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CLASSES CANCELLED AS POLAR VORTEX HITS

JANUARY 30, 2019 FOURTH WEEK VOL. 130, ISSUE 26

PAGE 7

HOUSING ISSUE PG. 3: Mac Building on

53rd Will Tower 27 Stories

PG. 6: Crossing the Col-

or Line: Stories of Early Dorm Integration

Security Removed From Outdoor Posts for Low Temps

Student Shreya Preeti on New EP

Is the Cold Ratner Commute Worth It?

PAGE 8

PAGE 15

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THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

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Housing Report Finds Income Discrimination in Hyde Park Rentals

courtesy of marco verch

BY CAROLINE KUBZANSKY Grey City Editor

In August 2018, the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights (CLCCR) and the Chicago Commission on Human Relations (CCHR) released a report on discriminatory housing practices that reported source of income–based discrimination in five out of 11 tests conducted in Hyde Park. In other words, 43 percent of treatment comparisons between “testers” posing as possible renters indicated discrimination by Hyde Park landlords.

The report focuses on six Chicago neighborhoods, selected because of their high rates of housing discrimination complaints in recent years. The CLCCR and CCHR “tested” these neighborhoods by sending pairs of people who differed in race, source of income, or both, to pose as potential renters and record how they were treated by housing providers. In addition to Hyde Park, CLCCR

testers also went to Bridgeport, Clearing, Jefferson Park, Mount Greenwood, and the Near North Side between 2017 and 2018.

Testing dates back to the civil rights movement as a strategy to confirm suspicions of unlawful conduct under the 1963 Chicago Fair Housing Ordinance and the 1968 Federal Fair Housing Act. The report states that the 1963 ordinance prohibits “discrimination on the basis of…race, color, sex, gender identity, age, religion, disability, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, military status, and source of income” and covers a broader scope than the Federal Fair Housing Act, which does not specify military status and source of income.

The report defines source of income, or SOI, as “the lawful way in which individuals financially support themselves and/ or their dependents.” Sources of income can include public assistance, student loans or

stipends, and housing choice vouchers (HCV), otherwise known as Section 8 vouchers.

Participants in the HCV program receive a monthly sum that goes toward their rent.

However, HCV participants must find their own living arrangements, which the report alleges is unlawfully challenging due to continued discrimination against HCV participants. Out of 22 testers in Hyde Park, 10 testers, or five pairs engaging with housing providers, reported differing treatment based on source of income.

In terms of actual prohibited behaviors, the most common was the use of differential terms and conditions between different testers—for example, offering different prices or move-in dates to separate testers.

More than 80 percent of participants in Section 8 programs are Black, meaning racial discrimination may play a role in many cases that seem to only be SOI-based.

“Race is a serious consideration when considering

discrimination against HCV holders,” said Barbara Barreno-Paschall (M.P.P. ’17), the senior staff attorney of CLCCR’s Housing Opportunity Project.

While the only tests CLCCR conducted in Hyde Park were ones regarding SOI, the two “protected identities” are tightly linked. CLCCR would not disclose which housing providers were tested in Hyde Park or put The Maroon in touch with testers, citing the concern that housing providers would then learn the testers’ identities and jeopardize the success of future testing projects.

“In some senses, we were not surprised by the results,” Barreno-Paschall said. However, testers reported one unexpected and disturbing trend throughout the different neighborhoods: “The customer service piece was very troubling.”

Testers observed that Black HCV holders were treated worse than non-HCV-holding Black testers, while agents went “above and beyond for [many] more white testers,” Barreno-Paschall said. Of the 140 total testers, white testers reported “above and beyond” service in 20 instances, contrasting with three reports of the same service by Black testers. Behaviors of this kind included follow-up calls to testers, offering tours of units before being asked, and encouraging testers to apply for a unit.

“There are clear-cut violations of a law, and [then there are] subtler behaviors that don’t violate the law but are still evidence of discrimination,” Barreno-Paschall said.

Barreno-Paschall said testers’ reports of this behavior is alarming because it “shows that landlords know how to get around the law with regard to discrimination.”

CLCCR periodically hosts trainings and information sessions related to housing rights and testing projects; out of the six neighborhoods examined

in the recent report, Hyde Park had the highest turnout for these sessions with 43 housing providers attending eight events.

Natalie Moore, WBEZ’s South Side reporter and the author of The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation, was one of the first to report on the project’s writeup. In response to the report’s findings, she noticed that Hyde Park was an outlier among the tested neighborhoods; the other neighborhoods are substantially less diverse and wealthier.

“Hyde Park prides itself on being racially [and] economically diverse, but was lumped in [the CLCCR report] with neighborhoods traditionally seen as not welcoming to people of color,” she said.

Moore, a Hyde Park resident, said that the results were somewhat surprising to her, but she also “wasn’t naive and I knew this report was coming….

I hope it’s a splash of cold water [to residents and landlords].”

Both Moore and Barreno-Paschall consider the report a tool for city leaders as they look to improve housing opportunities in Chicago by applying numbers to street knowledge about different neighborhoods.

“Jefferson Park is an area for wanting to keep out affordable housing; Mount Greenwood is one of the whitest areas in the city, [and] Hyde Park also has a history of keeping people out— arguments are made stronger or bolstered when you have data,” Moore said.

Barreno-Paschall said that CLCCR sees SOI discrimination as a long-term target in their work on housing equity.

“We are very committed to addressing SOI discrimination, [and] we’ll continue to do whatever investigative work as long as SOI is a priority…. It’s important to know about it in Hyde Park because if they can’t know, they can’t change what’s happening,” she said.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

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Mac Building on 53rd Will Tower 27 Stories

BY VICTOR YANG News Reporter

A new 27-story high-rise at the corner of East 53rd Street and South Cornell Avenue will be ready for pre-leasing in March, with move-ins beginning in September, a spokesperson for developer Mac Properties told The Maroon.

The project sparked controversy when it was first announced, as some worry it may drive out lower-income residents and cause parking problems.

The tower will replace a former parking lot at 53rd and Cornell. It will also extend the 53rd retail corridor further east. Proximity to the 53rd Street shops, the University campus, the UChicago Medical Center, the lakefront parks, and the 51st/53rd St. Metra station will provide residents with convenient access to the surrounding area and downtown Chicago. The building will have 246 apartments of varying sizes and configurations with parking spaces in the lower floors.

Peter Cassel, director of community development at Mac Properties, described the building’s design.

“While 5252 is unabashedly modern, the rich history of East Hyde Park architecture inspired the color palette, contoured geometry, and facade details.

The traditional stonework podium is proportioned to a residential scale, while the high-rise above presents a modern interpretation of a staggered bond brick pattern,” he said.

According to Cassel, tenants will have access to a rooftop terrace, lounge, outdoor swimming pool, fitness center, and sundeck.

Some community members have mentioned noise disruption from the construction site.

“They work Saturdays, even some Sundays, often starting as early as 6:30 a.m.—with absolutely no regard for neighbors who have to put up with all the noise,” said Dhilanthi Fernando, who lives in the high-rise just north of the forthcoming apartment building.

“The folks who live in the townhouses adjacent to the building are affected even more. Furthermore, during

the first weekend of this year (January 4–6), they closed down the entire block to traffic, making it quite difficult for driving on Cornell Avenue. Hopefully, the jackhammering and other noises are now over, or will be less, and the next stage won’t be quite as loud,” she added.

The Hyde Park community has had an influx of rental apartment complexes within the last several years.

Mac Properties recently unveiled two new apartment complexes on the South Side of Chicago. The 180-unit City Hyde Park, a mixed-use apartment tower near Lake Michigan and the 51st/53rd Metra station, opened in 2016.

Solstice on the Park, at 1616 East 56th Street, opened in the spring of 2018. The 26-story tower overlooks Jackson Park, site of the forthcoming Obama Center. According to the website of the apartments’ designer Studio Gang (who also designed Campus North Residential Commons), the building is engi-

The 27-story high-rise is pictured last weekend during construction. photos by euirm choi neered to maximize sunlight exposure for solar warming during the winter.

