The Chicago Maroon’s Quarterly Magazine
What to do about
Global Warming?* By Jennifer Standish
*the class
Fall 2012
Gay in Business School • Q&A with Daley • After Occupy • University Lobbying
EDITORS’ NOTE “Grey City Journal is a hopeful endeavor... a dwarf among giants, a Court Jester among the wise men. The aristocracy has passed us by, gone to its demise at the hands of the Evil Knight of the White House. Rule was amuck, and we are left playing games, making faces and sand castles. Walls have ears and ears have walls. Can it be that the true purpose of man is merely to try? We reject that notion. We make ourselves a beggar for the utmost efforts in any direction; we beseech a chance to change, the glorious swan dive onto the rocks.” —a Grey City call to arms, 1973 This is the fourteenth edition of the second coming of Grey City, the Chicago Maroon’s formerly notorious but now just glossy quarterly, which was discontinued in 1993 but started up again in 2008, because how else would anyone have discovered how genuinely J. Z. Smith must, must smoke his cigarettes in public spaces. We publish thrice yearly. The stories included herein are “news-worthy.” What we mean to say is they’re interesting. They interested us when we pitched them, and they interested this magazine’s reporters, who perked up and took them, dutifully. Read these stories if they interest you. You should also read them if they do not interest you, because how do you know that you won’t be surprised by the content or at least the presentation of them and won’t, then, suddenly become interested. This is our point. Our cover story is a piece of enterprise journalism that plumbs the depths of a deepening quagmire in the College—the popularly misunderstood class Global Warming. Our second piece explores the place of gay M.B.A. students in today’s changing corporate landscape. Third is an explanatory piece about the University’s no-longer-local lobbying apparatus, and fourth is a look at the recent history and near future of campus activists in the era After Occupy (AO). Finally, we have an edited transcript from a lengthy and revealing conversation with former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Enjoy and scrutinize. —Editors Harunobu Coryne and Adam Janofsky
STAFF HARUNOBU CORYNE A DAM J ANOFSKY JORDAN LARSON SHARAN SHETTY
C OLIN BRADLEY D OUGLAS E VERSON, J R. B ELLA W U
E DI TO R S
MANAGI N G E DITO R DE S I GN
SYDNEY COMBS JAMIE MANLEY DARREN LEOW
P H OTO
BENJAMIN LANGE
I L LU ST R AT I O N
DON HO
CO PY E DI TOR
T HE C HI C AG O M A R OON 12 12 EAST 59 t h ST R EET C HI C AG O, IL 6 0 615 7 73 .8 3 4 .1611 e ditor@ch icagomaroon .com C HI C AG OM A R OON .COM
jamie manley
| the chicago maroon
The New Career Prospects of a Gay M.B.A. Student by Rebecca Guterman » Page 4
The Way Things Work: University Lobbying by Celia Bever » Page 8
Cover Story: Global Warming Is the Core’s Problem Child » Page 10
What Lies in Store for Campus Activists? by Linda Qiu » Page 16
A Sit-Down with Mayor Daley by Sam Levine » Page 20
Grey City | 3
Standing out IN BUSINESS Corporate culture is warming up to the LGBTQ community. Is Booth keeping up with the times? by Rebecca Guterman
I was out from the beginning. I never made it a secret. I got five job offers—it was never really an issue.
4 | Volume 14
From The Great Gatsby to American Psycho, the perception of the business world has long been tied down to the idea of an old boys’ club. Though the expression claims it’s better to be born lucky than rich, it also doesn’t hurt in the corporate world to be born white, male, and straight. But while this stereotype might have been incontestable as recently as the Mad Men ’50s, employers are increasingly looking for diversity in the workplace. And at the Booth School of Business—where recently some 450 students signed an LGBTQ “ally pledge,” earning each a rainbow ribbon for display on their locker—a new career outlook is being fostered that focuses on the benefits of being out in business. Each signature represented a promise to stay informed, speak out, be honest, support equality, and “come out...as an ally.” The pledge was organized by OUTreach, the LGBTQ student group at Booth, which currently consists of 20 LGBTQ students and has brought in hundreds of allies. The leaders of OUTreach acknowledge that there is a stereotype that the business school environment doesn’t cultivate LGBTQ tolerance, but after almost doubling the number of signatures they gathered last year, they quickly refute it. “People in business school tend to be economically conservative, so I think there’s that stereotype,” said Daniel Adams, a secondyear MBA student and an admissions co-chair for OUTreach. “I don’t think that ‘economic conservative’ translates into ‘social conservative.’ ” He also points to those who signed the ally pledge, diverse in political affiliations, as an example. “I can personally identify dozens of Republicans on that list,” he said. Of course, a petition is hardly conclusive evidence that an industry-wide shift in attitudes has occurred. What is becoming apparent, however, is that cracks are opening in a sector once unfriendly to gay professionals, and students and administrators at Booth are
working to prepare graduates for the job market’s changing cultural landscape. “Generally speaking, I do think business culture is still pretty conservative, but again it depends on the students and it depends then on the culture of the company,” said John McPherrin, a clinical psychologist at the U of C who has led an annual Coming Out Support Group for the past seven years. “There’s been nothing explicitly stated, nothing blatantly homophobic...but just by virtue of the fact that it’s mainly straight men who are in positions of authority at a lot of these companies and law firms...a person doesn’t want to be ostracized, or worse yet, overlooked, in getting a job or getting a promotion.” Char Bennington, director of Booth’s career services, says that corporate culture depends on the firm. “It says more about specific firms than the business world in general – that many firms really value diversity in thought, life experience, etc. in their workplace,” she wrote in an e-mail. Here organizations like OUTreach step in to perform a function crucial for LGBTQ students in a professional school: connecting them with top companies that search specifically for diversity. Though the same may not hold true for lesbian, transexual, or other queer students, it is not uncommon for gay males at Booth to have had no trouble being out in the workplace. “I was out from the beginning. I never made it a secret. I got five job offers. It was never an issue,” Adams said. “I don’t really think it helped me that much, but I think it can give you one or two extra people who are pushing for you.” Even before students apply to Booth and other business schools, they can attend the annual Out for Undergraduate Business Conference (OUBC), organized earlier this fall by alum Jack DiMassimo (A.B.’12), with the U of C delegation spearheaded by fourth-year Michael Marvin. To Marvin, the recruiting efforts ease his already comfortable position with being out in
sydney combs
| the chicago
maroon
Grey City | 5
A lot of these firms are looking for diversity, and so... you are showing actual skills but at the same time you’re marketing yourself as being gay.
