2
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
CELEBRATE THE LAUNCH OF A NEW UCHICAGO INITIATIVE
THE NEUBAUER COLLEGIUM FOR CULTURE AND SOCIETY a special event with internationally acclaimed artist
WILLIAM KENTRIDGE LISTENING TO THE IMAGE
accompanied by guests from Lyric Opera of Chicago
THURSDAY, OCT 3, 2013 6–7:30 p.m. MANDEL HALL
Opening remarks by Join us again
Robert J. Zimmer President, University of Chicago
FRIDAY, OCT 4 5–6:30 p.m.
David Nirenberg
REGENSTEIN LIBRARY, ROOM 122
Director, Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society
for a discussion with
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
William Kentridge & Jane Taylor Virtues of Bastardy: Mixed Metaphors and Collaborations in the Studio moderated by
David Nirenberg Reception to follow
1100 East 57th Street, JRL 203 Chicago IL 60637
773.702.6030
Information and RSVP at
neubauercollegium.uchicago.edu UChiCollegium
3
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS P. 4
Welcome Home Familiarize yourself with our campus traditions before fourth years convince you that skinny dipping in the Law School’s reflecting pool is one of them. University History (P. 4) • Campus Traditions (P. 5) • Campus Controversies (P. 6)
The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892.
Editors-in-Chief
P. 8
Top of the Ivory Tower As far as University hierarchy goes, you’re entering at the bottom and these people are at the top. Administration (P. 8) • Trustees (P. 8) • Alumni (P. 10) • Career Advancement (P. 11) • Institute of Politics (P. 11)
P. 12
Adaptation New habitat, new population, new germs—what could possibly go wrong? Guide to Dorms (P. 12) • Roommates (P. 14) • Student Health (P. 14) • Religion (P. 14)
Rebecca Guterman Sam Levine Managing Editor
Emily Wang
Cover Photo
Jamie Manley Design
Whining and Dining The unlimited meal plan sounds like paradise now, but in two weeks you’ll be avoiding Bartlett at all cost. Here’s a guide to get the most out of Campus dining. Dining Halls (P. 18) • Campus coffee shops (P. 18) • Eating Around Hyde Park (P. 20)
P. 22
Student Groups What do a film society, a radio station, a newspaper, a circus, and a scavenger hunt have in common? They’re all run entirely by students at UChicago. Journalism (P. 22) • Student Activism (P. 24) • Student Government (P. 25) • LGBTQ (P. 27) • Greek Life (P. 27) • Cinema (P. 28) • Theater (P. 28) • Music (P. 29) • Art (P. 30) • A Capella (P. 31)
P. 32
Back to the Stacks We’ll take you through a day in the life of a scholar: morning coffee, classes, lunch coffee, office hours, afternoon coffee, quality library time, dinner coffee... The Core (P. 32) • Professors (P. 32) • Majors (P. 33) • Libraries (P. 36) • Bookstores (P. 37)
P. 39
Notes from the field Did you know that the Maroons were once a sports powerhouse, helping found the Big Ten and home to the first Heisman Trophy? See how we’ve fared since then... Athletics History (P. 39) • Varsity Sports (P. 43) • Club Sports (P. 44) • Intramurals (P. 44)
P. 45
The City Not many top colleges can call a city like Chicago home. Here are some ideas to make the most out of what’s in your backyard. Town vs. Gown (P. 45) • Transportation (P. 45) • Harper Court and 53rd Street Development (P. 47) • The South Side (P. 47) • Politics (P. 48) • How to Vote (P. 48) • Sports (P. 49) • Theater (P. 50) • Art (P. 51) • Cinema (P. 51) • City Dining (P. 52)
P. 54
The UChicago Dictionary Before you can walk the walk, you have to learn how to talk the talk— and the University of Chicago runs with a lingo all its own.
Alan Hassler Jen Xia Ben Zigterman
Colin Bradley Web
P. 18
Copy Editing
Kevin Wang
Business
Tyronald Jordan
NOTE FROM THE EDITORS There is no place on earth like the University of Chicago. Whether its students are building a cocktail-making piano, discussing Marx over a beer at a party, or streaking across the quads in the middle of January, we guarantee that in your time here you will see something unexpected that will cause you to look at the world—or at least the kid in your Hum class—a little differently. Even as we put these pages together, we began to see things a little differently. With each article we read, we learned something new about this university and this city that has been our home for three years. We now better understand why we are constantly writing about tense community relations and how in the world the first Heisman Trophy was given to a student here. Rebecca discovered restaurants she wished she tried before turning vegetarian her first year; Sam uncovered layers of history as we revised the dictionary page. And we were both reminded of how rich and varied this area really is, and how important it is to start getting to know it, well, ASAP. In these pages, our staff has shared a few of the things that make this place unique, but also what makes it so complex. It’s the stuff that you can’t really get from the other million introductory pamphlets, brochures, letters, and magazines you’re receiving, and we’re counting on you to sort through it all—after all, you did get into UChicago. Let’s keep this short, because you have a lot to skim, peruse, thumb through, and we want the Maroon to be part of that. We know these pages will satisfy if you give them a chance. Whether you’re an incoming first-year, second-year starting to feel at home, thirdyear excited to come back to school, or fourth-year apprehensive about leaving it—dig in. Rebecca Guterman & Sam Levine Editors-in-Chief
4
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
WELCOME HOME UNIVERSITY HISTORY Don’t know much about history? Here’s an accelerated class on 120 years of bomb making and Core creating
1892 First classes held on October 1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is published later that month.
1935 Jay Berwanger wins the firstever Heisman Trophy. Four years later, Chicago discontinues varsity football and Berwanger uses his trophy as a doorstop.
1942 On December 2, Enrico Fermi and a team of scientists create the first nuclear chain reaction underneath Stagg Field.
1976 Milton Friedman (A.M. ’33) wins the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his contributions to monetary theory. He retires one year later.
1999 During Mother’s Day weekend, a team of students construct a nuclear reactor from scratch in the name of Scav and Fermi.
2004 Barack Obama leaves his 12year post at the Law School to successfully run for Senate.
Throughout the illustrious history of the University of Chicago, students have read the “Great Books,” the Core texts of Western civilizations. They read lines like this, from Hegel: “What experience and history teach is this—that nations and governments have never learned anything from history.” Or this, from Aristotle: “Poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.” Or Marx’s suggestion that if history repeats itself, then it does so “the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.” Yet despite warnings like these which we encounter in Hum and Sosc, the editors of this periodical, a historical animal of its own, insist upon embracing each coming wave of first-year undergraduates with a university history, and so, dear first-years, here we lie it down for you to do with it what you will. The phoenix emblazoned on your new scarves and T-shirts truly emblematizes a rocky start to our German university on its English campus—long before the gargoyles mounted their posts. The University of Chicago as we know it today rose from the ashes of the Old University of Chicago, a failed attempt by Stephen A. Douglas and a group of wealthy Chicagoans to create a Baptist institution of higher education in the Midwest. After the doors closed in 1886, John D. Rockefeller was recruited to lend his philanthropic genius (oil money) to the cause. With educational visionary William Rainey Harper (of Harper Memorial Library fame) at the helm, and Rockefeller’s cash in the bank, the University of Chicago now just needed a home. Hyde Park was a small resort town along Lake Michigan, only incorporated into Chicago in 1889. The semi-urban, semi-provincial setting was destined to play host to a university forever torn between academic isolationism and cosmopolitan pragmatism; UChicago held its first classes here in 1892. Founded primarily as a research institution, the reborn UChicago featured a very small undergraduate population cast in more of a supporting role: Undergrads paid tuition to help fund long-term research projects and the army of graduate students that
greased the wheels. The struggle between which cohort—graduate or undergraduate—should be the most important has lingered for over a century. Almost unimaginable today, the UChicago of the early days was frat and football happy. Amos Alonzo Stagg, leader of the original “Monsters of the Midway” (before the Chicago Bears adopted the team’s nickname and logo), was the first to conceive of building a school’s reputation with a big-name football team. Star Maroon halfback Jay Berwanger won the first Heisman Trophy in 1935, and went on to be the first pick in the very first NFL draft. Enter Robert Maynard Hutchins. Only 30 years old at the time, Hutchins ascended to the presidency in 1929. An adamant supporter of a strong undergraduate program, he took steps to build ours into one of the best in the nation. He created an official administration for the College, and instituted a two-year Core curriculum shared by all students, who then were fed into the professional schools. Incidentally, we also have Hutchins to blame—or praise—for shutting down UChicago’s Big Ten football program. A year into his presidency, Hutchins and friend Mortimer Adler instituted the famous Great Books program. While the intentions precipitating its creation remain controversial, the program was alternately a first-year seminar course, an adult education program, and a widely distributed set of hardcovers published by Encyclopedia Britannica. Despite popular assumptions to the contrary, the program was never the basis of the Core curriculum. Today Hutchins’ legacy has one glaring blemish, outgrown from his persisting desire to instill a love of classics and the humanistic great books: the Hutchins College, a four-year common curriculum spanning what are usually the last two years of high school and first two of college. As a result of the radical curriculum shift, perhaps immature students, and the draft for World War II, undergraduate enrollment plummeted, destined to remain depressed through most of the second half of the twentieth century. But in the early ’90s a biking bandit (alias: John W. Boyer) burst onto the
scene brandishing a beacon of redevelopment for the undergraduate body. Boyer’s tenure as Dean of the College has seen more than just the construction of the yet-to-be-formally-named South Campus dormitory, and the yet-to-be-formallybuilt-or-named Campus North dormitory. He has also revamped the study abroad program and greatly expanded the career advising services, including the Jeff Metcalf Fellows program, which began in 1997—all with an eye toward insulating the undergraduate population in the warm embrace of academic paternalism (or, if you prefer, Mansueto Library). And so this is where you enter in the illustrious history of the University of Chicago: in the midst of an undergraduate explosion bolstered largely by the efforts of Dean Boyer and admissions and financial aid guru James Nondorf. And now—yes, so soon—it is time to begin to reflect on the relationship you will take up toward this history. Many voices in your house lounges and dining halls and coffee shops will remember Pierce Tower, the swimming test, and the Obama rally on the Midway. A select few might recall the Shoreland dorm of yore, or the regrettable “Springtime Strip” column published in this newspaper. Faculty and administrators may recall the downsizing of the Core in the ’90s, or the infamous occupation of the administration building in the ’60s. (Dean Boyer’s annual historical monographs remember quite a lot.) But precious few probably remember the debate before Doc Films projected its first digital film, or when the editors of the Maroon were censored during the Manhattan Project, or who won the first broomball match held on campus. No, these invaluable histories, and others I couldn’t possibly know anything about, are left for you to discover. Brilliant, bold, disturbed, and inventive people have taken in that sharp stab of February chill as they walked across the main quads, books in tow, perverse ideas percolating in the brain. The traces and inscriptions they have left are, fortunately, much more permanent than a footprint in fresh powder. —Colin Bradley
5
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
CAMPUS TRADITIONS After your first quarter at UChicago, most of your friends will approach you with a very serious question about the school you’ve chosen to attend: “Is it really where fun goes to die?” While UChicago wasn’t included on The Princeton Review’s list of top 20 party schools this year, there are still several traditions that spice up the life of the mind.
Kuviasungnerk Kangeiko (Kuvia)
verse’s fundamental question: Which is the superior food, the latke or the hamentaschen? Those who have debated the merits of the traditional Jewish potato pancakes and cookies have ranged from professors who went on to be top advisors to President Barack Obama to philosophers to biologists. The event is so popular that when it was in jeopardy last year after staff changes at Hillel, students from the AEPi fraternity stepped in to organize the debate. Overheard at the Latke-Hamentaschen debate: “True philosophy leads to the latke.”
Overheard during Summer Breeze: “Why isn’t every weekend like this?”
Polar Bear Run In the afternoon of the last day of Kuvia, in the freezing cold, a group of students gather in Harper and take off all of their clothes. No, they aren’t University Theater performers experimenting with existential performance art: They’re getting ready to run from Harper Memorial Library to Hull Gate in nothing but their birthday suits. Students line the walkway and cheer on their friends in a gauntlet of speed, bravery, and shrinkage. Overheard during Polar Bear Run: “I’ll never look at him the same way again.”
Heaven and Hell Hosted by the Delta Upsilon (DU) fraternity, and called one of the most popular college parties in the country by The New York Times, the Heaven and Hell party is no Dante’s Inferno. DU divides the three different floors in its house into heaven, purgatory, and hell for the dance floor, decorating each level accordingly. Apparently, the $10 that students shell out for the event does not cover alcohol; a DU spokesperson has said in the past that the fraternity has a zero-tolerance policy for underage drinking. Overheard at Heaven and Hell: “I heard that there’s a long line for the bathroom in heaven, so I’m just going to hang out in purgatory and see how things shake out.”
Latke-Hamentaschen Debate For one evening during each of the last 66 years, some of the University’s most brilliant faculty have come together to debate the uni-
For the past 27 years, hundreds of students have spent four days in May working together to build anything from a nuclear reactor to quirky octopus sweaters in a campus-wide scavenger hunt. The weekend can be polarizing—diehard Scavvies are known for skipping classes, showers, and sleep, while other students avoid the hunt altogether. Teams generally consist of houses banded together in an effort to find or construct the most items possible from a topsecret list compiled by a team of mysterious Scav judges. Among the 318 items on last year’s list were an aquagraphic water curtain, Glenn Beck’s interpretation of Glee, and functioning piano stairs. A team consisting of students from Pierce, Stony Island, Broadview, MacLean and Max Palevsky won last year, taking the crown from Snell-Hitchcock, which has won five of the last seven hunts. Scav has also garnered attention beyond the University; the 2012 hunt was profiled in The New Yorker, and in 2011 Scav officially took the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest scavenger hunt, snatching the title from a few hundred Canadian school children. Overheard during Scav: “Does anyone have connections at the South Pole?”
Summer Breeze
Loving/Hating the Core
Bonanza
Legend has it that Einstein Bros. Bagels could move into the Reynolds Club only on the condition that they sold $1 milkshakes each week, a tradition established in the prior coffee shop. Years of inflation later, there’s consistently a line of students stretching out the door every Wednesday— more commonly referred to as Shake Day. Different flavors are served from morning to night, so it’s best to schedule your whole day around when they’ll be giving out cookies and cream. Overheard at Shake Day: “Are these really milkshakes?”
You knew about it when you applied here, and you knew about it when you decided to attend, but you won’t truly understand the Core until you’re up at 3 a.m. writing a Sosc paper on Durkheim, surviving on a sugar rush from Bart Mart gummy bears and Red Bull. The Core can be what you make of it; writing seminars can be an opportunity to work closely with your Hum TA, or to peer-edit the work of that cute classmate that sits across from you. Before it’s all over, you will have six classes in the humanities, six in math and sciences, and three in social sciences under your belt. Those courses, in addition to the language requirements, will teach you how to approach ideas that you completely don’t understand and how to casually drop Foucault and Freud into conversation. If you think the Core is bad, you’re lucky that the University dropped its swimming and P.E. requirements last year. Overheard while loving/hating the Core: “My parents have never heard of any of the writers I’m reading.”
Being Socially Awkward
T-shirt Slogans
Hosted by the wrestling team on the day of Summer Breeze, students drink so much that they have absolutely no idea where they are by the time they show up for the concert. If you have yet to drink vodka from a mini ice luge, Bonanza is your chance. Overheard at Bonanza: “Where am I?”
Shake Day
Scav Hunt
To be considered a UChicago student, it’s almost a requirement to be so sleep deprived and mentally checked out that you end up worshiping pagan gods. If you’re not quite there yet, Kuvia is COUP’s helping hand. Held at Henry Crown Field House for a week in January, students wake up before sunrise, braving the cold to dance, do yoga, and do martial arts together. The exercises are supposed to help students keep their minds sharp in the dead of winter. The weeklong festival—named after the Inuit word for “pursuit of happiness” (kuviasungnerk) and Japanese samurai exercises (kangeiko)— concludes with a walk to the Point. Assuming you survive, you are rewarded with a chic Kuvia shirt, a hot beverage, and donuts. Overheard during Kuvia: “I’ve gotten more sleep this week than I usually do.”
tears of joy.”
Houses often raise money for bonding events by selling T-shirts with the University logo on the front and a self-deprecating slogan on the back. Regularly sold during prospective student weekends, the shirts make parents think twice before sending their children to UChicago. Some of the most famous slogans are “Where fun goes to die,” “Hell does freeze over,” and “Where the only thing that goes down on you is your GPA.” But, as you’ll hear again and again, don’t take them seriously; the only thing the slogans reflect is the wit of the student body. Overheard while selling self-deprecating T-shirts: “It’s funny because it’s true.”
Bar Night
If you’re walking across the quads and someone from class avoids eye contact with you, don’t take it personally. UChicago students may be able to do delta-epsilon proofs and understand complex price models, but small talk isn’t always their forte. Take any chance you can get to talk to new people. Even if it takes a little coaxing, they’re probably just as eager to talk to you. Overheard being socially awkward: “Do you want another beer, or would you rather talk about the problem set?”
Don’t Step on the Seal After months of hibernation, students celebrate the arrival of spring with the Summer Breeze festival. Hosted in May by the Major Activities Board (MAB) and the Council on University Programming (COUP), the festival features a carnival with tons of free food, rides, and games and a huge concert in the evening. Rapper Nelly headlined last year’s concert, with supporting acts from Lunice and the Smith Westerns. Crystal Castles, Nas, Spoon, Broken Social Scene, Run DMC, Psychedelic Furs, and U2 have played at the concert in the past. Unless you live in a frat, there’s no other way to get free cotton candy, go to a beer garden on campus, and ride a mechanical bull in one day.
In the Reynolds Club lobby sits a gold version of the University seal. The legend goes that if you step on the seal, you won’t graduate in four years. While it might seem annoying to avoid the seal at first, you’ll soon find yourself snickering at the hundreds of prospective students who step on the seal during their tours, dooming their fate at the University. Spoiler alert: The tradition was started by faculty who didn’t want students to wear away the engraving. Overheard while stepping on the seal: “I don’t know if these are tears of sadness or
Every Wednesday night, students rush to finish their homework early (or skip it altogether) so that they can go to Bar Night at Alpha Delta Phi. Held in the fraternity’s basement, students can enjoy beer and other drinks for less than $5. It’ll leave your clothes reeking of cigarette smoke and is the reason why no one will show up to your 8:30 class on Thursday morning. Overheard at Bar Night: “Was that my TA?” —Sam Levine
6
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Campus Controversies
BRINGING THE HEAT
Blood can still boil when it’s 10 degrees below—here are just a few things that did the trick last year.
Every campus has its problems, and this article is a crash course in ours. These controversies from the past year are more than likely going to linger on campus this year, so here’s how they started. The first event to spark ire in student activists last year began with four arrests during protests in February in support of bringing a Level 1 adult trauma center to the South Side, which would treat penetrative wounds like gunshots around the clock at the new Center for Care and Discovery. Members of the RSO Students for Health Equity (SHE) co-staged a demonstration on January 27, which ended in the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) arresting graduate student Toussaint Losier, Alex Goldenberg (A.B. ’06), a cameraman with the Anti-Eviction Campaign, and a high school student. All four were charged with trespassing on University of Chicago Medical Center property, although the charges against the high school student were later dropped. Losier was also charged with resisting arrest, which was ultimately dropped at his late February hearing. Throughout February, SHE and community organization Fearless Leading by the Youth (FLY) held a number of demonstrations, and during one, discovered a UCPD detective working undercover. The detective marched with protesters holding a sign and placed a sticker over her mouth in solidarity with demonstrators outside President Robert Zimmer’s house. A photographer captured images of the detective’s phone while she was texting a superior officer during the march, who was mentioned by both his name and title. This incident prompted a campus-wide e-mail from Provost Thomas Rosenbaum and Zimmer, who condemned the actions of the detective and promised an external investigation into the actions of UCPD officers during both this protest and an earlier one on January
27. The superior officer who ordered the detective to work undercover was summarily fired. The external review, released May 20, found no wrongdoing on the part of other officers or UChicago officials under current University policies. Many student activist groups had perceived Losier’s arrest as evidence of racial profiling by campus police, a situation that echoed tensions from 2010 when a black student was arrested in Regenstein Library for criminal trespassing and resisting arrest after refusing to show his UCID. During spring quarter, the issue of diversity on campus was exacerbated when a Facebook page popped up entitled “Politically Incorrect UChicago Confessions,” with submission guidelines that read, “racism, homophobia, prejudice, offensiveness, etc. in all forms is welcome.” This prompted a torrent of responses that led to an Office of Multicultural Student Affairs (OMSA) forum in which students expressed frustration that administrators were ineffective in dealing with similar problems. Many of the original controversial comments were removed, but the page remains active, rebranded as “Politically Incorrect Maroon Confessions.” In response to accumulating diversity concerns, administrators launched RISE (Reflect. Intervene. Speak. Engage.), with programming that will continue into this year. During Student Government (SG) elections last spring, two slates were accused of campaigning before the election began, and one of the slates was accused of sabotaging another. The accusations were brought before the SG Election and Rules Committee (E&R), which by the end of the campaign had issued three major and two minor vote penalties to one slate, and none to the other. A Community and Government Liaison candidate was accused of illegally recording and distributing a conversation with a member of
—Madhu Srikantha
WRITE.
DESIGN.
DRAW.
E&R, and was disqualified, giving the position to a write-in candidate. During the elections, E&R itself came under heat, as students within and outside SG complained that the committee deliberations were not publicly available, as required under SG bylaws. The complaints resulted in the publication of E&R’s complaints database and meeting minutes, and will mold reforms this fall. On May 29 the delivery of 79 boxes to the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house to a recipient named “Reggin Toggaf ” by a black mail carrier created outrage on campus. Read backwards, the name is a racial and homosexual epithet. The mail carrier reported the story to the Chicago Sun-Times, blaming the fraternity and accusing them of playing a racist prank on him. According to fourth-year Phi Delt brother Piotr Wilk, no members of the fraternity had been contacted by the Sun-Times to corroborate the story. The brothers—who received a bomb threat after the Sun-Times story was published—say they were the victims of an anonymous prank, a claim supported by the national organization’s initial investigation, and apologized to the mail carrier. Over the summer, as part of renovations to the Reynolds Club and an overhaul of the organization of RSO advisers, administrators planned to downsize the student-run cafe Hallowed Grounds in favor of cubicles for RSO advising. As of August 3 when the Maroon broke the story, administrators were planning to get rid of the refrigerators and majority of the seating area. After vocal objections from the student body, including a private letter from Student Government and a 1200-signature petition, the University decided to halt the reconfiguration until they gather more student input this fall.
COPY EDIT.
SEEKING WRITERS, DESIGNERS, COPY EDITORS, CARTOONISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS Have what it takes to make the Maroon Staff? Contact us: editor@chicagomaroon.com
7
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
HYDE PARK’S
BIGGEST
The Blessing of the Backpacks (and other various & sundry implements of academic enterprise)
Wednesday, October 2, 6:00 PM For centuries the church has blessed nearly everything. Your time has come! Bring your backpacks, laptops, cell and smart phones, iPads, calculators, planners, and other academic tools to this special service at the beginning of a new academic year. Be our guest for a free vegetarian supper afterwards. Your RSVP helps us plan: office@brenthouse.org or 773-947-8744. Worship and supper every Sunday during the academic quarter at 5:30 pm. Afternoon Tea and evening programming most Wednesdays. Simple celebration of the Eucharist on Thursdays at noon in Bond Chapel.
BRENT The Episcopal Center at the University of Chicago House 5540 South Woodlawn Avenue • Chicago, IL 60637 • 773/947-8744 Fall calendar at www.brenthouse.org or facebook.com/brent.house.chicago
South Shore Opera Company of Chicago invites you to attend the Chicago Premiere of
Troubled Island An opera by
William Grant Still Libretto by Langston Hughes
Saturday, October 19, 2013 at 6:00 pm South Shore Cultural Center, Robeson Theater 7059 South Shore Drive, Chicago Tickets $100, $50, $35. ($100 includes a post-opera celebration including dinner- please purchase by October 13.)
Tickets: southshoreopera.org or 773.723.4627 Information: opera@southshoreopera.org.
Troubled Island chronicles revolution, the birth of a Black
nation, and a charismatic leader’s epic fall from grace. The world premiere marked the first time a major company produced an opera by a Black composer. Not since 1949 has this masterwork been staged with orchestral accompaniment. Leslie Dunner conducts a chamber orchestra adaptation specially commissioned by South Shore Opera in celebration of its 5th Anniversary, with an all-star cast.
Come experience this forgotten masterpiece!
SOURCE FOR YOUR KITCHEN & HOUSEWARE NEEDS
-POTS AND PANS -GLASSWARE -DISHES/UTENSILS -COFFEE MAKERS -TEA BREWERS -SERVICE PIECES -BAKING SUPPLIES -BROOMS/MOPS -CLEANING ITEMS -FRENCH SOAPS -AND MUCH MORE
x x x x x
BODUM CUISINART HENKEL OXO ALL CLAD
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK! facebook.com/freehlingpotandpan
LARGEST SELECTION OF LOOSE TEAS & COFFEES RD
1365 E 53 STREET TEL: 773-643-8080
OPEN MON – SAT 10AM – 6PM
8
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
TOP OF THE IVORY TOWER EYES ON THE ADMINISTRATION... While RHs and professors may facilitate some of your day-to-day activities, the UChicago administrators are at the top of the food chain when it comes to both your life at the University and the life of the University itself With all the deans, vice presidents, associate deans, and other seemingly unnecessarily long titles, the University administration can be a confusing structure to navigate. Luckily, there are a few basics that can make the bureaucratic web a little more comprehensible. Generally speaking, the 55-member Board of Trustees is in charge of broad, long-term issues, while the president, vice presidents, and deans are the ones in charge of the day-to-day operations. They have a lot of power— your professor can’t expel you, while administrators can through a formal process—but also have to put students first. For example, if you’re taken to the E.R. for alcohol poisoning, Dean of Students Susan Art might let you off with a stern warning but with no further action. President Robert Zimmer is right under the Board of Trustees, but for all intents and purposes is at the top of the food chain. After more than 20 years of service to the University as a mathematics professor and administrator, he was inaugurated in 2006 as the University’s 13th president. Since then, Zimmer has overseen continuous growth, from the Institute of Politics headed by David Axelrod (A.B. ’76) to the sky-high Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. During his tenure, financial aid programs and a host of other services for local students under the umbrella of UChicago Promise launched last fall. But the scope of his vision is greater than the confines of the UChicago campus. The past years have witnessed the creation of a new study abroad center in Beijing, the relocation of the Asia M.B.A. program from Singapore to Hong Kong, and, closer to home, the implementation of Planned Development 43 (a city zoning document guiding how the University can use its land), which has sparked mixed reactions among Hyde Park natives who want to preserve the community. The construction of Harper Court, which has brought Five Guys, a 24-hour Clarke’s diner, Akira, Harper Theater, Kilwins, to the area and promises restaurants like Chipotle, Native Foods, Ja’ Grill, Park Tavern, and a boutique Hyatt in the near future, has forged ahead under Zimmer as well. Provost Thomas Rosenbaum is broadly in charge of academic programs including the College, graduate and undergraduate schools and divisions, the library, Urban Education Institute, Smart Museum, and Oriental Institute. All deans on campus ultimately report to Rosenbaum—whether it be Dean of the Pritzker School of Medicine Kenneth Polonsky or Dean of the Humanities Division Martha Roth—and his office is also tasked with
...AND THE TRUSTEES
efforts to increase diversity and improve campus child care. One of the administrators reporting directly to Rosenbaum is also arguably the most visible to undergraduates, Dean of the College John Boyer (A.M. ’69, Ph.D. ’75). Always recognizable by his cropped mustache and infectious appreciation for the University of Chicago, he can be spotted leading annual bike tours of Chicago or walking through the quads in a dapper suit. A pillar and unofficial historian of the U of C scene, he helps the Core live up to its reputation and gives occasional “fireside chats” at campus gatherings. He’s also responsible for study abroad programs, which have recently undergone significant changes, including the shuttering of the Cape Town Civilizations program and the addition of a study abroad program in Istanbul. Boyer is the longest-serving dean of the College, holding that position longer than most first-years have been alive (since 1992), and is also the Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor in History. If you’re interested in UChicago history, read one of Boyer’s monographs—he’s written 17 of them. As for student well-being, the two top administrators closest to students’ everyday lives are newly appointed Vice President for Campus Life Karen Warren Coleman, responsible for dining, housing, and other extracurricular concerns, and Art, who is responsible for general health and happiness of students and also plays a role in disciplining students who break University rules. Warren Coleman was appointed to her position in June 2012, replacing Kimberly Goff-Crews. Warren Coleman, who had been Associate Vice President for Campus Life since 2009, took over Goff-Crews’s vice presidential title, while former Bryn Mawr dean Michele Rasmussen took over the Dean of Students role, starting in July. Art works closely with Warren Coleman and Boyer, and is in charge of the academic advising program. Although every student has his or her own opinion about the receptiveness of the administration, you get back what you put into it, just as in any other facet of life at the College. If you want your voice to be heard, don’t pass up the opportunity to attend regular coffee and doughnut meetings with President Zimmer or forums with members of the Board of Trustees. After all, the staff of the Maroon can only badger them so much.
