FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 24, 2012
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
CHICAGOMAROON.COM
ISSUE 30 • VOLUME 123
South of Wacker, Zimmer talks financial aid at open forum an urban canvas like no other
Hyde Park pols target Rahm ahead of G8
Ben Pokross Senior News Staff
Jennifer Standish & Madhu Srikantha News Staff
Department of Visual Arts Chair Jessica Stockholder has, in the name of art, bedecked Madrid’s Crystal Palace with plumes of pigmented wool, arranged the skeletal remains of old bathtubs into 49-foot-long arrays, and dumped blue paint on armchairs perched high in the air. This June, she’ll have a new space for her bold installation art: State Street. In her latest project, dubbed “Color Jam,” Stockholder will almost literally be painting the town red, covering an undetermined stretch of State Street between West Wacker Drive and West Congress Parkway with a multitude of colored textiles that she says will make the cityscape look something akin to an animated movie. The installation is part of Art Loop, an ongoing series that was started two years ago by the Chicago Loop Alliance, an organization partially funded by businesses along State Street that aims to raise the profile of the area through installations like these. Local businesses pay an extra fee in return for city services and art projects to help attract visitors to the street. Stockholder plans to fill the intersection with color, covering the street, sidewalk, and sides of the buildings with fabrics such as vinyl.
The University is also making aggressive efforts to recruit new faculty, Zimmer said. “With the evolution of academic programs, we try to retain and recruit faculty and momentum,” he said. “We’ve tried to bring in a first cadre faculty for the new Institute for Molecular Engineering.” First-year Aidan Milliff came to the forum to relay concerns voiced by the
Chicago is still months away from hosting May’s NATO and G8 summits, but that hasn’t stopped Hyde Park politicians from raising alarms about the city’s preparations for the events. The annual NATO and G8 summits will turn the spotlight of international fiscal and military policy onto Chicago for one week starting May 15, once representatives of each country pour into the South Loop’s McCormick Place convention center, located in the fourth ward. Fourth Ward Alderman Will Burns and Fifth Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston both voted against a city ordinance that expanded Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s ability to award security and construction contracts in preparation for the summits. In a 41–5 vote in January, the City Council voted to grant Emanuel the power to award contracts without explicit approval from the City Council, or even the process of competitive bidding. Hairston joined Burns and three other councilmen in voting against the move, which she calls “a blank check.” Hairston fears that the vote could result in an increasingly unilateral relationship with local authorities, or even
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President Robert Zimmer fields questions from students at the Coffee and Donuts forum Thursday afternoon at the McCormick Tribune Lounge. DARREN LEOW | THE CHICAGO MAROON
Lina Li News Staff
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President Robert Zimmer, VicePresident for Campus Life Kimberly Goff-Crews, and Associate Vice President for Campus Life Karen Warren-Coleman addressed student concerns regarding financial aid, faculty recruitment, and campus housing at an open forum yesterday afternoon.
Zimmer emphasized the University’s efforts to supplement current financial aid offerings. “We understand that the past four years have been economically tumultuous, we’ve faced increased need, and we want to continue to enhance our financial program, generally,” he said. When pressed about resources for increased aid, Zimmer identified alumni contributions as the primary source for prospective fundraising.
Accomplished music director aims to bring U of C Presents into Hyde Park and beyond Ash Mayo News Contributor Amy Iwano, who has almost two decades of diverse music and administrative experience in Chicago, was appointed executive director of University of Chicago Presents (UCP) last week, ending a national search for a program head who will help raise the presence of the arts on campus. Iwano, who will officially assume her duties on April 2, will oversee the program that has brought internationally renowned musicians to campus to participate in music festivals and series for over a century. For the last 18 years, Iwano has served as the executive director of the Chicago Chamber Musicians. “The University of Chicago is an inspiring place to be,” Iwano said, adding that President Robert Zimmer had made it a “University mandate to support art,”
a feeling she said was reinforced by the near-completion of the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. The Center, which will be a new hub for arts on campus, will open next month. Iwano speculated that many of the renowned artists that UCP brought to campus in the past might have escaped the notice of the University community. As UCP’s executive director, Iwano plans to get more members of the University community talking about the performances it hosts by better utilizing social media and videos. Iwano also wants to extend UCP’s reputation outside of Hyde Park, and hopes that the performances will draw more people into the community. “I want to create more understanding and bring people closer to the arts,” Iwano said. Martha Feldman, chair of the University’s music department, said that Iwano was selected to
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lead UCP from a national applicant pool because she would foster collaboration between different University arts programs. “Ms. Iwano comes with inspiring programmatic vision and intellectual curiosity. She has imaginative ideas for how to cross-pollinate the academic and artistic initiatives at the University and how to bring music to a wide community, tremendous leadership skills, and a wealth of experience,” Feldman said in an e-mail. Iwano said that she would try to make the arts on campus a more integral part of the experience students have at the U of C. “I’d love for people, when they think of the arts, not to think of them as things saved for a special occasion, but for people— students—to make them a part of their everyday lives,” she said. —Additional reporting by Allie Garfinkle
Amy Iwano, who has been named the executive director of The University of Chicago Presents, oversaw the Chicago Chamber Musicians for 18 years. COURTESY OF JASON SMITH
IN ARTS
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