Vue53, a 13-story apartment complex on 53rd Street with 267 studio to two-bedroom units for rent, opened in

late 2017 as a collaboration between Peak Campus and the University. Vue53 is marketed towards University students as an off-campus living option close to the University campus.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

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U of C Program Helps Employees Buy South Side Homes

BY AVI WALDMAN News Reporter

As Chicago’s mayoral and aldermanic candidates debate issues of affordable housing in the run-up to February’s elections, UChicago has found its own approach to tackling the issue. Since 2003, the University’s Employer-Assisted Housing Program (EAHP), operated by the Office of Civic Engagement, has aided University employees in buying homes in several South Side neighborhoods.

Nine neighborhoods fall within EAHP’s domain: Hyde Park, North/South Kenwood, Woodlawn, Douglas, Grand Boulevard, Greater Grand Crossing, Oakland, South Shore, and Washington Park. Any full-time, benefits-eligible employee of UChicago can apply for an interest-free, forgivable loan of between $2,500 and $10,000, to count toward a down payment on a home in any of these communities. In addition to the financial component, the program also provides homeownership counseling to participants.

Certain neighborhoods carry more restrictive conditions.

Prospective buyers in Hyde Park or South Kenwood must be firsttime homeowners making no more than 120 percent of the area median income, while any homeowner outside the nine neighborhoods is welcome to apply if looking to buy outside of Hyde Park, with no income restrictions.

Homeowners within those neighborhoods are only eligible for a loan to buy in Woodlawn.

Woodlawn is an area of special attention for the EAHP. Its proximity to the University campus and relative lack of development compared to Hyde Park make it an ideal target for accessible housing initiatives. In addition to the University, three affordable housing focused nonprofits administer programs promoting homeownership in Woodlawn,

funded by the federal government and the City of Chicago. The EAHP is available to any University employee looking to purchase a home in Woodlawn who doesn’t already own one there, and the University offers up to $2,400 in assistance to renters there as well.

Before being approved for a loan, a participant in the EAHP is required to engage in confidential homeownership counseling. The

ing are University and staff of the University Medical Center, since faculty are eligible for a separately run second mortgage program.

Sixty-six percent of the program’s 300 participants were South Side residents who had previously been renters before being able to buy a home. Demand for the program has been growing faster than the University has been able to meet it, even as the program’s budget

A University brochure features a map showing different incentives. counseling services are meant to help potential buyers to determine if their finances can support such a significant purchase.

According to Christina Angarola, communications director for the Office of Civic Engagement, counseling is one of the program’s most popular features.

According to Alyssa Berman-Cutler, executive director of community development in the Office of Civic Engagement, most of those who take advantage of Employer-Assisted Hous-

has increased in recent years.

Danielle Roper, a professor of Latin American literature, purchased her current home in Woodlawn with the help of a loan from the EAHP. She cites the counseling aspect of the program as a highlight, saying that it helped clarify the home-buying process for her.

“For young junior faculty it’s really great because it helps you to build a life here as you try to settle down at the University,” Roper says. “Living in the build-

ing where I live in it’s mostly Black-owned and a lot of people have been here for 25 years.... In my experience it’s been really great to integrate into this area.

I’m also a Black faculty [member] who wanted to be in a space that was predominantly Black.”

Berman-Cutler describes employer-assisted housing as part of a larger scheme of comprehensive community development. Various initiatives to promote small businesses and affordable housing tend to interact with each other: incentivizing University employees to live locally means they’ll be patronizing local businesses as well. “[Homeownership] really does make a difference in terms of how people interact with their community. It makes them feel like longer-term residents with more of a commitment to the community,” Berman-Cutler says. “[It also] helps build familial wealth.”

A 2016 Forbes article listed the various benefits of homeownership, citing studies by the Boston Federal Reserve to prove that children of homeowners tend to do better in school and have higher incomes later in life. Home sales also create jobs within the local economy by stimulating demand for people like movers and remodelers.

“There is a lot more work that needs to be done in terms of having us at the University continue to help the community that’s already here,” Roper says. “One of the benefits of [EAHP] is that it helps us [do that] and I think we could take it a step further by trying to partner and invest in programs that are here in the community.”

One such program is Renew Woodlawn, a loan and grant-making institution operated by three nonprofits: Preservation of Affordable Housing, Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago Inc., and the Community Investment Corporation. Renew Woodlawn

targets a similar demographic to the EAHP, without being restricted to University employees, and occasionally serves the same people.

Affordable housing will only become more important in the near future, as construction begins on the Obama Presidential Center. The real estate site Zillow estimates that property values in Woodlawn increased by more than 15 percent between May 2017 and May 2018 and will likely continue to rise as anticipation for the Obama Center increases.

Spurred by the $500 million project, 63rd Street will soon be redeveloped as a commercial corridor.

In Cote’s view, employer-assisted housing is an opportunity for the University to have a positive impact in the local community.

“I think the issue with UChicago especially in the past is that there hasn’t been necessarily that mutual investment in Woodlawn and I think often residents talk about the fact that UChicago kind of took from Woodlawn,” Cote says. “But with the EAHP program and with programs that are helping employees try to get grants to live in Woodlawn, for the most part I think it’s been a good thing.”

For many Woodlawn residents, new homeowners are a sign of renewed investment in their community.

“The biggest thing that I constantly hear is that Woodlawn residents just want to know that you’re invested…. [For] new homeowners or new renters, it says a lot when you come to community meetings, when you go to a Woodlawn event, when you do those types of things to really show that you’re invested, it goes a long way,” Cote says. “I think it would be great if UChicago is a positive part of that, because honestly they have a big footprint in the area.”

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

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20th Ward Alderman Hopefuls Answer Our Housing Questions

BY WILL TRLAK News Reporter

Candidates for 20th Ward alderman responded to questions from The Maroon about local housing concerns.

Following incumbent Alderman Willie Cochran’s indictment on federal corruption charges, the 20th Ward aldermanic race has become one of the most heated in the city, with 15 candidates now on the ballot.

Four of them responded to our questions—community organizer Candis Castillo, former educator Nicole Johnson, activist Anthony Driver, and Maya Hodari, former director of development at the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA).

We asked about rent control, affordable housing ordinances, and vacant lots.

While we didn’t ask about the forthcoming Obama Presidential Center (OPC), the candidates have spoken extensively about the OPC at forums. Though the OPC will lie in the neighboring Fifth Ward, many residents in the 20th Ward could be affected by potential changes in rents and economic activity that would follow the arrival of the OPC. Most candidates have expressed support for a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA).

Rent Control The 1997 Illinois Rent Control Preemption Act has banned rent control in all forms for over two decades. According to the law, Illinois municipalities cannot enact any ordinances or resolutions that control the rent for private residential or commercial properties.

The Act has long been contested. It emerged as a campaign point in the 2018 Illinois gubernatorial race, with current Governor J. B. Pritzker campaigning in favor of lifting the ban. Nine

Nicole Johnson (left) and Anthony Driver. provided photos wards, not including the 20th, saw nonbinding referendums on their ballots in the 2018 Illinois election on whether or not the ban should be lifted. Each ward saw at least 60 percent of votes voicing support of striking down the ban.

The Maroon: Do you support lifting the Illinois rent control ban?

Castillo, Driver, and Johnson all expressed support for lifting the ban.

Johnson elaborated on her answer, saying that she supports lifting the ban, “along with investigating other (possibly more effective) measures.”

She said she believes “rent control should be executed on a sliding scale,” based on “number of units in the housing development and assets of the landlord.”

Hodari was equivocal on the ban, saying she wants to “look at our collective goals on creating affordable housing units.”

She added, “The current version of this legislation simply reverses the prohibition on limiting the escalation of rents over time. The legislation is not

going to create housing that is affordable to families earning 30 percent, 50 percent, 60 percent or 80 percent of area median income.”

Affordable Requirements Ordinance and Homes for All Ordinance The Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO), enacted in 2007, requires new or rehabilitated housing developments with 10 or more units to designate 10 percent of developed units as affordable housing, or pay a “fee-in-lieu” that goes into the City’s Affordable Housing Opportunity fund. In 2015 the City updated the ARO to include, among other updates, an “off-site option” for developers in high-income areas or downtown to develop one-fourth of their 10 percent of affordable units off-site.

According to City of Chicago data, the ARO fell short of its five-year projection to create 1,200 affordable housing units by 2020. By July 2018, only 334 affordable housing units were allocated by the ARO. The Homes for All Ordinance

(HFA), proposed by community and activist groups, would require a quarterly report from the Chicago Housing Authority to be submitted to the City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate that specifies unspent revenue and certain future development plans.

