NURSES AT UCMC AFFILIATE VOTE TO UNIONIZE PAGE 3
OCTOBER 9, 2019 SECOND WEEK VOL. 132, ISSUE 3
Fausett: World Traveller at Heart
Rechristened: The Ken C. Griffin MSI PAGE 5
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O-Chem Overflow: College Streams Video Lectures
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OP-ED: In Light of Tuition Hike, University Needs More Financial Transparency
ARTS: Jazz Festival Swings by Hyde Park
GREY CITY: Unequal Access
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A World Traveler at Heart: Asher Fausett Took Up Hittite on Campus and Dug Into Vietnam War Legacies Abroad By DEEPTI SAILAPPAN Managing Editor Asher Fausett’s friends and family remember him as someone who balanced a rare and fervent curiosity with a whole hearted commitment to both his friends and his eclectic set of interests, which ranged from hiking, to World of Warcraft, to Hittite history, and the Vietnam War’s lingering effects in Laos. “He was still constantly in the process of figuring out who he was in relation to the world, what he wanted to do, what he liked,” said Fausett’s friend Zakir Jamal, a third-year. Fausett was soft-spoken, “but there were certain things that you could tell he just absolutely loved.” One was travel. Fausett, who hailed from Los Angeles and would have been a third-year this year, was visiting Southeast Asia with friends from home when he died in Vang Vieng, Laos, after
a fall. He had mentioned to friends that he wanted to travel across Africa next summer. Fausett in his off-campus apartment in spring 2019 Another love was ancient Near Eastern history, which Fausett discovered after taking a Hittite language class his first year. He soon added a Near Eastern language’s and civilizations (NELC) major. His friends recall the pleasure he took in being able to write in Hittite, and his excitement at the possibility of working with untranslated texts. Though he continued to pursue another major in Economics, his real interest was NELC, said friend and third-year Caleigh Stephens. Combining his fondness for Southeast Asia and for history, Fausett was particularly interested in the problem of unexploded ordnances—undetonated cluster bombs and other weapons left
Fausett in his off-campus apartment in Spring 2019 courtesy of bret fausett
Burton-Judson Courts, the dorm that Fausett was assigned to. courtesty of university of chicago
over from the Vietnam War—in Vietnam and Laos. According to estimates, around one third of Laos remains contaminated by such weapons. He “always had this keen interest in wanting to know the whole world,” Jamal said. Fausett became fascinated by the issue after a 2018 summer internship in Singapore with Aelf, a cryptocurrency firm. He began visiting monasteries, temples, and schools in the region after the internship, stopping to make donations and even assist with small construction projects. Fausett’s friends said that while they knew he felt strongly about Southeast Asia’s unexploded weapons, Fausett never mentioned the philanthropic work he had done. They learned of it at his memorial service, which was held in September in Los Angeles. This tendency to “hide a lot of the good things he did,” as Jamal described it, was mirrored in the generosity Fausett showed his friends. According to them, Fausett was often the first to step in to help solve a friend’s problem. He always did so, however, without calling attention to himself. “That’s the thing I admired most about him,” said fourth-year Claude
Richoux, “how he would just help other people a lot and be very low-key about it.” Richoux, who helps run the quarterly garty—a party meant to create a safe space for queer students—mentioned that Fausett was quick to offer to reach out to his brothers from Alpha Delta Phi (Alpha Delt) for event space. Stephens described Fausett’s frequent visits to her apartment for dinner and long talks, as well as the time he commissioned a painting for her during a house auction as a surprise gesture during their first year. “He supported his friends in a way that not a lot of people do,” she said. According to Stephens, Fausett was able to form close friendships with a wide variety of people, from his Alpha Delt brothers to his first-year housemates in Burton-Judson’s LinnMathews House—a quality that perhaps stemmed from his willingness to listen. She noted that she and Fausett often disagreed politically, but this never inhibited their conversations. “A lot of people…are willing to debate before they talk to you,” Stephens said. “Asher wasn’t one of those people.” When it came to personal topics, CONTINUED ON PG. 3
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too, Fausett was always attentive: “He made you feel listened to, in a very specific way.” For Jamal, Fausett’s devotion to his friendships was part and parcel of the enthusiasm with which he lived life. He recalled that a year ago, Fausett’s par-
ents wanted him to take a quarter off after he suffered an injury that resulted in a concussion and nerve damage; he was having difficulty walking, and the heavy medication he was taking left him cloudy. Fausett ultimately convinced his parents to let him return to school for fall quarter. Soon after his return, he
quit all the prescription drugs at once. “He had a miserable week, but then wound up having one of the best quarters of his entire career here,” Jamal said. Fausett, he added, was “dedicated... to being where he wanted to be, doing the things he wanted to do. He didn’t let a fairly severe medical issue stop him at
all. He was barely slowed down, honestly.” Fausett’s family and friends ask those wishing to honor his memory to donate to Legacies of War, an organization that clears cluster bombs from Laos and assists Laotian victims of explosions.
Nurses at UCMC-Affiliated Hospital Vote to Unionize By JACK CRUZ-ALVAREZ Deputy News Editor Nurses at Ingalls Memorial Hospital, a University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC)-affiliated hospital in Harvey, Illinois, voted 276–109 in favor of unionization. Secret balloting conducted by the National Labor Relations Board took place on Wednesday, October 2 and Thursday, October 3. Per the results of the vote, nurses at the south suburban hospital will join the National Nurses
Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), the union that represents nurses at UCMC in Hyde Park. Nurses at the Hyde Park facility conducted a strike on Friday, September 20 to protest what they believed were inadequate staffing levels and security issues at the hospital. Ingalls nurses raised similar issues during the push to organize, including a low nurse-topatient ratio, and advocated for improved health benefits, ending mandatory overtime, and ensuring nurses are
prepared before assignment to a new unit according to a NNOC/NNU press release. “We are the ones at the bedside taking care of patients at Ingalls and now that we have a voice as nurses represented by NNOC/NNU, we won’t be shut out when it comes to making decisions about patient care,” Sylvette Young, a nurse at Ingalls, said in the press release. This vote comes after an apparent rejection of the Ingalls nurses’ plea to organize, which was brought forward
by NNU at an August 9 contract negotiation meeting with UCMC administrators. UCMC’s Chief Nursing Officer Debra Albert said the union did not respond to an economic proposal and “focused instead on picketing our patients, filing frivolous regulatory claims that have been dismissed, and soliciting strike pledges.” The nurses will elect a representative team in preparation for a collective bargaining meeting with UCMC management.
