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ILLINOIS MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

MAY 22, 2019 EIGHTH WEEK VOL. 131, ISSUE 40

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250+ Students Protest Bill on Abortion Funding

Lightfoot Sworn In

GSU Votes To Strike

ARTS: Easy, (Summer) Breezy, Beautiful

EDITORIAL: Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Should Be Eligible for Quantrell Prize

GREY CITY: No Spotless Record: Censorship at UChicago

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THE CHICAGO MAROON — MAY 22, 2019

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Anti-Abortion CC Bill Draws Hundreds in Protest

By JUSTIN SMITH AND ALEX DALTON Senior News Reporter, News Reporter More than 250 students gathered in Reynolds Club on Tuesday night to protest a bill that would restrict the application of funds allocated for student use toward abortion procedures. The bill, which was voted on by College Council (CC) later Tuesday night, failed to pass. Most students present at Reynolds Club were opposed to the bill.

The bill failed by a vote of 15 to one with no abstentions. The bill’s author, fourthyear Brett Barbin, a CC Class Representative and outgoing president of College Republicans, cast the only vote in support of the bill.

The bill would have prohibited the expenditure of any CC–authorized funds toward abortion, except in cases where rape, incest, or the danger of death of the pregnant person was involved. The text of the bill argues that “students should not be financially compelled to violate their sincerely-held moral beliefs” against the procedure.

The proposal comes after a week of national debate over the passage of several state laws placing strict restrictions on abortions. Last Tuesday, Alabama outlawed nearly all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest. The only exceptions are cases in which the mother’s life is at serious risk. Last Friday, Missouri passed a bill barring all abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected—it is the latest of five states this year to pass this type of “heartbeat bill.”

Barbin stated in the proposal that the impetus for the bill came from a May 16 Facebook post by Student Government (SG) president-elect Jahne Brown promoting The Emergency Fund. The Emergency Fund provides aid to marginalized students in emergency situations that cause a significant financial burden, including for reproductive health issues like abortion.

The Fund is a part of SG and has received donations from CC. The Fund received $1,000 of extra funding unspent by CC at the conclusion of the academic year.

College Council receives its funding from Student Government, whose money partially derives from student life fees.

The Emergency Fund may fund abortions as part of its mission to support students in

financial need under extenuating circumstances. The bill would have blocked any money from student life fees from funneling through SG, CC, and into the Emergency Fund.

Brown said that although the Emergency Fund has not funded any abortions this school year, “we do fund abortions, and we will always fund abortions.”

The website of the University bursar states that “the fees make it possible for Campus and Student Life to offer a robust array of student support services. A portion of the student services fee is administered directly by students through Student Governing to fund Recognized Student Organizations and other student-driven activities and programs.”

The proposed bill also stated that using these funds for abortion goes against what Student Health Services has published as the use of student life fees, which includes “contraception consultations,” but not abortions explicitly.

During the assembly, Barbin defended the bill, saying, “The most underrepresented minority today are unborn children.”

Many attendees at the assembly spoke up against the bill. Second-year Marissa Igunbor, who identified as a survivor of sexual assault and a board member of Phoenix Survivors Alliance, said, “If I can’t pull my government funding from funding Viagra, then you can’t tell me that I have to have a child, because if it’s God’s will to have a baby, then it’s God’s will for men to have limp penises.”

Protesters against the bill appeared outside of McCormick Lounge, where the vote took place, holding signs with slogans such as “My choice not uchoose” and “Defund College Republicans.” In a statement to The Maroon, Barbin said he was not acting on behalf of College Republicans when proposing and defending the bill.

One unidentified protester of the bill threw an egg at a group of counterprotesters on the stairs inside the northern entrance to Reynolds Club. No one was hit.

University of Chicago Police Department officers were stationed in Reynolds Club to monitor the situation. Several officers stood at the door of McCormick Lounge.

While the crowd outside McCormick Lounge remained calm overall as the meeting went on, at times the protestors and oth-

Protestors in Reynolds Club on Tuesday night. adrian mandeville er students, who were unable to enter the dressed him. The counterprotester didn’t lounge before it filled to capacity, broke out respond and soon walked away. She later in chants such as “My body, my choice.” The told The Maroon that she was trying “to chants would become so loud that it became calm [the situation] down so [she] could difficult to hear speakers inside the College have a direct conversation with [the counCouncil meeting. terprotester].”

Third-year Christina Stebbins got the Afterward, a man who identified himcrowd’s attention and spoke in opposition self as pro-life voiced opposition to the to what she called “forced-birth extremist counterprotester’s epithet, but received views.” mostly admonitions from pro-choice mem“Personally, I think this is kind of bull- bers of the crowd. shit,” she told the crowd. “Not only is this The response outside of the lounge an attack on people with uteruses,” she when the bill failed was excited, with stucontinued, adding that attempts to restrict dents clapping and cheering. access to abortion are a specific attack “that Student Government posted on Facethis country is making on people who can’t book expressing their opposition to the bill, afford to go out of their state to go get an asking students to gather at Reynolds Club abortion.” to speak out against the bill, which they said After Stebbins finished speaking, an un- would “seriously undermine reproductive identified male counterprotester repeated- rights on campus.” They also livestreamed ly yelled, “You’re a whore,” and accused her footage of the vote on Facebook. of killing babies.

Stebbins stepped forward and ad-

Hannah Goss speaks in the meeting about the bill. adrian mandeville

THE CHICAGO MAROON — MAY 22, 2019

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GSU Votes to Strike

By MATTHEW LEE Senior News Reporter Graduate Students United (GSU) members are likely to strike before the end of the quarter: 1134 members voted to authorize industrial action, while 112 voted against, GSU organizers confirmed Monday evening.

Monday’s result is perhaps the starkest escalation yet of a long-simmering conflict between GSU and University administration.

The passage of the vote, which ran between last Wednesday and Sunday evening, authorizes GSU to take part in its first-ever industrial action. Responding to a request for inquiry from The Maroon, GSU organizers explained that there were two specific questions on the ballot: “The first asked members if they authorized an industrial action,” while “the second invited people to take part in a committee that will make

decisions about the conduct of the action.”

The specifics of an industrial action— including when it would occur and what it would look like—depend on GSU members themselves, who will democratically determine what the work action will involve through group discussions. In conversations with The Maroon last week, individual GSU members expressed private support for work stoppage strategies that included not holding class, leaving papers ungraded, and encouraging solidarity actions from undergraduates.

GSU organizers stressed to The Maroon that a strike could be avoided if the University recognizes the union. Graduate students voted to form GSU 19 months ago, in a two-to-one vote, but withdrew from an NLRB review process last February, citing fears that the group would reverse its earlier ruling on whether graduate students

GSU poll location in Regenstein Library last week. sophia corning nationwide had a right to unionize. Since then, GSU has sought voluntary recognition from University administration, engaging in a series of demonstrations to pressure the University. Examples of past GSU demonstrations include a walk-out last fall, which drew a crowd of hundreds and included the presence of leadership from the Illinois Federation of Teachers. More recently, GSU, along with representatives from several local unions, took part in a May Day rally

on campus.

On Tuesday, University spokesperson Jeremy Manier responded to The Maroon’s request for comment. His full statement reads: “We have great appreciation for all that graduate students bring to the University’s intellectual community. The University is working directly with graduate students and faculty on many fronts to improve graduate education and quality of life.”

Recreational Marijuana May Be Legalized: Here’s What You Should Know

By PRANATHI POSA Deputy News Editor Governor J.B. Pritzker and lawmakers in Illinois are looking to legalize recreational use of marijuana by January 1, 2020. A bill to legalize recreational marijuana use was introduced by Illinois Senator Heather Steans in the legislature on May 7 and is currently undergoing debate and revisions.

Hyde Park politicians—Senator Robert Peters, Representative Curtis Tarver, Representative Kambium Buckner, Fifth Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston, and 20th Ward Alderman Jeanette Taylor—have expressed support for the legalization of marijuana, although none of them have spoken specifically about this bill.

Tarver and Buckner are also sponsors on a different bill that hopes to “conduct a disparity study on whether minority-owned businesses face any barriers that prevent the equitable participation in the business...of legalized cannabis in Illinois.” Cooperating with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, the bill is meant to develop a set of guidelines and remedies that would address any possible disparities and inequalities that could arise during the process of legalizing marijuana.

The Bill Illinois legalized medical marijuana use in 2013 and decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2016. Discussion of legalizing recreational marijuana by lawmakers has been ongoing since at least 2017.

Under the bill, Illinois residents over 21 would be able to purchase up to 30 grams of marijuana at a time from licensed dispensaries. Non-residents would be able to purchase up to 15 grams. The bill will also expunge an estimated 800,000 low-level drug offenses ranging from misdemeanors to Class 4 felonies.

It also includes a $20 million low-interest loan program that will lend money to small-scale growers in an effort to promote “social equity,” according to the summary provided by Pritzker’s office. The bill aims to encourage small growers by prohibiting the establishment of large-scale commercial growers. The hope is that this provision in the bill will aid the development of minority-owned small businesses within disenfranchised parts of the city.