The Maroon: What do you think about the option for developers to pay a fee-in-lieu? Do you have strong opinions on any other aspect of the ordinance?

Johnson, Castillo, and Driver all opposed the fee-in-lieu option. Driver called the option a “loophole,” and has talked about it extensively in past forums.

Castillo said the ARO is “a good idea, that has had horrible implementation” and opposed the fee-in-lieu saying, “it furthers helps the displacement of residents in poor, working-class, Black and Latinx areas of the city.”

Johnson said that the importance of the ARO wasn’t only rooted in housing availability, but in a variety of locations to prevent de facto segregation. “[The ARO] isn’t just [about]

the number of units. It’s [about] spreading such units out across the city, as opposed to their overconcentration in certain mostly Black and Latino communities,” she said.

Hodari did not explicitly mention getting rid of the feein-lieu option. She noted in her answer that there has been an increase in the fee-in-lieu that came with the 2015 ARO update.

Hodari discussed other ways she believes affordable housing legislation could be improved, including changing rent accommodations and accounting for larger families.

She believes affordable housing should accommodate households with earnings at 30 percent of area median income, because most current affordable rents are set at 60 percent or 80 percent of area median income.

She added that she would want to examine “whether we are creating a variety of unit sizes to accommodate larger families with earnings at 30 percent, 50 percent, or 60 percent of area median income.”

“I am interested in researching options for creating new affordable units for large families in close proximity, when a new development only offers studios, one-bedrooms, and two bedrooms,” she said.

The Maroon: Do you support the proposed Homes for All ordinance? If you do support the Homes for All Ordinance, what plans do you have to help ensure the passage of this ordinance by City Council?

Johnson, Castillo, and Driver voiced support for the HFA ordinance.

Hodari did not explicitly say whether or not she supports the HFA ordinance, which would in effect increase accountability pressures for the CHA. CONTINUED ON PG. 7

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

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Crossing the Color Line: A History of Early Dorm Integration

BY JASON LALLJEE News Editor

The University of Chicago was one of the first American universities to accept students of all races. However, while Black students were always able to enroll in the University, they did not always receive equal treatment in housing and residential life.

By 1943, at least 45 Black students had earned Ph.D. degrees from the University—more than any other university in the country. Between 1896 and 1911, 12 Black students attended the school as undergraduates, including Georgiana Simpson (A.B. 1911, Ph.D. 1921), who was memorialized in 2017 with a bust in Reynolds Club. Other Black undergraduates during this period included Richard Robert Wright, Jr. (A.B. 1901) and Cecilia Johnson (A.B. 1906).

These three students’ individual experiences with the housing system shed light on the complex history of an institution that was in some ways inclusive but often deeply biased.

Richard Wright, Jr. and Dormitory Life Richard Robert Wright, Jr., who received a Bachelor of Arts in Divinity in 1901 and a Master’s in Biblical Languages in 1904, gives an account of his life as a Black student in the dormitories in his autobiography, 87 Years Behind the Black Curtain.

A resident in the former North Divinity Hall, Wright describes his surprise at having a “white man make my bed, call me ‘Mr.’ and tell me to call him by his first name, abbreviated at that,” referring to a custodian named Dan whom he quickly befriended.

He describes his experience at the University as mostly de-

void of “outright” racism save for an initial encounter at his dorm, but allows that he “didn’t spend that much time doing [extracurricular] activities.”

“I had written from Savannah for a room and sent the money, secured the assignment, and moved in as soon as I arrived on the campus” he writes of that initial encounter. “But another student had occupied the room and had taken for granted that he would have it for the summer quarter. When he returned and found me in the room, he protested to Dan. But Dan had already begun to like me, and told me before I saw the man, ‘stand up for your rights. It’s your room.’”

Wright describes the student as trying to have the registrar “dispossess” him, to no avail; “he called some students to protest that a Negro was in the dormitory…. He got a little encouragement…. Dan advised me to see the business office which I did; there the matter ended.”

Wright also describes discovering from a Divinity School directory that another student from his hometown of Augusta was attending the University, and an encounter in which the student—whom he leaves unnamed—pretends to have never been to Augusta.

He describes a friend as saying to him, “he’s from Augusta all right, and from Ms. Laney’s school, but he is passing for white now…the next week he left and I never saw or heard of him since, except that he was married to a white woman, had two children, and had been a pastor of a white Baptist Church.”

Although Wright describes his experiences at the school as mostly positive, he allows for the way that his time in Germany shifted his perspective in hindsight. “Studying [abroad] was ‘epoch-making’ in my life….

I never knew that I [had] walked about a foot behind my white companions, all unconsciously. Germany cured that and I learned to walk abreast.”

Cecilia Johnson and the Color Line “COLOR LINE RENDS U OF C SORORITY,” reads an article published in a July 1907 edition of the Chicago Tribune. “Cecilia Johnson, Star Student & Popular, Proves to Be the Sister of Negro Gambler.”

The Tribune article, published on the tip of a fellow student who worked as a correspondent for the paper, accused then-graduate student Cecilia Johnson of trying to pass as a white student in order to join a sorority.

The caustic Tribune article describes Johnson, a member of Pi Delta Phi, as “received into a secret society, made a belle at the proms and dances…[and] found to be a mulatto.”

Media coverage that followed in the Tribune, the Chicago Inter-Ocean, and other publications, however, featured interviews from Johnson’s classmates that challenged the notion that Johnson ever tried to “pass.”

“Miss Johnson’s friends in the University of Chicago were not ignorant she was of [African-American] blood,” stated a later Tribune article. “She made no attempt to conceal this fact.

She is loyal to her race and to her kin. She went into university life with only her own character, energy, and brains behind her. She made her way unaided by any outside influences. Her friends are proud… she won the highest honors as a student.”

The Tribune posted a retraction two days after their initial article formally apologizing to Johnson, offering “a public apology to Miss Johnson and its

A July 1907 issue of the Chicago Tribune. courtesy of special collections research center

readers…[regretting] additionally that this apology makes it necessary to revive even by suggestion further publicity into the young woman’s affairs.”

Although not directly related to her presence in campus housing, Johnson’s integration of the sorority and the scandal that followed caused her to depart campus; she did not return for almost a decade, completing her Master’s in Education in 1920.

As Ferdinand L. Darnell, one of her classmates, told the Tribune, “I have known Miss Johnson for a long time and this affair will nearly break her heart.”

Georgiana Simpson and De Facto Segregation Within Dorms

Georgiana Simpson was one of the first Black women to earn a doctorate in the United States.

Like Johnson, however, her education was disrupted by a controversy over her race.

In campus housing, Simpson was the subject of significant racism, becoming the center of debates about where Black students should be housed in both 1907 and in 1920–21.

As an undergraduate, Simpson chose to live in Green Hall—a women’s dormitory at the time—but her arrival provoked indignation from several white, southern women students who campaigned for her removal, CONTINUED ON PG. 7

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

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Notable Alums’ Stories Highlight the Difficulties Early Black Students Faced CONTINUED FROM PG. 6

five of whom moved out of the dormitory in protest.

Sophonisba Breckenridge, who was at the time the head of Green Residence Hall and secretary to Marion Talbot, Dean of Women, made the decision to let Simpson stay in the dorms, a move that was overruled by then-President Harry Pratt Judson, who had Simpson find residence off campus. This established the informal policy that Black students could not live on campus, which lasted until the 1920s.

Cecelia Woolley, founder of the Frederick Douglass Woman’s Club—one of the first interracial women’s clubs in Chicago—sent a letter to Judson condemning his action to remove Simpson, writing that, “the case of Miss Simpson…who upon your demand gave up her room there and sought quarters outside the campus, is one which has aroused deep interest and concern in and out of university circles…. We understand that your action in this matter was based upon the consideration of the feelings of southern students.

We respectfully submit that nearly every colored young man and woman seeking the benefits of your institution is a ‘southern’ student, whose rights and feelings deserve equal consideration with your white students.”

Through a combination of summer and correspondence courses, Simpson managed to earn her bachelor’s degree in German in 1911, returning later to complete her Ph.D. in Germanic philology.

outlast his tenure.

Breckenridge and Talbot were among several activist administrators who tried to advance the cause of integration, in housing as well as academically.