the workplace, after working in his hometown student life demonstrates qualities that are of Los Angeles for two summers without any desirable to an employer. “You are showing problems. actual skills but at the same time you’re “If you’re working at one of the big investment marketing yourself as being gay.” banks or consulting firms or accounting firms, I “I plan on being out in business,” he clarified would be so surprised if there was any downside in a follow-up e-mail. to being out at the workplace. That’s the entire Asked whether the stigma surrounding point behind these recruiting efforts,” he says. business schools disseminates into colleges— “It’s better business to have a more diverse economics remains the U of C’s most popular employee base.” major—Marvin says that he had little difficulty As attendees of the conference learned, broaching his sexuality to his peers. although change hasn’t been universal, “I mean, smart people aren’t bigoted,” he the number and availability of welcoming said. companies have been growing. Third-year Matthew Wolf, who also attended “What I heard a lot all weekend was how the conference, was also surprised to discover ‘fratty’ banking used to be. And that isn’t to say how intent companies were to involve that there aren’t places that retain [that] culture, themselves personally with students. but with companies focusing on increasing “I always had the impression that the diversity through hiring more women, business world workplace was filled people of color, and LGBTQ with workaholics who keep their people, that has changed the personal lives to themselves, feel at many big firms,” which might actually be second-year economics true in some cases, but major Brandon Kennedy I learned that strong wrote in an e-mail. personal relationships In seeking are crucial in the By signing this pledge I am diversity, firms give workplace. And making a commitment to: LGBTQ students an these businesses initial jump early realize that,” he on. “In getting you said in an e-mail. Stay informed. in front, enabling Wolf still might you to speak with not want to Speak out. someone, [being take the route Be honest. gay] does help, just presented at OUBC, because making but he is glad that Support equality. that initial point he now knows it is Come out. of contact is easier an option. “I would because they’re putting still feel inclined to Adapted from OUTreach. themselves out there for keep my personal life you,” Marvin said. “After separate from my life that, it’s incumbent on you to in the workplace, but my make your own way.” experience at OUBC reassures Other students who attended that this does not necessarily [need the conference with Marvin, he said, were not to be], nor should be, the case,” he said. necessarily sold on the idea of a career business, The nagging question is whether these let alone navigating their sexual orientation in efforts are helpful only to people who are the workplace. already out. One student, who spoke anonymously “Since the conference was focused towards because he is not out at home, was considering people who were already out, they didn’t really a switch to consulting after working at a discuss alternatives,” he said. nonprofit. The conference has continued to push According to Adams, OUTreach respects that him in the consulting direction, both because of the workplace experience will vary between the financial incentive and out of personal taste, individual cases. “No one has to be out at but the idea of incorporating one’s gay identity Booth if they do not want to be. OUTreach’s into the workplace was new to him. membership list is confidential,” he wrote. “I’ve never really felt like I needed to come “Almost all of our members have chosen to be out [in the workplace] or never felt like it was out, but this is their personal decision.” appropriate to,” he said. Still, for Wolf, his experiences at OUBC and Still, the conference made him realize there impressions of national trends have given him are useful ways to reveal one’s sexual orientation some comfort. to an employer. “Although prejudices still exist, it’s nice to “A lot of these firms are looking for diversity, know that at least one potential career path and so I learned a lot [about] how to kind of places value on inclusivity and diversity, and show being out, but in a way that is productive,” perhaps things are changing for the better in he said, explaining that an active role in LGBTQ other areas,” he said.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON
THE WAY THINGS WORK:
University Lobbying
How Administration Exerts Influence on the Hill by Celia Bever
illustration by benjamin lange
8 | Volume 14
The image of federal lobbyists as morally-bankrupt corporate hacks intent on squeezing every last dollar away from more worthy causes—à la Jack Abramoff, or Aaron Eckhart in Thank You for Smoking—is one students probably don’t often associate with their school’s administration. But the U of C, like most other major universities, regularly hires lobbyists as employees of its own. The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 defines a lobbyist as a person who makes $3,000 or more from lobbying work over a three-month period, spends 20 percent or more of his time on lobbying activities for an employer or individual client, and makes more than one lobbying contact. The latter is defined as any communication with a member of the executive or legislative branch, or their respective staff, on behalf of a client about federal law, policy, programs, or similar government work. A salaried employee of the University stationed in Washington, D.C. primarily for the purpose of lobbying would fit each of these criteria. The rise in federal lobbying among universities began in the 1980s in response to budget cuts in research allocation during the Reagan administration, according to University of Virginia professor James Savage, author of Funding Science in America: Congress, Universities, and the Politics of the Academic Pork Barrel. The federal government has long been funding university research, so when this pool of money shrank, universities started lobbying for it. “It was really a shock to universities who had come to rely so much on the federal government for research funding,” Savage said in a phone interview. The traditional way to secure funding for research is through peer review, a self-regulating process whereby grants are given out based on expert review of research proposals. But, Savage said, this process tends to work in favor of the “usual suspects” of the “old-boys system,” citing schools like Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, the U of C, and other peer institutions. In order to get their own research money, other universities started seeking funding through earmarks— funds provided by Congress that bypass competitive allocation procedures. It has been long-standing U of C policy to only use the peer review process, Savage said. In addition to research money, universities also lobby for bills that affect other institutional aspects, such as financial aid, education policy, tax policy, and health care financing. For example, University lobbyists worked on the America Fast Forward Financing Innovation Act of 2011 (H.R. 4348), citing the Stafford Student Loan program, which dealt with a proposed increase to the interest rate, and University of Chicago Medical Center Medicare funding as the specific issues lobbied for. The University’s permanent presence in Washington began in 2008 when it established the Office of Federal Relations. The Office’s director, currently Matthew Greenwald, reports to Vice President of the Office of Civic Engagement Derek Douglas. The creation of the Office came two years
after the University became one of only two universities in the nation to oversee two national laboratories simultaneously (the other is the University of California)—in 2006, the University became a co-manager of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and successfully retained control of Argonne National Laboratory, both owned by the U.S. Department of Energy. Additionally, the office was spurred by a Senate request in 2008 for endowment information from the 136 wealthiest universities, including the U of C, which had the 13th largest endowment. At that time, Senate regulation of college spending seemed possible, and the University supplied the Senate Finance Committee with information about its financial aid and endowment policies. The request also came in the midst of Senate hearings about the growth of college endowments concurrent with the rise of college tuition. Before 2008, the University’s contact with the federal government was generally done from campus. Monitoring proposed legislation for issues relevant to the University’s interest would only be part of an administrator’s job. The opening of the Office was the first time University employees were stationed in Washington full-time for the purpose of lobbying. In addition to the employees of the Office, the University sometimes enlists outside lobbying firms with expertise in particular areas relevant to legislation of interest. Other times, the work is done in conjunction with groups like the Association of American Universities. According to the Web site OpenSecrets, an aggregator of contributions made to Federal campaigns, U of C lobbying expenditures since 1998—as far back as OpenSecrets has been tracking such data— have been between about $100,000 a year to about $250,000, except in the years 2006 and 2007 when total expenditures were $640,000 and $620,000, respectively. The timing of this spending peak correlates to one described in a January 2012 Atlantic article “Don’t Blame ForProfit Colleges for the Higher-Ed Lobbying
Epidemic,” which says that many universities drastically increased their lobbying expenses during the 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. A point of particular contention regarding the act, the article said, was a proposed amendment (H.R. 4137, or the College Opportunity and Affordability Act) that would collect students’ post-graduation experiences in the job market, which would allow families looking at colleges to compare them in terms of their returns. The lobbying successfully blocked the effort and resulted in an explicit provision banning the federal government from collecting that data. According to OpenSecrets, University lobbyists worked heavily on this bill. The specific issues reported as lobbying activities included preparation for possible future lobbying efforts “regarding Senate Finance Committee deliberations that could affect endowments,” “regarding a publicity effort to inform students, parents, and others regarding language in the Higher Education Reauthorization bills,” and a “strategy session with The Science Coalition regarding best methods to boost federal funding for universitybased research,” among a host of other issues. Most other major universities also have a Washington office with lobbyists it employs directly, with Harvard, the University of Washington, Duke, and Pennsylvania State University among them. Some offices are well-established, though new offices continue to pop up along the Beltway. For example, the University of Michigan has had a Washington office since 1990, while Boston University hired its first Washington-based lobbyist just this past May. Given the U of C’s longstanding administrative adherence to the Kalven report, which promotes political neutrality, the implications of a Washington office with an explicit mission to lobby for University interests are yet to be seen. But, as Savage said, “There’s no good research university that cannot successfully solicit money from the federal government.”