10 percent of the tax revenue generated from marijuana sales will go toward paying back state debts, while another 35 percent will go into the state’s general operating fund. Lawmakers intend for the remaining

tax revenue to be reinvested in resources for socioeconomically disadvantaged communities such as mental health and substance abuse treatment, public education, and law enforcement grants. For example, 25 percent of revenue will go toward the Restoring Our Communities fund that will be created through this proposal to distribute grants to communities that have been disproportionately targeted by “discriminatory drug policies.”

Effect on University Policy Although recreational marijuana may be legalized on the state level, it is unlikely that the University of Chicago’s policy on marijuana will shift in any manner, because the University receives federal funds, and marijuana is not legal on the federal level.

In a written statement to The Maroon, University spokesperson Sabrina Miller said, “We do not anticipate that changes at the state level will affect university policies.

As an institution of research and education receiving federal funds, the university must remain in compliance with federal laws.”

According to the University’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report for 2018–19, to receive federal funding under the DrugFree Schools and Communities Act Amendments of 1989, the University must “certify

that it has adopted and implemented a drug prevention program to prevent the unlawful possession, use, or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol by students and employees.”

Currently, under University policy, being caught with drugs may result in the confiscation of paraphernalia related to the offense. It may also result in “removal from the University House System; discharge from student employment; and warning, probation, suspension, or expulsion from the University.”

Additionally, as a matter of fire safety, there are still non-smoking regulations on the state and city levels that will remain in effect even with the passage of this bill. Therefore, since the University has non-smoking regulations in accordance with the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois, smoking on campus will remain prohibited.

Law Enforcement One of the most contentious parts of the original bill was the expungement of low-level drug convictions.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON — MAY 22, 2019

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Legal Marijuana Has Legal, Social Motivations and Obstacles CONTINUED FROM PG. 3

offense and a felony on the second offense.

More than 10 grams of marijuana with intent to sell is a felony and cultivating more than five plants is a felony as well.

Since recreational marijuana dispensaries will have the ability to legally possess, sell, and cultivate marijuana, some lawmakers hope to expunge the records of those who are currently incarcerated under the previous laws.

Senator Toi Hutchinson has been firm on the need for expungement despite pushback on the proposal from law enforcement groups. “People in suits will make millions

of dollars off selling cannabis, while people are sitting in jail for the exact same activity? That’s fundamentally wrong,” she said to the Chicago Tribune.

Law enforcement groups have concerns about the provisions for personal cultivation and the possible costs of expunging so many criminal records. However, the main issue that law enforcement groups such as the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association and the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police have with the proposed law is that the law may result in an increased risk of individuals driving while high, which could increase traffic accidents and overall community impact.

Social Equity Some community groups and lawmakers are concerned by what it may mean for the bill to focus on “social equity.”

The $20 million low-interest loan program would be open to those who live in communities that have been most affected by the enforcement of low-level drug crimes. The program would give them the opportunity to set up their own marijuana businesses.

Some are skeptical about the goals of the social equity program and the supposed benefits of marijuana legalization.

“Minorities have said to me, we don’t

want this stuff in our neighborhood. There’s other ways to generate revenue, not on the backs of our children and young adults.” said State Representative Marty Moylan the day the proposal was announced.

Opponents of the bill also claim that marijuana legalization is more about making money than it is about supporting oppressed communities. Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a group that advocates for the slowing down of marijuana legalization efforts, says that the bill will have “devastating impacts on citizens” by creating an “addiction-for-profit industry.”

Study Connects Increased Support to College Graduation

By SOFIE LIE News Reporter In a study published earlier this month by the UChicago Urban Labs’ Poverty Lab, a team of researchers found preliminary evidence of a link between increased academic and financial support and rising future community college graduation rates in Chicago.

The Poverty Lab, which aims to work with community organizations to test and scale programs that aid social mobility, partnered with Chicago-based nonprofit One Million Degrees (OMD) to analyze the effect its support program is having on student outcomes in terms of enrollment and persistence to a subsequent term. Its first-year findings showed that students who were assigned to OMD support saw a 23–27 percent increase in college enrollment and 35 percent increase in springterm persistence, which is defined as staying in school from fall through spring term.

“We know that community college has this potential to be an incredible vehicle for social mobility,” Poverty Lab Scientific Director Kelly Hallberg said. “It’s real and tangible in terms of people’s lives.”

Yet, Hallberg notes that the three-year graduation rate in Chicago’s community college system, City Colleges, hovers around 23 percent. Though this is an increase from its single-digit graduation rates a decade ago, the rate lies below the national average of 30 percent. Increasing

this rate means improving economic feasibility for community college students, who are more likely to be first-generation, low income, and of color than fouryear public college students. Most of the Poverty Lab study’s participants were Hispanic or Black. The study also notes that having a college degree is associated with a decrease in the risk of incarceration from 21 to 6 percent.

OMD provides support to students in three spheres—financial, academic, and personal—in hopes of increasing student persistence. In the Poverty Lab study, half of the eligible applicants were randomly assigned to receive OMD support. Students selected received a $1,000 or $750 stipend and Last Dollar Scholarships (a program based on financial need) to address financial insecurity, a program coordinator with whom they can regularly meet, and tutoring and referral to additional academic support as needed.

The wide range of resources provided

by OMD in its mission to increase community college enrollment and retention is at the crux of its theory of change, a theory that Hallberg stressed as a key component to the program’s success. The study notes that its results indicate “comprehensive support programs” like OMD can be generalized on a larger scale.

“We know from other research that if [the program is] too small, you won’t move the needle. If it’s just emergency financial assistance, then that doesn’t tend to work, and if it’s just academic remediation, that

doesn’t tend to work,” Hallberg said. “But maybe there are some efficiencies within these comprehensive models that can help us think about scale.”

OMD’s potential to expand its scale is derived in part by its status as a nonprofit.

Rather than being a program specific to the City College system, the independent nature of OMD allows for it to potentially expand into other college networks.

“The pathway for scale [for OMD] could be bigger because they could work with a bunch of different systems; they don’t have to be limited to Chicago,” Hallberg said.

Though early findings point to the program’s effectiveness, evidence to the contrary would have been informative too, Hallberg noted. OMD’s Chief Executive Officer Paige Ponder, whom Hallberg described as a “visionary leader,” said that she had a gut instinct that the program worked, but she was bent upon changing it if the results showed otherwise.

“It’s exciting that we’ve been able to find the results that really do show that gut instinct she had that it’s moving the needle was totally right on,” Hallberg said.

Certain findings in the study stood out to the Poverty Lab. In particular, the program had a large effect on high school students staying enrolled in the colleges they intended to go to. This points to the prominence of the support high school students receive in the pre-matriculation period, particularly reminder “nudges” meant to encourage class registration and completion of financial aid documents—

actions that are crucial for enrollment.

Completing the FAFSA and filling out enrollment documents can be insurmountable barriers in successfully transitioning to college, especially for first-generation students, who are navigating the college enrollment process for the first time with no familial precedent.

“It turns out knowing you have a place to land seems to really matter, not only in terms of if students stay connected to school, but if they show up in the first place,” Hallberg said.

Indeed, high school student participants in the program showed a rate of persistence to the next school term almost double that of the control group—a statistic also more significant than the effect the program had on participants already enrolled in community college.

Despite the early promise of the program, Hallberg noted the significant cost per student, which is around $3,000.

As such, determining the most efficient weight for components of the program is key to serving as many students as possible.

“I think that’s core to the work we do… trying to figure out if we can provide rigorous evidence, [and] then you can help policymakers and funders double down on the stuff that works, and so if they can see that this really is a good use of the dollars that you have, then our hope is that it can lead to more sustained financial resources so that it can serve more students,” Halberg said.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — MAY 22, 2019

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UC Labor Council Aims For Recognition of GSU, Nabisco

By VICTOR YANG Senior News Reporter The University of Chicago Labor Council (UCLC) is a newly-formed labor council consisting of several labor unions operating in the South Side. According to UCLC’s social media page, the council aspires to “work together in winning a sustainable, accountable, and democratically-driven University devoted to the common good of all.”

The coalition includes several labor unions representing workers from different parts of the University, including National Nurses United; Flood’s Hall; Tenants United; Chicago Jobs with Justice; Greater Chicago Industrial Workers of the World; Service Employees International Union; Bakery Confectionery Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union (BCTGM); and Graduate Students United (GSU).

UCLC is a recent development in the dynamics of labor activism at the University. Labor organizers came together for UCLC’s first meeting in December of last year in order to work together to accomplish goals common to workers at the University. Council members feel that their voices are not heard when decisions about the most basic things in their lives are being made, including worker’s health-care plans and working conditions.

“The basis for UCLC is that workers across and around campus have a shared interest in being organized and powerful together”, said Claudio Gonzáles, a UCLC

media representative.

Citing the University as the South Side’s largest employer, Gonzáles said that “University workers have been structurally disenfranchised from having agency in these changes.” Council members believe that “We deserve a seat at the table when these changes are made.”

One of UCLC’s goals is the recognition of GSU by the University, and the resolution of grievances GSU has advocated for on behalf of graduate students.

University graduate students voted 1,103 to 479 in favor of unionization in the fall of 2017. Although GSU withdrew its petition from the National Labor Relations Board in February of 2018 to prevent a Republican majority from overturning precedent that guarantees graduate students the right to unionize, organizers have continued efforts to bring University officials to the bargaining table. In October 2018, GSU staged a walkout of hundreds of graduate students to advocate for better working conditions.