Judson’s successor, President Ernest DeWitt Burton, was receptive to these efforts; during his administration, which began in 1923, the University formed committees to develop a policy on housing, ultimately deciding to admit Black students into dorms.

Since that decision, students of all races have lived together in the dorms. However, integration is no guarantee against racism. Some students of color say they continue to face microaggressions and marginalization in housing life. The history of residential life at the University—one that includes informal segregation and eventual active integration—provides context for today’s dialogue on race in housing.

CONTINUED FROM PG. 5

Hodari noted that the CHA’s ability to create more affordable housing units is limited by the challenge of securing public financing, especially given rising construction costs due to “robust construction activities in the central business district and adjacent neighborhoods.”

Vacant Lots The Large Lots Program was introduced in 2014 by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to sell many of the city’s 30,000-plus vacant lots. The program allows property owners to buy vacant lots that lie on the same block as their current property for one dollar. According to the Large Lots website, the program has helped sell 1,248 lots since its inception. Many have criticized the program as benefiting developers who own properties on blocks with vacant lots, and

hurting community spaces like urban gardens.

THE MAROON: Do you think that vacant lots are a large issue in the 20th Ward, and why? If so, how would you address the issue of vacant lots?

Each candidate cited vacant lots as a large issue in the 20th Ward.

Castillo outlined how she plans to repurpose vacant lots.

“These vacant areas can and should be used for housing especially but also community gardens, play lots, and other facilities to enrich the community. Even though I do have some ideas I would want to ask that direct community what they want to see come to their community and work with them to get it,” she said.

City elections will take place on February 26.

Class Is Cancelled

BY CALEB SUSSMAN News Reporter

After Simpson, a Movement Toward Inclusive Housing Judson’s policy of housing segregation faced considerable pushback from the University community, and did not long

Aldermanic Candidates Weigh In on Housing

Coverage of Cecilia Johnson in a July 1907 issue of the Chicago Tribune. courtesy of special collections research center

The University has canceled all classes and non-essential activities for Wednesday due to extreme weather, administrators announced in an e-mail sent Monday afternoon.

The National Weather Service expects temperatures to drop on Wednesday to at least 20 degrees below zero with a wind chill of at least 50 degrees below between 4 and 9 a.m.

Despite closing the Laboratory Schools and the four campuses of the University of Chicago Charter Schools for both Tuesday and Wednesday, the University did not elect to cancel classes on Tuesday or Thursday, despite similarly cold weather predictions.

All essential services and residential facilities—including dining and residence halls, the University Medical Center, safety personnel, the Student Health Service, and the Student Counseling Service—will remain open. University Transportation and Shuttle buses will continue to operate Wednesday unless the weather makes this hazardous.

All library facilities and eateries, Ratner Athletics Center, Henry Crown Field House, Ida Noyes, and Reynolds Club will be shuttered on Wednesday. University Security Personnel, while present, will not be stationed outdoors.

A representative from Alpha Delta Phi confirmed Bar Night will be cancelled.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

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Security Officers Removed From Outdoor Posts, As Campus Hunkers Down

camelia malkami

BY LEE HARRIS News Editor

Security officers normally stationed at street-corner “blue light” emergency phones will not stand at their posts on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, as temperatures were forecasted to drop to 18 degrees below zero or lower.

Officers are currently expected to return to their outdoor posts Thursday night—despite a currently forecasted high of negative 1 degree Fahrenheit —according to the extreme weather plan provided to The Maroon by Allied Universal, the University’s security subcontractor.

Barbara Moreno, Allied Universal’s vice president of marketing, outlined the security contractor’s cold weather plan, which is staggered according to the severity of the cold and windchill.

When temperatures fall beneath 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) provides patrol car access to the security officers, with hourly 10-minute warming breaks and designated warming locations, Moreno’s statement ex-

plains. At 15 degrees or below, the “intermediate cold weather plan” is put into effect: The number of exterior security posts is reduced to a total of 28 posts. Shifts last from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., and additional personnel are deployed to provide supplementary warming breaks.

If temperatures (and/or wind chill) drop below five degrees, the “full cold weather plan” is activated: The number of posts is further reduced to 15, and two officers are assigned to each post—the officers switch off every hour, with one officer standing post while the other warms up indoors.

Finally, if temperatures (and/ or wind chill) drop beneath negative 15 degrees—as is expected on Wednesday—all Allied Universal outdoor post coverage is suspended.

Security officers do not receive overtime pay or other compensation for working in the extreme conditions, two officers who asked to remain anonymous told The Maroon. Allied Universal did not respond to a request for confirmation by the time of this story’s publication.

Moreno also noted that on-site management monitors weather conditions, and added in a follow-up statement that Allied Universal provides an insulated “high visibility parka” as well as “cold weather equipment (Such as hats, gloves, neck gaiters, and hand warmers) to officers upon request.”

The Maroon asked the University why the threshold for suspending outdoor guard posts is set at negative 15 degrees—a temperature that is rarely met, and approaches historical levels of cold.

Spokesperson Marielle Sainvilus did not respond, but directed The Maroon to the University’s official statement on the cancellation.

Nick Desideri, a spokesperson for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1, which represents the security officers, told The Maroon in a statement that “SEIU Local 1 [is] in daily communication with Allied Universal to ensure all security officers remain safe in inclement weather.”

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

9

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VIEWPOINTS

How to Find a New Home Without Leaving House Culture Apartments Within Dorms Are an Occasionally Challenging but Underrated Housing Option for Upperclassmen

NATALIE DENBY

Around this time every year, a mass migration begins to kick into gear, as secondand third-years prepare to move out of housing and into apartments. You can already hear people hatching their initial plans; finding roommates, locations, and landlords; and indulging in unrealistic day-

dreams. Apparently, everyone will stay very involved in their houses and consistently find the time to make good meals.

I never really understood the rush to move into apartments. Between the extra chores, distance from campus, and loss of house culture, it seemed like an unpleasant

trade-off. So I wasn’t exactly outraged by the University’s plans to expand the housing requirement, or by news of the new megadorm. I would have been perfectly fine staying in a traditional dorm on campus, but I felt compelled to make a small concession to all the enthusiasm around “growing up” (and a strong desire to escape the horrors of public bathrooms).

I moved into one of the apartments on campus. Of course, my apartment’s not a

“real” one. I don’t have to put up with nagging landlords, my apartment’s quite literally in a dorm, and there’s easy access to all the amenities that go with it: a mostly functional laundry room, the nearby cafeteria, constant study breaks, house events, and more. While helping set up my room, my judgmental sister declared that “apartment” was a misnomer; as she put it, it’s just “a dorm room with an oven.” That’s why I thought it wouldn’t be difficult to maintain the

faux-apartment like an independent, responsible adult.

What I’ve actually discovered is that “independence,” in this context, is a euphemism for totally unchecked negligence. Cooking healthy or at least borderline adequate meals? Please—the only groceries I remember to consistently stock my kitchen with are jumbo-sized jars of Nutella and peanut butter (necessities, right?). In my defense, thorough grocery shopping is CONTINUED ON PG. 10

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“You get to preserve that community in an apartment setting” CONTINUED FROM PG. 9

next to impossible when the only “grocery store” in reasonable walking distance is the Midway Market. The fact that there’s no dishwasher—which seemed like a non-issue at first—is now borderline apocalyptic; the mountain of dishes in the sink threatens to become a permanent geographical feature. And I’m trying not to be too distressed by the number of times our trash can has simply vanished into thin air, only to reappear in a slightly different color and/or size.

I’ve drawn some comfort from the realization that I’m definitely not alone, although I imagine this isn’t very comforting for my forbearing

roommates. While some of our apartment-bound classmates have managed to keep things reasonably orderly, others might as well be auditioning for some voyeuristic home makeover show.

If this apartment experience has, in some respects, been a catastrophe, it’s been fantastic in others. Yes, what passes for meals in my apartment would give a nutritionist an aneurysm, but it still qualifies as learning something: I can now ruin dozens of recipes in dozens of unique, wholly unexpected ways. If that’s not an enticing skill set, I don’t know what is. Being in a quasi-apartment is useful even for the grander, more ephem-

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eral things people look for in apartments: a sense of personal space, some notion of responsibility for that space, even a sense of ownership, albeit a limited one. Those are the kinds of skills and instructive misfires most people rightly want to learn before they graduate. And of course, I can’t overstate the value of escaping the hell that is the “community kitchen.”