Painting the broad strokes of the University’s mission is the Board of Trustees: the uppermost echelon of University governance. This 55-member group includes University President Robert Zimmer as well as prominent alums and industry leaders, who stand several steps away from the day-to-day handlings of the University and its students. Its main charge is to navigate the long-term direction of the University, and to foster a wider nexus of support for the University beyond campus confines. In addition to selecting the University president, provosts, vice presidents, and other trustees, the Board oversees the UChicago budget and raises funds for large capital projects. Big-ticket items such as the building of the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts and the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society have been largely enabled by multimilliondollar gifts from different trustees. The current chairman Andrew Alper (A.B. ’80, M.B.A. ’81) led one such campaign, “The Chicago Initiative,” which pooled $2.38 billion in gifts from 117,700 individuals, families, and organizations between 2000 and 2008—the largest capital campaign in the University’s history. The campaign greatly altered the physical landscape of the University both on campus (think Max Palevsky, Ratner, and Mansueto) and beyond (Urban Education Institute and UChicago Center in Paris). Alper, who comes from a finance background at Goldman Sachs, is the fourth alumnus of the College to serve as chairman of the board. Connecting the board with the student body at large are the Graduate Liaison and Undergraduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees, elected each spring by the student body. While these students do not have voting powers—a fact that is hotly contended and was a major tenet of third-year and Undergraduate Liaison Brendan Leonard’s campaign platform—they do advocate for different student perspectives directly with trustees. Additionally, a few luncheons are held each year to provide select students a chance to speak with selected trustees oneon-one. In addition to the debate over student voting powers, the board has also had to address ongoing calls for greater transparency. The board is split into 11 standing committees ranging from Campus and Student Life to Financial Planning, but the composure of each committee is not made publicly available, nor their meeting records. In 2007, Zimmer appointed a Harvard administrator to the position of Secretary of the University, in part to address said transparency concerns, and nascent SG representatives often aim to ameliorate the perceived disconnect between the Board and students.
—Rebecca Guterman
—Joy Crane
9
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
ok, so my subs really aren't gourmet and we're not french either. my subs just taste a little better, that's all! I wanted to call it jimmy john's tasty sandwiches, but my mom told me to stick with gourmet. She thinks whatever I do is gourmet, but i don't think either of us knows what it means. so let's stick with tasty!
Established in Charleston, IL in 1983 to add to students GPA and general dating ability.
8" SUB SANDWICHES All of my tasty sub sandwiches are a full 8 inches of homemade French bread, fresh veggies and the finest meats & cheese I can buy! And if it matters to you, we slice everything fresh everyday in this store, right here where you can see it. (No mystery meat here!)
#1 PEPE® Real applewood smoked ham and provolone cheese garnished with lettuce, tomato, and mayo.
#2 BIG JOHN® Medium rare choice roast beef, topped with yummy mayo, lettuce, and tomato.
#3 TOTALLY TUNA® Fresh housemade tuna, mixed with celery, onions, and our tasty sauce, then topped with cucumber, lettuce, and tomato. (My tuna rocks!)
#4 TURKEY TOM® Fresh sliced turkey breast, topped with lettuce, tomato, sliced cucumber, and mayo. (The original)
#5
VITO®
The original Italian sub with genoa salami, provolone, capicola, onion, lettuce, tomato, & a real tasty Italian vinaigrette. (Hot peppers by request)
#6 VEGETARIAN Layers of provolone cheese separated by real avocado spread, sliced cucumber, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. (Truly a gourmet sub not for vegetarians only . . . . . . . . . . . peace dude!)
PLAIN SLIMS
Any Sub minus the veggies and sauce
slim slim slim slim slim slim
1 2 3 4 5 6
Ham & cheese Roast Beef Tuna salad Turkey breast Salami, capicola, cheese Double provolone
Low Carb Lettuce Wrap ®
JJ UNWICH
Same ingredients and price of the sub or club without the bread.
JIMMY TO GO ® CATERING DELIVERY ORDERS will include a delivery charge per item.
TW YM NL J // NSF ¹8 Q
+ + JIMMYJOHNS.COM + +
+ Soda Pop
+ Real potato chips or jumbo kosher dill pickle + Extra load of meat + Extra cheese or extra avocado spread + Hot Peppers
freebies (subs & clubs only) Onion, lettuce, tomato, mayo, sliced cucumber, Dijon mustard, oil & vinegar, and oregano.
My club sandwiches have twice the meat or cheese, try it on my fresh baked thick sliced 7-grain bread or my famous homemade french bread!
A full 1/4 pound of real applewood smoked ham, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, & real mayo!
#8 BILLY CLUB® Choice roast beef, smoked ham, provolone cheese, Dijon mustard, lettuce, tomato, & mayo.
#9 ITALIAN NIGHT CLUB® Real genoa salami, Italian capicola, smoked ham, and provolone cheese all topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, and our homemade Italian vinaigrette. (You hav'ta order hot peppers, just ask!)
#10 HUNTER’S CLUB® A full 1/4 pound of fresh sliced medium rare roast beef, provolone, lettuce, tomato, & mayo.
#11 COUNTRY CLUB® Fresh sliced turkey breast, applewood smoked ham, provolone, and tons of lettuce, tomato, and mayo! (A very traditional, yet always exceptional classic!)
#12 BEACH CLUB® Fresh baked turkey breast, provolone cheese, avocado spread, sliced cucumber, lettuce, tomato, and mayo! (It's the real deal, and it ain't even California.)
#13 GOURMET VEGGIE CLUB® Double provolone, real avocado spread, sliced cucumber, lettuce, tomato, & mayo. (Try it on my 7-grain whole wheat bread. This veggie sandwich is world class!)
#14 BOOTLEGGER CLUB®
+ sides + + Giant chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookie
GIANT club sandwiches #7 GOURMET SMOKED HAM CLUB
®
BOX LUNCHES, PLATTERS, PARTIES!
J.J.B.L.T.® Bacon, lettuce, tomato, & mayo. (The only better BLT is mama's BLT)
Corporate Headquarters Champaign, IL
THE J.J. GARGANTUAN® This sandwich was invented by Jimmy John's brother Huey. It's huge enough to feed the hungriest of all humans! Tons of genoa salami, sliced smoked ham, capicola, roast beef, turkey & provolone, jammed into one of our homemade French buns then smothered with onions, mayo, lettuce, tomato, & our homemade Italian dressing.
Roast beef, turkey breast, lettuce, tomato, & mayo. An American classic, certainly not invented by J.J. but definitely tweaked and fine-tuned to perfection!
#15 CLUB TUNA® The same as our #3 Totally Tuna except this one has a lot more. Fresh housemade tuna salad, provolone, cucumber, lettuce, & tomato.
#16 CLUB LULU® Fresh sliced turkey breast, bacon, lettuce, tomato, & mayo. (JJ's original turkey & bacon club)
#17 ULTIMATE PORKER™ Real applewood smoked ham and bacon with lettuce, tomato & mayo, what could be better!
WE DELIVER! 7 DAYS A WEEK TO FIND THE LOCATION NEAREST YOU VISIT JIMMYJOHNS.COM
"YOUR MOM WANTS YOU TO EAT AT JIMMY JOHN'S!" ® © 1 9 8 5 , 2 0 0 2 , 2 0 0 3 , 2 0 0 4 , 2 0 0 7 , 2 0 0 8 J I M M Y J O H N ’ S F R A N C H I S E , L L C A L L R I G H T S R E S E RV E D . We R e s e r ve T h e R i g h t To M a k e A n y M e n u Ch a n g e s .
10
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
FROM THE PAST Alumni Celebrities only UChicago could produce
NOTABLE QUOTABLES
“
When I was here at the U of C there were two things that were sort of lacking. One was any hint of sexual activity, the other was a route out of Hyde Park.
”
—David Brooks (A.B. ’83)
“
One of the things that frustrated me most when I came to the University of Chicago in 1972 was that we lived in one of the most interesting political environments and no one wanted to talk about it.
”
—David Axelrod (A.B. ’76)
“
Learning Shakespeare from [David] Bevington, it’s almost as good as learning Shakespeare from Shakespeare.
”
—Tucker Max (A.B. ’98)
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a game that challenges you to relate any actor to Kevin Bacon within six connections. If you were to repurpose this game as Six Degrees of UChicago, the mere decision to attend this school would connect you to the White House, the Nobel Prize, and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle— all within one or two degrees. While this does not guarantee that you will ever cross paths with any of the University’s heralded alumni, the knowledge that you will soon carry the same diploma as them can be somewhat comforting : By coming to the University of Chicago, you have made the same life choice as, for example, Nate Silver (A.B. ’00), known most recently for correctly predicting results of the 2012 presidential election in all 50 states. He’s no psychic: The sports and politics statistician has a history of number crunching right here in Hyde Park. While at UChicago, Silver majored in economics and spent his third year abroad at the London School of Economics. After a brief stint as an economic consultant, Silver went on to develop PECOTA, a statistical system that predicts the careers of baseball players, and then to run the blog FiveThirtyEight. Before writing for The New York Times and ESPN, his writing appeared in the Maroon and what is now the South Side Weekly. Silver isn’t the only one to have left a newspaper trail as an undergraduate: David Axelrod (A.B. ’76) wrote for the Hyde Park Herald and the Maroon during his four years as a political science major. While a student at the University, Axelrod recalls feeling “a kind of frustration” about the school’s lack of political conversation. “One of the things that frustrated me most when I came to the University of Chicago in 1972 was that we lived in one of the most interesting political environments and no one wanted to talk about it,” Axelrod told the Maroon last year. Since graduation, he has worn several
Studs Terkel (Ph.B. ’32, J.D. ’34)
hats in the political world, first as a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, and then as an advisor to Bill Clinton and one of the masterminds behind Barack Obama’s ascension to the White House. The lack of political opportunities available to Axelrod as a student inspired him to found the University’s Institute of Politics, where he currently serves as director. Silver and Axelrod join Pulitzer Prize– winning reporters David Broder (A.B. ’47, A.M. ’51) and Studs Terkel (Ph.B. ’32, J.D. ’34), as well as New York Times columnist David Brooks (A.B. ’83) as alums that have risen to the national spotlight in journalism. Award-winning composer Philip Glass (A.B. ’56), a Coulter House resident, arrived on campus at age 15 and attended Julliard after graduation. Afterward, he went on to lead the Philip Glass Ensemble, write operas, and compose music. He was nominated for Academy Awards for three film scores, and has had numerous documentaries made about him and his work. Another precocious student was writer, filmmaker, and human rights activist Susan Sontag (A.B.’51), who graduated from the University at age 18. She continued her studies in English and philosophy at Harvard University before penning numerous books, essays, and short stories. Many have found success in the entertainment industry. Tucker Max (A.B. ’98), the self-proclaimed “asshole,” wrote I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell and other works of “fratire.” History major Hayden Schlossberg (A.B. ’00) co-wrote Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle with Jon Hurwitz on campus as a fourth-year. Director Kimberly Peirce (A.B. ’90) is now known for Boys Don’t Cry and Stop-Loss. Philip Kaufman (A.B. ’58) directed the science-fiction thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and all three founders of The Second City, the improv theatre credited for discovering comedians like
Kimberly Peirce (A.B. ’90)
Bill Murray, Tina Fey, and Steve Carrell, attended UChicago. One of them, Bernard Sahlins (A.B. ’43), returned to the University to establish Off Off Campus. And then there are the alumni whose contributions are more difficult to categorize. William Cottrell (A.B. ’02) is currently serving a prison sentence for an act of ecoterrorism backed by the Earth Liberation Front. Though considered a “genius” by peers during his time at the University, Cottrell was also known for being the first member of the cross country team to go commando at the annual Regenstein streak. If you feel intimidated by these alumni— not to mention the 31 Nobel laureates the University has produced—fear no longer. For all of the success that those who have earned a diploma have achieved, there are also several people who didn’t even finish their degree who went on to great things. UChicago dropouts include film critic Roger Ebert (X ’70), director Mike Nichols (X ’53), and Nobel laureate and novelist Saul Bellow (X ’37), who transferred to Northwestern, but later returned to the University to teach. This short introduction to UChicago’s human history is meant as a token of affirmation. Take comfort in knowing that the Accomplished Adult you saw in the newspaper the other day once also drooled on the Harper tables. (Disclaimer: The University does not keep track of such matters; there is no physical record of anyone drooling in Harper, let alone important alumni. But let’s be honest: Who doesn’t nap in Harper, and who doesn’t drool?) If anything, this list of notable alumni is here to tell you one thing : No matter how many all-nighters you end up pulling— and no matter how much uncertainty you feel in the face of graduation—you can go on to do great things. —Kristin Lin
Saul Bellow (X ’37)
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
11
TO THE FUTURE Career Advancement The place that will make “UCI” the most useful acronym in your vocabulary
For most of you incoming first-years, Career Advancement (CA) is probably the last thing on your mind. Moving into college is enough to worry about, much less preparing for life after graduation. But CA will no doubt play an important part in your college career sooner or later—and about 80 percent of first-years last year had some interaction with it. CA is your source for (hopefully) meaningful part-time and summer employment opportunities, ranging from the hundreds of Metcalf internships—$4,000 for a summer—to the Summer Action and International Experience Grants—amounts vary. Formerly known as Career Advising and Planning Services (CAPS), the office was renamed last summer during its expansion and overhaul of the Web site.
Though the CA Web site may look nice, the one link that is hard to find but actually worth checking out is Chicago Career Connection (CCC), an online database where all of the available jobs and internships are listed, and a place where you will most likely end up spending more time than you’d like. Most notably, CA features nine “UChicago Careers In…” (UCI) divisions, which are pre-professional programs that offer counseling in specific fields of interest. Each has its own director, programming, and unique benefits including treks and networking. Last year, two new divisions in Education Professions and Entrepreneurship joined the ranks of UChicago Careers in Business; Health Professions; Journalism, Arts, & Media; Law; Public and Social Service; and Science and Technology.
All but two of the UCI divisions are accessible to everyone, by scheduling a meeting over the phone or simply walking into the CA office. However, both Business and Education Professions have selective admissions processes for structured programs. Keep an eye out for application deadlines in the spring. Health Professions and Public and Social Services also offer selective fellows programs that you can apply to later in your college career. Each program also hosts speakers, information sessions, and roundtables if minimal face time with an adviser is your goal. You’ll also get spammed with e-mails to sign up for Venture to Adventure in the fall and Steps to Success in winter, an informational event specifically for firstyears to talk to upperclassmen, of debat-
able usefulness. Hear from past attendees to get true insider perspectives. Before you can take advantage of the program-specific offerings, you must first be “activated” for on-campus recruiting. In order to do so, you will have to schedule a meeting with a CA adviser to look over your resume and register you in the CCC system. This can be your only encounter with an adviser if you want it to be, but some students develop ongoing relationships. Whether you desire constant support, walk-in help (the office is on the second floor of Ida Noyes), a practice job interview, cover letter editing, or help finding yourself, CA is there if you need it, gone if you don’t, and is probably worth a try at some point.
much too focused on electoral politics rather than policy. Others feel that the Institute has become inaccessible, with certain students having much more access to the visitors than others. There have also been complaints that the IOP simply hosts too many events. The Institute may be addressing one of those criticisms, according to Reisberg. He said that with no major elections coming up soon, the IOP hopes to focus more on policy to start this year. The IOP will host events this quarter centered around the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and a “Democracy Week” to look at overarching issues affecting democracy, such as voter rights, redistricting, and potentially judicial independence. But Reisberg said that the Institute doesn’t plan on abandoning electoral politics entirely, with programming planned this year for the 2014 Illinois gubernatorial election and federal midterm elections. Reisberg advised that incoming students start out by just attending IOP events and seeing what the Institute provides. For those who want to get inside right away, the IOP has both a Fellows Ambassador and Events Ambassador program. Fellows Ambassadors serve as assistants for the
fellows who are on campus for the entire quarter, while Events Ambassadors help out with the big-ticket speaker series events. Those more ambitious can apply at the end of this school year for the student advisory council, which Reisberg says “is in effect the student government of the Institute of Politics.” The IOP also sponsors the Political Union debate club and the Political Review magazine. The Union provides a forum for students to engage in political debate, with each debate being focused on one broad question. The debate is not between Democrats and Republicans, but rather between groups centered on different ideologies—Progressives form a different group than the Democratic Left, for instance. The Political Review, launching this year, will run political commentary and analysis by students. Those looking to get a taste of the IOP will not have to wait long; the IOP’s “capstone” event of Orientation Week will feature Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Thursday, and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is scheduled to speak at the end of October.
—Thomas Choi
Institute of Politics That’s all well and good in practice...but how does it work in theory?
UChicago prides itself on intellectualism for its own sake, but in recent years the University has added more pragmatic offerings to supplement its theory-heavy academics. The Institute of Politics (IOP), officially opened in January by Barack Obama’s former top advisor David Axelrod (A.B. ’76), provides some of the most fertile ground for students to get real-world experience in political life. The IOP, located at 5707 South Woodlawn Avenue, aims to expand students’ knowledge of politics and allow students to gain hands-on experience in the field. “I think our goal at the IOP is for students here at the University to become that much more engaged in the world around them,” said IOP Executive Director Darren Reisberg. “What we’d hope to see is students, after spending their four years as an undergraduate here, or their time as a graduate student, at least exploring careers in politics and public service at some point after they leave.” Last January, Axelrod told the Maroon that he wanted to create the Institute at UChicago in part because of the lack of political dialogue that existed when he was a student at the University. Axelrod has stressed that the IOP is nonpartisan and envisions it as an “ROTC for public service.”
The IOP has pursued this goal through three main programs: a speaker series, a fellows program, and internships. Its speaker series brings prominent politicians and influential figures to campus for a day or two, to give a talk on and sometimes meet with students about a particular issue. Past speakers have ranged from author Elie Wiesel to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The fellows program recruits a wide range of people involved in public service, journalism, and relevant fields to campus for an entire quarter. Fellows host weekly seminars on a particular issue, open to all students, for 10 weeks. Last year, fellows included former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, Jon Favreau, President Obama’s former chief speechwriter, and former Senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart. The Institute’s internship program gives students the opportunity to get involved in politics right away. In its first year, the IOP sponsored internships at the White House, the Southern Poverty Law Center, CNN, and the Republican Governor’s Association, among others. The IOP is not above reproach, however. Some claim that the programming to date has been
—Ankit Jain
12
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
THE DORMS Don’t bother comparing your new digs with the others; they’re all pretty miserable
BLACKSTONE
BRECKINRIDGE
BROADVIEW
BURTON-JUDSON
INTERNATIONAL HOUSE
MACLEAN
For those afraid that the isolation of a single room would turn them into axe murderers, but who also believe living in a double would make them axe-murder their roommates, Blackstone offers an elegant solution. Each of the double apartments includes two single rooms adjoined by a kitchenette and a bathroom, creating a space that allows for plenty of privacy but also the opportunity for consistent contact with another human being. And for the preternaturally social, the first floor’s two lounges give residents the chance to bond
amidst a fireplace and grand piano or in front of a big-screen TV. The six-floor building also has a computer lab and study room. Blackstone’s location is both a prime attraction and a prime deterrent. Although a 10-minute walk to campus doesn’t sound like much, in the bleakest days of winter it can cause a whole lot of griping. On the plus side, the building is quite close to the restaurants and shops of East 57th Street and provides easy access to transportation downtown via the #6 bus or the Metra station a few blocks east.
The neighborhood immediately surrounding it is quiet and residential. Because Blackstone was restricted to upperclassmen until a few years ago, house culture is relatively low-key. But the introduction of first-years pried open the communal spirit and current residents are eager to expand the house’s repertoire of activities: One beloved tradition involves weekly tea-drinking and record-listening in the RH’s apartment.
Located at East 59th Street and South Blackstone Avenue, Breckinridge is named after Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge (Ph.D. 1901, J.D. 1904), who was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in Political Science from UChicago, the first woman to graduate from the Law School (with its first class), and founder of what is now the School of Social Service Administration (SSA). Breck’s residents, affectionately known as Breckies, are a tight-knit group of about 95 students, all part of Breckinridge House. Known for their quirky and lively character,
they bond over Breck’s distance from most campus amenities. Breck contains fairly sizable singles (around 10 by 12 feet) and a few doubles, but Breckies enjoy socializing in their airy, wood-paneled lounge, complete with comfy couches and a grand piano. The basement houses a community kitchen and an additional lounge with a ping-pong table and billiards. The building borders the Midway Plaisance, perfect for pickup Frisbee games and outdoor studying—weather permitting, of course. The dorm is also conveniently
located next to the 59th Street Metra station, making it easy to commute downtown for house trips and weekend excursions. Like most residence halls, Breck has its own Scav team, not letting its small size impede the team’s competitiveness and leading it to a fourth place finish last year. One of Breck’s unique House traditions is Sophie Day, a soiree commemorating its venerable namesake, to which professors are invited—so you can expect to discuss Durkheim over dinner.
From the outside looking in, it would seem that living in Broadview Hall roughly approximates the experience of living off-campus minus all the perks. Broadview residents still pay room and board fees, spend exorbitant amounts of money for the dining halls, and live under housing regulations. But hey! Like an apartment resident, Broadviewers get to walk 15–20 minutes to class after missing the #171 bus. To the positives, though: Because of their distance from campus, Broadviewers covet house community. With roughly 200 residents spread across three houses—Palmer,
Talbot, and Wick—the dorm is very tightly knit, especially when the weather gets rough. House activities are abundant and range from trips to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to watching the infamously bad movie The Room. Super Smash Bros., or “Smash,” is played religiously throughout the dorm, and the ping-pong table is nearly always in use. Because Broadview was once a hotel, the building contains a library, ballroom, kitchen, fitness room, and music practice room, all for dorm-wide use. Don’t get too excited though; Broadview was a hotel decades ago,
meaning that its facilities are not as technologically advanced as, say, South Campus or Max Palevsky. The dorm’s biggest draw is its close proximity to the #6 bus to downtown, something that enables Broadviewers to escape the UChicago bubble with ease, allowing a refreshing change of pace from what is often a gloomy winter. The bus stops right outside the dorm, and that fact is one of the few retorts a Broadviewer has to use in battle against other dorms.
Burton-Judson, the giant, castle-like fortress south of the Midway that contains two courtyards and six houses, can be a strange place to live. Second only to Snell-Hitchcock in the alleged nerdiness of its residents, B-J (as it’s sincerely and un-ironically called) has a strong Scav culture, beating long-time rival Snell-Hitchcock in 2011. However, some true brilliance has come out of here as well: former residents include Philip Glass (A.B. ’56) and Carl Sagan (A.B. ’54, S.B. ’55, S.M. ’56, Ph.D ’60), before he moved to Hitchcock. B-J is also home to the
smallest houses on campus, promising a tightknit community. Built in 1931, B-J is old, sturdy, and stuffy enough to be a Tudor-era castle miraculously plopped down on the South Side. Sharing a dining hall with the ultra-modern South Campus dorm, it’s clear that B-J is very much a product of another era. Unfortunately, there’s no air-conditioning, but most of the rooms are singles, so clothes are optional. The two lounges adjacent to the courtyards are some of the most majestic napping areas on campus: each contains a library, grand piano,
and even a few authentic Chagall paintings. B-J’s basement, known as the Pit, serves as a dorm-wide lounge, with a recently refurbished movie theater, a pool table, and a (pretty pathetic) exercise room. There are also secret tunnels running under the building that you’re not supposed to (but can) explore, as well as a tunnel to the Law Library that was permanently locked in recent years (rumor has it that B-J resident Tucker Max (A.B. ’98) used this tunnel to streak naked through the Library).
For those 30 Rock fans out there, International House draws some parallels to New York City’s Rockefeller Center. John D. Rockefeller Jr. founded both establishments; Bernard Sahlins (A.B. ’43), co-founder of Second City comedy troupe—which is known to have launched the comedy career of Tina Fey (creator of 30 Rock, set in Rockefeller Center)—lived in I-House. Located on East 59th Street between South Dorchester and Blackstone Avenues, I-House has become a prominent center
of residential life in recent years. It was opened in 1932, and still serves as a multipurpose building, hosting everyone from world-renowned speakers in its assembly hall to international students studying at the English Language Institute and—more recently—undergraduates like yourself. I-House is home to approximately 480 people, roughly half of whom belong to the College: Thompson and Shorey House will join Booth and Phoenix in this year to bring the undergraduate total to 253. Though known for being one of the dorms
more remote from the quad and other campus centers, I-House is not without its perks. Residents have access to an inner courtyard and a large community kitchen, along with a fitness room and many events and activities exclusive to the International House community. Living in this dormitory can be a gateway to the world outside of Chicago: UChicago’s International House is a part of a network of similar lodges worldwide, from New York to Sydney, London to Taipei. —Kristin Lin
Although tucked into a corner of Hyde Park so quiet that residents of other dorms are known to insinuate it doesn’t exist, the denizens of Maclean Hall often insist they occupy the best-kept secret on campus. The four-story brick building, a former retirement home—not, as rumors would have it, a rehabbed insane asylum—hosts a diverse bunch of about 100 students, almost all in singles. Don’t assume having their own rooms
means Macleaners are anti-social. As one of the largest single houses on campus, the dorm is famously tight-knit and its large common area and kitchen are usually buzzing with card games, friendly chats, or preparations for some truly noteworthy study breaks (the giant refrigerators come in handy). There’s also a projector room used for movie nights and available on reserve for student use; might we suggest A River Runs Through It, based on the
novel by dorm namesake Norman Maclean? If Maclean’s confines get too cozy, campus is just a quick walk away. And if exercise is your thing, Ratner, at just two blocks away, is even closer. Then again, given one of the dorm’s other reputed attributes—a remarkably high rate of “house-cest”—you might not be leaving that single much after all.
—Celia Bever
—Marina Fang
—Madhu Srikantha
—Marina Fang
—David Kaner
13
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Whether you chose Max Palevsky for the convenience of sharing a bathroom with only three other people you don’t know, the promise of living with other “normals” who wandered onto campus, or its close proximity to two athletic centers, two libraries, and a dining hall, you should get what you hoped for. Opened in 2001, Max Palevsky houses around 700 students, each living in one of three buildings: East, Central, or West. All three buildings are connected by an underground tunnel system filled with laundry rooms, storage rooms, and music rooms. Useful hint: the music rooms are supposed
to be soundproof, which makes them a great place for, ahem, “practicing music.” The suite-style rooms, complete with a shower, bathroom, and central foyer, can be a rude awakening for those unfamiliar with the tasks of buying toilet paper and cleaning bathrooms on a regular basis. But once you get the hang of it, it’s quite a luxury to live without the typical fears associated with dorm-living, such as forgetting your shampoo—or worse, your bathrobe!—when you go to take a shower. For better or for worse, the residents of Max generally embody the stereotype of
being some of the least UChicago-y kids on campus. Not everyone fits the mold, though, and even those who do usually have no problem discussing Marx, Foucault, or “that one time during Scav.” Not to mention, the athletes in each house are probably your best shot at winning any sort of intramural sporting event. And with so many people and a central location, there are enough people around that whatever your vibe, you’ll find someone to match it.
From the Monsters of the Midway to nuclear reactions in a rackets court, UChicago is steeped in tradition. The New Graduate Residence Hall is not. But don’t let that dissuade you—it’s undeniably one of the swankiest places to live on campus, as it was exclusively serving graduate students until fall of 2011 (let’s face it, the older you get, the better living space you need). On top of that, it’s expanding this year with the addition of two houses from Pierce Tower, may it rest in peace, which will undoubtedly bring new traditions. New Grad’s history as undergraduate housing
can be documented in a single paragraph: It all began a couple of years ago when the College started receiving applications from every man, woman, and child in high school. More students accepted admissions offers than expected, so they created Midway House, tucked away on the third floor of the awkwardly-named New Graduate Residence Hall (it was built when JFK was in office). This year, Tufts and Henderson Houses will add to the College’s presence. Living in a grad student dorm has its perks. There are exercise, music, and media rooms. Plus,
both singles and doubles have private bathrooms. Located on East 60th Street next to the new Chicago Theological Seminary, New Grad is a stone’s throw away from your classes but is still nuzzled in its own nook. In a way, New Grad is most unique in that students living there get to create their own history. For instance, will it adopt as a mascot Henderson’s wombat? Or will it settle for something unique— like a bearded, exhausted Ph.D. student?
The former home of Kurt Vonnegut (A.M ’71) and of Monopoly tournaments frequented by Milton Friedman (A.M. ’33), Pierce Hall is now only a fenced-off remnant of its once explosive past. Pierce, known often as the dorm of “this wasn’t even in my top three,” officially got the wrecking ball earlier this month after years of tumultuous experiences (including explosive toilets) and strong community. The iconic 11-story tower is going to be replaced by Campus North, slated to open by fall 2016. In the vein of more recent developments on campus, the 62-year-old brick rectangle will
be replaced by the elaborate makings of Studio Gang Architects, known for the Aqua building downtown. During the transition, the four approximately 60-person houses from Pierce will relocate to other residence halls, a move that initially upset current residents who feared the loss of house culture. Tufts and Henderson, which occupied the third through sixth floors, will go into New Grad; Thompson and Shorey, which occupied the seventh through tenth floors, will move into I-House. In its 53 years of students, Pierce accumulated
many legacies other than combative plumbing. The annual winter sports frolic, which took place inside Henry Crown Field House, was a competition between the four houses where even attendance counted toward the win. TANSTAAFL, named for Friedman’s “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch,” hosted the famed economist for sherry hours, and more recently operated as a snack bar and then study space. And for those who can’t let go, a University webcam lets you follow the dorm’s destruction.
