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NOVEMBER 30, 2023 NINTH WEEK VOL. 136, ISSUE 6

Hyde Park Property Manager Ivy Residences to Lay Off 10 Unionized Employees Without Severance

By NIKHIL JAISWAL | Editor-In-Chief On Thursday, November 16, employees and community allies rallied in front of Ivy Residences’ 53rd Street office after all 10 building maintenance workers were told they would be let go without severance in two weeks from November 13.

Many of the workers, who are all members of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1, have been working in their buildings since before Pioneer Acquisitions, the parent company of Ivy Residences, purchased the properties from the University of Chicago in 2016.

Workers told The Maroon that after the acquisition, Ivy honored the contract that the University had negotiated with them until it expired. Workers were unable to negotiate a new contract until

a one-year deal was agreed to last year.

That contract expired this fall.

Since 2016, the number of buildings each employee was responsible for has increased as the size of the maintenance staff decreased.

According to the union, management informed the 10 maintenance workers that they were being terminated on Monday, November 13. Three days later, on Thursday afternoon, employees and their union delivered a petition to Ivy asking management to reconsider their decision.

Negotiations about the decision and its effects were still ongoing by the end of the week on November 17, per the union.

“Like I’ve said, [I’ve been here for] 35 years,” said Frank Gober who began

working for the University in 1989 and continued to work in his building after Ivy acquired it. “It’s hard out there for younger people looking for a job. And for a 50-year-old guy to go out looking for work, even with the experience that we have, it’s not easy.”

Jeffrey Mosely, another employee, told The Maroon that what employees were asking for was actually part of their now-expired contract with Ivy. “The guidelines in the prior contract for removing us, I believe, would have been 60 days’ notice.”

Employees who spoke to The Maroon said that Ivy had told them they were planning to replace unionized employees with non-unionized staff from a third-party property management company, Cagan Management Group. The

company did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Gober, the employees do not have much hope that their jobs can be saved. They are asking management to allow them to continue working until the end of the year.

“I think [Ivy has] made up their mind.

The best-case scenario we have is we might get to go to the end of the year. Instead of being out in two weeks, we’d get another month and a half.”

Members of the community have rallied around employees. According to SEIU, there was strong support from both Hyde Park residents and University of Chicago students.

The Maroon was unable to reach a representative from Ivy Residences or Pioneer Acquisitions for comment.

UCMed’s Trauma Center Celebrates Five Years of Treating Patients on the South Side

By NAINA PURUSHOTHAMAN | Senior News Reporter and ANIKA KRISHNASWAMY | News Reporter This year marks the fifth anniversary of the University of Chicago Medicine’s Level 1 Trauma Center. To commemorate this milestone, The Maroon spoke to Doctor Selwyn Rogers, founding director of the Trauma Center, and local nonprofit leaders Paul Robinson and Teny Gross about what the Center has accomplished within the community and its goals for the future.

Since its establishment, the adult trauma team has treated 18,494 adult patients, and its pediatric trauma team has cared for 2,893 children. The Center’s violence recovery team has also helped 7,761 people transition back into the community through social and behavioral health agencies to reduce the risk of reinjury.

The Trauma Center and its benefits did not come to UChicago easily; the South

NEWS: UChicago Muslim Students Association and Students for Justice in Palestine Organize Remembrance in Honor of Palestinian Victims PAGE 2

NEWS: A Year at UCMed: BSD and Pritzker Dean Mark Anderson Reflects, Shares Decade-Long Strategic Plan

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Side community campaigned for the creation of a trauma center for years before plans to establish the UChicago Trauma Center were unveiled in 2015.

Community demand for a local trauma center came after a 1984 protocol change mandating that emergency medical services transport the most severely injured patients to the nearest trauma center instead of the nearest hospital. The amendment was the result of the death of Benjamin Wilson, a top-ranked high school CONTINUED ON PG. 2

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“It’s not just how we’re able to patch your blood vessel…It is how we treat it, right? Are we treating you as a full human being?”

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basketball player who was killed at the age of 17 by a gunshot wound. Wilson was taken to nearby St. Bernard hospital to treat his injuries but had to wait almost two hours for treatment because St. Bernard was not equiped with a trauma center.

The rule change left patients in the South Side, which did not have a trauma center, without access to local treatment for severe traumatic injuries for the next 27 years, leading to the deaths of many more civilians. Among them was Damian Turner, an 18-year-old community activist who was shot on August 15, 2010, blocks away from UChicago. Turner died because there was no adult trauma center nearby that could treat his injury. His death raised the first calls for the establishment of a trauma center at the University. “[Many community groups] rallied around the idea that a trauma center needed to exist on the South Side, and the most logical place for that was the University of Chicago, the only academic center on the South Side of Chicago,” Trauma Center Director Dr. Selwyn Rogers said. “That resistance lasted six years before the University of Chicago changed their minds.”

“The opening up of a Level 1 Trauma Center at UChicago Medicine, which hadn’t been present for almost three de-

cades, was a pivot, symbolic and literal, of the University of Chicago Medicine toward the community instead of away from the community,” Rogers added. “The community has always believed that they needed and deserved the Trauma Center.

The University denied that belief.”

As a non-native to the Chicago area, Rogers reports having faced backlash from members of the surrounding communities when he was first recruited to lead the Trauma Center.

“I’m an outsider,” Rogers said. “[The community] didn’t see Selwyn Rogers, a trauma surgeon building a trauma center.

They saw UChicago, a place that has not been friendly to them.”

Rogers stated that many community members lacked faith that UChicago’s Trauma Center would be here to stay, adding that one of the most important parts of the Center is that it strengthens trust with the community. “[The Center] is successful,” Rogers said. “It’s not going away. It’s fully embedded now. It’s part of the DNA of the institution.”

Over the past five years, the Trauma Center has also partnered with several nonviolence-advocating community organizations to enhance the Center’s care and help them mitigate the effects of gun

violence at every step, including prevention, care, and recovery.

For example, their violence recovery team works closely with Chicago Create Real Economic Destiny (CRED), a local nonprofit for gun violence prevention.

CRED’s Deputy Head of Programs, Paul Robinson, explained that they assist with patients’ legal issues and “connect the dots” necessary to help them “return home,” emphasizing the importance of personalized care. “[Recovery] takes that kind of collaborative and really personal touch of relationship building–from the hospital to community-based organizations–to make sure that we’re having a holistic response.”

To further this type of holistic care, the Trauma Center also works closely with the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago to focus on the mental health aspects of recovery.

Founder Teny Gross highlighted the need for consistent follow-ups, particularly with trauma patients. “[Even those who are] completely innocent and are not caught in the cycle of [violence], they don’t go back to normal,” Gross said. “They’re not the same after they were shot, even if they had nothing to do with street life…People lose their jobs, get depressed, their families fall apart, so investing in support is really important.”

Rogers also emphasized the psychological impact of trauma on patients, noting a general lack of focus on this subject.

“The mind is actually pretty challenging to figure out how best to repair because it’s not completely clear. To some people, it’s faith. For some people, it’s therapies…

But there’s no individualized plan,” Rogers said. “And I can’t ignore the fact that providers, nurses, doctors, residents, medical students are also traumatized by seeing traumatic things.”

Currently, there is no dedicated center that addresses this psychological impact.

“It is a huge problem in this country,” Rogers said.

Though Rogers noted areas where the Trauma Center can improve, Gross and other community members highlighted the distinctive approach taken by the Center’s team.

“There’s a strong emphasis at the trauma center at UChicago on the humanity of how people are received and treated— the respect,” Gross said. “It’s not just how we’re able to patch your blood vessel…It is how we treat it, right? Are we treating you as a full human being? We see potential and we see love in you. So I think that the University of Chicago Trauma Center has built a model that can really spread to other places.”

UChicago Muslim Students Association and Students for Justice in Palestine Organize Remembrance in Honor of Palestinian Victims

By TIFFANY LI | News Reporter UChicago Muslim Students Association (MSA) and Students for Justice in Palestine at UChicago (SJP) organized a remembrance and prayer outside Kent Chemical Laboratory to commemorate Palestinian lives lost in the ongoing war in Gaza on November 16.

Speakers at the event included Palestinian students and community members, as well as members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Chicago, a Muslim civil rights and advo-

cacy group with regional chapters across the nation, and Orland Park Prayer Center (OPPC), a mosque in a suburb of Chicago.