The University has repeatedly refused to formally recognize GSU. Gonzáles emphasized that in addition to pushing for formal union recognition, the council would like to “build solidarity with one another in our upcoming contract negotiations.”

Anthony Jackson, a spokesperson for UCLC and a BCTGM member, emphasized that one function of UCLC is to coordinate the actions of its constituent unions.“We, the Bakers Union, have been fighting Mondelez, parent company

of Nabisco, for well over 3 years for a fair contract,” Jackson said in a statement to The Maroon.

BCTGM posted flyers on campus last fall calling for Joseph Neubauer, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University and a sitting member of the Mondelēz International Board of Directors, to be removed from his position at the University. Mondelez laid off 600 workers from the Chicago Nabisco plant on 73rd Street and Kedzie Avenue, and allegedly paid its CEO 42 million in 2017 for 41 days of work. Neubauer also agreed to the board’s decision to eliminate pension contributions for working class families at Nabisco plants across the country.

Jackson wrote on behalf of the Baker’s union, stating their decision to join UCLC is driven by BCTGM’s firm belief in “fighting as a labor movement not as

just an individual union.” Jackson hopes to further address the unfair treatment of workers by Neubauer and his associated corporations through the collective strength of UCLC. During UCLC’s first major action since its formation, a May Day March, more than 200 UCLC members and demonstrators from South Side labor organizations marched on 59th Street and rallied on the University main quad. UCLC aimed to deliver letters to the University administration, demanding formal recognition for GSU and Student Library Employees Union, prioritization of patient safety in the University of Chicago Medical Center by implementing steps to ensure the recruitment and retention of experienced registered nurses, and a promise to work with civic leaders to minimize displacement of community members.

UCLC and GSU marched on the quad to raise awareness. adrian mandeville

Celeb Donations Assist Pastor’s Bid For Community Center

By BRAD SUBRAMANIAM Senior News Reporter Pastor Corey Brooks, founder of the New Beginnings Church and executive director of Project HOOD, has raised nearly $2.9 million of his $25 million goal to build a community center in Woodlawn.

Brooks started the “Americans Against Violence” GoFundMe campaign after he noticed that a group on the website had raised millions of dollars to support President Donald Trump’s border

wall, while another received donations to build ladders for the wall. “Americans are giving to building walls to keep people out and giving to build ladders to bring people in. We need AMERICANS who will give to build a Community Center to keep Americans alive,” states Brooks’s campaign page.

The center aims to improve high school graduation rates by providing programs and educational resources to youth, and to reduce crime and increase job placement through job training programs.

The planned 94,000–square foot center has received donations from actor and producer Tyler Perry, NBA stars Steve Francis and Bobby Simmons, and the Robert J. Semrad Foundation, among other high-profile donors.

It will be located at 66th Street and King Drive, the location of a former motel which was once a hub for drug dealing and prostitution. In the winter of 2012, Brooks spent three months camping on that motel’s roof. He had previously organized weekly protests in front of the motel for a year and a half in order to

bring attention to gun violence and shut down the establishment.

Project HOOD later bought the property for $450,000. The organization hopes to move many of its programs from its current facility at 63rd Street and King Drive, which serves 1,700 people, to the larger property, which could serve over 5,000 individuals.

The community center will be centered on opportunities for Woodlawn’s youth and contain room for classrooms, various sports facilities, two theaters, CONTINUED ON PG. 6

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Woodlawn Pastor Raises Money for Community Center CONTINUED FROM PG. 5

a rooftop garden, and a trauma counseling center. Three restaurants in the center—Oberweis, Woodgrain Pizzeria, and BGR The Burger Joint—will provide youth with hospitality training and employment experience.

Brooks noted that the community center will also provide resources to adults through a construction trade school and a garage for automotive training. He added that the community center would provide significant training on business growth and development. “We have entrepreneurs that are teaching individuals how to have, start, and maintain businesses. We’re making sure we have life coaches, mentors, and businesses available to get people where they need to be,” he said.

Project HOOD’s programs have already had a noticeable effect on improving stability in Woodlawn. Over the last four years, the organization has helped 610 people get jobs through mentorship programs, entrepreneurship training, and construction classes.

However, the organization has also faced roadblocks. Brooks said that it has been difficult to involve individuals with diverse backgrounds from the community in Project HOOD’s programs.

“The two biggest obstacles have been making sure that we involve people from various parts of the community and making sure that we have the programs and resources available that

enhance and change those individuals’ lives,” Brooks said.

For Brooks, the largest problem for youth in Woodlawn is a lack of opportunity, which he believes causes people to “lose their way.”

Brooks’s own experiences with the community center in his hometown of Muncie, Indiana, motivated him to expand Project HOOD’s efforts.

“I come from a single-parent household. My mother was always working, but she made sure that I always had some food and a place to go—that place to go was a community center, where I had mentors, tutors, basketball, swimming, baseball…. I believe the community center saved my life. If it did that for me, I imagine what it could do in a place like Chicago, where so many kids are impoverished,” Brooks said.

Brooks believes his experience building churches will help him grow the community center. He founded Woodlawn’s New Beginnings Church in 2000 and grew its membership from 250 to more than 2,000. He has also founded churches in Atlanta, Georgia, and Cape Town, South Africa.

“I’ve learned that it takes a lot of teamwork. It takes a lot of accepting people for who they are and a lot of communication,” said Brooks of his experiences founding churches.

The Woodlawn neighborhood where Project HOOD plans to build its community center is likely to be affected by

Pastor Corey Brooks is trying to raise $25 million for a new Woodlawn community center. photo courtesy of corey brooks

several other major development projects in the area, including the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) and a Tiger Woods golf course. The OPC, which has been met with concerns about gentrification and displacement, is currently undergoing a lawsuit due to its location in Jackson Park.

Brooks, who noted the potential impact of the OPC on the neighborhood and the possibility of displacement, did not believe it would affect Project HOOD’s plans.

“Regardless of who comes in, people who are connected to us and to whom we’re connected to will have a place at the table and in the neighborhood,” Brooks said.

Brooks met with other members of Project HOOD and potential donors at the Chicago Cubs corporate office last Monday, where he discussed plans for hosting Project HOOD’s sixth annual fundraising gala for the community center. The gala will take place in early June.

Gender Inclusive Bathroom Initiative Kicks Off With Sign Changes

By WILLIAM TRLAK Senior News Reporter An initiative between the UChicago Office of LGBTQ Student Life and Facilities Services will work to replace current single-user restroom signs with signage that does not use binary male and female characters.

62 single-user restrooms across campus will potentially have their signage changed by this initiative. According to the co-chairs of the Gender Inclusive Restroom Working Group (GIRWG), Director of LGBTQ Student

Life Kendra Malone and Accessibility Specialist Glenn Okazaki, representatives from campus buildings with single-user restrooms will be invited to change their signage according to GIRWG recommendations.

The change in signage will not impact restrooms in dorm buildings. 38 of the 39 houses in the housing system have three gender designations for communal bathrooms: male, female, and all-gender.

Various University offices formed the GIRWG in 2018 in order to discuss current university practices regarding

single-user restrooms in public facilities throughout campus. GIRWG membership represents Facilities Services, the Office of LGBTQ Student Life, the Office of the Provost, and other relevant campus offices. The working group also considered feedback from the Office of LGBTQ Student Life’s Student Advisory Council, which has members from the College, graduate divisions, and professional schools.

In a written statement to the Maroon, Malone and Okazaki said the initiative intends to “improve access to, and visibility of, all-gender restrooms

across campus using standard and consistent signage.”

“Through a review of national trends and best practices for the institutional streamlining of inclusive facility practices as it relates to transgender/gender non-conforming/non-binary inclusion broadly, and restroom updates specifically, GIRWG identified the updating of our current single-user restroom signs to that of ‘All-Gender Restrooms’ across campus as a priority,” they said.

The timeline for sign updates has yet to be finalized.

the chicago maroon — may 22, 2019

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ARTS No Unanswered Questions in Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Hamlet

By Jade Yan Arts Reporter

The plot of Hamlet is, on the surface, fairly simple. And director Barbara Gaines’s interpretation, running at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier until June 9, does not try to complicate it.

The play appears to follow the classic “revenge-tragedy” structure: The eponymous character Hamlet (Maurice Jones) seeks to avenge his father’s (Derrick Lee Weeden) death after being told by the latter’s ghost one dark evening that his uncle Claudius (Tim Decker), who is now king and married to Hamlet’s mother Gertrude (Karen Aldridge), murdered Hamlet’s father. Other characters include Horatio (Sean Allan Krill), Hamlet’s best friend from university; Ophelia (Rachel Nicks), Hamlet’s love-interest; Ophelia’s father Polonius (Larry Yando); her brother Laertes (Paul Deo, Jr.); and a number of other court sycophants.

However, it soon transpires that nothing really is that simple, or classic, about Hamlet, and that “to be, or not to be” is not, in fact, “the [only] question”—there are many.

The play even begins with one: “Who’s there?” This sets the tone for the rest of Hamlet, in which smaller plot-lines, larger themes, and character motives are left ambiguous.

