, I had a nice conversation with a bright-faced, curly-haired freshman and an older French exchange student. If I had been dressed in a different outfit, would these students have so readily included me in their conversation?

So, I conducted an experiment. I reserved a couple days during the first week to dress more slovenly, just to see what would happen here at the Northwestern fashion show. Wearing yoga pants, a baggy tee and a pair of Pumas (an outfit I would usually wear to the gym), I went about my usual day. Would there be a major difference in how people treated and conversed with a somewhat unkempt classmate?
Pleasantly, students reacted to me in exactly the same way on my scrub-day as on my first day. In my messy outfit, strangers still smiled and said, “Hey, I’m [insert your favorite name here]. What’s your name?” Maybe the shallowness of BU fashion scene is not found at Northwestern.

After lecture that day, I ran into Weinberg sophomore Heather Ghee who, wearing dark, wide-legged jeans and a black-and-white checkered top, was definitely one of the better-dressed students. Despite her stylish attire, Ghee said that once the “beginning” of the year ends and she has re-adapted to academia, her daily staples are t-shirts and sweats. She said she dresses up for the first few weeks of class both for herself and to shape the perception others will have of her.

Though she seemed aware of the fact that she would be judged by her wardrobe, she seemed just as surprised by the idea that she would judge fellow students in the same way. “I wouldn’t be more inclined to talk to a well-dressed student,” she said.

Alix Deymier, a McCormick graduate student, in a schnazzy outfit. Photo by author.

That’s the view I got from every student I talked to: Wearers of bedazzled tank-tops and wearers of beaten-up sweatpants agreed that their fashion choices were mostly personal, and they didn’t pay all that much attention to the clothes around them. Weinberg junior Amanda Stamelos put it best: “I do this for myself.”

Sure, students talk about a variety of motives for dressing a certain way–for confidence, for shaping others’ perceptions, for self-expression. But all these reasons come down to a common Northwestern trait: As pre-professional, ambitious people, we are always ready to impress. Maybe other students don’t care what you’re wearing, but the fact that you took the extra five minutes this morning to look presentable will speak about your professionalism to those who are paying attention. Our SAT scores and high school GPAs may not matter anymore, but our desire to get ahead still influences us down to the wardrobe.

So while it was jarring at first, I heartily approve of the ramped-up fashion sense of Northwestern. After all, when we’re 30 and the CEO/editor-in-chief/big cheese, we’re going to have to reach over our comfortable sweats and grab the Club Monaco garments. They won’t feel as fuzzy on our skin, but they’ll say something: “Hello. I’m here and ready to work.” And we’ll be ready, too.

According to Real Clear Politics’ collection of today’s polls, almost all national polls (except Battleground Tracking) show that Obama has a lead over McCain. The Democrat’s lead stretches from an insubstantial +1 to a considerable +10. It’s important to note, however, that McCain has a sizable lead in some states. In South Carolina, where McCain has strong support, he has a +19 lead over Obama.

However, when asked whom they would vote for in the upcoming election, a slight majority (although, often within the margin of error)have preferred Obama over the Republican candidate throughout most of the summer and still today.

So why does McCain trail behind Obama in these polls? The nation doesn’t believe that McCain can bring about the changes that Obama can. Obama’s commitment to bringing necessary changes to Washington is giving many Americans hope for a better future—a future that a “typical Republican” like McCain won’t be able to forge.

Although McCain’s selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate boosted his support and tightened the high disparity of women’s support between the two parties, women in general still prefer Obama/Biden by 48 to 44 percent, according the most recent Lifetime poll. The belief that the Obama/Biden ticket will bring about the imperative change in government and better the economy, a major concern of voters, gives it an edge over McCain/Palin among the female population.

What do these polls mean for our country? Our future? If these polls accurately represent how the nation will vote in less than two months, our new president will be the man who will get the job done.