Fourth-year Youssef Hasweh, a member of SJP and one of the students arrested on November 9 during a sit-in at the University admissions office, addressed the crowd as the event began.

“In Islam, killing one person is equivalent to having slain humankind entirely—an entire world of feelings, thoughts, dreams, and bloodlines,” Hasweh said.

“We have lost over 11,000 worlds and 11,000 mankinds. This event serves as a reminder, as a collective moment of remembrance.”

Prior to the event, organizers hung strings and lights between trees on the quad and attached sheets of paper with the names of deceased Palestinians printed on them. During the speeches, some students began affixing roses above the names or laying them on the grass below.

Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of CAIR-Chicago, then spoke against the United States’ alliance with Israel, which

he believed was not what the majority of Americans wanted.

“It isn’t because that’s what the people want. It’s because a certain elite in Congress, in the Senate, in the media, etc.,” he said.

Rehab also criticized the media’s portrayal of Palestinians, which he said purposefully obscured their humanity.

“Let us stand against dehumanization.

Words matter. Images matter. Rhetoric matters,” Rehab said. “Let’s stand strong against hate.”

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“Let us stand against dehumanization. Words matter. Images matter.”

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In an interview with The Maroon after the remembrance, Rehab spoke about a conversation he had with a Jewish student following the speeches. He said the student appreciated how his speech was clearly against antisemitism while also criticizing the Israeli government’s actions.

“I think if we root our positions on principles that are morally consistent, clear, courageous, and rooted in our common humanity, the distances will be made much shorter between peoples and their positions,” Rehab said.

One Palestinian community member who works as a therapist reflected on their struggle to help treat Palestinians’ trauma in their speech.

“You can’t call it post-traumatic stress because it is not ‘post.’ It is never ‘post.’

It is always within,” they said. “How are we supposed to tell people to heal? How am I supposed to look at somebody in Gaza right now and ask them ‘How are you feeling?’ That sounds like the most absurd thing.”

Another Palestinian student denounced the University in their speech, criticizing it for declining to divest its endowment from weapons manufacturers and Israeli corporations.

“They are not complicit. They are active participants in our murder,” the student said of the University. “What this

tiffany li.

University seeks is an apology that I exist.

I will not grant them that satisfaction.”

Hasweh echoed this sentiment in an interview with The Maroon. He expressed disappointment in the University over his arrest and misdemeanor charge.

“How can you ask me to continue to show up to class and try to fight to finish my degree when you, UChicago, gave me a criminal record before a degree?” Hasweh

said. “An institution that was once my dream school has become my nightmare.”

One attendee of the remembrance, a fourth-year student in the College, spoke to The Maroon about their experiences on campus in the past few weeks.

“Somebody gave me a dirty look before. I was harassed the other day in an elevator,” they said. “It just reminds you that you’re not really safe and that there’s

not much support to protect you from it.”

However, they said they appreciated how events like this remembrance emphasized Palestinian humanity and spirit.

“I think it’s a good way to remember the dead and honor them and also put forth that even if you kill 11,000 people and martyr them all, you will not defeat the Palestinian spirit,” they said.

A Year at UCMed: BSD and Pritzker Dean Mark Anderson Reflects, Shares Decade-Long Strategic Plan

By ANU VASHIST | News Editor Between the UChicago Medicine (UCM) health system, the Pritzker School of Medicine, and the Biological Sciences Division (BSD), the latter of which is UChicago’s largest single division and spans from undergraduate to postgraduate education in an array of disciplines, one could be forgiven for not immediately appreciating the intricate structure of biology and medicine at UChicago. “[A] big thing that happened in this

first year was [that] I was just really struck by the complexity of the administrative architecture,” Doctor Mark Anderson—who joined UChicago last October as dean of the Pritzker School of Medicine, dean of the BSD, and executive vice president for medical affairs— told The Maroon.

“I was really struck by the fact that we were big enough [that] people didn’t necessarily know each other, but they also didn’t always comprehend that in

the end, we’re working all together on these three missions of patient care, research, and education. And although people, based on their core affiliations, may see different aspects of those missions, we’re really bound together and indeed with a larger university, and so we embarked trying to get some semblance of unity on a Mission, Vision, Values exercise.”

The exercise, for which UChicago sought guidance from the business managing consulting firm Slalom, involved surveying 3,723 BSD, Pritzker, and UCM

employees and community members about the institution’s values.

“I think we now have a set of statements that really bind people together.

We’ve used those values to help to be the framework for a strategic plan that we just presented to the board and the chairs and will be a way to bind together the Biological Sciences Division, the Pritzker School of Medicine, and the [UCM] health system so we can achieve more than we could achieve separately,” Anderson said.

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“We will grow our health system in order to bring academic medicine to more people.”

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The strategic plan, which coordinates the future of the UCM health system, the BSD, and Pritzker spans the next 10 years. “We decided we really needed a long-range strategic plan, so we picked a decade as one that was kind of at the outer limits of what was plausible in the here and now but also sufficient to allow us to be truly ambitious,” Anderson said.

The plan emphasizes cohesion and unity between UCM and the academic centers, recognizing that the health system at UChicago is part of the University.

“We’re a very unified structure in the continuum of academic medical centers,” Anderson said, contrasting the organization of UChicago Medicine with that of peer institutions like Northwestern, Columbia, and Cornell, where the health system functions as a separate corporation not owned by the university associated with it. “[Those are] some really good places, but it means you’re planning your finances in isolation, and I think the way you plan your finances is a manifestation of your values,” he said.

The plan also includes goals of expanding UCM, bringing academic medicine—which refers to medical organizations affiliated with universities that integrate clinical practice with research and teaching—more patients, and allowing for the expansion of the biological sciences at UChicago. In the past year, UChicago Medicine has launched a joint venture with AdventHealth in western suburbs in January, started offering urgent care downtown in March, opened its first women’s health clinic in suburbs north of Chicago in June, and acquired four oncology centers in northwest Indiana in September.

“We will grow our health system in order to bring academic medicine to more people,” Anderson said. “We know that’s a virtue because many studies have shown that academic health systems provide better medical care for common conditions and rare conditions.”

He added, “But also so that we can create the revenue that will be necessary to grow the biological sciences, and here I think our vision is not only to do something only in the Biological Sciences Division but to create a portfolio of institutes that would range across the whole University, taking advantage of the fact that our university has great strengths in multiple areas that are kind of biological-adjacent, if you will.”

UChicago currently houses two institutes in the biomedical sciences—the Duchossois Family Institute, which studies the human microbiome, and the Neuroscience Institute—both of which serve as a template for future additions.

“Both of them have certain key ingredients,” Anderson explained, adding, “They have eminent scientific leaders.

They have a diverse and ecumenical faculty that come from different divisions and different departments. They benefit from substantial colocation and access to core facilities, mostly technical core facilities, that are broadly needed and allow people to advance their science more quickly, and so I think this makes the vision more plausible to me that these kinds of institutes already exist at the University of Chicago.”

According to Anderson, possible future institutes might specialize in human immunology, cancer, urban health and health equity, artificial intelligence and biology and medicine, and infectious and emerging diseases.

“These are big, big, big challenges for humanity and [areas] where assets that are sprinkled across the University of Chicago are actually really pertinent, important for tackling them, and an institute structure could be used to recruit more scientific leaders, bring in more faculty, and also create resources.”

Speaking specifically about an institute for artificial intelligence in biology and medicine, Anderson said it “may well become part of a portfolio of AI work that President Alivisatos is really, really interested in.”

In the biomedical sciences, Anderson said, artificial intelligence could have an impact in a variety of fields, from explor-

ing the chemistry of drug molecules to managing supply chains; and funding the business space. Anderson also noted that AI can reimagine the patient–physician relationship, allowing healthcare professionals to refocus on patient-facing work rather than what he referred to as “pajama time,” where, at the end of the day, doctors finish their notes, look through medical records, and answer questions from patients. This practice is associated with burnout by the American Medical Association.

Anderson emphasized the value of UChicago’s interdisciplinarity for research in artificial intelligence given the ethical questions it poses. “Of course, there’s a huge ethical framework that needs to be built,” Anderson said, “because AI is basically training [on] datasets that we know are biased, and without curating and correcting those

data inputs, AI will, in all likelihood, just magnify the bias, but sometimes in hard-to-understand, mysterious ways.”

