Evanston Year in Review: Reparations, City Hall, District 65 woes, Ryan Field, protests

Evanston had an eventful year in 2024, occasionally making national news.  Here’s a recap of the bigger things that occurred. Protests at Northwestern University Waves of pro-Palestinian demonstrations erupted at colleges and universities across the country in the spring months of 2024 amid armed conflict between Israel and Hamas in the wake of an Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack 2023, that killed more than 1,200 in Israel and subsequently saw 45,000 killed in Gaza, according to the Associated Press. Student protesters demanded their schools disclose and disinvest their alleged economic interest in the war. In Evanston, hundreds of protestors descended upon Northwestern University’s Deering Meadow on April 25. Many brought tents, signs and Palestinian flags in defiance of the university’s policy change the same morning. Police surround students and activists after a pro-Palestinian tent encampment was built at Northwestern University on April 25, 2024. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune) Not all of Northwestern’s students agreed with the protests.   Northwestern Hillel, the university’s Jewish center, said in a statement that the encampment was a “a disturbing and quickly escalating trend of antisemitic rhetoric and actions both nationally and on our own campus.” The encampment would not last longer than five days when...