What could be better than living in beautiful neo-Gothic dorm buildings, one of which (Hitchcock) is listed in the National Register of Historic Places? Maybe living directly on the main quads. Well, the century-old SnellHitchcock boasts that, too. The two houses, Snell and Hitchcock, have their own kitchens and laundry rooms, and share a recreation room featuring pool and ping-pong. Snell is mostly singles, while Hitchcock is twice the size and has doubles, making it a more social place. And the chairs might be the same ones in which Enrico Fermi
or Carl Sagan (A.B. ’54, S.B. ’55, S.M. ’56, Ph.D ’60) sat. Like a fine wine, Snitchcock’s character is well-aged, strong, and makes some people vomit. Snell’s mascot is an armadillo, a reference to its Latin motto, which translates as “ugly but useful.” The dorm has won 13 of the 27 Scav Hunts to date, and the common room (“The Green Room”) turns into a glorious catastrophe of wood, electronics, and replicas of ancient chariots during Scav weekend. Other traditions include SnoBQ, a BBQ in honor of the first snow, the Tea Room lectures held in
Snell’s common room, and playing Sharks and Minnows in the Reg to kick off reading period. But one of the best parts of Snitchcock is the community. Residents are normally early action admits, many of whom are so enthusiastic about the University that they applied to live in Snitchcock the first day that the Housing office let them. Whether you need a helping hand with Calc or a buddy to watch Dr. Who with, Snitchcockers are always there for you with their amiable armadillo pride.
South Campus appeals to the inner seagull in all of us. It’s a shiny object. A large shiny object. A mammoth-sized shiny object that happens to hold about 1570 students at East 60th Street and South Ellis Avenue. Residents of South love complaining about crossing the Midway during the winters, about the dining hall food a mere two yards away from their building, and about how the elevators don’t take them directly to their rooms. South Campus is the largest and newest residential hall on campus and contains brightly lit, spacious rooms (unless you’re in a triple this year—
sorry, buddy). Students who live here like to talk about how they can find plenty of “normal people” around if they want to and how their houses have deeply rooted cultural traditions that go back all the way to 2009. The dorm is divided into South Campus East and South Campus West. Each has its own set of Resident Masters who hold events including tea time, visits to plays, and visits to baseball games. The large size of South Campus affords students several benefits. Music practice rooms located in the basement serve as a place for students
to escape when their roommate has sexiled them, engage in sexual activities when they don’t wish to sexile their roommate, have loud private conversations over the phone, and cry, among other things. Also located in the basement are a recreation room with a foosball table, a fitness room, and walls that students draw on with chalk. On the fifth floor is a study room that will at first appear beautiful, but will eventually feel suffocating as you grow to resent the girl across from you who loudly pops her gum. —Harini Jaganathan
Couple Stony Island’s far-off locale at East 57th Street and South Stony Island Avenue with the fact that it’s essentially a Universityowned apartment complex, and it’s easy to see how “Stony” got its reputation as perhaps the homiest, most comfortable dorm at UChicago. Each unit in Stony houses four people in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment complete with a kitchen and a spacious living room. Originally purposed to house junior faculty
when built in 1988, Stony affords its residents the best of both worlds when it comes to amenities. Like Max and South, it has truly reliable heating and is air-conditioned, yet it also boasts large balconies with fantastic views of Lake Michigan and the palatial Museum of Science and Industry. Despite Stony Island’s quiet comfort and charm, the repose ends for its nearly 80 residents when it’s time to walk to class. Snow and ice too slick for bikes and less-than-reliable shuttles of-
ten mean a long walk to campus—well over half a mile—in frigid weather. That said, Stony’s location isn’t all bad. It lies just steps from the Loop-bound #6 bus as well as the Metra. Venture a few blocks northeast and you’ll hit the picturesque Point. And the trip to Ratner may seem unthinkable during the winter, but Stony has an exercise room on its ground floor.
MAX PALEVSKY
—Jen Standish
NEW GRADUATE
—Adam Janofsky
PIERCE & CAMPUS NORTH
—Rebecca Guterman
SNELL-HITCHCOCK
—Adam Janofsky
–Ajay Batra
SOUTH CAMPUS
STONY ISLAND
14
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Roommates How to make the next nine months work Whether the roommate of your dreams is a neat freak or a fellow slob, a go-getter or a shut-in, it’s all about how you deal with each other. So whether you end up being instant BFFs or each other’s horror stories, here are a few reminders to get you through the next nine months. Speak early, speak often There’s an unspoken expiration date on the stock conversation starters; don’t expect it to go over well if you wait until November to ask your roommate from where they hail (pro-tip: it’s on your door signs). There are plenty of discussions that have to be had—Room temperature! Sleeping schedules! Bathroom supplies! Homework habits!—but nobody wants their roommate relationship to be all business. Being friendly with the person who sleeps eight feet away from you makes everything else about cohabitation easier, and it just might save you a nasty conflict later in the year.
Compromise: nobody loses (sleep) Does your roommate sleep through their daily 6 a.m. alarm, then hit snooze, then snooze again? Sound like a Snorlax with asthma at night? Turn the thermostat down to 50 the moment you fall asleep? Although you can ask them to get a less offensive alarm or to “please, stop” tinkering with the air conditioning, you can’t force them to get nasal surgery. Pick your battles, and get intimate with your new best friends: a sleeping mask and earplugs, available at nearby Walgreens for a pittance. Privacy issues are almost inevitable in any roommate relationship. Whether it’s sweet, whispered nothings until dawn with a high school sweetheart or rambunctious Skyping with friends, the onus is on you to lay down the law. Let them know what you aren’t OK with, but always suggest alternatives: offer your headphones, or a pillow to make hallway Skyping a feasible alternative. Don’t forget the Golden Rule either; try to anticipate and circumvent your roommate’s complaints,
and be willing to make concessions for the sake of the peace.
but don’t make too big a deal out of it (the first couple times). If your turn comes around, you’ll want them to return the favor.
Kindergarten manners Time to bail The oft-quoted “it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission” most certainly does not apply to sharing a room. Whether or not your co-tenant has had an unopened economy-sized pack of chocolate on their desk for months, stealing a break of that Kit Kat bar shouldn’t be your prerogative, even when the dining hall’s serving leftover tilapia that was already dry yesterday. It doesn’t hurt to ask first, and if you make it a practice to extend common courtesy, you can expect your roommate to do the same. The dreaded (or highly anticipated?) sexile. Yes, this happens at UChicago. You can try to plan ahead and reserve some alone time in advance, but you can’t always account for the spontaneous. Be tactful—a heads-up text should do the job, but you can let the whole world know with socks on the door. Get the requisite friendly barbs in afterwards,
As you’ll soon discover, your RAs and RHs are savants at helping everybody get along, so they may have a few more tips if the going gets bad. If they can’t mediate a ceasefire between soonto-be-ex-roommates, you can always abandon both ship and room. Contact the Office of Undergraduate Housing (6030 South Ellis Avenue, 773-702-7366) to get the ball rolling, but be aware that there’s a three week housing freeze to start fall quarter. After that, switching depends on your location, preferences, and the vacancies that open up. Switching rooms midyear can be tough, but better that than spending nine months dreaming of that second-year single. Having a roommate (or your roommate) isn’t for everyone, so don’t let yourself get stuck in a bad situation. —Derek Tsang
Student health The life of the mind requires a healthy body Nearly two years ago, all health-related services were consolidated and reorganized, creating an entirely new set of acronyms and the potential for confusion. But this need not be the case if you read on. Well-being programs of any kind fall under the umbrella of Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS). SHCS is divided into three branches: the Student Health Service (SHS), the Student Counseling Service (SCS), and Health Promotion and Wellness. The Student Health Service, located in the dungeon-like Suite R-100 of the hospital’s Wyler Pavilion, is your appointment-only go-to for the basic preventative care and treatment covered by your Student Life Fee. In addition to visits with physicians, nurses, and other health professionals, SHS provides STD testing, Pap tests, flu and allergy shots, safer-sex products, and some lab tests and physical therapy services. Nutrition, sports medicine, and travel health consultations are also available. If you have a bad cold or mysterious rash,
give them a ring at (773) 702-4156, or (773) 7021915 for after-hours advice. Once you enter the maze of the hospital, signs will point you to the right place. For more specialized care, you may have to look elsewhere and be prepared to use your University Student Health Insurance Plan (U-SHIP) or private insurance to cover it. And if you are hemorrhaging blood or going into convulsions, the emergency room is conveniently located at 901 East 58th Street—about a block west of the bookstore. The Student Counseling Service, housed across from the main quad at 5737 South University Avenue, is the place to go for mental health care, and will be under the supervision of new director Dr. David Albert, starting September 16. After an initial intake appointment to discuss their needs, students may be referred to short-term individual or couples therapy, substance abuse treatment, medication management, academic assistance, or support groups, all covered by your Student Life Fee.
If longer-term care is needed, they can recommend outside clinicians. SCS also sponsors “Let’s Talk,” informal and confidential counseling sessions offered several times a week and open to all. SCS can be reached at (773) 702-9800. For after-hours help, call (773) 702-3625. Health Promotion and Wellness exists to integrate body and spirit into the life of the mind. Their staff and Peer Health Educators (you can apply to be one spring quarter) distribute information on a variety of topics related to well-being, from anxiety management to better posture. If your house elects a wellness czar, you might get to witness a presentation by this group about maintaining mental, physical, and sexual health at UChicago. The Stressbusters team will be returning from their inaugural year as well to continue giving free back rubs around campus. If you’re just looking for a little peace and quiet, try the seemingly endless number of meditation workshops, if only to experience what total silence feels like
in Rockefeller Chapel. If you don’t seek out wellness activities, they’ll find you—during the Wellness Fairs on the quad, with make-yourown trail mix, massages, and puppies. Despite the abundance of healthcare programs at their disposal, students are constantly pointing out aspects of SCHS that need improvement. Long wait times, scheduling difficulties, and misdiagnoses have inspired numerous submissions to the studentrun Tumblr page “Student Health Horror Stories,” a self-described “repository for all of your terrifying tales of abysmal service with UChicago Student Health and Counseling.” The University is not ignorant of these problems. Recently, they have hired an additional doctor to man the SHS stations and guarantee appointments within 24 hours, and the University’s numerous professional resources are your best bet for a wide range of health issues. If you need assistance, don’t hesitate to give them a call at the first sign of trouble.
questioning, or any other name you can think of not tied to an organized religion. The four-year-old organization has hosted talks by The End of Faith author Sam Harris, outreach events like Superstition Bash, and debates with campus organizations like the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. The perhaps less-known religions and denominations are also represented. There are spiritual and religious organizations for those interested in the Bahá’í faith—which emphasizes the unity of God, religion, and all mankind—as well as Jainism, a faith rooted in India that believes in non-violence toward all living creatures. There are groups that explore paganism, Wicca, Quakerism, and Sikhism, a monotheistic religion that stresses the individual’s internal religious state and doing good actions. Zoroastrianism, one of the world’s smallest religions based on the teachings of the ancient Persian prophet Zoroaster, is also present on campus. The University boasts several interfaith groups as well. The Spiritual Life Council, comprising undergraduate and graduate students nominated from a myriad of faiths, organizes events like the annual Spirit Week and Multifaith Celebration. The Guild of Student Carillonneurs “is dedicated to
promoting the playing of the carillon (the bells in Rockefeller’s tower) on campus.” Interfaith Community Service connects students of every faith to perform and reflect on service projects together. Interfaith Dialogue is pretty much what sounds like: a chance to discuss with those of other faiths. UChicago is also home to a heterogeneous group of academic spiritual centers. The Divinity School, located in Swift Hall, is the University’s graduate school for the study of religion. The school offers more than 100 courses each year across 11 areas of study, including Anthropology and Sociology of Religion, History of Christianity, History of Judaism, History of Religions, Islamic Studies, Philosophy of Religions, and Religion and Literature. Affiliated institutions include the Joseph Bond Chapel, the Baptist Theological Union, Disciples Divinity House, and the Hyde Park Cluster of Theological Schools. If nothing mentioned here suits you, remember it is not a comprehensive list, and more information can always be found at spirit.uchicago.edu. There are opportunities for everyone, the faithful and secular, the atheists, monotheists, and polytheists.
—Jen Standish
Religion The life of the mind requires a healthy spirit You’re invited. Invited to begin your spiritual trek. Invited to continue it, to reject it, or to transform it. Invited to forget it, to end it. Or to start afresh. Invited, above all, to decide for yourself. Religious life on campus runs from A-Z, agnosticism to Zoroastrianism. In between, you can find spiritual communities for Bahá’ís, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, humanists, Jews and Jains, Muslims, pagans, secularists and Sikhs, Quakers, and Unitarian Universalists. You can find interfaith dialogue groups. You can find the place that’s right for you, you can explore different groups, or, of course, you can do nothing at all. Rockefeller Chapel is the “hub” of religion on campus. Located at 5850 South Woodlawn Avenue, the building is the home of the Interreligious Center and is also a major performing arts venue. Those involved with Hindu Student Sangam, for example, meet for prayers and discussion in Rockefeller’s Hindu prayer room each Sunday. Hindu and Muslim students say daily prayers in the same chapel where Christians take Communion and Buddhists meditate. For those who want to meet weekly and discuss Bible passages, perform community
service, and just generally hang out, the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is there for you as one of the largest Christian groups on campus. Calvert House is the center of Catholic life at UChicago, and offers daily mass, organizes service trips, and runs a tutoring program. Unitarian Universalists can join the First Unitarian Young Adult and Campus Ministry at 5650 South Woodlawn Avenue on the first and third Sunday of each month. There is the Hillel Jewish Center, Chabad Jewish Center, and jUChicago, which collectively function as the University’s Jewish resource centers but are generally open to anyone interested. They provide students with holiday services, community service opportunities, trips to Israel, and links to courses and programs at the University’s Chicago Center for Jewish Studies. The Muslim Student Association also provides activities for all on campus, holding Friday prayer in Bond Chapel, organizing an annual fast-a-thon for charity, and, last April, hosting talks in honor of Islam Awareness Month. There’s also the Secular Student Alliance for those who identify themselves as atheist, agnostic, humanist, secular, non-religious,
—Matthew Schaefer
15
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
XFINITY® Internet delivers the fastest in-home Wi-Fi, because you and your roommates share an apartment, not devices. XFINITY gives you the speed you need to stream, surf and download on multiple devices simultaneously. Plus, XFINITY On Demand™ gives you access to thousands of hot movies and top shows — and it’s included with your subscription. Don’t miss this back-to-school offer.
XFINITY TV + INTERNET
79
$
99
a month for 9 months
FASTEST IN-HOME Wi-Fi
HBO® + SHOWTIME®
NO TERM CONTRACT
INCLUDED FOR 9 MONTHS
1-800-XFINITY Xfinity4College.com HBO and related channels and service marks are property of Home Box Office, Inc. Dexter® ©Showtime Networks Inc. All Rights Reserved. SHOWTIME and related marks are trademarks of Showtime Networks Inc., a CBS Company. You must subscribe to SHOWTIME to watch SHOWTIME programming online. Offer ends 9/30/2013, and is limited to new residential customers. Not available in all areas. Offer requires subscription to Digital Starter TV, HBO, SHOWTIME and Performance Internet service. HD Technology fee and DVR Service fee waived during first 9 months, and thereafter regular charges apply. Comcast’s current monthly charges: HD Technology fee $9.95, DVR service ranges from $15.95–$26.95 depending on area. After promotional period, or if any service is cancelled or downgraded, regular charges apply. Comcast’s current monthly service charges range, depending on area and other Comcast services subscribed to as follows: Digital Starter TV, from $39.95–$68.50; Performance Internet, from $42.95–$64.95 and HBO and SHOWTIME, from $10.95–$19.99, for each service. TV and Internet service limited to a single outlet. Equipment, installation, taxes and franchise fees extra. May not be combined with other offers. TV: Limited Basic service subscription required to receive other levels of service. On Demand selections subject to charge indicated at time of purchase. Internet: Wi-Fi claim based on 2012 study by Allion Test Labs, Inc. Actual speeds vary and are not guaranteed. Call for restrictions and complete details. ©2013 Comcast. All rights reserved. NPA134036
16
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
is here to support your academic success, health and well-being New at Student Health Service: Saturday Clinic Hours from 9am – 1pm (beginning 10/5/13) New at Student Counseling Service: Director, David Albert, PhD New from Health Promotion and Wellness: New Office Space, Wellness Week For more information, visit our website at studenthealth.uchicago.edu
17
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
SINCE 1849
OPENING A WORLD OF POSITIVE CHOICES AND RELATIONSHIPS FOR CHICAGO’S CHILDREN AND YOUTH
Chicago Child Care Society serves children with challenging circumstances and their families on Chicago’s south-side by supporting positive child and youth development, preparing teen parents for success and building strong families.
5467 S. University Ave. Chicago, IL
773.643.0452 www.cccsociety.org
Free student programs at the Smart SEPTEMBER 27
Smart Start Friday, 8–10 a.m. Kick off your O-Week morning with free coffee, pastries, and art.
O C TO B E R 24 Party at the Smart: Get Your Smart MFA Thursday, 8–10 p.m. Earn a Master of Finds Art at this soiree that blurs the line between social gathering and art experience.
DECEMBER 5
Study at the Smart Thursday, 9 p.m.–1 a.m. The Smart's galleries are transformed into a late-night study hall. Free pizza and coffee all night long.
CONNEC T WITH US
facebook.com/SmartMuseum @SmartMuseumUChi
18
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
DINING ON CAMPUS Dining Halls Eat at your own risk With more students at UChicago than ever before, students can expect to get cozier than ever at the Arley D. Cathey and Bartlett dining commons—the University’s two dining halls now that Pierce Dining Hall has closed. Having failed multiple health inspections in the spring, the dining halls can be difficult to stomach; however, Cathey and Bartlett both offer distinct but enjoyable dining atmospheres and have a few notable dishes. Cathey, also known as “ACDC” or most commonly by its old name “South,” contains two separate sitting areas with different ambiences. An open space closer to the entrance is a well-lit area where sad, misanthropic students (hey, isn’t that all of us?) eat alone while trying to look busy thumbing through pages of Sosc reading that will forever remain unfinished. If your house table is located in Cathey Dining Hall, you may choose to join your house-mates in the regal Harry Potter-
esque rooms towards the back of Cathey. Two lounges in Burton-Judson Courts have also opened up this year to accommodate students relocated from Pierce Dining Hall. University administrators chose to shut down Cathey for five days last fall after it failed two city health inspections. Despite the University’s efforts to clean up Cathey, it failed another inspection in the spring along with Bartlett, though neither dining hall was closed then. This elicited a strong student response that prompted an external review of the University’s contract with food vendor Aramark, but the company remains the University’s food provider. Bartlett Dining Hall is where you should go if you like being seen. By everyone. In all directions. All the time. This year tables will be placed on the third floor track for the first time, so diners on the main floor can be viewed from above as well. House tables are located centrally
while several tables seating two to four people line the periphery. In terms of food, Bartlett is known for a sandwich station that toasts its sandwiches, as well as a wood-fired oven for pizza. Cathey stands apart for the fresh veggies at the salad bar, “burrito Tuesdays” during lunch, omelets prepared by beloved and famous dining hall worker Kuko, and hot chocolate machines that are frequently out of order. Both Bartlett and Cathey have halal, kosher, and vegetarian stations for students with dietary restrictions. There have also been several changes to the menu offerings to compensate for the closure of Pierce Dining Hall this year. Fourth Meal—a program that keeps the dining halls open from 9 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday—will be held in Cathey during fall quarter and Bartlett during the winter. The Mongolian grill, which provides make-your-own stir fry, has been relocated to Cathey. As a first year, you are wedded to your
Unlimited Meal Plan, which each quarter includes: an unlimited number of visits to the dining halls; 100 Maroon Dollars, accepted at the many cafés and marts on campus; three meal exchanges, for predetermined combinations at those cafés and marts; and five dining hall guest swipes. Second year and beyond, you can move off campus or take advantage of the other meal plans available (but as long as you live in housing, you must buy one of them). For the time being, enjoy the bond of lackluster and repetitive food options that will inevitably bring you and your new friends closer together. As a respite from the monotony, the dining halls remain closed on Saturday nights to allow you to branch out, explore Hyde Park, and go downtown—but expect to spend a fair few ordering in or grabbing food at Midway or Bart Mart.
not rare to stumble upon a café in the musty basement or upper levels of an unexplored building, the murmur of conversation and clatter of cups revealing a hidden hangout. The best of these concealed shops, however, depends on what you seek: Ambiance, prices, and convenience all factor in just as much as the quality of the caffeine fix. In any case, here are some of the best places to start your morning, afternoon, or late-night study ses-
sion without leaving campus:
pointing than heading to the Div School with a milk and honey latte on the mind and coming up empty-handed.
—Harini Jaganathan
Coffee Shops Don’t even bother trying to resist No one sleeps here. Blame it on rigorous academics or undergraduate insomnia, but a more plausible culprit is the campus-wide caffeine addiction. There may be Marx-Engels readers and Indian epics bundled in the arms of select students, but the sight of a hand glued to a steaming paper cup—whether in class or on the quads—is much more common. Coffee shops are as critical to the community as any glass-domed library or Gothic classroom. It’s
C-Shop The most visible café on campus, the C-Shop is really an Einstein Bros. situated in a corner of the Reynolds Club, at the center of campus activity. The menu is standard fare, with a good selection of bagels and not-so-good coffee. More importantly, Wednesdays are Shake Day, a tradition which has students snaking out into the courtyard waiting to trade a buck for the beverage. Grounds of Being Grounds of Being, more than any other café, lives up to its reputation: “Where God Drinks Coffee.” A cup of joe here is almost undoubtedly the best on campus. As part of the Divinity School, the subdued shop is located in the basement of Swift Hall, and it includes, along with Cobb, an incomparable range of entrées from restaurants around Hyde Park—Rajun Cajun, The Snail, and Cedars all deliver their lunches daily, making it a convenient place to grab a bite to eat between classes. But keep in mind that they’re cash only—there’s nothing more disap-
Hallowed Grounds Hallowed Grounds is, well, hip. Located on the second floor of the Reynolds Club, you’ll find the soft buzz of student chatter and the clack of billiard balls, and its unique menu of specialty drinks and Metropolis coffee provides numerous options for those who want to stay and socialize or study with eclectic music in the background. The darkwood paneled walls and comfy armchairs provide a somewhat dimly lit but cozy respite from the hustle and bustle from everyday campus life, but the café was briefly in danger of being downsized this summer in favor of RSO advising space until students vocally objected. Awaiting further deliberation, its fate hangs in the balance. Cobb Coffee Shop While Hallowed Grounds is all about the vibe, Cobb bases its appeal on another student preference: cheap food. The prices here are rock-bottom, just like its location in the basement of Cobb Hall. COFFEE continued on page 19
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
19
Day or night, coffee is always on tap COFFEE continued from page 18
The coffee is more than passable, and the unusually large assortment of warmed Thai food makes for a great impulse buy. Vinyl records, student artwork, and a sassy staff make this café a popular spot to kill some time between classes. Word of caution: Cobb only serves up drip coffee and tea, so espresso lovers must look elsewhere. Classics Café Intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals, you have found your home. The Classics Café is less about the coffee (Peet’s, which is fairly average) and more about the grandeur of drinking anything among scowling gargoyles, elaborate arches, and intricate stone stairs. Rachmaninoff and other classical masters echo in the space, and a variety of newspapers are provided. The perfect place to (unintentionally) stalk your professor, daydream about Hogwarts, or get that final page of your Sosc essay done.
any campus shop besides Bart Mart. Located adjacent to the ever-popular Arley D. Cathey Learning Center (more sensibly known as Harper Reading Room), the chairs and tables are filled with more study groups and TA sessions than social gatherings. Ex Libris UChicago as a whole isn’t where fun goes to die; the Regenstein Library, on the other hand, can comfortably claim that title. Take solace, however, in the year-old Ex Libris café, a renovated and rebooted version of the dingy coffee shop that used to reside in the Reg’s basement. The new Ex Libris is spacious, comfortable, and offers an array of hot sandwiches and $1 Arizonas. The coffee isn’t bad, either. Though it can get pretty crowded on any given night, its location on the first floor of the library makes it a perfect break spot for those isolated, insomniac students wasting away in the upper-floor cubicles. Bart Mart
Common Knowledge Café Also widely known as Harper Café, Common Knowledge gets most of its business from the late-night crowd, as it remains open longer than
Last, and maybe least, is Maroon Market, commonly known as Bart Mart, the student convenience store in Bartlett. Along with its
South Campus sibling, Midway Market, Bart Mart offers a good selection of Starbucks coffee along with the aisles of overpriced chips and microwaveable dinners that line its walls. All is not gloom and doom, though: The coffee tastes much better at 3 a.m., when red-eyed, pajama-clothed students, alongside party-goers just returning from a night of revelry, creep in the door in search of some sort of energy source. Since most UChicago students can’t take
ten steps without needing another cup of coffee, virtually every building on campus has a café inside. Other places to explore include Café Logan, Gargoyle Café (in Stuart), Law School Café, Gordon Café, Press Café, Bio Café, Everett Kovler Café, at the Booth School of Business–complete with a full food court– and the Barnes and Noble Café, which serves Starbucks coffee. —Emily Wang
The Lumen Christi Institute for Catholic Thought at the University of Chicago
Featured Autumn Quarter Events Visiting Scholar
Dana Gioia
University of Southern California Fomer Chairman of the NEA
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 12-1:30PM
“Why Beauty Matters: Not Just to Artists But to Everyone, Even Politicians” University Club of Chicago, 76 E. Monroe St. Registration is required for this luncheon event. Visit www.lumenchristi.org to register. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 7:00PM
A Poetry Reading by Dana Gioia Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture Hall, 1025 E. 58th St.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 4:30PM
“Aquinas and Realism” John Haldane, University of St. Andrews Swift Hall, 3rd Floor, 1025 East 58th Street TUESDAYS, OCTOBER 8-NOVEMBER 12
“The Book of Genesis” a weekly Non-Credit Course Paul Mankowski, S.J., LCI Scholar-In-Residence Gavin House, 1220 East 58th Street Informal Dinner: 6:00PM | Lecture: 6:30PM
To find out more about the Lumen Christi Institute, or for more information on these and other upcoming events, please visit www.lumenchristi.org or contact info@lumenchristi.org.
1220 E a st 58th Str eet | Chic ago, IL 60637 | 773.955.5887 | info@lumenchr isti.org
THE CHICAGO MAROON CHICAGOMAROON.COM
20
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Eating Around Hyde Park Whether it’s Saturday night or you’re just sick of the dining halls—and believe me, you will be—you’ll be searching for a meal outside of campus. Here’s a list that’ll get you started: CHEAP EATS Harold’s Chicken 1208 East 53rd Street (773) 752-9260 Half dark chicken, fries, white bread, and a bit of coleslaw for under $4. Need I say more? (Okay, here’s more: Rumor has it that there’s a Harold’s food truck. UChicago students’ waistlines just spontaneously expanded.)
Five Guys 1456 East 53rd Street (773) 363-6090 Recent development on East 53rd Street has brought chains like Five Guys and 24-hour diner Clarke’s to Hyde Park. (A Chipotle is set to open next year as well.) This burger joint has quickly become a student favorite.
Food trucks Usually along Ellis between 57th and 59th or in front of the Regenstein. The past year has witnessed an explosion of food truck activity in Chicago, and our campus, with its constantly on-the-go student body, is a favorite spot for mobile vendors. But not every truck will live up to its eye-catching presentation, and often, it’s not even cheap. To find out what’s around from the comfort of your bed, check out @uchiNOMgo.
Medici on 57th 1327 East 57th Street (773) 667-7394 Colloquially called “the Med,” this cozy BYOB joint has been a UChicago favorite for over 50 years. Stop by with a group of pals—and don’t leave without trying their Mexicana shake.
Noodles Etc. 1333 East 57th Street (773) 684-2801 There’s not much space between its small black tables, but this Pan-Asian spot is perpetually packed with groups of all sizes. Cheap + Large Portions = a college student’s dream. Don’t forget to ask for your 10 percent discount as a UChicago student.
Bonjour Café Bakery 1550 East 55th Street (773) 241-5300 The owner only speaks French and the pastries are a bit pricey, but its high-quality offerings are still worth the splurge every once in a while.
Medici Bakery 1327 East 57th Street (773) 667-7394 The best part about the Med’s adjoining bakery is its hours; open until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until midnight Friday and Saturday, you can get your pastry fix any time. Look out for $1 offerings towards closing time.
Robust Coffee Lounge 6300 South Woodlawn (773) 891-4240 Solid coffee south of the Midway that also offers sandwiches and blended drinks. Check out their Mocha Diablo, which adds a spicy kick to a traditional mocha blend.
Zaleski & Horvath Marketplace (Z & H) 1323 East 57th Street (773) 538-7372 Z & H offers the best sandwich (sammi, as they call it) in Hyde Park, with options like “The Godfather”: La Quercia prosciutto, mozzarella, mixed greens, basil, roasted tomato, and balsamic on French bread. If the weather’s nice, head out back for the patio seating. Only drawback: the stale popcorn served on the side.
