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NEWS: International Students Weigh in on Campus Safety Over a Year After Fatal Shootings

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University Agrees to Settle Lawsuit Over Financial Aid Policies

By JUSTIN WALGREN | Senior News Reporter

The University of Chicago has agreed to settle an antitrust lawsuit that accused the University of conspiring with 16 other highly selective private institutions to limit financial aid packages to students. It is the first institution named in the lawsuit to agree to settle.

The agreement was announced on Wednesday, April 19.

“Plaintiffs and the University of Chicago will now, as quickly as reasonably possible, work to negotiate and finalize a settlement agreement, which plaintiffs would then file with the Court as part of a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement,” said Eric L. Cramer, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, in a statement to the presiding judge.

The lawsuit, filed in January 2022, stemmed from a class action complaint on behalf of alumni from 17 private universities, including Brown, Columbia,

Duke, Northwestern, and Yale. The plaintiffs allege that the defendant universities sought to reduce competition amongst themselves by adopting uniform financial aid policies.

All of the defendants were at one point members of an association known as the 568 Presidents Group. The association is named after Section 568 of the Improving America’s Schools Act, which allowed universities to use the same formula for determining financial aid for all students as long as they adopted need-blind admissions policies.

The University was a member of the 568 Presidents Group from 1998 until 2014. The group was officially dissolved on November 4, 2022, after Congress allowed the Improving America’s Schools Act to expire.

All former members of the 568 Presidents Group awarded financial aid pri-

marily based on need rather than merit. The members met annually to determine a formula for calculating financial need. The result was that students received similar or identical aid packages from most members.

The plaintiffs characterized this arrangement as a “price-fixing cartel.” They contend that the practices of the defendants did not fall under the Section 568 exemption because their admissions policies were not truly need-blind. They claim that nine of the defendants disqualified themselves from the exemption by giving preferential consideration to the children of donors or by considering financial need when admitting students off waitlists. The remaining defendants, including the University, used the same financial need formula as the other defendants, thus implicating themselves in the violation.

The lawsuit alleges that the members of 568 Presidents Group deliber -

ately sought to reduce their financial aid awards while increasing their tuition and living costs. The plaintiffs estimate that 200,000 students may have received reduced aid packages.

In August 2022, the 17 defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case, but the presiding judge denied the motion. Concurrently, the University filed a separate motion to dismiss the individual case against itself, citing its withdrawal from the 568 Presidents Group in 2014. That motion, too, was denied.

The lawsuit represents all UChicago alumni who received financial aid between 2003, the year the University adopted the 568 Presidents Group formula, and 2014, when the University withdrew from the group.

The University and the plaintiffs have not yet negotiated the terms of the settlement agreement. After negotiation, the agreement must be approved by the presiding judge before it may be finalized.

Regenstein Library, Hutchinson Commons Evacuated Following False Police Report of Armed Person

By THE Maroon STAFF

Regenstein Library was evacuated and shelter-in-place orders were put in place across the University after police received a report of an armed person on campus around 7:20 p.m. The alert was rescinded around 8:17 p.m. after police searching the buildings “found no sign of [a] threat.”

Beginning around 7:20 p.m., multiple social media posts appeared claiming

that there was a person with a firearm in the Regenstein Library and that the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) was evacuating the library.

The first cAlert was sent around 7:31 p.m., notifying recipients of “police activity around the area of Regenstein Library.” At 7:39 p.m., the communications division of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) told The Maroon that the incident in

Regenstein Library was “non–bona fide.”

“CPD and [UCPD] immediately searched library facilities while the University issued a cAlert directing individuals to avoid the area,” University Spokesperson Gerald McSwiggan told The Maroon in an emailed statement.

An update from the University sent around 7:51 p.m. clarified that “police received an anonymous report” and that there was “no evidence of a shooting at the time.” The update said that people

should “continue to avoid the area.”

Around 7:56 p.m., The Maroon received reports that police officers carrying rifles also evacuated Hutchinson Commons, located at 1131 East 57th Street. Multiple sources confirmed to The Maroon that Cathey and Woodlawn Dining Commons were placed under a shelter-in-place order. Individuals were not allowed to leave Woodlawn until around 8:30 p.m., after the all-clear was given.

University Releases Common Data Set for First Time

By JUSTIN WALGREN | Senior News Reporter

The University has completed its first ever Common Data Set (CDS) report, an annual survey jointly administered by the College Board, U.S. News and World Report, and Peterson’s and meant to standardize data reporting among colleges and universities. According to University spokesperson Gerald McSwiggan, the University expects to continue completing the survey for future academic years.

As described by the CDS website, the survey’s goal is “to improve the quality and accuracy of information provided to all involved in a student’s transition into higher education, as well as to reduce the reporting burden on data providers.”

The University has previously declined to complete the CDS, making it one of only a handful of elite institutions to do so. Among the nation’s top 20 universities as ranked by U.S. News, only UChicago and Columbia had never completed the survey prior to 2022. Columbia also completed the CDS for the first time in 2022.

The Office of Institutional Analysis published the completed CDS on its website in December 2022.

In a statement to The Maroon , McSwiggan said, “The University releases a large amount of public data, including the information that all universities are required to submit annually through the NCES [National Center for Education Statistics]. We routinely work with reporters on many kinds of additional data and information requests. In the past this has been our approach to the limited number of requests for the CDS. As other institutions have in recent years, the University last year reviewed our approach to the CDS and posted it on a UChicago website.”

The current CDS provides information for the 2021–22 academic year. Most of this information was already publicly available on several relevant University webpages, but the survey provided previously unknown information pertaining to admissions data for the Class of 2025.

Section C of the CDS, labeled “[f] irst-time, first-year (freshman) admission,” asks the respondent to provide the number of applicants, admitted students, and enrolled students, all broken down by gender. The Univer -

sity received 17,513 applications from men compared to 20,445 applications from women but admitted 1,254 men and 1,206 women.

Section C also asks the respondent to weight various factors in admissions decisions. Factors can be weighted as “very important,” “important,” “considered,” or “not considered.” The factors listed as most important were application essays, recommendations, extracurricular activities, “rigor of secondary school record,” “talent/ability,” and “character/personal qualities.”

No factors were weighted as “important,” and only one factor, interviews, was weighted as “not considered.” All other factors—including GPA, standardized test scores, class rank, first-generation status, relationship to alumni, and racial or ethnic identity—were listed as “considered.”

This breakdown of admissions criteria noticeably differs from those of peer institutions. Most of the other universities ranked in the top 20 nationally by U.S. News weight GPA, test scores, and class rank either as “important” or “very important.”

Section C of the CDS also provides information on the submitted test scores and GPAs of admitted students.

Unlike the previous “class profiles” released by the Office of College Admissions, the CDS features a breakdown of GPAs and test scores by percentile, and it provides a breakdown of section subscores for the ACT and SAT. The CDS also provides data on the class ranks of admitted students and the percentage of students submitting test scores, class rank, and GPA.

The University did not complete every part of the CDS, however. In Section C, the University left blank spaces for the number of waitlisted students, the number of students admitted off the waitlist, and the number of students who were admitted through the University’s Early Decision application rounds.

McSwiggan did not address The Maroon ’s inquiry about these specific omissions. In the past, the University has declined to release a breakdown of its admissions statistics by each application round.

In his statement, McSwiggan said that the University plans to release its CDS report for the 2022–23 academic year at an unspecified time “later this year.”

Students Hold “Divestival” Rally to Urge University Divestment

By NAINA PURUSHOTHAMAN | Senior News Reporter

Divest UChicago, a coalition of the Phoenix Sustainability Initiative (PSI) and the Environmental Justice Task Force (EJTF), held a rally demanding the University divest its endowment from fossil fuels on April 21. The coalition also called on the University to make its investment decisions transparent and to include students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members in the process of determining how the University’s endowment is invested.

The rally, called “Divestival,” was attended by more than 200 protestors, according to a statement to The Maroon from EJTF after the event. It began on the main quad and continued to Regenstein Library. Throughout the two-hour

march, protestors played drums and chanted, “We won’t rest til you divest” and “People and planet over profit.”

At the end of the rally’s set route, attendees gathered on the main quad to enjoy an outdoor concert, featuring several student bands and performers like the Dirt Red Brass Band, Puddlejumper, Directrix, Aag, and Koong.

The opening speaker at the rally said through a speakerphone, “How could I continue to support an institution that actively supports the destruction of our world? We will not fund displacement. We will not fund gentrification. We will not fund climate change.”

According to a press release sent out before the rally, Divest UChicago’s

primary goal is to follow the example of peer institutions such as Harvard University and Columbia University, as well as the City of Chicago, in divesting from fossil fuels.

In its decision to invest in fossil fuels, the University has historically invoked the 1967 Kalven report, which was written by a faculty committee and states the school’s commitment to political neutrality.

In a statement to The Maroon, Associate Director for Public Affairs Gerald McSwiggan said, “The University’s investment team performs thorough due diligence to ensure that the funds in which it invests, and their managers, have no history of illegal behavior and have a strong track record of meeting the professional norms of their busi -

ness.”