Uncertainties run all throughout the play: Is Hamlet truly mad? Is the ghost of his father real or imagined? Is what the ghost tells him about the murder true? And, even worse, is his mother Gertrude in cahoots with his evil uncle Claudius? (And, bonus:

Does Hamlet really love Ophelia?)

Despite all of this uncertainty, Gaines provides a straightforward production of Hamlet that does not shy away from providing answers. According to Gaines, Hamlet is not really mad, the ghost is real, and Gertrude is not in cahoots. (And Hamlet maybe loves Ophelia.)

Gaines, who has directed Hamlet once before over 20 years ago, takes a clear view of the play through the lens of Hamlet’s grief, viewing it in light of her personal experience with her own father’s sudden death.

She dispenses with the two popular opposing views of Hamlet’s madness: as either complete truth, or an elaborate plot to get his uncle Claudius to confess his murderous crime. Instead, Gaines believes that “we all experience moments of madness,” and that all of Hamlet’s “mad” actions are simply him responding to his pain impulsively.

This clear-cut reading, while at points coming across as perhaps slightly too sensible by brushing aside the important questions, provides a solid framework for the cast to show off their acting abilities and skillful handling of Shakespearean verse.

Jones plays a Hamlet whose grief is palpable but does not overwhelm. Unlike other productions, this one indulges in fewer anguished moments of isolation: In contrast to David Tennant’s dark, dramatic soliloquies, in which he performs in a zoomed-in silhouette and a T-shirt, Jones’s silhouettes do not stand out. We are given more time with a Hamlet who light-heartedly swans around in his feather-lined dressing gown, taunting Ophelia’s father Polonius.

Despite this lack of overt isolation

and anguish, however, Jones ultimately presents Hamlet as a figure who is very much alone. His solitude is augmented by his physical distance from the rest of the characters: Even Hamlet’s friend Horatio, played by Sean Allan Krill, sits away from Hamlet at the end of the play, watching his best friend die with his hand over his mouth.

In the Chicago Shakespeare Company’s production, Hamlet’s relationship with his mother is almost disappointingly uncomplicated. Gaines chooses not to dip into the various Oedipus complexities put forward

by Freud. Instead, Hamlet is—at least on the surface—just a son who is furious with his mother for marrying his uncle so soon after his father’s death. Gertrude, similarly, is just a love-struck newlywed who seems to have played no part in her late husband’s murder

by Hamlet’s uncle (and her new husband) Claudius. Moreover, like all conventional Gertrudes, she says little, and is defined by her interactions with both Hamlet and Claudius, expressing occasional (but apparently sincere) concern over the former, and mooning over the latter.

As a result, there is a strange line at the end that does not sit well with this portrayal. When Gertrude drinks the poisoned cup that Claudius has secretly prepared for Hamlet, a nervous Claudius tells Gertrude not to drink, and Gertrude, in uncharacteristic defiance, replies, “I will, my lord, I pray you pardon me.” While this production’s Gertrude plays up this mysterious defiance, her delivery clashes with the play’s hitherto naïve Gertrude.

Hamlet’s relationship with his love interest Ophelia is more intentionally ambig-

uous. This is partly due to the fact that we don’t know much about how Hamlet truly feels about Ophelia: They never have a moment alone together in the play. However, when they do interact, Jones and Nicks provide a heart-wrenching performance.

Ophelia’s grief at Hamlet’s madness almost dominates Hamlet’s own misery. Gaines is again clear about Ophelia as a character: “Her life has been ruled by men…so when the men in her life leave her, she implodes in on herself.” Nicks avoids portraying Ophelia as completely innocent, instead providing a more realistic presentation of an Ophelia who is aware of the fallibility of the men around her, but is unable to escape this framework because she has not experienced anything else.

Despite this overriding sense of tragedy, the play’s modern take on Hamlet is a source of comedy and vitality. This could be found in details such as the disco music before King Claudius’s celebratory toast, the oddly appropriate gum-chewing from Hamlet’s university pal and court sycophant extraordinaire Guildenstern (or possibly Rosencrantz?), played by Samuel Taylor (or Alex Goodrich), and the tattooed bikers who make up the royal court actors.

This modernity and the fluency with which the actors recite their lines contributes to Gaines’s aim to “pare everything down to the point where it feels authentic.”

It also shows that the broader questions of the play, including “what happens after death?” and “are we all in love with our mothers?” are still very much applicable to today.

Indie Sadbois Won’t Go Extinct Anytime Soon

By Natalia Rodriguez Arts Reporter

On May 9, French Police opened for Last Dinosaurs like dessert being served before the entrée. In fact, their sound resembled the music that I had queued for the picturesque windows-down Uber ride home along Lake Shore Drive. The set had a cool timbre: a steady drum pattern and

flowing texture that left me feeling like I was savoring a drop of lemon mint sorbet on my tongue. French Police’s sound fills you from head to toe, each song connected by a long, smooth, loosely fastened silk rope of intertwined melodic whispers and the yearning beckons of a strum from a chorus guitar pedal.

Just picture your quintessential indie teen band. “My 15-year-old self would have

been all over this,” I thought to myself, and it’s likely many others in the crowd did the same. The lead singer, Brian Flores, refused to make eye contact with the audience for most of the performance, which I found to be a bit cliché.

Quite fittingly, Flores was dressed head-to-toe in hipster boy chic: a thrifted red shirt and ultra-tight skinny jeans, with tortoise-shell frames to match. The audi-

ence of ironically enthusiastic beanie-clad sad boys ate it right up. Flores captured their hearts, crooning into the mic in the sedating and aloof tone we all long for deep down. As a result, the lyrics were entirely unintelligible, although that isn’t really so pressing of a problem in the indie pop genre.

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“...the floors of the small venue were bouncing with the magnitude of a 6.0 earthquake...” continued from pg. 7 detached, casually rocking back and forth while performing. The drummer, Kevin Peralta, was a particular crowd favorite, being asked repeatedly to take his shirt off (to which he sheepishly declined).

The song “Mi Cama” was a refreshing addition to their set, indicative of the budding Latinx indie scene. Latinx indie is coming, people. And as a Venezolana, I am very much here for it. However, please enunciate

our beautiful language properly, Flores.

After such a mellow opener, Last Dinosaurs burst onto the stage with energy and colored lighting that I couldn’t have possibly anticipated. The group looked as if it had been started by two varsity soccer players, a brooding existentialist with parents in academia, and an enthusiastic music nerd, all walking into the same high school practice room. Their aesthetic wasn’t necessarily cohesive, but their sound was able to overcome that.

Sean Caskey had refreshingly clear vocals that matched the groovy progressions of the bass, played by Michael Sloane, as well as the pumping percussion of Dan

Koyama, giving the group an extra-danceable oomph. One could characterize their sound as a cross between Foster the People and Grouplove, but with the willingness to experiment beyond the indie rock genre.

They mixed in strains of punk and ’80s synth pop, some psychedelic ornaments, and occasional Latin rhythms.

It was the little moments in their performance that struck me the most. I really appreciated the subtle jingles on the lead up to the final chorus of “Time & Place.”

Furthermore, Lachlan Caskey snuck a cute little guitar solo into “Sunday Night” with an exhilarating slide to top it off. I only wished he would have engaged the audience a bit more; his musicality could have been further amplified by appearing more invested. I understand, however, that indie boy detachment is an aesthetic, and he was dressed the best of all the members (great pants and jewelry), so I will give him a pass for the night.

There were many notable quotes. The cry for the removal of clothing resurfaced, to which Caskey respectfully declined, but not without a cheeky fake lifting up of his

shirt. This band definitely doesn’t refrain from euphemisms, making bold statements like “You broke our Chicago virginity, you broke it hard” and “We will spray you with punk juice.” Although I personally wasn’t sure what to make of that, the audience appeared to be electrified by such comments.

Overall, the audience was very entertained to the point that the floors of the small venue were bouncing with the magni-

tude of a 6.0 earthquake, which I can say is the most you can really hope for in a genre that can sometimes feel quite generic. I appreciated these three hours of high school nostalgia and relished in my teen-movie car ride on the way home, with pleasant reflections on the night of freeing indie rock melodies.

Dan Koyama, Sean Caskey, and Michael Sloane (left to right) of Last Dinosaurs. natalia rodriguez

Easy, (Summer) Breezy, Beautiful

Rain couldn’t stop this year’s Summer Breeze concert, where Becky G, Aminé, and Allie X (left to right) performed. adrian mandeville

THE CHICAGO MAROON — MAY 22, 2019

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Audience Falls Flat into a Passion Pit at the Riviera

By SYLVIA EBENBACH Arts Reporter

Passion Pit played at the Riviera Theatre last week as part of its tour celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the release of its debut album, Manners. Passion Pit packed the venue with a crowd of mostly college-aged and post-grad fans who were ecstatic to see a band who had once been the center of attention.

Formed in 2007 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Passion Pit didn’t release Manners until 2009. The band is composed of Michael Angelakos (vocals and songwriting), Chris Hartz (drums), Aaron Folb (bass and synthesizers), Giuliano Pizzulo (guitar and synthesizers), and Ray Suen (guitar and

synthesizers). Their music is upbeat, electronic, and pretty poppy for an indie band, qualities which are best epitomized in Manners. However, Passion Pit’s sound has not kept well over the years.