Bridgeport Coffee 5030 South Cornell Avenue (On the south side of the Hyde Park Art Center) (773) 947-0348 Istria Café is out, Bridgeport Coffee is in. The South Side roaster—considered among the best in the city—offers standard breakfast and lunch options in addition to its signature coffee.
Mellow Yellow 1508 East 53rd Street (773) 667-2000 Donovan consented to let this Hyde Park staple use the name of his hit song. $1 mimosas on weekday mornings merit serious consideration before Core Bio.
Salonica 1440 East 57th Street (773) 752-3899 The Greek-style diner serves up your favorite greasy-spoon breakfast options all day. Not feeling eggs and hash? The moussaka kicks ass. No throwing plates.
Valois 1518 East 53rd Street (773) 667-0647 This cafeteria-style breakfast spot is cheap and low-key. It is also a favorite of President Obama and hungover students.
GROUPS Cedars 1206 East 53rd Street (773) 324-6227 A great Mediterranean place to take your parents when they’re in town. Its modern, spacious interior makes for a much calmer dining experience than your typical college eatery.
BRUNCH/LUNCH/COFFEE
ORDERING IN
WORTH THE TREK
Rajun Cajun
Thai 55/The Snail/Siam
Calumet Fisheries
The Original Pancake House
1459 East 53rd Street (773) 955-1145
Thai 55: 1607 East 55th Street (773) 363-7119 The Snail: 1649 East 55th Street (773) 667-5423 Siam: 1639 East 55th Street (773) 324-9296
3259 East 95th Street (773) 933-9855
1358 East 47th Street (773) 285-1400
Okay, so it’s not in Hyde Park. So you’d have to take the Metra down to the very last stop (93rd). I promise, though, that you won’t be disappointed: This tiny smoke shack delivers ah-ma-zing seafood that you can eat by the Calumet River, overlooking the remnants of Chicago’s steel industry.
It used to be located on 51st Street, but it moved a few blocks north to a bigger space. Don’t let that stop you from heading in for the best breakfast around by a mile.
Sure, Rajun Cajun doesn’t have any competitors for Indian fare in the neighborhood, making it susceptible to mediocrity. Still, it’s a pretty good option for a lazy Saturday night in. Ordering online (rajunrestaurant.com) is a breeze.
Located just steps from one another, this trio of Thai spots offers satisfying—though not necessarily spectacular—classics like Pad Thai, Drunken Noodles, and creamy curries. Students tend to disagree on which one reigns supreme, but chances are, you’ll spend enough time faring with each to decide for yourself.
DESSERTS Kilwin’s 5226 South Harper Avenue (773) 675-6731 Opened by two Hyde Park entrepreneurs, Kilwin’s offers something for the sweet tooth. Try one of their truffles, chocolate covered oreos, or their “Hyde Park Mud” ice cream before catching a flick at Harper Theater.
DATE-WORTHY Z-Berry 1368 East 53rd Street (773) 855-8754 Though only a few frozen yogurt flavors are offered at a time, ones like rich cake batter and refreshing ginger lemonade sorbet will keep you coming back to this small, locally owned shop. Fill your cup as high as you want—but buyer beware: You pay by the ounce, so choose your toppings wisely.
Chant 1509 East 53rd Street (773) 324-1999 This hip asian fusion restaurant has the swankiest interior and events like “Martini Madness Mondays” and speed dating after-hours.
The Sit Down 1312 East 53rd Street (773) 324-3700 Sushi and pizza: it’s kind of an odd combo, but that’s what this charming spot offers—and does well.
La Petite Folie 1504 East 55th Street (773) 493-1394 The most expensive spot on the list, but if you think your date will love being treated to fine French cuisine, this is the place.
—Emily Wang
21
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
ATM FEES ADD UP. You’re sitting in class or at work thinking about everything you want to do with your friends and family over the weekend. Then you remember that to do any of those things, you’ll need cash. That means a visit to the ATM. You don’t want to mess with traveling to your bank, so, for the convenience, you’ll stop by the first ATM you see. But of course, since it’s not your bank’s machine you know you’ll get hit with an ATM fee... AGAIN! This is the fourth time this month you’ve had to dish out $2.50+ just for visiting the ATM...
But aren’t there better things you could be spending your $10 on? ' <6B:H D; 7DLA>C< 6 A6G<: E>OO6### 9:A>K:G:9 6 J D; 8 I"H=>GI ID H=DL NDJG EG>9: &% HDC<$6EE 9DLCAD69H 6 C:L 7DD@ '%% 8DE>:H 6I I=: J D; 8 A>7G6GN C:L CDI:E69H 6C9 E:CH ) B:9>JB 8D;;::H ) G>9:H DC I=: ÅAÆ ) =DI9D<H 6I I=: J D; 8 ;DDI76AA <6B: 6 G>9: DC I=: C6KN E>:G ;:GG>H L=::A )- Å8=>EHÆ 6I 6 AD86A 6G869: 69B>HH>DC ID 6C 6GI BJH:JB### I=: A>HI <D:H DC 6C9 DC
YOU CAN DO A LOT WITH $10. PAYING ATM FEES SHOULDN’T BE ONE OF THEM... GET OUT AND DO MORE WITH 1
Hyde Park Total Access Checking UNLIMITED ATM TRANSACTIONS NATIONWIDE! That means when you use any ATM, including any on the University of Chicago campus, we’ll refund the fee!2 FREE CHECKING ACCOUNT NO MINIMUM BALANCE TO MAINTAIN FREE ONLINE BANKING AND MOBILE DEPOSITS FOR BANKING ON THE GO3
STOP BY THE BANK TO ENTER TO * WIN AN IPAD!
Hyde Park Bank – Main 1525 E. 53rd St. | Chicago, IL 60615 773-752-4600
Hyde Park Bank – 57th Street 1311 E. 57th St. | Chicago, IL 60637 773-752-4600 Only 453 feet away from U of C campus!
www.hydeparkbank.net *NO PURCHASE OR BANK TRANSACTION NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. Must be 18 years of age or older to participate. Need not be a customer of the Bank; becoming a customer will not improve odds of winning. All decisions made are final. Prizes include an Apple iPad with retail value of $499.00. Contest runs from 9/16/2013 to 10/31/2013. To enter, fill out raffle form at Hyde Park Bank: 1525 E. 53rd St., Chicago, IL 60615; 1311 E. 57th St., Chicago, IL 60637. Two winners will be chosen from eligible entries. Winners need not be present to win and will be notified on 11/1/2013 by phone. Odds of winning will depend on the total number of eligible entries received. The value of the Apple iPad, $499.00, is IRS 1099 reportable. Employees of Wintrust and its affiliates and their relatives are not eligible to participate. Limit one prize per winner. See official rules at Hyde Park Bank locations. Hyde Park Bank is a branch of Beverly Bank & Trust Company, N.A. 1. There is no minimum opening deposit required to open this account. 2. The bank does not charge its customers a monthly card usage fee. No transaction charge at any ATM in the Money Pass or Sum surcharge – free networks. Other banks outside the network may impose ATM surcharges at their machines. Surcharge fees assessed by owners of other ATMs outside the network will be reimbursed. Reimbursement does not include the 1% International Services fee charged by MasterCard® for certain foreign transactions conducted outside the continental United States.3. Use of Online Banking is required for use with Remote Deposit Capture and access to Mobile banking. Mobile/Internet connectivity is required. See your wireless service provider for fees related to text messaging. Remote Deposit requires an established Checking, Savings or Money Market deposit account for personal, family or household purposes with the Bank for at least 30 days and has had no more than six overdraft occurrences within the past or current calendar year. See a personal banker for more details. ©2013 Hyde Park Bank
22
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
STUDENT GROUPS Journalism Writing your heart out has never been easier. Here’s a list of some (other) notable publications Forget the theory. Forget the book-learning. Journalism, unlike most other things at UChicago, is all about practice. We can’t boast of a J-school like our friends up North, and we don’t have direct curricular support. Nonetheless, the University offers plenty of opportunities for aspiring reporters, critics, photographers, illustrators, designers, and editors. Get your hands dirty by contributing to or at least reading any of these invaluable publications: The Chicago Maroon, the “official” independently-run student newspaper, is one of the oldest college papers in the U.S., dating back to 1892. Published on Tuesdays and Fridays, the paper boasts famous alumni
including New York Times columnist David Brooks (A.B. ’83), Obama senior advisor David Axelrod (A.B. ’76), and former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens (A.B. ’41). It also publishes the bi-annual magazine Grey City, as well as special issues (a historical issue in the winter and a graduation issue in the spring ). Formerly known as the Chicago Weekly, the South Side Weekly is the alternative campus news magazine. Published every Tuesday, the Weekly covers local happenings usually untouched by mainstream media and publishes more extensive narratives and essays. This fall, the Weekly ended its 10-year relationship with Newcity Communications, its former mentor/publisher, launched a new Web site, and changed its name to boot. The Shady Dealer is basically The Onion with a UChicago twist. The “only intentional humor publication” is the most trusted name in fake news on campus, producing features like “How to Seduce a Prospie” or “Play-Doh Releases Its Republic.” Sliced Bread is an arts and literary magazine in its seventh year of publishing student material. After a long selecting and editing process, Sliced Bread prints about 100 pages of short stories, poetry, non-fiction, paintings, drawings, and photography in the spring. WHPK 88.5 FM is the non-profit community radio station of UChicago, Hyde Park, and the South Side at large. Though mostly dedicated to broadcasting music from literally every genre and period, WHPK also hosts a public-affairs format of neighborhood news and views in a couple of talk shows. U C h i c a g o’s famous spirit of discourse is reflected in the nonpartisan quarterly The Midway Review,
which publishes “political and cultural commentary and criticism.” The journal offers a forum for undergrad pieces on current events and more abstract topics to be featured side-by-side submissions from graduate students, faculty, and alumni. Vita Excolatur borrows its name from the second half of the University motto, which loosely translates to “life enriched,” befitting to the now (in)famous magazine’s exploration of sexuality. Students can submit proposals of projects (photography, visual art, photo pieces, etc.) centered around a quarterly theme. Maroon TV, the student-run TV station that began as an Uncommon Fund project, ended its inaugural year with an array of programming. From student life to football games, Maroon TV has a channel on cTV and also streams its content online. Memoryhouse is the newest literary magazine on campus, launched last year. It specializes in first-person prose and poetry but also accepts art and photography. Besides its three print editions, Memoryhouse publishes original content online and hosts events throughout the year. The other fresh meat to the media scene is Nonpareil, a quarterly culinary magazine. Restaurant reviews, student spotlights, recipes, food memoirs, you name it—the magazine’s buffet of content is diverse and delicious. For those who’d like in on the action, UChicago’s mediasphere is mostly inclusive and welcomes new staff and submissions. If you’re a diehard news junkie or an aspiring writer, consider visiting UChicago Careers in Journalism Arts, and Media (UCIJAM). This Career Advancement program (see Career Advancement) is an excellent resource for student publication guidance, résumé touch-ups and tips, as well as internships. UCIJAM also coordinates events, visits, guest speakers, and meet-ups for the burgeoning UChicago journalist. — Linda Qiu
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
23
24
Student Activism
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
GET YOUR VOICE HEARD
The University has a long history of activism and engagement that stretches from the ’60s to now The University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) opened the Center for Care and Discovery (CCD), its new hospital, on February 23, and its lack of a level-one trauma center became the most recent flashpoint for student activism on campus. While the late ’60s were exceptionally tumultuous years for UChicago, with the two-week-long occupation of the Administration Building by student protesters, recent events on campus and in Chicago have sparked a new wave of student activism that is no longer limited to the quads or to the Hyde Park community, moving beyond issues that just affect students. The lack of a Level 1 adult trauma center on the southside of Chicago and the push for the UCMC to build one has been an issue that community groups have been raising for years. Most recently, the RSO Students for Health Equity (SHE) has joined community groups to protest the University’s continued refusal to host a center, which they argue is the biggest obstacle in the fight to improve trauma care for southside residents. The UCMC says that a trauma center would be too costly and would take resources from other vital resources the hospital provides. On February 26, just three days after the CCD opened, SHE along with community group Fearless Leading by the Youth (FLY) held their second protest at the site of the University’s newest hospital (see “Campus Controversies”). The groups claim that SHE’s projected $15 million per-year price tag for the trauma center is a small number compared to the $700 million spent to build the new facility, while the University and some community leaders claim the new hospital is doing a lot for the surrounding community. The subsequent discovery of an undercover UCPD officer posing as a protestor at the February 26 demonstration prompted outrage from students and from the administration, which claimed that it had no knowledge of the undercover officer before it was made public. (see “Campus Controversies”). In response, students from Southside Solidarity Network (SSN) launched a campaign seeking to reform certain aspects of the UCPD, including increasing transparency within the police force. The campaign culminated in a UCPD Speakout event held in late May, where students shared personal accounts of encounters with officers. Third-year and SSN coordinator Emma LaBounty said that the campaign for UCPD reform will continue through the upcoming school year. She feels that there is still an issue of policing on campus and that SSN would try to tackle the question of “how do we prevent instances like [the undercover UCPD officer] from happening again?” LaBounty also indicated that SSN, along with other groups on campuses across Chicago, would continue to fight for the University to adopt a no-loan policy, which the groups argue is vital to incoming students who must
consider financial aid packages to make their choice. As SSN and SHE continue their campaigns this school year, others are moving on to new projects after successes last June. Students Organizing United with Labor (SOUL), a group dedicated to tackling labor-related issues on campus, fought University administrators and food service provider Aramark over the fate of Pierce Dining Hall workers. They were able to secure a guarantee from Aramark that there would be no layoffs to dining hall staff as a result of the closure. Third-year and SOUL member Miriam Shestack said that her group would continue to look out for the rights of workers on campus. “This is an example of why a group like SOUL exists,” she said. “Basically, when something is going on on campus we talk to workers to see if their concerns are being addressed by the University, and if they’re not, we try to address them.” SOUL will also join the Chicago Fight for 15 campaign, a group of Chicago fast food and retail workers who are demanding the minimum wage be raised to $15 an hour, which would affect workers across the campus. While some groups on campus have been fighting for issues for many years, this quarter will also see new social justice groups begin to officially organize. One such group, the Socioeconomic Diversity Alliance (SDA), began planning last year to apply for RSO status this fall. In the short term, SDA would like to establish a support group for low-income and firstgeneration students in the College, fourth-year Lynda Lopez, one of the group’s main organizers, wrote in an e-mail. She said that the general consensus within SDA and on campus is that the University lacks any real resources for these students. Lopez also believes that SDA will be able to convince the University to assemble a task force to look into socioeconomic diversity on campus. This would be the group’s long term goal, she said. Other groups continue to fight for their own issues on campus. Stop Funding Climate Change (SFCC), the UChicago Climate Action Network (UCAN) and the
Green Campus Initiative (GCI) will continue to demand that the University stop funding climate change. In April, a referendum was passed during Student Government (SG) elections, which called for the University “to shift its investment strateg y to account for the environmental impact of oil, gas, and coal used by the companies it invests in.” Despite student support for the referendum, the University has refrained from divesting from companies involved in political controversies in the past, saying that it is bound to be politically neutral by a document called the Kalven Report. As both new and old students return to campus this September, they will be entering an environment of student activism that Lopez said is “alive and well.” — Alex Hays
25
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Student Government Meet our student leaders, the latest corrupt politicians in the city of Chicago Although the elections were fraught with allegations last spring , you will quickly find that Student Government (SG) members work tirelessly for what they think the student body needs, and they function best when students are vocal. But first, a summary of the hierarchy. SG is led by an executive slate comprising a President, Vice President for Student Affairs, and Vice President for Administration. The slate, along with the Community and Government Liaison, and the Undergraduate and Graduate Liaisons to the Board of Trustees, are elected by the entire student body in early spring. Underneath the executive slate is College Council—consisting of four members from each year elected by their peers—and Graduate Council, with representatives from all graduate divisions. SG is then broken into an assembly, led by an executive cabinet and other committees. The executive cabinet includes the slate, liaisons, and one chairperson from each class of the College. The assembly allocates funding to RSOs, while the executive cabinet advises the University on issues of student concern and sets the agenda for assembly meetings. This year’s slate, Impact, consists of fourth-year Michael McCown as President, third-year Sofia Flores as VP for Administration, and second-year Jane Huber as VP for Student Affairs. While last year’s slate, Connect, brought in a law student and saw a 211 percent increase in graduate student participation, Impact beat out the other two slates with graduate student members this year—and won with 44.63 percent of the vote. Impact’s composition is unique in that all three members have more student activism experience than is traditional; last year’s executives, for instance, had been members of SG committees pretty much since they set foot through Hull Gate. Impact’s platform reflected that difference by prioritizing issues such as diversity measures, mental health, and sexual health rather than daily student activities.
During ele ction season, McCown said that Impact is aiming to alter the relationship that SG has with the administration, focusing on increasing the level of involvement SG has in University policymaking. “There are a lot fairly important things centered around this $6 billion institution that are just not taken up,” he said last spring. Over the summer, the slate has been working with administrators on resolving the use of space in student-run coffee shop Hallowed Grounds, the incoming director of Student Health and Counseling Services on increasing student say, and others on UCPD reform and the sexual assault policy. The conduct and by-laws of the Elections & Rules Committee (E&R) were also pushed onto the scene when students questioned the transparency of the student oversight group (see “Campus Controversies”). After input from last year’s slate, a student committee has met multiple times this summer to draft changes that will be presented for discussion when SG reconvenes early fall quarter, according to McCown. “We want the procedure to be clearer and firmer so that there’s a lot less that is up to individuals…so that people are able to point more to the objectivity of the language in the by-laws,” he said in an interview this summer. The main changes to E&R thus far, according to third-
year committee member Lucy Msall, include: choosing members by application rather than SG vote; clearly defining “early voting, collusion, and campaign overexpenditure”; delineating penalties for infractions so it is more independent from committee member judgment; invalidating anonymous complaints; and specifying an appeals process so it does not have to be improvised as it was in spring. SG has a lot on its plate this year, but you don’t have to run for College Council or apply for committees to get involved. “Student Government is meant to represent the student association and I think that it can only do that if people are getting involved and coming to Student Government with ‘this is what I care about,’” McCown said. —Rebecca Guterman
Calvert House – The Catholic Center
Please join us for a special Mass of the Holy Spirit on Sunday, September 29 at 11am in Bond Chapel.
Sunday Mass: 11am (begins 9/22)
Daily Mass: 12:30pm (Monday through Friday)
5pm (begins 9/22) 9pm (begins 9/29) Please join us for the Catholic Student Association Annual Fall BBQ and Open House on Sunday, October 6 at 6pm. Come meet our staff, student leaders and learn more about the ministries Calvert House offers. All are welcome! 5735 South University Avenue Chicago, IL 60637 Phone: 773.288.2311 Website: www.uofccatholic.com
26
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
NOMINATE A LEADER
Photo by Anthony Dickey
Photo by Anthony Dickey
The University’s Diversity Leadership Council invites any member of the University community to submit a nomination of the staff or alumni community for a
D iversity Leadership Award which recognizes leadership in advancing diversity and commitment to the cause of justice and equality in our community and society.
DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 8, 2013 SUBMIT NOMINATIONS AT http://diversity.uc hicago.edu/dla/ PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS
ALUMNI James Hormel, JD’58
ALUMNI Hedy Ratner, AM’74
STAFF Larry Hawkins
ALUMNI Evette Cardona, AM’98
STAFF Duel Richardson
ALUMNI Dr. James Bowman, ’64
STAFF Lynda Hale
ALUMNI Sylvia Puente, AM’90
STAFF Shayne Evans
ALUMNI Michael Bennett, PhD’88
STAFF Kim Ransom
The Reynolds Club Barber Shop The University of Chicago
$18 Barber Schedules Mitch Muharrem Monday - Friday: 9:00AM - 6:00PM
Silvestre Vigilante Wednesday & Thursday: 8:00AM - 5:00PM
Appointments: (773) 702-8573
27
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
LGBTQ Resources From mentoring programs to mixers with graduate students and alumni, LGBTQ resources abound Students looking to get involved with LGBTQ student life on campus have come to a university that offers a wide range of programs, discussion groups, RSOs, and support systems. The main hub of queer life for students in the College is the Office of LGBTQ Student Life, located at 5710 South Woodlawn Avenue. The office runs roughly 50 programs a year, including socials and conversations with guest speakers. The office also runs a mentoring program in which undergraduates are paired with LGBTQ graduate students, faculty, or staff. Additionally, the office holds weekly discussion groups called “Q-groups” that students can join to discuss a wide range of topics. For example, third-year Alicia Wright ran a discussion group of seven people last year called “Intersection” to discuss issues of race and sexuality. “It’s kind of just a space for queer people of color to come and talk about life, family, school, dating, all that sort of stuff with an emphasis on race or ethnicity and being queer,” Wright said. “People can talk and get what’s off their chest that they can’t normally say around larger groups of people.”
There are also several LGBTQ–focused student groups. The RSO Queers and Associates (Q&A) is known for its activism and for organizing Pride Week every spring, an event that features a variety of educational and social events including “Genderfuck,” a ball in which costumes and all forms of gender expression are encouraged. Organizations in the graduate and professional schools to support LGBT students include OutLaw for Law School students and OutReach for Booth School of Business students. Third-year and Q&A member Jake Oakley found that Q&A was a welcoming place to meet new people and become more informed about queer issues. “I wasn’t really educated about the trans community before I came to the University,” Oakley said. “It’s also given me a really good understanding of the breadth of different issues that people deal with, when queer issues intersect with different things like race or class or things along those lines.” The effects of these resources are evident: The University received a perfect five-star rating from the LGBT–Friendly Campus Climate Index. In
addition, the College in 2008 became one of the first colleges to offer a gender-neutral housing option for second-years and up. Despite these strides, fourth-year Nory KaplanKelly, a Q&A board member, believes that the University can still improve regarding LGBTQ issues. He said that one area of improvement students have been discussing for years is the implementation of a preferred name system, which will begin this fall. Under the new system, students will be able to choose a preferred name that will appear on Chalk, class rosters, grade rosters, and in the online directory. Despite all of the resources available to students, Kaplan-Kelly said that being queer in college continues to bring a complex set of challenges. “A lot of narratives about queer life at college either sound like horror stories or fairy tales,” he said. “This isn’t true. It isn’t magical nor are there monsters. Instead it takes a lot of time to adjust to new communities, make new friends, and learn new things.”
To start getting involved in LGBTQ student life on campus, you can attend “Queer 101,” a panel discussion and orientation held by the Office of LGBTQ Student Life. It will take place on September 27 in the OMSA Community Lounge. Beyond Hyde Park, the Boystown neighborhood is home to the Center on Halsted, which provides a variety of LGBTQfriendly services.
— Harini Jaganathan
Greek Life Engage in (or ignore) to your heart’s content You might be surprised to find that at the school where fun allegedly goes to die, there is a rich tradition of Greek life, dating back to the 1860s at the first iteration of University of Chicago, where there were four original fraternities. Today, there are a combined total of more than 20 fraternities and sororities on campus. While only about 10 percent of undergraduates go Greek, Greek life does shape some aspects of social life here. Its main impact on the wider community is in two distinct yet often overlapping areas: parties and philanthropy. Especially among first- and second-years, the weekend’s most visible and advertised social event is invariably a frat party: an amalgam of red Solo cups, sticky dance floors, and fragmented conversations over loud music. Philanthropic events, however, have raised more than $60,000 cumulatively in the past and tend to attract more varied crowds and might be another fun way to get in on the action if frat parties aren’t your thing. If you do decide to go Greek, you have plenty of choices. Greek life is fast expanding : Just in the past two years, the Delta Tau Delta, Zeta Beta Tau, and Zeta Psi fraternities, as well as the Pi Beta Phi sorority, have formed chapters on campus. For frats, you also have the old guard—those majestic, multi-story stone buildings that line South University Avenue on the eastern edge of the quads, providing a more traditional vision of collegiate Greek life. Here you’ll find party favorites like Psi U (Psi Upsilon), FIJI (Phi Gamma Delta), and DU
(Delta Upsilon). Along with Phi Delt (Phi Delta Theta) and Alpha Delt (Alpha Delta Phi), these fraternities are among the oldest at the University, and enjoy consistent popularity due to their proximity to campus and large, historic, beer-bathed houses. Other options include DKE (Delta Kappa Epsilon), AEPI (Alpha Epsilon Pi), Sig Ep (Sigma Phi Epsilon), Sigma Chi, and Lambda (Lambda Phi Epsilon), scattered both in location and reputation—you’ll just have to see for yourself. On the sorority side, the majority of recruitment is done by the three main sororities of the Panhellenic Council—AOPI (Alpha Omicron Pi), DG (Delta Gamma), and Theta (Kappa Alpha Theta). This trinity consists of the most visible sisterhoods on campus, notable for their annual fundraisers: AOPI’s Valentine’s Day Rose sale, DG’s Anchor Slam, and Theta’s Mr. University event. There’s also a host of sororities that are part of the Multicultural Greek Council, which works to engage underrepresented student communities, bonded by an interest in a common ethnicity. If you’re compelled by a strong group united by intimate friendships and community service, take some time to research them. And for those looking mostly to engage with the wider community, there’s always the campus co-ed service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, once sponsored by the one and only Michelle Obama, founder of the University
Community Service Center. But the only way to truly understand Greek life here is to be part of it. If you’re entranced by the idea of a close-knit community, a band of brothers or sisters with varied interests and accomplishments, then pledging or rushing may be one of the best decisions you make this year. Among the numerous activity fairs and o-week bombardments of information, take some time to find the Greek life booths and info sessions. Despite the reputation of exclusivity that frats and sororities inevitably exude, there’s really no superiority complex involved (just pride that manifests in sweatshirts, bags, and various assorted merchandise with 400 pt. font insignia). Put simply: Greek life at UChicago is take-it-orleave-it. You may indulge in some weekend bacchanalia at DU, but let’s be honest—you won’t remember that. Rush week comes and goes without any significant fanfare. Greek life is a self-selective business, and each fraternity and sorority has a distinctive identity that can’t be described in a pithy one-liner. Meet the brothers, meet the sisters, and if you like them, go for it. Otherwise, indulge in the dimly lit wonders of Bar Night, Heaven and Hell, or any one of the strangely themed parties that will become your go-to nightlife in Hyde Park—if you want them to. —Marina Fang
28
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
THE SHOW Campus Cinema What’s up, Doc? At UChicago the pictures may move, but you don’t really have to; there are plenty of excellent resources for the collegiate cinephile right on campus. If you’re not looking to stray too far from the Midway, Doc Films is an exceptional choice. Doc began in 1932 as a student-run film club that exclusively screened documentaries (or, as its founders called them, “the realist study of our time via nonfiction film”). In 1940, the organization became firmly established as the International House Documentary Film Group. Since then, Doc has expanded its repertoire and now screens everything from flops to favorites. Roger Ebert (X ’70), an Illinois native and brief UChicago student, once called Doc Films “cinephile heaven,” and at $5 per ticket or $30 for a quarterly pass with discounts for renewing members, it’s hard to disagree. Many esteemed directors from Woody Allen to Alfred Hitchcock and, more recently, Darren Aronofsky, have even graced Max Palevsky Cinema with their presence and led discussions about their films. Films play every night throughout the entire quarter (excluding the dreaded finals week). Doc features seven film series per quarter, one for each night of the week, and covers highly varied cin-
ematic ground. This past year students enjoyed Miyazaki in the fall, Wong Kar-Wai in the winter, and Chris Marker and Agnes Varda in the spring. On the weekends Doc screens more recent releases, alternating between blockbusters and classic, established crowd-pleasers—just about anything you could think of from Frances Ha to Fight Club. Don’t miss Doc’s spring mega-screening—last year’s Good Burger featured a burger-eating contest and random giveaways—that always promise a good time. Doc is run by UChicago students and community members with encyclopedic knowledge of the moving picture, and it’s worth noting for the benefit of the thrifty film-buff that Doc volunteers are rewarded with free entrance to all Doc shows in a given academic quarter. The Max Palevsky Cinema is also used, along with the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, to play movies produced by Fire Escape Films, UChicago’s student filmmaking RSO, which also hosts the 48 Hour Film Festival and, for cash prizes, the ShortScript contest. New members are initiated by filming and editing shorts as part of a production crew. Members also are allowed to propose projects of their own, which can receive funding from the student group if approved by the Fire Escape Films
Committee. If you’re not feeling up to the brouhaha of a public screening, or would like to watch as many films as your heart desires—free of charge—the Film Studies Center is an excellent alternative. Located on the third floor of Cobb Hall, the FSC boasts an impressive collection of films, from the highly decorated to the relatively obscure, and you don’t have to be a Cinema and Media Studies major to borrow from their cinematic archives (though you do have to remain on the premises to watch them). The FSC also conducts events and film screenings, including those produced by members of Fire Escape. Just a few steps farther away from campus, Harper Theater, located at East 53rd Street and South Harper Avenue, opened its doors this past winter. For $7, students can check out new releases on one of five screens in this historic building designed by Horatio Wilson in the early 20th century. If you’re a cinephile—or just need a breather from that backbreaking essay—look no further than the silver screens right at home. — Emily Wang
Campus Theater Act like you’re not a UChicago student for a while Whether it’s performing Shakespeare, building a set, or bringing the audience to tears with improv comedy, there are many opportunities to make the world your stage during your time at UChicago. Each year approximately 500 students are involved in campus productions both on stage and behind the scenes. The largest contingent of students takes part in University Theater (UT), which produces over 35 shows a year reaching an annual audience of over 10,000. UT offers a high level of student involvement in the shows and an extensive set of resources at students’ disposal, including the one year-old Logan Center for the Arts and the knowledge of highly-trained theater professional and academics. “I think the biggest difference between theater at U of C and theater at other schools is that here theater is totally student run with the exception of ‘the pro show,’ which happens every fall and spring quarter. Every production has a staff comprised only of students, with professional staff there to help along the way if needed,” said Margeaux Perkins, a third-year who is co-directing As You Like It during seventh week. “Theater at the U of C is very closeknit. UT is for everybody regardless of major, which is something you don’t always see at other schools.” This fall, UT productions will include House of Yes (O-Week
through first week), Hedda Gabler (sixth week), The Hamletmachine (eighth week), and Grey Gardens (tenth week). Auditions for UT productions are held on the second and third floors of Cobb during the first week of every quarter. New and curious students should sign up for the UT list host and check the UT Web site for specific audition information. Positions for production managing, state managing, house managing, lighting, set design, costume design, and sound design are always available if you prefer to stay out of the spotlight—and can be found online. The 24-Hour Play Festival— held the first weekend of each quarter— invites all students to create an entire play from scratch, from playwriting to set design to performance, in a daylong period. Each quarter, The Dean’s Men, the University’s resident Shakespeare troupe, stages one of the master’s 39 plays. This fall they will be the company for Perkins’ As You Like It during seventh week. The Dean’s Men also holds weekly Shakespeare readings and they often gather and receive feedback from Professor Emeritus and Shakespeare expert David Bevington. For those drawn to satiric side of theater, Off-Off Campus, the second oldest continuously running student “improv” troupe is the country, is well worth checking out. Started by Second City founder Bernie Sahlins (A.B. ’43) in 1986, Off-Off presents a five-week revue each quarter. This fall Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News (I’ve Got a Bad Case of Wanting News) will be held at 8:30 p.m. on Fridays of fourth through
eighth weeks at The Blue Gargoyle Theatre at University Church. Auditions for OffOff are held early in fall quarter. Occam’s Razor, which is open to both undergraduate and graduate students, puts on three improv comedy shows each quarter. For those interested in studying theater in an academic setting, Theater and Performance Arts Studies (TAPS) is a strong undergraduate department which places lots of emphasis on combining the theory of drama and its practice. Six courses in theory and analysis and six courses in artistic practice are required of all TAPS majors. It should also be noted that some of the best professional theater in Chicago happens here at Court Theater, a professional theater company on campus. Once called “the most consistently excellent theater company in America” by The Wall Street Journal, Court will open this season with the Chicago premiere of The Mountaintop, a creative take on the events surrounding the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. A one-man version of the Homeric epic poem, An Iliad, will return to Court from November 13 through December 8. Tickets for students are offered at highly discounted prices. Fresh thespian blood, experienced or not, is what keeps the theater groups alive and improving each year. And with the University’s offerings academic and extracurricular, on and off stage, traditional and comedic, chances are you are missing out if you don’t put yourself out there. —Lauren Gurley
29
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
MUST GO ON Campus Music
From broadcasting to bands, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something for all musicians Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a good time to be a musician at UChicago. While Philip Glass (A.B. â&#x20AC;&#x2122;56) has long since departed from the Burton-Judson courtyard, music remains central to the Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cultural and physical landscape. Between the beat of your own drum and the rhythm of other campus productions, we, the footloose, bid you welcome.