He added, “We have a huge humanities department. We have great, great philosophers. These are the kinds of human assets that will be necessary to really tune the work we do in AI so that it accomplishes our core goals in healthcare, which is to help people.”

Another value highlighted by the new Mission, Vision, and Values statement is “embody equity.” For Anderson, who first announced his vision for a tuition- and debt-free Pritzker by the 2027 centennial anniversary of the medical school in an interview with The Maroon last autumn, financial accessibility to a Pritzker education remains a priority and is part of the 10-year strategic plan.

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“We are part of the South Side community […] I think we need to see our membership in this community for the asset that it is.”

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Referring to the April announcement that up to half of the Pritzker Class of 2027 would receive full-tuition scholarships, Anderson said, “I think it’s a central importance that we continue to move in a direction that acceptance to medical school isn’t only by the people where debt doesn’t matter, that they’re sufficiently affluent or that people are crushed by debt and that changes the way they operate their career.” A 2018 analysis by the Association for American Medical Colleges found that nearly a quarter of U.S. medical students hail from the top five percent of the country’s wealthiest households, and the relationship between medical educational debt and specialty choice has been well studied.

59 percent of the Class of 2027, which was the medical school’s most diverse in its history, was awarded a full tuition scholarship, marking a 14 percent reduction in graduate indebtedness over the past three years, Anderson told The

Maroon.

“I think those are joined concepts,” he added, speaking of the relation between the new tuition program and the record diversity of the Class of 2027. “So I feel that’s gone really well.”

Anderson also spoke of the importance of engagement with the South Side community, another principle highlighted in the new Mission, Vision, Values statement: “We are part of the South Side community. It’s not us and them, even though the history is sometimes complicated. I think we need to see our membership in this community for the asset that it is.”

One example of engagement with the local community Anderson cited is in the design of a comprehensive cancer care and research center.

This past September, UChicago Medicine broke ground on the center, the plans of which were initially announced in February 2022. While the 2021–22 Community Health Needs Assessment, required by the Affordable Care Act,

identifies cancer as a priority, it does not indicate that cancer was one of the top health needs community members self-reported in a survey of residents across three different age groups.

The South Side Healthy Community Organization (SSHCO) was involved throughout the planning process from the center’s inception, providing input on its design, architecture, and location.

UCMed was a founding member of SSHCO, which comprises 13 local medical institutions and facilitates community engagement in the healthcare system.

“The cancer center is one really important, tangible manifestation of our commitment where we know that health disparities in cancer are one of the big ones, leading the huge gaps in longevity and well-being between the South Side and other parts of the city.”

Anderson also discussed the importance of bringing educational and professional opportunities to the South Side, highlighting an early-stage collaboration with Malcom X College to bring

a training program for laboratory technicians to Washington Park.

“We know that there’s a 15-year longevity difference going five minutes across that park,” Anderson said. “This is a really highly sought out workforce that is needed here at the University of Chicago and actually across the city and country and, where we know they can provide excellent students and we can provide an excellent learning opportunity that would end up feeding our and other workforces to create a kind of virtuous cycle.”

Anderson concluded the interview by reflecting more broadly on joining the UChicago community.

“I remain really humbled by the opportunity and optimistic that together with a team, I can contribute to a positive difference here at the University of Chicago, in the South Side, in Chicago, and I think even in the world because of the great concentration of talent at the University of Chicago,” he said. “This is a place that just is very special.”

UChicago Medicine Abolishes $240 Million in Unpaid Medical Debt for 123,000 Patients

By NICK ROMMEL | News Reporter On October 25, UChicago Medicine announced their participation in Cook County’s Medical Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), abolishing $173.7 million in unpaid medical debt for 85,060 Cook County residents who received care across the UChicago Medicine network.

It is the largest bundle of medical debt forgiven since the MDRI was established in 2022 and brings the program’s total forgiven debt up to $281.3 million, impacting 158,541 county residents concentrated in the South Side and the south suburbs.

The MDRI was launched using $12 million of funds allocated by the American Rescue Plan Act, the economic stimulus package signed into law by Presi-

dent Biden in 2021. MDRI partners with RIP Medical Debt, a charity that uses donations to purchase large amounts of old, uncollected debt from hospitals at a discount. Whereas collection companies would purchase this same debt and use aggressive methods like lawsuits to collect it, the charity forgives the debt.

Through RIP Medical Debt, small donations can be leveraged to forgive large debts. After the MDRI donates to RIP Medical Debt, the charity looks through indebted patient lists of Chicago-area healthcare providers and forgives those who either owe debts of more than 5 percent of their annual income or are earning under four times the federal poverty rate.

Unpaid medical debt is a growing issue nationally. Though hard to measure, a 2022 investigative project by National Public Radio and KFF Health News found it to affect more than 40 percent of American adults. A quarter of adults with medical debt owe over $5,000, and one in five say they do not expect to ever pay it off. Besides squeezing households to cut spending on food and other essentials, in around 17 percent of cases, medical debt forces people to declare bankruptcy or to lose their house.

Debt can vary greatly in size, meaning that high-income, insured adults are often affected too. But it is about 50 percent more likely to impact households earning under $40,000 a year than those earning over $90,000, and Black and Hispanic adults are 50 percent and

35 percent more likely, respectively, than white adults to owe money for health care.

UChicago Medicine’s primary service area includes many of Chicagoland’s lowest-income ZIP codes. These households are more likely to fall into medical debt, making the recent $173.7 million debt relief package a significant milestone for Cook County’s MDRI program.

Typically, UChicago Medicine includes debt it deems “unrecoverable” in its annual Community Benefit Report.

In 2022, this amounted to $200 million out of a total “community benefit” of $686 million, with most of the remaining $486 million composed of financial losses from treating Medicare and Medicaid patients.

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Dispatches from the First Week of SJP’s Occupation of the Quad Over the course of a week, a Grey City reporter and protester reflects on Students for Justice in Palestine turning the quad into a space of protest, debate, and organizing.

By KELLY X. HUI | Grey City Reporter Editor’s note: Kelly X. Hui attended the quad protests and documented them as a protester with Students for Justice in Palestine UChicago and as an organizer with #CareNotCops and UChicago United for Palestine. The identities of protesters and organizers were kept anonymous.

On Monday, October 16, UChicago community members begin to occupy the main quad.

These students are answering a call from the UChicago chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) to occupy the quad daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., “protesting the unfolding Israeli genocide in Gaza and demanding that the University divest from it.” The call to action came on October 14, one week after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people, and taking 240 people hostage, according to Israeli officials. Israel responded with air strikes on Gaza, leading United Nations (UN) experts to warn of mass ethnic cleansing and genocide. Since October 7, Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

What does it mean to occupy the quad? Throughout the first week, students turn the quad into a space for protest, a space for organizing, a space for making and sharing food, a space for art, a space to grieve, a space for learning, a space for community-building.

Tensions grow over the course of the week. There are charged encounters with counterprotests and incidents in which passersby harass protesters of color. Undeterred, organizers and pro-

testers—many new to the cause, others familiar faces from previous SJP demonstrations—come out to the quad for five hours every day, five days a week, rain or shine, to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Monday, October 16 The occupation of the quad begins quietly. It’s a cloudy, chilly day on the quad, and when the sun occasionally breaks through, it casts a weak, gray light over SJP organizers setting up tables, securing piles of flyers under rocks, and sound-checking megaphones. In the first hour, protesters trickle in wearing keffiyehs, the traditional Arab headdresses that have become symbols of Palestinian resistance. Organizers distribute blank poster paper and markers to eager hands. Protesters make signs and chalk statements on the walking paths in the quad. Some signs read “divest from genocide in Gaza” and “50% of Gaza’s population are children.” Grounds of Being, the Divinity School coffee shop, has provided coffee for participants, and a protester reacts with delight when a graduate student arrives with several large bright orange Home Depot buckets and sticks, courtesy of Graduate Students United, to act as drums during chants. Another protester arrives with a speaker and starts playing music.

Throughout the occupation, speeches and chants occur during 10-minute passing times as students move between classes. In the down time, protesters chalk, converse with each other, speak to the occasional passerby who wants to learn more, or try to get some school-

work done. (The slow UChicago Wi-Fi is a complaint expressed more than once.)

During the 11:20 a.m. passing time, SJP organizers welcome an organizer who has come to campus from the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), an international organization of young Palestinians living in Palestine and in the Palestinian diaspora. “What we need is for principled people to stand up for Palestine now,” she declares. “Not in 20 years when it’s too late—now. We are on the right side of history, and we will win.”