McSwiggan also commented on the University’s environmental commitments in the statement, writing, “The University continues to focus on reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to meet the goal set in 2020 of a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030, by increasing renewable energy procurement and implementing energy conservation projects. UChicago was one of only two universities named by the US EPA as a 2023 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence in energy management.”

The statement from EJTF organizers after the rally commented on the University’s investment in fossil fuels and said, “These actions not only stand

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in direct opposition to their previous environmental commitments but also demonstrate a lack of care for and accountability to the University com -

munity, particularly Black and Brown neighbors on the South Side who will be disproportionately impacted by climate change.”

The event garnered an additional

100 signatures for Divest UChicago’s petition, reaching almost 1,700 signatures as of April 24.

“We will use this [Divestival] to mobilize our campaign throughout the

quarter and know we have placed significant pressure on the University,” an EJTF organizer said in an email after the rally.

UChicago Professors Shed Light On Contradictory Rulings on Abortion Pill Mifepristone

By NAINA PURUSHOTHAMAN | Senior News Reporter

In early April, two district courts came to different rulings on the same case regarding mifepristone, a widely used abortion pill. In Texas, a U.S. district judge ruled the Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA)’s earlier approval of mifepristone should be considered unlawful. Yet in Spokane, Washington, another district court found that federal officials may not restrict access to the pill in at least 17 of the states in which attorneys general had sued to ensure the availability of mifepristone.

A situation in which courts have ruled contradicting legal decisions has very few precedents, and the steps forward for both the legal landscape and healthcare policies are unclear. David Strauss, Gerald Ratner Distinguished Service Professor of Law, and Robert Kaestner, research professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, spoke to The Maroon to shed light on these circumstances.

Strauss explained that, though the contradictory decisions made by the courts are rare, there are contingency legal systems in place. “You can ask one or both of the judges to make it clearer what their orders require, in the hope that that will resolve the conflict,” he said.

In the case conflict resolution doesn’t work and further appeals also fail, the Supreme Court is seen as a last resort. “That’s not ideal—the Supreme Court has a lot of responsibilities, so it would be better if this got resolved without having to go to the Supreme Court—but if all else fails, the Supreme Court unquestionably has the power to resolve the problem presented by inconsistent orders from federal courts,” Strauss said.

Strauss also asserted that the contradictory rulings were not the issue but rather the Texas decision itself. “There are lots of things wrong with that decision,” Strauss said. “If the approach the

judge took in that case were to be used by judges generally, it would present major problems not just for FDA but for many other government agencies. More immediately, of course, that decision would sharply limit people’s access to a safe and effective drug that is critical to reproductive health care.”

Kaestner, who conducted research on how distance from an abortion provider will affect the abortion rate, discussed some of the possible healthcare implications of a possible abortion ban. “Medication abortion accounts for approximately half of all abortions and likely has a larger share in states that have restricted abortion, for example, by banning abortions after six weeks,” he said, “So limiting access to mifepristone has the potential to have a large effect on the number of abortions and births.”

Kaestner also critiqued the argument that restrictive policies will decrease abortion. “This is important because, putting aside ethical issues, support for

such policies depends on these consequences,” Kaestner said. “For example, if recent policies reduce both abortions and births, some people would view this outcome as a positive development and would be more likely to support such policies.”

Thinking from a holistic view, Kaestner voiced concerns that a possible abortion ban would lead to an increase in law-breaking behaviors. “There will also be other changes such as the growth of clandestine and novel legal ways to obtain mifepristone, as well as greater travel to states that allow access to either or both mifepristone and abortion. This development will have social consequences because of the use of real resources to evade the law’s impact,” he said.

The Supreme Court issued a stay on the Texas judge’s ruling while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit hears the case. That ruling is widely expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court.

International Students Weigh in on Campus Safety Over a Year After Fatal Shootings

By SABRINA CHANG | Senior News Reporter and TIAN TIAN XU | News Reporter

In 2021, grief, anger, and protest swept campus in the aftermath of the deaths of Yiran Fan and Shaoxiong “Dennis” Zheng, two Chinese graduate school students who lost their lives to Hyde Park

gun violence within 11 months of each other. Though they passed more than a year ago, the international community continues to mourn while navigating their complex relationship with campus

safety and security.

The deaths of Fan and Zheng sparked several activist efforts by students on campus, including the “We Want Safety” rally on the main quad in November 2021, organized by a group of Chinese international students and attended by over 300 students, faculty, alumni, and commu-

nity members. Participants held posters bearing slogans such as “arms for hugs,” “we are here to learn not die,” and “third student,” referencing Fan, Zheng, and Max Solomon Lewis, another UChicago student who died in a shooting in 2021. For Chinese transfer student Cheng

“We will not fund displacement. We will not fund gentrification. We will not fund climate change.”

actually pretty proud of what came [from the petition].”

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Zeng, these tragedies deeply affected him and his academic path. Zeng, who transferred in 2020 from UC San Diego, said, “After I transferred here, I took a gap year after that, and the two [shooting] incidents kind of acted as a catalyst for that decision because when it happened, I was so emotionally paralyzed. It made me think that maybe the public safety issue in Chicago and the Hyde Park community was far worse than I was originally expecting.”

In response to the three incidents and community outrage, the University implemented a series of safety and security initiatives, as outlined in the Department of Safety and Security’s 2021 annual report. These initiatives included the launch of the Lyft Ride Smart at UChicago program, the expansion of the Safety Ambassador program to include neighboring communities within UCPD’s patrol area, and new residential security assessments offered by UCPD in an effort to reduce off-campus residential risks. The University did not respond to The Maroon ’s request for the unpublished 2022 annual report.

Many campus organizations, such as the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), played a major role in advocating for improved campus safety in the immediate aftermath of Zheng’s passing. Combining feedback from students, alumni, and parents, the CSSA drafted and submitted a petition to the University in November 2021 following the death of Zheng. The main objectives of their petition included improving the coverage, hours of operation, and frequency of all campus shuttles; increasing frequency of UCPD patrol around campus; expanding access to student dining and housing over breaks; annual mandatory safety

education and training programs for students; and a safety oversight committee composed of current students, parents, alumni, and leaders of Chicago communities to “oversee the measures taken by the University on campus safety and security.” Many of these initiatives appeared in the 2021 report.

“I’m actually pretty proud of what came [from the petition]. We talked about increasing school shuttles, the Lyft Pass Program, and UCPD patrols—not just patrolling more frequently or more broadly but focusing on areas near student apartments. We have seen changes after these suggestions,” CSSA president and fourthyear Kuangfu Deng said. “For example, I always walk through Regent’s Park to meet my friends, and at night there are usually UCPD walking around during that time.”

Though Deng appreciates the visible changes that have been made, he still believes that there is a lack of transparency and communication from University administrators to students regarding crimes around campus and safety measures that they are working to implement. “Every time something happens, UCPD or the University says they will implement changes and work harder to ensure safety, but there is no follow up or communication afterwards. We want to have a safety committee to directly communicate with University officials to ensure that they are actually working on these goals,” Deng said.

Not all the suggested changes from the Chinese international community were supported by the wider community. The move to increase UCPD’s presence was opposed by groups such as #CareNotCops (CNC). In a statement to The Maroon, CNC said: “We reject calls for more policing and the prioritization of ‘student

safety’ over the safety of our Black neighbors. Our campus and the surrounding neighborhoods are already flooded with police, but we are still unable to prevent these gun violence tragedies from occurring. We believe that true safety can only come through dismantling racist systems like the UCPD, investing in community-led initiatives to end gun violence like the GoodKid MadCity Peacebook, and beginning the process of reparation for Black communities on the South Side. We must work together to build true safety for everyone affected by violence in our communities.”

Zening Ge, director of UChicago’s Center in Beijing, offers an explanation as to why the Chinese international community supports increased police forces. According to Ge, this divide in views has less to do with race and more to do with a fundamental cultural difference that leaves the international community “genuinely scared.” Ge commented that the “frustration [with the lack of safety] was not really toward the certain ways or a certain group. It’s actually toward the whole ecosystem or criminal justice system in the U.S. or Chicago.”

Ge wants the local community to understand that Chinese students come from a different socio-environment where police presence is less controversial. “Mainland China is a total difference in society. It’s over-surveilled, over-policed, and over-monitored…it’s just a totally different perception,” Ge said.

Kelly Hui, third-year and member of CNC, sympathized with international students who were unfamiliar with the American criminal justice system. “As a Chinese American, I really empathize with the grief, vulnerability, and fear that the international student community felt as a result of the tragic losses last year. It’s

especially hard and scary for those new to the United States. When you haven’t necessarily learned about how American policing systems are so rooted in anti-Blackness and white supremacy, the UCPD can seem like a good solution to this fear. But the UCPD has not only failed to provide safety, it has actively created harm and violence on and off campus. I just hope that we can come together to recognize that, at the end of the day, we all just want to feel safe in our communities. And more policing won’t give us that.”

Ge admits that campus safety is not a problem that can be solved overnight or simply through increased police presence. “Safety is a historic issue,” Ge says. “We basically carry the historical burden with us. I think the new [University] leadership realizes that…through engaging with our local community leaders and trying to understand the root cause.”