Get off the O-Week grid by checking out the annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival, a free twoday festival that hosts a rich assortment of local and national jazz artists. The festival boasts 11 indoor and outdoor venues throughout the neighborhood and all-day programming. Falling on the last weekend before fall quarter, September
28â&#x20AC;&#x201C;29, Jazz Fest bids the summer farewell with just a touch of the blues. The music department hosts over 14 different ensembles and programs, which collectively put on more than 100 concerts each quarter. Richly varied in historical periods and cultural affiliations, these ensembles range from the
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESENTS
JAZZ AT THE LOGAN
Hear the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best jazz on Chicagoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own South Side.
Photo by: Clay Patrick McBride
2013/14 SERIES
The Bad Plus Anat Cohen Quartet Rudresh Mahanthappa Quartet Ambrose Akinmusire Project Dick Hyman + Bill Charlap Trio Double Bill
FRIDAY | OCTOBER 25 | 7:30 PM
FRIDAY | MARCH 7 | 7:30 PM
THE BAD PLUS
AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE PROJECT
On Sacred Ground
Latest works
Ethan Iverson, piano; Reid Anderson, bass; Dave King, drums
Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet; Sam Harris, piano; Harish Raghavan, bass; Charles Altura, guitar; Justin Brown, drums
SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 24 | 2:00 PM
ANAT COHEN QUARTET Claroscuro Anat Cohen, clarinet; Jason Linder, piano; Joe Martin, bass; Daniel Freedman, drums
FRIDAY | MAY 30 | 7:30 PM
JAZZ DOUBLE BILL: DICK HYMAN and BILL CHARLAP TRIO Variations on the Great American Songbook
FRIDAY | DECEMBER 6 | 7:30 PM
RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA QUARTET
Dick Hyman, piano Bill Charlap, piano; Peter Washington, bass; Kenny Washington, Wasmhington, drums drums
Gamak Rudresh Mahanthappa, alto saxophone; David Fiuczynski, guitar; François Moutin, bass; Dan Weiss, drums
https://www.facebook.com/jazzatlogan
REVA & DAVID LOGAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS 915 E. 60th | UChicago Campus FREE PARKING: street & adjacent lot at 60th & Drexel
http://arts.uchicago.edu/content/university-chicago-presents-jazz-logan
prestigious Rockefeller Chapel Choir to the South Asian Vocal Ensemble. The main audition process occurs September 23â&#x20AC;&#x201C;30, so tune those violins and clean that horn already. But you neednâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t leave your dorm room to hear some great student-produced beats. WHPK, the campus-wide radio station, pools together University students and community members to build its 160 person staff. Providing a 24-hour stream of high-quality programming, WHPK presents shows in a variety of formats from rock to public affairs to jazz, all strung together under the collective aim of â&#x20AC;&#x153;playing music not commonly heard on the mainstream.â&#x20AC;? Tune in to 88.5 FM or listen online at whpk.org, where you can also apply to become a student DJ. The Major Activities Board, an RSO affectionately known as MAB, presents two annual music concerts: the Fall Show and the Summer Breeze Concert. Both highly anticipated events, past concerts have featured the Ramones, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck, Eminem, and, last year, headliners included Sleigh Bells, Nelly, and Smith Westerns. Twenty-dollar tickets are easy on the student budget (beer funds not included). For the more classically inclined, University of Chicago Presents (UCP) is well poised to satisfy an aficionadoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs. UCP hosts three concert series per annum, bringing together highly acclaimed soloists and chamber music ensembles in awe-inspiring spaces such as Mandel Hall and Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. With student tickets as low as five dollars, these heavily discounted events are a lot of refined bang for your buck. In terms of practice and performance spaces, Logan Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s musical facilities stand unrivaled. Logan boasts three music ensemble rehearsal rooms, 20 music practice rooms, one piano teaching studio, and an ambitious Performance Hall. The space fosters musical creativity in a variety of hues, from the much beloved Jazz Series, which offers discounted access to worldrenowned jazz artist performances throughout the year, to the Logan Cabaret Series, a studenthosted and student-performed cabaret show each fortnight. While situated due south of the Midway, the glassy behemoth may be the new â&#x20AC;&#x153;True Northâ&#x20AC;? for all ye aspiring musicians-cumrock stars. A final nod (read: head bang) to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;alternativeâ&#x20AC;? musical wellsprings on and around campus that rock out without RSO funding or a place on the official campus events calendar. Record store by day, music venue by night, Hyde Park Records on East 53rd Street offers students a sample size of Chicagoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rich musical history (and present) without ever leaving UCPDâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; patrolled areas. On any given day, Dirt Red Brass Band, a traveling New Orleansâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;style student band, may jazz up your quad-crossing scramble with its signature sound and playful performance style. And for those who like the dirt under the nails just where it is, basement shows featuring local student bands are a regular fixture in the Hyde Park night scene. Just be sure to keep your ears to the ground; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rumbling. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Joy Crane
30
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Campus Art Even the museums here are Smart Many University of Chicago students who cross the quads daily don’t know that one of the nation’s most renowned contemporary art exhibition centers is three stories above their Spanish classroom in Cobb or that a nearly 3,000-year-old, 40-ton Assyrian lamassu (winged bull) is just across the street from the benches where they eat lunch on the east side of the quads. Our University is home to a rich collection of fine art, and each year noteworthy exhibitions featuring the work of the world’s most celebrated artists as well as that of our own students flow through its galleries. But much of it is easy to miss, so keep your eyes on these venues: The Smart Museum of Art, the University’s main art museum (just north of the intersection of East 56th Street and South Greenwood Avenue), boasts a collection of art extending across five continents and dating from the Middle Ages to the present. Perhaps most impressive is the Modern Wing, where you can contemplate the works of Rothko, Matisse, and Rodin. A new exhibition, State of Mind: New California Art Circa 1970, celebrating conceptual art movements born out of the counterculture ’60s and ’70s California spirit will be on display at the Smart from October 3 through January 12. A smaller exhibit, Wings, Speed, and Cosmic Dominion in Renaissance Italy, focusing on representa-
tions of wings in Italian Renaissance art will be up until December 8. The Smart has its own café, a quick and easy stop for an espresso and a croissant after a walk through the galleries. Admission is free. Hidden behind the ivy-covered walls of Cobb Hall’s fourth floor, the Renaissance Society is a hotbed for some of the nation’s most talked-about contemporary artists. “Focusing on the forefront of the visual arts,” the Society was founded as the Midwest’s response to the avant-garde art of the 1920s and ’30s in New York and Paris. Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Alexander Calder, and Jeff Koons are some of the artists who have been showcased in the Society’s lofty dwelling. Suicide Narcissus, which focuses on the ecological crisis of our time through eight artists’ work, will be at the Society until December 15. Admission is free. To the other side of the quads lies what might be paradoxically called one of the world’s most cutting-edge institutes of ancient Near Eastern art and artifacts. Scholars from around the world come to the Oriental Institute to study ancient statues, tablets, and other archaeological finds from Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. Currently showing is Catastrophe! Ten Years Later: The Looting and Destruction of Iraq’s Past, which informs viewers about the destruction of Iraq’s cultural heritage during
the second Iraq War. Admission is free with a suggested donation of $10. Other notable places for art viewing include the Logan Center Gallery in the new Logan Center for the Arts, where Diasporal Rhythms: A Ten Year Love Affair with Collecting Art of the African Diaspora will run from October 8 until November 9. The hallways of the Booth School of Business host an impressive collection of modern art, and after you check it out, you can see Frank Lloyd Wright’s “prairie-style” masterpiece, the Robie House, just across the street. Near East 50th Street and South Cornell Avenue, the Hyde Park Art Center promotes local artists and hosts discussions, classes, and workshops. For budding and experienced artists alike, the University is full of organizations and groups that create and display their artwork. Notably, the Festival of the Arts (FOTA) is a week-long campus event where students can showcase their work each spring. Outside the Lines is another RSO that hosts weekly figure-drawing sessions. ArtShould promotes art education and programming in Chicago Public Schools in the Hyde Park community. Artist, art historian, or “just interested,” UChicago has something that will strike your fancy and maybe even call you back again and again. —Lauren Gurley
A Cappella There’s more behind the clever names Beware of the crazed upperclassmen eyeing you like you’re fresh meat. They’ll be hosting open houses, courting you with food at the O-Party, and accosting you to sign up for listhosts at the first-week fair. But eight organizations in particular might catch your attention more than most RSOs: the color-coordinated, dancing, singing masses that make up UChicago’s a cappella groups. Of the groups in the A Cappella Council, two are all-female, one is all-male, and the remaining four are co-ed. Another group, Chicago Men’s A Cappella (CMAC), is also all-male. All, however, are very, very good at the art of unaccompanied singing, and there are few moments more surreal than hearing a holiday classic or pop hit echoing through snowy archways during the winter. A cappella is one of the more immersive opportunities on campus; if you’re accepted to a group, expect to spend hours upon hours with your fellow singers, honing melodies to perfection, traveling to competitions, and even recording albums in professional studios. To find out how to audition for the groups in the a cappella council during first week, visit the University of Chicago A Cappella Council Web site at acappella.uchicago.edu, and to audition for CMAC, visit cmacsings.com. In the meantime, here’s a short guide to all the different ways you can have your voice heard: Voices in Your Head, who marked their 15th anniversary this summer, is one of the most acclaimed a cappella groups on campus, having recorded two award-winning singles last year and four award-winning albums in the past. They often perform on national tours and claimed fourth place
in the 2012 collegiate international championship. Larger than most groups, they include both graduate and undergraduate students, and wield a diverse repertoire that includes original pieces as well as genres spanning R&B, pop, rock, and alternative music. Men in Drag (MiD) is one of the two allfemale a cappella options with a “no men, occasional drag” philosophy. These women bring an edge and attitude to a cappella that’s difficult to find elsewhere. Last year, in addition to celebrating their 15th anniversary and releasing a critically acclaimed album, MiD co-hosted a Midwest ACapellaFest on campus and went on tour. The group is also well-known for their yearly pie/date auction in the spring: “Want Love? Buy Pie!” With their first single released and a performance for the President of the United States in the books, The Ransom Notes make big waves for a 12-member outfit. This relatively small co-ed group performs each quarter and tours in the winter and spring, and are especially notable for their eclectic mix of indie rock and Top 40 hits. Rhythm & Jews is perhaps the most eccentric group among the University’s a cappella offerings. Don’t be fooled, though: Despite its name, this co-ed group accepts students from all walks of life, and then proceeds to sing some seriously good tunes. We’re talking everything from “Lady Madonna” to “Georgia On My Mind” to “Ahava Ktana.” Formed in 2001, the group also performs an annual tour during the first week of winter break. Unaccompanied Women is the second of the two all-female groups, and the oldest a cappella soci-
ety on campus. Founded in 1989, the group consistently has 16 members and performs everything from barbershop classics to folk ballads. Known for their prolific performances and matching costumes, they also annually sell Singing Valentines and will be recording their fourth album this year. Make a Joyful Noise, one of the smallest singing groups on campus, is the University’s only Christian-based a cappella group. As such, their repertoire includes popular hymns and spirituals, Christian rock, and more secular choices from the Disney canon. They also perform in collaboration with Northwestern’s Harmony in Spirit group, and are especially popular during the holidays. One of two all-male a cappella groups on campus, Run For Cover is just five years old, making it the youngest of the eight. Their relative newness hasn’t impeded their growth, though: They’ve expanded to 10 from their original four, and have an album in the works and national competition ambitions this year. Part of their success may be their typical rehearsal schedule each week: two-hour full group rehearsal, a one-hour sectional, and a one-hour choreography rehearsal. Founded eight years ago, CMAC is the second all-male a cappella group on campus. With a core repertoire of University fight songs and classical men’s choral arrangements, CMAC has performed everywhere from the University of Virginia to the Chicago Symphony Center in Orchestra Hall to Rockefeller for the Alumni Weekend convocation. —Rebecca Guterman
THE CHICAGO MAROON CHICAGOMAROON.COM
31
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE MEMBERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; LEC TURE SERIES PRESENTS
Why the West Rules ¢ For Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future
! $"#% ( ) ,*+- ' ! % !
Presented by
Ian Morris ' ! & ' '
Wednesday, October 2 7:00 pm The Oriental Institute 1155 East 58th Street Docent-led Museum tour at 6:30 pm
Free and Open to the Public | Reception to Follow Co-sponsored by the Oriental Institute Volunteer Program
Founding Core Member, Chief Scientific Officer, and Director of the Cancer Program at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Charles A. Dana Investigator in Human Cancer Genetics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute
$
$& /& ,*+-
" $ 0** ' ./ & ! ++*-
! # "
The Members' Lecture Series is made possible by the generous support of Oriental Institute Members
Residential Properties Faculty and Staff Housing We assist eligible faculty and staff of The University of Chicago find their new home in the Hyde Park area. Enjoy the benefits:
Â&#x192; Great amenities Â&#x192; No security deposit Â&#x192; Early lease termination option (subject to program guidelines) Â&#x192; Friendly and responsive staff
Conveniently located near:
Â&#x192; Campus Â&#x192; Schools Â&#x192; Restaurants Â&#x192; Retail shops Â&#x192; Transportation
Visit rp.uchicago.edu for:
Â&#x192; Property locations & amenities Â&#x192; Floor plans Â&#x192; Building photos Â&#x192; Price ranges
Contact us today by calling 773.753.0860 or emailing residential@uchicago.edu! 5100 S. Dorchester Avenue
Chicago, IL 60615
32
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
ACADEMICS The Core
UChicago’s Great Doorstops—er, Books—program School is sort of a big deal over here. While our noses aren’t always buried in some dense reading as we trod to the Reg, our collective effervescence for all things academic is still quite present on campus. It is laced into our vocabularies by the end of the first quarter (“collective effervescence”), soaked into our subconscious by the third. We have the Core to thank for much of this. Yet the Core means different things to different people. For some, it is the Michelle to their Destiny’s Child, the awkward third of an otherwise glamorous experience. For others, the Core will spark interest in a new major or previously underappreciated discipline. Regardless of your own slant, choosing the classes of best fit for you, not the friends you just met in your house, will help you wring the most from your experience. All first years are required to take Hum (pronounced “Hume”), which delves into the philosophy and literature foundational to (primarily) Western thought. A cornerstone of the Core, Hum can offer you access to different collections of literary and philosophical thought, depending on the class you choose. Take something more traditional like Human Being and Citizen, and you will spend at least two quarters reading the great books, from Homer’s Iliad to Aristotle’s Nicomachaean Ethics and Dante’s Inferno. Readings in World Literature, on the other hand, ventures beyond the Western canon with works like the Mahabharata.
Some of you will choose to tackle the threequarter Social Sciences (“Sosc,” pronounced “Sosh”) sequence during your first year. Credit ambiguously named classes like “Power, Identity, and Resistance” and “Self, Culture, and Society” for all those Arendt, Durkheim, and Smith references you will probably make after taking them. Sosc allows you to delve into the history of political philosophy or, even better, learn how to develop social and political theories of your own. Considered a more “practical” option for the Core, Social Science Inquiry gives you the foundation to carry out your own social science research, while Mind allows you to circumvent the classics for psychology articles galore. In addition to Hum, the Core has both Art and Civilizations (“Civ”) requirements. You must take six quarters among these three disciplines, with no less than one quarter in each. Choose from the likes of the theoretical (art history, music theory) and the hands-on (drawing, theater) for the art portion of your core. But beware: Because of the small class sizes and high demand, core art classes become increasingly difficult to nab as you progress through your four years. Bid early, bid often. For Civ, it is (not surprisingly) a popular option to enroll in a study abroad program and spend one quarter frolicking around cities such as Barcelona, Istanbul, Beijing, and Oaxaca—although the new Gender Studies Civ could be equally uncharted territory.
While not every Civ abroad has a language prerequisite, you will have to learn a foreign language as part of the Core—the completion of an introductory sequence, or its equivalent in test credit. The math and science portion of the Core requires six quarters, with a combination of courses in natural sciences, physical sciences, and math. A general Core Bio course, the natural sciences staple, is paired with a bio topic of your choice (though the Nutrition sequence can serve as an alternative); physical sciences classes will have you studying astronomy, global warming, and natural hazards if you want to avoid chemistry or physics; and for those allergic to calculus, fear not! Statistics and computer science are both accepted for your math requirement. A.P. or I.B. credit can waive many of these classes. When it comes down to it, the Core is your introduction to the Life of the Mind in practice. There will be times when you are up at the witching hour, cursing your past self, thinking “What sequence of events brought me to this terrible pit of ennui?” To that existential question, not a single one of the people you will read will bear an answer. Well, except for Marx and his theory of alienation. And maybe Freud—yeah, I could see that. And in a twisted way, this is the Core at its finest: tediously, sometimes even painfully, gifting you an invaluable, fluid way of looking at the world. —Kristin Lin
Professors More doctors than you can find in a hospital Professors here do pretty incredible things: They write best-selling books, conduct groundbreaking research, consult for policy makers, and sometimes, they even get elected president of the United States. But in a place full of notable names and an international reputation, it can be easy to mistake notoriety for quality. Just because a professor is famous doesn’t mean he or she will provide what the University likes to tout as a world-class education. And learning is always a two-way street: The more you engage in your academic experience, the more fruitful it will be. Here are some tips for dealing with professors: Office hours are vital to getting the most out of your classes. They allow you to develop meaningful relationships with professors (or TAs), particularly in large lecture-based classes in which you are unlikely to get a lot of face time with the professor, and take different forms for every subject. You can ask questions you were too afraid to ask in class (though you should never be afraid to ask questions in class!), go over assignments, bounce around ideas for a paper, or clarify missed exam questions. Professors are required to set aside time specifically devoted to meeting with their students, so don’t be shy about taking advantage of that time. Even if you don’t need help with anything specific, office hours are a chance for the professor to appreciate that you are paying attention to the material and
have an interest in the course. It may also result in a slight grading advantage: When assigning grades, the professor will be able to put a face to a name and might recall an interesting conversation he/she had with you that made a positive impression (but no guarantees). Course evaluations are not the be-all and end-all. Course evaluations should be taken with a grain of salt. Evaluations often suffer from response bias: Students who loved the class are inclined to respond with a glowing review of the professor, and students who absolutely hated the class will write a scathing diatribe defiling the professor. Here’s an example: For the same course, one student complained that the professor “made the class almost entirely lecture-based,” while another celebrated the fact that the professor “did a good job incorporating discussion into a larger lecture-style class.” To avoid the pitfalls of inconsistent evaluations, it helps to try out different sections of the course during the first week of the quarter, especially for Hum, Sosc, and Civ classes and other discussion-based courses. Some professors are extremely adept at facilitating discussion, others not so much. But the only way to find out is to experience it for yourself if you can. Barring the ability to acquire a time-turner and go to overlapping sections, if everyone in a class evaluated it similarly, that’s a good bet—and if you’re on the fence, all-around positive evaluations
can help tip the scales toward a topic you might not have tried otherwise. Younger, less experienced professors are sometimes just as good as seasoned veterans. You might not get to take a class with that renowned professor who has been at UChicago since before your parents were born, at least not right away. But fear not: Younger professors might provide an equally enriching experience as their older colleagues. Although senior professors do teach Core classes, those classes are also commonly assigned to high-level graduate students close to completing their Ph.D.s, post-doctoral fellows fresh out of graduate school, or recently hired assistant professors. They can provide fresh, new insights on ageold texts and concepts. Young professors often have boundless enthusiasm for their academic interests and course subjects. They also tend to be less intimidating, so it might be easier to strike up a conversation with them after class. That’s not to say that seasoned professors are intimidating, but they can seem that way at first. Young professors generally have more time to devote to their students, as they have fewer side projects and other appointments. And it doesn’t hurt that they’re much closer in age to their students, helping them to relate better to your circumstances. —Marina Fang
33
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Majors Don’t be intimidated by the seemingly endless College Catalog Web site UChicago offers 51 majors, 29 minors, and seemingly infinite combinations of concentrations to its coterie of knowledge-hungry undergrads. To be exact, that is 100 percent satiation for an academic appetite. On the surface, choosing a major at UChicago is a relatively straightforward task: take a few classes based on personal and/or professional interest to test the waters, and simply declare by spring of third year. This generally just entails submitting an online request and, if you want to avoid a prodding e-mail, informing your College adviser. Every major, of course, has its own rules—certain programs have more stringent prerequisites that need to be fulfilled before declaring, while others require an application for admission. A major may comprise only 11 courses (Law, Letters, and Society) or it may require 19 (biochemistry)—and the numbers may even differ depending on the area of specialization within the same major. Minors usually require about half as many credits. Thus, it is probably prudent to take a quick glance at what potential majors might require of you, but you’ve probably already done that. Many students nonetheless arrive at the University without a clue as to what their major will be. And that’s perfectly fine; you have so much time to figure it out. Everyone will tell you that. And yet, you still might find yourself envying the lucky few who come in on the first day knowing for sure they want to do econ. Knowing they want to do econ/ math. Knowing they want to do econ/comp sci. Knowing they want to do econ/math/comp sci. Speaking of, two things: First, there are a lot of economics majors on campus. Perhaps this is due to the deservedly famed reputation of the department, which prompts adages like, “You can’t come to UChicago and NOT do econ,” or perhaps its due to the odd association between the econ major and future financial success for those aspiring Patrick Bateman types. Based on
the most recent quantitative data released by the registrar, out of 5,334 enrolled College students, there were 840 official econ majors as of spring 2013. The second and third most popular majors were biological sciences (481 students), and political science (406 students). The least popular majors currently are Jewish studies and South Asian studies, with two students each. Second, a favorite UChicago pastime is majoring in twos and threes. Many students decide to double major every year, and the University’s official spiel on this tradition is that, professionally speaking, it usually does not make a difference. An even smaller collegiate clique opts to try their hands at the masochistic rigors of a triple major, and often finds it to be a Sisyphean, but happy, struggle. As of last spring, 1,072 students had officially declared a double major, while 54 declared a triple. Of course, this also wouldn’t be UChicago without the smattering of idiosyncratic, and interdisciplinary majors offered by the New Collegiate Division. For instance, Fundamentals: Issues and Texts majors seek to answer one deceptively basic question (for example, “How does one love?” or “What is desperation?”) by focusing intensely on a few chosen texts, hence the name. The required introductory course could cover many works of one author, or focus on a single book, most of which are read an excruciating (but theoretically rewarding) minimum of three times. Law, Letters, and Society is also an interdisciplinary major and draws heavily from the political science, history, philosophy, and sociology departments, among others. All second-years who have been admitted into the major are required to take an introductory class, “Legal Reasoning,” taught by famed professor and program director Dennis Hutchinson during the fall. Both fundamentals and Law, Letters, and Society require non-binding applications during spring quarter of your first year. In addition, there is a major with a winning name
Powell’s Bookstore Books bought and sold since 1971
A great deal is in the bag! Buy a Powell’s canvas bag for $5.00 with this ad. Bring the bag when you shop on the 1st of every month & save 20%!
1501 E. 57th St. (at Harper Ave.) 773.955.7780 Open 9am-11pm daily www.powellschicago.com
and even more impressive interdisciplinary attitude: HIPS (History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine). All HIPSters must cultivate a foundational knowledge of the natural sciences, and then immerse themselves in such topics as the history of medicine, and its social, psychological, and philosophical ramifications. Students who are on an exceptionally set path can pursue a joint degree program or professional option to really milk the benefits of their UChicago experience. The University offers four-year joint Bachelor’s/Master’s programs in humanities, chemistry, mathematics, statistics, international relations, and most recently, computer science. You also have the option to begin professional studies at the Harris School of Public Policy or the Pritzker School of M e d i c i n e during your fourth year through the professional option in public policy studies and the ultra-competitive professional option in medicine programs. The School of Social Service Administration has a five-year A.B./A.M. program. If it’s any consolation, changing your mind is a very common part of the broader process of finding yourself during college. This sudden indecision where once there was a fervent desire to be a physics, philosophy, or English major may be brought on by a multitude of factors (for example, the Core curriculum, bitterly cold weather, the pitfalls of organic chemistry, actual philosophy classes, to name a few) but it’s certainly nothing to worry about. —Stephanie Xiao
34
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
THE U NIVERSIT Y OF CHICAGO BOOKSTORE
MORE THAN BOOK SMART BUY ONE GET ONE % OFF
50 ALL
GEAR (of equal or lesser value) SALE ENDS 10/5/13
UChicago students are more than book smart and so is their bookstore. Visit us for room essentials, school supplies, tech & electronics, gifts, apparel, snacks, and more.
OUR HOURS FOR RUSH: Sat, Sept. 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9AM–5PM
970 East 58th Street (58th & Ellis) Chicago, IL 60637 773.702.7712 uchicago.bncollege.com
Sun–Fri, Sept. 22-27 . . . . . . . . 8AM–7PM Sat, Sept. 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9AM–5PM Sun, Sept. 29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8AM–4PM proudly brewing
facebook.com/UChicagoBookstore
membership accepted
Mon–Tue, Sept. 30–Oct. 1 . . . . 8AM–7PM Our café accepts Maroon Dollars.
35
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
THE U NIVERSIT Y OF CHICAGO BOOKSTORE
YOUR CHOICE
SAVE
UP TO
60% ON TEXTBOOKS Rent SAVE ON AVERAGE 50% Highlight, take notes, and make them your own. We’ll send a courtesy reminder message when your rentals are due back.
Used SAVE 25% Sell your used textbooks back and get up to 50% cash back. Order early to reserve your used copies at UChicago@bncollege.com.
eTextbooks SAVE UP TO 60%
New Year FRESH START
Instant download right from UChicago.bncollege.com. Download the free eTextbook application for PC and Mac at nookstudy.com/college.
Sell your new books back at the end of the quarter for up to half the cash back.