The crowd breaks into chants. “Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry! Palestine will never die!” Organizers leading chants pass the megaphone among one another. Protesters pick up the Home Depot buckets and establish a drum beat to the chanting.

“Justice is our demand! No peace on stolen land!” Students passing by between classes stop to listen. “Brick by brick, wall by wall—apartheid has got to fall!”

Fewer than 10 students supporting Israel have gathered across the quad.

One student drapes an Israeli flag over her shoulders. Another approaches where the occupation is taking place and yells, “You are terrorists.” SJP protesters, now a few dozen in number, chant “free, free Palestine” in response.

An organizer with UChicago Against Displacement (UCAD) speaks during the next passing time, connecting the siege on Gaza to students on campus.

“The institution we attend has blood on its hands. UChicago has investments in defense companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing, the companies that are building the bombs being dropped on Gaza. It’s not just our tax dollars that are funding genocide, it’s our tuition as

well. I want no part of it—and that is why I am here today.”

She mentions the murder of six-yearold Palestinian-American boy Wadea Al-Fayoumi in the suburbs of Chicago the day before. “What can we do as people who are here, thousands of miles away from where the genocide is occurring? Say Palestine. Uplift Palestinian voices and accounts of what is happening on the ground right now. Bring your body here, to the quad, every day until the genocide ends.” The growing crowd cheers.

An organizer leads protesters through more chants during the next passing time. “Hey Israel, what do you say? How many kids did you kill today?”

(According to the World Health Organization Director-General, a child is killed on average in Gaza every 10 minutes.)

“Hey Israel, what do you say? How many homes did you bomb today?” (According to the Gazan government, over 181,000 housing units have been damaged, with over 20,000 destroyed completely since October 7. This amounts to nearly half of all homes in Gaza that have been bombed, said a Gazan interior ministry spokesman.)

Around 2:30 p.m., a supporter drops by with pizza for the protesters. As protesters begin to pack up, a few SJP organizers engage in conversation with the Israel supporters from earlier. Watching these conversations take place, one protester says, “I’m so impressed with the wisdom, patience, and compassion with which I’ve seen folks have very real conversations with Zionists, where they so intelligently and calmly respond to Zionist talking points.”

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“A genocide is being perpetuated in my name,” she says. “A genocide is being perpetuated with my tax dollars.”

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By the end of the day, “free Palestine” has been written in chalk in multiple languages—Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, and French, to name a few—which a protester points out highlights the multiethnic, multicultural coalition brought together through shared solidarity with the Palestinian struggle.

Tuesday, October 17 Since SJP packed up Monday afternoon, a few other demonstrations have made their way through the quad: a fraternity-led vigil “condemning terror and antisemitism” early Monday evening and an anti-abortion installation in a corner of the quad with messages in chalk up and down the sidewalks.

For folks at the SJP occupation, the second day begins a little slower than the first. Shortly after 10 a.m., a few organizers set up the tables just north of the center of the quad, where the bulk of the protesters will stay for the rest of the week between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Two organizers position wide, black lawn chairs at the base of a tree and stand on top of them. From the trees, they hang a banner featuring a Nelson Mandela quote: “Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

Someone has brought a box of KN95 masks to protect protesters both from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and from doxxing and harassment, which has for years been a problem particularly for Palestinian students and allies. Just the week before at Harvard University, a billboard truck drove through campus displaying the names and photos of students affiliated with student organizations that signed onto a Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee condemning Israel. Protesters on the UChicago quad are thrilled at the variety in mask colors: baby pink, forest green, one that matches a protester’s red keffiyeh.

By the time Callie Maidhof, an anthropologist and Global Studies professor who studies settler colonialism, arrives ahead of the 10:50 a.m. passing

time, the crowd has grown to several dozen. In a speech, Maidhof, a self-identified Jewish American, describes an inherent complicity she feels in the siege on Gaza. “A genocide is being perpetuated in my name,” she says. “A genocide is being perpetuated with my tax dollars.

And as an employee of the University of Chicago, I work for an institution with investments in the state perpetuating that genocide. I teach students whose tuition feeds it.”

Maidhof connects the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza to the 1948 Nakba—the Arabic word for catastrophe—in which at least 750,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes by the Israeli military. Today, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that 1.5 million Gazans have been displaced since October 7. Even before the past month, human rights organizations and activists have often referred to Gaza as the “largest open-air prison in the world.”

Maidhof ends her speeches to cheers from the crowd. A series of chants follows, emphasizing the interconnectedness of global struggle: “From Palestine to the Philippines, stop the U.S. war machine!” “From Kashmir to Palestine, occupation is a crime!” “From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go!”

As chants continue during the next passing time, around 12:30 p.m., a somber moment falls over the crowd. An SJP organizer’s voice chokes up as he announces the bombing of Al-Ahli hospital, where many displaced Gazans were seeking refuge and medical treatment from Israeli bombardment. According to Palestinian officials, the strike killed close to 500. Organizers call for a moment of silence. Grief-stricken, several protesters begin crying. Many embrace each other for comfort. Others don’t seem to know what to do with their hands. Some begin to channel their grief and outrage into chalking. One message on the sidewalk reads: “Never forget Oct. 17: Israel killed 500 in a Gaza hospital.”

The source of the strike is still con-

tested. The Gaza Health Ministry blames an Israeli strike. US intelligence forces and the Israeli military blame a misfired rocket from militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has denied these claims. Israeli airstrikes have targeted

open letter that criticizes “Western media coverage of Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians.”

The speech draws in a larger crowd, who offer cries of affirmation. “Palestinians will one day, in our lifetimes, be

Banner featuring a Nelson Mandela quote hung up at the SJP quad occupation. kelly x. hui. several Gazan hospitals since October 17.

The Israeli military says it is targeting Hamas in tunnels under these hospitals.

A protester shows a friend a video of children in the hospital the day before it was bombed. “They teach us life,” she says, tears in her eyes, watching the montage of Gazan youth cleaning up trash, holding hands, and playing games. She’s referencing Palestinian-Canadian poet Rafeef Ziadah’s poem “We teach life, sir.”

“Even in so much death, they teach us life,” the protester concludes.

At 1:50 p.m., comparative human development professor Eman Abdelhadi, a Palestinian American, arrives to give a speech. “People out there, for whom [Palestinian] humanity is an enormous inconvenience, have CNN and MSNBC and Fox News and The New York Times.

But on our side, we have the truth,” Abdelhadi says. Since November 9, approximately 600 journalists have signed an

able to live dignified lives on our land,” Abdelhadi promises. “We—Muslims, Christians, Jews, atheists—will all live as equals on that land one day. And any one of us will be able to drive from Jerusalem to Gaza, just to have a picnic by the sea.”

Wednesday, October 18 It’s a sunny day on the quad. Maroons for Israel, advertising a gathering in support of Israel for the next day, have set up a table with Israeli flags on the south side of the quad. Grounds of Being has closed for the day in solidarity with the SJP occupation. A protester has drawn the shape of Palestine in chalk in purple, orange, pink, and yellow colors on the path through the central quad. Around noon, someone drops off a bag of oranges and a pitcher of hot water. Another protester has replenished the chalk supply.

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Protesters at the SJP occupation are told by SJP organizers to turn their backs on the UChicago Stands with Israel gathering. They do.

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Another brings donuts, and the donuts bring bees.

During a lull in activity on the quad, protesters march to stand beneath Cobb Gate, facing Regenstein Library.

They stand to each side, carving a path

el and public discussion held in Swift Hall on Thursday, October 19, Abdelhadi argued that these chants describe “a democratic nation in historic Palestine that gives equal rights to all of the residents of the land and allows for the right of Palestinian refugees to return.”

The donation of a basket of oranges for SJP protesters on a table covered by the Palestinian flag. kelly x. hui. for people walking through. Holding a sign that reads “from Palestine to the South Side, UChicago funds displacement,” Yaa Angie, an organizer from local grassroots community group Not Me We, gives a speech that elicits the most energetic responses yet. She connects the Palestinian struggle to liberation movements across the globe, declaring, “You have a right to resist these white supremacist projects!”

