On Campus

At the State of the University address on Sept. 26, NEIU Interim President Helldobler said that the university is now 70 percent tuition driven. In Fiscal Year 2018, the income portion of the general operations budget is about 63 percent and the State portion is about 37 percent.  Last fiscal year it was 66 percent and 34 percent respectively, according to Vice President of Finance Michael Pierick.

On Sept. 20, an individual with a firearm entered the Nest around 11 p.m. but left before campus police arrived. The Nest residents were not informed of the incident until about 5 p.m. the next day through email.

ChicagoCHEC co-hosted the Women in Science Conference which ran through Sept. 18 and 19, honoring the 150th anniversary birth of Marie Curie the physicist and chemist who conducted early research on radioactivity.

In the Hood

To address violence in North Park, Albany Park and two other North Side neighborhoods, community members, including NEIU students, are asking residents to fill out a community violence survey, which is available on The Kedzie Center’s website, www.thekedziecenter.org, until Dec. 15, 2017, according to DNAInfo.

Around the town 

The Chicago Teachers Union, the Services Employees International Union, Healthcare Illinois and South Side activists are pushing for a written agreement with the Obama Presidential Center’s planners and city officials, guaranteeing local residents jobs and other benefits, including housing preservation.  According to the Chicago Tribune, Obama had previously asked community members to trust him.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Dawoud Bey, a professor at Columbia College Chicago, and Rami Nashashibi, the executive director of Inner-City Muslim Action Network, won $625,000 MacArthur Fellowships, which are commonly referred to as “genius grants.”

Chicago is one of the safest cities in the world, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Safe City Index, which ranked the city No. 19. The index rates cities based on digital security, health security, and infrastructure security.

“Rogers Park,” a film set and shot in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, will debut at the 53rd Chicago International Film Festival, according to DNAInfo.  The festival runs from Oct. 12, 2017, to Oct. 26, 2017, at AMC River East, 322 E. Illinois St.

According to DNAInfo, Milo Yiannopoulos, alt-right blogger, and former Breitbart editor will be speaking at Chicago’s Patio Theater at 6008 W. Irving Park Road, on Nov. 13, 2017; Answer Chicago and other groups are planning to protest the event.

The Hispanic population in Chicago has surpassed the city’s African American population for the first time, but according to a study, released Oct. 11, 2017, from two departments at UIC, city services, like education, have not matched the population increase.

In early October, Mayor Rahm Emanuel began a campaign for Chicago to become the first city outside of California to have a “Good Food” policy, which would require the city to purchase food only from suppliers that meet labor, environmental and health standards, according to WTTW.

State of the State

In response to the increase in “free speech” events and their ensuing protests at universities in the United States, The University of Illinois, in Champaign, is starting a free-speech task force to provide recommendations for inviting guest speakers on campus, according to WBEZ.

A report from Voice for Illinois Children, released Oct. 12, 2017, shows huge gaps in educational access and academic success among Illinois students. These gaps disproportionately affect low-income and minority students.