TJ’s to Open Later This Month By DARCY KUANG News Reporter On Friday, October 18 at 9 a.m., the much-anticipated Hyde Park branch of the Trader Joe’s grocery store chain will open its doors. A ribbon cutting ceremony will take place before the store opens at 9 a.m. The celebration will continue throughout the morning, featuring live music, tastings, fun activities for children,
giveaways and more. Trader Joe’s—a national chain known for healthy food options—will take over part of the building formerly occupied by shuttered grocer Treasure Island. Since the announcement of its opening in May, the Trader Joe’s store on South Lake Park Avenue and East 55th Street has undergone monthslong renovations and a 10-day hiring process. The store will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
A Trader Joe’s in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood.
jeremy lindenfeld
UChicago Law and Booth Announce Joint JD/MBA Program By PRANATHI POSA Deputy News Editor The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the Law School announced last week the creation of a “fully integrated” three-year joint J.D./ M.B.A. program. While a four-year joint
program already exists and will remain an option, the new program is meant to be an accelerated track. Students will spend their first and third years at the Law School and their second year at Booth. The program states its interdisciplinary focus is meant to help “stu-
dents gain tools and problem-solving approaches to serve as key leaders and advisers in increasingly complex global environments,” Chicago Booth Dean Madhav Rajan said. Building leadership skills, career support, and the ability to tap into student organizations at both Booth
and the Law School are also put forward as benewfits of the program. In total, the program will involve 1400 units of Booth coursework and 105 credit hours at the Law School. Tuition for the program has not been set yet, and applications are due January 7, 2020.
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College Streams Video Lectures to Overflow Classroom By EMMA DYER News Editor For some Organic Chemistry students, going to class this fall will mean attending a video streaming session. Due to high enrollment, the department of chemistry will offer one 303-person section of Organic Chemistry this fall. However, no classroom space available to the chemistry department can fit 303 students—so the department is also using an overflow classroom to video stream the lecture. “Due to high demand for Organic Chemistry, the lecture portion of this class will be video recorded in Kent 107 and a live feed broadcast into Kent 120,” a Canvas announcement for the class said. “Seating in Kent 107 will be on a first-come-first served basis and once seats are filled students must go to Kent 120.” Organic Chemistry’s overflow problem is just one symptom of a growing undergrad population that is straining classroom space. Registrar records show that the number of undergraduates enrolled in the autumn of 2018 has grown by 2,111 students since 2004. To keep up with the increase of students in popular majors, some departments have brought on new faculty members; however, in some departments, available facilities spaces have not kept pace with demand. The use of a video-streamed class has, for some students, called into question the need for in-person lectures. “If all I had access to during lecture was the streamed video, I would no longer come to class,” second-year Sarika Temme-Bapat said. “I would much prefer a pre-recorded video in that case.” Substituting videos for traditional lecture time has already become a part of the undergraduate curriculum. Last spring,
the physical sciences class Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast taught students through a combination of videos recorded by geophysical sciences professor Dorian Abbot and in-class sessions led by graduate students. Regardless of the class format, Temme-Bapat expressed frustration with the lack of classroom space. “I’m all in favor of recording lectures, but classes should have enough room for their students,” Temme-Bapat said. The College is not planning on increasing the use of video-streamed classrooms for large undergraduate introductory classes, University spokesman Jeremy Manier said.
Introductory classes are particularly likely to have large enrollments, although the size of introductory classes varies significantly across majors. The University reports a student to faculty ratio of 5:1, but an analysis of the top six majors shows introductory class sizes average more than 50 students. Economics, the largest major on campus, awarded 307 degrees in 2019, representing 17 percent of all degrees awarded that year. The major has an average class size of 54 students in its three-class introductory sequence. By contrast, Biological Sciences, the second largest major accounting for 9 percent of all degrees awarded in 2019, or 171 degrees
total, has an average class size nearly twice that of economics — 102 students on average in its five-course introductory sequence. Master of the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division Jocelyn Malamy said, “For all the fundamentals sequences, we have increased the number of lab sections in each sequence, allowing overall class sizes to increase. Individual lab section sizes are constrained by working space in the lab, so the caps on a single lab section have not changed.” More than 90 percent of classes at UChicago have fewer than 50 students, according to U.S. News & World Report. 6.1 percent of classes average more than 50 students.
Average class sizes of introductory sequence classes for the eight largest majors over the last three years.
emma dyer
Urban Designer Receives $625,000 MacArthur Grant By TYRONE LOMAX News Editor Emmanuel Pratt, a visiting lecturer in the Environmental and Urban Studies program in the College, was named a MacArthur Fellow in September. He will receive a $625,000 grant over the next five years, according to an announcement by the MacArthur Foundation.
