012216

Page 1

JANUARY 22, 2016

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

SURVEY BY UC PROF PROMPTS SKIRMISH IN WI TENURE FIGHT

Law Professors, Company Rep Debate Uber Regulation

BY SONIA SCHLESINGER SENIOR REPORTER

BY ISAAC TRONCOSO NEWS STAFF

This past Wednesday, Law School professors Eric Posner and M. Todd Henderson debated Uber’s future impact on the transportation industry with the company’s Midwest Public Affairs Manager, Robert Kellman. The event aimed to address three topics: Uber’s growth and strategies, the company’s challenges, and the rise of the sharing economy in general. Henderson, the Michael J. Marks Professor of Law and Mark Claster Mamolen Research Scholar, observed that Uber’s rise is simply a variant of the larger trend towards services such as Amazon and eBay that rely on the self-regulation of customer reviews as a cornerstone of their business models. In addition, Uber does not compete with a field dominated by entrenched private companies. Rather, it targets failings of the government. “What Uber does that’s interesting to me, is—they don’t challenge incumbent businesses. Their business model is to be in direct competition with government. Their rival is the City of Chicago’s taxi commission. They come to the people and say ‘we offer a better system for regulating cabs through our star system rating. If you rate the ride one star you get your money back, and all the while you can track it on GPS.’ That’s a better regulator than a taxi commission. They’re trying to go after inefficient regulation,” Henderson said. Kellman, Uber’s representative, spoke of how the company offers opportunities for both riders and customers. “Parts of this city and many others once had no access to transportation five years ago. Now everyone takes it for granted that you can just open up a phone app and within five minutes have a car in front of you. That kind of freedom and connectivity does incredible things for cities. The opportunities for everyone are massive,” he said. He went on to note that in Continued on Page 2

William Howell, a professor of political science at the Harris School of Public Policy, published the results of a controversial survey about tenure last month. Howell administered the survey in September to faculty at the University Courtesy of Shrine of Christ the King of Wisconsin (UW), where it Shrine of Christ the King church will be demolished following damage raised many questions about from a fire in October. anonymity, the format of the questions, and whether the results could be used against faculty in the state legislature’s debates over tenure protection in the UW system. Overall, the survey had BY KAITLYN AKIN proval from the Commission of a 22 percent response rate, NEWS STAFF Chicago Landmarks to demol- which, according to Barry ish the building on January 6. If Burden, a UW political sciIn the first week of January, they secure the approval of the ence professor, may not be repthe Archdiocese of Chicago filed City of Chicago Department of resentative of the UW faculty a petition to demolish the Shrine Buildings, then they will move population as a whole. Several of Christ the King church on forward with the plans for dem64th Street and Woodlawn Ave- olition. nue, which was ravaged by a fire Some members of the comthat broke out last October after munity feel that the Archdiocese improperly-stored rags sponta- did not provide the necessary neously combusted. comfort and support in this time “The loss of the Shrine of of tragedy. “One might think Christ the King is upsetting and that a reaction from your hierBY ADAM THORP a disappointment to the Archdi- archy and administration would NEWS EDITOR ocese, the people who worship be one of support in the moment Participants in the college there and the Woodlawn commu- of disaster—meeting with the nity,” Susan Burritt, spokesper- community, with the faithful, admissions process should son for the Archdiocese of Chi- show of solidarity—none of that weigh ethics and character cago, said. “However, we value happened. Instead, the Archdio- when preparing and considlife and safety above all else and cese unpleasantly surprised ev- ering applications, argues will proceed with those priorities erybody by applying for a dem- a recently released report guiding our actions.” olition permit,” UChicago art endorsed by the head of the Continued on Page 4 University of Chicago’s adThe Archdiocese received apmissions office. “Turning the Tide: Inspiring Concern for Others and the Common Good through C ol lege Ad m issions ” was released Wednesday by the BY EILEEN LI ley. M a k i n g C a r i n g C om mon ASSOCIATE EDITOR Franklin’s resume includes Project, a project by the Harexperience as the chief technol- vard Graduate School of EduOn January 11, the Univer- ogy officer of Truvisio, a data an- cation that explores how edusity announced the appointment alytics company later purchased cation can make people more of Michael Franklin as chair of by Cisco, and advising experi- ethical. the Department of Computer ence with a variety of technology Jim Nondorf, the UniverScience. Franklin is a promi- companies. He also has over 30 sity of Chicago’s dean of adnent data science scholar and years of experience in databases missions, was one of a group current chair of the Computer and data management as an ac- of 85 admissions and educaScience Division of the Depart- ademic, an entrepreneur, and tion professionals to sign on ment of Electrical Engineering director of his own laboratory, to the report. Representatives and Computer Sciences at the the AMPLab. of every Ivy League school Continued on Page 4 University of California, Berkeand some elite preparatory

Woodlawn Church to be Demolished amidst Protests

Franklin New Chair of Computer Science Department

Chicago Looks to Extend Early Success Against Wesleyan and Wash U

Page 5

Pages 2 UCDems and the IOP held a mock Democratic presidential debate at the Revival theater.

professors did not complete the survey once they had started it and more than 200 participants also opted out of the survey after completing it due to the concerns mentioned above. Howell had decided to administer the survey because tenure issues have been particularly contentious at UW, after the legislature eliminated tenure from the state statute in June. However, he did not anticipate the extent of discontent with the survey. “I was surprised at just how live an issue it is,” Howell said. “When I wanted to go out there and do the survey I thought… it’s controversial, it’s relevant, but didn’t realize that the anxiety is right there.” The results of the survey reaffirm UW faculty’s anxiety over losing tenure. When Continued on Page 4

NEW REPORT: APPLICANTS MUST KNOW THAT CHARACTER COUNTS

Less Checked Boxes, More Change

Democrats Debate on Behalf of their Primary Picks

VOL. 127, ISSUE 22

Page 11

Turning the Tide“ lacks funsamental changes needed for a more ethical admissions process.

The Verdict? I’ll Go Back to Packed Page 9 “The portions are small, but the amount loaded into these tiny dumplings is so great that you get your money’s worth.”

The men’s and women’s team placed fi rst in the Phoenix Invivational.

schools were among the other signees. “As a liberal arts college specifically, as a highly selective institution specifically, all of this is a really good message to support. Because it’s the message you try to get out to your applicants. You try to tell students and family and high school communities [that] it’s not about gaming a system… it’s about what we really value,” said Veronica Hauad, the director of equity and access programming in the University of Chicago’s admissions office. The report argues that the admissions process often sig na ls to applicants that colleges value individual achievement rather than character or commitment to community. “ U ltimately, we cannot bring about a sea change in the messages our culture sends to young people unless Continued on Page 3

Contributing to the Maroon

If you want to get involved in T HE M AROON in any way, please email apply@ chicagomaroon. com or visit chicagomaroon.com

Excerpts from articles and comments published in T he Chicago Maroon may be duplicated and redistributed in other media and non-commercial publications without the prior consent of The Chicago Maroon so long as the redistributed article is not altered from the original without the consent of the Editorial Team. Commercial republication of material in The Chicago Maroon is prohibited without the consent of the Editorial Team or, in the case of reader comments, the author. All rights reserved. © The Chicago Maroon 2015


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.