100523

NEWS: Former Board of Trustees Chair James Crown Dies in Car Racing

University Scales Back Lyft Ride Smart Program

By ERIC FANG | News Editor

The University has scaled back the Lyft Ride Smart Program for the 2023–24 academic year, according to an email sent to Chicago-based students by Michele Rasmussen, dean of students in the University, and Eric M. Heath, associate vice president of safety and security, on September 20.

The Lyft Ride Smart Program will now offer students seven rides subsidized up to $10 per ride every month. The program previously offered students 10 rides subsidized up to $15 per ride every month during the 2022–23 academic year.

In a statement to The Maroon after Rasmussen and Heath’s email, University spokesperson Gerald McSwiggan encouraged students to take NightRide UGo Shuttles instead of using Lyft passes.

“The Lyft Ride Smart program provides a safe transportation option for students during evening and latenight hours as a complement to the UGo NightRide Shuttle,” McSwiggan wrote in the statement. “The current program parameters—seven free rides per month (up to $10 off per ride) are based on usage analysis while balanc -

ing environmental impact and cost. We encourage students to use UGo shuttles, which offer extensive coverage of nearby neighborhoods, when circumstances allow.”

The NightRide Shuttle runs four primary routes from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. every 15 to 30 minutes. They operate as far north as 48th Street, as far west as Cottage Grove Avenue, as far south as 63rd Street, and as far east as Hyde Park Boulevard. However, the Lyft Ride Smart’s service area exceeds that of the NightRide Shuttles and includes the Red and Green Line Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) stations on Garfield Boulevard, an area not covered by Uni-

versity shuttle services after 9 p.m.

The Lyft Ride Smart program was first scaled back for the months of July and August. According to an email sent by Rasmussen and Heath on June 8 to all students, the University was “assessing ways to refine Lyft Ride Smart for the new academic year to efficiently meet the needs of students, focusing on times when fewer other transportation options are available.”

Students can sign up for the Lyft Ride Smart program through a personalized email invitation sent by the University. Students who joined the program last year do not need to reenroll.

Rising Third-Year Luke Silverman Passes Away in Hiking Accident

By ANU VASHIST | News Editor

College student Luke Silverman died in a hiking accident in his hometown of Boulder, Colorado, in July, according to an email sent to members of the College community by the University on August 28. Silverman would have been a thirdyear this year.

In the email, Dean of the College Me -

lina Hale and Deputy Dean of Students in the College and Chief of Staff Koryna Bucholz wrote, “Luke will be deeply missed. His love of being active and the outdoors, contribution to research, and academic engagement are among many of his personal achievements and contributions to our community.”

The email referred students to resources on campus, including UChicago Student Wellness, academic advisers, and religious advisers. Students can also text the Dean-on-Call through the UChicago Safe app or call them through the UCPD at (773) 702–8181.

“We extend our heartfelt sympathies to Luke’s family, friends, classmates, and others at UChicago affected by this loss,”

the email read. “Please don’t ever hesitate to reach out for help as we work through this news together.”

Editor’s note: We hope to follow this article with an obituary memorializing Luke’s life and his time as a member of the University community. We ask anyone who has memories they want to share to contact us at editor@chicagomaroon.com.

University to Pay $13.5 Million to Settle Financial Aid Antitrust Lawsuit

By ERIC FANG | News Editor

The University has agreed to pay $13.5 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit that was first filed in early 2022, according to a proposed settlement agreement filed on August 14. The proposed settlement,

which accused it and 16 other top universities of illegal price-fixing, is now subject to final approval by a judge.

UChicago is the first of the 17 universities named in the lawsuit to settle.

As part of the tentative agreement, the University has agreed to provide information, documents, and a witness interview, which may help the plaintiffs’ case against the other universities. If approved, the settlement would provide cash payments to students who have

received financial aid from any of the defendant universities since 2003. The plaintiffs estimate this could amount to 200,000 students.

First filed on January 9, 2022, in Illinois federal court, the lawsuit alleges that

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University spokesperson Gerald McSwiggan

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the University was a part of a “price-fixing cartel” that used a shared methodology for calculating financial need that limited financial aid for admitted students. The University announced its decision to settle on April 19, 2023, but details of the settlement were not released until the August 14 filing.

In a statement to The Maroon, University spokesperson Gerald McSwiggan emphasized that the settlement is not an admission of guilt. Instead, the University hopes to avoid the cost of further

litigation.

“The University of Chicago is committed to removing financial barriers for undergraduate students who are admitted to the College and is proud of the extensive financial aid we offer to students,” the statement reads. “The University believes the plaintiffs’ claims are without merit. We look forward to putting this matter behind us and continuing to focus our efforts on expanding access to a transformative undergraduate education.”

All of these universities were once

part of a group known as the 568 Presidents Group, named after Section 568 of the Improving America’s Schools Act. The act allowed universities to share the same methodology for calculating financial aid as long as they used needblind admissions policies, meaning that the universities did not consider an applicant’s ability to pay when deciding whether to accept them. The plaintiffs argue that the universities do consider the students’ ability to pay and favor wealthy applicants, thereby violating the terms of Section 568’s antitrust exemption.

the

After filing the lawsuit, the defendant universities filed motions to dismiss the case. In response, the U.S. Department of Justice and the New York attorney general filed briefs in support of the students. United States District Court Judge Matthew F. Kennelly subsequently denied the universities’ motion in all respects.