Pratt is one of 26 fellows who were named this year, and is among a cohort that includes scientists, activists, artists, and historians. The stipend will be distributed in quarterly installments with “no strings attached,” according to the MacArthur Foundation’s website. Founded in 1981, the program is intended to help fellows pursue their personal or professional
goals, without any oversight from the MacArthur Foundation. Fellows are selected based on three criteria: their creativity, their potential to produce future creative work, and having an established record of significant accomplishments. Twenty to 30 fellows are named every year. Pratt is an urban designer, and is also the co-founder and executive director of
the Sweet Water Foundation, a nonprofit organization that uses agriculture, art, and education to revitalize communities on Chicago’s South Side. He also served as Interpreter in Residence for the Smart Museum of Art last year, and hosted a series of dinners that gathered other scholars and community leaders to discuss themes surrounding his work.
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MSI Renamed After $125 Million Donation from Kenneth C. Griffin By TYRONE LOMAX News Editor The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) announced last Thursday that it will be renamed after Chicago philanthropist and billionaire investor, Kenneth C. Griffin. The name change follows a $125 million donation, which is the largest amount made to the museum in its history. According to
a statement by MSI President and CEO David Mosena, the gift will secure the MSI’s long-term financial future, allowing the museum to better serve the wider Chicago community. The gift will also be used to help create the Pixel Studio, a digital gallery and performance space that is currently being planned by the MSI. An exact date for the name change has not been specified.
Griffin is the founder of the hedge fund Citadel, and has previously donated funds to the University, prompting the Department of Economics to be renamed in 2017. He has been a member of the University’s Board of Trustees since 2014, and has donated to several other community organizations and businesses. Many other places and positions have been renamed in recognition of Griffin’s donations:
- The Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics (University of Chicago Department of Economics) - Griffin Early Childhood Center (University of Chicago and Harvard University partnership) - Kenneth and Anne Griffin Court (Art Institute of Chicago wing) - The Griffin Halls of Evolving Planet (Field Museum of Chicago exhibition) - Griffin Galleries of Contempo-
rary Art (Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago) - Griffin Financial Aid Office (Harvard College Office of Financial Aid Office) and Griffin Director of Financial Aid (the head of the aforementioned office) - Griffin Professorship of Business Administration (Harvard Business School) - Kenneth C. Griffin Building (New York Museum of Modern Art, east wing)
VIEWPOINTS LTE: In Light of Tuition Hike, University Needs More Financial Transparency In light of the recent increase in undergraduate tuition, it is critical that the University fully disclose its operating costs and discretionary expenses. By MATT ANDERSSON
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.
NEWS
Tony Brooks, editor Miles Burton, editor Emma Dyer, editor Camille Kirsch, editor Tyrone Lomax, editor GREY CITY
Alex Dalton, editor Avi Waldman deputy editor VIEWPOINTS
Zahra Nasser, editor Meera Santhanam, editor ARTS
Jad Dahshan, editor Perri Wilson, editor SPORTS
Alison Gill, editor Audrey Mason, editor Brinda Rao, editor COPY
Mohammed Bashier, copy chief Olivia Shao, copy chief Kuba Sokolowski, copy chief
DESIGN
Jessica Xia, head of production Suha Chang, head designer Michelle Liu, design associate Christian Villanueva, design associate Ray Voorhis, design associate BUSINESS
Michael Vetter, chief financial officer Brian Dong, director of strategy Gianni LaVecchia and Kelsey Yang, directors of marketing Alex Chung, director of development James Kon, director of operations ONLINE
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Recently, there has been significant controversy over UChicago’s skyrocketing tuition. In fact, this month, The Maroon revealed that UChicago now offers the most expensive undergraduate tuition in the U.S. In light of this news, the following message is more important than ever: The University of Chicago needs to fully disclose its operating costs and discretionary expenses. In business, pricing is often used to signal a product’s quality and exclusivity. This supposed signalling power, however, often bears little semblance to a product’s actual worth. In light of UChicago’s recent tuition hike, the fundamental question at hand is: What are the University’s operating costs and working capital uses? It advertises its endowment, like nearly all higher education institutions do, but that tells you little if
anything about how the University is run, and how well it is managed. The University broadcasts its intention to underwrite tuition for students with financial need, but that discloses little about the University’s dependency on, and revenue mix from, “full-freight” students, as Robert Zimmer called them in a Financial Times interview this year. Advertising free or reduced tuition for a very small percentage of overall students is more a public relations gesture to assuage the sticker shock of attending the University for four years. (Why not make the A.B./S.B. program a three-year one, like Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and cut nearly $100,000 off the price tag for students and their families?) It is also useful to understand the costs of the University of Chicago’s professional school programs. The Booth School of Business, for
example, is among the highest-priced M.B.A. programs in the country, and is highly profitable for the University among its professional schools and departments. Booth is a significant source of intra-university transfer payments which subsidize many of the staffing and administrative cost indulgences at the larger University, whose costs are then passed on to undergrad students as tuition. Lastly, the University’s endowment is also important to appreciate. It is surprisingly modest and is both expensive and complicated to manage. The No. 1 and 2 rankings in terms of endowment size are Harvard and the University of Texas system, both topping $30 billion. UChicago, under president Zimmer, has actually realized relatively modest improvements in the endowment size, while continually increasing its debt, tuition, CONTINUED ON PG. 6
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“Students and their families should have access to highly detailed cost information...” continued from pg. 5
costs, and staffing and administrative perquisites. In fact, Zimmer’s salary alone has vaulted him among the top of those leagues—which students and their families are paying for. Before any student or family makes a tuition investment exceeding a quarter of a million dollars, the University’s audited financial statements should, of course, be reviewed carefully. Financial statements, however, are very general, “big-picture” documents that conceal at least as much as they disclose. They don’t tell prospective students how or why their tuition rate is set, and how and where it is spent in their particu-
lar school, college or department (or elsewhere, such as on faculty pensions, their health insurance, international conferences, and travel and entertainment). Students and their families should have access to highly detailed cost information, including access to administration as a matter of student rights and the University’s corresponding financial obligations. The modern university is no different financially from a corporation: The faculty, administration, and staff are employees, but the University’s students are among its shareholders. Before you make an investment, do your due diligence.
