FRIDAY • NOVEMBER 20, 2015
CHICAGOMAROON.COM
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
ISSUE 15 • VOLUME 127
Students studying abroad in Paris react to terrorist attacks Feng Ye Maroon Contributor All 58 UChicago students studying abroad in Paris, as well as affiliated faculty, are confirmed safe after last Friday’s terrorist attacks. Academic programs have been minimally affected.
Isaac Stein Senior News Reporter
Students hold vigil for victims of terror around the world About 100 students attended a “Vigil for All Victims of Terrorism” on the Main Quad on Thursday in response to recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Ankara, Baghdad, Beirut, and Garissa, among others. UChicago Spiritual Life, the French Club, and the Turkish Students Association sponsored the event, in which students gathered to
mourn victims everywhere. Attendees lit candles around bouquets of roses and signs pleading for peace in an effort to raise awareness about each attack. The half-hour long vigil included words from second-year event organizers Rajiv Hurhangee and Asya Akça, the heads of each participating RSO, and Kevin Bales, the Pozen Visiting Professor in Human Rights. A moment of silence followed, until a single man
in the crowd began to sing “Let it Be,” and a handful of crowd members joined in. Hurhangee and Akça believe that although terrorism affects civilians all over the world, the global media has been disproportionately focused on the November 13 deaths in Paris. “What happened in Paris two days ago was obviously very tragic, but we think that there wasn’t as much attention for other instances of VIGIL continued on page 3
Non-tenured faculty will begin voting on unionization today Lorentz Hansen Associate News Editor Non-tenure-track faculty members at the University will begin voting today to decide whether to elect the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 73, to represent them in collective bargaining negotiations with the University administration. The faculty members voting in the election are certain full-time and part-time non-tenure track academic appointees at the University, who comprise the bargaining unit that the union
would represent should they successfully win the election. The bargaining unit includes nearly 175 academic appointees, reduced from the nearly 400-member bargaining unit that was proposed in the election petition. SEIU filed the election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on October 29, which stated their desire to represent UChicago’s non-tenure track faculty in collective bargaining negotiations with the University administration. Before the election petition could be
IN VIEWPOINTS
Reflections from Paris » Page 7 BLACKLIGHTXMAROON: Black off campus» Page 8
just finished the second of three courses of the quarter, and were about to begin a one-week break. Some had already left Paris to travel, while others were going to depart on Saturday. The University’s Center in Paris contacted study PARIS continued on page 3
Trauma center protesters banned by University speak on campus
On Thursday, November 19, students came together on the main quad to express solidarity with victims of terrorism across the world. ALEXA LUBORSKY | THE CHICAGO MAROON
Isaac Troncoso Maroon Contributor
There are four study abroad programs for undergraduate students at the UChicago Center in Paris this quarter, including European Civilizations, African Civilizations, Human Evolution, and Classics of Social and Political Thought. Last Friday, students had
filed, SEIU needed to obtain written declarations of support for unionization from at least 30 percent of the non-tenure track faculty. Non-tenure track faculty in support of unionization are seeking better compensation, benefits, job security, and access to professional development funds at the University, according to the UChicago Faculty Forward website. SEIU currently represents over 2 million workers across North America, and in recent years has been leading a movement to unionize UNION continued on page 2
On Wednesday evening, a crowd of more than 60 people gathered in the basement of Stuart Hall for a teach-in held by the Trauma Center Coalition (TCC) on the recent history of its protests. Though the police could have entered the building at any point to remove the TCC members
who are legally banned from the University, the event proceeded without incident. TCC is an umbrella activist group that includes the RSO Students for Health Equity (SHE), Fearless Leading by the Youth (FLY), and Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP). Last June, nine TCC members were arrested at a protest for the construction of an Adult Level I
Trauma Center at The University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC), at which they barricaded themselves into Levi Hall. After the arrests, the University’s Office of Legal Counsel invoked its “No Trespass (Ban) Policy” to order eight of the protesters, who were not current University students, to not return to PROTEST continued on page 4
Saturday dinner program undersubscribed, despite University efforts Cairo Lewis News Staff On November 14, the University of Chicago’s Dining Committee held its third Saturday Night Social Club in the Ida Noyes Theatre. UChicago Dining has so far experienced consistently low turnouts for all three dining events but is looking toward using the quarter’s pilot experience to improve the program for the rest of the school year. One hundred fifty students signed up for the first dinner, though only 51 attended. One hundred forty seven and 145 signed up for the latter two, but 105 and 107 showed up, respectively. Based on feedback from the diners, Executive Director of Dining Richard Mason said that he gathered that students want Dining to continue to develop the program. “Feeding students is important, but another one of our intentions is to foster a community while feeding
IN ARTS
students. At the University of Chicago, dining is more than eating—it’s eating and sharing ideas and thoughts. This really is the best way to provide a community dining experience, and as with any pilot experience, you learn a lot,” Mason said. As a result of the low turnout, UChicago Dining is now looking toward improving and expanding the program. Some suggestions involve offering more dinners per quarter and holding them closer to events that are happening on campus. Other options involve enabling students to use guest-swipes to bring friends to the dinner and allowing students who live off-campus to use Maroon Dollars to pay for the dinner. “It would specifically be great to collaborate with RSOs and houses on-campus to see if we can tailor dinners to their events. In terms of advertising and making ourselves more accessible, we are working on posting calendars
with the dinners listed so students can plan their activities around them,” Mason said. He added that the Committee will review the feedback from students’ comment cards and will take suggestions from the University’s Student Advisory Committee. Wickham also offered some solutions that he thinks would better support the University’s initiative to provide more dining options for students. “The first thing the University could do to better advertise this program would be to reach out to students who are on financial aid first. Additionally, there could be better collaboration with student groups, programs, and RSOs that are dedicated to lowincome and first-generation college students such as SDA, QuestBridge Scholars Network (QSN), and CAAP.” Some students around the University believe that these low turnouts are representative of larger problems at SOCIAL continued on page 3
IN SPORTS
Greetings from yesteryear: Exhibit showcases postcards from University’s history» Page 9
X-COUNTRY: Men and women compete at Nationals this weekend
Alum competes in Survivor: Cambodia, Second Chances
SWIMMING & DIVING: Phoenix Fall Classic runs through Sunday
» Page 10
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