Northwestern Accountability Alliance

City Council will be voting on creating a PILOT task force this Monday, March 11! Use the email template located in our bio or sign up to make public comment at the meeting to show your support!

This is it; the final showdown on Ryan Field and the Community Benefits Agreement.

Council is likely deadlocked 4-4. It is unlikely we can sway Nieuwsma, Burns, Harris or Reid. Our one shot is to make it crystal clear to Biss that voting for the Ryan Field expansion and zoning change will ruin him politically.

TODAY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 30TH AT 5:30 we not only need to be at council in full force, we need to speak. Biss is allowing all members of the public 90 seconds to give comment. You need to be there.

Your remarks don't have to be long or detailed; simply tell Biss and the council that you are opposed to the zoning change allowing an entertainment district and concerts, that you think Northwestern should be forced to sign a community benefits agreement BEFORE the stadium rebuild is approved, AND THAT YOU WILL REMEMBER who voted for this disastrous deal. That’s it! You don't even have to do it in person; you can sign up to speak over Zoom at www.cityofevanston.org/government/city-clerk/public-comment-sign-up or by calling/texting 847-448-4311. You can also submit a comment in writing at [email protected], or you can email Biss directly at [email protected].

Thanks for all you’ve done so far. The finish line is in sight, we just need to keep up the pressure!

See you TODAY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 30TH AT 5:30, City Council Chambers at the Civic Center.

🚨LAST DAY OF ACTION ON RYAN FIELD - CALL THE COUNCIL!
This is the last day of our week of action on Ryan Field. Thank you to everyone’s support so far - let’s finish strong! Even if your council member supports our goals, even if you've called them before, we want them to be able to say they received dozens of phone calls in one day from constituents.

📞The message:
Please OPPOSE the commercial rezoning around Ryan Field and please demand that NU sign a legally enforceable Community Benefits Agreement with Evanston representatives before you approve the stadium.

Use the "About My Place"  app (https://bit.ly/FindYourCouncilMember) to look up your council member’s name and #.
Thank you all!!!

Join us tomorrow at 5 PM! The Northwestern Accountability Alliance will hold a protest march, car caravan and rally in opposition to Northwestern University’s plans to create an untaxed commercial entertainment zone in a residential neighborhood – and their refusal to enter into a community benefits agreement. Sign the pledge form in our bio!

Mark your calendars and please RSVP using the link in our bio to join the NAA and other community organizations at the Land Use Commission hearing on Tuesday, September 6th @ 7 PM. This meeting will be a public hearing on Northwestern’s two pending land use applications regarding Ryan Field and the U2 University Athletic Facilities District (U2 District). We encourage you to attend to show your support with us.

We have a yard sign! Request a Respect Our Community sign using the link in our bio!

Please read our Letter to the Editor in the Evanston Roundtable discussing what a community benefits agreement in relation to Ryan Field should look like. Link to the article is in our bio!

Council, students respond to hazing scandal and Ryan Field plans "The issues are related in that they both reveal deeply flawed institutional decision making," said Council Member Thomas Suffredin.

"The Northwestern Accountability Alliance is grieved and outraged at the reports of a racist, abusive culture within the Northwestern football and baseball programs. How familiar this sounds. Only 2 years ago, cheerleaders Hayden Richardson and Erika Carter exposed a racist, sexist culture within the athletic department, in which cheerleaders were pressured to “entertain” wealthy donors, and Black cheerleaders were forbidden from wearing their natural hair. Both then and now, administrators and members of the athletic department initially denied the abuse until pressured to act. While there were promises of change from on high, clearly the same toxic culture is in place as in 2021."

Please read our full statement on hazing, sexual abuse, racism, and toxic environments on Northwestern's football team.

Letters: In response to stadium plan, Evanston should tell Northwestern: ‘Build what you can afford’ Northwestern University’s Ryan Field project is a modern-day Trojan horse.

Op-ed: Northwestern should enter a CBA for its Ryan Field plan Evanston should require a community benefits agreement with Northwestern that addresses each of the community’s concerns.