ARTS Jazz Festival Swings by Hyde Park By leone FANG Arts Reporter
“When you have people who sit down and listen to the music and focus on it, it brings together people who normally wouldn’t come together,” jazz pianist Richard Johnson says. “That right there is already crossing a big bridge.” Johnson was one of the many performers at this year’s Hyde Park Jazz Festival. The 13th iteration of this annual festival brought together musicians, the Hyde Park community, and more than 250 volunteers last Saturday and Sunday. Performances ran from 1 p.m. to midnight on Saturday and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday at 10 different venues in the neighborhood, including the Logan Center for the Arts, International House, and two outdoor stages on Midway Plaisance. “The festival was founded in 2006 by a group of just community members in Hyde Park, and they were responding to a lot of the different venues in Hyde Park and the surrounding neighborhoods that closed down over the course of many years,” the festival’s managing director, Olivia Junell, said. The festival therefore aims to give a platform to musicians and
community members to celebrate jazz. “Especially in Bronzeville, all along 43rd Street, there used to be a ton of different jazz clubs, and they all, one by one, closed down, and in Hyde Park there used to be a ton of venues.” “While some musicians are based in Hyde Park, others are invited by the festival from all over the world,” artistic and executive director Kate Dumbleton said. Her goal is to include musicians from a variety of backgrounds and to invite “local, emerging, established, international, [and] national” musicians to perform at the festival. On Saturday, at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, Amir ElSaffar’s Ahwaal premiered in Chicago and featured Polish artists including bassist Ksawery Wójciński, multi-instrumentalist Wacław Zimpel, and cellist Maciej Młodawski. Next year, the festival plans to bring artists from Africa to facilitate broader international exchange of jazz. On Sunday, on the outdoor stage on Midway Plaisance, singer and spoken word artist Maggie Brown told her life story, accompanied by Miguel de la Cerna (piano), Ivan Taylor (bass), Kenari Allison (drums), Sam Moshing (guitar), and continued on pg. 7
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“Live jazz performances are a growing phenomenon in the Hyde Park community” CONTINUED FROM PG. 6
Isaiah Collier (saxophone). The jazz festival also commissioned emerging artists to produce their own works. This year, two amazing artists, Angel Bat Dawid and Isaiah Collier, created large-scale productions that comprised dancers, musicians, and multimedia elements. Their performances premiered Saturday at the Logan Center Performance Hall. Live jazz performances are a growing phenomenon in the Hyde Park community, and “jazz is again emerging here,” according to Junell. The managing director also mentioned the Third Tuesday Jazz program hosted by the Logan Center for the Arts, where musicians play live at Café Logan on the third Tuesday of each month. The next performances will be on October 15 at 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., and will feature saxophonist Sharel Cassity. Sunday Evening Jazz, a weekly performance series organized by Hyde Park Jazz Society, recently moved its venue to the Promontory Music Venue where it will be holding its first perfor-
Tuesday, October 8 Workshop: Pop, Politics, Poetry Smart Museum of Art, 6–8 p.m., Free Part one of this two-part series will include a gallery tour of the Smart’s new exhibit, Samson Young: Silver Moon or Golden Star, Which Will You Buy of Me? Then, get your hands dirty with an art project and discussion centered around utopias in the artistic imagination. Thursday, October 10 UChicago Night at the Art Institute Art Institute of Chicago, 5–8 p.m., Free for University staff, faculty and students with UCID Although the Art Institute is always free to UCID holders, this UChicago Arts Pass event will provide an exciting after-hours peek into the galleries, accompanied by live music from Grammy-winning musical ensemble Eighth Blackbird, and free sketchbooks. Even the transportation there is provided,
mance, the Alexander/McLean Project, on October 27. For University students interested in showcasing their musical skills, Johnson, who performed at the Logan Center Performance Penthouse, recommends Andy’s Jazz Club, where he plays every Sunday. High school students and college students are welcome to perform at the club every Sunday starting at 6:30 p.m. “That’s a time for people like myself to notice up-and-coming young people and give them a chance to play and give them opportunities and recommendations for tours and gigs.” Johnson also recommends Jazz Showcase for those who want to listen to and meet world-class talents. “Right now, jazz is opening the door to a lot of other scholars of music. It used to be jazz or bebop or swing, you know, like, 60 years ago.” Johnson said. “Now it’s opened the door to Roman music, Latin music, Caribbean music. A lot of people are bringing their culture into their music so the music’s gonna keep growing. The door’s getting wider, letting more people in.”
with shuttles leaving from Reynolds! Gallery Talk with Maite Borjabad Logan Center Exhibitions, 6 p.m., Free Maite Borjabad, Neville Bryan Assistant Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago, will give a gallery talk centered on U.K. architecture collective Assemble’s expansive approach to architecture and design. Friday, October 11 Academy of St. Martin in the Fields 7:30 p.m. Mandel Hall, $38 general admission, $10 student tickets UChicago Presents’s (UC Presents) season-opener is a chamber group made up of members from the world-renowned, London-based chamber orchestra. The group will perform Mendelssohn’s beloved octet, along with a sextet by Erich Korngold and a contemporary octet by Sally Beamish.
Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few at Logan Center. courtesy michael jackson
Native and Non-Native Indigenous Languages in Chicago Friday–Saturday, Ida Noyes Third Floor Theater Opening with a Potawatomi land acknowledgement on Friday morning, this two-day event will celebrate 2019 as the “International Year of Indigenous Languages.” With lectures, film screenings, dance, music, and food, this event is a fantastic introduction to the vast array of languages, and the peoples that speak them, surrounding you in Chicago. Saturday, October 12 Oriental Institute Indiana Jones Film Festival 7:00 p.m., Free for Oriental Institute members and students Honor UChicago’s “most famous fictional student” with free screenings of Indiana Jones movies throughout the weekend. If you’re looking for a more “substantive” addition to the films, there
will be accompanying lectures and even a costume contest. Screenings will be held in various locations. Third Coast Percussion 7:30 p.m., Logan Center, $15 general admission, Free for students UC Presents has not one, but two showstoppers this weekend. Opening their contemporary series is this Grammy award–winning ensemble, performing not one but two world premieres! Benjamin J. Young and Werner Lange 3 p.m., Film Studies Center, Third Floor Cobb Hall, Hosted by Renaissance Society, Free Join the Renaissance Society for a discussion between LaToya Ruby Frazier, Benjamin Young, and Werner Lange about Frazier’s use of photography as a platform for social justice and visibility for working-class families in her exhibition at the Ren.
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Unequal Access At UChicago, Accommodations for Disabled Students Often Fall Short By ALICE CHENG Grey City Reporter
Fourth-year Brittney Dorton spent the first 18 years of her life in a relatively normal body. She was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (a group of inherited disorders that mostly affect skin, joints, and blood vessels) in high school, but was told by her doctor that the syndrome was not serious. While attending high school, Dorton frequently swam and ran half marathons. Oftentimes, in participating in these activities, she accidentally dislocated her shoulder and knee sockets and would casually pop her joints back into place. “I [thought], everything’s just so loose that it’s really easy for that to happen,” Dorton said. “Bodies are supposed to do that.” However, five days before her supposed college move-in day, Dorton was confronted with the nasty realization that bodies should not. One second she was standing. Pop. Suddenly, Dorton was not. Her doctors told her that she tore her ligament, and that they only ever witnessed a tear as deep as hers from car accidents. Dorton had to go through an extensive surgery to reconstruct her knee. She would have to learn how to walk all over again. The accident also left her with complex regional pain syndrome, a chronic condition in which the body’s nervous system perpetually sends and amplifies pain signals to the brain, giving Dorton a constant burning sensation from the injured area. When Dorton told the College about her predicament, the College told her that she should not come to school, because they could not promise her the level of accessibility she needed for housing, classes, and transportation. “I was just devastated,” Dorton said. “I had a roommate. I had all my stuff packed
up. And all of a sudden, it was all being taken away from me.” Dorton had to take the year off. “It ended up being the right choice because I ended up having three surgeries that year. I had to do like six hours of physical therapy a day…. But at the same time, that didn’t make that decision to take a year off any easier.” On that first phone call, little did Dorton know that this would be the first of many uphill battles in a long, arduous fight towards better accessibility for students with disabilities on campus. Throughout her first year at the University, Dorton experienced the many ways in which the College was right to suggest it was lacking the resources and attention she needed to fulfill the bare minimum as a student. In almost all aspects of her life on campus, including housing, transportation, and academics, Dorton faced a severe disadvantage compared to her peers. Nor was Dorton the only one. Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, privately funded schools that receive federal funding are mandated to provide accessible programs to students with disabilities. Furthermore, the Fair Housing Act of 1988 stipulates that these federally funded recipients shall not prevent qualified individuals from fully participating in the institution’s programs or activities, including access to residence halls. Lastly, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into law in 1990, bans discrimination against people with disabilities in areas of employment, public accommodation, public services, transportation, and telecommunication. The University, which receives federal aid and is categorized as a place of accommodation, is therefore legally mandated to follow these three laws. According to Jeremy Manier, a
University spokesperson, approximately 7 percent of students are formally registered for accommodations at the University, and while not all of them require the same level of care as Dorton, investigating accessibility on campus has uncovered many students who claim grievances due to the University’s inaction. Housing & Transportation When Brittney Dorton was preparing for her first year after her gap year, College Housing informed her that her first choice, Burton-Judson, did not have an elevator. In response, Dorton requested to simply be placed in the most accessible dorm. Instead, she received a room assignment on Burton-Judson’s fourth floor. “I called Housing, and they were like, oh, um, we think we lost the disability paperwork for this year,” Dorton said. The only other alternative the housing office offered
was at International House, a dormitory located a quarter mile from the main quad, which Dorton dismissed as an even less accessible living situation. Dorton found someone willing to swap her second-floor room for Dorton’s, but the trek up the stairs was nonetheless exhausting. Dorton was still too weak to walk to classes by herself and, at the very least, required crutches. She used Dial-A-Ride, a complimentary service that provides rides for classes. Yet, Dorton found Dial-A-Ride inflexible. She had to schedule her transportation route a week before the service and had few options to adjust her schedule. The service also only lasted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., so Dorton had to search for other forms of public transportation to get around campus in the evening, such as the University shuttle and CTA buses. However, the University shutCONTINUED ON PG. 9
Bicycles locked to the railings of the Regenstein Library’s ramp present an obstacle for students using whelchairs. Alice Cheng
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“I don’t know how to explain that students with disabilities inherently engage with people in different ways.” CONTINUED FROM PG. 8