A passerby interrupts Yaa’s speech, asking, “What do you think ‘from the river to the sea’ means?” The meaning of the popular protest phrase is debated. For some, it has antisemitic connotations, especially after its adoption by Hamas. The organizer has a different view: “It means that Palestine needs to be free.” Chants of “free, free Palestine” drown out the passerby. At a faculty pan-

From Abdelhadi’s point of view, neither chant is a call to remove Jewish Israelis from the land.

(According to the Anti-Defamation League, “from the river to the sea” is an antisemitic slogan that calls for the removal of Jews from the land.)

Onlookers continue to engage with protesters throughout the day, and students of color are often the most criticized. As a Black protester writes “Black Lives for Free Palestine” in chalk on a path in the center of the quad, a white passerby walks through, spits between the C and the K, and scuffs the chalk with their shoe. As another Black protester writes “none of us are free until we’re all free” nearby, a different white passerby yells at them, accusing them of “standing for terrorism.” Organizers begin to consider safety contingencies

to protect the more vulnerable participants in the occupation, particularly as they start planning an upcoming rally.

Noting the relationship between major U.S. metropolitan law enforcement agencies like the Chicago Police Department and the Israeli Defense Forces, an organizer from #CareNotCops (CNC) argues that “the very tactics used to over-police, brutalize, and surveil Black and Brown folks all over our city are used to kill and oppress Palestinians in Gaza.”

An SJP organizer implores: “What are you gonna do? Let it happen? Sit idly as your tax dollars and tuition support genocide?” The crowd is silent for a few seconds before shouting yells of “no,” “hell no,” and “that ain’t right.” Another SJP organizer reads from “We Are All Palestinians,” a statement penned by the Birzeit University Union, a group of professors and students in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Later in the day, organizers from SJP, CNC, UCAD, and other student groups huddle together, sitting with crossed legs on the grass, planning a strike and rally on campus on Friday afternoon. Some make graphics; others draft a letter to University administrators demanding divestment. As the occupation winds down for the day, organizers brainstorm a larger action to close out the week.

Thursday, October 19 The weather is chillier, and tensions are higher on the quad today as the UChicago Stands With Israel ralliers gather on the opposite side in the center of the quad. For SJP and its supporters, it is occupation as usual: speeches and chants during passing time and conversations with people who come up to the tables. Rain overnight has washed away all the chalk, so protesters get on their knees, scrabble at nubs of chalk pieces, and begin writing again with renewed vigor. At 11 a.m., organizers begin raising money for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), converting one of the two tables on the quad into the bake sale table, with baked goods brought by members of the community. By the end

of the day, they will have raised over $3,000 in aid for the children of Palestine.

Both the SJP occupation and the UChicago Stands with Israel gathering, now with a similar turnout of protesters, have concurrent speeches. Protesters, just a few feet away from each other, turn to face one another. Organizers from both gatherings have cautioned their participants not to engage with each other. During a period of SJP–led chants, a pro-Israel protester walks over—hand outstretched, phone filming—to a hijabi woman holding a sign referencing the Al-Ahli bombing. As she raises the sign to cover her face, he rips it out of her hands, crumpling it and injuring her right hand. Protesters from the SJP occupation move between the two to protect her and de-escalate the situation.

Minutes later, the same pro-Israel protester repeatedly yells “what’s your name” to a brown woman holding a megaphone and leading chants near the center of the quad. A protester with SJP, a man wearing a yarmulke, positions himself between the two. The pro-Israel protester reaches past him and knocks the megaphone out of the woman’s hands. Protesters from both sides move immediately to defuse the situation. The dean-on-call, a University administrator present at most student demonstrations held on campus, comes to the place where the incident occurred and speaks with the pro-Israel crowd. Protesters at the SJP occupation are told by SJP organizers to turn their backs on the UChicago Stands with Israel gathering. They do.

The protester wearing a yarmulke later says that he has been joining the quad occupation in an attempt to “bring visibility to the Jewish anti-Zionist position.” Recounting the incident, he admits, “I was really scared. It didn’t even occur to me that I was doing de-escalation. In my brain, I was just trying to put my body in front of hers.”

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“We can never yell in people’s faces in the same way that they are, and we know that as people of color in this country.”

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versity of Chicago Police Department (UCPD), she is again disappointed by what she perceives as the officers’ lack of concern. She adds that the officer who interviewed her made a joke about not wanting to be there speaking with her.

As the UChicago Stands with Israel gathering comes to a close, participants from each side converse with one another. Tensions seem to have simmered down, but not all protesters feel safe after the clashes between the two protests. After the protests, one Black SJP protester recounted a moment when she chalked “decolonization is not a metaphor” and a group of five to six passersby approached, loudly disparaging the chalk messages and making her uncomfortable. A fellow protester, who is white, put their body in front of the chalking protester to shield her.

Later, a group of students of color reflect on frustrations they’ve encountered on the quad throughout the week.

“People who were protesting in solidarity with Israel have actively yelled at us, saying we’re terrorists. And that’s racialized. We’re a group of Black and brown students getting called terrorists,” one

protester says, visibly upset. “How is it okay to be calling Muslim students terrorists?”

Another Black protester speaks to the perceived lack of protection for pro-Palestine protesters of color, who say that they experience insufficient and unequal support from the deans-on-call and UCPD compared to the participants in the UChicago Stands for Israel gathering. They express a lack of surprise at the failure to protect students of color, drawing a connection between the Palestinian cause and the struggle for racial justice, on campus and globally. “Who has power? It’s clear that the level of power we have is so different, which we all know as students of color,” one protestor says. Many protesters nod and murmur in agreement. “We realize that people are not standing with us.”

The same protester addresses what she sees as a double standard around accepted behaviors of pro-Palestine protesters who are people of color compared with white counter-protesters.

“We can never yell in people’s faces in the same way that they are, and we know that as people of color in this country.

And then we’re being told that we don’t

A protester writing with chalk on the quad circle. kelly x. hui.

understand any of the experiences of oppressed people of the world…it’s so frustrating.”

Friday, October 20 As the week comes to a close, spirits are high. Items do not have prices; an organizer behind the baked goods table tells a passerby entranced by an apple tart to “take what you want and pay what you want.” Protesters canvass passersby, reminding them of the rally later in the day.

Organizers continue to make speeches and chant during passing times while

also juggling last-minute preparations for the rally planned for 2:30 p.m. Those making press calls celebrate briefly when WBBM-TV, the Chicago CBS affiliate, confirms just after noon that the station will send a press helicopter to the rally. Marshalls, volunteers in neon vests who make sure the crowd is safe and on pace during the march, practice their formation on the grass. One organizer rehearses their speech from their phone, complaining about the spotty WiFi network as their last-minute edits lag.

Organizers repeatedly send representa-

Protesters lined up on the quad circle. kelly x. hui.

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Along the route, many participants remark that this rally had the largest turnout for an action they’ve seen at UChicago.

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tives to talk to the workers at the flu shot clinic that Student Wellness has set up in front of Levi Hall, where the rally is planned to take place. They reach a compromise—the clinic will shift slightly to the south-facing green, and those getting their flu shots will also have a good view of the speakers.

Following on from the global day of general strike, the rally calls upon students, faculty, staff, and other community members to boycott classes or work in solidarity with Palestinians and attend the rally to demand that University administrators account for their investments in Israel. Organizers have demanded that President Paul Alivisatos, Dean of Students Michele Rasmussen, Executive Director of the Office of International Affairs Nick Seamons, and

Provost Katherine Baicker attend a press conference during the rally, though after receiving a letter from Rasmussen the day before that reaffirmed the University’s investments’ neutrality, they are not optimistic about having the administration show up.

Still, hundreds of protesters, many walking out of class, gather in front of Levi Hall, the administration building, to demand the University divest from Israel. After hearing speeches from SJP, PYM, CNC, and two University professors, protesters take to the streets surrounding the quad and march across the Midway to the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice to protest the namesake’s heavy investments in weapons contractor General Dynamics, which supplies weapons to the Israeli military.

The march takes up an entire block— and at its tail, a Muslim family with two young boys lags behind. The youngest toddles through the streets after his mother, waving a homemade Palestinian flag on a stick. As the crowd rounds the corner to 59th Street along the Midway, his father picks him up onto his shoulders to catch up to the rest of the family. The older boy frantically waves his larger, cloth flag, clearly pleased by the fond smiles and attention he elicits from other rally participants.