Both the international community and anti-UCPD student groups acknowledge that mutual understanding is the first step in bridging perspectives and helping both sides unite and work together toward their common goal. In a statement to The Maroon, Pratiti Deb, an international graduate student and member of anti-gentrification advocacy group University of Chicago Against Displacement said: “The international student community is not a monolith in terms of identity or values, so I do not think anyone in the University administration can speak for all of us on our views on policing. As an international student from India, […] I think our position as Asian international students is often talked about in ways that uphold the harmful and anti-Black myth of the model minority, but as guests in the Hyde Park community, we can choose instead to build solidarity with our neighbors across the South Side.”

Joalda Morancy (A.B. ’22) Talks Recently Published ScienceFiction Children’s Book

By NEIVE RODRIGUEZ | Senior News Reporter

trial life and ways in which humans have conceptualized aliens throughout history.

UChicago.

According to Morancy, the book project began during the earliest months of

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“I’m

UChicago graduate Joalda Morancy (A.B. ’22) published Aliens, their first book,

on October 18. Aliens is a children’s book that discusses the search for extraterres-

I sat down with Morancy to learn about their book, as well as their experiences at

“Morancy credits their time at the University with shaping their

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the pandemic, when they started spending time researching astronomical topics. “[Aliens] explores conspiracy theories and UFOs, and also how scientists are using various experiments to look for [aliens] now,” Morancy said. “I decided to consolidate all the information I [had] learned and tweet threads about it so other people would learn about the same things as I was learning about them.”

Morancy, who graduated with a degree in astrophysics in 2022, is currently an engineer for the aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin, but they had always dreamed of being an author. Aliens’s publication followed a somewhat unconventional path, starting with a tweet. Morancy, whose active Twitter presence addresses topics spanning from time travel to why certain planets have blue sunsets, tweeted about

terraforming Mars in 2020. The post received an unexpected amount of attention, ultimately garnering more than 5,000 likes.

“My thread on terraforming Mars got super popular out of nowhere. I have no idea how,” Morancy said. “It slightly blew up, and it was a little terrifying to get all of this attention. A lot of people were interested in it because it’s a sci-fi topic that people bring up all the time.”

The tweet also attracted the attention of an editor from Neon Squid, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers. The editor reached out to Morancy and asked if they would be interested in writing a children’s book on extraterrestrial life. “I thought it was like an insane jump, from me just writing random threads on Twitter to writing a full book,” Morancy said, recalling their experience.

Morancy credits their time at the University with shaping their academic passion for astrophysics. One particular astrophysics class taught by Edwin Kite—

What

Makes

a Planet Habitable?—piqued

Morancy’s interest in planetary science and astrobiology. In addition, enrolling in the College’s Core humanities sequence and participating in the student-run science journal Triple Helix helped Morancy sharpen their science writing skills. Morancy is applying these skills towards their next book project, a science fiction novel.

Morancy noted that while scientific knowledge can be helpful towards building a science-fiction world, it isn’t necessary to write a quality novel. “I know sci-fi is off-putting to a good chunk of people because of the science aspect, but I think the most popular science fiction writers often don’t come from a background in science. A lot of sci-fi writers think that you need to take everything from science, but I think it’s super inaccessible to have those constraints,” Morancy said.

Aliens is on display in Rosenwald. eric fang

Phoenix Sustainability Initiative Opens Semi-Permanent Thrift Store on Campus

By SABRINA CHANG | Senior News Reporter

On April 2, the Phoenix Sustainability Initiative (PSI) launched “reSTORE,” the first ever on-campus thrift store, as a pilot program for spring quarter. On Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays from 1–5 p.m., UChicago community members can head to the basement of Stuart Hall and shop their collection.

The initiative comes after a successful three-day pop-up thrift shop PSI ran in collaboration with Moda Magazine in March 2022. A 140-person line formed outside Reynolds Club, and the thrift shop sold 1,441 articles of clothing and raised $4,808 for a local environmental justice organization, People for Community Recovery. They are now back and here to stay, at least for spring quarter.

reSTORE is spearheaded by PSI’s Campus Waste Reduction project group, which “work[s] with campus organizations, residence life, and off-campus students to increase sustainability awareness, support waste reduction and diversion, and increase reusable options.” The group has recently led other projects such as a reusable mug discount in all student cafés and a transition to compostable cutlery and bags in Hutchinson Commons, Maroon Market, Midway Market, and cafés operated by UChicago Dining.

Third-year and Campus Waste Reduction co-project lead Will Harding spoke with The Maroon about the motivation behind starting up reSTORE.

“The pop-up thrift store last year really outperformed our expectations. We had a ton of people walking around, buying these clothes we collected, and engaging with the educational materials we had at the event,” he said. “We had evidence to show the demand from students and that it was a fun, interesting project that really invigorated the community, so why not try and make it a longer-term thing?”

According to Vice President of PSI and Campus Waste Reduction Board Advisor Lucas Berard, who is a second-year in the College, the main goals of reSTORE are to integrate sustainability into UChicago by diverting clothing waste from landfills, providing easy access to secondhand

clothing, and supporting local environmental organizations as a nonprofit program.

“There aren’t any nonprofit thrift stores nearby, so it’s hard to donate your items when you need to, and a lot of people here don’t have cars. You aren’t going to get on the Red Line with a big bag of clothes to go donate it,” Berard said. “We know that we need to reduce our consumption. And one of the best ways to reduce consumption while still being fashionable and artistic is to continue to share clothing with others and donate your clothes to buy someone else’s old clothes—it’s more fun that way.”

Beyond the environmental aspect, thrifting has seen a rise in popularity as a way of finding unique pieces and discovering personal style.

Fourth-year and co-project lead Isabella Bonito spoke to this motivation behind reSTORE.

“When the pandemic hit my first year, there was just so much clothing in the trash—two of my favorite pairs of jeans ended up being things I found in the [residence hall] trash room,” she said. “I’m really passionate about secondhand shopping in general, not just from an environmental standpoint, but just personally. It’s been a huge means of me finding my own expression.”

reSTORE features both a curated and non-curated clothing section along with a “dollar rack” and shoe and hat collection. Second-year and reSTORE stylist Novak Chernesky explained more about the clothing choices.

“The goal of the curated section is to bring people in and have a good centerpiece to the store, but I think we have something for everyone. We’re kind of thinking about seasons right now, but we also have business casual and going-out clothes,” Chernesky said. “We’re going to be rolling things out over the course of the quarter so that there’s always something interesting to look at right in the center.”

First-year and reSTORE interior designer Annie Yang carefully planned the interior design of the store. White ceiling

drapes, student artwork, a couch upholstered in red velvet, and styled mannequins are all brought together under warm yellow lighting. According to Yang, all the decor was thrifted or handmade by the interior design team who worked on transforming the space.

“The central organizing principle of our entire design was thinking about how we can be sustainable and use as many secondhand materials as possible. We also worked with what was already existing in the space,” she said.

Fourth-year student and reSTORE interior designer Katherine Maschka Hitchcock added, “We were sort of describing [the aesthetic] as clean, transitional, but sort of eclectic. And then we just brainstormed a bunch of wacky ideas that we didn’t know whether or not they would work.”

She described some of the transforma-

tions made to the space: “The couch was already there, but we removed the cushions and found a weird old comforter in the thrift store.… I ripped off the fabric and upholstered it using Velcro. Even the lighting too, I actually got stage lighting filters and put them over all the lights on the ceiling to change the tones in the space because it was really fluorescent.”

The process of creating reSTORE has not been without its challenges, however. Relying solely on clothing donations from the UChicago community, reSTORE has faced a lack of diversity in clothing selection. Most of the clothing that they have collected consists of women’s clothing with limited sizing options.

“We do have a lot of stuff and still need a lot more because on top of the fact that everything is sold so quickly with the curated section, it’s been hard to get

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men’s clothing and diverse sizes. I think it would be really ideal if we could set up a donation bin in a more public place off campus,” Bonito said. “I’m hoping that in some way we can tie this in to helping Hyde Park residents have somewhere to donate clothes.”

The Campus Waste Reduction team hopes that the success of this project will translate into reSTORE becoming a permanent part of the UChicago campus. They are also planning to create a space to add educational components to teach people why thrifting matters.

“I felt like doing a project like this would really help to engage the wider UChicago community in sustainability initiatives and in the work that PSI was doing. By incorporating fashion and the really kind-of enjoyable experience for everyone that is getting new clothes and

having sort of an artistic component to the project, we felt like it could really engage a lot of people in the work [with sustainability] we were doing,” Harding said.

Berard also shared his thoughts on the future of reSTORE. “Our end goal is to have a student-run thrift store similar to the student-run cafes. I feel like so many students find the student-run cafes to be a great outlet to go study and have fun with friends, and we also want to get in on that same aspect,” he said. “We want it to be a space where you can study, have fun, and also learn more about sustainability. It’d be great to have a hub for thrifting but also possible events like a sewing class further down the line.”

PSI will continue to have clothing drop-off locations at Cobb Cafe, Hillel Coffee Nook, Cathey Dining Commons, Woodlawn Dining Commons, and Baker Dining Commons. They are also working

on installing a permanent metal donation bin in Reynolds.