Seeing Passion Pit perform live was a little like chewing bubble gum: The music was sugary, each song felt identical to the previous, and it became tiring after about 10 minutes. When listening to recordings of songs on the album, the songs are far more layered and interesting. But performing live, the band played each song with maximum energy, dulling their uniqueness. This blasting of the senses was reflected in the visual imagery of the performance as well.

Angelakos was the only performer visible on stage; in fact, some of his bandmates

were literally hidden behind panes of glass.

It was a confusing choice and was further complicated by the sheer volume of fog and stroke-inducing lighting that overwhelmed the crowd. With Angelakos bopping around the stage in a white button-down and skinny black tie, the performance came across less like a rave and more like a business-professional circus.

Despite the overwhelming performance, it’s important to note that some of the songs were still good (even if they sound better through a pair of headphones). The anthem “Make Light” maintained its rallying and angsty energy, and the deep, simmering sound of “Swimming in the Flood” was still audible despite its gaudy execution.

A special moment happened when Passion

Pit performed “The Reeling,” in which Angelakos held the mic over the crowd for the refrain of “oh no” in each verse. This collaborative and interactive gesture bridged the gap between the stage and Passion Pit’s long-time fans. Especially in the context of Passion Pit’s 10-year anniversary, it was a meaningful acknowledgement of those who made the band known.

Passion Pit released a new single on the day of the concert called “I Found U,” featuring Galantis. While it doesn’t seem to develop much on the work that has been released in the past, it’s a good summer song.

The fresh music and nostalgic tour suggest that a new album might be on the way, so be on the lookout.

Passion Pit is on tour until June 22, 2019.

VIEWPOINTS Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Should Be Eligible for the Quantrell Prize

By MAROON EDITORIAL BOARD The University should honor its contract with Faculty Forward, the union of non-tenure-track faculty, and make all non-tenure-track faculty eligible for the Quantrell teaching award.

The University’s current requirements for the award—that recipients be “longterm, full-time UChicago faculty members who are tenured, on the tenure-track, or serve as Senior Lecturers”—unjustly exclude worthy candidates. The Maroon Editorial Board believes that a prize to reward good teaching should be open to all faculty members who teach. However, the University has put a secondary consideration— guarding the award’s prestige—ahead of its purpose of commending great pedagogy.

English professor Kenneth Warren, who received the Quantrell in 2005, told the Maroon Editorial Board that while he is not positioned to weigh in on the legal obligations at stake in Faculty Forward’s ongoing grievance negotiations over the award, he believes non-tenure-track faculty deserve to be eligible for the prize.

“I see no reason why our non-tenurestream colleagues should be barred from

this distinction. They are valued colleagues who contribute substantially to the University’s educational mission, and I believe they should be eligible for awards when students single them out for recognition,” Warren said.

Making Good on Faculty Forward’s Contract Quantrell eligibility is not a new point of contention for non-tenure-track faculty: Faculty Forward made the prize a key plank in their contract negotiations, which ended after years of bargaining efforts when a contract was finally ratified in March 2018.

That contract reads: “Nothing in this Agreement precludes a [non-tenure-track] Lecturer from being nominated for and receiving any teaching awards for which they are eligible, including the Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Award.”

Union members were therefore surprised to learn earlier this spring that a student’s nomination of a non-tenure-track faculty member had been deemed ineligible. After Faculty Forward filed a grievance in early April, the University rejected that grievance in early May. Asked to comment on the grievance, University spokesperson Jeremy Manier

told The Maroon, “The collective bargaining agreement did not change eligibility standards for this or any other award.”

Manier’s statement did not elaborate further or offer any explanation of the apparent inconsistency between Faculty Forward’s contract and the University’s eligibility requirements.

The Quantrell prize was established before non-tenure-track positions were common at the University. It was not until the 1970s that adjunct positions became commonplace. Today, universities rely heavily on the work of non-tenure-track academics, who are paid lower wages and work under short-term contracts, in contrast to their tenured colleagues—a practice that has come increasingly under scrutiny.

With mounting national attention to adjuncts’ low pay and insecure working conditions, and the lack of recognition of non-tenure-track researchers’ valuable work, the University should uphold its agreement to make non-tenure-track faculty eligible for the award.

Higher Returns on Undergraduate Education The Quantrell Award was founded in 1938 with an eye to improve incentives for

undergraduate education—encouraging faculty to teach, rather than just do research—and to improve the classroom experience in order to build a loyal donor base of College alumni.

University trustee and award founder Ernest Quantrell (A.B. 1905) spearheaded efforts in the 1930s to pay greater attention to undergraduate education, urging administrators that better pedagogy in the College would improve the University’s lagging fundraising efforts and make the University more competitive with peer institutions. These efforts, in addition to contemporaneous fundraising work by University trustees, are detailed in Dean of the College John Boyer’s monograph on the University’s fundraising and philanthropy.

“Harvard seems to be a leader in both [graduate and undergraduate] departments and there is no reason why Chicago should not be the same,” Quantrell wrote in 1939, a year after founding the award. “I have the impression that the results of our alumni campaign will depend largely on former students who did nothing but undergraduate work as contrasted with graduate students.

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“Academic awards are part of the larger project of making UChicago marketable” CONTINUED FROM PG. 9

in our fund raising literature.”

The University has emphasized that the award’s intent is “to encourage faculty members to excel in teaching as well as research,” glossing over the corollary function of improving the classroom experience: to attract more donors in the long run. But if Quantrell intended the award to encourage great teaching, then surely non-tenure-track lecturers, who teach many undergraduates across all departments, should be made eligible.

Prestige The Quantrell is one of the oldest prizes for undergraduate teaching, and beyond fiduciary incentives, the University has jealously guarded its prestige. Academic awards—even ones conferred only within the University—are part of the larger project

of making UChicago more marketable and exclusive.

Jason Grunebaum, a member of Faculty Forward’s bargaining committee and a lecturer in South Asian Languages and Civilizations, told The Maroon that during bargaining, when the union raised the issue of Quantrell eligibility, one administrator argued against non-tenure-track eligibility, calling the award “very prestigious.”

The award is prestigious, it’s true, and Quantrell winners regularly go on to win national laurels.

To take one example, Quantrell awardees frequently win the esteemed Guggenheim Fellowship, too. History professor Rachel Fulton Brown won the Quantrell in 2007, and was awarded the Guggenheim in 2008. Classicist Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer and critical theorist Lauren Berlant are among several other faculty members who

have received both a Guggenheim fellowship and the Quantrell.

Certainly, faculty members receive awards based on the merits of their scholarship and pedagogy; the Quantrell has been awarded to many brilliant teachers, and we are glad their valuable contributions have been recognized. But it would be naïve to ignore that in academia, accolades build on one another, and prizes help professors build a brand.

The University should resist making the Quantrell merely one more signaling mechanism for prominent careers. If awards mean anything, they should be

given based on merit, not just in order to bolster faculty members’ clout and academic prominence.

Professor Agnes Callard (A.B. ’97), a rising star in philosophy who was awarded the Quantrell in 2017 and is a current Guggenheim fellow, told The Maroon in an e-mail that the prestige of the award is not dampened by the inclusion of non-tenure-track faculty.

“The best teacher I had as an undergraduate at UChicago was a Quantrell Winner, her name was Amy Kass; she was not tenure track faculty. For anyone who knew her, her receipt of the award

Scav Deserves to be Saved Declining Interest in Quirky UChicago Traditions Like Scav Represents a Rather Alarming Transformation of Campus Culture

BRINDA RAO Lee Harris, Editor-in-Chief Elaine Chen, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Deepti Sailappan, Managing Editor Peng-Peng Liu, Chief Production Officer The Maroon Editorial Board consists of the editors-in-chief and editors of The Maroon.

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has done nothing but increase its prestige and meaning.” (As a nontenure-track Senior Lecturer, Kass was eligible for the award.

Other non-tenure-track lecturers remain barred from eligibility.)

The University should not exclude non-tenure-track lecturers’ valuable pedagogy from recognition in order to maximize the distinction conferred on the award’s recipients. Rather than gatekeeping the Quantrell’s prestige, the University should look to the award’s stated aim of honoring “scholar-teachers who inspire students to become more enlightened thinkers and effective citizens.”

Until Snitchcock’s Scav Team began decking the halls of UChicago with their campaign’s risqué posters, I was not aware that UChicago’s Annual Scavenger Hunt (Scav) remained a vibrant part of UChicago’s culture. As a resident of Campus North Residential Commons, I spent two days walking past two teams’ headquarters and lacked the curiosity to enter one and see what the chaos was about. Many of my housemates had similar experiences, barely aware of—let alone contributing to—the collective efforts of Scav. Somehow, as UChicago’s student body becomes spatially more concentrated, its observance of a beloved tradition declines.

In Snell-Hitchcock, the world

outside the dormitory stops during the five days of Scav. Students jokingly say that residents of Snitchcock are at their physical and mental strongest during this time. After spending an hour in their Scav headquarters, I can definitely validate this claim. Entering the dorm, I was immediately immersed in all things Scav, surrounded by the very ingenuity and creative vision that attract many to UChicago. Half-finished creations were clustered in every available corner surrounded by groups of attentive students. The halls bounced with exclamations of ideas and active brainstorming as students worked together.