Grey City | 9
10 | Volume 14
Grey City | 11
Whether they like it or not, students come to the University of Chicago fully aware that, before they graduate, they will have to spend about one third of their time here meeting Core requirements. Chemistry majors will write essays on political theorists or social philosophers in their Sosc classes; future economists will analyze pieces of art; and nearly all students of the humanities will eventually take four quarters total of biological and physical sciences. These classes are meant to introduce students to the “tools of inquiry used in every discipline,” according to the College’s admissions pitch. “The goal is not just to transfer knowledge, but to raise fundamental questions and become familiar with the powerful ideas that shape our society.” But does every Core class accomplish this goal?
One population is the population that I’ve never seen before, that does not attend my lectures, that doesn’t talk to me.
Hundreds of students enroll each year in one class in particular: Global Warming, a topics class that fulfills part of the physical sciences requirement. This is easily one of the most common routes taken through the Core. But there is a stigma haunting the class that, instead of introducing students to scientific “tools of inquiry” or raising “fundamental questions,” Global Warming is a waste of time and effort, and that, for most students, it serves the sole purpose of meeting graduation requirements. What students suspect—and what professors are discovering—is that this stigma is tied up in a knot of institutional problems that have not gone away in the 12 years of the class’s existence, which range from chronic student apathy and a worrisome trend of academic dishonesty, to the administrative realities of faculty shortages and large class sizes. So far, there are more questions than answers. At first glance, the class seems to be structurally sound. It is taught by two experts in the geophysical sciences who, according to their students, care that those who take the class are learning, and are having fun doing it. David Archer, who specializes in environmental chemistry and the carbon cycle, created the class himself in 1996 and later authored its textbook, Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast. He has normally taught the class two quarters a year since then, with the exception of this autumn. (He will return in the spring.) Douglas MacAyeal, who replaced Archer this quarter and has taught in the department for years, has brought with him his expertise in glaciology and a fresh outlook for the course. He has designed a new kind of labwork for the class that presents students with raw climate data, so they can draw conclusions themselves about climate change. The class is also specifically designed to help any student, regardless of academic background and interest, to grasp scientific concepts and to become capable, critical thinkers. “By sort of focusing on a
very narrow question but looking at it really hard you get an overview of science in general,” said Archer. By getting an understanding of where the forecast of climate change comes from, he explains, they will be able to make educated decisions regarding a very relevant and significant topic. But in spite of all this, students continue to talk to their friends about how easy the class is, to boast about how they don’t have to attend lecture, and to complain that the class is a waste of their time. Part of the problem with the physical sciences Core requirement is that there are two tracks that students can take. One option, taken almost exclusively by science majors or pre-meds who need the courses anyway, is to take General Chemistry or Physics. The second option, for those who have no interest in taking these challenging and time-consuming classes, is to take topical classes, like Global Warming. For better or worse, this systematically divides students into two groups depending on the track they choose: those who want to take science classes, and those who are required to. And in the topical classes, there are more students who just don’t want to be there. This becomes problematic when the topical classes themselves are further divided into those students who are generally interested in the material—or at least are willing to give it a chance—and those who just want to pass the class so that they can cross it off their list of Core requirements. “I have noticed that my class seems to be broken in two populations,” explained MacAyeal. “One population is the population that I’ve never seen before that does not attend my lectures, that doesn’t talk to me. The other half is the students that I see in class. I recognize them and talk to them before class. They ask questions and are obviously engaged.” According to MacAyeal, 80 out of the 180 students are present at his lectures—on a good day. For Archer, normally only about half of the students enrolled in his class attend lecture regularly.
100% 12 | Volume 14
Proportion of students who took Global Warming to satisfy their core requirement. (Course Evaluations, Autumn 2011)
Douglas MacAyeal, who began teaching Global Warming this quarter, has revamped labs, made compromises on discipline, and strains to make the class enticing to his students. Still, he says, “I don’t think there’s anything I could do with my lectures or labs that could correct that lack of engagement.” sydney combs | the chicago maroon
Those who do attend the class learn from the course and have fun with it in the process. Margaret Canton, a second-year undecided major taking the class this year with MacAyeal, has similar feelings. “I’m getting a lot more out of it than some of the other options for physical science. This class has been really engaging and exciting, and you can tell that Professor MacAyeal is really excited about the topic and excited to teach us about it,” she said. “I think more professors should be more like him in the way they structure their class.” Third-year political science major Charley Kargman, who took the class with Archer in the spring of his second year and attended almost all of his lectures, had a similar experience. “I actually really enjoyed it when I took it. I had always believed in global warming but I felt like I had a better scientific understanding [of it] as an ecological phenomenon,” he said. “I really enjoyed Archer himself. He was a really great lecturer, and it was clear that he really cared about the subject himself and wanted to share this with the class.” Despite his rewarding experience, Kargman adds that this is not what most students get out if it. “I believe that you get out of a course what you put into it,” he explained. “I just put normal effort in the class. I wasn’t the norm because other people treated [it] like a blow-off class.” According to him, the students who saw it as an easy class weren’t able to reap the benefits that he did because of their lack of effort. “If you came in here thinking it was for a grade or requirement, you are not going to get as much out [of it] as someone who wants to see what Archer says about global warming,” he said. “It was sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.” As for students who miss class, their attendance is hardly necessary. Whether or not they learn from the class is practically irrelevant because attending lecture and engaging with the material is not necessarily imperative to passing the class or even
receiving an A. “It’s an easy A and I know many people who didn’t go to class and still managed to get an A,” said thirdyear public policy major Elizabeth Behrens, who took the class in the spring of her first year with Archer. “It was the sort of class where it was easy and it was totally open for not going and still getting an A somehow, some way.” The ability of students to pass the class with little to no effort stems partly from its reputation. Because of its notorious easiness, some students go into the class not expecting—and therefore not willing—to have to work very hard for their A. “A large reason that people are attracted to the class is that they know that there isn’t that much they have to do,” said second-year Patrick Ford, a Classics and philosophy double-major, who took the class with Archer last spring. “That explains how popular the class is.” Tyler Leslie, a second-year majoring in political science, put it more directly: “Anytime you’re put in a class that you’re not super interested in, no matter how badly you want the grade, you are just not going to put in the same amount of effort.” Considering that almost all of the students in the class are not science majors and are taking it solely to fulfill their Core requirement, it is not uncommon for students to feel this way, particularly when they are already overloaded with their other classes. “I think that was definitely reinforced by the fact that it’s a culture of ‘this class is easy’ so students who want to focus on their harder, more ‘worthwhile’ class might decide to sleep in and miss Global Warming so they can put more time and energy into harder classes,” explained Behrens. Archer, who puts extra effort into incorporating the more interesting aspects of science into his lectures, feels that he is doing everything he can. “I don’t think there’s anything I could do to force students to attend my class,” he said. MacAyeal feels similarly. “I don’t think there’s
Grey City | 13
Average number of hours per week spent on class work.
