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For Members Only headline-making events define the Weinberg senior in recent campus memory. Crain preceded Rev. Jeremiah Wright and delivered a speech detailing the university’s failings of the black community. On Oct. 13, Crain was at the Rock protesting low black student enrollment. FMO organizers call the events a “prelude” to new efforts to bring more minority students to Northwestern.

“He doesn’t bite his tongue. If he’s really passionate about something you’ll know what he’s thinking,” says Weinberg senior Jeniece Fleming, a former ASG senator for FMO.

When he first took the position of coordinator in his junior year, Crain catalyzed a reorganization within FMO. “We tried to break out of that mold, to not focus so much on our big money events but to focus more on community building events: to look at what ways we thought Northwestern’s institutions weren’t serving us necessarily the best they could,” Crain says.

Shawna Cooper-Gibson, former Director of African American Student Affairs and adviser to FMO during Crain’s tenure as coordinator, attributes a significant attitude change within the black community to Crain’s ignition of activism on campus. “When he came in as a freshman, the African-American community was a little apathetic; he brought a little bit more energy and student involvement to the forefront.”

That’s who Mark Crain is to Northwestern: someone who, in Cooper-Gibson’s words,“pushes the envelope,” ignites activism and questions authority.

Although it seems like Crain thrives on conflict, he says it all really happens on its own. “I don’t know that I’ve ever thrust myself into controversy,” Crain says in reference to black enrollment protest efforts. And according to Crain, he never saw the controversy surrounding Rev. Jeremiah Wright — he was simply honored to share a stage with Wright.

Fleming agrees, saying that Crain possesses a genuine desire to build a stronger community at Northwestern not just among black students, but all students.

“Community” comes up again and again when talking about Mark. “One of Mark’s philosophies is that when he’s working with people he takes that commitment a lot more [seriously] because it affects someone else,” Weinberg senior Usman Mian says.

Crain notably ran for ASG president last spring. Even after losing the election, he remains influential within student government. According to Mian, ASG senator and Senior Academic Committee member as well as Crain’s Alpha Phi Alpha brother, “When he goes to senate meetings and he speaks, that carries a lot of weight.” Because of Crain’s credibility, ASG and other student group leaders running for office often ask him to speak on their behalf. “His influence carries over,” Mian says.

It’s debatable whether all of his actions have helped transform Northwestern into Crain’s goal of a cohesive community — Weinberg junior Aisha Smith, former FMO treasurer and Crain’s ASG campaign manager, admits that Crain’s decisions are not always popular, but Crain made it clear through his work in both FMO and ASG that he ultimately seeks unity.

“What we try to do is defeat a sense of individualism that can conquer a student, and really focus on that brother’s keeper, sister’s keeper mentality,” Crain said. “That’s what we tried to contribute.”

A more understated way to raise money, the annual DM silent auction makes a quiet presence in the Norris basement removed from the heavy bass beats coming from the tent outside.

Items for auction include a baseball signed by Paul O’Neill of the New York Yankees, DVDs of Legally Blonde and Walk the Line signed by Reese Witherspoon, a basketball signed by Will Ferrell, and packages of signed items from TV shows like Greek, One Tree Hill, American Idol and Desperate Housewives. Various gift certificates to local restaurants and spas were tucked tastefully into color Chinese take-out boxes.

“A lot of people are interested in buying stuff,” said Weinberg freshman and Special Events committee member Mark Bernstein, who was manning the auction.

As of now, the items with the most bids are a signed photo of Steve Carrell and a painting by 14-year-old Dylan, one of Project Kindle’s beneficiaries. “I hope that this virus does not affect your life to a point that you are afraid to be around certain people,” said Dylan, on his silent auction bid sheet. Several other paintings by Project Kindle beneficiaries are up for auction.

There is a solution to this problem that, once presented, seems so painfully clear and obvious that it is surprising that it has not already been implemented. The Gender Protection Initiative is a proposal to allow residents of one wing, suite or floor in a residential hall to choose the gender of their roommates. It is beneficial to the students who want it, it doesn’t affect the students who choose not to utilize it, and the university wouldn’t have to change a thing, other than which students are living in which rooms. So why isn’t gender-neutral housing already in action? What’s the hold up?

As stated in the online petition, gender-neutral housing would allow residents to have roommates of any gender or gender identity. According to McCormick senior Mykell Miller, president of the Gender Protection Initiative student group, the petition was started three weeks into winter quarter, although the idea had been alive since last year. When the petition closed, 653 students had signed in favor of instituting gender-neutral housing, and 129 of them expressed interest in living in it. These students are only the beginning of what ideally will become a campus-wide movement in support of the housing initiative.