The refreshing energy exuded by Snitchcock Scav headquarters truly makes it a microcosm of cre-

ativity, one devoted to celebrating several defining aspects of UChicago culture.

I met students who halted their academics in the name of the tradition, and alumni, spanning back as far as the class of 2011, who hit pause on their lives to return for the beloved festivities.

It’s easy to scoff and judge this at first glance; however, after hearing some stories of past Scavs, I realized that there is something otherworldly to Snitchcock Scav, as the group is devoted to making the impossible possible. Alumni told me about a successful cross-Atlantic quest to retrieve pink chocolate from England and the feat of building a self-playing piano programmed to mix 12 unique drinks. Hearing tales of global quests for items and innovation taken to the utmost extreme, I couldn’t help but wonder if the rest of us are missing out on an intrinsically UChicago tribute to eccentricity and camaraderie.

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“Scav reminds us...we can remain connected by long-beloved UChicago traditions.”

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As first-years, aren’t we supposed to participate in the quirky, traditional UChicago stuff that was discussed in every admissions event we attended?

We’re not yet disgruntled seniors lamenting four years of exorbitant tuition, intense academics, and Chicago winters. But we’re somehow unenthusiastic about an event that we’ve never experienced before. Most of my fellow North residents walk past the two Scav headquarters in North with evident disdain and judgment.

Sitting outside of Strongin’s Scav headquarters, I overheard conversations between passersby declaring, “They took our study space,” or, “It’s just unsightly.”

The immediate rejection of Scav by many of my peers is perhaps a sign that the demographics of UChicago are transitioning away from the unusual and eccentric.

Many of the residents of Snitchcock and North that I interviewed cited the creation of megadorms, residence commons like North and South that house over 800 students, to be the ultimate downfall of Scav. Historically, UChicago’s residence life was defined by satellite dorms scattered around the Hyde Park area. The Snitchcock and Breckenridge glorification of Scav was a norm before the 2013–14 closure of many satellite dorms like Pierce and Shoreland, which previously proved to be consistent,

formidable competition. Since the rise of megadorms, participation in traditional UChicago events like Scav has diminished tremendously. Currently, Snitchcock has had a five-year winning streak, counting this year’s tie with Breckenridge. Many returning alumni of Snitchcock note that while the spirit of Scav remains alive and thriving in Snitchcock, it has faltered over the past decade across campus at large.

However, Strongin remains a stronghold of Scav and house culture in North. As the only house in North to form its own team and to have alumni return for the tradition, Strongin embraces the historic celebration of the event.

A resident of Strongin House

explained to me, “Our team is mostly comprised of Maclean (the satellite dorm predecessor of Strongin) members. This is our last year with Maclean residents in the house and they’ve really instilled a strong house culture that has carried down in activities like IM sports. Almost 20 Maclean alumni returned this year for Scav and we placed third.”

UChicago has always prided itself on its offbeat, idiosyncratic identity that defines both its academic culture and social life.

The sharp decrease in participation in traditions like Scav is a prime indication that the College is losing its unconventionality.

While there are concentrated bastions of Scav in Snell-Hitch-

cock and in select houses across campus, a majority of students no longer partake in or care for Scav. The whimsical and quirky nature of it is something that we should champion and try to reinvigorate, not ignore and criticize. Scav reminds us that while we are a growing student body home to a plethora of interests and backgrounds, we can remain connected by long-beloved UChicago traditions. Whether or not we participate in Scav specifically, we must care about upholding the distinctive, unapologetically peculiar culture that drew many of us to this school.

Brinda Rao is a first-year in the College

Thank You for Trader Joe’s

By SAM JOYCE

Columnist When it comes to recent development ventures in Hyde Park, the University of Chicago has a fairly mixed track record.

UChicago owns several of the neighborhood’s major commercial strips and is responsible for drawing restaurants, stores, and other businesses to fill community needs and make the area an attractive place to live. In recent years, however, a significant share of the University’s efforts has been focused on luxury amenities like the new Sophy Hotel or high-end retailers like Akira.

While some of these projects appear to be commercial successes, they don’t do much for students because they are simply not affordable for most undergraduates.

In light of this history, the University’s announcement that Trader Joe’s will be the next occupant of the former Treasure Island space is a welcome surprise.

I’ve been a longtime advocate of a Trader Joe’s in the neighborhood, urging students last fall

to use the company’s “Location Request” form to support one in Hyde Park. But I’m not just an advocate of Trader Joe’s because I love their dark chocolate peanut butter cups—I think this store is the best possible outcome in a fairly difficult retail space.

Most people on Hyde Park Classics, a neighborhood Facebook group, were similarly happy to hear about the news. Some, however, criticized Trader Joe’s as an inadequate replacement for Treasure Island. And it’s true, Trader Joe’s is not a traditional, full-service grocery store.

It mostly stocks items from its house brand, lacking the wide variety found at stores like Mariano’s, Jewel-Osco, or Treasure Island (RIP). This allows the store to sell products for relatively low prices, but it does mean some specialty items will require a trip elsewhere. Trader Joe’s stores also typically don’t have in-house delis, bakeries, or hot food bars, so the news disappointed residents who used those features of Treasure Island and wanted them within walking distance.

Produce is also not cheap, and often comes heavily packaged, which poses a problem for both budget-conscious and eco-conscious consumers.

Despite these shortcomings, I believe Trader Joe’s is the best grocer the University could find for this space, given the restrictions of both the space and the broader grocery market. The old Treasure Island space is about 50,000 square feet. This is a difficult space for grocers, most of whom have been trending toward either larger, full-service stores with hot food options or utilitarian, small-format stores.

Mariano’s, for instance, recently opened a 90,000–square foot store in Glenview, while Aldi reports an average store size of just 12,000 square feet.

There are still a few full-service chains that fit the size format, but most have already opened a store in the area. Pete’s Fresh Market announced plans for a new store at 39th and State just last year, while Jewel opened a Woodlawn store in March. Both stores are close enough to Hyde

Park that grocers may be wary of opening a second store in the area, fearing that one store may siphon traffic away from the other.

Any new grocery store will also have to contend with a number of other stores, many opened within the last few years. A new Mariano’s opened in Bronzeville in 2016, the same year Whole Foods and Target opened their Hyde Park locations. Two years prior, Walmart launched one of its Neighborhood Market stores at 47th and Cottage. Between those new stores and established grocers like Open Produce and Hyde Park Produce, the Hyde Park grocery market is already quite crowded, so it may be difficult for a smaller chain to break through.

With all those factors in mind, the only real option the University had was Trader Joe’s. Unlike the other chains, the closest Trader Joe’s for the entire South Side is in the South Loop, and it’s routinely overcrowded. Trader Joe’s also has an established, well-known brand identity, which

should allow it to thrive despite established competitors. This was reflected in the University’s poll of neighborhood residents, which found more who ranked Trader Joe’s as their top choice than all other grocers combined.

While it’s disappointing that some residents in eastern Hyde Park will not have a full-service grocer within walking distance, given the circumstances, Trader Joe’s was the best possible compromise. This is one area where the University has seemed to make the right choice. Trader Joe’s, however, will only occupy a portion of the old Treasure Island space, with the University continuing to search for “complementary retail uses” for the remainder. While Trader Joe’s is an encouraging start, landing a specialty store that makes up for some of its shortcomings, such as a butcher shop or bakery, would make sure the new store is a full replacement for what we lost with the closing of Treasure Island.

Sam Joyce is a third-year in the College.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — MAY 22, 2019

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No Spotless Record: Censorship at UChicago GREY CITY LOOKS BACK AT THE MAROON’S BRUSH WITH THE RED SCARE, 1951

By AVI WALDMAN Grey City Reporter

Professor Ada Palmer has a penchant for octopuses. She references them frequently in her classes—which, in the past two years, have covered Europe’s intellectual transformations, the Italian Renaissance, a history of skepticism, and a history of censorship—to explain a variety of phenomena from cultural-linguistic shifts to institutional decision-making.

In an interview with The Maroon, Palmer used an octopus to describe the way she sees administrative decisions take shape in the heterogeneous, multifaceted University of Chicago.

“The octopus has a central nervous system, but, in addition, each of the eight limbs has its own separate cognitive system….

You have one organism that has nine decision-making organs, and they all have one central purpose which is the overall thriving of the organism but the central nervous system, and indeed, each of those different arms are genuinely working in partial ignorance of what the other ones are doing,” she said. “And that’s very true of the University—they do their best to centralize things as a whole, but you really do have a lot of distributed decision-making.”

Palmer has done a lot of thinking about this kind of decision making—specifically in the context of free expression and censorship. Last fall quarter, the Neubauer Collegium sponsored an exhibition focusing on information control that Palmer co-curated, which featured media that has been subject to censorship throughout history.

The exhibit took as its motto the adage that no record is spotless, including that of the University of Chicago.

Few ideas are as closely associated with the University of Chicago as free speech.

The University’s outspoken support of policies that protect free expression has garnered national media attention and elicited praise and criticism in nearly equal measure. However, the University’s concerns about free speech have changed with the times.

