Mayor Daley Visits Wheaton

Chicago’s mayor may not command Wheaton’s politics, but he commanded its attention.

A nearly full Barrow Auditorium at Wheaton College’s Billy Graham Center, 500 College Ave., listened to Richard M. Daley Thursday afternoon as he gave a reflective speech on his 22 years leading Chicago. The free event was put on by the university’s J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government and Public Policy and was open to the public—students and non-students.

“There’s always a divide, Chicago and everyone else,” Daley said. “But then we realize in the long run that we all have to exist together because what is good for Wheaton is good for Chicago. What is good for Chicago is good for Wheaton.”

Daley’s speech, and the Q&A session that followed, lasted approximately 50 minutes and touched on many subjects. Mostly, however, the mayor focused on education, which he called a “cornerstone” of his time as mayor but also his “biggest struggle.”

“The failure of major cities has always been the lack of good, quality education,” Daley said. Before the mayor’s controversial, mid-1990s takeover of the formerly-autonomous Chicago Public Schools, “there was a lack of real understanding that education is the answer to all the social ills that we have,” Daley said.

The mayor also spoke about environmental policy, the importance of Chicago’s partnership with China, and why Groupon could only be started in Chicago. He received a nearly unanimous standing ovation after he finished, which might have surprised attending Wheaton graduate student Garrett Zajac, a native of Chicago’s south suburbs. Zajac thought Daley a polarizing figure.

“I figured, okay, the economics department is going to love him, the humanities department is going to hate him,” Zajac said. “The older demographic is going to love him and the younger demographic is going to hate him.”

Senior Rachel Beveridge, who came to Wheaton from California, said she got what she expected from a wide-ranging, “typical” political speech.

“I guess I was just interested to hear [from him] after 22 years,” Beveridge said. “There have been a lot of changes in Chicago.”

The Daley event was one of a series put on by the Hastert Center, according to Wheaton College spokesperson LaTonya Taylor.

“One of the goals of the Hastert Center is to provide opportunities for students to learn from practitioners in government and public policy,” Taylor said. Thursday’s speaker, she said, is notable. “It is unusual to have someone of the mayor’s renown.”

After the speech, Daley attended a fundraising dinner at the Todd M. Beamer Student Center in support of Hastert Center programs.

A few of the topics Mayor Daley touched on Thursday:

The transition of power to mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel in May: [To laughs from the crowd] “I never give anyone advice unless they ask for it…Our transition will go with his chief of staff and others and will work for two weeks side by side. No one can come in a day or two days or a week. We have to have a nice transition.”

His post-mayoral life: “After 33 years of being on a schedule, six or seven days a week, it’s amazing to me, a shock, the first day I don’t have a schedule. But I’ll have to have one.”

Today’s lack of bipartisan civility: “The separation by politics has to be over otherwise we cannot compete as a global economy with the other areas—China, Brazil, India, and the rest of the world…It’s not a breakdown in politicians. It’s not a breakdown in government. It’s a breakdown of society. Society has changed. You can disagree, but you don’t have to be disagreeable.”

Chicago as a green city: “Usually people say, ‘I had to drive someplace to enjoy nature.’ I always believed nature can coexist with an urban community…We have over 7 million square feet of green roofs in the city of Chicago, the largest in the world. We’re very, very proud of that.”

The development of Groupon: [Citing a recent Newsweek article] “It said, ‘Why didn’t Groupon start up in Silicon Valley? For the same reason Facebook started at Harvard, because both phenomena needed a local population of young people, not a community of cyber-nerds or venture capitalists. Chicago had what [Groupon founder]Andrew Mason needed.’”

The criticism of Jay Cutler's in the media: [To laughs from the crowd] “I got beaten up just like Jay. I know what he’s going through. Just don’t take it personal.”