Along the route, many participants remark that this rally had the largest turnout for an action they’ve seen at UChicago. Reflecting on the week, one organizer expresses pride that “we have been taking care of each other, checking in with each other, feeding each other, hugging each other. It’s really been a

draining yet uplifting space to be in.”

Autumn has finally come to our campus. Protesters on the quad this week have watched the trees change color and shed their leaves. What has stayed consistent, though, is the red, green, black, and white of the Palestinian flags waving between the tree branches, which protesters will pack up and put up again today, tomorrow, and every day, as they say, until the siege on Gaza ends.

Editor’s note: As The Maroon’s longform and narrative features section, Grey City seeks to produce coverage that gives students a direct voice in reporting. As a separate report, Grey City will soon be publishing a story written by pro-Israel student organizer who has been active in recent campus demonstrations.

VIEWPOINTS

What We’re Thankful For After a hiatus, the Maroon Editorial Board is back with reflections on what we’ve been thankful for this academic year.

By MAROON EDITORIAL BOARD It’s been a long two years since the Maroon Editorial Board wrote an article about what we’re thankful for. Did you miss us? Whether or not you’ve been patiently waiting for the day we made our grand return or just stumbled upon this article, we’re excited to share with you what we’re grateful for: • Sidechat, for being UChicago’s true paper of record.

• The Reg’s slow internet connection. In the words

of Khloe Kardashian, “What the fuck is up with your Wi-Fi? You have this big-ass [brutalist building] and you can’t afford a [good] Wi-Fi box out here?”

• The continued closure of Botany Pond, for emblematizing UChicago students’ commitment to procrastination.

• The administration, for reducing our Lyft passes.

This is exactly how we wanted to recover from the mortifying moniker of “biggest book worms” in

the country.

• The resounding success of the bright orange pedestrian crossing flags.

Because who doesn’t want free apartment decor?

• Agnes Callard, for providing the most entertaining dating drama on campus.

• Taylor Swift, for being the soundtrack of our office and for providing the second most entertaining dating drama on campus.

• Hamilton tickets from the Center of Leadership and Involvement. After all, rapping is our favorite

form of civic engagement.

• Our various professors, for providing pleasant white noise while we work on articles and check Slack during class.

• ISAC, for finally joining us in the 21st century.

• Bartlett, for giving us at least one quarter without food poisoning.

• USG, for providing the drama of a contested election. At least you didn’t storm Reynolds Club.

• Iron Key Society, for teaching us how real phoenixes rise from the ash-

es—even when they really shouldn’t.

• Eric M. Heath, for modeling the maxim “better late than never.”

• The white noise of people coughing in the Reg. • Every student consulting group, for overcrowding Pret with a “coffee chat” every hour.

• We also want to take a moment to acknowledge our fallen heroes from this past year: the COVID-19 dashboard, the cessation of which is at least consisCONTINUED ON PG. 11

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This is exactly how we wanted to recover from the mortifying moniker of “biggest book worms” in the country.

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tent with the University’s policy of unsteady communication; the Starbucks

on 55th, for saving us from depleting our Metcalf stipends; UChicago Crushes, for disappearing into

the ether; Kimbark, for making all the good times flow; Julianne Sitch, for going out on a high note;

and our lost 4.0s, for teaching us that not all dreams can come true.

• Thanksgiving. Hope your nosy aunt hasn’t read the U.S. News & World Report rankings this year.

On a more serious note…

• reSTORE, for not just providing our campus with new pieces for our fall fits but also helping our campus community become more sustainable.

• The Careers in Journalism, Arts, and Media (JAM) program and Ben Waltzer, for demonstrating to the wider University community that writing for newspapers is not only cool (we already knew that) but also a viable, enriching, and fulfilling path through all the JAM programming this quarter.

• Our student baristas and campus café workers, for keeping the most caffeinated campus even

zoe kaiser.

more caffeinated. You’re truly some of the strongest soldiers at UChicago.

• The dining hall and library staff, for keeping us all sane.

• The soccer team, for winning the championship and showing that we can actually be good at varsity sports.

• While we wish Melina Hale had an iconic bike and mustache, we’re grateful for her interview with The Maroon at the start of the quarter.

• Our newest Maroon staff members, for composing our biggest incoming class. We’re excited about the talent they’ll bring to our paper, and you should be too!

That’s all, folks! Happy holidays, and we’ll see you in the new year. xoxo, The Maroon Editorial Board

Free Inquiry Requires Full Disclosure

By AARON BOOTH Dear Editors, I applaud your decision to focus reporting on the campus discourse regarding current hostilities between Israel and Hamas, such as the rallies on 19 October covered in “Emotions Run High on Quad....” However, some facets in that article, specifically the blurring out of faces in images on your website and the anonymizing of almost every source in the article, hamstring the relevance of the reporting to the campus community by making discourse around the events

less open.

I am more than my identity as a Zionist. Similarly, I expect that anybody with whom I talk is more than their relevant identities as well. With that in mind, I am willing to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with any of my classmates—but to have dialogue, it’s necessary to know who, as an individual, is speaking. Relevance of public events to the campus community ought to be focused on the individual, because people, not containers of identities and ideologies, are the constituents of our community.

Anchoring the journalistic re-

cord, and therefore the broader second-hand campus discourse, around anonymous statements funnels discussions into battles of mutually exclusive ideologies, rather than conversations about interesting ideas with intellectually curious individuals that ought to characterize the university experience.

In an email to the Booth community on October 19, Dean Marcello highlighted the reliance of the University of Chicago on the various forms of free expression. She pointed students ultimately to the Report of the Committee on Freedom

of Expression, which saliently argues against suppressing open debate: “It is for the individual members of the University community...to make those judgments for themselves, and to act on those judgments...by openly and vigorously contesting the ideas that they oppose.”

Open and vigorous debate is truly the lifeblood of learning at a university, but anonymous fights about ideas and narratives without attribution can hardly be considered open.

A non-open debate is the consequence of allowing anonymous sources to dominate

discussions about this topic, yet that is precisely what should not be happening here, because of readers’ right to know. Students who attend a rally for any cause on this university’s campus should be proud to participate in that tradition of open and vigorous debate that the University of Chicago exemplifies, and that the Chicago Principles protect.

And should that debate become newsworthy, the identities of the debaters who engage with the press must be newsworthy too in order to preserve the sacred openness of campus discourse.

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With this in mind, The Maroon holding their identities close isn’t actually helping them and is harming the campus discourse.

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A critique of the decision to anonymize almost every single source from the rallies on October 19 (only one was named in the entire article) would be remiss not to consider The Maroon’s own Bylaws, which discuss the issue in both Article VIII: Reporting Standards, and Article IX: Anonymity. These permit anonymity only in cases where there is “a credible fear of retribution and consequent physical, financial, academic, and/or emotional harm” and the source’s perspective is considered essential to the story. I

certainly agree that these sources’ perspectives are essential to the story, but I disagree that there’s a credible fear of measurable harm of the type outlined in the Bylaws, because I’ve never heard about any of these types of harm coming to students for speaking to the press at rallies relating to this conflict. I am particularly cognizant of the recent calls for consequences for students who oppose the Israeli actions against Hamas—those had nothing to do with attending rallies or protests that follow institutional rules. Rather, they have focused on students

who published written statements or belong to student organizations that signed them.

Similarly, I’ve never heard of a Zionist student suffering these consequences for their presence at a campus rule-abiding rally or protest; they either experience these consequences because they publicly identify as a Zionist, or they don’t. As far as I can tell, attending rule-following public events, let alone engaging with journalists at them, has not affected whether students with opinions on either side of this conflict experience harms enumerated in The Maroon’s

Bylaws.

As the phones held up in the photographs in “Emotions Run High on Quad…” and unblurred image in “A Cry for Divestment…” show, attendees at newsworthy public events have no reasonable expectation of privacy in the age of social media, so a decision by The Maroon to anonymize them is highly unlikely to keep anybody who is serious about identifying them from being able to do so. With this in mind, The Maroon holding their identities close isn’t actually helping them and is harming the campus

discourse. The Maroon should revise its Bylaws to require a substantially higher threshold for providing anonymity to people who engage intentionally and directly with student journalists at public events such as rallies. The Maroon should also develop a separate policy about blurring people in visual recordings, in recognition of the fact that not every subject of a student photographer intends to be one.

Sincerely, Aaron Pickard Booth 2025

ARTS Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn Is the Hottest Nightmare of the Year Arts reporter Cristina Rodriguez talks to Emerald Fennell about her new film Saltburn.

