Ahhhh I’m so nervous! I feel like it’s the election all over again!

Go Chicago!

The Pied Piper of New Student Week » North by Northwestern

Wildcat Welcome Week is almost over.

After three speeches to the Class of 2013, it’s time for me to be a student again.

This should be fun.

Freshmen Kick Off College with ‘March through the Arch’

Wildcat Welcome event brings Class of 2013 together for the first time.

Email from NU President Morton Schapiro: Diversity initiatives at Northwestern

To our new students, welcome to campus, and to our returning students, we’re glad to have you back!

One of the most important opportunities you have at Northwestern is to interact with students with different backgrounds and perspectives.  By creating a diverse community — diversity of race and ethnicity, of gender and sexual orientation, of religion and geographic origin, of political perspective and economic condition — we strive to provide an exciting learning environment that broadens your understanding of the world and challenges your assumptions.  Toward that goal, we are extremely pleased that the incoming class of first-year undergraduate students, compared to last year, has a significant increase in the number of students of color, with a dramatic rise in the number of African American students.

To create a truly inclusive campus that goes beyond mere numbers requires your active engagement.  Please join us in celebrating the diversity of our student body by introducing yourself to someone who looks or sounds different than you; attending a student theater or music performance that explores a different culture than your own; taking a course that educates you about another region of the world, or a religion with which you are unfamiliar, or the history of an ethnic or racial group.  Indeed, we have expanded our curricular options this year with a new major and minor in Latino/a Studies.  We urge you to take advantage of the wide array of opportunities that Northwestern offers; by doing so you will have an even more interesting experience here.

Your student leaders play an important part in communicating with us about undergraduate needs and issues, including those related to diversity.  At the end of the spring quarter, student leaders of multicultural groups met with senior administrators to discuss how to make more progress on our diversity goals.  Also present was Mike McGee, who was then the incoming President of the ASG and who has been an active participant on the Faculty Diversity Committee.  We will continue to rely on Mike and the other student leaders for advice and counsel this year.

One of the issues discussed with the student leaders was our shared concern about allegations of racial profiling. Northwestern strives to be an open and welcoming institution. At the same time, we want to ensure the security of everyone in our community, including visitors.  Policies and procedures to achieve those goals will be reviewed this year.  One important step that is already underway is the creation of the Northwestern University Police Advisory Board, with student representation from the Evanston and Chicago campuses.

As you settle in for the fall quarter, you will find that some of the staff in Student Affairs are in new and very important roles.  With the retirement of Mary Desler as Dean of Students, Burgie Howard, formerly Assistant to the Vice President of Student Affairs, will now serve as the Interim Dean of Students.  After a number of years as Director of Multicultural Student Affairs, and before that of African American Student Affairs, Carretta Cooke will replace Mr. Howard as Assistant to the Vice President.  Tamara Johnson, Assistant Director of Career Development, will serve as Interim Director of Multicultural Student Affairs; input from students will guide our approach to filling the director’s position.  Last spring we were delighted to bring Shadra Smith to Northwestern as the Director of African American Student Affairs, and if you did not have the chance to meet her then please stop by the “Black House” to say hello.  In addition to these changes in Student Affairs, Don
a Cordero has expanded her role as Director of the Office of Change Management to include the responsibilities of Assistant Provost for Faculty Development; Ms. Cordero’s new duties will include a focus on faculty diversity and on campus-wide initiatives to promote inclusiveness.

We also continue to emphasize the importance of diversity by recognizing the accomplishments of our students and faculty.  This year we will create a named professorship in memory of Harold Washington, a graduate of our law school and the first African American mayor of Chicago.  A couple years ago, the University established a professorship named for Lawyer Taylor, the first African American to receive an undergraduate degree from Northwestern more than 100 years ago, who went on to become a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Clark University in Atlanta.  The first occupant of this chair is Galen Bodenhausen, professor of psychology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and of marketing in the Kellogg School of Management, and co-director of the Center on the Science of Diversity.  Also, the Leon Forrest Chair was fully funded as a professorship, recognizing the significant achievements of our former faculty member who founded the Department of African American
Studies.  Aldon Morris, professor of sociology, was appointed to this chair.

With all of us working together to make all members of the Northwestern community feel that they belong and are highly valued as colleagues and friends, we are confident that you will find Northwestern to be a wonderful home.  We hope that you enjoy what promises to be an exciting academic year.

Again, our warmest welcome to all of you.

Morton Schapiro
President and Professor

Daniel Linzer
Provost

For some weird reason, “Run This Town” is my new favorite pump-up track. I was preparing for a speech to about 2,500 people, and this song just got me super-pumped!

“WE GON RUN THIS TOWN TONIGHT!”

217 days.

Until my term as president is over.

Time to get moving.

For 25 years, starting in 1908, the Northwestern Circus thrilled and amazed visitors from throughout the area. Run by students, and with almost exclusively student performers, the Circus was a large part of campus life. Preparation would take months and hundreds of people were involved. Each year, a young man and woman were selected to be “Circus Solly” and “Circus Sally,” and directed the planning and execution of the proceedings. This was a great honor and the two lucky undergrads would don the Solly and Sally costumes and appear around campus for weeks before the show. The annual event became wildly popular in its day, and included a parade, midway, Ferris wheel, rides, acrobats, clowns, concessions, and wild animals: the full circus package.

The Circus was originally billed as a “County Fair” and was put on by the Y.W.C.A as a fundraiser for the University Settlement. Once Patten Gymnasium was open in 1910, the event moved there, and became the “College Carnival.” The outdoor portion of the show took place in the field in front of Patton, roughly were Tech is today. In 1914, the festivities took on the title of “Northwestern University Circus,” and kept that name until the student performances ended. There is conflicting information about when and why the circus came to an end. According to a Purple Parrot article from March of 1950, the event was retired after its 25th anniversary edition in 1932 because it was taking up too much student time that should have been spent on academics. Still, there are some references to a Circus from 1933 in our materials.

This chapter of student entertainment is a distant memory, and the “wild coeds” of Northwestern (like those below in a Circus parade float) have had to find new methods of amusing themselves. Still, walking along the lake on a cool spring night, you still might hear the roar of the crowd under the Big Top, intermingled with the crashing surf. If you want to hear these voices more clearly, come down to the Archives and spend some time with their ghosts.

During the late 1880’s and early 1890’s, Northwestern University was a national force in the popular, inter-collegiate sport of Tug-of-War. Yes, you read correctly: Tug-of-War. And it was more popular than football on campus during its reign. Many colleges and universities during this era had traditions of class year tug-of-war battles; many times between freshmen and sophomores; often contested across a river or mud pit.

Aerial view of Northwestern’s campus in 1907.

Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Nicely done NU.

Ryan Field baby! Rawwwwrrrrrrrrr!!!!

After an hour or so of work. Here it is.

First project I will be working on: ASG Shuttle GPS Marketing