The 568 Presidents Group was disbanded in 2022 after the Improving America’s Schools Act expired without renewal from the Congress. The University was a member of the group from 1998 to 2014.

Campus North Windows Set for Repairs to Combat Leakage Problems

By ERIC FANG | News Editor

Campus North Residential Commons will undergo exterior window construction over the next year, according to an email sent to building residents by UChicago Housing & Residence Life (HRL) on Friday, September 15.

The repairs involve removing and replacing the sealant surrounding windows to prevent “long-standing issues with leaks entering student rooms since the opening of Campus North in 2016,” according to a frequently asked questions sheet attached to the email.

“While experiencing all four seasons is one of the joys of living in Chicago, your safety and comfortability is our top priority, and we want to ensure those weather elements do not seep past the windows and into your living space,” the email read.

Exterior repair work will be done on each specific window for an estimated four non-consecutive days during a five- to six-week span sometime during the next year, per the email. During this period, construction workers will use scaffolding to move vertically past each window “multiple times per day as they move up and down the elevation.”

Construction workers, escorted by UChicago Facilities Services staff, will also enter rooms requiring exterior work twice over the span of the five- to six-week

repair period for each window: once to remove window handles, preventing the windows from being opened from the inside, and once to reinstall the handles after the exterior work has been completed.

Work on the exterior windows will occur from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, according to the email. Work may also be done on Saturdays if inclement weather prevents work from being done on weekdays.

In its list of frequently asked questions, HRL wrote that noise resulting from the construction will vary depending on the task throughout the day but that most noise-generating tasks would be completed between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. The email, which mentioned a possible “buzzing noise outside [residents’] windows” during that hour, said that “the noise impact is expected to be minimal through the duration of the project.”

HRL also confirmed in the email that, to ensure privacy, construction workers cannot see into student rooms when the shades are drawn and the blinds are closed.

The frequently asked questions sheet encourages students to use the building’s second-floor study rooms, study spaces on the 15th floor of the A tower, or the nearby Regenstein and Mansueto libraries if the construction noise impedes their

studying.

Per the email, no debris or dust will enter student rooms during construction, and radiant systems will ensure proper ventilation in rooms where windows cannot be opened. The email said that canopies might be placed over some of the dormitory’s entrances and exits but that none would be blocked by the con-

struction.

“We have worked diligently with our campus and construction partners to ensure this work gets done efficiently with as little inconvenience to our Campus North community as possible,” the email read. “With this work being done, we can achieve our goal of making sure Campus

Campus North Dormitories as seen on September 18, 2023. erin choi

emphasized that

settlement is not an admission of guilt.

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North Residential Commons remains

a comfortable and safe place to feel at home. We will make sure to proactively

communicate updates to our community, as necessary.”

Questions about the construction can be directed to housing@uchicago.edu.

Former Board of Trustees Chair James Crown Dies in Car Racing Accident

By ERIC FANG | News Editor and PETER MAHERAS | Deputy News Editor

Chicago businessman and University trustee James Crown died on June 25, his 70th birthday, after a single-vehicle racing accident at the members-only Aspen Motorsports Park racetrack in Colorado. Crown and his family were substantial philanthropic figures for both the city of Chicago and the University.

Several University buildings and institutions are named after the Crown family. These include the Henry Crown Field House; Crown House in Renee Granville-Grossman Residential Commons; and the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice.

Crown obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Hampshire College in 1976 and his Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School in 1980. He served as chairman of the University of Chicago’s Board of Trustees between 2003 and 2009 and remained a member of the Board until his death.

Crown also served as the chairman and CEO of his family business, the investment firm Henry Crown and Company. He was the lead director of aerospace and defense contractor for the General Dynamics Corporation, a director of JPMorgan Chase, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Institute, a trustee of the Museum of Science and Industry, and a member of former president Barack Obama’s Intelligence Advisory Board.

“The University of Chicago community is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of James (Jim) S. Crown,” University spokesperson Gerald McSwiggan wrote in a statement to The Maroon. “As a member and past chair of the University of Chicago’s Board of Trustees, and as a

devoted civic leader, Jim was committed to expanding access to a quality education at every level and building thriving communities. His tireless advocacy and philanthropy have supported the transformation of urban education in Chicago and nationwide, as well as advancement in the scholarship and practice of social work.”

In 2021, the University’s School of Social Service Administration was renamed the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice in recognition of a $75 million gift from James and his wife Paula Crown. This gift represents the largest-ever donation in support of a school of social work.

“The Crown Family School is deeply saddened by the passing of Jim Crown,” Crown Family School Dean Deborah Gorman-Smith wrote in a statement to The Maroon. “The Crown Family’s generous gift to the School two years ago was, without question, transformative. It accelerated our ability to address disparities, conduct innovative research, and train leaders to confront difficult societal problems. We are committed to honor[ing] and uphold[ing] Jim’s legacy to make deep and sustained social change, and will take inspiration from his bold vision.”