Consider the atmosphere in which the University found itself in October 1951, when the Red Scare touched down on the University of Chicago campus to ignite a controversy over censorship of the student press. The controversy began when Alan Kimmel, newly-elected Maroon editor-in-chief, traveled to East Germany that summer for a communist youth festival in East Berlin, of which he was a sponsor. By October, Kimmel had not yet returned to Chicago—having appointed an acting editor-in-chief to temporarily replace him— when Dean of Students Robert Strozier sent Kimmel a letter stating that he “[found] it necessary to remove [Kimmel] immediately from the editorship of the Maroon,” citing his attendance at the festival. If a new editor-in-chief were not chosen, The Maroon’s publication would be suspended.

Strozier, who would go on to become president of Florida State University, claimed that Kimmel’s “action in sponsoring and attending the East Berlin Youth Festival demonstrates [his] lack of qualification to lead a free and independent newspaper,” and sent a letter to Student Government asking them to arrange an election for a new editor-in-chief. While The Maroon was independently funded then as it is today, Strozier said it needed to adhere to a code of conduct requiring that students “conduct themselves in a manner that will reflect creditably on the university.”

At stake in the ensuing debate over Strozier’s actions was the question of whether a student’s political activities could be

Students Ruthie Eisenstein and Olsa Nan Hochberg post a notice that The Maroon is suspended. photo by joe kordick for the chicago sun-times

judged by University administrators to violate that code, or whether making that determination meant placing boundaries on the free exercise of political speech. If, as Kimmel and his supporters (both faculty and students among them) argued, Strozier was punishing Kimmel for expressing his political views, then the University was

engaging in the censorship it claimed was antithetical to its academic mission. A letter to the editor from a group calling itself the Committee of Interested Parents said, “As Americans we are seriously alarmed by Mr. Strozier’s summary abrogation of free press and free expression.”

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“Strozier’s suspension of The Maroon was forced on us by sheer power.”

Attendees at a meeting supporting Kimmel and The Maroon applaud after hearing a speech against Kimmel’s firing. photo from the chicago bureau of acme photos CONTINUED FROM PG. 12

As soon as Strozier’s ultimatum was made public, the story made headlines, with professional as well as college papers like the UCLA Daily Bruin and Princeton Daily writing letters to The Maroon to express their support. Competing student committees formed: the Committee on a Free and Representative Maroon in support of Strozier’s actions, and the Temporary All-Campus Committee for the Preservation of Student Rights in opposition. Student Government debated for eight hours before passing a resolution in support of The Maroon’s right to continue publishing.

Strozier based his argument on the contention that as editor-in-chief of the official student newspaper, Kimmel was representing both the University of Chicago and the views of its student body when he attended and sponsored a communist rally. Kimmel, writing in The Maroon and in interviews with other papers, retorted that he was careful to represent himself only as an individual, and that he toured Eastern Europe because he “[believed] that a major contribution to the case of peace can be made by personal contact and exchange of views among young people from different countries, for who can deny the vital concern over the question of peace and war?”

For the students, alumni, and general pub-

lic who took sides in the standoff, the issue was less nuanced. Based on the flurry of letters The Maroon received, Kimmel’s ousting was either a matter of moral urgency in countering the insidious infiltration of communism, or blatant censorship of a student’s right to free speech in Chicago’s much vaunted oasis of free expression.

Disregarding his personal views, Strozier had to weigh several factors when deciding how to handle Kimmel’s public communist sympathies.

“When we look at the case in 1951 where this set of students who had communist sympathies were being censored, at the same time the people in charge of the faculty were working really hard to protect the communist-sympathizing faculty at the University despite ferocious pressure from the state,” Palmer says. In fact, the FBI had been monitoring students and faculty since 1944, including the surveillance of talks given by leftist professors and visiting speakers. “There were plenty of anti-communist students also. The impetus to censor communist stuff wasn’t coming top-down—it was also a grassroots impulse, a lot of it coming from the community of the state of Illinois around the University…. Inevitably the administrator at the top, if there is an impulse toward censorship, is responding to a large community demand as well.”

Ultimately, The Maroon capitulated.

A week later the editors declared the position of editor-in-chief vacant, spurred by fears that the staff would be subject to expulsion if they continued to publish: “We were forced to declare a vacancy in the office of editor while under the pressure of Strozier’s illegal suspension order.” However, the decision came with a healthy measure of trepidation. An editorial explaining the decision warned that although the paper continued to print, a dangerous precedent of administrative interference had been set, writing that “Strozier’s suspension of The Maroon was forced on us by sheer power….

We have our paper, but it remains in question whether we have saved our integrity.”

The discrepancy between the University’s public presentation and Strozier’s actions in this case reflects one of the pitfalls of bureaucracy, according to Palmer.

“Larger institutional bodies tend to have plural decision-making authorities.

As a result of which, they’re never, ever consistent in their policies on something as subtle and complicated as free speech,” Palmer said.

According to Palmer, universities are in a unique position when it comes to making policies on free speech. They need to balance the freedom of students and faculty to study any academic area, even those that might be unpopular with the public and with people in positions of power. At the same time, university administrators have to ensure their campus is an environment where those students and faculty feel safe enough to focus on their studies with minimal distractions. These two desires, while not necessarily in conflict, are rarely considered in tandem by policy-makers, who tend to prioritize one to the detriment of the other.

The Maroon case drew parallels to another incident of student censorship.

In 1950, one year before the Maroon controversy, students at the University of Auckland in New Zealand published a satirical magazine called the capping book as part of a series of graduation celebrations known as “capping,” an annual tradition involving pranks, parades, and partying.

The 1950 issue contained a pornographic image of a woman, alongside some political commentary that imagined a future New Zealand conquered by the United States.

The public backlash was intense, with New

Zealand media calling for the students to lose their funding or be punished under national obscenity laws. The Auckland students backed down and apologized for the capping book.

According to Palmer, the difference in public response between the Chicago and Auckland censorship cases is indicative of Americans’ peculiar relationship to free speech. While media coverage of the Maroon case was mostly supportive of the students’ right to publish, the Auckland students were condemned in editorials for their crudeness.

“Op-eds are public performance of people’s attitudes toward free speech. They aren’t necessarily the same as the action that’s going to be taken,” Palmer said. “In both cases the administration wins and the students are ousted. The op-eds [supporting] the students in the U.S. and the protests didn’t actually do anything to change the outcome. But what you had were two different communities where regardless of what institutionally occurs, the public identity— the national identity of the U.S.—is that this is a country that is pro–free speech. The national identity of New Zealand doesn’t have that.”

In thinking through this episode of University history and its relationship to today’s institution, Palmer noted that there’s often a gap between an institution’s values and aspirations and the reality of its actions in a political climate: “It’s vital to remember that our identity as a community that supports free speech isn’t necessarily the same as being an environment in which free speech actually flourishes because of policy and action.”

What’s more, Palmer continued, people who value freedom of expression shouldn’t assume that their prioritization of free speech makes them and their communities the best at implementing those values.

“If we want to get an environment where free speech flourishes, we want to look at the communities in which free speech flourishes most and study how they work,” she said, “as opposed to assuming the U.S. must be the place where it flourishes best because we’re the people who care about it most strongly.... But caring about it and succeeding at it aren’t the same thing.”

Part Two of this series on UChicago’s history with free speech and censorship will run next week.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — MAY 22, 2019

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FUN IN THE MUD

By GABI FRIEDMAN

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27. Place for a date?

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46. Flighty woman?

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47. Derby sport 49. New York to Chicago?

50. What most players do in a popular kids’ game 51. Some app notifications 53. Recipe instruction 57. French novelist and 1947 Nobel laureate 58. Biblical zookeeper 61. View in Marseilles 62. Clean Air Act grp.

63. Card dealer?

SPORTS

McDermott Leads Maroons to New Heights

astronomer and telescope namesake Ed-

was defined near absolutely by its noto-

rious academic rigor and eccentricity.

However, six years ago, current Director of Athletics and Recreation Erin McDermott saw an opportunity for reinvigoration and reinvention: “As I started looking at it more, I realized it was a really exciting time to be at [UChicago] because it’s going through a transformational era of how they view the undergraduate student experience…. The College wanted to get rid of this idea that this was only for those who don’t care about anything but being in their books and it’s the place where fun goes to die….

So I thought, ‘This is fun.’ There’s a comfort level in knowing that philosophicalCONTINUED ON PG. 15

Erin McDermott has led the department to remarkable success in six years. courtesy of uchicago athletics

THE CHICAGO MAROON — MAY 22, 2019

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UChicago has Captured 17 Conference Championships CONTINUED FROM PG. 14

ly we were probably pretty well aligned with this experience for students, but also that I could be part of a place that was really growing and developing and transforming.”

No stranger to academically rigorous schools, McDermott accepted the position in July 2013 after a stint at Princeton, where she served as the Deputy Director of Athletics. McDermott admits that “it was just the name recognition” that first caught her attention. “Having been at schools that have that same kind of prestige and reputation, I knew that at [UChicago] the student-athlete experience was going to align with how I think it should be—that it is educational, that it should be education first…. At first flush, that was the interest,” said McDermott.

In her six-year tenure, McDermott has overseen a run of success unprecedented in the modern era. UChicago has captured 17 conference championships and seven individual national championships, advanced three programs to NCAA semifinals, and finished in the top 20 for five consecutive years in the Directors’ Cup ranking of the 450 Division III athletic programs. In addition, the athletic department has signed a contract with Adidas and its branding has been overhauled. For her efforts, she was recognized as the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Athletic Director of the Year in March 2019.