OUR HOURS FOR RUSH: Sat, Sept. 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9AM–5PM
970 East 58th Street (58th & Ellis) Chicago, IL 60637 773.702.7712 uchicago.bncollege.com
Sun–Fri, Sept. 22-27 . . . . . . . . 8AM–7PM Sat, Sept. 28 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9AM–5PM Sun, Sept. 29 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8AM–4PM proudly brewing
facebook.com/UChicagoBookstore
membership accepted
Mon–Tue, Sept. 30–Oct. 1 . . . . 8AM–7PM Our café accepts Maroon Dollars.
36
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
HIT THE BOOKS
Libraries For the studious, the curious, and those who have miles (and three essays) to go before they sleep If you stopped a random UChicagoan on the main quad and asked them to direct you to the campus social hub, chances are pretty good that they’d point in the direction of the Regenstein Library. Sad, maybe, but true: From the first floor of the Reg to the eerie tomb-silence of Crerar’s echoing hallways, social and scholastic life intertwine at the libraries of the University of Chicago. On the journey from your first Core classes to your final attainment of that hard-earned degree, you may fall in love with the classes, the professors, the Neo-Gothic quads, and yes, maybe even the people, but no matter what path your education takes, you can be sure you’ll be spending a lot of time at the library. Each of the seven different libraries boasts its own personality, keeping studying—and procrastination—fresh at each locale. Despite its fortress-like exterior, the brutalist-by-design Joseph Regenstein Library attracts the most students of any campus library. This may be due to its central location, or by sheer virtue of its size; completed in 1970 with concrete slabs and more concrete slabs (and, to save it from being too depressing, huge windows and limestone as well), it is the largest library on campus, with five floors a n d t w o
basement levels. The Reg houses over three million books in its stacks and is home to five rooms devoted to specialized studies, from the East Asian archives to music and the fine arts. The Special Collections Research Center in the Reg houses rare books, archives, and manuscripts, and hosts exhibits such as children’s books and graphic art from the Soviet Union, or souvenirs from the Chicago World Exposition. Good old Reggie has a lot of room for private study, whether in the book stacks or in the carrels. And for collaboration (read: hanging out), there’s the A-Level in the basement, and the study space on the first floor, which stays open 24 hours on weekdays (and is just a hop and a skip away from Bart Mart, open until 3 a.m.). Built just two years ago and connected to the Regenstein via a sleek white tunnel is the glass-walled Mansueto Library, whose shape gave birth to the nickname “the Egg.” Sitting beneath the glass dome when the sun is out means all the rays come pouring in— prompting another nickname, Mansweat. Mansueto is high-tech, equipped with the “Automated Storage and Retrieval System,” which takes up only a seventh of the space ordinary book stacks would. Its lighting has won awards, and no wonder—every inch of the ceiling and walls in this futuristic dome is open to the light. It’s quiet but companionable, with students sitting next to one another on long wooden tables with individual lamps built into each space. For those with a more romantic bent, there’s the Arley D. Cathey Learning Center. Its name certainly doesn’t match up to its appearance and it doesn’t actually have any books, but it’s one of our most iconic study spaces. Still housed in the century-old Gothic building that bears its former name, Harper Memorial Library, the third-floor space was ripped asunder from its stately name—literally, when the ornate name plaque was taken from the wall and replaced with an incongruously modern “Arley D. Cathey” last year. While still recovering from the throes of this identity crisis, the library consistently features on lists of America’s most beautiful college libraries. With stained glass windows and delicately shaded lamps covering the tables of the long study hall, Arley D. Cathey is all about stateliness. If you sneeze, the echo might wake the dead, but there are comfortably squishy orange armchairs for naps in between classes or while pulling all-nighters—like the Reg, this library is open 24 hours. While the aforementioned are the most popular library study spaces on campus, the other five should by no means be overlooked. For a change of pace, another beau-
tiful space south of the Midway is the D’Angelo Law Library. It’s part of the Law School, so undergraduates have to sign in at the front desk, but the space is worth it. D’Angelo is sumptuous in its varnished wood, carpeting, and the ergonomic soft red chairs littered around the building, but it takes its luxury seriously: The ambience is quiet and no-nonsense, and the luxurious furnishings are the reward for all the hard work you can accomplish there. Across the street from BurtonJudson, you’ll find the Social Services Administration Library. Another graduate school library, SSA is spacious, well lit, and unpretentious, and might provide a welcome respite from running into a steady stream of your friends. Sometimes, though, classy parties can be seen through the windows after hours, so maybe there’s more to the building than meets the eye. From the outside, the John Crerar Library, dedicated to science, medicine, and technolog y, looks inviting : There are elevators and polished staircases, with tall windows on the ground level that look out to the neatly kept green lawns of the West Quadrangle. But step inside and experience the morgue-like silence that dominates Crerar. Though not a popular a space for students who like to study more casually or talk while doing problem sets, it’s undeniably a place to focus, with a mood so stern you might feel like someone’s breathing down your neck as you turn the pages. Lastly, there’s Eckhart Library, which, as it’s on the second floor of the Eckhart Hall of Math and Statistics, has plenty of—you guessed it—math and statistics. Though it’s currently closed for renovations, expect to find study hall–esque wood furniture à la Dead Poets Society, where schoolboys scribble with quills and blotters. Even if you’re not studying math and science, the intimacy of Eckhart Library makes it an ideal place to escape the sometimes-intimidating scale of the other UChicago buildings. Regardless of whether you study in your room, in cafes, or in libraries, there’s no doubt that at many points in your UChicago career, and perhaps more than you’d like, you will find yourself holed up in one of these seven venerable spaces. As in any enduring relationship, there will be anger, arguments, break-ups, and apologies—but there will be the good moments, too, like writing the final sentence of your paper two minutes before (or 15 minutes past) the due date, or watching the sun come up over a cup of coffee gone cold. —Angela Qian
37
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Bookstores When an 8 million volume library system just won’t cut it There’s an old Yiddish saying that goes like this: “Between two chairs, don’t sit on the floor.” The Hyde Park book buyer must heed this traditional wisdom, because our neighborhood is full of places to binge on de Beauvoir and score on Shakespeare, so much so that we often find ourselves paralyzed. But what you really want is to be the opposite of paralyzed, the opposite of sitting on the floor—you want to be hopping from chair to chair, because there are four centrallylocated chairs—um, bookstores—to sit in, and only four years to do it. Sit very still, and begin the serious work of finding a hiding place; finding calm and stillness; and finding bargains. Now are you still on the floor? Begin with the comprehensive 57th Street Books, a few doors before hitting Z&H and the Med if you’re walking East, away from campus; you will know it by the tiny, mossy awning above its entrance. Its insides hold a handful of magical cellar chambers. Rooms are arranged by subject; for more details, see the directory in the front. If you need to buy a gift for a kid, or enjoy reading children’s books yourself, 57th Street is the best place in Hyde Park to do that. Their collection of children’s books is phenomenal, providing both classics and new releases. A selection of postcards, stationery, and notebooks are in the front room, as is an unusually deep array of magazines and journals. A circular table in Room 3 always has the day’s Times. 57th Street Books is expensive—but worth it. 1301 E. 57th Street. (773) 684-1300. Hours: 10 a.m.–8 p.m. daily.
Across the street from the old O’Gara and Wilson, which closed this past summer, you’ll find Powell’s Bookstore. One of three locations in Chicago, this Powell’s—a dense, oceanic patch of written word in the age of e-readers—is situated halfway between campus and the Point. Like any worthy explorer, begin with the end in mind. Know your mission. Come with an objective. Fiction is right ahead when you walk in the door; foreign languages are in the basement. And be prepared to climb: There are spots where the bookshelves meet the ceiling, threatening to push through like trees in an old-growth forest. Done the quick way, Powell’s can be a fast and simple bushwhack. Go when the weather’s nice in autumn and spring; it’s open until 11 p.m. 1501 E. 57th Street. (773) 955-7780. Hours: 9 a.m.–11 p.m. daily. By contrast, the University of Chicago Bookstore, a Barnes & Noble located conveniently on Ellis Avenue, is hardly ever open. It’s closed, outrageously, on Sunday, the second—or third—best day of the week to browse, and in the evening. The bookstore itself has a small selection for a Barnes & Noble and, honestly, kind of a shameful one for a university bookstore, as far as serious books go. It’s formulaic: textbooks upstairs, sweatshirts downstairs. And yet there’s pleasure to be had here. The self-help section is well-stocked, the trashy mags are glossy and plentiful, and the muffins from the adjoining café are delicious while paging through or studying the aforementioned texts and consequently being 15 minutes late to wherever. 970 E. 58th Street. (773) 702-7712. Hours: Monday–Friday 8 a.m.–6 p.m., Saturday 9
Welcome all Students and Faculty
First Impressions are everything....
? e l i m s r u o
a.m.–5 p.m., closed Sunday. The Seminary Co-Op is no longer located in the basement of the seminary—soon to be the Becker Friedman Institute for research in economics—at South University Avenue and East 58th Street. This means that you, class of 2017, have the privilege—or is it the curse?— of being the first students to know the Sem Co-Op only in its modern, labyrinth-ish form. On the whole, current and future generations of students have a lot to gain from this reinvention, still full of crannies and still boasting the famous front table, where academics duke it out in an American Idol–style Battle of the Brains. The Co-Op is member-owned, with around 53,000 shareholders. Join them. It’s a matter of citizenship and of finance: In return for a $30 membership, you will start getting a 10 percent credit from each purchase (after an initial $100 spent) at the Co-Op, the 57th Street Books, and the Newberry Library Bookstore downtown. Each July, your accumulated credits will be given to you in certificate form, to redeem within the next year. Although a less beneficial system than the straightforward 10 percent discount members got until this past August, it’s a change we can stomach to keep the beloved store sustainable. Let’s see how Plein Air Café, the coffee shop across the hall, fares when it finally opens. 5751 S. Woodlawn Avenue. (773) 752-4281. Hours: Monday–Friday 8:30 a.m.–8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sunday noon–6 p.m.
Add International Experience to Your Résumé Expand Your Global Perspective With Our Au Pair, Teach English, Work & Travel and Volunteer Programs.
y s i How
Programs Last From 1 Week to 12 Months!
• Free examinations • Special discounts for students & faculty • Convenient office hours • Quick appointments between classes • Affordable monthly payment options
–Emma Broder
1525 E. 53rd St., Ste. 734 Chicago, IL 60615 www.chicagodentistry.com
CALL TODAY: (773) 643-6006 773-643-6006
773-643-6006
773-643-6006
773-643-6006
773-643-6006
773-643-6006
773-643-6006
773-643-6006
773-643-6006
773-643-6006
773-643-6006
Learn more at www.InterExchange.org/wauchi or call us at 1.800.597.3675
38
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence Lecture Series 2013–14
Challenges to the Doctor-Patient Relationship in an Era of Health Reform Dr. Lantos is Professor of Pediatrics at University of Missouri, Kansas City, and Director of the Children’s Mercy Bioethics Center at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Dr. Lantos previously served on the faculty at the University of Chicago for 21 years, and has received distinguished appointments such as President of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities, Associate of the Hastings Center, and Associate Director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. Additionally, he has testified before the President’s Council on Bioethics about the ethics of research in pediatrics.
SPEAKER
John Lantos, MD University of Missouri, Kansas City TI M E
Thursday, October 3, 2013 5–6:30 p.m. LO C ATI O N
Billings Auditorium P-117 Refreshments will be served Please RSVP to http://tiny.cc/BI-LantosRSVP or call 773-702-3247
Dr. Lantos’s research focuses on ethical issues in innovative therapy in pediatrics. He has written extensively on genetics testing, NICU care, growth hormone, bone marrow transplants, and the treatment of disorders of sexual development.
The Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence was created to improve patient care, to strengthen the doctorpatient relationship, and to enhance communication and decision-making through research and education programs for medical students, junior faculty and master clinicians. To learn more about the mission, goals, leadership, and scholars of the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence, visit bucksbauminstitute.uchicago.edu.
CLASSIFIEDS Classified advertising in The Chicago Maroon is $4 for each line. Lines are 45 characters long including spaces and punctuation. Submit all ads in person, by e-mail, or by mail to The Chicago Maroon, Ida Noyes Hall, Lower Level Rm 026, 1212 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL 60637. The Chicago Maroon accepts cash, check, and Mastercard or Visa. Call (773) 702-9555.
YOUR AD HERE advertise in the maroon ADS@CHICAGOMAROON.COM
5116 S. KIMBARK, UNIT 2A. Attractive one (1) bedroom apartment in well maintained building, lots of light, hardwood floors, eat in cabinet kitchen, mini-blinds, ceiling fan, laundry on site, great location, $815.00 includes heat. Contact for availability. Chad 312-720-3136.
DO YOU DRINK ALCOHOL or use drugs? Healthy adults needed for research studies at UC Medical Center. Pay is $45-450. Please email dewitlab@bsd. uchicago.edu or call 773-702-3560.
THE CHICAGO MAROON CHICAGOMAROON.COM
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
ATHLETICS The Maroons’ storied past Some short history lessons, all in good sport We may no longer be in the Big Ten. And perhaps we aren’t on that list of teams that is perennially challenging for the DI National Championship in some sport or another. But that doesn’t mean the Maroons lack a storied history. In fact, it’s a rich one, in both the distant and the more recent past. Let’s take it from the beginning. The beginning of what, you may ask? How about the Big Ten Conference. Our Maroons were cofounders back in 1896, along with a list of schools whose athletics remain big to this day. Chicago was a force in the midwest during the 40 years that Amos Alonzo Stagg coached the football squad, from 1892 to 1932. Yes, that’s the same Stagg whose name adorns the trophy awarded to the winner of the Big Ten each year in football, and our very own football field on campus. Stagg led the Maroons to six Big Ten championships, seven if you count the one in 1922 that they shared with Iowa and Michigan. And Stagg’s victories extended beyond his time—the Statue of Liberty play that Boise State used to win the 2007 Fiesta Bowl was partially Stagg’s creation, while coaching here in 1908. The coaching, of course, wasn’t the only exciting element to early 1900s Maroon sports. The players possessed certifiable, DI-level talent, too—which helped Stagg and other coaches look good. One crucial chess piece of his was Jay Berwanger. Berwanger was the first recipient of the Heisman Trophy—still awarded each year to the best player in college football. The half-
back was given the honor in 1935, when it was called the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy. The next year, they renamed it the Heisman, and that name stuck. For those who doubt that the Maroons could ever reign supreme on the gridiron, Berwanger’s Heisman trophy sits in the middle of the Ratner Athletic Center rotunda. Long before Title IX, lady Maroons were putting on a show as well. Between 1898 and 1935, Gertrude Dudley served as director of “physical culture” for women, organized multiple female teams, and crusaded for more women’s sports at the University. Then, sports seemingly faded into the background. The South Siders left the Big Ten in 1946, after University President Robert Maynard Hutchins decided to eliminate the school’s varsity football team in 1939. This space is for highlights, though, so please forgive the skipping over of that dark period. We rejoin the South Siders’ highlight reel in 1987, when the Maroons again helped to charter a sports conference. This time, it was the NCAA DIII University Athletic Association, or the UAA. Chicago has won 47 UAA championships and participated in NCAA tournament play 59 times. In 2012, the excitement over the women’s basketball team was palpable on campus, as they went undefeated en route to an impressive showing in the NCAA tournament, where they fell to Calvin College in the Sweet Sixteen. Other bright spots in recent history include the women’s tennis team, which in 2012
made it all the way to the national title match, before losing to Williams College. The appearance in the finals was the Maroons’ first in women’s tennis, and the national runnerup trophy was quite a feat. This year’s baseball team will get the chance to push the win-streak over DI Northwestern to three years running. There have been individual performances of note as well, like that of distance runner Julia Sizek (A.B. ’13). Last year, Sizek put together another decorated résumé, getting tapped as an All-American in cross country, as well as both indoor and outdoor track and field. Sizek is also a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, an honor that no Maroon has ever won. The winner will be announced on October 20. Athletics reinvention continues to this day, on both the varsity and the club levels. The varsity Maroons in women’s basketball, football, men’s soccer, and both men’s and women’s tennis all have named new coaches within the last two years. On the club level, it seems like the teams are as strong as ever. The women’s lacrosse club, for example, made its first playoff appearance since 2006. Stagg might never have dreamed that his storied coaching record would one day be mentioned on the same page as a women’s club lacrosse team. That’s the thing about the Maroons: Their history is unique and you never quite know what’s coming down the road—but you know that the Maroon Nation is alive and well. –Sarah Langs
39
40
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
CHICAGO
Love College! ( Leave the
Laundry to Us )
Weʻre Sipping Pumpkin Spice Latte... Come Sip with Us. All Washed Up is the perfect laundry solution for busy college students. Programs from as low as $1 per pound with FREE pick-up and delivery! FREE All Washed Up laundry bag with your 1st order (10 lb. minimum) You fill it with dirty clothes, towels, sheets, etc. each week We pick it up and return your clothes to you, clean, fresh AND folded! SAVE with our “Stuff the Bag” semester packages, customized to meet your needs.
Donʻt drink coffee, then try a pastry or other great treats at Sip & Savor.
Call us at (773) 272-0020 for details or to schedule your pick-up today! www.allwashedupchicago.com
Located in the Historic Del Prado Building 5301 S Hyde Park Blvd Chicago, IL 60615 PH: (773) 952-4532 www.sipandsavorchicago.com
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
41
THE CHICAGO MAROON CHICAGOMAROON.COM
42
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Valid through 09/23/2013 - 10/04/2013
$10 off $50
Any Treasure Island Foods purchase made at 1526 E. 55th St., Chicago, IL 60615
Hyde Park
Lincoln Park
Lakview
Old Town
Wilmette
Gold Coast
Limit one coupon per guest. One offer per coupon. Purchase MUST be $50 and over. Void if copied, transferred, purchased, sold or prohibited by law. No cash value and NOT valid for LINK card. Must present coupon upon purchase.
f
t
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Varsity Sports No big stadiums, no prime-time television contracts, but all the competitive spirit you could want There are no athletic scholarships at the University of Chicago. There are no fivestar recruits and there is no Big House. Saturdays are reserved for studying as much as they are for football, and replica jerseys rarely fill the stands. Yet UChicago is an institution that produces legitimately high athletic competition and the Maroons are represented by stellar athletic play, week in and week out. UChicago boasts one of the nation’s finest Division-III athletic programs. The Maroons have produced five University Athletic Association (UAA) championship teams over the past three years. For those unfamiliar, the UAA is the University’s athletic conference, much like the SEC or the Big Ten, except it is composed of schools more along the lines of Carnegie Mellon and Case Western than Alabama and Michigan. And with conferences come rivalries. UChicago’s most heated games are always against rival Washington University in St. Louis (Wash U). In football, the game is so important that there is even a trophy at stake— the Founders Cup. After a win against Wash U, you’ll find football players hoisting up the giant cup of steel and shouting, “Cup, cup? Yup, yup!” Success can be found across the board, but the University’s most heralded team this past year was women’s tennis, which finished the season ranked eighth in the country after making it to the NCAA quarterfinals. Of course Division III is by no means Division I. We are not Notre Dame or Ohio State. We aren’t even Bowling Green. The athletes you have in your classes will often be more exceptional in the classroom than they are on the playing field, but considering they have the capability to study at a school like UChicago, that’s nothing to look down upon. That said, UChicago has been known to toe off against Division I opponents, and win. Last season the Maroons took down Northwestern’s Division-I baseball team for the second straight season. Yes, you read that
right—it’s becoming a habit. UChicago athletes were some of the best, if not the best, athletes in their high schools. They were All-Conference and All-State. They won rings and state titles. They were heavily recruited at the level they play, and they are merely a half second too slow or two inches too short for “big time” college ball. This creates for some extremely competitive athletic teams that may not be at the level of what you might see on ABC Saturday afternoons, but are still way too skilled to pass up the opportunity to watch compete on a weekly basis. All of this athletic talent being regarded with such little recognition makes our varsity student-athletes that much more unique. They are not playing for fame, for perks, or because they are bound to their sport by a scholarship. Athletes here don’t play for the sold-out stadiums or the recognition that comes with it. And pretty much everyone will be going pro in something other than sports. Instead, the reason athletes here compete is because they love the game and because they were presented with an incredible opportunity to continue playing at a high level—an opportunity they couldn’t pass up. If there is anything off about UChicago athletics, it’s when Stagg Field, the football stadium, or Ratner, the basketball arena, aren’t filled to the brim with the student population supporting the teams that represent them. Taking into account the early morning hours at which they wake up to practice, the hours upon hours spent watching film and in the gym, and the late nights trying to compensate for time spent training instead of studying, athletes on this campus deserve to see you out there on game day. So the next time you see a Maroon athlete in one of your classes, give him a “Good game,” or a “See you out there Saturday,” because even though the stadium may only hold a few thousand, UChicago athletes deserve every one of those seats filled. —Vicente Fernandez
UPCOMING HOME VARSITY GAMES Men’s Soccer
Tuesday September 24th Home vs. Wabash Women’s Volleyball
Wednesday Sept. 25th Home vs. Lake Forest Football
Saturday September28th Home vs. Kalamazoo Women’s Soccer
Wednesday October 9th Home vs. Wheaton For schedules, results, stats, rankings, rosters and more, visit: athletics.uchicago.edu
43
44
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Club Sports Everything from slinging bows and arrows to chucking that Frisbee across the Midway UChicago boasts 39 sports club organizations. Taken together, the list of clubs is an eclectic amalgam of athletic opportunities. I’m talking Aikido, Aikido Kokikai, Archery. Badminton and Bocce Ball. Climbing, Crew, Cricket, and Disc Golf. Falun Gong, Fencing (men’s and women’s), Figure Skating, and Floor Ball. Genkikai Ki-Aikido. Golf. Gymnastics. Handball, Men’s Ice Hockey, Women’s Ice Hockey. Jeet Kune Do. Judo. Karate, Shotokan. Kendo. Men’s Lacrosse, Women’s Lacrosse. Men’s Rugby, Women’s Rugby. Sailing. The Self-Defense Club. Squash. Table Tennis. Tae Kwon Do. Tang Soo Do. Triathlon. Men’s Ultimate Frisbee. Women’s Ultimate Frisbee. Velo, Volleyball, Water Polo. If you’re interested in playing a nonvarsity sport (if you’re interested in learning a non-varsity sport), there’s probably a group for you. Here are a few highlights of the many club sports you could join: Self-Defense Club: The SDC, founded in 2000, trains its members in the Israeli self-defense techniques of Haganah and Krav Maga. The thing about the art is its emphasis on body mechanics, not strength—it’s a good system for both men and women, to defend against both armed and unarmed assaults. Sailing Club: Not every organization at UChicago has officer positions like Commodore and Captain. A member of the Midwest College Sailing Association, the Sailing Club holds all of its practices at the Jackson Park Yacht Club, located along the southern shores of Lake Michigan. It
also competes in regattas against schools like Northwestern, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Miami. And if you’re a beginner? Take the two-Saturday Learn to Sail program—a $50 fee will cover lunch and sailing equipment—and you’ll get to test the waters and learn some basic sailing theory. Ultimate Frisbee:(two clubs: men’s and women’s). The men’s team is called “Junk”; the women’s, “Supersnatch.” The men’s team is divided into two squads, A and B, the first for experts and the latter for novices. A festive bunch, you’ll often witness members throwing Frisbees on the main quad. The club travels throughout the Midwest to compete against other colleges and, on occasion, competes outside the region in states as far away as Georgia and Nevada. Archery: University of Chicago Archery is comprised of both a team and a club. The Archery Club is organized for staff and students who want to practice and to improve their bow-and-arrow skills. The Team is for those who are interested in participating in archery as a competitive team sport. The executive board for UChicago Archery consists of five members: a president, two team captains, and two club officers. The president and two team captains—along with coach Steve Ruis, editor of Archery Focus—lead the Team; the president and two club officers lead the Club. The Club and Team practice indoors in the Multipurpose Room of Henry Crown Field House or outdoors at the Lincoln Park Outdoor Range. The Team competes in events within several associations: Major tournaments last season were organized by
the Illinois Target Archery Association, the Iowa State Archery Association, US Collegiate Archery, and the Illinois Archery Association. They had seven major tournaments last season. The Club and Team have dozens of members. If you’ve never shot a bow-and-arrow, no problem. Go to a Club practice, learn, play, and meet plenty of new friends. Those friends you make may one day even be able to call themselves your teammates. The good news is that it’s not too difficult to start your own club. You just have to complete and submit the Sport Club Application (which requires you to include the name and ID number of at least nine other students plus you), secure a faculty adviser, and submit a “constitution and accompanying bylaws” to Brian Bock, the Director of the Office of Intramural, Recreation, and Sport Clubs. That office, along with the Director of Athletics, will review your materials for club approval. Once approved, you’ll have access to the Sport Club Finance Committee’s quarterly and annual allocations, funding that makes it much easier for your club to maintain a presence outside of the campus community. And that’s just one of the perks. Are you interested in trying out a new sport, one that you’ve never even heard of before? Or, do you already have experience in a sport and want to continue it at the University of Chicago? Do you just love sports? Well, join the club. No, even better—join a club. –Matthew Schaefer
Intramurals Too cool for school, too weak for varsity Former University President Robert Maynard Hutchins once said, “Whenever I get the urge to exercise, I lie down until the feeling passes away.” Luckily for you, athletically-minded first year, Robert Maynard Hutchins has himself since passed away and campus is now awash with opportunities for the wouldbe student athlete, including intramural sports (IM). There is a wide variety of intramurals on offer here at UChicago, from dodgeball to broomball to billiards to bags—a sport that consists of throwing beanbags at a target. A huge number of students take part in intramurals; as unlikely as it may seem that you could find not just one bags opponent, you can actually find enough to host an entire tournament. The range of intensity of IM sports is huge. In general, intramurals are more laid back than varsity or club sports. That isn’t to say, however, that things don’t get serious. You can choose to compete with your house team—usually a more casual affair—or create your own team and join an independent league where the level of competition can be very high. The beauty is, it’s up to you. Unlike a varsity or club sport, intramural teams do not receive funding from the University to travel to compete, though they are provided facilities, referees, and other equipment. All intramurals take place right here on campus, which gives you an opportunity to compete in a less competitive and more time-friendly (timefriendly activities will quickly become very important to you) way than varsity or club sports. So there’s really no excuse for missing out on your house’s run to the intramural Wiffle ball championship. And
don’t worry if Wiffle ball is not your thing (although, frankly, I don’t understand how that could be possible), there are plenty more options to choose from. Along with well-established sports such as basketball, flag football, and soccer, there are several less mainstream sports to take part in. Team sports include bowling, dodgeball, and kickball, while those interested in individual sports can try their hand at tennis, racquetball, and badminton, among others. There are also several less traditionally “athletic” options available. Chess, foosball, spades, and a host of other card games are a great way to experience intramural competition without getting out of breath. Whether you’re a champion or not, intramurals are a lot of fun and a great way to meet people with similar interests. Just because the kickball season is over doesn’t mean you can’t get together every night at Crown for some pickup kickball with your teammates. Besides, you’ll need to start preparing early if you’re going to win it all next year. Signing up for intramural competition couldn’t be easier. If you are competing with your house team then all you have to do is check your e-mail and sign up when your IM sports rep tells you to. If you’re competing as an individual or forming an independent team, you’ll have to head over to the intramurals office in Ratner, pay a small registration fee, and then you’re good to go. If you want more information, the intramurals office is the place to go, and they will give you more information than you thought existed on IM sports. –Jake Walerius
WRITE FOR THE FALL/WINTER ISSUE OF
G R E Y C I T Y THE BIANNUAL MAGAZINE OF THE CHICAGO
MAROON
QUESTIONS OR PITCHES? CONTACT US AT EDITOR@CHICAGOMAROON.COM
45
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
CHICAGO
Town vs. Gown
The ever-changing, often strained relationship between the University and its surrounding communities “Now, Bob, as president of the University of Chicago, I don’t see how you can do right by the Negro problem.” Thus spoke former University V.P. and future U.S. Senator William B. Benton to Robert Maynard Hutchins, the father of the Core, in 1941. Benton said these words in the context of the University’s nascent efforts at “urban renewal.” (This quotation also begins a chapter on Hyde Park from Arnold R. Hirsch’s Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago 1940–1960, which is, in my view, a must-read for every UChicago student). Aside from famously loving Plato and hating football during his tenure as University president, Hutchins is also known for using the University’s influence in Chicago and the community to systematically create an affluent, predominantly white Hyde Park. During the 1940s and ’50s, these designs were born out of concern among whites in Hyde Park, abetted by University leadership. They worried about increased migration from the so-called Black Belt—a chain of South Side neighborhoods just west of Cottage Grove historically home to the majority of African Americans in Chicago—into Hyde Park and Kenwood. By the 1950s, the University was an enormously influential force in Chicago and on the South Side in particular. It was able to successfully exert this
influence on city legislative efforts and, in doing so, change the language of and approach to policy measures concerning urban planning and development in order to suit its best interests. Ideas of conservation, rehabilitation, redevelopment, and containment were able to take preeminence over slum destruction and continued white flight. Thanks to the nature of these measures—alongside the comparatively tolerant bent of Hyde Park and Kenwood residents, who accepted racial integration as long as economic exclusivity remained— the University got its wish of a still mostly white Hyde Park. The University—now one of the largest private employers in Chicago, as well as a hub of donation, expansion, and investment, academic or otherwise, in a time of fiscal weakness for Chicago—is still hugely influential in its namesake city. Now, though, this influence is felt rather more positively. UChicago is currently two years into a fiveyear, $1.7 billion development plan aimed not just at expanding University facilities, but also at improving public infrastructure and making other capital improvements. The plan, part of a total anticipated University expenditure of $3.5 billion over ten years, was a product of a 2011 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the first formal partnership to be forged between
Chicago and the University in the latter’s entire history. The MOU was struck between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and University President Robert Zimmer and promised not just capital improvement on the University’s dime, but also streamlined city permits for University projects, collaboration aimed at creating jobs, and the firm establishment of UChicago as an “anchor institution” in the eyes of the city and the South Side. The action brought by the MOU continues in addition to multi–million dollar retail development ongoing on 53rd Street that is largely funded and negotiated by the University. Beyond physical development, the University is also investing heavily in the development of Chicago’s finest young minds. UChicago Promise, launched last year, is the University’s “pledge to help increase college access and readiness for Chicago high school students.” Beginning with an application fee waiver for all Chicago-based applicants, UChicago Promise greatly reduces the expense of an undergraduate education for Chicago families, pledging that all Chicago students who attend the University will graduate debt-free. Through UChicago Promise, the University is also funding and staffing college counselor training and pre-collegiate mentoring services, with the aim of preparing Chicago high schoolers to succeed, not just here,
but at any four-year college. For the average service-oriented undergraduate, the University Community Service Center (UCSC) offers a myriad of opportunities for community immersion. Beyond larger “Day of Service” events, which tend to attract short-term attendance without fostering commitment, the UCSC is these days placing an increased emphasis on long-term programming. Through individual outreach programs like MAPSCorps and Summer Links, and through smaller group offerings like Service Match, the UCSC allows students to continuously serve and form lasting relationships with a diverse array of essential community organizations. That said, today serious sticking points remain: the ongoing debate over the Medical Center’s role in providing adult Level 1 trauma care on the South Side, and issues of transparency, with many in the community calling for more public dialogue regarding the University’s development decisions, just to name a few. But in between the threads of the ongoing “town vs. gown” tension that will always, to some extent, characterize the University’s relationship with its community, there is certainly more light to bask in these days than there has been in the past. —Ajay Batra
Getting out of Campus Maybe you’ve just finished your problem set; or, maybe you’re lying moaning in bed, feigning sickness to fool your RA, and then hitting the town with your significant other and misanthropic roommate while your monotonous econ professor calls out your name over and over again. Point is, Bueller, some days you feel like going out on the town. No Ferrari? Here’s a rundown of your other options. For more guidance, check out transitchicago.com.