Following the renaming of the Crown School in 2021, some students at the previously named School of Social Service Administration protested the change because of the Crown family’s investments in defense contractors.

In addition to serving on Obama’s Intelligence Advisory Board, Crown was an early financial supporter of Obama’s senatorial and presidential campaigns. He co-chaired Obama’s 2008 Illinois finance

committee.

“Jim was a pillar of Chicago, a prominent voice in the Jewish community, and a true civic leader who loved our city,” Barack and Michelle Obama wrote in a statement. “He cared deeply about Chicago and making it a place where everyone could thrive—no matter who they are or what part of town they call home.”

In an interview with The Maroon, Lawrence McEnerney, a former resident dean at Renee Granville-Grossman Resi-

dential Commons, remembered Crown for attending the annual Chairman’s Cup, a broomball competition between Crown and Alper houses.

“I think the warmest one of these things we ever did was about 25 degrees, and it was sometimes below zero,” McEnerney said. “No matter what the temperature was, no matter how cold it was, there was Jim standing at the side of the rink cheering on Crown House.”

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Solana Adedokun & Nikhil Jaiswal, Co-Editors-in-Chief Michael McClure, Managing Editor

GREY

editor

VIEWPOINTS Ketan Sengupta, interim head editor Eva McCord, interim head editor

ARTS Angélique Alexos, head editor Noah Glasgow, head editor Zachary Leiter, head editor Lainey Gregory, deputy editor Miki Mukawa, deputy editor

SPORTS Finn Hartnett, editor Eva McCord, editor Kayla Rubenstein, editor

CROSSWORDS Henry Josephson, head editor

Pravan Chakravarthy, head editor

PODCASTS Gregory Caesar, head editor Jake Zucker, head editor

Pravan Chakravarthy, deputy editor William Kimani, deputy editor

PHOTO Emma-Victoria Banos, editor Eric Fang, editor

DESIGN Elena Jochum, design editor

Anjali Subramanian, deputy designer Haebin Jung, design associate Pooja Vegesna, design associate

COPY

Caitlin Lozada, copy chief Tejas Narayan, copy chief Kayla Rubenstein, copy chief

TECHNOLOGY Michael Plunkett, lead developer

NEWSLETTER Katherine Weaver, editor

SOCIAL MEDIA

Phoebe He, manager

BUSINESS

Aisling Murtagh, director of finance

Ananya Sahai, director of community engaegment

Kaelyn Hindshaw, director of marketing Nathan Ohana, director of operations

Editors-in-Chief: editor@chicagomaroon.com

For advertising inquiries, please contact ads@chicagomaroon.com

Work on the exterior windows will occur from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, according to the email.

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with The Maroon, Brown praised the role of the Crown family in founding the house.

“Crown House is a place where students are able to share life together and to learn together,” Brown said. “It was, for

many students, a kind of home away from home. I think it’s probably one of the best legacies of the Crown family name.”

Crown is survived by his wife, Paula; parents, Lester and Renée; six siblings;

four children; a son-in-law; and two grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at a later date, according to a statement from the Crown family.

Longtime Hyde Park Liquor Store, Kimbark Beverage Shoppe, Sold

By ERIC FANG | News Editor

Kimbark Beverage Shoppe, a liquor store frequented by many Hyde Park residents and UChicago students since 1974, has been sold to A&S Beverages Wine and Spirits, a wine and spirits chain based on the South Side. The sale comes after the passing of John Swain Sr., the former store owner and the father of longtime store owner John Swain Jr.

The store has been temporarily closed for remodeling, with the ownership transfer having occurred this past July. A&S Beverages expects to be open for business by early October.

The closure of Kimbark was announced by the Swain family in a statement posted on Instagram and on the door of the store.

“Since the passing of our dad, John Swain Sr., in 2020, we have been contemplating next steps for our family business,” the statement reads. “While this decision was a difficult one for us, we have decided that it is time to pass the Kimbark torch to new owners. We cannot thank the community enough for welcoming us with open arms since our arrival in 1974 as it has been an absolute joy to serve you. For nearly 50 years, you have blessed us with the opportunity to celebrate your best moments and journey with you through some of the most difficult. We are forever grateful.”

Under the ownership of Swain Jr. for the past 15 years, Kimbark Beverage Shoppe has played an active role in the Hyde Park community. Swain Jr. is a past president of the Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce and founded the annual Hyde Park Summerfest, formerly known as the Hyde Park Brewfest.

“During my tenure, I wanted to make

sure that we were an integral part of the community,” Swain Jr. said in an interview with The Maroon on September 12. “One lesson my father taught me was that if you want to have a strong retail business, then the community has to be strong, which means you have to participate in it. So we decided to do that in various ways through the Hyde Park chamber, or charitable donations, or what have you.”

Swain also focused on uplifting Blackowned brands and small businesses through the products he offered.

“One of the big things for us was really focusing on Black-owned products, and Black-owned winemakers, spirit owners by making sure that they had the opportunity to sell their wares.”