But perhaps one of the most appealing characteristics of the dorm apartments is that you get to hang on to house culture.

While plenty of students sign

up to be house associates when they move off campus, it’s still easy to lose the sense of community you get from actually living in a dorm—most of the house associates I know drift away from their house culture pretty quickly, often because they’re further away from their houses. That’s part of what makes the dorm apartments so nice. You get to preserve that community in an apartment setting. The University may be onto something when it tries to foster those house communities, even if some of its methods, like requiring

students to remain in dorms for two years, seem disagreeable.

But it should be cognizant of the fact that students outgrow traditional dorm arrangements pretty quickly. Expanding the in-house apartments may be a way to encourage more students to stay in housing without disregarding those preferences. Just lock down the trash cans and stock up on the Nutella.

Natalie Denby is a fourthyear in the College.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

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Two-Year Requirement Won’t Make Housing Better The University Should Aim to Have Students Choose to Stay

BY MAROON EDITORIAL BOARD Dean John Boyer announced in the fall that students entering the Class of 2023 would be required to stay in housing for their first two years. Boyer made the case for this change in an e-mail, writing: “We believe that living, studying and socializing in our housing communities has a deeply positive impact on student intellectual engagement and well-being....

The two-year residential requirement will give students deeper ties to this supportive environment and the resources it provides.”

It does not follow that forcing students to remain in housing against their wishes will give them “deeper ties to this supportive environment.” If the University is serious about improving the housing experience, it must instead take steps to create a housing system that students will choose to stay involved with.

The introduction of a twoyear requirement isn’t a surprise: Boyer released an essay in 2008 which laid out plans to have 70 percent of students live in “high-quality College housing within easy walking distance of campus.” While advocating for the construction of newer dorms as a strategy to retain more upperclassmen, he does not acknowledge the myriad reasons a student might decide to move off.

Affordability ranks first among these reasons. Housing must be less expensive if Boyer expects students to stay on campus. First-year students, whose housing costs are fixed, currently pay $16,350 for a year of room and board, which works

out to about $1,816 per month for the academic year. After the first year in housing, it is possible for students to make modest savings in their on-campus housing costs by choosing to live in shared rooms and purchasing a limited meal plan.

Even so, the lowest possible price is a whopping $1,712 per month.

Renting off-campus is almost always a better deal. Students can rent a private room in an apartment for under $800 a month. Many studios go for just over $1,000—the same price students pay to share a double with communal bathrooms.

A student who does their own cooking will almost certainly spend far less than $725 on groceries each month, the price for an unlimited meal plan.

The two-year requirement also ignores a huge group of students: Those who just don’t want to live in the dorms.

For countless reasons, second-years may decide that dorm life isn’t right for them.

They may have had a tumultuous relationship with their Resident Head, faced racism or sexism from housemates, had to live in the vicinity of their sexual assailant, or simply decided they would prefer more privacy and independence. It is cruel to force these students, who may be much happier living off-campus, to stick it out for an extra year. Housing is best when a group of people actively want to be there: Holding students hostage will do little to improve their college experience, or anyone else’s.

If the University truly intends to create deeper ties to house culture, it must provide more options and support for those students who do not feel

alvin shi

welcome in their randomly assigned dorm. Easy access to room switching is the first step.

Currently, if a student wishes to leave their dorm, they must either get “pulled in” to another house by a friend, or put their name on a general waitlist. Students on the list must wait until spots open up, and then decide within 48 hours if they want to move into the new room.

Rather than focusing on housing as the sole mechanism for supporting students, the University should consider other options. For instance, UChicago United has advocated for

cultural centers which would support students of color, an initiative that could be especially helpful for those facing discrimination in housing.

Rather than force students to bond with their housemates, the University could make efforts to ensure every student has access to supportive groups and resources, not all of which need be through housing.

Housing can be a nurturing environment for a young college student, but it isn’t for everyone. As students are required to stay in the dorms for twice as long, the University must fo-

cus on making housing cheaper and more adaptable. Students who are unhappy in their house must have ample opportunity to switch. The administration should also focus resources on providing support systems for all students, and especially students of color, rather than just those who live in the dorms. If the University wants housing to have a “deeply positive impact on student intellectual engagement and well-being,” it is essential they make the dorms a place in which students truly want to stay.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

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Centralize, Centralize: The Rise and Fall of the Satellite Dorms Stony Island’s Closure Heralds the End of Half-Century Satellite Dorm Era

BY GUS CARPENTER Grey City Reporter

The story begins at an end.

On a brisk November Sunday, one of those days when thoughts of transferring to a Southern school abound as the wind draws tears from students walking down 57th Street, the residents of Stony Island Hall gathered into a small common room and were informed by a Housing and Residence Life representative that Stony was to close following the 2019–20 academic year.

To say the least, the decision was unpopular. From newly arrived first-years who had only made Stony their home a few months before, to Stony Island veterans for whom the hall was their entire college experience, most students were not enthralled to hear that their house was in its penultimate year.

Many were simply sad to lose what had become a home away from home. Others accused the representatives of closing Stony in order to pack as many students as possible into “megadorms” to maximize profit.

Stony Island is the last of the “satellite dorms” at UChicago, once a group of eight residence halls defined by their distance to campus and relatively smaller size. The first satellite dorm to go was Shoreland Hall, which closed prior to the start of the 2009–10 school year after the completion of Renee Granville-Grossman Residential

Commons (South). Shoreland was followed by Pierce Tower, which was demolished in 2013 to make way for Campus North.

The remaining satellites (Blackstone, Breckinridge, Broadview, Maclean, and New Graduate) were shut down in 2016 after North’s completion.

The outcry over Stony Island’s closure mirrors students’ past resistance to the closing of the other satellite dorms. In 2015, residents of the closing halls formed a group called “Save our Satellites,” or “SOS,” which aimed to preserve the names of the houses within the closing dorms after they emigrated to North. Other than Breckinridge, now part of International House, the closing houses had their names “retired” after their move to North, and replaced by the names of prominent UChicago donors.

For many of the newly defunct houses, the buildings in which they were located were an integral part of house culture.

When asked what made Maclean House unique in an interview with The Maroon in 2015, then-second-year Harper Graf (A.B. ’18) answered, laughing, “How much time have you got, really?” After each year, the residents of Maclean used to paint a quote on the wall of a common space or hallway. With every corner of the residence tagged by some truism, proverb, or literary excerpt, residents could navigate the building by quota-

Pierce Hall in the 1960s, during its construction. courtesy of the university of chicago archives tion. A common space displayed an Arab proverb, “He who eats alone chokes alone,” alongside a universal law of bacon dynamics: “In the history of breakfast, there has never been leftover bacon.” In one hallway, a nugget of wisdom on brown bears from Dwight Schrute of The Office was shown alongside the dying words of the ninth President of the United States, William Henry Harrison, “Make sure the government runs good.”

For their residents, one the

satellites’ most salient features was the long hauls to get to class each morning. However, some Stony Island residents describe the long walk to campus as a benefit, not a drawback. Former Stony Islander Josh McKie moved to North this year to room with friends, but misses the long walk to campus. “At Stony, I felt like I was living in the real world. The 15-minute walk meant my day was over, but at North, I’m still at school,” he remarked. “Stony was a home

way more than North is.”

Recent alum Delon Lier (A.B. ’18) of Broadview House said the daily pilgrimage to campus ended up shaping his social life.

“House culture [in Broadview] is connected to the distance—you spend more time with people in the dorm, you can’t just run to the library whenever. Living far away makes it feel like coming to an actual home, more like family. You’re CONTINUED ON PG. 13

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

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Boyer pictured “clearly substandard buildings” giving way to “denser” housing

The proposed “Student Village.” The University scrapped these plans in favor of satellite dorms. courtesy of the university of chicago archives CONTINUED FROM PG. 12

forced to be with people and you love them,” Lier said.

Broadview House was even further from campus than Stony Island is. Living a mere two blocks from Lake Michigan meant that Broadview residents faced an approximately 20-minute commute.

