 "Photo: Christian Wilson/Daily senior staffer")
Two members of the political student group Sincerely, America received citations from Evanston police officers Tuesday night as they painted a half-mile long orange stripe on the sidewalk along the east side of Sheridan Road.
SESP senior Alessio Manti and Weinberg sophomore Andrew Walker, two of the co-founders of Sincerely, America, began painting a line down the center of the Sheridan Road east sidewalk Tuesday night as a form of political expression and in order to promote the group's website.
Sincerely, America, which held its first event in October, is collecting online signatures to petition for an end to the so-called "Brothel Law," the Evanston zoning ordinance that prohibits more than three unrelated people from living together.
Volunteers from the group wrote "Save the Brothels," "Get engaged" and the site's name in purple. Both the orange and purple paints are water-soluble, Manti said.
"Just as the line runs down the middle (of the sidewalk), our organization is in the middle: We don't represent either political party," said group member Alicia White, a Weinberg junior. "There are few student organizations that are nonpartisan or multi-partisan, no forums for students of all political backgrounds."
The group aims to have at least a quarter of the student body sign the petition before the members send it to University administration and Ald. Judy Fiske (1st).
"The Brothel Law is our first test," said Manti, Sincerely, America's chief of staff. "We want to make noise but then focus it, hone it and put it toward something good and concrete."
Manti said as a result of the advertising on Sheridan Road, about 10 percent of the student body visited SincerelyAmerica.com in two days.
But the marketing was not without a downside: on Tuesday night, Manti and Walker were approached by University Police, who questioned the students before calling the Evanston Police Department.
Manti said three Evanston police cars then came to the scene, and he and Walker were detained in the back of a police car. After 45 minutes, the students were released with a citation for defacement of city property and a court date for Jan. 24.
"We plan to fight it," Manti said. "Rain and/or snow will wash away the paint, so nothing's permanent."
Not all students recognized the paint as a marketing campaign.
"I thought it was some kid making a statement about walking on the correct side of the sidewalk," Communication sophomore Rachel Marchant said. "But I think the Brothel Law is stupid."
The group will try other forms of marketing in the future, Manti said. Each of the 17 members of the organization participated in an "Internet bomb" on Facebook on Sunday by posting two statuses and writing something about either the group or general politics to 20 friends' walls.
He said the group plans to expand and solidify its presence at Northwestern for the next two months before adding about 10 chapters at other schools in the spring and then significantly expanding in the fall. Sincerely, America aims to use the national election in the fall of 2012 as an anchor for its expansion.
Manti said he looks back at the election of 2008 and the youth-driven election of President Barack Obama as a starting point for this generation's political involvement but said young adults must not rally around one individual.
"We saw in 2008 that our generation has the capacity to care a great deal," he said. "Unfortunately, what was inspiring that was one man. It came from outside us. We want to make that happen again in 2012, but with the inspiration coming from ourselves."
Sincerely, America seeks to be a bipartisan organization that engages students in multiple ways, from petitions to end the Brothel Law to registering voters, he said.
"We're building the organization for the long haul," Manti said. "Sincerely, America is there to tap into (students') energy and help bring it out."
mmorris@u.northwestern.edu
Is this a joke? How about 99% of NU student organizations. Maybe if he spent less time defacing our university he would have a better grasp on the truth.
Thank you for your article! It was a pleasure talking to you today -- I appreciate that you took the time to talk to us and to write about us. A couple clarifications: we can't confirm that it was exactly 10% of the student body. We know that 1100+ ppl visited, but don't know exactly where the IPs were from -- so that number is just an estimate. We also aren't planning on expanding to 10 college campuses in March. We have ten friends at other schools have that expressed interest as of now, but are probably gonna do a much smaller number as a manageable pilot program. I also feel I should respond to the first couple of comments...I'm not sure if I'm a queef, and I hope that the line wasn't ugly. Those definitely weren't my/our intentions. But if I'm a queef and if the line was ugly, I hope that that doesn't detract from the point that the rest of the Sincerely, America members were (and are) trying to make. And that's basically that it's time for us to put aside our generation's cynicism and apathy and give half a crap about anything. I know that we're all entitled to our own opinions, and I know that our line wasn't exactly a Picasso. But I also know that I'm entitled to my own opinion too, which is that at least I did something. People our age are used to being critics, and never authors. It might have just been a temporary orange line down the middle of Sheridan Rd, but I'm happy that we went out and did anything at all. I hope I don't come off as self-righteous here, either. This is just genuinely how I feel. I think it's disappointing that we automatically criticize anyone who puts themselves out there. I get that it's just part of the system, so I'm not complaining. But it points to an underlying, sometimes cynical instinct that people our age have. I just hope that whatever people think and feel, they'll stand up and speak for it. The problems that exist today in our country happened because we put too much faith in other people in power to solve our problems for us. All I'm hoping for is that people our age disprove our critics, and stand up to improve our community ourselves instead of waiting for anyone to do it on our behalf. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing! If we pull back and consider that, an argument over this seems silly. So we could argue over whether or not I'm a queef, or we could argue over what the best way of changing this antiquated law is. If you think the latter is what matters more, then I ask that you please take ten seconds to sign our petition against the Brothel Law. We'll use this to add legitimacy to our argument when we meet with Evanston City Hall:www.sincerelyamerica.com If you're still reading, thank you for your time!