The decision to sell the store, which has been owned by the family since Swain Sr. purchased the property in 1974, was not taken lightly. Swain Jr. emphasized that in choosing a business to replace Kimbark, he looked for a business that would play a similarly active role in the community. Although Swain Jr. sold the store to A&S Beverages, he retains ownership of the store’s real estate and remains an active member of the Kimbark Plaza Commercial Cooperative.

“We wanted to make sure that there was someone that respected the community perspective, the neighbors, and that were wanting to be a part of the fabric of the community in the same way that my father taught me,” Swain said. “I found that the owners of A&S were the most equipped to do that, and so we’re glad to be able to put our family legacy in their hands.”

A&S Beverages currently operates

two liquor stores on the South Side and prides itself on offering a wide selection of imported liquors. New owner Ahmad Elkhatib plans on maintaining Kimbark’s practice of offering local brands, creating what he calls “an airport shop.”

“We will honor the way that Kimbark has done business, but we have our own style and our own vision of what a beverage store should look like,” Elkhatib said in an interview with The Maroon. “We are very supportive of local brands and Midwest brands, but you can’t buy cognac from Chicago. You gotta buy it from France.”

He went on to say, “We will definitely support the locals, but we will also emphasize the ethnicity of the drinks and what makes this particular wood special or this particular brand special.”

Elkhatib was born in Kuwait and came to the United States in 1988. He worked as a store manager for A&S Beverages for 10 years before acquiring the company in 2000. He plans on further differentiating

A&S Beverages from the former Kimbark by installing a small tasting room modeled after the tasting room at his other location on South Halsted Street. The tasting room will allow customers to sample a range of select products prior to purchase, free of charge.

“What I noticed from working 35 years in the industry is that people drink to get drunk instead of drinking to enjoy the drink,” Elkhatib said. “I focus consciously on how to consume and when to stop and how to mix your drinks and what the seasons are calling for and what the latest is. I want to build upon the taste buds and palettes of my customers.”

Elkhatib is currently working on renovating the store with new floors, lights, fridges, and registers.A&S Beverages expects to be open for business by early October. As of October 3, the store is not yet open. According to Elkhatib, this date could be pushed back to as far as October 15 depending on product delivery and shelf stocking.

Joel Brown and Erin James-Brown served as the resident heads of Crown House in Renee Granville-Grossman from fall 2019 to spring 2022. In an interview

The statement posted on the door of Kimbark Beverage Shoppe. eric fang

“Jim was a pillar of Chicago, a prominent voice in the Jewish community, and a true civic leader who loved our city.”

The Chicago Maroon Staff Survey

In spring 2023, The Maroon conducted its first-ever staff survey, which we hope to make an annual tradition on the paper. We asked our staff their demographics to (1) to track the diversity of our staff and (2) to have specific information of our staff’s years, majors, and interests. These goals serve a dual purpose: to hold The Maroon accountable in its diversity efforts and share more about ourselves to those outside our organization.

Additionally, this information will be used to the benefit of future Maroon leaders and for recruiting events. All questions asked were reviewed by The Maroon ’s DEI Board, were completely anonymous, and allowed participants to forgo many of the questions asked.

Represented Majors

Race and Ethnicity

Siebel Scholars Class of 2024

The Siebel Scholars program was founded in 2000 to recognize the most talented graduate students in business, computer science, and bioengineering. Each year, over 80 outstanding graduate students are selected as Siebel Scholars based on academic excellence and leadership and join an active, lifelong community among an ever-growing group of leaders. We are pleased to recognize this year’s Siebel Scholars.

BIOENGINEERING

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

WHITING SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Fan-En Chen

Inez Lam

Sixuan Li

Sarah Yoseph Neshat

Paul Sargunas

MIT SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Pablo Cárdenas R.

