A resolution for the Chicago City Council to request a legislative investigation of “several racist incidents” at NIU was assigned on Wednesday to the council’s Inter-Governmental Committee for further study.

Chicago 9th Ward Alderman Robert Shaw, who introduced the resolution, said the committee will send invitations to NIU President John LaTourette and various faculty members and students to participate in testimonies of racist incidents at the university.

Ald. Shaw said the committee will base its decision of whether to request the Illinois General Assembly’s House of Representatives to conduct the investigation on information gathered from the testimonies.

The investigation would include the firing of CHANCE counselor Martha Palmer, allegations of a DeKalb-area police department employee making racial slurs while on duty and the January 1988 Holmes Student Center Bookstore incident in which four black students were accused of shoplifting.

Ald. Shaw’s brother, Rep. William Shaw of the 34th District, proposed Tuesday to House Speaker Michael Madigan that the state appropriations committee conduct a study of “racist policies” at Illinois universities. Rep. Shaw said that Madigan approved the proposal and that the committee will be formed by January.

The Shaws became concerned with institutional racism at NIU when they visited the campus on Nov. 10 to listen to testimonies from the Students for the Freedom of Martha Palmer.