As important to the satellite dorms’ identities were the people who lived there. Because earlier enrollment deposit meant higher housing priority (a policy that will not be returning next year), satellite residents skewed heavy on students accepted off the waitlist, accepted students waiting to hear back from other schools on financial aid packages, and that odd pocket of students who abstained from betting on the North-South-Max trifecta on their housing forms.

Kassim Husain was interviewed by The Maroon in 2015 as a second-year resident of Broadview. “I deposited April 29. Everyone else here deposited relatively late, and that’s why we’re here. But the awesome thing about that, the general personality of the people who deposit late are just a chill group who have had to wait, this solid group of people you can relate to immensely. [For that reason],

this is still a dorm that I would pick over and over,” he said.

In his 2009 essay “The Kind of University that We Desire to Become: Student Housing and the Educational Mission of the University of Chicago,” Dean of the College John Boyer bemoaned the state of university housing, which he said did not meet the standards of similar schools on the East Coast.

“Our academic peers offer a much denser and more engaging residential experience than we do,” Boyer wrote. “We house only 56 percent of our students on campus, including students housed in what are clearly substandard buildings, and this number will not change when the new building south of Burton-Judson Courts opens; that facility will do no more than replace the loss of Shoreland Hall.

By contrast, Yale and Brown house 88 percent and 85 percent of their students, and the percentages are well into the nineties at Columbia, Princeton, and Harvard.”

Contrary to Dean Boyer’s claims, the “substandard buildings” that housed the satellite dorms were a boon to boosting the retention rates in university-run housing. According to former Maclean R.A. Hadi

Iskandarani, “We had about 75 percent of our residents staying, not accounting for students graduating.” Maclean, a bona-fide “substandard building” boasted a supra-standard retention rate, higher than most other on-campus dorms.

Some residents of the closed halls also relished the buildings’ relative shabbiness. For instance, the elevator at Blackstone Hall was described by one student as “an old freight elevator so you have to manually open two doors [one of which is a metal grate]. Sometimes it stops in between floors.”

“The elevator is one of the best things in Blackstone,” said another student. “It makes people who don’t live there so uncomfortable and I love it. It jolts a lot.”

Of course, nostalgia is an easy option now that the drawbacks of the satellite dorms are no longer an issue. The satellites’ eulogies are quick to include how house culture was stronger, how friendships lasted longer, or how the decrepitude of the satellite buildings was actually an advantage. But through the rose-colored glasses certain details get filtered out.

In its last years, Pierce Hall had frequent power, elevator,

and water outages, decaying furniture, and broken pipes. In February 2012, toilets began to explode when flushed. In recompense, the University granted the three houses of Pierce Tower (Shorey, Thompson, and Henderson) each $25,000, and gave each resident of Pierce $500 to spend at the bookstore, which quickly became known as “toilet money” on campus.

Another element of transplanting houses into new dorms is changing their names to reflect current donors to the University, though sometimes at the expense of namesakes that are worth remembering.

Among these is Alice Freeman Palmer. Palmer was the first Dean of Women at UChicago, and had previously served as the President of Wellesley College, making her the first woman to be elected president of a college in America (at 27 years old, she was also the youngest Wellesley faculty member at the time).

An ardent advocate for gender equality in education, Palmer eventually resigned in protest of her male colleagues’ contempt for her beliefs.

Another namesake was Marion Talbot, the second Dean of Women and champion of women’s rights in education. So-

phonisba Breckinridge, whose name remains on Breckinridge House, was the first female graduate of the Law School, the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in political science and economics at UChicago, and the first woman to hold a prestigious named professorship. She also fought for the racial integration of student housing, an unthinkable notion for many of her 1928 contemporaries.

The houses named for these women were physical reminders of an important part of the University’s history. The University of Chicago has accepted women since its 1890 inception, a time when many of its peer institutions turned them away.

Not to be outdone, the brutalist, 1960s-era Pierce Tower, which was often described as a “fortress” was named in honor of Stanley “Schnitz” Pierce. In his will, Pierce left the University the combination to a safe.

On opening the safe, lawyers were surprised to find a shovel, and vague directions to dig in the dead man’s backyard, where they were to find a total of $200,000 in antique gold coins.

The names of houses, and more broadly the nature of housing itself, has long served as the CONTINUED ON PG. 14

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“The realization of a dream that this University has had for a century” CONTINUED FROM PG. 13

backdrop for larger-scale questions about what kind of university UChicago is, and the kind of university it wants to be.

The renaissance in residential life that started in 2001 with the opening of Max Palevsky Residential Commons and continues on today as Woodlawn Commons nears completion is not the University’s first attempt to revamp its housing. The first occurred in the 1920s, when the number of undergraduate applications was on the rise and the University was flush with cash.

In a plan that cited Yale’s Harkness Tower and Memorial Quadrangle as inspiration, acting president Frederic Woodward proposed the first megadorm, which would house 1,400 students south of the Midway.

William Dodd, worried that the school was shifting unhealthily toward “vita excolatur” and skimping on the “crescat scientia,” used his influence as chair of the committee seeking Woodward’s successor to veto the plan. He too cited peer institutions, but not in the same spirit as Woodward.

“Let undergraduate loafers go anywhere else, especially to Yale and Harvard where swaggy manners and curious accents can be learned easily,” he said. “Real students should be appealed to and then genuine offerings be easily available.”

For Dodd, a more comfortable and centralized residential plan undermined the University’s ideal of a rigorous education.

In the end, only Burton-Judson Courts was built.

Whereas the ’20s push for more extensive housing was born of a desire to compete with universities on the East Coast, Chicago’s second crack at residential renewal was a defensive move. By the 1960s, the demand for on-campus housing had drastically changed since 1928, when 60 percent of the student

Construction on the Woodlawn Residential Commons is proceeding rapidly. pete grieve body were Chicago natives who lived at home and commuted to school. In his essay, Boyer discusses how the G.I. bill enabled more veterans to pay college tuition, raising the matriculation rate, and how more and more students came to the University from further away. All of the new students needed housing, leaving the school with its back against the wall to meet the demand.

A plan published in 1960 promised a “student village” on 56th and Ellis, near the future site of Campus North. The 800bed complex would come complete with athletic facilities, theaters, swimming pools, and roof gardens. But due to the proposed village’s $23.8 million price tag, the plan was eventually deemed unfeasible. The only building to come out of the ’60s was Pierce Tower. Housing demands continued to outstrip the number of available beds, forcing the University to retract its policy that each undergraduate live on campus for two years in 1964 (this policy is to be resurrected for the incoming class of 2023 after its 55-year hiatus).

The satellite dormitories were born of an increasingly dire housing shortage and an equally dire lack of funds. According to Dean Boyer in his 2009 essay, the satellite dorm plan “was less a consistent strategy than a series of ad hoc attempts to stay ahead of student demand by incrementally purchasing old buildings that had fallen upon hard times and converting them to student use.”

The University turned to neighborhood buildings to supplement its housing stock, starting with the purchase of Broadview Hall and the renovation of Blackstone in 1966, and ending with the construction of Stony Island Hall in 1988. In his essay, Boyer also takes note of the “perceived need to stabilize our environs—which essentially meant that we were using undergraduates to help protect the neighborhood.” In other words, putting students in property around Hyde Park helped to distance the neighborhood’s increasing Black population from campus.

University denizens were as angry to see the satellite dorms open as they were to see them

close decades later. One parent (who happened to be dean of the Yale Law School) expressed his indignation at the state of his son’s lodgings. “My son was housed in a well-designed modern dormitory at Chicago, Pierce Tower, which I regard as an educational abomination. He and a roommate shared a room about the size of my Yale bedroom, or a steerage statement on an old Cunard liner. They were expected to sleep, study and entertain in that room. Of course, they couldn’t.” The irony from the 21st-century point of view is, of course, the similar outrage that accompanied the satellite dorms’ closure 15 years later.

Rather than an emblem of “otherness” at UChicago, physical proof that the University didn’t care to attract the “swaggy mannered,” “curious accented” loafers who attended Yale and Harvard, the satellite dorms were a detour on a path toward more centralized housing schemes similar to those of peer institutions. The addition of Max Palevsky, Renee Granville-Grossman, Campus North, and Woodlawn Com-

mons (which will house 1,200 students, the largest dorm to date), marks the realization of a dream this University has had for a century.

The policies of other elite academic institutions have had a significant influence on this dream. The 1928 plans to expand came with copies of the Yale quadrangle blueprint attached.