“I think it’ll be exciting for people to have something affordable here on campus to buy things that don’t come at an

environmental cost. Hopefully it makes people slow down and think about their consumption practices…but also just enjoy the music, art, and the shopping experience,” Bonito said.

The Wild Goose Chase to Chase Out the Canada Geese

By EVGENIA

On the Midway and in Jackson Park, it’s hard not to come across a flock of Canada geese, with their sharp, hissing beaks and black, white, and gray feathers. The birds are unfazed by humans, but don’t get too close—they can be harshly territorial.

Now, they have more of a presence than ever, ruling over Chicago’s parks with their loud honks and hisses. In recent years, observations from scientists

suggest that these migratory geese are wintering farther north than they have historically, contributing to an increase in the overall Canada goose population in the Chicago area and impacting the human Chicagoans as well. The wild goose chase to understand the city’s geese pulls in all sorts of people, from scientists and academics to facilities managers and professional goose chasers to even student journalists.

Michael Patrick Ward, a professor of natural resources and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago, began studying Chicago’s geese after Midway International Airport encountered the problem of too many geese staying for the winter. Ward is a well-cited academic authority on geese, although he does do research on other birds. In our interview, he also told me about his work for the Cuban and Mexican governments. His goose research focuses on understanding the birds’

behavior and why their habits have changed.

“There are some birds that leave Chicago in the winter, but the [number] of birds in Chicago has greatly increased to the point where there’[re] lots of concerns about air traffic and running into geese,” Ward says. Geese are capable of flying in the way of planes, which can cause damage and even be deadly to plane passengers. Ward’s team reported that geese were responsible for 1,403 re -

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Canada geese are often found on the Midway, yet the birds aren’t as silly as they seem, posing a liability to airplanes, disturbing humans, and leaving large amounts of excrement.

ANASTASAKOS | Grey City Reporter

“We want it to be a space where you can study, have fun, and also learn more about sustainability.”

Students shop at the reSTORE thrift store. courtesy of lily agnacian

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corded bird strikes to civil aircraft from 1990 to 2012. One such incident in 2009, in which a flock of Canada geese forced US Airways Flight 1549 down onto the Hudson River, was even dramatized in the 2016 film Sully

The Past and Present of Canada Geese

Although they’re now a fixture in grassy areas across the country, the Canada geese we see today wouldn’t be here without successful population restoration efforts. In the early 20th century, hunting, egg-collecting, and habitat destruction nearly drove the giant Canada goose, one of the most common subspecies in the Midwest, out of North America. In the 1960s, a small flock was discovered in the Midwest, and a program was launched to bring them back. Their population was brought back from the brink, possibly too successfully: since the restoration project began, their numbers have gone from a few thousand to millions.

Some Canada geese migrate, while other “resident” geese stay put yearround. Previously, Chicago’s migratory Canada geese would fly from the Upper Midwest to spend the winter in warmer areas such as southern Illinois, Tennessee, and Arkansas. However, over the past decade, more and more have been choosing to stay in Chicago year-round, joining the existing population of resident geese.

Ward tells me that geese have been staying in the city for safety reasons, choosing to make the trade-off between colder weather and increased risk of hunting.

“They learn very quickly where or not they’re going to get shot at, so they’ll hang out, even though they’re freezing,” Ward says. “It’s very cold to hang out in Southside Chicago or along Lake Shore Drive in the winter, but it might be better to do that than to migrate down to central Illinois and potentially get shot by hunters.”

To gather his data, Ward and his team track the geese, putting collars with transmitters on the birds that record their location and how much energy they are using. However, the wily

like the grad students, geese are fast learners.”

geese have caught on to the researchers’ tricks. “All birds learn. They learn both from their own experiences and they learn from others,” Ward says.

“To catch them, I have grad students that would go up there and use a little hand net to catch them. But they were able to identify our car and our grad students,” he says. “So our grad students would have to dress up as a jogger and act like they’re jogging by and they don’t care about the goose, and then, from their sweatshirt, they pull out the net and catch them.”

Just like the grad students, geese are fast learners, and Ward maintains that they (the geese) understand their environment unexpectedly well: “They’re quite a bit smarter than you might think.”

Trevor Price, a professor in UChicago’s Department of Ecology and Evolution, concurs with Ward and emphasizes that geese choose to err on the side of caution and go where there is less perceived predation. Although geese aren’t his particular area of expertise—he mainly focuses on Himalayan biodiversity, the evolution of color vision in birds, and speciation processes—Price came to our interview prepared with papers that he had read on the topic.

Price suggests that the migrant geese may be following the lead of Chicago’s resident geese. “My best guess is that the resident population has encouraged migrant birds to just stick around,” Price says. “We have a huge resident population that’s breeding throughout the year, right? They’re the main contributors to this. So some of the migrant birds seem to stop in Chicago now. My best guess is that that’s because they can see all the residents there and think, ‘Well, why should I bother flying further south?’”

A Thriving Population

Here in the city, geese gravitate toward large, grassy areas, ideal for grazing and spotting predators from a distance. This makes man-made areas like golf courses, parks, and sports fields perfect for them. In some cases, geese have even begun to breed in places such as parking lots and roofs, according to Ward.

These birds are everywhere, and hu-

mans are contributing by creating ideal homes for them. “They’re primarily eating grass, and we do a lot to promote grass. We’re fertilizing our grass in Chicago. We mow it, so it’s constantly growing. That’s what they like. We’re essentially providing the perfect habitat for them to continue to sit around and

eat all day,” Ward says.

Price points out that the geese are especially well suited to adapt and thrive in urban environments, which “are famous for having very few common species.” Humans, Price reiterates, have created “novel environments where

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“Just

eric fang

“Geese, despite Chicagoans’ best efforts, ‘are here to stay.’”

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only a few species can exploit it, but that means all the other species they compete with are not there, so they become very abundant”—in sum, the perfect elements for drastic goose population growth.

More birds in the city also means more chances for clashes between geese and humans, a major concern covered by Ward’s research. Geese aren’t friendly neighbors and can become aggressive when sharing space with humans. Their excrement also poses a health risk, and their flocks can disrupt human activity.

At UChicago, geese are “a steady, year-round issue for sports fields on campus,” Brian Dodge, the University’s assistant director of facilities and event operations, tells me. The geese leave behind tracks and excrement, which must be cleaned up or else stepped in by oblivious Maroons.

The rising goose population also affects Midway International Airport. The Chicago Department of Aviation, in partnership with USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Wildlife Services, relies on wildlife hazard management at O’Hare and Midway to monitor wildlife activity around their respective airports.

Strategic Management

Geese can be inconvenient and messy, so humans have had to find different strategies to manage these feathered neighbors. Goose management is one of the goals of Ward’s research.

“We’re trying to figure out what is the most effective way to try to reduce human-wildlife conflict,” Ward says. “Some people love geese, some people hate geese, but they do cause problems in certain places. And if we can understand their behavior, then we might be able to figure out a way to change their behavior.”

The ways that geese are managed vary in extremity. Harassment, which is one of the most common methods, involves chasing geese or scaring them away. This can be done with lasers, loud noises, or dogs, for example. It is a popular way to get geese to leave the area, but Ward says that it is a temporary fix and can’t scare them out of a whole neigh-

borhood or region.

“It’s really hard to harass them to the point that they leave the whole city,” he says. “The only way we think you can do that is if it’s super cold out. If you start making them use more energy than they can lose without dying, then they might migrate from the area. But it’s kind of a Band-Aid. You’re just moving them from your backyard to someone else’s backyard, and you’re not really changing their greater behavior in the area.”

One man who doesn’t share this opinion is Bob Young, who has made a career out of goose harassment. For the past 25 years, he has run Geese Chasers alongside his wife. The company was originally founded in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, and has since expanded to other states and locations, including a new franchise in Chicago. Within half an hour of my emailing him, Young called me, catching me unprepared like one of the geese that his company chases.

“Geese can really destroy landscapes,” Young says while walking me through the method that he has created. Wherever they go, they leave their “calling card,” which can be a pound to a pound and a half of droppings. Young’s solution is border collies, which he trains to chase and herd geese away from places like golf courses, parking lots, and walkways, among other locations.

Young proudly told me about an upcoming New York Times feature on him, which has since been published. His website includes photos of border collies with lolling tongues and wagging tails, cars painted with the company logo on the side, and even images of the “Geese Chopper,” a custom motorcycle which tours through the country and raises money for charities.

At the end of our call, as I thanked him for speaking with me, Young offered to send “goose swag” to me in the mail. I initially thought I had misheard. “College students love it,” he assured me. A few weeks later, I picked up a package from my dorm building’s mailroom labeled with a return address located in New Jersey. Inside, there were two T-shirts reading “It’s a Goose Thing” on the front and “Yeah, We Chase Geese”

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eric fang

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on the back, along with a bottle opener and a Frisbee. The parcel also contained a booklet with instructions on how to open my own Geese Chasers franchise.