I’m standing in a room with 200 undergraduates. I haven’t figured out what to do.
14 | Volume 14
4.2
anything I could do with my lectures or labs that could correct that lack of engagement,” he said. “Students make personal choices and many of the students do not want to be in a physical science Core course.” Because of this, MacAyeal resorts to what he calls a sort of “devil’s pact” with those students who do not want to do the work. “They want an unstated pact where I will pass them with a high grade and not keep them out of law school, or business school, engineering, whatever. They will not complain about me and I will not complain about them,” he explained. In order to accommodate the staggering number of students who feel this way, MacAyeal accedes to this compromise, requiring that these students engage at the minimum level by having a “pass/fail for an A” policy on the labs. If they make it look like they did the work, they’ll get credit for it. “I do ask them to engage with the material and do everything they’re asked,” he said. Inevitably, however, “some students actually fake it and if they do it passably they can get the A.” Archer defends the rigor of the material, if not the class. He says that other professors from other schools are baffled by the intensity of the textbook he uses. In his eyes, he sees the fact that many students easily pass his class as a sign that his teaching is effective. “The students learn a lot of very technical stuff and they do a lot of serious chemistry and physics and math and so if the class has a reputation of being easy in spite of the fact that they do all this stuff, I think that means that I’m doing my job.” Although this may be true for the students who attend class, or at least read his textbook or watch his recorded lectures online, high marks do not necessarily indicate understanding. Often, students get by with a little help from their friends. “There’s definitely some sort of passing down answers,” said Behrens. “There are different theories as to who does it, but there’s definitely been a passing down of previous tests, which kind of reduces the credibility of the class and makes the atmosphere just feel like even more of a blow-off easy class.” The fact that there is a new professor this year has not stopped students from trying to cheat. “I have a feeling that at one point one student came up to me and tried to hand in a homework assignment that was given last year by David Archer,” said MacAyeal. He hadn’t assigned the homework the student tried to hand in. “I am letting the students fall off the cliff,” admitted MacAyeal. “A little bit of discipline on my part in terms
of grading would be fairer to everyone, including those who do put in the time.” Master of the Division of Physical Sciences Michael Stein has taught here since 1985, and stressed that it is imperative to make students do their own work. “You need to have them doing something. So if the classes don’t have regular homework or they do and everyone knows where to find the solution and just copies them over, then you’re not going to be able to solve that problem.” The solution would seem to be simple: Make the class harder, or catch the people who cheat. But there are structural challenges inherent to the physical sciences division as a whole. For example, ensuring that every student is doing honest work is nearly impossible when lectures average in size at 150 students. “This is so hard to do in a really big class,” Stein said. “You have to chase down half (twice?) as many students and let them know, ‘You know, you need to do something if you want to pass the class.’ ” Archer does not deny that smaller, discussionbased classes would likely help to engage students more, but he doesn’t know how it could be done. “There’s this theory about how lectures are bad and discussion is good, but it seems like the students need to be told what the material means and I need to do the lecture,” he said. “I’m standing in a room with 200 undergraduates. I haven’t figured out what to do.” Unfortunately, no one else seems to know what to do either, especially because of the limited available faculty in the sciences. Explains Stein: “Whether or not you believe that there are good reasons for that, it’s the norm of the field.” Science faculty at the University of Chicago, unlike faculty in other departments, are not required in their contract to teach Core classes, he says. If the University wants the best in the field, they can’t force professors to teach classes they don’t want to teach. This can be good and bad, he explained. Because the faculty who teach the Core classes are volunteers, they tend to be enthusiastic about instructing the class. On the other hand, not everyone volunteers. “Some departments, such as the physical science department, struggle to find enough faculty to have a viable major and graduate program,” he explained. “We can’t just stop offering [major] classes and reassign resources to Core classes like other departments can. Even if the people who can do it are willing to do it, it would literally mean not doing something else that’s also really important.” Because the faculty is so constrained, it’s almost impossible to offer smaller discussion-based classes
that might do a better job of involving students intellectually in the material. This leaves few viable options for reforming Global Warming. One solution would be to instate a universal track for the physical sciences Core—all students, regardless of their major, would have to take some form of introductory science, such as General Chemistry or Physics 120. This way, all students would be subject to the same standards. However, professors question whether these standards would align with the ideals of the Core. “The argument is that these are going to be the last science classes [students take],” Stein says. But introductory-level, quantitative courses like Gen Chem aren’t designed with that goal in mind. “These classes aren’t really about teaching you about what scientists do—they are about teaching you some science, so that you can go on and take more advanced classes.” Students also don’t see why they should take a rigorous class if it doesn’t directly pertain to their career path or their studies. “Why make students miserable?” asked Behrens. A second solution would place all students, including science majors, in a topical class. In theory, this is a good idea, according to Stein. “I actually think that probably some science majors would benefit from a Core science class—to be able to step back and see what scientists do,” he said. “You can get a bachelor’s degree in the scientific field and, depending on what you actually did, you may not have a very clear idea of what scientists actually do.” MacAyeal believes that incorporating science majors into the topical classes would provide more educational resources and motivation for those not as interested in science. “Students teach each other more than professors want to admit. Students emulating other students is a huge motivator and factor.” There are fears, however, that grouping nonmajors and majors together in these courses would prevent science students from learning as much as they could on their own. “There is this point of view that, somehow, the ‘smart physics and chemistry students’ will be held back, and their lives will be ruined,” if they have to match pace with artists or economists, MacAyeal said. Stein believes that this would repel prospective science students from the College. “In practice, that would drive away most of the good science
students,” he said. “That’s one of the key reasons that we allow for these separate tracks.” Dylan Lynch, a fourth-year chemistry major, shares the sentiment. “It would completely derail the majors, because you would add classes that are already much longer than political science or English.” He added that topical classes would be redundant, teaching science students basic material that they are already learning in their major classes. Although Kargman maintains that science students would likely provide a valuable example for other students, he recognized that majors might not reap similar benefits. “I think the pre-meds and science kids would be really frustrated by it,” he said. “When you have to take a class with other people who aren’t at that level, you will find a lot more students who are less likely to participate or take it seriously, because they were taught it years ago.” And from the professor’s perspective, the task of teaching students with such varied scientific backgrounds and interests would be challenging. “It would be difficult to teach the whole spectrum of students,” Archer said. “Science students might get bored at the slow pace and me having to keep going over concepts for the non-science majors.” As of now, no one is sure of how to remedy the Global Warming issue. Professors in the physical sciences, however, have recognized the issue and are taking positive steps toward a solution. MacAyeal shared an e-mail thread among teachers in response to a Maroon editorial last month, “A New Scientific Method,” which suggested the physical sciences Core requirement be entirely revamped. In the thread, members of the physical science division began the process of reassessing the physical sciences Core, proposing ideas for new classes, and discussing why students aren’t getting out of their Core science classes what they should be. “It may not be visible to students in the short run but I’m definitely thinking about it,” Stein said. “I’ll need cooperation if anything is going to change. I need more resources and cooperation from Administration, and then I think in a couple of years something could actually happen.” Both Stein and MacAyeal believe that at some point in the process, students should be able to share their perspective because, as MacAyeal put it, “It is not a one sided issue. [Students] too created the intellectual environment.”