BUSES
2
Cost: $2.25 one way without a fare card, $2.00 with one. 25 cents for the first transfer, second transfer is free.
Heads for Navy Pier via State Street. It runs express from East 47th Street and South Lake Park Avenue to Museum Campus, but only runs during morning and evening rush hour.
55 Runs between the Museum of Science and Industry and Midway Airport along East 55th Street. With stops at two nearby ‘L’ stations (Red and Green), it’s one of the major lifelines leading out of Hyde Park.
10 Starts at the Museum of Science and Industry, taking State once it gets downtown. After reaching the river, the bus diverts onto Michigan and continues north to make a loop a few blocks behind the John Hancock at Walton.
6 Picks up along South Stony Island Avenue, South Hyde Park Boulevard, and South Lake Park Avenue before turning onto Lake Shore Drive and running express to the Loop. Occasionally it gets rerouted for special events in the city, but usually it’s a good bet for getting downtown in 40 minutes or less. Heading back to Hyde Park, it goes south on State Street before merging onto Lake Shore Drive.
28 Maybe the CTA’s most confusing route, service between East 47th Street and East 57th Street on Lake Park Boulevard was restored in late August and will last for an “experimental period” through late February. After leaving Hyde Park and Kenwood, the bus either heads north to Union Station, or south to Olive Harvey College or East 103rd Street and South Stony Island Avenue.
4 Stops along South Cottage Grove Avenue in Hyde Park and then snakes it’s way up to stops along Michigan Avenue to just north of Millennium Park. It doesn’t run express, but it operates all night as far south as East 63rd Street, most of the time extending to East 95th Street and South St. Lawrence Avenue.
‘L’ TRAINS Cost: $2.25 one way. 25 cents for the first transfer to buses, second transfer is free.
Chinatown stop south to the 95th/Dan Ryan stop. But when it reopens sometime in (hopefully) October, take the #55 bus heading west on East 55th Street, or the #15 bus along East Hyde Park Boulevard to make the transfer to the Red Line. The train stops at Sox-35th and Chinatown before embarking on a straight shot to downtown and North Side neighborhoods like Boystown and Wrigleyville.
Green Line The same #55 and #15 buses also have the Green Line on its route, but students south of the Midway may find it faster to walk to the stop on East 63rd Street and South Cottage Grove. Like the Red Line, this train heads for downtown, but it circles half of the Loop, while the Red Line cuts straight through the center. Most students prefer taking the Red Line if they’re going somewhere downtown or far north, but if you need to get on the Brown or Purple Lines, shared platforms and tracks at Green Line stops in the Loop make catching your transfer quick and simple.
OTHER Cost: based on distance travelled
Red Line The Red Line has been undergoing construction since this past May from the Cermak-
requires its own fare card. With stations at East 53rd, 55th, 57th, and 59th Streets and South Lake Park Avenue, students can catch the tail end of the train from University Park to Chicago. While Metra is faster than the CTA, it is also more expensive ($3 for a one-way ticket to the Loop) and won’t take you as far downtown. Metra does offer the convenience of a set time schedule. It’s also a good choice for heading out to the surrounding suburbs or Indiana.
South Loop Weekend Shuttle On Friday and Saturday evenings (except during breaks and holidays), this shuttle operates hourly between 6 p.m. and 1:30 a.m., nonstop from 57th and University to the CTA Roosevelt Road transit station just south of the Loop, and makes a return trip to campus a half hour later.
Taxi Taxis hoping to be flagged down are an uncommon but not unheard of phenomenon in Hyde Park, especially near the medical center. The best plan is to call or book online in advance (although the taxis still flake on busy nights). Expect to pay about $30 with tip for trips to downtown and the near North Side.
Metra Metra is separate from the CTA and
— Derek Tsang
46
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO | DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
Auditions -RLQ D 'HSDUWPHQW RI 0XVLF
VLJQ XS LQ SHUVRQ
3HUIRUPDQFH (QVHPEOH
starting Monday, September 23 11 AM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 4 PM
September 24 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 30
2SHQ WR DOO XQGHUJUDGXDWH DQG JUDGXDWH VWXGHQWV IDFXOW\ VWDII DQG FRPPXQLW\ PHPEHUV.
Logan Center for the Arts, 8th Floor 773.795.0500 audition hotline
915 East 60th Street
PXVLF XFKLFDJR HGX DXGLWLRQV
RUFKHVWUDV v FKRLUV v ZRUOG PXVLF v FKDPEHU PXVLF v SLDQR SURJUDP v DQG PRUH
WANT TO PUT SOMETHING IN THIS BOX? DESIGN FOR THE CHICAGO MAROON. EDITOR@CHICAGOMAROON.COM
47
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Harper Court & 53rd Street Development Businesses are springing up all over 53rd Street, bringing some amenities to Hyde Park for the first time Believe it or not, Hyde Park didn’t always have a movie theater, a candy store, or a 24-hour diner. No, many of the businesses you’ll inevitably wander into as you explore the neighborhood are only recent staples, part of a multi-million dollar redevelopment project based around one square block of retail space known as Harper Court (located between South Harper and South Lake Park Avenues) and extending along East 53rd Street as far west as South Kimbark Avenue. Though new restaurants and shops have been popping up sporadically over the past two years—including Five Guys and Chicagobased clothing store Akira, as well as the just-opened Hyatt Hotel—expect a flood of newcomers as construction on Harper Court winds down. The project is a collaboration between the University and the city of Chicago, with funding coming from both, and a hefty portion drawn from tax increment financing (TIF) funds, a way of using property tax income to support neighborhood development. In determining which businesses to court, the University used surveys and workshops to gauge the unmet retail needs of students, faculty, and community members. And if you’re wondering why all this is happening so far from your dorm, you’re not alone. Even Jim Hennessy, the University’s associate vice president for commercial real estate operations, told the Maroon the development is “a little further from campus than we’d like,” but efforts are being made to increase transit options to the commercial hub. Despite the much-needed surge in amenities, the development has faced some vocal critics. Members of the activist RSO Southside Solidarity Network and some residents protested the coming Hyatt, citing the hotel’s less-than-stellar track record with fair labor practices. Several small businesses near the construction site, including Frontline Books and Checkerboard Lounge, claimed the disruption caused a decline in business. And, most recently, a planned 13-story
apartment building at East 53rd Street and South Kenwood Avenue provoked a wave of community backlash by neighbors who think a high-rise would be out of place. Take a walk up to 53rd and decide for yourself. Coming... In October: Chipotle: The burrito joint was requested by name in student surveys. (Harper Court) Sir & Madame: Don’t get too excited about this one—it’s intended, initially at least, as a six-month pop-up shop. In case you do get attached, the vintage-inspired boutique is located permanently in the Ukrainian Village. (East 53rd Street and South Harper Avenue) By early 2014: Promontory: The new restaurant-bar– concert hall combo will accommodate several hundred guests and add a jolt of night life to the area. (East 53rd Street and South Lake Park Avenue) Yusho: Securing a liquor license has proven problematic, but that hasn’t deterred chef Matthias Merges from pushing forward with his plan to bring cuisine inspired by Japanese street food to Hyde Park. (East 53rd Street and South Kimbark Avenue) Red Mango, LA Fitness, Ulta Beauty, a University office tower, and more. By the time you graduate: Whole Foods: Though not technically part of the development projects, the natural food supermarket is being welcomed as a complement to the other offerings. (East 51st Street and South Lake Park Avenue) —Celia Bever
Chicago’s South Side The neighborhood we call home is rife with culture, food, and things to do Maybe you don’t quite see it now, but there will be many moments in your future when the persistent, healthy need to get the hell out of Hyde Park will strike you. You will no doubt be told many numbers and colors this O-Week—such as 2, 6, 55, red, green, and blue—that will aid you in fulfilling that very need. “But what if I don’t want to go the Loop or the North Side?” you may wonder. First of all, that is an excellent question. Secondly, there’s no need to thumb frantically through your O-Book for the answer: Not only is it not there, it’s also right under your nose. Chicago is your new city, but the South Side is your new home, and you’d be silly not to get to know it. From the mid-19th century to WWII, the South Side was a burgeoning industrial hub. Steel, meatpacking, and manufacturing drew huge immigration to neighborhoods south of what is now the Loop. Formally stretching from Bronzeville down to South Shore and Greater Grand Crossing, the South Side quickly became home to working-class Irish, Italian, and Eastern-European immigrants, as well as African Americans leaving the South. Consequently, the South Side has a long history of cultural plurality—one that is particularly evident in its rich artistic tradition. Richard Wright’s Native Son, James Farrell’s Studs Lonigan, and Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle are must-reads for a South Side history that spans neighborhoods and nationalities. Oak Woods Cemetery—just a few blocks south of campus—is the final resting place of writer Ida B. Wells, former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, sprinter Jesse Owens, and UChicago physicist Enrico Fermi,
and is very much worth a trip. The diverse array of names on the headstones serves as a fascinating, if eerie, reminder of how far some have travelled to become South Siders. In the 1950s and ’60s, Hyde Park itself was the hub of an artistic movement which loosely mirrored the Harlem Renaissance and coincided with the prominence of writers such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Margaret Burroughs, and artist Gordon Parks. It was also at the center of the nation’s first home for black-owned record labels. Chicago blues, R&B, and soul music flourished through the 1960s, with the famed “Record Row”—the spiritual precursor to Detroit’s Motown Records—just north of the University on South Cottage Grove. Today, owing to industrial flight from the city, the South Side is less densely populated. It is predominantly African American—over 90 percent, by most estimates. Many noteworthy attractions in the region pay tribute to the history and artistic achievements of the South Side’s majority community. For one, you must visit the DuSable Museum of African American History, just steps from campus on the edge of Washington Park. Also worth a look are the South Side Community Art Center, the nation’s first black art museum, and the Bronzeville Children’s Museum, which is still the only AfricanAmerican children’s museum in the U.S., and for which you are not too old. There also remain a few ethnic neighborhoods on the South Side. Chinatown, straddling Armour Square and Bridgeport, features the renowned Chinatown Mural and
the Chinese-American Museum of Chicago, which houses a permanent exhibit on Chinese immigration to the Midwest. Pilsen, once largely Czech, is now a majority Latino neighborhood. Attractions include the National Museum of Mexican Art, as well as the always delicious (and cheap) Nuevo Leon Restaurant. If the CTA is all you have at your disposal, some of the best eats in the city are just a stone’s throw south of Hyde Park. Ride the #3 south to Soul Vegetarian for a paradoxical paradise of vegan soul food; or take the #4 down Cottage Grove to Barbara Ann’s, open til 3 a.m. on weekends, for the hot links you’ve been waiting for all these years. (While the Maroon is always in favor of hot links, our endorsement of riding the #4 after midnight is decidedly less enthusiastic.) And be sure to head a few blocks south of Barbara Ann’s to Dat Donut if, like any rational human, you’ve always wanted a donut the size of your face. If you’re still not full, you can catch the #87 bus just south of Dat Donut and take it west to the Original Rainbow Cone at 9233 South Western Avenue for their signature orange sherbet–pistachio-vanilla-cherry-walnut-strawberry ice cream combination. Now, most of you will be here for four years. By all means, do Wicker Park, do the Loop, do the Mag Mile if you must. But remember to make time for the South Side—for your new home, where there’s something worthwhile wherever you care to look. —Ajay Batra
48
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Chicago Politics The big names in the Windy City, and what you need to know about them
HOW TO VOTE IN NEXT YEAR’S PRIMARY Deadline for Registration: February 18, 2014 Conditions: To register, you must be a US citizen and at least 18 years of age on or before the general election on Nov. 4, 2014 (not by the primary). Where to register: Mail-in voting, or 69 West Washington Street, sixth floor, active deputy registrar affiliated with a local organization, such as a political party, ward organization or other state-certified body. Deadline for mail-in ballots: Post-marked by March 17, received by April 1 Absentee voting: March 13 is the date by which absentee ballots must be received.
Chicago politics has many levels of VIPs, and despite the city’s corrupt history, these people-to-know can actually get things done. Chicagoans elect a mayor and a City Council every four years. The City Council, responsible for making the city’s laws, comprises 50 aldermen elected from 50 different wards across the city. Chicago sits in Cook County, the second most populous county in the nation. Below are some of the major players on the Chicago political scene. Rahm Emanuel: Since taking office in 2011, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has worked to raise Chicago’s profile but has also faced significant challenges in improving the city’s schools, curtailing an enormous budget deficit, and reducing crime. In June, Emanuel oversaw the launch of Divvy, the city’s first bike sharing program, which will eventually distribute 4,000 bikes to 400 stations across the city. In 2012, Emanuel and Chicago had a chance to shine as his “world-class city” hosted the first NATO summit in the United States outside of Washington D.C. However, Emanuel has struggled to control the city’s crime as Chicago gained national attention for a sharp increase in homicides—its 506 murders last year were a 16 percent increase from the previous year. This year, police say the city’s homicide rate is the lowest it’s been since 1965, but gang-related crime has remained, particularly on the south and west sides of the city. The city’s finances continue to plague Emanuel, who has also tried to close a portion of the $339 million hole in the city’s budget in 2014 by laying off more than 1,000 teachers and closing 50 public schools. The cuts have been questioned in light of Emanuel’s quest for millions in public funding for a new DePaul University basketball arena, and did not sit well with the Chicago Teacher’s Union and its president Karen Lewis, causing them to go on strike last September for the first time in 25 years during negotiations for a new teachers’ contract. Richard M. Daley: Chicagoans elected Daley mayor in 1989, and for the next 22 years no one else ran the city, making him the longest-serving mayor in Chicago’s history. To achieve this feat, he surpassed his father Richard J. Daley, who served as mayor from 1955 to 1976. While the younger Daley has cemented his legacy on the city, he was criticized during his later years in office for city contracts with the Hired Truck Program that benefited those close to the mayor, as well as his privatization of the city’s parking meters, a move that raised parking rates and lost the city an estimated $11.6 billion in revenue over the span of a 75-year contract. The former mayor also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy. Pat Quinn: Quinn served as Lieutenant Governor under Rod Blagojevich but became governor of Illinois in 2009 after Blagojevich was removed from office. Elected to his full term in 2010, Quinn has legalized the use of medicinal marijuana, outlawed the death penalty, and legalized civil unions for same-sex couples. The 41st governor, who will run for
re-election next year, has not yet been able to solve the problem of the state’s $97 billion in pension liabilities, and withholding the pay of state lawmakers until they can resolve the issue. Will Burns: Alderman Burns (A.B. ’95, A.M. ’98) represents portions of Hyde Park mostly south of East 55th Street as well as parts of Kenwood and Bronzeville that make up Chicago’s Fourth Ward. Earlier this year, Burns did not oppose Emanuel’s proposal to close Canter Middle School in Kenwood, and in 2011 supported a zoning change that would help bring businesses to 53rd Street. Burns previously served one term in the Illinois General Assembly and as an aide on Barack Obama’s failed congressional bid in 2000. Leslie Hairston: A Hyde Parker and Lab School graduate, Hairston has represented portions of Hyde Park north of East 53rd Street as Fifth Ward alderman since 1999. This year, Hairston was one of four aldermen who let residents decide how to spend $1 million of city money in their ward. Hairston also opposed a University plan to extend a zoning agreement with the city along South Woodlawn Avenue between East 57th and 58th Streets in 2011, and helped broker a compromise with the community to preserve certain historic buildings there. Willie Cochran: Cochran’s 20th Aldermanic Ward includes Washington Park, parts of Woodlawn, Englewood, and Back of the Yards. A former organizer of the Woodlawn New Communities Program, Cochran served 12 of his 26 years as a police officer in his ward before running for office. Cochran has publicly called on the mayor and Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to use more aggressive policing techniques, including the controversial stop-and-frisk tactic. Toni Preckwinkle: Former history teacher Toni Preckwinkle (A.B. ’69, M.A.T. ’77) serves as the president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, a 17-member body that sets county-wide property, public health, and safety policy. Preckwinkle, a Democrat who served as Fourth Ward alderman until her election in 2010, drew attention this summer for firing MaryNic Foster, the executive director of the Cook County Board of Ethics. Foster had been pushing for fines against Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios—also the county’s Democratic Party leader—for firing members of his office and then filling the positions with relatives. Preckwinkle can sometimes be spotted at Hyde Park Produce. Barbara Flynn Currie: Currie (A.B ’68, M.A. ’73) serves as the Democratic Majority Leader in the Illinois General Assembly. Now in the Assembly for her 34th year, she is the first woman to hold the position of Majority Leader. Currie was married to David P. Currie, a professor at the Law School who died in 2007, and has maintained a close relationship with the University since graduating. She represents portions of Hyde Park, Kenwood, Woodlawn, and South Chicago. Kwame Raoul: After Barack Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Raoul was tapped to fill Obama’s State Senate seat. Since
taking office, he has firmly cemented his own identity in Illinois politics and this summer toyed with the idea of running for governor, but ultimately decided not to. Raoul also supported stricter gun regulations after the 2007 murder of University graduate student Amadou Cisse. Bobby Rush: Rush has represented the Hyde Park community in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1993. The 11-term Representative has called for a congressional investigation into the University of Chicago Medical Center’s treatment of minority patients. He has also pushed for Level 1 adult trauma care to return to the South Side after his son was killed by a gunshot wound across the street from a hospital, and this summer introduced legislation that would provide $100 million in federal funds to create trauma centers in underserved areas. Rush drew national attention when he was kicked off the House floor for wearing a hoodie following the killing of Trayvon Martin. Rush also held onto his seat against Barack Obama in 2000, a moment that has been called Obama’s “political education.” Jesse Jackson, Jr.: The son of the famed civil rights leader, Jackson represented eastern portions of Hyde Park and other South Side neighborhoods in the U.S. House of Representatives for 17 years until he resigned his seat last year after spending $750,000 in campaign funds on personal luxury items. Jackson pleaded guilty to charges in February and was sentenced this summer to 30 months in federal prison. His wife, Sandi, also pleaded guilty to failing to report about $600,000 of income on the couple’s tax returns and was also sentenced to a year in jail. The district is now represented by Robin Kelly, who won a special election for the seat in April. Michael Madigan: Madigan has served as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives for 28 years and is chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party. His daughter Lisa Madigan has been the Illinois Attorney General since 2003, and this summer decided against running for governor in 2014, citing a potential conflict of interest with her father if elected. The elder Madigan, one of the state’s most powerful politicians, faced significant criticism throughout the summer after he allegedly pushed Metra administrators to give a raise to a political ally working for the agency. Barack Obama: Hyde Park’s most famous resident used to eat his breakfast at Valois Cafeteria and first kissed Michelle on the corner of East 53rd Street and South Dorchester Avenue. Obama represented Hyde Park in the Illinois State Senate from 1997–2004, and Illinois in the United States Senate from 2005–2009. He also taught constitutional law at the Law School and sent his children to the Lab School. His rise to the presidency has allowed him to cross paths with some of the most important Hyde Park elected officials who still serve the neighborhood. —Sam Levine
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
49
Chicago Sports For when the Maroons are off-season There is nothing better than walking into a professional baseball stadium on a crisp autumn night, watching those bright lights beam as you smell peanuts and hot dogs; and in the city of Chicago you have two baseball teams to visit—the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox. There is nothing that beats battling a brutal Chicago winter like facing it head on, tailgating a Bears game in weather so cold you’ll need a few drinks to stomach the famed bone-crushing hits of Chicago’s football team. And there’s no city on earth where a population the size of Chicago’s comes together to rally behind a playoff run like the Windy City does when the Bulls or the Blackhawks are having another storied NBA or NHL season. The city of Chicago has plenty of attractions, but there’s no place in the United States with better fans, better stadiums,
and better sports. If there’s one thing you should do in the next four years, as you live in this city, it’s take advantage. Splurge a little. Buy a ticket and watch the return of point guard Derrick Rose, the greatest basketball player Chicago has seen since MJ. Spend a Saturday on Wrigley Field’s rooftops and experience what makes the Chicago Cub’s storied stadium an amusement park, and a ballpark. Who knows, maybe the Curse of the Billy Goat will die while the Cubs play while you look on from above; maybe they’ll win their first World Series since 1908. Make the short trip to U.S. Cellular Field for a more wallet-sensitive, intimate night of baseball with the White Sox, one where you feel like you can actually walk onto the infield clay and stand next to shortstop Alexei Ramirez. Take to Soldier Field, and take it all
in—the second oldest team in professional football, the stadium that looks like a coliseum, and the Bears. And of course, when Chicago erupts in joy and tears and passion when its Blackhawks and captain Jonathan Toews bring home another Stanley Cup take to the streets and party like you’re in Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve because it will feel even better than that. Do these things because you’re blessed to live in a city where you can. Do them even if you’re not a sports fan. Do them so that when you’ve graduated and are living in some far off city or some small remote town, where people can only watch these things on their television screens, you can reminisce and whisper to yourself, “I’ve been there.” —Vicente Fernandez
THE CHICAGO MAROON CHICAGOMAROON.COM
50
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
GET OUTTA TOWN Chicago Theater Where to go for the shows, and all that jazz Seeking answers to a few big to-be-ornot-to-be questions, the Maroon recently decided to e-mail two of the UChicago theater community’s leaders, Heidi Coleman (A.M. ’08) and Drew Dir (A.B. ’07), to get their opinions on how you should engage with Chicago’s legendary drama scene this fall. Coleman is the Director of University Theater and the Director of Undergraduate Studies for TAPS. Dir is the Resident Dramaturg at Court Theatre, the prizewinning professional theater on campus.
ners to teach undergraduates.
Chicago Maroon: How is Chicago’s theater scene unique?
CM: Which theaters’ seasons feel particularly fresh this fall and why?
Heidi Coleman: Chicago is the best city for those starting their careers or those wanting to develop new work. It’s filled with theater companies committed to risk-taking and to working collaboratively. There’s a range of performance, from circus to new plays, to burlesque to multi-media work. And there’s an embrasure of performance as an inclusively social experience. For me, it is a luxury to be able to bring so many of the theater practitio-
HC: I can’t answer this question... It’s not fair to play favorites. But, Court’s season is always fascinating, and An Illiad [November 13–December 8] is a particularly interesting performance of solo work. M. Butterfly [May 8–June 8] is a fantastic text, and the production will be epic with Charlie Newell directing.
Drew Dir: The line on Chicago is that, because we’re not New York or Los Angeles, nobody’s here to get “discovered” and move to film and television. Everybody’s here because they care about the art of theater, and they care about ensemble—that is, they care about deep, long-term collaborative relationships with fellow actors or directors or playwrights. While there are exceptions to that, the spirit largely holds.
DD: I’m excited about Steppenwolf’s sea-
son, which is really aggressively producing a whole slate of new plays, two of which [The Way West, The Qualms] are world premieres—it’s really great to see a major theater committed to new stories by playwrights who aren’t necessarily household names yet. The Hypocrites, as always, have a fascinating season—even when I’m not excited by the play titles, I’ll always go anyway because the way they interpret classic plays is so innovative and exciting. CM: What has been your favorite show you’ve seen in Chicago and why? HC: I’m most interested in watching ensembles/writers/directors develop work, so it is rare that a show in isolation that grabs me. But I do love watching companies evolve. We frequently develop new work with artists as a part of our program, and folks like [The] New Colony or [Manual] Cinema. DD: Some of the most life-changing theater I’ve seen has been at the Museum of Contemporary Art [MCA], which sports an entire performance wing for experimental theater, music, and dance. When Young Jean Lee brought her show The Shipment to Chicago, it completely reinvigorated my love for live theater. It makes its own argument for why live theater is important. CM: Where’s a good place for a UChicago first-year to start discovering Chicago theater?