Viraat Goel

Itai Levin

Krista Pullen

Erin Tevonian

BUSINESS

MIT SLOAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

Shiv Bhakta

Erica Cappon

Aoying Huang

Stefan Sayre

Tim Valicenti

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Gustavo Ramon Chau Loo Kung

Michaela Hinks

Ali Kight

Gwanggyu Sun

Xianghao Zhan

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Cindy Ayala

Ruiming Cao

Sita Srinivasan Chandrasekaran

Cameron Tadashi Kato

Andre Lai

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Tye Gerrard

Zane Stiles

Jessica Wang

Mark Whittaker

Andrew Wooten

COMPUTER SCIENCE

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Lea Elise Albaugh

Bailey Flanigan

Maxwell Jones

Paul Pu Liang

Shih-Lun Wu

HARVARD JOHN A. PAULSON

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING & APPLIED SCIENCES

Salma Abdel Magid

Alex Cabral

Yuji Chai

Eric Ransom Knorr

Lily Xu

MIT

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Kiril Bangachev

Charles Spencer Comiter

Abhishek Mukherjee

Chanwoo Park

Charlotte Park

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE

Linda Cai

Xinyi Chen

Minsung Kim

Akshara Prabhakar

Angelina Wang

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Lovish Chopra

Sharon Lee

Julia R. Reisler

Daniel Shin

David Wendt

TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Yan Fang

Xiyuan Shen

Wenhou Sun

Leping Wang

Jintao Zhang

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO

JACOBS SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Gisselle Gonzalez

Zhongyuan Guo

Bojing Blair Jia

Josh Mesfin

Madison Wilson

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

BOOTH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Michelle Cao

Christian Eron

Anna Hillel

Kinaan Patel

Lucy Reading

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Arjun Bhorkar

Sandeep Mukherjee

Anish Muthali

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Jas Brooks

Kuntai Du

Miao Li

Madeleine Roberts

Divij Sinha

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Shivam Agarwal

Seemandhar Jain

Vidya Kamath Pailodi

Ruizhong Qiu

Shradha Sehgal

www.SiebelScholars.com

In Defense of DEI in Science VIEWPOINTS

By ANDREW

We live in an environment in which the very concept of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs is increasingly under attack. This May, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill to defund DEI programs at Florida’s public colleges. In the academic world, articles and statements by a small but vocal number of our scientific colleagues have made the case that efforts surrounding DEI are incompatible with an objective and meritocratic system of scientific inquiry.

Left unchallenged, these views can misrepresent the objectives of DEI efforts as well as the mainstream viewpoint and policies of the academic world. As members of the academic scientific community, we feel compelled to reiterate our strong support for DEI initiatives in higher education. Our view is that these efforts fundamentally align with scientific rigor and institutional policies and play an important role in ensuring that we recruit and retain the absolute best scholars and provide a supportive climate within which all of us can pursue world-class research and teaching.

We are motivated by the following two observations, which we regard as uncontroversial. First, while scientific talent and aptitude are equally distributed in the population—

without regard to factors such as gender, race, income, and ability/disability—opportunity is not. Second, the scientific enterprise is—as is the case for all social constructs created and operated by people—subject to the biases and historical and cultural influences of its participants. It follows that it behooves stakeholders in the scientific enterprise to recognize and try to correct for these biases in evaluation, recruitment, and promotion. Compelling arguments can be made for the moral imperatives for these efforts, but a strong, pragmatic argument can also be made that identifying, recruiting, retaining, and nurturing the top talent the nation has to offer is simply in the best interests of academic institutions and the scientific enterprise at large.

Charges have been made that efforts to correct for these biases at the level of hiring, promotion, and funding undermines the scientific enterprise and constitutes an “attack on merit-based science.” Yet the concept of a pure meritocracy is a fiction. It is the human participants who together determine what constitutes merit and which ideas and achievements are worthy of promotion and accolades. Superficial merit-based metrics often fail to provide a full picture of the true potential of a candidate.

Scientific inquiry is, at its best, a search for objective truths by skeptical inquiry rooted in the scientific method, and the results of that inquiry should not depend on the person pursuing the science. However, a scientific environment that does not attempt to correct for historical biases and disenfranchisement due to, for example, gender, race, and income results in a representation among those selected to pursue scientific inquiry that can differ markedly from the broader population. 2 This results in large cohorts of “missing scientists” who were selected out by a biased system.

The bias obviously hurts those scientists, but it also hurts the entire scientific enterprise since the system fails to promote the best and brightest scholars and attract and retain top students and trainees who will define science in the coming decades. There is a deep literature showing that diverse teams lead to improved team objectivity, innovation, and productivity. The insights, values, and cultural perspectives brought to the table by participants with different backgrounds can themselves also be particularly important in scientific inquiry involving a social component—it is surely reasonable to expect, for example, that clinical research into vaccine hesitancy among communities of color may benefit from the presence of researchers in the scientific establishment who are themselves persons of color. Indeed, the presence of people of color within the scientific enterprise with the

agency to define their own research agendas can enrich the range of research questions that the scientific community collectively prioritizes and deems worthy of pursuit.

Devising mechanisms to recognize individuals for scientific talent and achievement in the face of biases and inequalities of opportunity is not necessarily easy. No policy is perfect—interventions will have inefficiencies, costs, and unintended consequences and will rarely engender universal agreement. Reasonable people can disagree on the details and implementation of these efforts, but the observation that the makeup of the scientific enterprise is a gross distortion of the demographic makeup of the US population is a strong indicator that business as usual is not working.

The present disquisition expresses our viewpoint as individual faculty members at the University of Chicago, but we observe that this perspective is consistent with a formal statement released by the president and provost that elegantly articulates a longstanding institutional commitment to rigorous inquiry, free expression, and diversity in the campus community and positions these goals as mutually enhancing. The DEI Planning Toolkit developed by the University of Chicago Office of the Provost represents one mechanism by which the institution provides resources and guidance to promote diversity within the faculty, staff, and student body and foster an inclusive environment where diverse ideas are welcomed and scholars can thrive. Critics

have attempted to cast these policies as somehow ideological, political, discriminatory, patronizing, or inconsistent with scientific objectivity. On the contrary, these policies are uncontroversial and effective tools that represent standard practices that are widely implemented in academia and industry to identify and support top talent.