38%
I actually think that probably some science majors would benefit from a Core science class—to be able to step backward and see what scientists do.
Proportion of students to attend all classes. Grey City | 15
Students stage a “die-in” on the quads in protest of the University of Chicago Medical Center’s refusal to open an adult level-one trauma center. sydney combs | the chicago maroon
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The last protests of the “99 percent” have died down. What now?
By Linda Qiu
AFTER OCCUPY
On a May morning earlier this year, at the back of a northbound CTA bus packed with activists from the U of C, a sociology Ph.D. student named Peter Fugiel told me that the Occupy Movement was dying. The “People’s Summit” we were headed to—Occupy’s contribution to the NATO conference protests that day—would likely be the movement’s last, great hurrah, Fugiel said. He and the U of C’s Occupy group had prepped during the winter months, and were determined to show their resolve. Later that day, when their protest permit expired, the People’s Summit erupted into a skirmish that resulted in around 60 arrests (none of them UChicago students), ostensibly ending Chicago’s Occupy moment. But the students on that bus were looking forward to carrying on the legacy and excitement of Occupy. They were planning: It would be a “summer of protests.” The Occupiers, their allies, and their sympathizers may have shared the sentiment that the movement which began last September in New York City’s Zuccotti Park was slowly and gracefully retiring, but the causes mustered under its banner were prepared to re-emerge emboldened. The Occupy movement was always an umbrella for pre-existing student activism groups. They adopted its brand mostly as a show of solidarity. The core of UChicago students who had a role in organizing Occupy have since returned to their own unresolved but interrelated grievances, says Toby Chow, a philosophy Ph.D. student involved in several activist groups. “Economic inequality, divestment, the environment, health inequity—all these things are part of broader issues. It’s all tied together,” said third-year Aija Nemer-Aanerud, a leader of the campus and community activism group Southside Solidarity Network (SSN). Chow personifies the interconnectedness of issues taken up by community and campus activist groups: He led SSN, plays an active part in Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL), and participates in Students for Health Equity (SHE) and UChicago Climate Action Committee (UCAN). Chow’s level of involvement is not rare in this community of around 40 campus activists. UCAN, SSN, SHE, SOUL—all form a loose affiliation of activist groups. Fourth-year Olivia Woollam, a leader of SHE but a participant in other organizations as well, lightheartedly calls it, “the social justice ghetto.” “It’s a wonderful, tight-knit community,” she says, explaining that in certain ways the closeness can be useful. “It’s a great support
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system.” It also makes it easier for commonly aligned groups to coordinate their activities. In April, when city officials announced steep budget cuts on public mental health clinics, SHE partnered with SOUL, SSN, and the campus Occupy affiliate in protest of the move. And earlier this year, five campus groups worked on a program of screenings, discussions, and information sessions to educate first-years in the College about the issues taken up by students on campus and basic community organizing, dubbed “Disorientation.” But there can be U of C members of Southside Solidarity Network sit limitations to this sort inside the John Kluczynski Federal Building as part of organizing, especially of “Budget Showdown” in November. if community activism courtesy of southside solidarity network is supposed to be a big tent. “There will be events that are overexposed and under-attended because it’s so much within that community,” Woollam says. “It gets easy to say, ‘Oh, that went well. Twenty people showed up,’ but it’s the 20 who were at the planning meetings showing support, and it becomes very internal.” There are also logistical problems. Chow and Nemer-Aanerud say that the insularity of the “social justice ghetto,” coupled with the quick turnaround of College students who [Students discov- graduate within four years, often amounts to a ered] that gentrifica- “recipe for unsustainability.” Such shortcomings tion was not only the haven’t gone unnoticed, and groups try to offset the revolving-door effect with concerted history of the Univer- recruitment efforts, like the “Disorientation” sity, but in fact the event, which drew some 70 first-years in University was still September this year. It can be difficult to bring in new blood, doing it. however. Often, campus groups find themselves pushing a social narrative that clashes with the one forwarded by the administration. In O-Week 2007, the University began screening its annual “You Are Here” videos, which were intended to illustrate the U of C’s historical relationship with its surrounding communities. “You Are Here” was tweaked in 2010 and removed completely in 2011, in favor of a community service panel that was in turn discontinued this year. “Disorientation” was meant to offer an alternative to the University’s particular community engagement pitch. “It was a push back on the dominant narrative,” Woollam said.