The jury is still out on how much college students love becoming goose-chasing franchisees, but business grows every year—along with the goose population. Young insists that his solution is more humane than alternatives like egg oiling, which prevents the development of eggs by effectively asphyxiating the embryo. In extreme situations, when communities’ goose problems become unmanageable, they can appeal for a goose culling permit from the USDA to

carry out a “charity harvest,” in which USDA officials round up geese, kill them, and donate the meat to food banks. Although this suggestion can make some people uneasy, Price told me that he thinks it could work.

“Every animal has to die. And there’s so much worry about culling things, but I’m totally in favor of it. What I would do is, if people really want to get rid of the geese, have some way to humanely trap or kill them,” Price says.

Although the goose population won’t continue increasing forever, Ward says there’s still room to grow at the moment. Geese, despite Chicagoans’ best efforts, “are here to stay.”

VIEWPOINTS

Open Letter to the University’s Department of Safety and Security on Traffic Safety

By STEVEN LUCY

The University Department of Safety and Security is not serious about traffic safety.

The Department recently installed “safety flags” and signs at several crossings around campus, including some Midway crossings and the crosswalk in front of Ratner. These bright orange flags sat in a bucket on one side of the intersection, and when you wanted to cross, you were supposed to pick one up, wave it in front of drivers, and deposit it in the bucket on the other side. The signs said, “Stop and look before crossing.”

I am embarrassed and disap-

pointed in my alma mater.

These types of victim-blaming PSAs never improve safety. There is no legal or ethical requirement for pedestrians to stop before using a crosswalk. However, there is both a legal and ethical requirement for drivers to be attentive and yield. What is definitively proven to improve safety is slowing drivers down, protecting pedestrians with curbs and posts, and improving sight lines.

The City recently installed “raised crossings” at some of the mid-block crosswalks on the Midway. However, whether for drainage or other design constraints, these are so shallow they are al-

most useless. Cars regularly drive 45 miles per hour over the bumps, which is 20 miles per hour over the speed limit. Raised crossings are a great tool—but only if they’re actually raised.

Speed matters immensely in car-pedestrian collisions. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the chances of survival for a pedestrian hit by a car at 20 miles per hour is 95 percent—you’ll go to the hospital but probably live. For a pedestrian hit by a car going 45 mph, the chance of survival drops to 40 percent—you’re probably dead. On either side of these crosswalks, there are “no parking”

zones so that pedestrians entering the crosswalk can be seen by approaching drivers. Despite repaving the road and re-pouring the crosswalk ramps, the curb was not extended to make parking here impossible. These kinds of curb “bump outs” into the parking lane (such as those recently installed on portions of 57th Street) greatly improve pedestrian safety by shortening crossing distance and improving visibility. But they were not installed on the Midway. Why?

As if to add insult to (physical) injury, I have seen Department of Safety and Security SUVs (the ones with the green lights) parked

in these “no parking” zones, an illegal act that makes it more dangerous for people passing through the park.

The Department says they are “working with the city of Chicago as they study potential infrastructure changes to further enhance pedestrian safety.” No more study is necessary. Stop prioritizing automobile traffic through a walkable urban campus. Install proven traffic-calming infrastructure now before more University affiliates and neighborhood residents are injured.

—Steven Lucy, A.B. ’06

Improved safety will come by changing the built environment to slow down drivers, not by admonishing pedestrians.

“The jury is still out on how much college students love becoming goose-chasing franchisees.”

eric fang

ARTS

Snarky Puppy: Made to Sing and Dance Along To, No Lyrics Required

By NATALIE MANLEY | Head Arts Editor and SAMUEL CODY | Arts Reporter

Nowadays, it takes a special group of musicians to get a crowd of more than 2,000 people on their feet, screaming and cheering song after song…without uttering a single lyric. Yet Snarky Puppy—the self-proclaimed Texas-bred, New York–based, sort-of-jazz, sort-of-not quasi-collective—did exactly that during their March 31 performance at the Riviera Theatre.

The band’s Chicago show was the third on its 2023 North American tour promoting its Grammy Award–winning album Empire Central. The album, an ode to Snarky Puppy’s Dallas roots, gestures to a wide range of Southwestern musical influences, including blues, rock, soul, gospel, funk, and jazz. Performed by a 19-piece orchestra that provides no shortage of musical texture, color, juicy harmonies, and delectable solos, the album feels like a truly “collective” effort.

Despite featuring a slightly pareddown 10-member version of the band, Snarky Puppy’s live show felt similarly collaborative. The group onstage included band members Chris Bullock on woodwinds, Jay Jennings and Mike Maher on trumpet, Zach Brock on violin, Bob Lanzetti on guitar, Justin Stanton and Shaun Martin on keys, Jason Thomas on set, Nate Werth on percussion, and bandleader Michael League on bass.

It would be a disservice to both this show and the incredible talent we witnessed even before the headliner took the stage if we didn’t give our roses to the Grammy Award–winning Venezuelan instrumental group C4 Trío that opened for Snarky Puppy.

C4 is a four-piece and featuring three Venezuelan cuatro payers—Edward Ramírez, Héctor Molina, and Jorge Glem—and an electric bassist, Rodner Padilla. Like Snarky Puppy, the group performed with no vocalists yet still man-

aged to get the crowd clapping, hooting, hollering, and—by the end of their set— practically screaming.

C4’s music was like nothing like we had ever heard before. It was downright electric. The group’s unique sound was intricately percussive but also captivatingly melodic. It was unpredictable and exciting yet also catchy and accessible. More than anything else, at a time when just about all music feels akin to some other kind of music, the group’s distinctive blending of traditional Venezuelan cuatro sounds with more contemporary stylistic choices, like Padilla’s funky electric bass fills, felt truly original. “They’re not bound by the tradition,” Snarky Puppy’s Michael League said in a recent interview with NPR. “You can tell that their heads are as much in the future as they are in the past.”

Like their music, the members of C4 themselves were instantly likable, and their energy was infectious. While performing, the four instrumentalists displayed impressive musicianship and chemistry: even as each musician played their own complex lines and, at times, strummed and plucked their instruments so fast that one could no longer make out the shape of their hands, the group never seemed to step on each other’s toes.

League, who co-produced their most recent album Back to 4 and also introduced C4 before their set, said it best: Despite the group’s “niche”-ness, “it is impossible to see them play and not remember them for the rest of your life.”

C4 set the bar for the night incredibly high, but, to no one’s surprise, Snarky Puppy met it with ease. Almost every musician on stage played at least two instruments during the show, with incredible tone, creativity, and skill. Each instrument added an additional layer of color and texture to the group’s sound—if

the band sounded barer with nine fewer musicians, it certainly wasn’t easy to tell. Despite having 14 albums’ worth of music to choose from, Snarky Puppy’s set was almost entirely made up of songs from Empire Central. No song’s live rendition, however, sounded even remotely similar to its recorded studio version. Each song featured something new and exciting; whether that meant launching into a gospel-style clapping session or turning a solo quote into an impromptu “This is How We Do It” jam session, Snarky Puppy made sure there was never a dull moment. The entire set was peppered with soulful, funky, genre-defying solos; tight, accented horn lines; groovy bass fills; and vibrant percussion interludes. Band members live-reacted to each other’s playing with hilarious facial expressions, respect-filled nods, and spontaneous dance moves, or by picking up their instruments and joining in on the fun—like the audience, they too were hearing much of the music performed in a new way for the first time.

There were, however, some slight letdowns—neither one of us was a fan of the groups’ rendition of “Belmont,” which they played as a tribute to the late ’80s funk star and band mentor Bernard Wright, who suddenly passed away just after Empire Central was recorded. The song, which was introduced as if it were a ballad, felt cluttered and confusing (in other words, very anti-ballad), as if the musicians onstage couldn’t agree on what it was supposed to convey. Stanton’s choice of keyboard sound totally missed the mark, Werth way overdid it with the chimes, and Jennings’ mid-song flugelhorn solo—which featured aggressive articulation, growls, and screaming high notes—felt like it should have been played on a trumpet instead.

The concert also wasn’t exactly visually exciting. The musicians mostly remained in place (save for a few intermittent hip sways and head nods), wore

plain-looking everyday street clothes, and stood on a stage filled with instruments and not much else. The show’s lighting was somewhat more interesting, but still rather bare-bones. Several cameras placed around the stage captured the musicians up close, projecting their playing up on a screen behind them. While it was cool to see Stanton’s fingers fly across his keyboard, or Thomas creating intricate groves using all four limbs on the drum set, we felt the projections could have been better supported with more intricate lighting design or set pieces.

Yet, without a doubt, what the concert lacked in flashy stage props, eye-catching costumes, and elaborate dance moves was easily made up for by the music. It’s no secret that none of the guys in Snarky Puppy are meant (or likely want) to be pop stars—they’re all middle-aged men who can’t dress or dance to save their lives. What they can do, however, is play the hell out of their instruments. Throughout the night, we were consistently blown away by the tightness of the horn section, the cohesiveness of the rhythm section, and the creativity of the soloists. Just about every musician on stage had at least one particularly impressive line, lick, or solo. Some, like Martin during his “This is How We Do It” jam session, were on another level entirely.

