Northwestern and Evanston will take steps to resolve their lawsuit out of court next week, after attorneys for both sides agreed last week on a format.

Representatives for both NU and Evanston will meet Aug. 7 with a mediator, Abner Mikva, to attempt to resolve the legal dispute over the Northeast Evanston Historic District.

Both sides previously had stated in court they were willing to submit to mediation but had disagreed on the form. But presiding U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen said at a status hearing last Thursday that a process had been agreed upon and could begin within "a couple of weeks."

Mikva was appointed by Aspen to serve as the mediator. He previously was chief justice of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington and chief counsel to the president and represented Evanston in the House of Representatives for five terms. He currently is a visiting professor at the University of Chicago.

Evanston will be represented at the mediation by City Manager Roger Crum and Jack Siegel, the city's attorney, Crum said.

"We're going in with an open mind and seeing what the mediator has to say about how this could be resolved," Crum said.

But settling through a mediator may be difficult for the city. Any decisions must be approved by Evanston City Council before becoming official.

"No one person can speak for the entire City Council," Siegel said. But he noted that in the more than 20 years he has worked for the city, he has developed an understanding of how the council makes its decisions.

University officials are not sure who will be present for the mediation and will decide by early next week who will participate, said Eugene Sunshine, senior vice president for business and finance. But Sunshine said the university looks forward to the mediation process.

"We've always been interested in settlement

i hope this gets settled!!