By CRISTINA RODRIGUEZ | Arts Reporter Have you ever dreamt of spending a summer in the British countryside, surrounded by luxury, basking in the sun, while the intimidatingly attractive Jacob Elordi sits beside you, leisurely enjoying a popsicle? In Saltburn, director Emerald Fennell opens the door to this world. But not everything is as idyllic as you might have imagined.

Saltburn, released November 17, is Fennell’s second feature film, following her critically acclaimed debut, Promising Young Woman, which earned her an Oscar in 2021 for Best Original Screenplay.

This time, Fennell takes her audience to England with the story of Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), a first-year at Oxford University who strikes up a friendship with charming aristocrat Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi). Over the summer, Felix invites Oliver to his family’s estate, Salt-

burn, where Oliver finds himself thrust into the middle of a peculiar family dynamic and lavish lifestyle. Over time, Oliver finds it harder and harder to escape his desires and becomes lost in the splendor of Saltburn.

In crafting the world of Saltburn, Fennell was not afraid to blend the beautiful and the scandalous. During a college roundtable discussion, Fennell emphasized the importance of watching the film in a movie theater, saying that “it’s hard to feel uncomfortable on your own.” She continued, “There’s something about sitting next to someone, especially a stranger, where you realize this is a communal experience that we’re all confronting together.” Fennell recognizes and embraces the wide range of reactions that audiences have had to the characters in Saltburn: “Am I supposed

to find this sexy? Am I supposed to find this transgressive? Am I supposed to root for this character? To like this person? Am I supposed to find this person hot? You know? And the answer to all of it, always, is yes. And there is no permission. However you feel is how you feel.

And if you want to laugh, or you want to gasp or just be silent, that’s all good too.”

Fennell points to gothic romance and vampire films as important references for Saltburn. This influence is evident in the film’s cinematography, which portrays the Saltburn estate in a strikingly different way during the day compared to the night. Discussing this contrast, Fennell explained, “There’s the kind of sunshine, the kind of saturated, kind of colorful, hot, sweaty, burning summer.

And then there’s the things that happen kind of in the nighttime, which are the more…Nosferatu-style, kind of erotic moments.” To achieve this atmosphere,

Fennell said she worked closely with Saltburn’s director of photography, Linus Sandgren.

In Saltburn, Felix’s family estate not only serves as the backdrop to Oliver’s journey but also contributes to the story’s development through its design and intimidating presence. The property, located in Northamptonshire, seems to have an endless number of rooms and meticulously preserved spaces. However, the audience only catches subtle hints of the presence of any staff members cleaning or performing maintenance duties.

According to Fennell, this concealed labor element mirrors the voyeuristic essence inherent to such opulent spaces.

“Everyone watches, everyone talks, and so there’s that feeling of constantly being watched and judged even though it’s not on the surface, and then there’s also the kind of like erotic side of that, which is CONTINUED ON PG. 13

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“Everyone watches, everyone talks, and so there’s that feeling of constantly being watched and judged even though it’s not on the surface.”

Barry Keoghan stars as Oliver and Archie Madekwe as Farleigh in Emerald Fennell’s newly released film Saltburn. courtesy of mgm and amazon studios.

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that every room has multiple doors for staff to get inside and out without being seen and therefore there are lots of places that you can watch from and be

watched [from],” Fennell said.

Additionally, Fennell believes that this artificial image of effortless beauty in aristocratic settings reflects the superficiality of the film’s characters. She

explained, “Everyone talks about how likable Felix is, but the thing about Felix is that he does something really callous or misogynistic or racist in every single scene. He does something kind of shit-

ty. But because he’s so beautiful and because he’s so charming, charismatic, it’s always sort of asking what the audience is going to forgive.”

Despite delving into darker themes of obsession and classism, Saltburn at its core is a dark comedy, with some of its sharpest dialogues delivered by the talented Rosamund Pike, who portrays Felix’s cunning mother, Elspeth. Fennell believes that the comedy draws the audience closer to the events of the film, even making them complicit in them. She explained, “If you’re laughing at Elspeth Catton, and her absolute cruelty to her daughter…she’s vile about her daughter, and yet, we love her. We’re laughing along because we’re beguiled by it. And the moment you’re laughing, you’re complicit.”

As she looks to the future, Fennell believes that laughter will continue to be an integral part of her artistic expression.

She said, “I just don’t know how else to be honest about things without being able to kind of laugh.” In Saltburn, Fennell demonstrates exactly that—showcasing Oliver’s harrowing journey from desire to madness through a strong comedic lens.

Saltburn, rated R, is in theaters everywhere.

Fall-ing in Love With Campus Cafés Deputy Arts Editor Lainey Gregory ranks the best fall drinks from cafés around UChicago’s campus.

By LAINEY GREGORY | Deputy Arts Editor Autumn is here, and there is no better way to celebrate than watching the leaves change colors with a warm drink in hand.

Many cafés on campus sell fall favorites, while others offer classics with a twist.

The best fall drinks exemplify the following qualities: Flavor: The best fall drinks should incorporate seasonal flavors without being too overwhelming.

Coziness: Drinks that scored high-

ly in this category captured the spirit of the fall season. Cozy drinks are best consumed next to a warm fire while reading a good book.

Creativity: Autumn flavors tend to get a little repetitive (I do not want 10 pumpkin spice lattes). I awarded points to cafés that developed innovative beverages.

In writing this review, I consumed

an obscene amount of caffeine over the course of 72 hours. While I do recommend most of these drinks, I do not recommend trying all of them at once!

8) Fairgrounds: Sage Chaider Flavor: 3 Coziness: 3 Creativity: 8 Overall: 14 The Sage Chaider was one of the most creative concoctions on this list.

Fairgrounds combines sage, chai, and apple cider into the ultimate fall amalgamation. The first sip of this drink had a sour bite and was extremely bitter. The chai and apple flavors were hidden underneath a stifling sage flavor. While this was a bold attempt to create a new drink, the aggressive sage made this beverage undrinkable.

7) Ex Libris Café: Ice Maple Spice (Hot Version) CONTINUED ON PG. 14

THE CHICAGO MAROON — NOVEMBER 30, 2023

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“Creamy, smooth milk combined with the bold, semi-sweet maple flavor perfectly accented the espresso base.”

CONTINUED FROM PG. 13

Flavor: 4 Coziness: 5 Creativity: 9 Overall: 18

Ex Lib has quite the reputation for developing new and inventive drinks.

This fall, its menu features the Ice Maple Spice, an iced cold brew flavored with a maple spice syrup. I honestly question the choice of a cold drink for fall considering the weather. Sadly, when I visited the café, I learned that it was temporarily out of cold brew. The baristas happily offered me a maple spice café au lait with oat milk instead. While I applaud their ability to improvise a drink on the spot, it did not make up for the burnt flavor of the coffee. The powerful sweetness of the drink did not mix well with the disappointing coffee flavor.

6) Starbucks at Saieh Hall: Iced Pumpkin Chai Tea Latte Flavor: 7 Coziness: 5 Creativity: 7 Overall: 19 It wouldn’t be a complete review of fall drinks without the inclusion of Starbucks. Thankfully, it offers new drinks each year that depart from its classic (but overhyped) pumpkin spice latte. This drink had a pleasantly light, airy, pumpkin-y fragrance. The Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam was the star of the show and a great way to incorporate subtle pumpkin flavor into the drink without the use of a potentially overpowering syrup. But after the pumpkin foam dissolved, the remaining chai was mediocre and lacked the bold flavors of traditional chai. Despite being milk-based, the drink was surprisingly watery.

5) Hallowed Grounds: Pumpkin Spice Latte Flavor: 8 Coziness: 8 Creativity: 5 Overall: 21

A maple latte enjoyed outside Plein Air. lainey gregory.

Despite their undoubtedly cozy vibes, Hallowed Grounds does not offer an “official” seasonal drink. They do, however, offer a pumpkin spice syrup. I ended up ordering the drink that has become synonymous with the fall season: the Pumpkin Spice Latte. This particular latte had a subtle, sweet pumpkin flavor, though the coffee itself was lacking slightly in intensity, resulting in a warm, cozy treat that was pretty good.