After concluding their set with a funky rendition of the Texas shuffle “RL’s,” taking a bow, and leaving the stage, Snarky Puppy came back on to perform “Lingus,” a fan favorite off their 2014 We Like It Here album and the only non–Empire Central selection of the night. As he launched into the song’s familiar syncopated chords, keys player Shaun Martin looked into the audience and yelled, “y’all better sing the hell out of this song.”

Sing the hell out of the song we did. The night concluded with some twothousand-odd people screaming “ba-dadat-da-daaaa”, the horn part of “Lingus”, no lyrics required.

Being Led to the Slaughterhouse in Aria Dean’s Abattoir, USA!

Arts contributor

By NATALIE HOGE | Arts Contributor

When I first stepped into the Aria Dean show at the Renaissance Society gallery (which ran from February 25 to April 16), I didn’t know what I was looking at. Dean, a contemporary artist from Los Angeles, had constructed a giant screen in the middle of the gallery. On it, a video played on a loop, shining brightly in the dark room. It was the only piece in Dean’s exhibit.

I arrived in during the middle of Dean’s video, during the part when metal meat hooks swing over a blood-covered floor. I didn’t realize I was looking at the bowels of a slaughterhouse upon first viewing; I mistook the blood for muddy water and thought I might be seeing a shipwreck. I was overwhelmed by classical strings booming overhead. I smelled rubber, which surprised me, as I had been at the Max Guy exhibit in the Renaissance Society just three weeks before and hadn’t noticed the smell.

As Dean’s video reset to the beginning, the screen opened onto a shot of a metal frame of a beaux-arts–style building. Within the building were rows and rows of pigsties. The images in the video didn’t look quite right. They seemed computer-generated, as if they could be in a video game and couldn’t possibly be depicting real life. The shots of the building had detailed, realistic

elements: its metal frame was rusted, and light bounced off the brick walls creating believable shadows. But the images looked two-dimensional. The metal felt too glossy, the slaughterhouse floor too clean. There was also the obvious fact that the building’s floor, where hundreds of pigs would usually be shuffled to slaughter, was empty.

The building had no walls; it was made of just a metal frame. This would make sense if the building had fallen into deep disrepair: walls crumble, ceilings fall. But if the building was abandoned, it didn’t seem like it had been vacated long before Dean’s video took place. The rubber mats were still intact, and no plants or ivy grew along the metal pigpens. White light streamed into the building. The pens seemed to extend forever, eventually fading into the white light. It was not a structure that could exist in reality. Instead, it made me feel uneasy, in the same way as the uncanny valley. I couldn’t quite realize why I was uncomfortable; I only knew that I increasingly was. Similar to how a pig might feel in a slaughterhouse, I knew I was somewhere I should not have been.

Once I watched the video all the way through, I realized that Dean chose her video game–esque graphics intentionally. The computer-generated quality of Dean’s

images signaled to me that I was in a simulated reality. As I watched on, I realized that my viewpoint in that magical, nonexistent slaughterhouse was of the pig’s. As the violin soundtrack increased in fervor, the video turned down a long hallway toward a guillotine cage–like structure. I got the sense that this was the point of no return—that death waited for me at the end of that dark hallway.

Dean’s use of computer-generated imagery points to the industrialization of the slaughtering business. The tools with which we butcher animals en masse are man-made and unnatural. Dean’s images, too, are man-made and unnatural. Perhaps she is trying to point to the human choice inherent in technology: We choose what we do with our tech. We can use it to kill or to we can use it to speak truth to power.

At some point during the video, I realized why I had smelled rubber when I stepped into the room: I was standing on a sea of interconnected rubber mats—the same mats lying on the floor of the slaughterhouse corridors in the video. The room was completely dark except for the screen; the only thing I could see was what the pig would see. I realized I really was the animal, being shuffled through machinery and over rubber to my death. Spooked, I left the room.

I should say this: Though Dean’s vid-

eo made a strong case for veganism, I still eat meat. What can I say? Life is short and chicken is good. McDonald’s 20-piece Chicken McNuggets, shared over a coffee table with friends at 3 a.m., is especially good. Though Dean would probably disagree with me, I think that existence is hard enough without renouncing the foods we might find delicious.

Dean’s art, though, is still important. Even though Dean didn’t convince me to go vegan, her examination of the intersection of industrial advancement and cruelty made me think about the cost of modern technology. In a world in which Amazon, one of the largest tech companies in the world, pushes their employees to such extremes that they forgo their bathroom breaks, we must ask ourselves what the cost of modern industry is. Just as the industrialization of meat packaging led to more hazardous working conditions for lower pay for laborers in the early 20th century, Amazon now requires its warehouse employees to organize and ship packages at speeds that compromise their safety. As Americans, we must ask ourselves: what is the right way to use our technology? If technological advancement comes at the cost of human dignity, is it worth it? And if it isn’t, what is our role in finding a way to make technology improve, or at the very least coexist with humanity?

Wilco is Chicago Through and Through

Arts reporter Sofia Hrycyszyn covers the classic Chicago experience of Wilco at the Riviera.

By SOFIA HRYCYSZYN | Associate Arts Editor

A middle-aged woman walked on stage at the Riviera, blinking under the lights. She introduced herself as a local Chicago WXRT rock radio station spokeswoman and remarked, “Wilco is as Chicago as the river. They run right through this town.” After briefly thanking the audience, she dipped back into the shadows, leaving the crowd itching for the band. Intimately

wrapped up in Chicago’s contemporary music history, Wilco has crafted their distinct sound from a blend of country, alt rock, and indie. Their lyrics often hint at familiar Chicago landmarks and their most iconic album cover, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, depicts Marina City, the corncob-like skyscrapers along the Chicago River.

Almost 30 years after the release of

their first album, Wilco retains their connection with the city. The last week of March, they played three sold-out shows at Chicago’s Riviera Theater, with each night showcasing a completely different setlist; after decades of making music, the breadth of Wilco’s sound cannot be contained in one show. On March 26, their final night, they were clearly in their element. The Riviera seemed to be past capacity, with the crowd pushing at the walls of the the-

ater. The crowd was not only large, but it was full of hardcore Wilco fans: One of the men standing next to me in line had flown in from Portland, Oregon for the sake of seeing the show with his high school best friend, just as they had done at the Riviera 15 years prior.

Lead singer and guitarist Jeffy Tweedy, with his disheveled gray hair and slightly haunted look, took center-stage. Nels

Natalie Hoge experienced the uncanny horror of the meat industry at the Renaissance Society.

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Cline—“maybe the best guitarist alive,” the Portlander assured me—stood to the left, mostly blocking pianist Mikael Jorgensen. Bassist John Stirratt stood to Tweedy’s right, with drummer Glenn Kotche in the shadows at the back of the stage. The band opened with “At Least That’s What You Said,” which opened with Tweedy’s melancholy vocals over gentle piano, before suddenly switching to aggressive plucking of the guitar which was soon joined by an intense drumbeat. The instrumental interlude often shifted in melody and energy, giving the audience a taste of Wilco’s ability to layer sounds and rhythms.

As the first song faded, the steady drumbeat picked back up with the beginning of “Spiders (Kidsmoke).” Guitar and piano notes gradually established a rhythm, and then Tweedy jumped in with Wilco’s typical cryptic lyrics. Matching the song’s staccato feel, he sang, “Spiders are filling out tax returns…on a private beach in Michigan.” Lead guitarist Cline’s face contorted, and his shoulders tensed as fingers flew over the guitar. It was impossible to take a photo with Cline’s hands in focus; he was a constant blur of music and motion.

Wilco’s country elements first became prominent with “Whole Love,” which opened with longer, more acoustic-sound-

ing guitar chords and a magical flute-like sound. Here, Tweedy’s vocals were jarringly different from their previous songs, hitting staccato high notes and holding the “o” in the “whole” of the repeated “whole love.” The song opens with flower imagery—marigolds, roses—and is reminiscent of Wilco’s most popular country songs like “Don’t Forget the Flowers” and “When the Roses Bloom Again.” However, those flowery songs were included only in the previous night’s performance, to the disappointment of some audience members. Those songs, while classic, did not fit the night’s alt-rock instrumental focus, but “Whole Love” acted as a nice blend, bringing in more country components while complementing the night’s tone.

The audience nodded along to the distinct opening guitar solo of “I’ll Fight,” singing along as drums crashed and the vocals began. With relatively straightforward chorus lyrics and parallel verse structure, “I’ll Fight” offered the crowd a chance to participate in a way that many of the more instrument-heavy songs had not.

“I’ll Fight” is uniquely suited to concerts because of its balance of singable lyrics and captivating instrumentals, and the audience responded accordingly, singing and swaying to the beat.

Following “I’ll Fight,” the backdrop transitioned from an image of floating flowering plants to a white-on-black out-

line of the Chicago skyline, with the river cutting down through the middle. They moved artfully through a series of heart wrenching songs—“Side with the Seeds,” “One and a Half Stars,” “Tired of Taking it Out On You,” and “Impossible Germany.” After establishing its rhythm, “Impossible Germany” dives into repetition of the cryptic lyrics: “impossible Germany, unlikely Japan.” With its slow beat and gentle vocals, the song gives the impression of expressing the more painful aspects of love. However, when it comes to lyrics like “this is what love is for / to be at a place,” examining the words does not produce a clearer picture of its meaning. Even though listerns might not understand the words, the wailing of the guitar expresses enough pain and longing to leave an impression. The lyrics completely stop less than halfway through the song, leaving the audience to sit with the reflective space of the music.