tle drivers rarely knew how to operate the wheelchair lift, which made entering the vehicle extremely difficult, even with crutches. The CTA buses were Dorton’s best form of transportation but closed at 6:30 p.m. Overall, Dorton described her first-year social life as “lonely.” “I saw people going out and…joining clubs that I had wanted to join or even just like hanging out after class,” Dorton said. “I didn’t have the institutional support to allow me to do those things.” Talking to students about their experiences with the campus’s physical accessibility has unveiled new perspectives on campus architecture and aesthetics previously seen as positive externalities. For instance, while the cobblestone tiles that decorate pathways on the quad contribute a historic atmosphere to the campus, Dorton explained that for students with physical disabilities, they can be extremely uncomfortable to walk on as well as hard to avoid slipping and tripping over. Dorton also expressed Haskell Hall as one of the least accessible buildings; like Burton-Judson, it has no elevator. Moreover, a closer look at Cobb Hall’s main entrance reveals the ramp outside the building has little practical purpose. Upon entering the building, a set of stairs is the only available pathway to access any classrooms. Academics For any student applying for accommodations, Student Disability Services (SDS) is the first point of contact. SDS is responsible for providing resources, support, and accommodations to students with learning, physical, and psychological disabilities; it’s also responsible for determining whether students’ disabilities qualify them for accommodations in the first place. Applicants go through an intake interview and a review of disability accommodation documentation by a certified professional before receiving a verdict for their request. Students approved by the SDS receive a letter of accommodation, which they can present to their instructors for services like exam accommodations, note-taking assistance, document conversion to alternate formats, and interpreting or captioning services. However, the letter is limited in its
ability to overrule University regulations. For instance, during Dorton’s freshman fall quarter, her doctor recommended she undergo surgery for her knee, an operation that would require a recovery time a week longer than winter break. Dorton was unable to go through with the surgery, because the math department refused to let Dorton take her calculus final early. At the time, the department did not allow anyone to take their exams early, regardless of religious or medical reasons. Additionally, in the process of applying for a letter of accommodation, students may face unforeseen difficulties. This was the case for Nahime Aguirre (A.B. ’19), who matriculated into the University in fall quarter 2012, but did not officially graduate until spring quarter 2019. Aguirre developed anxiety disorders and applied for a letter of accommodation to address her symptoms in 2014. These accommodations would enable Aguirre to receive extensions on papers, take a leave of absence for classes due to drowsy medication, and ask for assistance for note-taking during class. However, SDS required Aguirre to receive a psychiatric diagnosis by the University’s own hospital, an evaluation that would cost $5,000 and wouldn’t be covered by U-SHIP, for her letter of accommodation. To Aguirre, obtaining the letter was therefore unaffordable. To circumvent the process, Aguirre’s college adviser, who knew of her disability, advocated for Aguirre when she asked for accommodations from her instructors. “I would e-mail the professor and I would copy my advisor in that email,” Aguirre said. “But as the years went on…I had a couple of professors just outright ask for SDS documentation and if I couldn’t come up with it, then they couldn’t help me.” Aguirre attempted again to apply for a letter of accommodation during spring quarter 2016, when she learned that SDS no longer required a psychiatric evaluation. By then, she had failed so many classes that she would not be able to graduate within twelve quarters. Aguirre petitioned for a thirteenth quarter to the Dean of Students, who approved her for winter quarter classes. However, Aguirre still had not received her letter of accommodation from SDS and consequently had to withdraw from all her
courses. SDS granted Aguirre her letter of accommodation several weeks later. Aguirre was six classes away from graduating and e-mailed Dean Ellison over the summer for permission for a fourteenth quarter, who declined her request. “Having exhausted your full 12-quarter limit, and with the addition of the extra 13th quarter, you have too many outstanding requirements...therefore you cannot return as a regular student,” Ellison wrote in an e-mail to Aguirre. “Looking at your record and speaking with our colleagues in CHDV, I have seen that you have not engaged with the major as we would expect for a student—missing classes, failing to respond to the outreach from advisers, administrators, and faculty, and not completing even the basic requirements that are expected.” Ellison told Aguirre that her only remaining option was to transfer schools. “What I hate most about this letter is the assumption that...I wasn’t engaging,” Aguirre said. “I don’t know how to explain that students with disabilities inherently engage with people in different ways.” Upon further inquiry, Aguirre elaborated on how her disability and medication prevented her from communicating with instructors: “Emails are sent at 2:30 a.m. in the morning. Not in the middle of the day. [I] can’t wake up for classes. But [I] still do the reading…[I] still post on the online medium because that’s what’s accessible,” she said. Aguirre reached out to Equip for Equality, a nonprofit civil rights organization in Chicago for people with disabilities, for assistance. It was only after Equip for Equality’s legal team sent the University a twoand-a-half-page-long letter that Aguirre was finally granted a fourteenth quarter with a letter of accommodation in December of 2017. While reflecting on the experience, Aguirre admitted that how she circumvented the official accommodation application process makes her partially responsible for her inability to graduate on time. However, Aguirre wished that the University had informed her of her rights as a person with disabilities earlier on in her enrollment, such as during orientation. “Everybody told me about my rights under Title IX,” Aguirre said. “But there’s nothing for students with disabilities, especially stu-