Despite all of the on-field success, McDermott counts an off-field success as her most memorable experience: the addition of women’s lacrosse as the school’s 18th varsity sport. It jumps out to her because she “knew that was the beginning of something really special” as the realization of “a goal and team that would be such a natural fit here.”

A former collegiate basketball player at Hofstra, McDermott relies on her student-athlete experience as a guide in the tough decisions she has to make. In her role as “the coach of the coaches,” she is “first and foremost here for the students and the student-athletes.”

“I think that experience was just critical to how I lead being an athletic director because I know what it was like and I know what I was trying to achieve, and I feel like it’s similar to what [the

UChicago athletes] are,” said McDermott. She also points to her ability as “a relationship builder” as a product of her time as a collegiate athlete.

Of any team experience, she stated, “You can be vastly different in many ways, and yet you have to figure out pretty quickly how to work together and achieve these things that you are trying to do and a common kind of team way….

So I think that skillset was something that I had to hone more in my college days just because of the makeup of the team and some of the adversity that we experienced, becoming a captain of that team.”

She saw the benefits of the collegiate sports but also believed that “a way to help resolve [gender inequities] is for different people to be in the decision-making process, for more women to be present and around the table when decisions are made.”

According to a Higher Education Publications, 30 percent of NCAA Division III athletic directors are women— twice as high as in Division I (12 percent) and Division II (14 percent). McDermott has noticed significant strides since she began in the industry, but stated that there is “still growth and progress to be made.”

McDermott understands the unique challenges of balancing academics and athletics for student-athletes at a school like UChicago: “There’s an expectation from our students that they are here to be students and that they are allowed to kind of pursue academically what they really hope and dream for themselves….

I think [the athletes] are dedicated to being the best that they can be in whatever they’re doing, to be successful both as a student and as an athlete.”

She believes that the University is also able to offer its student athletes a holistic experience, in part due to its status in Division III. “I knew we were going to have top notch students, but within Division III, we also would have top notch athletes who were going to be just amazing people to work with every day,” McDermott said, describing how UChicago is “a big fish.”

Despite the myriad athletic successes, McDermott still occasionally grapples with the University’s public misperception about sports, a stereotype that

she combats with “a little humor when it’s appropriate.” She recalled giving a presentation in her first year to the development office. She was told beforehand that there were faculty and staff who didn’t even realize that the University had sports teams, and so she started her presentation with the basics—a slide with just the name of the department.

Since that initial introduction, McDermott has strived to “spread that message [that we have a thriving athletic department that can be even better] in every forum that I possibly can.”

An avid yogi and explorer of the Chicago food scene, McDermott carries plans to improve the athletic department’s reach going forward, focusing on creating additional recreational and varsity space, particularly “greater stadium atmospheres” and “stand-alone spaces” for softball, baseball, and soccer. She also hopes to increase alumni engagement and departmental fundraising through raised awareness.

“I’m trying to use all those moments

that I can to promote our teams but really most importantly promote our student athletes and who they are and not just their athletic accolades, but their whole person. There are some of our most engaged students on campus and there are some of our best leaders on campus,” said McDermott.

Competitive achievement has flourished under her leadership, and she expects this legacy to continue as championship culture and teams “[create] affinity for the University and community amongst our athletes.”

“If [our athletes] are going to commit the kind of time that they do to their sport, then we should be good at it. If we’re going to be at a place that is a place of eminence and of excellence, then we should be reflective of that. Because of that stature, we’re able to attract some of the best talent, then we should be able to win our fair share of UAA championships and be competitive at the national level.”

THE CHICAGO MAROON — MAY 22, 2019

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Garvey Leaves Her Mark on Field and in Record Book

By SHANYU HOU Sports Reporter

Maeve Garvey is a fourth-year on the UChicago women’s softball team. She concluded her collegiate career when the softball season ended in April. During her four years, she excelled on and off the field, both as an athlete and as a student. Garvey exhibited great determination, passion, and dedication to the team and challenged herself to be the best she could be in every aspect.

Garvey first started playing competitive softball when she was eight years old.

Back then, she did not particularly enjoy the sport. She saw it as more of an obligation and responsibility. She recounts, “My grandfather was actually the one who convinced me to go out for the team. He insisted that I was ‘born to play softball.’ I just nodded my head and went along with it, assuming it

was just something that my grandfather was obligated to say. During my first year on the team, I did not really play—maybe a handful of evenings out of an entire summer. My grandfather still came to every single game and recalls that even though I did not play, he could tell that I loved the game. Apparently, I would just stand against the dugout fence with a huge smile on my face, cheering on my teammates and just waiting for the coach to give me a chance.”

Garvey’s grandfather played a huge role in her softball journey by constantly supporting and encouraging her to play and stick with the sport. “By the time the next summer came around, I was starting every game and really have not looked back since.”

In high school, Garvey was a four-year starter on the varsity team. During this time, she realized that she “really fell in love with softball.” It taught her “a lot about the

importance of teamwork, work ethics, and overcoming adversity.” Like other athletes, she trained hard, and it was through her hours of training that she was able to get to where she is now. She said, “I was extremely fortunate to play alongside many teammates who actually continued on at the DI level; these women pushed me every single day to be the best version of myself, both on and off the field. Getting to compete alongside incredibly driven and talented women was one of the reasons that I continued to play softball at the collegiate level. I knew I wanted to challenge myself during my college career, and attending UChicago gave me the opportunity to do that both academically and athletically.”

Garvey has been a valuable asset to the UChicago softball team. She holds the No. 1 single-season doubles record and the No. 3 season RBI record. Garvey was named a

first team All-UAA conference outfielder in 2017 and MVP in her senior season. In her junior year, she led the team with a .368 batting average, five home runs, 31 RBI, and six doubles, even finishing the season on a nine-game hitting streak. Her hard work and commitment to the sport has allowed her to make huge improvements season after season. She always pushed herself to work harder and be her best.

Looking back at her time in college with the softball team, she found the 2018 June trip to Australia most memorable. During the two-week trip, the team spent their day off snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef.

Garvey reflected, “It was an absolutely perfect day, 75 and sunny with great visibility.

Whenever I think back to that trip, I can’t help but think of the many hours spent snorkeling and laughing with my teammates.”

Track Gears Up for NCAAs

By DANIEL ZEA Sports Reporter

Closing out an exciting regular season, the men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams travelled back to North Central College last week to compete in the Gregory Invitational. As the final meet before the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships and the last meet of some of the fourthyears’ collegiate careers, the Maroons gave it all they had in Naperville, resulting in a number of standout performances. Com-

menting on the significance of the meet for his fourth-year teammates, second-year Jack Barbour remarked, “Since this was the last meet for most of our seniors, it was great to just get out there and appreciate the culmination of their four years here.”

The women’s team made sure to go out with a bang in the final regular season meet, enjoying a number of excellent performances and top finishes. In running events, fourth-year Tali Naibryf placed second in the 200 meters while fourth-year Nicole VacaGuzman also managed a sec-

ond-place finish in the 400 meters, trailed by third-year Mary Martin in fifth. However, VacaGuzman will not be hanging up her spikes quite yet, as she qualified to compete at nationals in the 800 meters. As for the long-distance events, second-year Zoe Smith enjoyed a fourth-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Finally, in field events, both Martin and third-year Laura Darcey captured victories in the long jump and high jump respectively. For Darcey, the meet will hopefully prove to be useful preparation, as she qualified to compete at the national championships in the same event. First-year Isabel Maletich will join her and VacaGuzman at nationals, as well, as she qualified for both the long jump and triple jump. Naibryf, VacaGuzman, and Martin will also take part in the 4x400-meter relay at nationals with first-year Meg Fitzpatrick.

The men similarly did not disappoint in the final competition of the regular season. To cap off a string of phenomenal performances, first-year Henry Myers took fourth in the 1,500 meters, earning a spot at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in the process. Commenting on Myers’s impressive accomplishment, Barbour said, “I think the highlight of the meet was to see Henry Myers qualify for nationals in the 1,500. He’s been working super

hard this season, and it’s really exciting to see any teammate have this sort of success, especially a freshman.” Also turning in a solid performance in Naperville was the men’s 4x400-meter relay team, which came in fifth. Finally, third-year Alexander Scott capped off his season with a pair of victories, taking first in both the discus and shot put.

Despite battling and overcoming numerous obstacles at the outset of this year’s outdoor season, both the men and women finished strong this past week at the Gregory Invitational. Speaking about the season overall, Barbour stated, “Coming off the indoor season we were all super excited to see how we could keep improving…and although we got off to kind of a slow start transitioning to the outdoor track, the past few weeks we’ve see a lot of [personal records] and great performances so it’s been a great way to close out the season.” Indeed, the Maroons enjoyed a high level of personal achievement all around this spring, turning in a season in be proud of. Now, both teams will join the rest of the university in cheering on Myers, Darcey, Fitzpatrick, Maletich, Martin, Naibryf, and VacaGuzman as they prepare to compete in Geneva, Ohio, at the Division III Outdoor National Championships May 23 through May 25.