One may ask whether these interventions are too late in the talent pipeline and that top candidates are simply not present in the pool of students, staff, or faculty interested in obtaining employment at institutions of higher learning. There are certainly losses in talent at every step of the educational pipeline, and fully engaging this issue in the academy will require collaborative efforts of educators and policy makers all the way from kindergarten to tenure. However, it is disingenuous to assert that the pipelines at the undergraduate, graduate, and faculty levels are empty of diverse talent. Failing to identify and promote the top talent where one has the agency and ability to do so is a dereliction of our responsibilities.

Recruitment activities are really an attempt to predict the future—to recruit the person who will be the most successful, innovative, and impactful in driving forward our scientific enterprise. In pursuit of top-performing candidates, evaluation decisions should be designed to identify the strongest, most determined, smartest, and most creative individuals in the pool and be calibrated, to the degree pos -

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L. FERGUSON and BENOÎT ROUX and JOHN S. ANDERSON and ADAM T. HAMMOND and GRAHAM J. SLATER and HENRY HOFFMANN and AARON P. ESSER-KAHN

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sible, to account for the unique circumstances of each candidate and any potential biases in the system. One can only truly evaluate the potential of a candidate by viewing their past achievements within the context of the environment in which they were made. It follows that evaluation metrics must correct for factors that

do not reflect the true talent, potential, and promise of the individual and do so within the context of a holistic evaluation that is completely compatible with a rigorous evaluation of the candidate’s technical capabilities and intellectual prowess and promise.

It is our hope that this editorial may serve to articulate to the scientific community of

students, scholars, and professionals that we as science and engineering faculty at the University of Chicago are committed to promoting and supporting a diverse community and that DEI principles and activities are inherently aligned with scientific rigor and the free pursuit of knowledge.

ARTS

Andrew L. Ferguson, Associate Professor, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

Benoît Roux, Professor, Department of Chemistry

John S. Anderson, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry

Adam T. Hammond, Senior Lecturer, Graduate Program in Biophysical Sciences

Graham J. Slater, Associate

Professor, Department of the Geophysical Sciences

Henry Hoffmann, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science

Aaron P. Esser-Kahn, Professor, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

Chopin Theatre’s The SpongeBob Musical Makes a Medium-Sized Splash

Deputy Arts Editor Miki Mukawa spends an evening in a pineapple under the sea.

By MIKI MUKAWA | Deputy Arts Editor

“How was your weekend?” I was asked by several people the Monday after I went to see Chopin Theatre’s The SpongeBob Musical. Upon my reply that I’d gone to see the show on Friday, July 7, I was met with the same reaction: “Huh?”

Which is fair. What could one expect out of a SpongeBob SquarePants musical? Would the actors be wearing square- and star-shaped suits? Would the plot be based on an existing SpongeBob episode?

I walked into Chopin Theatre that Friday completely blind to what I was going to be seeing—in more ways than one. As a child, I was barred from watching SpongeBob and his friends’ adventures in Bikini Bottom. My parents had, probably, watched five minutes of the show with my five-year-old self and had deemed the show’s sexual innuendos much too vulgar for their daughter.

The theater was rather small and

cozy and was lined with large plastic bubbles. The lighting, which illuminated all of the theater’s seats, was set to a deep ocean blue. On stage, a projector screen quietly played clips of SpongeBob. In the far-left corner of the stage, the orchestra played tropical tunes and ocean-inspired sound effects designed by Foley artist Ele Matelan (whose bubble noises and squelches of Squidward’s footsteps throughout the show were a highlight). Around 10 minutes before the show’s official start time, an actor dressed as a pirate shuffled his way to the front of the stage and began quietly conversing with the children in the audience. Kokandy’s The SpongeBob Musical, from the very beginning, did an excellent job of making it feel as though the audience had been dropped into the middle of a fantastical underwater world.

To answer some of the questions posed at the beginning of this article:

the actors were not wearing suits (instead, their costumes resembled the basic colors of their corresponding characters from the show), and the plot was not based on an existing episode. Instead, the story revolves around the quest of SpongeBob (Frankie Leo Bennett) and his friends’ (Isabel García as Patrick Star, Sarah Patin as Sandy Cheeks) quest to save Bikini Bottom from a volcanic eruption that threatens to destroy their town.

In the first act, the show’s self-awareness was refreshing; it knew that its biggest strength was to lean into the humor and absurdity of its premise. Both the script and the songs were witty and elicited laughter from the audience. A palpable, infectious sense of joy radiated from the actors on stage in their energy and bright smiles.

Unfortunately, the second act fell short in comparison to the first. The show’s attempt at self-aware humor started to feel contrived, and it suddenly became clear that it was beginning to

run into the problem of its own premise. The show, in the first act, was successful at making the experience enjoyable for all audiences—including adults. But there is only so much one can do to make the story of a sponge living under the sea have high stakes. We know that Bikini Bottom is going to be saved; it would simply be wrong for it not to be. And while the show does attempt to weave in a heartfelt message about the power of teamwork and community, it feels specifically targeted toward young children, with not much there for older audience members.