dents who are developing their disabilities after high school.” The Fight for Change Associate Professor of History Ada Palmer suffers from Crohn’s disease and other conditions causing severe abdominal pain and considers herself highly cognizant of campus accessibility issues. She is sympathetic to the University, saying that she believes the college aspires to provide better accommodations, but is limited by its ability to prioritize resources. Palmer sees the University scrambling to address what she calls a “happy problem.” “These people are getting into college now [through] a system that failed earlier and that blocked enormous numbers of brilliant and amazing young people from getting through high school sufficiently to enter colleges like this,” Palmer said. “But what it means is [the population of disabled students] has grown so much faster than the infrastructure…. It’s a happy problem because it’s proof that a bigger problem has already been surmounted getting people here who used to be blocked by the system. Now we’re working on the next step” The University claims that their construction and renovation projects abide by a set of standards referred to as Accessibility Plus. These standards exceed the bare minimum legal requirements of accessibility, by anticipating needs not explicitly addressed by law. These Accessibility Plus standards will be implemented in the construction of the Student Wellness Center. Additionally, the new Woodlawn Residential Commons will also have rooms that maintain mobility and communication requirements. The University also improved entry points towards the Burton-Judson dorms by adding a ramp this summer. Furthermore, the University’s Dial-ARide can currently transport students as late as 8 p.m. upon request, an option that Dorton doesn’t recall SDS offered when she first attended the University. Even as the physical environment begins to improve, the social stigma for disabled students is another challenge. Within four weeks of using Dial-A-Ride in her first year, Dorton cancelled the service, because the drivers constantly made comments discrediting her disability. CONTINUED ON PG. 10
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“...there should be more thorough training for instructors on students’ accomodations” CONTINUED FROM PG. 9
“One of the drivers had cancer in the past and he was like, you know, I have cancer and you don’t see me using these services. You just need to get over it,” Dorton said. When Dorton had to transfer over from using crutches to a wheelchair, this same driver sneered. “Really…are you doing this? Are you just trying to like, you know, get attention?” Dorton paraphrased his words. Similarly, Aguirre received insensitive comments regarding her disability in her last year of college. “I had a student in one of my classes [last] fall who told me, like, who can’t save up $5,000 especially for something as important as an evaluation?” she recounted. Aguirre also believes there should be more thorough training for instructors on students’ accommodations. In addition to
providing accommodations to students with a letter, instructors are legally mandated to include a section about accommodations in their class syllabi, which interviewees have claimed is sometimes missing. Several years ago, one student, Hex Bouderdaben (A.B. ’18), chose to combat the culture surrounding disabled students in an unorthodox manner. Bouderdaben had grown tired with the number of students who kept locking their bikes to the ramp that laid in front of the Regenstein Library. “When you see a bike there, there’s a number you can call where they’ll…take the bike away,” Bouderdaben said. “But it can take four to five hours.” Bouderdaben decided to take matters into his own hands by taking a washable, metallic Sharpie and wrote on the seats and metal frames of locked bikes. Moreover, Bouderdaben would frequently post on a Facebook group
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page called Overheard at UChicago expressing to students the inconvenience locking bikes causes to wheelchair users. He wrote on people’s bikes for a month before encountering a student who reported him to the University on accounts of vandalism. Consequently, Bouderdaben had to attend a disciplinary hearing, but otherwise did not receive any severe punishments for his actions. Overall, Bouderdaben considers the actions he took against the students who locked their bikes at the library ramp a “net positive.” After the hearing, the University placed laminated signs in front of the ramp emphasizing the area as an ADA zone. “If I had had more time and had more support, I definitely could’ve organized something through student government to educate incoming freshmen about ADA roles,” Bouderdaben said. “[But] as a trans, disabled 40. Reproduce 42. Hint 43. Idolizing 48. Famous home invader 49. Lightheaded 50. Apple product 1
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person at UChicago, I just didn’t have the time or energy to do more than just write on a bike as I passed by.” Dorton, who has just recently been elected vice president of administration and chairman of a recently formed committee called the Student Accessibility and Disability Advocacy Committee (SADAC), ranks awareness as her number one priority for campus accessibility. Concrete goals include creating a phone app mapping out all the physically accessible routes to classrooms and bathrooms on campus, compiling resource guides with physical and mental health groups on campus, and pushing for more student input on the new Wellness Center that will open in 2021. Now in a place with greater power to promote accessibility, Dorton’s climb continues onward.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON — OCTOBER 9, 2019
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Football Shuts Out Beloit By MIRANDA BURT Sports Reporter
The University of Chicago men’s football team found themselves in familiar territory last Saturday, shutting out the Beloit College Buccaneers 48–0 and bringing their record to 2–2. Beloit dropped to 0–4 after the contest. The Maroons have beaten Beloit three straight times by a combined score of 166–12. The Maroons accumulated an impressive stat sheet, while virtually only playing one half of football. Lightning struck raptly starting at halftime, and both teams agreed to play two one-minute quarters in the second half, each just taking a knee to bring the game to a conclusion. The Maroons only held the ball for a little over 14 minutes, but amassed 441 yards of total offense. The offense was led by senior quarterback Marco Cobian, who went an impressive 17–19 for 321 yards and three touchdowns. Cobian spoke of the performance, saying, “Our emphasis as a team, but more specifically, as an offense, going into this week was to start fast and uphold our standards as an offense. We knew going into this week that we could have an opportunity to get a lot of guys their first substantial college football playing time if we handled our business. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t play as many guys
as we wanted due to weather shortening the game, but overall it was a good team win and we’re all happy to be going in the right direction.” The offense was led by third-year running back Mike Martinson. While weather hampered his stat sheet, Martinson ran for two scores on five carries, averaging 8.4 yards per carry. Fourth-year Dante Nepa joined his fellow classmates in leading the offense, hauling in four receptions for 73 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Defensively, the Maroons did not come up with any takeaways, but they were able to hold Beloit to a meager four first downs and 65 yards of total offense. Fourth-year linebacker Henry Winebrake led the way with six total tackles, one for loss. Winebrake was followed closely by third-year defensive lineman Jackson Ross, who amassed five total tackles on the day. The Maroons will now look towards this Saturday’s upcoming home contest with the Knox College Prairie Fire, who will also enter the contest at 2–2. The Prairie Fire beat Beloit two weeks ago by a score of 45–21, but are coming off a lopsided 28–3 road loss to Lake Forest College. The Maroons beat Lake Forest two weeks ago 27–10. UChicago will kick off its homecoming game on Saturday, October 12 at 2 p.m. at Stagg Field.