“It’s the right thing to do — to offer a more inclusive housing option for students,” said Christina Yao, Assistant Director for Residential Life at Washington University in St. Louis, in an email. She’s right: students deserve the right to live in a place where they feel comfortable.

The petition lists some of the strongest arguments for gender-neutral housing — that “gay students, for example, frequently face discrimination from or feel uncomfortable around same-sex roommates,” “gender-variant students often feel misplaced in their dorms,” and “the students living with or around gender-variant students, even when they respect the gender-variant students, often also feel uncomfortable.” And of course, girls who just want to live with guy friends or vice versa would be free to do so. The petition does not require any students to live in gender-neutral housing; it simply provides it as an option.

This seems like a no-brainer. It’s not even a new idea, schools like the University of Chicago, Northeastern, Wesleyan and Oberlin have already instituted gender-neutral housing. Yet, Northwestern is still lagging. According to Yao, 24 students currently live in gender-neutral housing on WashU’s campus.

At Oregon State University, 48 students live in this setting, and according to Director of Residential Education Cindy Empey, there haven’t been any problems with the system. “Students are glad we have this option in our upper-class hall. Student leaders applaud the progressive approach — not just from a gender inclusive/LGBT perspective but also from a ‘we just want to room with who we want to room with’ perspective,” Empey said. Incoming freshmen already have the freedom to request a roommate of the same gender. Opening that choice up to both genders seems like a natural extension.

The petition promises no additional cost to the administration. “Our main goal is to make Northwestern safe for all people, students faculty and staff of any gender identity or expression. One of our specific goals is to procure gender-inclusive housing because there are people on campus who feel uncomfortable in single-sex housing because they are, for example, gender-variant,” Miller said.

When the petition closed, 653 students had signed in favor of instituting gender-neutral housing, and 129 of them expressed interest in living in it. These students are only the beginning of what ideally will become a campus-wide movement in support of the housing initiative.

Miller has encountered people who are concerned that heterosexual couples may take advantage of gender-neutral housing, perhaps taking spots in the housing that are meant for the students who really need them. This, however, seems like a small price to pay to provide some form of safe and comfortable housing for every student, and it may be the only price paid. The introduction of gender-neutral housing could have unexpected benefit — Miller believes that a more inclusive housing option might attract more prospective students to Northwestern, especially gender-variant students. “They may choose it because it shows Northwestern is very committed to diversity, so I would hope that it would have an effect in [the amount of applicants],” Miller said.

While other schools that have gender-neutral housing exclude underclassmen, Miller is in support of the housing being open to all ages, even freshmen. “For freshmen who live in gender-inclusive housing because they want role models,” Miller said, “they [can expect to have a] more positive experience and to integrate with NU community more easily.” There is no downside.

According to Miller, the petition closed last week and was presented to University Housing and Food Service, who are now reviewing the proposal and will reportedly submit their recommendation to Vice President of Student Affairs William Banis. We hope it works.

-Kevin Sullivan

One way in which to “review” the year came to me about a week ago, as I helped my friend move out of our dorm (he was “asked” to vacate the building. Let’s just say he wasn’t a CA’s dream as far as well-behaved residents go). Sorting through the accumulated piles of junk in his room, my friend held up each object he found and asked me, “What should I do with this?” Each time, it led to a question, story, or joke. “What was I thinking?” he said to a pink scrunchy. “What a waste of money,” he said, scowling at a Lifehouse ticket stub. Some lucky mementos, like a Dance Marathon t-shirt (how do you throw away a shirt you toiled for 30 hours for?) and a “Sex Six Pack” of condoms from Sex Week (probably with practical intentions) were tucked away to be kept, at least for now. Others, like so many LaRouche manifestos and a chipped shot-glass formal favor, never made it further than the hallway trash can.

The act of moving was forcing my friend to physically review the entire year. My suggestion, Northwestern, is to do just that. Instead of reading this column to round out your week, take the opportunity to make the process of moving into a process of reflection to round out your year. To guide your packing, here’s a list of possible mementos you may find in your dorm’s nooks and crannies.