Keeping the energy sad and low, the band played a few more slow songs, the most well-known being “Reservations,” with its soft piano chords and pleading vocals. There was then a marked switch in energy with the upbeat drums and higher key of “Either Way,” which attempts to make peace with a relationship in which “maybe you still love me, [but] maybe you don’t.” Before moving into the next song, Tweedy leaned into the microphone and said, “Even though I don’t think people

take the lyrics that seriously, I want to let you know that this one’s not about you.” The precarious acceptance of the previous track quickly turned to anger with “Hate it Here,” which alternates explosive singing—“I hate it here / when you’re gone”— with aggressive guitar riffs. That high energy, stemming from the unwanted end of a relationship, extended into “Dawned On Me.” Similarly, the instrumentals picked up during the chorus in time to Tweedy’s singing “I can’t help it if I fall in love with you again…it dawned on me.”

“

It was impossible to take a photo with Cline’s hands in focus.”

Shot-Putter Simon Dixon and the Art of Adaptation

By BLAIR PENN | Senior Sports Reporter

At 6’2” and 265 pounds, UChicago first-year shot-putter Simon Dixon might be easy to spot strolling on the quad, but his unique story and accomplishments after only one season of UChicago indoor track and field are more difficult to discern. In just his freshman season of indoor track, Dixon was a DIII All-American in the shot put, placed third at the NCAA DIII National Championship, was US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Region in the indoor shot put, was named University Athletic Association (UAA) Athlete of the Week four times (January 9, February 13, February 20, and March 13), and was the UAA champion after throwing for 17.20 meters.

To put a throw like that into perspective, a throw of 17.20 meters isn’t just big time in DIII; it would be a more than respectable throw at a DI level. The throw put Dixon right on par, or even above, shot-putters from schools like Auburn University, University of Tennessee, or Clemson University.

Dixon hails from Magalia, California but went to high school in Paradise, a small town in the mountains of California. In high school, he was involved in athletics besides track and field and had a stint playing on his school’s football team. He decided to leave the team in his junior year because, as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, he did not feel like an accepted member of the team. “I came out as LGBT in January of my junior year, and the team didn’t directly give me a hard time about it, but they would say a lot of homophobic things,” Dixon said.

Dixon said the culture of track and field has been a more accepting place for him. “In the world of throwing, I feel pretty well-respected. It could be because the world of throwing [involves] a different type of meathead-ery than football,” he said. “The team here is super accepting.”

Before becoming a committed track athlete, Dixon casually ran in middle school and even tried out for the high school long-distance team. “I found out

that an eight-minute mile time wasn’t exactly competitive, so I decided to listen to what the throwers on the team were saying and give the shot put a try,” he said. Dixon wasn’t very good at the shot put in his freshman year, but it gave him motivation to get stronger and improve his technique for the next year.

One of the things that makes Dixon’s shot put career so extraordinary—besides the fact that he is a freshman who is already at the top of DIII shot put—is the setback he endured that made him switch from throwing as a righty to a lefty.

Dixon took up wrestling in his sophomore year of high school. In 2020, he dislocated his right elbow in a match, causing him to wear a brace for a few months and leaving his right arm weakened for more than a year afterwards. Dixon wanted to compete for track in the spring but knew his right arm would not be healed in time for the season, so he decided to start throwing with his left.

“It was a difficult transition to make. It felt like I was trying to write with my non-dominant arm with the intention of writing full essays,” Dixon said. Nonetheless, he was determined to have a better sophomore track season compared to his freshman one; after a few months of training, his left arm surpassed where he was with his right.

Dixon says he feels that he has lost some throwing utility by using his left arm, but he has no plans to change back to his right arm because of how well he has been competing. As he puts it, “I think I would be throwing further if I hadn’t injured my right arm, but I can’t go back and change the past. I just got to thug it out.”

In reflecting on his first season as a member of the UChicago track team, Dixon said, “I couldn’t have been happier with how my season’s gone! I steadily improved during preseason training and during the indoor season and loved the feeling of competing at the collegiate level.”

Dixon said his proudest moment

was getting a podium finish at nationals, which felt like a huge weight off his back, especially because he had faced some nerves that hurt his performance in high school. “During my junior and senior years of high school, I choked at the last meets of both seasons and threw well below my personal records at the time,” he said. During his first season for the Maroons, he was able to put those demons to rest.

Dixon has improved a lot as an athlete and has upped his mental game since then. “I was worried the same thing would happen at [nationals] this year, but I performed excellently, and squeezed out the third furthest throw of my life,” he said.

Dixon credits a lot of his success to assistant track and field coach Nicole Murphy, a UChicago alum who was an All-American (highlighted by a second-place finish nationally), a seven-time UAA champion, and held the conference records for both indoor and outdoor shot put.

“Coach Murphy has been an incredible resource. There are a lot of throwers practicing at once, so she has to move

around and cover a lot of ground with a lot of people, but she is a super effective coach,” Dixon said. “The drills she assigns to me, the technical advice she gives, and her analysis of my throws has helped me progress so much in the throws much more than I did during high school or over the summer. ...I’m grateful to be training and competing with her.”

Dixon also appreciates the warmth and support he’s received from his teammates during his time at UChicago. “I was kind of worried about making friends when I first got to college, and the throwers really helped me ease into college life,” he said. “We’re all varying degrees of silly which is, in my view, a perfect environment. I am super tight with the throws squad, and, of course, I’ve made a lot of friends on the broader track team too.”

Outside of track, Dixon says, “I like to think I’m something of a goofy person outside of the ring or weight room. I can be quite silly at times. I love reading, movies, thrifting, hiking, and fighting games.” Fellow first-year teammate Michael Nelson, who throws discus, javelin,

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courtesy of uchicago athletics

“Dixon’s intensity and love of throwing match his ambition and equip him well for the grueling lifestyle of throwing at UChicago.”

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and hammer, described him: “He’s such a big teddy bear. He has a lot of energy and loves spending time with his friends.”

Dixon has big throwing goals that he has set for the rest of his time at UChicago. He aspires to break the school record in shot put, weight throw, hammer throw, and discus, and claim first at shot put at nationals next year. His ultimate goal is to break 20 meters in the shot put, which would place him at the top of DI–level shot put competition.

Dixon’s intensity and love of throwing match his ambition and equip him well

for the grueling lifestyle of throwing at UChicago. Practice at UChicago while in-season is usually five days a week, along with three lifting sessions. Dixon competes in three events during the spring season: hammer, discus, and shot put. This is common among members of the throws squad, who often train in two events each practice.

“At practice, Simon is really dedicated and a super hard worker, but he also is lighthearted and jovial. He is always fun to have around,” fourth-year teammate Ella Cornwell said.

Practice begins with a warmup before

Murphy assigns members of the team different drills to work. “Some days will be more technique-oriented, while other days are all about intensity and getting power behind a throw,” Dixon said. In the spring, throwers practice their events outside for around two hours, followed by lifting weights in the Henry Crown Field House for another hour or so. The team lifts three days a week and incorporates compound movements like squats and bench presses, as well as more complex lifts. Dixon’s highest lifts to date are a 520-pound squat and a 360-pound bench press. Over the summer, Dixon prepared

himself for the college track season by focusing on building strength. “I lifted very frequently and intensely and ate just about as much as I could to put on size,” he said.

Dixon’s advice to fellow athletes is simple. “No matter what else you do, consistency is key. Make sure you’re practicing and conditioning for your sport regularly,” he said. “A lot of times it felt like I was just banging my head against the wall trying to improve with my left arm, but by diligently following my routine, I eventually got the results I was looking for.”

The Chicago Bulls Tried to Fast-Track Their Rebuild. It Failed.

By AUSTIN ZEGLIS | Senior Sports Reporter

There are no two ways about it—the Chicago Bulls’ 2022–23 season was not good.

From the devastating news in March about the seriousness of Lonzo Ball’s injury to a mediocre 42–40 finish to a loss against the Miami Heat in the play-in tournament, this year for Bulls fans felt like disappointment after disappointment all the way to the end. How did this come to be?

The year was 2021. Bulls fans across the world had been suffering ever since the Derrick Rose trade. But then a new front office took over, and instead of growing the team through the development of young talent, they took quick action and gave fans some hope in the form of instant gratification. Chicago signed Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan, who, along with the newly acquired Nikola Vučević and fan-favorite Zach LaVine, made up a Bulls squad that looked like it could be of the Eastern Conference’s better teams.

But since then, the team has underperformed heavily for reasons both inside and outside of their control.

Lonzo Ball injured his knee and missed half of the 2021–22 season and all of the 2022–23 season, and he is set to miss most, if not all, of the 2023–24 season according to The Athletic ’s Shams

Charania and Darnell Mayberry. LaVine and DeRozan have been fun to watch at times but have never been able to string together enough wins to make the team competitive. And Nikola Vučević has been a rollercoaster throughout his entire tenure in Chicago.

What Happened?