Fourth-year Marco Cobian tosses the ball over his Beloit opponent’s head.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON — OCTOBER 9, 2019
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SPORTS Soccer Begins UAA Play Victoriously By DANIEL ZEA Sports Reporter
For the University of Chicago’s men’s and women’s soccer teams, this weekend marked the beginning of conference play in the University Athletic Association (UAA), with both teams facing off against the visiting Emory University Eagles. Both Chicago teams entered the game as ranked Division III soccer programs and both left the pitch with victories, as the men soundly defeated the Eagles with a final score of 5–0, while the women edged out Emory with a score of 2–1. Improving their record to 5–1–4, the men, who entered the game ranked No. 6, showed why they are considered one of the best Division III teams in the nation with a rather lopsided shutout victory over Emory. The Maroons presented an aggressive attack from the
opening whistle, pressing past the Eagles’ defense on a number of occasions in the first half. Despite a high volume of shots on goal from Chicago, Emory managed to keep the game scoreless through the first 43 minutes. At that point, third-year Bryce Millington finally opened the scoring, making the most of a corner kick for his fourth goal of the season, which leads the team. Soon after, the Maroons’ offense really found its groove. Third-year Ben Brandt noted the “great response from the team after a hard-fought first half,” stating, “we made more dynamic runs and plays after the break, which led us to opening the game up in attack.” In the second half, four more Maroons contributed to the scoring, with second-year Sahil Modi netting the second goal of the game, assisted by first-year Michael Johnson, who scored in the 52nd minute to put Chicago up 3–0. Second-years Jorge
Branco and Peyton Lane contributed the final two goals for the Maroons. According to Brandt, “Everyone stepped up…including Big Ron [Aaron Katsimpalis] taking care of business in goal with some big-time saves.” Meanwhile, the women, who entered Saturday’s game ranked No. 12, fended off a persistent Emory squad to improve to 7–1–1, making their unbeaten streak seven games. The Maroons opened the scoring early, as fourth-year Rachel Dias netted the first goal of the game less than three minutes after the opening whistle, her shot from the sideline ricocheting off an Emory defender and sneaking past the keeper. Not long after, second-year Peyton Jefferson added to the scoring, beating an Eagles defender in the 25th minute for the ball and sending it past the Eagles goalkeeper for the Maroons’ second and final goal of the game. In the second half, Chicago’s
third-year goalkeeper, Miranda Malone, stifled a reinvigorated Emory offense, recording a career-high ten saves for the game. In fact, she managed to hold the Eagles scoreless through 80 minutes, in spite of their high volume of shots on goal. While both teams could bask in their great start to conference competition, the men and women have already begun preparing to face their next opponents. Ben Brandt reflected on Saturday that “It was a good game [against Emory], but our focus is on to the next game against Rochester.” Both squads will travel to Upstate New York to face the Yellow Jackets for their next UAA matchup on Sunday, October 13. However, before setting their sights on Rochester, the women will look to continue their winning ways on Tuesday, October 8 against Carthage College at home.
Returning to the Court: Men’s Tennis at ITA Regionals By ALI SHEEHY Sports Reporter
The UChicago men’s tennis team was back on the court this weekend at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Tournament held at Kalamazoo College in Michigan. The Maroons faced several opponents over the course of three days including Washington University in St. Louis, Case Western Reserve University, Kenyon College, and more. The Maroons, led by head coach Jay Tee, are coming off an impressive and record-breaking 2018–19 season. They went 20–3 in their regular season and had six players invited to the NCAA DIII Singles and Doubles Championships held over Memorial Day. This included the doubles pair of current fourth-years Erik Kerrigan and Ninan Kumar, who made it all the way to the semifinals before ultimately losing to Bowdoin College after a tough three sets. Heading into this season though, players, including second-year Joshua
Xu, are confident and optimistic about the team’s chances this year. “Last year was a great season in terms of achieving records we’ve never done before. But with nearly all of our lineup returning and a strong freshman class, we’re in a good position to do even better this year.” Xu continued to say that in preparation for this year, “We know what our strengths and weaknesses are and we’re preparing the only way we know how— train hard and compete harder.” The Maroons definitely competed hard this weekend. On the first day of competition, they posted an 8–1 singles record and a 2–0 doubles record. In singles play, No. 4–seeded Kerrigan defeated opponents from DePauw (6–2, 6–2) and Lake Forest (6–1, 6–4). Third-year Jeremy Yuan, who was seeded No. 8, also had impressive results on the first day as he beat players from Kenyon College (6–4, 6–0) and DePauw (6–2, 6–3). First-year Sachin Das had a great collegiate debut, recording two wins against Trine University (6–0, 6–1) and Kenyon College
(6–3, 6–3) before ultimately losing a tough match to Case Western Reserve. Xu contributed heavily to the Maroons’ record with wins over Webster (6–1, 6–1) and Oberlin (6–2, 6–2). Kerrigan and Xu also had an impact on the first day with their respective doubles teams. The No. 1–seeded duo of Kerrigan and Ninan Kumar defeated a pair from John Caroll 8–1, while the No. 3–seeded pair of Xu and Tyler Raclin beat a team from Wheaton College by the same margin. Unfortunately, the second day of competition included the defeats of Xu, Kerrigan, and Yuan in singles play, as well as the pair of Kerrigan and Kumar in doubles play. The duo of Xu and Raclin however, were able to overtake pairs from Principia College (8–4) and Kenyon College (8–4), allowing them to advance to the doubles team semifinals the next day. On Sunday, Xu and Raclin went on to defeat the Case Western duo of Hennessey and Powell by 8–3, advancing to
the championship doubles match. However, the No. 5–seeded pair from Case Western ultimately defeated the Maroon pair in a hard-fought final match. CRWU took the first set 6–4, with the Maroons winning the second set 6–3, but losing in the tiebreaker 10–5, causing Xu and Raclin to be the runners-up, still an amazing accomplishment. Although the Maroons had some success this weekend, the players acknowledge that they can do better. According to Xu, “There were a lot of good things to take away from this weekend and a lot of things we know we need to work on during the offseason. Fall ITAs are always a good benchmark, but it’s time to focus and prepare for what really matters—the regular season.” The UChicago men’s tennis team enters their offseason training looking to prepare for their first regular season match on January 25 against Lewis College.