4) Cobb Café: Café de Olla Flavor: 8 Coziness: 7 Creativity: 8 Overall: 23 Though not technically seasonal, the Café de Olla is being released at Cobb Café in early November (and I think it fits the vibe of this review). Café de Olla is a Mexican spiced coffee flavored with syrup made from cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. The coffee is dark and rich, and the sweetness of the syrup complements the dark roast well. The Café de Olla is a pleasant departure from the monotony of typical fall drink menus.

3) Plein Air: Maple Latte Flavor: 10

Coziness: 8 Creativity: 6 Overall: 24 Like a few other cafés on this list, Plein Air highlighted maple as the flavor of the season. I was very impressed with the maple-forward flavor of the drink, which was strong without being too sweet. The milk was smooth, and the maple simple syrup delightfully complemented the espresso. Plein Air excels at making excellent coffee, giving it an edge on student-run cafés, which have to make do with subpar Metropolis coffee beans.

The unbeatable smoothness of Plein Air’s frothed milk always adds a nice touch to drinks of any season.

2) Harper Café: Vanilla Cinnamon Latte Flavor: 9 Coziness: 9 Creativity: 7 Overall: 25 Harper Café allows you to customize your drink with its endless syrup options.

The barista working recommended a mixture of vanilla and cinnamon syrups to craft the perfect fall treat. The resulting drink had a nice, calming coffee fla-

vor, with only a slight hint of sweetness.

The latte was the perfect temperature, with a creamy, smooth finish and beautifully frothed milk foam. The vanilla and cinnamon blended nicely into the drink and accentuated the richness of the coffee. I believe that Harper Café is truly a gem—definitely worth the trek toward the Midway.

1) Grounds of Being (GOB): Maple Latte Flavor: 9 Coziness: 10 Creativity: 7 Overall: 26 When I asked the baristas at GOB for something seasonal, they replied that they didn’t have anything like that on the menu. However, they quickly noted that they could make me the fall drink from last year, a latte sweetened with Vermont maple syrup. While the maple latte has been a little bit overdone on campus this year, GOB does it better than everyone else. Creamy, smooth milk combined with the bold, semi-sweet maple flavor perfectly accented the espresso base. I absolutely loved this drink, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a drink to capture the essence of the fall season.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — NOVEMBER 30, 2023

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SPORTS Halfway Through the Season, What’s Next for Justin Fields and the Bears?

By SHRIVAS RAGHAVAN | Sports Reporter Chicago Bears fans had a lot to be excited about going into 2023. The front office had made some promising offseason moves, and the stage was set for quarterback Justin Fields to finally propel the Bears into success after years of failure.

In typical Bears fashion, the 2023 season got off to an abysmal start. Nobody expected a perfect start, but at the same time, nobody expected just two wins from their first nine. Murmurs of tanking began, and as with most underperforming teams, the quarterback shouldered the majority of the blame.

Unfortunately for Fields, much of the criticism has been warranted. Despite being one of the most exciting players in football whenever he’s on the field, Fields has looked completely lost at times this season.

Instead of seeing the Jalen Hurts-eque year three breakout many felt was on the cards for Fields, it’s been a season riddled with injuries, turnovers, and overall bad quarterback play.

Not exactly ideal for a franchise cornerstone.

However, the Bears’s biggest problem

brock wegner.

this season has been their usage of Fields.

Despite Fields belonging in the Lamar Jackson and Michael Vick bracket of quarterback athleticism, Matt Eberflus and the Bears coaching staff seem insistent on restricting him to the role of pocket passer.

After watching Fields rush for over 1000 yards in 2022, the Bears have inexplicably reduced his designed runs per game and increased his passing attempts dramatically.

Justin Fields has never been an elite passer, even going back to his Ohio State days. This sudden insistence on forcing him into a role he is not equipped for is puzzling. The Bears have been blessed with a generational athlete, and they need to treat him like one. If you have the fastest racehorse in the world, you don’t teach it how to juggle. You let it run.

Just look at the Baltimore Ravens.

Only recently has Lamar Jackson become a competent passer, let alone a good one.

The Ravens built their offense around Jackson’s mobility, treating him as a runner first and foremost, not a passer. Eventually, once Jackson had gained years of NFL experience, he was able to develop his passing game to where it is now. The “Lamar is a running back” agenda has blinded football fans from the fact that Jackson is an elite football player and the Ravens are an elite football team. Had the Ravens not treated the best runner in the history of the position as a running back, they probably wouldn’t have had much success.

When I see Justin Fields, I see everything that could have gone wrong with Lamar Jackson. I see an electric football player who is being forced to be Tom Brady.

I see a promising career being stunted by an irrational belief that the only way to win in the NFL is by passing for 300 yards every game.

That isn’t to say a team with Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, or Joe Burrow isn’t more likely to win games. They each possess a certain skill set that historically, has

led to success in the NFL. If Fields could replicate Mahomes’s production, that would be great. Unfortunately, not everyone can be Patrick Mahomes.

What the Bears don’t seem to understand is that not everyone can be Justin Fields. Just because Tom Brady didn’t run a 4.45 40-yard dash doesn’t mean you can’t win with someone who can. The NFL is changing. There isn’t one way to win a football game, and it’s time the Bears started to embrace that.

Justin Fields may never become the player he has the potential to be. He may never be able to shake the uneasiness he displays in the pocket and he may never be able to help the Chicago Bears win football

games. Until the Bears let Justin Fields be Justin Fields, we will never know for sure.

The Bears have nothing to lose for the rest of the season. They aren’t good enough to make the playoffs and they will almost certainly have a top pick in the draft, whether it is theirs or Carolina’s. If the Bears want more clarity surrounding their franchise cornerstone, let him loose.

Let Fields build confidence through doing what he does best. Chances are, if Fields can regain his success on the ground, things will start clicking for him in the way they did for Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts. And if they don’t, there’s always that quarterback at USC who they say is pretty good.

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CROSSWORDS 68. It’s Not Good

By PRAVAN CHAKRAVARTHY | Head Crossword Editor Across 1 “Can I be included on this email?”

5 Acidic in taste 9 Russian capital?

14 “Psst,” more loudly 15 Emulate warm air 16 Currently 17 *Some lizards’ rides?

20 Stamen’s counterpart 21 Snooker, more familiarly 22 Abbr. that might accompany heart emojis 23 “i’m begging u” 25 Actor Dennis on Law & Order 27 *What Italian soccer players wear at practice?

32 Exxon, outside the U.S. 33 Widespread tabletop game, for short 34 Sr. to some jrs.

35 Swiss ___ 37 First thing you do in a lecture hall, usually 39 Surround sound producer at the movies 43 Stock market thermometer, for short 45 Daintily drink 47 Site of cu r rent events?

48 *Elderly relative that’s plotting something?

51 Guide at a museum 52 The Twilight Zone creator Serling 53 Martian day 54 Un a b l e to be stretched further 56 Model X and Model Y, for two

61

64 65 66 67 68 69

Monty Python and the Holy Grail troupe... who can be found in the answers to the starred clues?

Bangalore’s land “As ___ on TV...”

Bird that rhymes with 63-Down Passed out Desires What The Maroon peddles

Down 1 Many a kid’s summer stomping grounds 2 Parasite actor ___ Woo-shik 3 Target section 4 Release, as an odor 5 Fished for anger online 6 2023 biopic about a shoe brand 7 “Sorry, can’t come!” for one 8 Begin, as a round of golf 9 The “RR” in LIRR 10 Sch. that holds the record for most graduates with Oscars and Emmys 11 Name near this puzzle 12 Hindi filmma ker Sanjay ___ Bhansali 13 Online crafting marketplace 18 Fixture on the Oglala flag 19 Fail to get rid of 24 3-2-4 IDs 26 “Yeah, sign me up!”

27 Chest muscle, in brief 28 In a way, in a way 29 SIGINT org.

For more puzzles, visit chicagomaroon.com/crosswords.

30 31 36 38 40

From Åland, maybe Praise singer, in poem form “Yup, already taken care of” ___ list (type of ranking) Palindromic epithet for many a rapper

41 42 44 46 48

Word that drops -ssiere Tree whose name sounds like a pronoun Be successful in Positive parts of the world?

Very good piece of

49 50 51 53

schoolwork, colloquially Skateboarder’s fashion house March time Poet John Draw on the road, in a manner of speaking

55 57 58 59 60 62 63

Quaint, to a Brit Cut (off) Apollo’s instrument Once again Notable set of seven Scarred fish in Finding Nemo Bird that rhymes with 66-Across