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In particular, activists sense among the student body a wariness of Do-Not-Cross boundaries encircling the University community, inscribed in part by the physical borders of campus, but also by students’ perceptions of crime and poverty as well. “The University has tried, I think justifiably, to ensure that students aren’t hurt. But it seems to think that a student going into Woodlawn would necessarily mean a student getting hurt,” Woollam said. “That ‘If–Then’ statement, even if not promoted, disseminates into student mentalities.” Woollam put the problem in pop-culture terms: “There’s a wall in Game of Thrones. You get sent there when you’re being bad, and everyone is terrified of it and won’t go near it,” she said. “But a character in the show gets sent there, and he finds that there are just people there.” Clearly, the University is aware of its image as a gated community in a socially troubled and underserved area. “You Are Here” was, if anything, an attempt to instill students with a civic awareness of their surroundings, which might lead to active engagement—socially and politically—with the community. For some, it had that effect, but not in the way the College intended. “I remember watching [You Are Here] and thinking, ‘This is so messed up,’” Nemer-Aanerud said, “and I found these groups that agreed...A lot of people see the relationship between the community and the University in ‘You Are Here,’ and it really rubs them the wrong way.” It is this historically strained relationship between the University and the South Side that Nemer-Aanerud and others cite as a foundation for causes and groups that seek community partnership. Eight years ago, for example, a group of students took a course here on gentrification in Chicago. “The University sort of pioneered a lot of the techniques of gentrification under the label ‘urban renewal’ back in the day,” said Chow, referring to the U of C’s 1960s southward expansion into Woodlawn. “But the students also found that gentrification was not only the history of the University, but, in fact, the University was still doing it.” Around the same time, plans were being drawn over the potential redevelopment of Grove Parc Plaza, a housing complex bound by East 60th and 62nd Streets and South Cottage Grove Avenue, managed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Woodlawn Preservation Investment Corporation (WPIC). Two of the project’s board members were then-Vice President of Community and Government Affairs Hank Webber and Executive Director of the UCPD Rudy Nimocks. The plan, tenants and activists said, was to turn the project into a site for the potential 2016 Olympics in Chicago. “So the students, they organized and started
a campaign with STOP [Southsiders Together Organizing for Power] to save Grove Parc,” Chow said. The campaign eventually culminated in a sit-in, arrests, and a court case. From that event was born SSN. Like SSN, SHE’s origins lie in a single University-targeted campaign: the absence of a level-one trauma center at the University of Chicago Hospitals. Led by Fearless Leading by the Youth (FLY), the demand for a levelone trauma center at the University of Chicago Medical Center points to a perception that the University has a responsibility to serve the community around it. Still, Woollam doesn’t always consider the University an antagonist: it is simply that basic, textbook organizing instructs activists to identify a clear target close at hand. Since the University is the most impactful actor in the community, she explains, inevitably activists will find much to scrutinize. In fact, University and activist partnerships have occurred and continue today, an “inside” approach that Nemer-Aanerud says is just as vital to achieving campaign goals as an “outside” approach. The Grove Parc campaign—spanning many protests targeting WPIC, meetings with the WPIC, and years in conversation and conflict with WPIC—demonstrates the complicated relationship between activists and their partners. But, to Nemer-Aanerud, the inconsistency of roles is inherent to political organizing, and expectations are always in flux. “All campaigns should be winnable... They should have a goal,” she said. “Meeting that goal can be a measure of success. But meeting part of that goal can be success. Negotiating down can be success. Radicalizing people can be success.” Whether the University’s interests can align with the goals of activist groups may depend on their separate ways of understanding social justice. Last November, for example, students affiliated with a number of campus groups— as well as Occupy—rallied against a talk at I-House featuring former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The night of the event, administrators announced that the talk was being postponed. Protesters claimed it as a victory, despite administrators’ insistence that a scheduling conflict was the cause of the sudden change. Occupiers released a statement declaring that Paulson and Rice’s postponement suggested that “they can’t handle free inquiry.” Elly Daugherty, assistant vice president for student life, says that the University’s values, which have established its reputation for respecting free inquiry, are not unlike the values of activists—after all, she said, Occupy celebrates open discourse. In fact, she says, activism encompasses many forms of impassioned expression, including “what we
do every day, in our Core classes, in lectures, in seminars.” “We confine activism to standing outside with a placard,” she said. In reality, however, “activism is speaking with a passion and conviction within, that makes it necessary to express an opinion whether you’re in agreement with everyone else.” But for members of the “social justice ghetto,” such passion and conviction should translate into action. Nemer-Aanerud described that crucial part of activism—acting—with a metaphor popular in the circle. “There’s this river with some infants drowning in it. Some people do nothing. Some people will be horrified and immediately try to save the babies or call the police. And some people will not rest until they find out who was responsible for throwing the babies in the river,” she said. And sometimes, action means getting arrested. The Occupation of Grant Park last fall resulted in 13 arrests of U of C affiliates, while SOUL’s anti-eviction campaign and SHE’s mental health clinic campaign added to the count. These arrests, planned and intentional, are meant precisely to demonstrate conviction, with the added bonus of media attention and solidarity. “For people who get arrested together, I mean, that’s a strong bond,” Nemer-Aanerud said. The activist chooses to be arrested, Chow emphasized. And the decision to do so “is not an easy one,” Nemer-Aanerud pointed out. Often, the decision alienates the activist from her family, or jeopardizes a career path. Secondyear Collette Robichaux, who was very involved with Occupy Chicago, spoke of tensions with family members who resented seeing her name in print coupled with “arrest” or even “Occupy.” And second-year Adam Kahn, who took part in Occupy events last fall, says that his parents are unnerved by any affiliation with activism— especially if it leads to a night in jail. “Most people are freaked out by the potential [of arrests]. It’s not an easy decision to make. It’s not the majority that would choose it,” Nemer-Aanerud said. Without Occupy, social justice groups on campus no longer have a wide front they can rally behind. But their motivations, which are common to many, run deep in the history of the University, and are unlikely to dissipate now. “Occupy’s only a name for an energy that’s been there,” said second-year Brendon Leonard, who is a leader of UCAN in addition to his participation in Occupy. “I don’t think that’s gone away. Even if we don’t call it ‘Occupy’ anymore.” Nemer-Aanerud is even more optimistic. “Occupy shaped a national conversation,” she said. “Once people are talking about it, there has to be a tipping point. And that’s when change happens. So now, we need to harness that energy.”
Students march in the Loop as part of the Occupy Chicago movement.
Community members and U of C students march on the quads in support of an Adult level-one trauma center.
Last spring, South Siders briefly occupy one of the mental health clinics Mayor Emanuel shut down.