In Dean Boyer’s 100-page essay on housing from 2009, Yale has over 30 mentions.

Such frequent comparisons only seem to exacerbate the feeling that with the move to megadorms, the school is losing some fundamental, indescribable notion of “UChicagoness” to conformity. First-year Ruby Rorty described this feeling in a Maroon op-ed titled “The Problem with Mimicking Harvard”: “I was certainly drawn to UChicago’s self-portrait as an oddball among elite schools, and I would be sad to see that character diluted through mimicry,” she wrote.

Though the satellites will be missed for their non-functioning elevators and million-mile walks to campus, for their fiercely loyal house culture, for the figures after whom they were named, for all their quirks and imperfections, next spring Woodlawn Commons will open, bringing with it its own array of benefits to the UChicago community.

Its residents will have the convenience of an in-house dining hall, and the privilege of living in a brand-new building. It will provide jobs for local South Side residents, in step with the University’s promise to hire 50 percent local workers.

Before Maclean Hall was sold as apartments, its walls painted over, there was a T. S. Eliot quote in one hallway that read: “April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.” Such seems to be the state of housing at UChicago.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

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ARTS

Student Shreya Preeti On New EP

BY LAUREN CHEN Arts Reporter

When I first heard Shreya Preeti’s track “Junkyard,” there was no escaping the ecstasy of the tune nor the deep honesty embedded in the song’s lyrics.

The urgency to be heard was evident in Preeti’s voice. The consistency of themes like vulnerability, love, and suffering found in Preeti’s “Junkyard” characterize her entire EP, Encore. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Preeti to learn more about the making of Encore.

Along with being a musician, Shreya Preeti is in her second and last year at UChicago’s School of Social Service Administration, working to obtain a masters in social work in June. If there’s anything that has stayed close to Preeti’s heart for a long time, it’s music. “I have been doing music for most of my childhood. I started doing classical Indian voice lessons when I was in second or third grade.”

Before coming to UChicago, Preeti was a part of several musical choirs and ensembles in high school. She ventured into a cappella and solo singing while attending the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities as an undergraduate, noting that during her final year in college, she started exploring a solo career in music. Her boyfriend’s band helped with the production and instrumentals in her music. In May 2017, she released her first EP, right before graduating college.

“This was a pivotal point in solidifying that I was doing this,” she said.

Preeti draws inspirations from artists like Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Whitney Houston, John Mayer, Shawn Mendes, and

courtesy of shreya preeti

Charlie Puth. “They’ve allowed themselves to experiment with their sounds and land on something that is unique but so listenable—very ear candy. This is kind of my goal: to make music not normally heard by the mass but still digestible.”

Preeti specifically classifies herself as an alternative pop artist. “The alternative comes from the background of my music not sounding like what you’d hear in most pop music. It has elements of alternative rock and soul, as well as funk and old school R&B.” Preeti credits alternative pop for giving her the freedom to experiment with different music genres. In Encore, listeners can expect to hear Preeti’s talents as an alternative pop artist come out.

“Encore is a surprising twist

to what pop music is,” she describes. “It’s a lot of heavy vocally layered music along with lighter songs…. Expect to digest what’s on here but also hear something different from other music.”

In sharing her insights on making Encore, she emphasized the role of music in her life as a way to understand and cope with her lived experiences. “The things I wrote for this EP were the result of the past year and a half of my life—moving to Chicago and coming to peace that I wasn’t pursuing music full time so I could do graduate school for two years.” In Encore, there are tracks where Preeti expresses her initial discomfort about moving out of her home state that touch on themes like adulthood and loneliness.

Preeti acknowledges that

while she has put a pause on her music career, she has the privilege of pursuing impactful work in her current job as a therapist intern. “I’ve been able to write about things that I don’t think I would be able to understand had I just followed my music right after college…. Coming here, I’ve been able to experience these glimpses of adulthood and realize people are going through things you don’t even know they’re going through.”

As an Indian-American woman in the music industry, Preeti hopes to be recognized less as a token for her race in music and more as just a musician.

“I’m doing this and I’m Indian-American, but I don’t want to be put in a category…. I just want to be a musician that represents other people with different ethnicities and nationalities…. Just

normalize everyone.”

She underscores her desire for her music to make people feel connected to themselves and able to engage with the realities of life through her sound. This desire continues to motivate and inspire Preeti’s songwriting and purpose in music.

“This is a field you do knowing you can’t see yourself doing anything else…. I can’t see myself doing anything else….

Even though I find satisfaction in social work, I just can’t imagine myself not doing music as a career.”

Encore was released on November 14, 2018, and is available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play Music, and other music services.

Listeners can find Preeti on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

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SSA Professor Eve Ewing Discusses Racial Dynamics in Education System

BY JOSH VILLERS Arts Reporter

“Never at any moment in the history of this country have we had equitable schooling opportunities,” says Eve Ewing, assistant professor of sociology at the UChicago School of Social Service Administration (SSA), to a low clamor of snaps and murmurs of agreement from the audience at Harper Theater.

The professor hosted a film screening and Q&A discussion this past Thursday about the effects of racial dynamics and racism on schooling following a screening of the film American Promise, a 2013 documentary on the divergent experiences of two Black families who enrolled their children in New York City’s private Dalton School. Ewing was joined at the event by Amanda Lewis, a professor of African-American studies and sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

Both Ewing and Lewis have written extensively on the subject of race and schooling. This past October, Ewing published Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side. Lewis authored Race in the Schoolyard: Negotiating the Color Line in Classrooms and Communities, and is the director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at UIC. The screening was a mandatory event for students of the Race and American Public Schools course taught

by Ewing, who provided the first few questions of the evening. One of the topics discussed was a reflection on the attitude and confusion of the school administrators in the film, who were aware of the systemic underperformance of their male black students but confounded by the possible causes. In the popular conception of schooling as being equalizing and non-racial, Lewis pointed out that administrators and educators frequently see the racist social and cultural dynamics which permeate American society as stopping at

courtesy of rada film group

the classroom door; however, “all that gets into our schools,” said Lewis.

Among those dynamics is the frequent “adultification” of young black men in schools. Both speakers pointed out that behavior normally considered acceptable, as “kids being kids,” is frequently treated as less acceptable when coming from young children of color.

Teachers tend to assign a higher degree of adult deliberation and purposefulness to actions coming from young black students.

Additionally, Lewis mentions the concept of a “critical mass” with regard to diversity. The two young subjects of the documentary frequently express misgivings and insecurity about how there were few other black students in their grades. “Learning is such a social endeavor,” says Lewis, and the social pressures and anxieties that come with feeling like one of the sole representatives of your group are not without negative impact on academic performance.

In terms of larger, higher level pro-

cesses that cause racial disparities in schooling, Ewing and Lewis both point to the concept of “opportunity hoarding.” As opposed to “old” forms of racism—a racism that says “you can’t” in the form of segregation, legal prohibition, and so on—newer forms of racism can manifest in white parents’ constant pleas on behalf of their own kids’ academic opportunity. It’s an attitude of, “I’m not trying to keep you out, I’m just trying to keep what I have,” said Ewing. Lewis pointed to the fact that most majority-minority (Black, Latinx) schools have far fewer resources, and so their communities must put in a much more concentrated effort for access to better schooling.

One of the families depicted in the documentary chose to send their child to an exclusive private school partially because their local public school was considered underperforming among the New York City school district.

“How do we think about system change?” an audience member asked.

Ewing was quick to respond that, for one, “Tracking is not good.” Students on higher academic tracks benefit somewhat, but to the detriment of virtually all other students. Lewis pointed to low awareness on school choice.

Many families are unaware of how to even begin to look into putting their students into more selective public schools, both in Chicago and New York.

Ewing also speaks to the need to realize that “so many of these fights are political fights.” Since the 2016 election, Lewis adds, “people are beginning to realize that it’s on them to make things better for all kids.”

The screening and Q&A formed part of Cinema 53’s winter film series, Race and American Schools. The film series was co-curated by Ewing, and its next screening will be Precious Knowledge on February 21.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

17

UBallet: La Esmeralda and the Hunchback of Notre Dame The University of Chicago Balllet performed La Esmeralda and the Hunchback of Notredame this past weekend at the Logan Center for the Arts. photos by adrián mandeville

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

18

SPORTS Is the Cold Ratner Commute Worth It?