Put simply, the Bulls were at the bottom of the league on the offensive side of the ball throughout the season: Their offensive rating of 112.8 was the sixth-worst in the league.

Some of this disparity can be chalked up to a lack of good passing and on-ball playmaking, as Chicago averaged 24.5 assists per game as a team, the 10th-worst such mark in the NBA. But Lonzo Ball’s eventual yet ever-distant return won’t automatically fix these offensive woes that this team experienced all year.

Despite the disappointing season, I do want to give credit where credit is due— team defense was a bright spot throughout the whole year. The Bulls’ defensive rating of 111.5 was fifth-best in the NBA, only behind the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Boston Celtics, the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Milwaukee Bucks, all of whom made the playoffs as top four seeds in their respective conferences.

But a good defense won’t get you anywhere with one of the worst offenses in the league. The Bulls failed to close out close games throughout the season, and they played mediocre basketball that didn’t deserve the league-best home attendance that the Chicago faithful provided them.

Offseason Outlook

This offseason should be a busy one for General Manager Marc Eversly and Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas, as starting center Vučević will become an unrestrictCONTINUED ON PG. 15

austin zeglis

played mediocre basketball that didn’t deserve the league-best home

CONTINUED FROM PG. 14

ed free agent when the offseason officially starts on July 6.

A polarizing player, Vučević played all 82 games this season and shot a career-high 52 percent from the field. Multiple other players—Goran Dragic, Javonte Green, Ayo Dosunmu, and Patrick Beverly, among others—will also become unrestricted free agents.

Coby White, a key member of Chicago’s bench unit, will become a restricted free agent and is expected to be highly sought after across the league. And two other bench players, Andre Drummond and Derrick Jones Jr., have player options and can choose whether or not they wish to renew their contracts for another year.

The Bulls traded their 2023 draft pick to the Orlando Magic in the Vučević/ Wendell Carter Jr. trade. Chicago will retain the pick if it jumps into the top four during May 16’s draft lottery, which has an 8.5 percent chance of happening, but otherwise the team will be left without a first-round pick.

Chicago’s second round pick was re -

voked by the league as a penalty for rules violations during the Lonzo Ball signing a few offseasons ago, meaning the team was caught contacting Ball’s representatives before he officially became a free agent and negotiations were officially allowed to happen.

So What Can Be Done?

I would love to see Chicago bring back some of the bench pieces that played well this year, like White, Jones, and Drummond. But it’s time for the “Big Three” of LaVine, DeRozan, and Vučević to be phased out.

Sure, they have their fun moments, but this isn’t a winning core. I wouldn’t be opposed to keeping LaVine around, as he’s become synonymous with Chicago basketball over the past six years and I think fans might set the United Center on fire if the front office ships him out. But the others have to go.

Regarding Vučević’s expiring contract, the Bulls should try to sign-and-trade him to a team in need of a competent big man. The Atlanta Hawks come to mind—a deal

Recent Results

Women’s Lacrosse took home a sweeping victory against North Central College on Saturday, finishing 24–1. This marks a second-consecutive undefeated regular season for the Maroons.

Softball won two games against St. Mary’s (Ind.) last Friday 4–2 and 8–0, respectively. This marked the Maroons’ fourth-straight win before facing off with Lake Forest on Sunday, where they won the first game in extra innings 4–3, before dropping the second game 2–0.

Baseball won 4–2 against Cornell College on Sunday, with starting pitcher Hayden Leiderman striking out nine batters. The team lost their second game 14–10, moving to 16–14 on the season and 10–8 in the Midwest Conference.

Women’s Tennis won their second consecutive UAA title over Emory on Saturday, claiming a 5–1 victory. This also marks the Maroons’ fourth conference championship since 2010.

Men’s and Women’s Track and Field were both off to the races this past weekend at the UAA Outdoor Championships. The women finished second and the men finished fourth out of seven teams. Top first-place finishers included Maddie Kelly, Molly Laumakis, Gabriela Meschino, Loren Brown, and Andrew Ray.

involving forward John Collins would certainly be enticing for Atlanta to pair Clint Capela with another big man down low in Vučević. The Los Angeles Clippers could also be in the running, as they could exchange Ivica Zubac and some draft capital for Vučević to bolster their center rotation.

As for DeRozan, he’s still a great player, and my desire to get him off the team has no bearing on my belief that he could have a positive impact on another team, especially one trying to contend for a playoff spot.

Next year is the last year of DeRozan’s contract, and at 33 years old, he’s certainly not getting any younger—or, for that matter, better. So, for a team that’s contending for a playoff spot, DeRozan could be a positive asset next year. But for a team like the Bulls that are nowhere near contention, having the aging DeRozan under contract for his 33rd and 34th year does nothing towards the goals the Bulls should have— namely, roster turnover and youth development.

Perhaps a deal to send DeRozan to the

New York Knicks for Obi Toppin or even RJ Barrett? They could also dump him off to Miami for some combination of Kyle Lowry, Duncan Robinson, and draft picks.

But with or without the completion of any major trades, my number one wish for the Bulls is that they give some of the young, underdeveloped players on their roster some real playing time next year.

Dalen Terry, the 18th overall pick last year, averaged a whopping 2.2 points on 5.6 minutes per game last year. Play the man! And while we’re at it, let’s get Marko Simonović and Carlik Jones and Terry Taylor and whomever the Bulls select with Denver’s second round pick this year some more playing time—as long as the team isn’t actively contending for a playoff spot, what’s the harm?

Either way, the Bulls need to go into next season with a new identity. If October rolls around and the Bulls just have the same old rotation and coaching staff that failed to make the playoffs this year, there’s no reason why the team won’t continue to disappoint. Change needs to happen.

Upcoming Games

Women’s Lacrosse

Chicago vs. Illinois Wesleyan, CCIW Semifinals, Wednesday, May 5, 6 p.m.

Softball

Chicago vs. Mount Mary, Saturday, May 6, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Chicago vs. Case Western Reserve, Saturday, May 13, 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.

Baseball Chicago @ Lawrence; Saturday, May 6, 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. MWC Tournament, Friday, May 12.

Men’s and Women’s Tennis NCAA Regionals, Friday, May 5, Saturday, May 6, Sunday, May 7. Chicago @ Lake Nona, FL, NCAA Team Championship, Sunday May 14 to Monday May 25.

Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Loras Dr. Tucker Invite, Friday, May 5. St. Francis Fighting Chance Invite, Friday, May 12, 11 a.m.

“[T]hey

attendance that the Chicago faithful provided them.”

ACROSS

1 Performance contested at Te Matatini

5 Easiest SOSC, apparently

9 What one’s voice may do

14 “I’ll start working right away!”

15 Emanation from many a dorm room

16 Number whose name was coined by nine-yearold Milton Sirotta in 1920

17 White line? (with 75-Across)

19 Like an inaudible Zoom meeting participant

20 ___-mo

21 Minimal concept?

23 Prominent linguistic feature of Latin

24 Prominent linguistic features of Vietnamese

26 “___ gusto” (“A pleasure,” Sp.)

28 Ash line?

35 Late actress Anne

36 “Whaaaat?”

37 One of seven for a pirate

38 Simile words

40 Carnivore-pleasing pasta sauce

42 Words of representation?

44 Stark line?

48 Notable middle name in recent Supreme Court history

49 Garment sometimes made with Mysore silk

50 When doubled, highly enthusiastic

51 Subject of the TESOL Quarterly journal

52 K-pop group that takes its name from an English contraction

55 K-pop, for one

57 Marsh line?

62 Spooky

63 NBA legend Thomas

CROSSWORD 60. It’s Show Time

By PRAVAN CHAKRAVARTHY | Head Crossword Editor

65 Roof part from which people can listen in on secret conversations

68 Shoots for the stands

72 Knives Out actress de Armas

73 Composer Shostakovich

75 See 17-Across

77 “Come on ___” (1982 pop hit)

78 Top quality

79 Countenance

80 Like someone who asks you for advice all the time

81 “Size matters not” speaker (and embodier)

82 ___ ID (UChicago need)

DOWN

1 Put up, as a sail

2 Like most clocks in classrooms

3 Obi go-with

4 Verizon competitor, in brief

5 The M of LVMH (Europe’s largest company)

6 A murti in Hindu/Buddhist traditions, for example

7 And then there were ___

8 Tossed and turned, maybe

9 Comic-___

10 You’ve Got Mail or Clueless

11 Mar element

12 Often–uncomfortable sleeping amenities

13 Twittering Machine painter Paul

16 “Makes sense,” informally

18 Word in a rhyming expression with “waste”

22 Word before or after “as”

25 C2H6

27 Common words in an Instagram bio

29 Plot measure

30 CS abbr. for a single letter or number

31 Famous shield of Greek mythology

59 Wiggle room

60

61

64 “If quantum mechanics ___ profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet” –Niels Bohr

65 The “Garden of God,” more familiarly

66 Brest friend?

67 Apt anagram of “evil”

69 “Go away!”

70 UChicago chapel that wasn’t named after a spy

71 Store with only two Illinois locations (in Schaumburg and Bolingbrook)

74 Star Wars character who christens herself “Skywalker”

76 “How Bizarre” band (1996)