Grey City | 19
Questions & Answers with:
RICHARD DALEY
by Sam Levine
He led Chicago for over two decades. Now, Richard Daley’s come back to school. After serving for 22 years as Chicago’s mayor, Richard M. Daley decided not to seek a seventh term in office in 2010. In December of that year, Daley surpassed his father, who ran the city from 1955 to 1976, as Chicago’s longestserving mayor. Since handing over the reins to Rahm Emanuel last year, Daley has maintained a low public profile, declining to weigh in on the new mayor’s policies out of, in his words, a “respect for the office.” Instead, Daley has left City Hall behind for the classroom. Last year, he took a five-year appointment as a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy, where he coordinates a guest-lecture series that has included private-sector CEOs, Tom Brokaw, and his own brotherformer White House Chief of Staff William Daley. Daley has also led small groups of students on tours around the city and launched a collaboration with the mayor of Gary, Indiana, that will allow U of C students to do research for Gary city agencies. Grey City sat down with Daley to discuss his father’s private faith, the disappearance of true public servants, and the ways in which the Vietnam War wrecked the country. To see the complete interview, go to www.chicagomaroon.com. GC: Do you miss City Hall? RD: Well I knew, about a year before, I was gonna leave. Because, you know, I felt it was time—for me and for the citizens. I loved the job. I mean, loving a job and having passion. I liked working Saturdays, because, if people worked during the week, when do you see them? Only through TV? So Saturday, the block clubs, the community organizations, marches against gangs, guns and drugs, or dedicating a park, or dedicating a school...Saturday was important. My cabinet, my deputies and commissioners, worked that day to feel the people. It’s not a poll that tells you what to do. You have to have some feeling about it. You have to have some human side of things. And whether it’s the homeless issue, or whether it’s the education issue, or housing issue, or discrimination and crime and things like that (taps pencil on table), you have to kind of feel the issue. You just can’t sit there in an office with a lot of computers and figure out, “I know the issue.” GC: What do you do on Saturdays now? RD: You know, I’m very disciplined...I like to read, work out. You know, spend time with the family, and just enjoy that day. I like Saturdays and Sundays. GC: I wanted to talk to you a little bit about your political legacy in the city. How do you think the Mayor Daley who left office was different from the Mayor Daley who took office in 1989? RD: I was much older, age-wise. And also, it was a different time. You know, Harold Washington was the
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first black mayor. A lot of people didn’t like it...When I ran [in ’89], I won, but I only received nine percent of the black vote. In today’s politics, that nine percent doesn’t mean nothing because you don’t have to build upon that. Your base is over here (points to the side of the table), so you never build your base, you stay with your base. So you don’t do coalition building. And I knew that I represented the people who voted for me, people who voted for somebody else, people who didn’t vote, or people who couldn’t vote. So I represented everyone. So that’s how I looked at it. And then I knew I had to get more than nine percent. It went to 25 (in the next election), 30 percent, and then it went to 48 percent, and 60, 65, 70 [percent] of African-American votes.... Every time I ran for mayor, my opponents—nice people—I never was angry at them or anything. I was happy because I was successful in the election, so I wasn’t mad at them. You know, you move on with life. GC: I wanted to talk to you a little bit about your dad. Your family has had a tremendous impact on political life in this city, and I think you could argue nationally. Becoming mayor, how was it difficult to assume that legacy, but also distinguish yourself from your dad? RD: My dad came through the Depression and Roosevelt. At that time, Roosevelt was a savior of mostly cities. You know East Coast, Midwest cities. And then the war. And he was like one man, one party. It was a Roosevelt era... My dad knew the political party was set up through
Roosevelt. One man, one party. So it was very Democratic. And...they built coalitions. Coalitions of labor and business and politics... of ethnic and racial groups...That was coalition building. Now, it’s a base. [It’s thought that] you have your base, I don’t have to build upon my base—I have my base, I can always get elected. Or you Gerrymander everything. My dad got elected, every one of his elections by African-American votes. Very interesting. From 1955 on, if you look at the highest percentage, they were always African Americans. He knew that things were changing because Vietnam destroyed the country more than anything else. It destroyed the presidency. Destroyed Johnson and the Democratic Party, because Johnson would not get out of the failed system (taps pencil on table). And that was about 1966, ’67. My father told him to get out, “You’re going to lose.”...Johnson could not run for president, he could not campaign, he couldn’t even go out of the White House. And destroyed the country, killed a lot of people, and divided the country. And destroyed the Democratic party for years. Because they wouldn’t listen. Washington never listens. Can’t listen, because it’s a bureaucracy and red tape. They’re in their own shell. There’s their own shell around there. GC: Two of your brothers have also had long tenures in public service. I was wondering what the conversations in your house growing up about politics and public service were like... RD: There really wasn’t. GC: Or, where do you think that legacy comes from? RD: My father always believed that people should give back in different ways, and public service has a lot of different ways. He always thought it was not just those who were going into government and being elected, but a lot of things. He thought teachers are public servants. Doctors, nurses are public servants. I mean, you start thinking about people who continually work in shelters and help the less fortunate—that’s what it’s all about. He never directed anyone into the role of going into government. I had a wonderful family, and our moral values...My father always said: Religion is personal. It should never be worn out here, it’s within here (points to chest). In your heart. “Everyone has the same moral values.” He was very strong on that. My father was a strong Catholic; he’d go to church, but he didn’t want anyone to go to church with him. He’d go himself. We would go with him, but no one else could go with him. He always kept it personal. He didn’t go around telling people he was a better person than you. He was like that. And then he talked about human frailties. Money, power, sex, alcohol, drugs, people have human frailties. And he always taught me: Don’t get mad at them; get disappointed. They’re destroying themselves. You know, that’s what happens to people. But
people don’t believe human frailties apply to anyone today until they find out some exposé. So he stressed education. He said, “The only thing I’ll give you in life is the moral values and education. And then you take it from there.” And so when I decided to go into politics, it was my decision, not his. “Never complain to me and your mother. You and your wife make that decision. You become a public servant, you don’t become a political servant. You’re not a Democrat or Republican once you’re elected, you represent everyone.” But today you’re a Democratic president. You’re a Republican president. You’re a Democratic congressman. You’re a Republican congressman. You’re a Democratic Senator or a Republican Senator. We’ve lost the identity of being public servants. We’re political servants to the party. GC: Do you think it’s possible to get back to that idea of public service?
Richard M. Daley, the longest-serving mayor of Chicago, now passes some of his time at the Harris School of Public Policy, where he is a distinguished senior fellow. sydney combs | the chicago maroon
RD: No, because all the money goes into each party. Each party gets the money, and you become their political servant. You don’t become a public servant. You don’t represent the people. The younger people have to figure that out because you should not be a Republican or a Democrat. You should basically be a public servant. But Washington has done this. They have formed this thing. If you look at the party system from the city and the county and the state, it’s all moved to Washington. Every city, county, state, political system has moved to Washington. The political party system is stronger there today than it was ever in the history of the country.
We’ve lost the identity of being public servants. We’re political servants to the party.
GC: Both with the president and others it seems like a lot of people who have been involved in Chicago political life, are now working in the White House. From your brother, to David Axelrod, to Valerie Jarrett. What is it about this city, or political life in this city that you think prepares people for Washington? RD: They want to make a contribution so they’re willing to sacrifice in a way, and that’s really important. They’re willing, whoever it is, to serve the president, and serve that way. You need more people to serve that way. I think we should encourage more people to serve within government, and not restrict them not to serve. I wish there were more people serving in there. And if they have a conflict, you can
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take the conflict out. You can isolate that conflict. But we should encourage more people working in government so they can open government up to new ideas and changes.
We’re a much more violent society... It’s here to stay. It’s here until America decides to do something about it.