If I were to ask myself again, “What could one expect out of a SpongeBob musical?”, I would say that it’s exactly what you would expect out of a best possible attempt at a musical based on a cartoon show. It’s a bit campy, funny, and entertaining. But it’s also ultimately a kids show about a talking sponge, his starfish best friend, and a squirrel in an astronaut suit, with not much else below its aqua-blue surface.

“There is a deep literature showing that diverse teams lead to improved team objectivity, innovation, and productivity.”

Raw Cut: 2023 Hyde Park Jazz Festival

By GREGORY CAESAR | Head Podcasts Editor and JAKE ZUCKER | Head Podcasts Editor and WILLIAM KIMANI | Deputy Podcasts Editor

Adegoke and Iqua Colson

About Ade:

“Steve Colson – aka Adegoke – pianist and composer, has performed internationally as a leader of jazz ensembles ranging from trios to orchestras. Born in Newark and raised in East Orange, NJ, he received his degree from Northwestern University School of Music and lived in Chicago for a decade before returning to reside on the East Coast.

“A critically acclaimed figure in modern jazz, Steve’s compositions are finding their way into the “jazz standard” repertoire and are being performed and recorded by some of today’s jazz greats as well as by his own group. He became a member of The Association for Advancement of Creative Musi- cians (AACM) in the early 70s, a musicians’ collective that has influenced music internationally in the 20th and 21st Century.”

About Iqua:

“Iqua Colson has been praised internationally by the media and placed in the company of some of our finest known vocal innovators including Betty Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Abbey Lincoln, Iqua’s work has been discussed in countless periodicals and books including a chapter in “Black Women & Music, More than the Blues” – which also features the great Leontyne Price. Her industry accolades include Vocal Talent Deserving Wider Recognition by Downbeat Magazine and Distinguished Achievement as a lyricist by Billboard.

“A native of Chicago, Iqua was accepted to Northwestern University School of Music as a pianist after three years of high school. She was voted into The Association for Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in the early 70s, the influential musicians’ collective acknowledged worldwide as a primary influence in 20th and 21st Century music. She has recorded and performed in the U.S. and overseas collaborating with great artists, most frequently with her husband decorated pianist/composer Steve Colson.”

Silvia Bolognesi

The Maroon’s Jake Zucker, William Kimani, and Gregory Caesar interview double bass player and composer Silvia Bolognesi. They are joined by trumpeter Emanuele Marsico and percussionist Sergio Bolognesi. The Silvia Bolognesi Italian Trio performed live at the 2023 Hyde Park Jazz Festival with special guest Nick Mazzarella.

About Silvia:

“Silvia Bolognesi is a double bass player, composer, and arranger. She leads several bands: Open Combo, Almond Tree, Xilo Ensemble, Ju-Ju Sounds, Fonterossa Open Orchestra, Beast Friends, and Young Shouts. She is also part of the international string trio Hear in Now, with Tomeka Reid on cello and Mazz Swift on violin and vocals; the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s 50th Anniversary special project; and the Roscoe Mitchell Quintet.

“In 2010, Bolognesi founded her own la- bel, Fonterossa Records. She is now also artistic director of the Fonterossa Day minifestival, hosted by Pisa Jazz, and the curator and conductor of the Fonterossa Open Orchestra, a creative orchestra based in Pisa since 2017.” (hydeparkjazzfestival.org)

Bethany Pickens

The Maroon’s Jake Zucker, William Kimani, and Gregory Caesar interview pianist, composer, and Hyde Park native Bethany Pickens, who performed live at the 2023 Hyde Park Jazz Festival with the Bethany Pickens Trio.

About Bethany:

“Bethany Pickens is an award-winning pianist, composer, and educator. Born in Chicago, she began her musical training under the watchful tutelage of her father, world-class jazz pianist Willie Pickens.

“As an educator, Pickens has worked with the Ravinia Jazz Scholars Program and the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s Jazz Links Program, and is in her 25th year working for the Chicago Public Schools, currently teaching piano at her alma mater, Kenwood Academy. She also sits on the Board of the Jazz institute of Chicago and the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club.” (hydeparkjazzfestival.org).

The Maroon’s Jake Zucker and Gregory Caesar interview pianist and saxophonist Adegoke Colson, who performed live at the 2023 Hyde Park Jazz Festival. They are joined by his wife, composer and vocalist Iqua Colson, who is a Hyde Park native and an alumna of Kenwood Academy.

courtesy of rossetti phocus photography

courtesy of jason marck (wbez).

courtesy of colsonmusic.com/gallery.

The Maroon’s Jake Zucker and William Kimani interview saxophonist and Chicago native Chico Freeman, who performed live at the 2023 Hyde Park Jazz Festival as part of the Chico Freeman Quintet. They are joined by Michael Allemana (Ph.D. ’20), a researcher of ethnomusicology and director of the University’s Jazz Ensemble.

About Chico:

“Heralded as one of the most important saxophonists of our time, composer and producer Chico Freeman has perfected an immediately recognizable approach to music and composition, blending what he has experienced from his past and providing fluidity into a future of infinite musical possibilities.