• Flavored lube samples from Sex Week.
• The folder of welcome items and the hospital release form from New Student Week.
• Those e-mails you sent to Dean Lavine which you DID save.
• The towel that Girl Talk threw from the stage.
• The Little Black Recruitment Book from sorority rush… or the ashes of it, anyway.
• Your first fake — the one that says that you’re 17.
• Enough ASG campaign quarter-sheets to stuff your pillow. In fact, they did fill your pillow.
• A Burger King crown or four.
• The three cans of mace and the rape whistle your mom sent you after the “crime surge.”
• Your (still) empty DM can.
• A picture of your high-school soulmate whom you swore you’d be with forever… underneath some other guy’s boxer briefs.
• A Lambda Phi Epsilon ex-pledge cowering in your closet.
• Your thick down parka from winter quarter. Oh wait, that’s on your back.

Now, as you encounter these things, it’s up to you to decide what you’ll toss and what you want to remember of this year, one-quarter of the supposed best years of your life. Even though my friend tossed out more things than he kept, each of the items now lying at the bottom of the third-floor Hinman-Lincoln hall garbage can had at least received a fair chance before being hauled away forever. And every object upon that landed a prized spot in a duffel bag really deserved to be there.

After he was all packed up and out the door, I couldn’t wait to start moving myself. I had been searching for a thorough way to wrap up my year, and I had finally found it. Although I know that the garbage cans will be overflowing once the rest of us start packing, I’ll be glad that every memory left in my room will have been “reviewed.”

Northwestern played its part in serving up some of this week’s love by joining Questbridge, a non-profit program that makes education at the country’s best colleges possible for some low-income students. The university will provide students who might not have ever had the chance to come to Northwestern with vital scholarships. First the replacement of loans with grants earlier this year, now this! Looks like Northwestern is trying to make up for the dismal winter that came close to scaring us away once and for all.

And Feinberg, at it again, even reinforced the importance of love this week with a new study. Researchers found that couples who are loving and comfortable enough to be naked together in bright light were more likely to catch possible skin cancer. Apparently, shy couples lack the opportunity to check each other for possible cancerous spots, creating yet another justification for sex with the lights on and general nudeness. Men, for scientific-sounding language to show your special lady, click here. Nothing is quite as arousing as the threat of cancer. You’re welcome.

And this week, Northwestern announced the imminent special treatment of two of our campus’s most beloved buildings. On the short term, Harris Hall will be renovated, expanded and “modernized” within 18 months. Fans of the building’s historic appearance will be relieved to hear that much of the neoclassical architecture will be preserved, though it appears nothing can be done to remedy the monotony of the classes that occur in 107.

Over the long term, the university has begun an extensive process of updating the library, assessing what the Class of 2030 will require of its giant concrete monstrosity. Hopefully by then, we’ll be off the Dewey decimal system, but we won’t hold our breaths.

Rent star Anthony Rapp stopped by on Wednesday and Thursday to speak about his experiences in show business, and ended the event with an a cappella rendition of “Seasons of Love” from Rent. Well, it may not quite be summer yet, but this week was a week of love, at the least.

For a second on Wednesday, I thought I was living in a real version of the Princess Diaries when I saw police escorts and heard rumblings of royalty on campus. But alas, to my dismay, it seemed Anne Hathaway would not be getting a makeover and finding her true love at Northwestern — instead, Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser al-Missned, the wife of Qatar’s head of state, came to visit.

At first, I was tragically disappointed, but the fact that she was visiting Medill students and asking them questions about media relations between the United States and the Middle East was exciting. Would we live up? Would we be disappointing? Whenever someone especially noteworthy (female royalty especially, even if she wasn’t wearing crown jewels and robes à la Julie Andrews in the Diaries) comes to Medill, I get a little nervous that we won’t live up to our world-renowned name. But my fellow Medillians didn’t let me down. We showed her SportsNight! Bulls-eye!

After that ace-in-the-hole, our music school changed its perfectly-fine name to the Bienen School of Music. The Bienen School of Music. Well, it doesn’t exactly roll right off the tongue, and shouldn’t the name of a music school be a little more harmonious? Maybe something French? At this point, I can only hope that Daft Punk (they’re French) soon swoops in with a hefty donation and a swift name change.

That’s not to say, however, that President Bienen doesn’t deserve a tribute. SESP is still nameless, and I’m sure no one would mind if the Shakespeare Garden became the Bienen Garden.

And early this week, we finally found the new dean of Weinberg. Sarah Mangelsdorf, dean of the liberal arts college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will be taking over the helm. We wish her the best in avoiding a Dean Lavine-like start.

We showed Qatar royalty the best of our sports coverage, gave the School of Music a cacophonic new name, and lay the groundwork for another dean-related scandal this week. The news was big, but the irony was bigger. I’m confused, Northwestern. Another stunt like this and we’ll be having Jerry Springer as a commencement speaker. Oh, wait…