BY CAMILLE AGUILAR Sports Editor

The number of rooms equipped with soundproof walls, music stands, and upright pianos across campus dorms is simply unquantifiable. Having been a musician myself, I see that musicians need their practice spaces.

Being a NMRP (non-musical regular person) now, I also see that non-musicians need their quiet hours. While these many music rooms certainly serve the interests of the entire student population, there remains a certain unmet need of a particular sect of the student population.

Upon examination of the Housing and Residence Life website, while almost every dorm has music rooms, only International House officially claims to have a gym for its residents. Living in Granville-Grossman Residential Commons (South), however, I have often heard murmurings of a secret exercise room hidden somewhere within these walls.

With this knowledge, I set about on a quest to find the room. Walking around the basement, I saw signs every which way pointing towards various rooms, including an exercise room. While some signs had blue tape covering the name of my promised land, others did not. Finally, after about half an hour of hitting dead ends and ducking as the pipes above me would randomly make frightening popping or clanging sounds, I drew a conclusion: While a gym may have once existed in South, no one had seen it in years, so I put to rest the rumors of a hidden gem gym somewhere within these walls.

While I still have no definitive count of music rooms across campus, I can confirm that only one exercise room outside of Crown and Ratner exists in on-campus

A plow truck makes its rounds at Ratner Athletics Center shoveling snow. yao xen tan housing.

Having been a resident of International House for a year and South for another, I feel especially equipped to speak on the situation that is the in-housing gyms. Last year, before joining the basketball team, I would often use the International House exercise room.

While the gym offered two options for treadmills, I found only one functional. After working out once with my much more petite friend, we discovered the root of this issue: The second treadmill was only capable of supporting runners under 100 pounds. When I tried, I would lurch with every step as the belt would unceremoniously hit the deck.

If I tired of the treadmill, there was always the step climber without resistance or the static bicycle—which, in my entire year in that dorm, never found an electrical outlet. In terms of the weights, the gym provided two

benches and cast-iron dumbbells ranging from three to 60 pounds.

Unfortunately, both benches were broken and many of the weights between these numbers were mysteriously missing. While the dumbbells aided in a number of exercises, the weighted balls were mostly broken or cracked, wasting away in disuse against the corner of the room. Along this same wall were bars, perfect for pull ups or— if you’re like me—to try once and never again upon realizing how much old metal hurts soft, unchalked hands.

The University, perhaps understanding the importance of offering a gym to those as unfortunately situated as the members of International House, added six new machines to the gym this past week. Upon speaking with second-year I-House resident Cameron Witbeck on these recent additions, he informed me that they indeed added two new ellip-

ticals, two new treadmills and two stationary bikes. With these additions, they removed the aforementioned old machines. Describing the smell, Witback informed me that it hasn’t changed much: “It just smells like it used to, [like] a bunch of plastic gym equipment.”

I would agree, adding that I always felt there were lingering notes of stale body odor and delicate traces of sweaty sock to complement the eau de plastic.

Changing the trajectory of the answer, Witbeck continued, “I really want to emphasize my discontentment with the state of the gym. As it is now, I really only come down here to do cardio. For some reason, people keep stealing the weights and they have yet to be replaced. This basically renders half the gym unusable.” I could not be further in agreement.

While the smell and limitations of the gym were less than desirable, I found that it still beat

the hassle of the daily commute to Ratner. Tonight, for example, to get to Ratner from South, I will slip and slide to the stop in front of Burton-Judson and take the Central shuttle from there. To come back, I will either walk 15 minutes back, walk to Regenstein Library and wait for the South shuttle (which comes very infrequently), or board the Central and get back in a matter of 40 minutes. If this does not sound too laborious to my reader, consider walking in the freezing air with wet clothes or, more commonly, wet hair.

I implore the University to consider the students that must commute from the southeastern corner of campus to the opposite northwestern edge if they desire to get a full workout in. Personally, I have had my fair share of frozen something or others, only to learn that the commute to Ratner is often not worth the time it takes up in my schedule.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

19

Swim & Dive Crushes Calvin and DePauw in Senior Day Tri-Meet

BY AUDREY MASON Sports Editor

This weekend, the UChicago swim and dive teams took on Calvin College and DePauw University at the Senior Day meet, their last meet before the UA A Conference Championships. The Maroons steamrolled both of their competitors, with the men demolishing Calvin 217–60 and DePauw 224– 53, and the women crushing Calvin 201.5–96.5 and DePauw 236–59. UChicago pulled ahead from the beginning and comfortably held the lead throughout the meet, taking home 14 top finishes for the men and 13 for the women.

Before the meet, the team and coaches acknowledged the 12 fourth-years who made it through all four years of tough training and multitudes of 6 a.m. practices: Hannah Eastman, Anna Girlich, Naomy Grand’Pierre, Simone Stover, Nora Sullivan, Daria Wick, Alexander Farrell, Michael LeMay, Keenan Novis, Stephen Park, Michael Todd, and Winston Wang. The seniors have made a huge impact on the team with many successes throughout their time on campus, and the third-years will be looking to live up to their legacy next year.

On both the men’s and women’s sides, five athletes won mul-

tiple individual events. On the men’s team, second-year Keda Song won the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard individual medley, and first-year Nick Ding took both the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly. Thirdyear Lance Culjat captured the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke, and third-year Taye Baldinazzo won the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle. On the diving boards, second-year Joseph Zhao won both the 1-meter and 3-meter events.

On the women’s team, the divers had outstanding performances. First-year Elizabeth Cron was victorious in both the one-meter and 3-meter, breaking the school record on the lat-

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Hammill might swim the longest events offered in NCAA swimming, but she doesn’t let length slow her down in training hard every day. “It was a hard week of training last week so I’m proud of how I and my teammates performed,” she said. “I’m super excited for Conference because I feel like this year has been the best training we’ve had, and we’re all prepared to crush it.”

The UChicago swim and dive teams will continue training hard for the UAA Championships, hosted by UChicago, which will take place February 13–16.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON — JANUARY 30, 2019

20

Tennis Slides into 2019 with Two Crushing Wins

BY MATTHEW LEE Sports Reporter

The University of Chicago’s nationally ranked men’s and women’s tennis squads kicked off their 2019 seasons in a big way with a pair of crushing victories over the Lewis University Flyers at home on Saturday.

Winners for the Maroon men include singles competitors second-years Jeremy Yuan and Alejandro Rodriguez, fourth-year Charlie Pei, and first-years Alex Guzhva and Joshua Xu. The two men’s doubles teams also had themselves a strong weekend: the duo of third-years Ninan Kumar and Erik Kerrigan took a tight 8–7 match via tiebreaker while Pei and Xu dominated their opponents in an 8–2 rout. On the backs of these strong performances, the men’s squad recorded a dominant record of 6–3 this weekend.

Meanwhile, the women’s squad recorded a similarly strong weekend led by a series of strong

singles performances. Third-year Marjorie Antohi, first-years Lauren Park and Nicole Semenov, and second-year Catherine Xu all won straight-set victories. The doubles team of Park and first-year Eugenia Lee also prevailed with a score of 8–4. This, combined with the fact that two matches were won by default, left the women’s team with a 7–2 overall record.

The dominant performance of both Maroon tennis teams this weekend has led to high expectations for the rest of the season: The men’s team is currently ranked third while the women’s is ranked tenth. Both squads hope to continue their success with matches this weekend against Hope College on Saturday, February 2 and UChicago’s perennial rival Kalamazoo College on Sunday, February 3.

This weekend’s victory was also a personal milestone for men’s squad coach Jay Tee, who led the team to his 100th win at UChicago over a seven-season time span.

Third-year Tyler Raclin waits for the serve. uchicago athletics

UPCOMING GAMES SPORT Wrestling Track & Field Men’s Basketball Women’s Basketball

OPPONENT Augustana Windy City invite @ Case Western @ Case Western

DAY Friday Friday Friday Friday

SCOREBOARD TIME 6 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

5 p.m.

7 p.m.

SPORT Men’s Tennis Women’s Tennis Men’s Basketball Women’s Basketball

W/L

OPPONENT

SCORE

W W W W

Lewis Lewis Carnegie Mellon Carnegie Mellon

6–3 7–2 100 – 84 57 – 45