“As part of the Freeman family legacy of Chicago (legendary NEA Jazz Master saxophonist Von Freeman is his father and guitarist George Freeman and drummer Bruz Freeman are his uncles), Chico amassed a diverse performance résumé including R&B, blues, hard bop, and avant-garde. His collegiate studies in Advanced Composition and Theory at Northwestern University propelled him to a position teaching composition at the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) Music School, as well as a Master’s degree in Composition and Theory at Governor State University, where he studied composition with NEA Jazz Master Muhal Richard Abrams.” (hydeparkjazzfestival.org)

About Tito:

“Tito Carrillo is a trumpeter, composer, and educator whose music blurs the lines between Afro-Caribbean music traditions and modern jazz. Born and raised in Austin, TX, by a Puerto Rican father and Mexican-American mother, Carrillo came to prominence in the mid-nineties of Chicago’s rich jazz and Latin music scenes, becoming a top call soloist, sideman, and bandleader.

“He has taught at secondary and collegiate music programs across the U.S. and Latin America. His long list of former students includes many who have established careers as both performers and educators and have won international jazz competitions at the highest level.” (titocarrillo.com)

About Tim:

“Tim Fitzgerald is a Chicago based jazz guitarist, bandleader, educator and author. Named “Wes Montgomery scholar and visionary” by DownBeat Magazine, he is also the recipient of Chicago’s 2021 Individual Artist Program Grant, a grant provided by the Illinois Arts Council Agency and the National Endowment for the Arts.” (hydeparkjazzfestival.org)

“He has taught at secondary and collegiate music programs across the U.S. and Latin America. His long list of former students includes many who have established careers as both performers and educators and have won international jazz competitions at the highest level.” (titocarrillo.com).

The Maroon ’s William Kimani and Gregory Caesar interview saxophonist, composer, and educator Arman Sangalang, who performed live at the 2023 Hyde Park Jazz Festival with the Arman Sangalang Trio.

About Arman:

“Saxophonist and composer Arman Sangalang is an up-and-coming jazz musician on the Chicago scene, as well as an in-demand sideman who collaborates frequently with Jameson Scriver’s Reckoner, Miro Sobrer’s Two of Swords, Morgan Turner Quartet, and Kabir Dalawari Quartet. He has studied with distinguished jazz artists such as Geof Bradfield, Walter Smith III, Greg Ward, Jon Irabagon, and Matt Ulery, and had the honor of sharing the stage with notable jazz artists such as Bobby Broom, Clark Sommers, Ted Sirota, Lenard Simpson, and Camila Mennitte.

“Sangalang’s debut album Quartet, featuring original compositions, is set to release in the Fall of 2023.” (hydeparkjazzfestival.org)

The Maroon’s Gregory Caesar interviews Chicago-based educator, jazz guitarist, and bandleader Tim Fitzgerald, who performed live at the 2023 Hyde Park Jazz Festival with the Tim Fitzgerald Trio.

The Maroon’s Jake Zucker and William Kimani interview trumpeter, composer, and UIUC professor Tito Carrillo, who performed live at the 2023 Hyde Park Jazz Festival with the Tito Carrillo Urbanessence Band.

courtesy of jazz music archives

courtesy of timfitzgeraldmusic com

courtesy of jspam photography.

Chico Freeman

Tito Carrillo

Arman Sanglang

courtesy of gert chesi .

Tim Fitzgerald

CROSSWORDS 64. Post, Post, Post!

By GARRETT CHALFIN | Crossword Constructor

ACROSS

1 Chocolate chips in banana bread, say

6 Eva or Zsa Zsa

11 Really good, slangily

14 Cache of data

15 Vegan honey alternative

16 Pie ___ mode

17 “Aye, aye!”

18 “Buy while you can!”

20 Sulfur, in Japanese

21 Sunshine + Beaver + Cotton = ?

23 Palm products, for short

24 Card game similar to Mau-Mau

25 Chess move that encourages an opponent to blunder

26 “That’s not it ...”

27 Show Me + First + Magnolia = ?

30 Drink with less sodium than its biggest competitor

33 “We can go on Judge Judy right now!”

34 Valletta’s island

DOWN

1 They’ve got you covered

2 Overpower, as a noise

3 One who means well

4 “___ got your back!”

5 Make less powerful in an attempt to balance out a game, say

6 University of Florida animal

7 Word that comes from the Greek verbs for “I shop” and “I speak in public”

8 Rotten eggs

9 Mansueto, to a bird’s eye viewer

10 Singer Lana del ___

11 Peach + Flickertail + Aloha = ?

12 Middle name of a famous Poe-t?

13 Command

19 Joyce’s “Ulysses,” for one

22 Some mil. officers

28 ___ Records (British label)

29 Word with bun or breakup

31 Announcement from a pilot, maybe

32 Apple device

34 December temp?

35 Code for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport

37 __ Aviv

38 “...and the list goes on”

39 Low-risk investments

40 It goes up and down

43 They’re history

44 Hoosier + Centennial + Pine Tree = ?

45 Off! ingredient

46 [Adorbs!]

47 Big dog 48 Slick, like a machine

50 Calvin of fashion

51 Mollifies

54 Involve (in)

55 Hollywood Walk of Fame inductee, perhaps

58 Blake

60 Peace activist Yoko