And the world has changed considerably, and the world hasn’t changed. And I’m not talking about Obama, I’m just saying the structure of government. There’s too much bureaucracy and red tape. It is much bigger complicated government today than it ever was. But they don’t want to change it. No one wants to change it. Because Republicans have their interest and Democrats have their interest. GC: I wanted to ask you a little bit about the president. His entire political career developed while you were mayor. What do you think he needs to do in the next four years? RD: He has a lot of good people around him. And they’ll advise him accordingly. I’m not gonna advise him. All the people there can work with him. You learn through a campaign...One thing I found out is that the world is changing faster than we are. I go to China, I go to Russia, I go to Mexico. They’re not waiting for us. They’re doing their own thing. They’re not gonna wait for us, and we’re gonna share power. I bet England was upset because the [American] Revolution upset the growth—and then what happened took place. I guess they should’ve been jealous of us. But they’re one of our strongest partners in the world. Why is it that we can share power with England but we cannot share power with the rest of the world? We fear China, we fear Russia, but in the Second World War, China lost more people to Japan than we did. Russia lost more people to the Germans than we did. Why do we fear them? I don’t know why. I can’t figure that one out. And I think ours [America’s directives] should be hu-
manitarian aid and of course the business to grow business here and outside the world—outside the United States. We think we always have to be the number one military power...I don’t think that’s good for our perception overseas. GC: Guns. Gun control is something— RD: My father in 1930 put a bill on Springfield against guns. Because if you look at the murder rate in the 1900s it was unbelievable in Chicago...It was just unbelievable. And so, what you have to understand is that, we came over from Europe and, historically, all they knew was that the king who sat in the castle or wherever, he had guns and gun powder and that ruled them. And so, some way, when we came here, we thought the gun is more powerful than the mind. And slowly but surely we thought we got out of there, but recently the gun has become more important than the mind. The gun is power...I have always believed that you have hunters, you have gun collectors—fine, I guess people want to have a gun in their home, you know. OK. But the escalation of guns in America is frightening to the rest of the world. The protection of money launderers that make all the money, the protection of gun runners into Mexico and around the United States is overwhelming. So you take drug cartels, guns, and money, and you mix them together and you have violence in America and throughout the world. We have now abdicated to the gun manufacturers. I talk to other people in the world and they say, “You’re a civilized society, but you kill more people, and injure more people than the rest of the world.” I’m not talking about wars, I’m not talking about civil wars, or things like that, or ethnic violence, or religious violence. I’m just talking about day-to-day citizens. That’s what they wonder: “Why are you killing each other?” We’re a much more violent society. I get people on one end saying I should do this, I should do this, but an AK-47 in someone’s community—kinda frightening. Automatic weapons. The type of ammunition, the escalation of the
A map of Daley’s administration... 1995
2000
Amidst a financial crisis, Daley is given control of the city’s public schools.
Daley leads the largest overhaul of public housing in the US, replacing high rises with mixed income communities.
1998 1989
Construction begins on Millenium Park
Richard M. Daley is elected 54th mayor of Chicago.
2010 After 22 years in office, Daley announces he will not run for another term.
military machine that Eisenhower talked about. Be careful. It’s here to stay. It’s here until America decides to do something about it.
stand that. This police force is a good police force. But they have different strategies, so that’s what they work on. They have different strategies.
GC: I know that as mayor you were part of the Mayor’s Coalition Against Illegal Guns.
GC: And the legacy that you hope you and your family can leave for Chicago—
RD: Oh yes, for years.
RD: Well, no, you know this idea that everybody gets elected, they have to start sitting, writing on the wall “My Legacy.” You know, I don’t believe in that. You make decisions according to that time and...One thing you have to have: passion. You have to have honesty, and you have to be willing to make decisions. Take a risk. If you’re not, then it’s really boring.
GC: And this summer New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that it’s time for our leaders at the national level to stand up and get serious about guns. RD: Democrats are silent. Republicans are silent (taps pencil on table). GC: Why do you think that is?
GC: Then what would you say to people at the Harris School or any young people who are thinking of going into politics or public service in Chicago?
RD: Money interests in each one of them. GC: Do you agree with Mayor Bloomberg? RD: Oh yeah, I think it should’ve been a debate in this election. We should’ve heard from both candidates. We’ve had all these shootings in these schools, and religious institutions, and different things. But I don’t know. Maybe America is just immune to it. GC: How do you think you can help the country address these problems in your position as a teacher at the Harris School? RD: ...So money, pollsters, media. They decide the election. You don’t decide the election. They already carved you out. Such and such an age, you’re gonna vote that way. I don’t even have to know you, because we know how you’re gonna vote (laughs). GC: So why should young people be interested in politics if they’ve been carved out? RD: They have to change this. I don’t think polls should rule. I never believed the polls. I let my staff look at polls, but I would never look at them because I thought I should make my own mind up, or you try and convince me. Today, people look at pollsters and say, “Well, that’s it—we’re going this way.” I mean, that’s how life is. I’m not gonna change that... But maybe we don’t identify these issues with human beings anymore. You’d think with all the violence they saw in the schools, every university would be outraged about guns. Now they’re passing laws to carry guns in schools. You think of that. Just think of the reaction we’ve had. And that’s why the rest of the world looks at us and says, “We don’t like what they’re doing there.” GC: Was it hard for you to read about all of the violence in the city this summer? RD: Sure, it upsets everyone. You don’t want to be known, no one wants to be known as a murder capital. So you have to really work at it. We have a good police force, I just want to make sure people under-
RD: Go into the private sector, then go into the public sector. You have to go into the private sector. You have to see people thinking outside the box. Many times people get caught in, it could be even in private sector, people get caught in a cage. You’re here and you feel, “What am I sitting in this room all the time for?” I can’t talk to you anymore. So you go non-forprofit or into the private sector. Because the private sector has all public policy, they’re dealing with every issue that government has. Every issue the world has. We forget that. Then you learn from that, then you go into the public sector and find out, “When I go there, what change can I make here?” GC: I was reading that you created a partnership where students at Harris can do research for city agencies, especially Gary, Indiana. RD: Oh yeah, for years we did that. I believe no part of America should be forgotten and Gary has really been forgotten for 50 years. Why do we allow that to happen? Why do we allow that in America? Why do we allow that? There are cities like that all over. So it isn’t government doing something—it’s just getting a whole new idea of looking at cities differently, and not looking at the way government looks at it. You have to look at it differently. GC: And what do you hope students can get out of it? RD: The real experience of basically evaluating the policy. Maybe the policy is wrong. Then eventually making a decision on how we can do this. How we can do it within our means, how do we raise the money, how do we look at the budget, how do we look at their policies. It’s only about 80,000 people left in Gary. And look at the historical aspects of Gary, what it meant, what it can be in the future. What can it be? You go to Bilbao in Spain, and everybody thought it was an old industrial town, and now it’s a great museum, Bilbao. Shows you can change it just like that. Something happens. You can change it. Interview has been condensed and edited.
I believe no part of America should be forgotten and Gary has really been forgotten for 50 years.
Fall 2012