PHOTO COURTESY OF COURT THEATRE
HC: Ah, this is a great question and this fall, it’s easy. Court Theatre is literally a 10-minute walk for most of us, and [The] Mountaintop [September 5–October 13] and An Iliad are easy to see in the autumn quarter. There are student nights with free food, and the UChicago Arts Pass works there. Also, in the Logan Center, for the first four Fridays and Saturdays of the quarter, we are hosting a collaboration between New Colony and [The] Inconvenience of a 1960s-style sitcom that will be filmed before a live audience called B-Side. Definitely at least one night is worth it. After that, Too Much Light at the [Neo-Futurarium], a show at Second City, Steppenwolf, the MCA, and something at the Chopin Theatre by The House Theatre
or The Hypocrites, [two companies]. That should get you through the first year. DD: Court Theatre, where I work, is a great place to start—when I was an undergrad I lived just down the street at Max Palevsky West and yet it took me three years before I finally saw a show there. We have a oneman adaptation of Homer’s Iliad opening in November that is one of my favorite scripts in the world. Outside of Hyde Park, I recommend starting with Chicago’s improv theaters. iO Chicago, in Wrigleyville, is right off the Red Line, and I spent all my money there during my first year. I went during O-Week and was immediately hooked. CM: Why is it important for college students to go to the theater? HC: I think going to be a part of live performance is useful for everyone. A performance is an investigative conversation between the people involved in the creative process and those in the audience. Why college students in particular? These four years are ones of accelerated growth; it’s a hot house, in energizing ways. It’s also a time when existential questions hit hard. Performance is a highly social experience, simultaneously profound and just plain fun. Both qualities are important in countering despair or loneliness, which are sometimes byproducts of our questionings. DD: First of all, never in your life will attending the theater be this cheap for you— between the UChicago Arts Pass and student discounts, theater is less expensive for college students than going to a restaurant downtown. More globally, though, live theater is important because it’s a way of consuming stories that brings you closer to your fellow humans—literally. Watching live human actors in the presence of other human audience members does actually cultivate a greater sense of citizenship and compassion for your fellow man than TV or film. There’s a reason the creation of drama went hand-inhand with the birth of democracy in ancient Greece. Plus, there’s no better place to bring a date. —Emma Broder
51
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
Chicago Art Getting educated for cocktail parties Before I discovered how to identify individual quad buildings, find Hyde Park’s grocery stores, or go downtown on the bus, it became clear that Chicago art was accessible. I first noticed this because art was everywhere outside, in parks and plazas. Trying to get a hold on public art at the city center, I did a self-guided walking tour of the Loop in the rain, sheltering under the glass canopy above Chagall’s Four Seasons, putting my face near the vibrant mosaic mural. The other large sculptures en route were deserted during the 20-minute storm that day. The tour was free; it was in the community; most important, it was beautiful. Art in Chicago is also financially accessible, thanks to the UChicago Arts Pass, your one-way ticket to all art that isn’t in the public domain. The pass itself is highly convenient to acquire—its your UCID—and it grants free or reduced admission to almost every major Chicago art institution, including theaters, concert halls/auditoriums, screening rooms, and, of course, museums. For what the Arts Pass doesn’t cover, there’s usually a reduced student ticket price. Begin with local treasures, like the Renaissance Society, the Smart Museum, and The DuSable Museum of African American History. Working outward, the following are very brief guides to several places and events outside of Hyde Park that will take you well into the first part of the year with their abundant offerings. Art Institute of Chicago (AIC): Guarded by two bronze beasts at its South Michigan Avenue entrance, this worldfamous art museum is perhaps as easily rec-
ognized by its gorgeous exterior as by the thousands of years’ worth of artistic treasures that lie within. Between rooms filled to burst with Monet, Renoir, Caillebotte, and other celebrities of 19th- and 20thcentury art, the AIC also features collections of Japanese woodblock prints, African-American art, and the Modern Wing, a 2009 renovation that offers a rich collection of 20th- and 21st-century art. Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA): Located a mile and a half north of the Art Institute is Chicago’s own contemporary art museum, which offers several floors worth of post-war art. Here, much more so than at the Art Institute, you will find artwork that pokes and probes at traditional understandings of art. The current lineup includes the show Homebodies, which runs through October 13 and presents work examining the space of the domicile; Modern Cartoonist: The Art of Daniel Clowes, a traveling exhibition that is also the first museum retrospective of the popular graphic artist’s work; and Think First, Shoot Later: Photography from the MCA Collection. National Museum of Mexican Art: Located in Pilsen, Chicago’s own Mexican-American heritage neighborhood and one of the city’s cultural hubs, this small museum boasts a rich, colorful collection of art that doubles as an educational resource for Mexican history and culture. The permanent collection is organized chronologically, from preColumbian times to Chicano resistance art, and is complemented by rotational exhibitions, including works by Frida Kahlo. The annual Día de los Muertos
exhibit runs from mid-September to the end of October. The neighborhood is full of authentic Mexican cuisine, fun thrift stores and a handful of private gallery spaces as well. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Fridays: 1st Fridays are held at the MCA for those 21 or older. Geared more toward art as social engagement, this monthly event runs from 6 to 10 p.m. and offers complimentary food, live music, and a cash bar. Tickets bought in advance go for around $14. For the younger and more broke, 2nd and 3rd Fridays are appealing options. Doors fly open along the blocks comprising the Chicago Arts District in Pilsen from 6 to 10 p.m. on the second Friday of each month, signaling the beginning of a night of free gallery-hopping and an eyeful of diverse contemporary art. 3rd Fridays in the Oak Park Arts District are a similar affair, except with greater emphasis on live music and more dining options. Also keep on your radar the River North district, located immediately north of the Loop. The largest cluster of art galleries outside of Manhattan, River North has hundreds of fine art galleries open to the public, as well as high-end furniture stores, bars, nightclubs, and some of the city’s best restaurants. The city’s art has the power to shape college experience. Being neither an art expert nor a longtime Chicagoan, all I have to pass on are memories: I, too, stood in front of Van Gogh’s painting of his bedroom at Arles in the Art Institute, wondering if here would ever feel like home.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE RENAISSANCE SOCIETY
—Emma Broder
Chicago Cinema Movies aren’t just filmed in Chicago—we have silver screens, too
PHOTO COURTESY OF THOMAS HAWK
For film buffs and newbies alike, there are few cities that can best Chicago. (After all, Chicago was home to the world’s first movie screening, Eadweard Muybridge’s moving photographs at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.) When it’s not your night at Doc, the city hosts its fair share of openings and festivals, and its smaller, more independent venues offer cult classics and midnight screenings. So please, skip Netflix and catch a flick on a screen wider than 15 inches. Showplace ICON and AMC River East, conveniently located just south and north of the Loop, respectively, deliver all the usual blockbuster fare, and usually get the limited release films that didn’t make it to your hometown. But for the latter, don’t pay the steep $12 ticket price—you can buy $6.50 passes to any AMC film that’s been in theaters for at least two weeks at the Office of the Reynolds Club and Student Activities (ORCSA). AMC also hosts the Chicago International Film Festival, running October 10–24. The longest-running film festival in the country, the CIFF presents independent and foreign films long before they’re shown in regular theaters, with past entries including Black Swan, Slumdog Millionaire, and Synecdoche, New York. The festival has also brought attention to such luminaries as Martin Scorsese and Wim Wenders early in their careers. Tickets run around $11, or $16 for special presentations. Independent and foreign films can also be found on a more regular basis at the Landmark Century Cinema in Lakeview and at the Gene Siskel Film Center in the Loop. As part of the School of the Art Institute, the Siskel Film Center takes a more academic approach to film, with festivals on national theater and underground
movements constituting most of its programming. Student tickets are $7. Facets Multi-Media: Cinémathèque, a smaller venue in Lincoln Park, screens Sundance winners and other independent films. Facets Cinémathèque also houses its own DVD library of 65,000 films, and offers film classes and an awesome membership package. Tickets are $9. To get the full-blown Chicago film experience, the Music Box Theatre is easily the most exciting and beloved theater in town. While the Theatre gets the usual independent fare, it also offers other eclectic programming, like Silent Second Saturdays, an upcoming Herzog series, a found footage festival, and more. The Music Box hosts midnight movies every weekend, with special events like a Halloween screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, complete with a costume contest and fans screaming incoherently at the screen. Tickets run around $12; plastic spoons and feather boas not included. Chicago is also home to its own documentary film production company (founded by UChicago alumni), Kartemquin Films, which focuses a keen eye on Chicago politics and social issues. The company received a MacArthur Award in 2007 and has released such gems as The Interrupters and Hoop Dreams, the latter of which the late Roger Ebert (X ’70) deemed “one of the great movie-going experiences of my lifetime.” With so many theaters and film events happening in Chicago, it’d be foolish not to take advantage of the city’s size and prevalence in the country’s cinema scene—even if it takes a bit of traveling to get there. —Emily Wang
52
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
CITY DINING Al’s Italian Beef Classic American Multiple Locations—River North: 169 West Ontario Street (312) 943-3222 Regular Al: $5.99
Au Cheval Contemporary American 800 West Randolph Street (312) 929-4580 Entrées: $9–24
Bongo Room Breakfast, brunch Multiple Locations—South Loop: 1152 South Wabash Avenue (312) 291-0100 Average Entrée: $13
Chicago Diner Vegan diner Multiple Locations—Boystown: 3411 North Halsted Street (773) 935-6696 Average Entrée: $10; Large Shake: $6.99
Honky Tonk BBQ Barbecue, American 1800 South Racine Avenue (312) 226-7427 Average Sandwich: $8; Average Platter: $13
Lao Sze Chuan Chinese 2172 South Archer Avenue (312) 326-5040 Entrées: $11–14
Along with deep-dish and Chicago char dogs, Italian beef completes the trinity of Chicago foods. The concept is simple enough: Take pieces of shredded roast beef marinated for hours, insert them into an Italian roll, dip it into a pool of au jus, and top it with giardiniera (hot peppers). Each one has to be served on a gloriously greasy piece of wax paper. The product,
in any case, is not my favorite creation, though it is admittedly essential to the city’s rich culinary history. The heartstopping , artery-clogging monstrosity might satisfy the strong willed, but some of us might question the cost it comes at. Goodbye sweet lifespan!
Think of everything you need to start a trendy, contemporary American gastropub. Poor lighting. Check. A subtle blend of slate and brick. Check. A wrap-around bar serving cocktails lifted from episodes of Mad Men. Check. Miscellaneous vintage ephemera. Check. Chopped chicken liver and beef stew ? Amidst the ultra trendy celebrity-run restaurants of the West Loop—including Stephanie Izzard’s Girl and the Goat, and Graham Elliot’s eponymous bistro—is a just-surprisingenough twist on traditional Jewish diner
fare. The menu was crafted, I suspect, specifically to please Guy Fieri’s palate, and the decor to hide his spikey bleached hair. Foie gras comes either in terrine, cabbage, or with eggs and toast. Fries come topped with mornay sauce and a fried egg. The Kosher dill pickles come on their own plate. Go because it’s not your typical “greasy spoon” diner. Leave with a full belly, a touch of guilt, and grease on your shirt.
Tucked into the corner of a residential complex near the Roosevelt Red Line stop, the Bongo Room offers breakfast and brunch to the trendy crowds. Lines start early, even before they open, so don’t hope for anything speedy unless you’re an early bird. Expect American breakfast done right, and with a few twists. It’s hard not to fantasize about the richness of the
red velvet pancakes, which are generously topped with their heart-warming vanilla crème. These are hotcakes born for your Instagram account. For the savory eater, the chorizo potato avocado omelette balances the light and hefty without overdoing either.
Meat free since ’83—and I think we’re all happy it’s worked out so far. Still serving from its original Boystown location, the Chicago Diner continues to beef up vegetarian and vegan cuisine to the enjoyment of carnivores and non-carnivores alike. Popular on the menu is the Radical Reuben, filled with seitan roast ‘beef ’ soaked in beet juice and pickling brine that make the deli flavors
jump right out at you with every savory bite. Try the shakes as a hearty pairing to the imitation meat, especially the cookie dough peanut butter vegan shake. If you think you know how dense cookie dough and peanut butter can get, you probably haven’t feasted on this double whammy.
Of all the cuisines to develop in Chicago’s recent history, barbeque has perhaps seen the most progress. With promising newcomers appearing every year, and with a formidable presence from some veterans like Lem’s and Twin Anchors, the BBQ scene has become a difficult one to stay on top of. Honky Tonk, however, is more than just good ribs and pulled pork: This Pilsen smoker is a show
as much as it is a restaurant, playing on campy and sometimes kitschy Southern themes that somehow work. Live country music and a fully stocked, saloon-like bar add to the feel, which makes those Viking beef ribs and their sauces just a little bit more savory.
A mecca for UChicago students so popular that it might as well be part of the Common Core. Standout dishes are usually those that pack the most heat. An opening plate of spicy cabbage sets the mood—string y, spicy, and yet somehow refreshing ; their boiled beef pot, layered thick with red pepper flakes, produces
just as much flare in its flavors as it does in the back of your throat. Don’t worry, though—we’re talking tears of joy here, not pain. After dinner, be sure to drop by Joy Yee’s for bubble tea: a convenient excuse to cleanse your fire-burdened palate.
—Richard Deulofeut-Manzur
—Colin Bradley
—Richard Deulofeut-Manzur
—Richard Deulofeut-Manzur
—Richard Deulofeut-Manzur
—Richard Deulofeut-Manzur
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
If there has to be a de-facto rule of pizza eating, it might as well be to find your place and defend it with everything you’ve got. Well, it might not be that severe, but you get the idea. In the world of deep-dish, everyone has his or her camp, whether it’s Giordano’s or Gino’s, or any of the other seemingly ubiquitous Chicago chains. The not-so-secret secret is that the vast major-
ity of deep-dish tastes great, and fairly similar, regardless of location. So what makes Lou Malnati’s so special? It’s simple: It’s not teeming with tourists. Go with friends, order whatever pizza you’d like (the Malnati Classic with sausage is my favorite), and enjoy the local buzz.
Chicago’s very own version of a fast food burger is a small chain started in the back of the kitchen at Tru—a Chicago fine dining institution. It might not have a lot of seating, but their low prices and convenient locations near the Mag Mile make it a keeper. Get the M Burger for a nofrills old-fashioned creation, and always get the fries. It’s hard to say exactly what
makes the burger so addictive; maybe it’s the special sauce, the rivers of juice in the patty, or the simplicity of its architecture, but the uncertainty is part of the experience. Either way, the word printed on the bags of fries still holds true: M Burger is “DELICIOUS”.
Molly’s is the crown jewel of Chicago cupcake boutiques, with a rotating seasonal menu that doesn’t shy away from the bold and brash. Try the apple pie cupcake from their fall menu—a nearly perfect copy of its much larger cousin, though with a fluffier topping. Warning to the wise: bite into one of these gloriously decadent center-filled treats at your own
risk; they’ve been known to pack more punch than their flowery colors indicate. It might even help to prep beforehand by limiting yourself to just one cupcake. OK, maybe two. Space is limited and lines can snake out into the street, so expect a wait during peak hours.
Dining hall gravy is to be avoided. Not only are the taste and ingredients more dubious than Plato’s happiness algebra, but there is almost nothing you can do to prevent the gravy from sliding over and soaking the pizza and that one leaf of lettuce on your plate. Pleasant House Bakery solves all your problems. Golden, flaky piecrusts enclose a myriad of scrumptious surprises from “Mushroom and Kale” to “Steak and Ale.” The tiny,
British, BYOB bakery in Bridgeport also serves up Fish and Chips on Fridays and High Tea on Sunday. Stop off after a day of hard work at Bridgeport Coffee across the street, and bring over some libations from Maria’s, located right next door. They also sell pre-baked savory pies to take home and heat up later to impress your friends.
This West Loop “beer hall–esque” creation is known for its meats, oysters, and beer, with touches of everything in between. Chef Paul Kahan, a powerhouse restaurateur in Chicago and winner of the James Beard Outstanding Chef award, has created a menu of mostly small plates that dazzles with the familiar. At The Publican, things are always more than one imagines. Common orders include the pork rinds, with balanced flavors of vinegar and cheese, or any of
their carefully selected oysters. But for a real sense of what this restaurant has to offer, consider ordering the surprisingly notable farm chicken. Seasoned to perfection with espelette pepper and Mexican oregano, the chicken shines with its tender and delicate meat. The plate finishes with a bed of fries soaked in the bird’s juices. Chicken has never been so good.
For a classic Chicago dog (aka “red hot”) this is nearly as good as it gets. This famous hotdog joint in Belmont attracts hordes of parading bar-hoppers every weekend, and for good reason: Their mounds of fries and Vienna beef franks are both knockouts. The place has its quirks: a combative staff, a funky location, and a couple of not-so-tasteful secret menu items. But the secret here isn’t the igno-
miny: It’s the quality of the food. Every ingredient is done as it should be, from the neon-green relish (it really is that color) to the carefully placed sport peppers and sprinkling of celery salt. You’re in Chicago now, so remember to order with all the proper fixins’—ketchup is out of the question.
Lou Malnati’s Pizza Multiple Locations—Downtown: 439 North Wells Street (312) 828-9800 Pizza: $6–22 (sizes vary)
—Richard Deulofeut-Manzur
M Burger Burgers Multiple Locations—Magnificent Mile: 161 East Huron Street (312) 254-8500 Double M Burger: $4.99; Fries: $1.99
—Richard Deulofeut-Manzur
Molly’s Cupcakes Cupcakes 2536 North Clark Street (773) 883-7220 Center-Filled Cupcake: $3.75
—Richard Deulofeut-Manzur
Pleasant House Bakery Savory British pies 964 West 34th Street (773) 523-PIES Pies: $8-10
—Colin Bradley
The Publican Gastropub 837 West Fulton Market (312) 733-9555 Plates: $5-30
—Richard Deulofeut-Manzur
—Richard Deulofeut-Manzur
The Wieners Circle Hot dogs 2622 North Clark Street (773) 477-7444 Classic Chicago Dog: $3.10
53
54
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
A CONCISE UCHICAGO DICTIONARY Admin n. 1. Bureaucracy that runs the University. 2. The building next to Cobb where administrative offices are and big decisions are made.
Fire Escape n. 1. Useful in event of fire. 2. Student film society.
2. Any member of a varsity sports team. 3. A newspaper you should write for.
Aramark n. Company that fills student stomachs and makes obscene profit margins.
First-Year n. The period during which you whine about your dorm, are expected to take Core classes, and hook up with the kid living down the hall.
B.A. n. 1. A thesis for your major, typically written during fourth year. 2. Actually written in two weeks during spring quarter. See also: Fourth-year.
Fourth-Year n. The period during which you whine about your B.A., actually take Core classes, and avoid eye contact with said kid from first year.
Maroon Dollars n. Funny money redeemable at Aramark establishments. Paying this way gives you a 10 percent discount at Hutch, which transforms the food from obscenely overpriced to very overpriced.
B-level n. 1. The actual basement of the Reg. 2. The best place to go if you want to forget what sunlight looks like, or finish a Hum paper.
Gargoyles n. Carved figures reminiscent of UChicago students during finals week.
Bar Night n. A pay-per-drink frat party held in the basement of Alpha Delt every Wednesday night. Can be used in conjunction with Shake Day to acquire a gnarly stomachache. Bart Mart n. Overpriced Aramark-run convenience store located in Bartlett. The pluses: Stays open until 3 a.m., and you can buy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream with Maroon Dollars. Alias: Maroon Market. B-J n. 1. Burton-Judson Courts, a dorm containing the original Hogwarts Great Hall. 2. Not what you were thinking, perv. Bursar n. Your least favorite administrative office. C-Shop n. The Einstein Bros. Bagel shop on the first floor of the Reynolds Club. See Shake Day. Civ n. Core sequence known for being terribly boring on campus and extremely awesome abroad. Cobb n. 1. The University’s oldest building and largest cluster of classrooms. Located on the west side of the quads and frequented by first-years, smokers, and bitter artists. 2. Student-run coffee shop in the basement of said building known for its dirt-cheap java. Cobbroaches n. Hipsters who gather outside Cobb to create a tangible smokescreen from Camel Lights and discuss how cool they are. Co-Op n. 1. Be prepared to spend at least 12 hours of your four years here waiting in line for Hum and Sosc books. Recently moved above ground. Tips for tots: Buy a membership; it will be well worth it in the end. Alias: Seminary Co-Op Bookstore. Core n. Classes you must take, so stop whining and get it over with. This is what you came here for, right? Alias: Common Core. Crerar n. The 24-hour science library where the med and wannabe-med students study. More sterile than an 80-year-old man with a vasectomy. Don’t expect to do so much as drop a pin without getting death stares from fellow students. Don’t even think about wearing flip-flops. CTA n. Where you exchange a bit more than $2 for an hour long ride to a destination 20 minutes away. Get the Ventra card or going downtown will be hell. Alias: Chicago Transit Authority. Doc n. The student film society that shows good movies for only $5. The drunken heckling usually begins while the poor volunteer they force up front before every movie is still rattling off the list of coming attractions. Guaranteed sound or visual errors or your money back. Dorm n. Where you live. Unfortunately, also where your roommate lives. Econ n. UChicago’s most popular concentration, as measured by percentage of pretentious sellouts. Epistemology n. Overuse this word if you want to be a That Kid. For everyone else, avoid people who overuse this word. Ex-Libris n. Coffee shop on the first floor of the Reg. Meh. Fiji n. 1. Island in the South Pacific. 2. Brand of bottled water. 3. Football fraternity. Fifth-Year n. Who wouldn’t want a victory lap around the place where fun comes to die? Didn’t we warn you about stepping on that seal? Financial Aid Office n. College is expensive. These people could help, were they so inclined.
Hallowed Grounds n. Superior student-run coffee shop on the second floor of the Reynolds Club. Known for its comfy chairs and as a hangout for local pool sharks. Alias for the cool kids: Uncle Joe’s. Harold’s n. Harold’s Chicken Shack in Kimbark Plaza, where the kitchen consists of five deep-fat fryers and a sink. The soggy piece of Wonder Bread is key for absorbing grease, but who knows what the shot of coleslaw is for. Bulletproof glass protects the kitchen from sketchy customers. Harper n. 1. A courtyard useful for eating in warm weather. 2. Convenience store on East 57th Street with frequent two-for-one deals on cigarettes. 3. First president of the University. 4. What some students and professors still fondly call the Arley D. Cathey Learning Center.
Med n. 1. Medici on East 57th Street. One of the only Hyde Park restaurants where you can take a date or your parents. 2. Beloved campus hangout. 3. Source of cheap coffee and excellent baked goods. Metra n. Commuter train that takes you downtown, or occasionally to Indiana or Wisconsin if you don’t watch out. Features conductors in oldtimey uniforms. Midway n. 1. Airport about an hour west on the #55. Small, close, and houses Southwest. What’s not to love? 2. The grassy plaisance that once hosted the World’s Fair and now hosts hoards of midnight soccer players. NeoCons n. Originated at UChicago. Now possibly control the universe. Nightride n. An evening shuttle service. Good luck guessing its schedule. Northwestern adj., n. 1. Compass direction. 2. A crosstown university that is rumored to have Division I athletics and practical education. Lame.
Henry Crown n. A dilapidated warehouse with a handful of weight lifting and exercise equipment. The Valhalla for varsity athletes.
#171 n. 1. Bus. 2. Make-out mobile for irritating B-J and Broadview denizens.
House n. 1. The University’s way of fostering a sense of community. 2. Where you will meet most of the people you actively avoid for the next four years.
O’Hare n. 1. The second busiest airport in the country, two hours north on the CTA. Only use in case of emergency.
Housecest n. Realize that at least two people in your house are going to spend the rest of their lives together. Fear for the future of the planet. On the off chance that things don’t work out, expect everyone in the dorm to know within a half hour.
O-mance n. 1. A fling between first-years during Orientation that usually lasts one week. 2. Illadvised.
Hum n. First-year humanities sequence. Pretentious people (see That Kid) make themselves known in their Hum sections. Hutch n. 1. Location of many O-Week and RSO events throughout the year (read: free food). 2. Home to the worst Subway franchise in America. Hutchins, Robert Maynard n. Former president of the University who is largely responsible for making the Core what it is today. Also, got rid of the football team, took UChicago out of the Big Ten, and cemented Chicago’s reputation as the place where fun comes to die. Indeed adv. Word of choice for That Kids. Usage: “Indeed, Karl Marx is an utter buffoon.” I.T. n. The department that keeps your e-mail clicking and picking, unless the server crashes during finals week. Also responsible for implementing such “improvements” in your life as myUChicago and Chalk. Alias: I.T. Services. Jimmy’s n. The best-known and most frequented student bar in Hyde Park. Alias: Woodlawn Tap. Kimbark n. 1. A street. 2. A shopping center. 3. The University’s official liquor store. Will accept a crudely laminated fake ID with your picture drawn in crayon. Labbie n. Lab School student. Known for crossing East 59th Street in massive swarms in their younger years and trying to get in to frat parties as they mature. MAB n. Organizes Summer Breeze concert, among other things. Alias: Major Activities Board.
ORCSA n. Student activities advisers located in the bowels of the Reynolds Club. Alias: Office of the Reynolds Club and Student Activities. Palevsky, Max n. 1. Billionaire philanthropist who helped found Intel. 2. Subject of Hunter S. Thompson’s ire. 3. Home of Doc Films. 4. Horrifically ugly orange breeding shed for firstyears. Aliases: Max, Max P, Maxi Pad, Barbie’s Dream Dorm. Pink Slip n. 1. Your ticket to the class of your dreams. 2. What you will hold in your hand as you plead, beg, and cry to get into a Core art class. Point, the n. 1. Promontory Point Park. 2. Rallying point for neighborhood activists. 3. What that kid in your Hum class keeps missing. 4. Good make-out spot, if it’s not frigidly cold. Prospies. n. 1. Prospective students that usually materialize in April and May. 2. Uncorrupted. 3. Looking to be corrupted.
30-somethings in your dorm aren’t still in college. RSO n. 1. Recognized student organization. 2. What will start out as résumé padding and then consume all your free time. Salonica n. Diner on East 57th Street known for its breakfast offerings. Goes great with a hangover. Scav Hunt n. The world’s largest scavenger hunt. Every spring, it will make you either love or regret your decision to come to UChicago. There is no middle ground. Sexile v. To be exiled from your room by your roommate and his or her significant (or not-sosignificant) other. Usually signaled by a sock or other such random object slyly placed on the doorknob. You, on the other hand, will never sexile anyone. See also: housecest. SG n. Student Government. The elected representatives of the student body. SG is efficient, mature, free of infighting, and will affect your life in numerous positive ways. Shake Day n. And the seventh day, which is deemed holy, God created Shake Day and rested…in C-Shop with a $1 shake. Only on Wednesdays and only if you enjoy waiting in a line that makes Depressionera bread lines look good. SHS n. 1. Student Health Service. 2. No, you can’t get medical marijuana there. 3. Dispenser of free condoms. 4. Next appointment available is in three weeks. Sosc n. Social sciences Core sequence. Pretentiousness levels are second only to Hum. Student Life Fee n. Money paid to cover student activities, health, and lab fees. May or may not be used for corrupt purposes. You’d think $60,000 per year would pretty much cover it. Study Break n. The archetypal UChicago social experience: It’s the 15 minutes in your day when you’re actually around other people, and that’s only because there’s free food. Subway n. 1. Sandwich chain with 10,000 locations in Hyde Park. 2. Not to be confused with the El. Sun-Times n. 1. Chicago newspaper. 2. May or may not actually contain news. T.A. n. A graduate student who must balance helping undergraduates and perfecting a sickening obsequiousness to the professor. That Kid n. Universally loathed person. Generally finishes all the reading and spends an hour and 20 minutes twice a week proving that to the rest of the class. Trib n. 1. The Chicago Tribune. 2. A real newspaper. 3. Allegedly responsible for RedEye. UCID n. The most valuable item in your wallet.
Pub, the n. University-run bar in the basement of Ida Noyes Hall, located a full 20 steps from the front door of the Maroon office.
UIC n. 1. The University of Illinois at Chicago, with sports teams known as “the Flames.” 2. Where half of your relatives think you go to school.
R.A. n. 1. Resident Head Assistant. 2. R.H.’s sublieutenant. 3. Paid to smile and get someone to come pump your stomach.
UChi Goggles n. Sort of like beer goggles. Direct relationship between amount of time spent at UChicago and the number of people you find attractive.
Reynolds Club n. The alleged “student union” of the University. There used to be two worthwhile establishments here, Taco Bell and Hallowed Grounds. Sadly, now only the latter remains… though just barely.
USITE n. Campus computer labs. Your choice of three flavors: cool ranch (Crerar), code red (Harper), and McShamrock (Regenstein).
Rajun Cajun n. One-stop shop for soul food, Indian food, and Bollywood video rental. Ratner n. Gym. The only place on campus capable of giving the illusion that you go to a state school.
UT n. University Theater. Artistic outlet for hipsters. Weekly n. 1. Tinder. 2. Formerly Chicago, now South Side.
RedEye n. Tabloid started by the Trib to appeal to a younger, hipper, dumber demographic.
WHPK n. University/community radio station. Motto: “The pride of the South Side.” It is possible to go four years without realizing WHPK exists. This is a crying shame.
Mansueto n. 1. Billionaire owner of Morningstar investment company. 2. A robot-controlled library where Megatron is actually being stored. 3. The best building to read and tan simultaneously.
Reg n. The library. Rumor has it there are books inside that may help when you have a 15-page research paper due tomorrow. There are people who have been wandering disoriented around the stacks for decades.
Z&H n. 1. Store on East 57th Street. Great sandwiches, sometimes served on pretzel bread. 2. Store on East 47th Street. Great coffee, possibly the best outside of the Loop.
Maroon n. 1. The University’s only school color.
R.H. n. Resident Head. No, you moron, those
Zimmer n. 1. Our president. He’s a mathematician. 2. Not popular with many activists on campus.
Maclab n. Underground computer lab in the Reg. Where comp sci majors go if they want to get a breath of fresh air. Major n. Plebian replacement for concentrations.
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
55
Hyde Park’s Favorite Family Owned and Operated Produce Market and Grocery Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Grocery & Specialty Items Hot & Cold Deli Made to Order Sandwiches Party Trays Organic Local Gluten Free Products 1226 East 53rd Street Chicago, IL 60615
(773) 324-7100 fax (773) 324-7929
www.HydeParkProduce.com Check out our Daily Specials and Complete Menu Online!
Visit the Claret Center, providing resources for the human journey. We are a behavioral health center residing in Hyde Park for over twenty-five years. We offer: x Psychotherapy x Spiritual companioning x Massage therapy x Acupuncture x Cranial sacral Therapy x Workshops & Classes 5536 South Everett Avenue 773-643-6259 WWW. claretcenter.org
THE CHICAGO MAROON CHICAGOMAROON.COM
56
CHICAGO MAROON | ORIENTATION | September 23, 2013
O-WEEK EVENTS FROM SPIRITUAL LIFE AND ROCKEFELLER DURING O-WEEK Check your O-Book for times of spiritual and religious services and events of many kinds. AUDITIONS Want to sing in a choir or learn to play the carillon? Auditions for Motet Choir, the Chapel Choir, and the University Chorus are held during O-Week and in the first few days of Week 1. You can also audition for the orchestra or the piano program or many other ensembles. See music.uchicago.edu for full details.
SEVENTH ANNUAL HYDE PARK JAZZ FESTIVAL SAT SEPT 28, 11 PM Seventh Annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival with Israeli clarinet virtuoso Anat Cohen and composer/guitarist Douglas Lora. Together as a duo, these two talented artists will play an hour of jazz music in the massive space that is Rockefeller Chapel. Not to be missed!
Auditions for the carillon studio (a group of students who are offered lessons on the carillon in a practice studio and who play the actual bells upon achieving proficiency – ability to play the piano is the only requisite), contact Hunter Chase at hschase@uchicago.edu. You can visit the 72-bell carillon in the Rockefeller tower at 11:30 am or 4:30 pm any weekday to see it played in recital. Fun!
ROCKEFELLER/SPIRITUAL LIFE HAPPENINGS Some of what’s on this week at Rockefeller and Bond Chapels, and around campus ... MON SEPT 23 (THROUGH THURSDAY) Sukkot Main Quads The Jewish festival of Sukkot is halfway through as O-Week begins. Look for special programming and Sukkot meals in the various sukkahs on campus! BEGINNING MON SEPT 23, 8 AM Twenty Minutes Still Every weekday at 8 am Rockefeller Chapel Meditation for twenty minutes in the quiet stillness of Rockefeller Chapel, every weekday of the academic year. No experience necessary, open to those of all spiritual backgrounds. Still the mind and body, open the heart… BEGINNING MON SEPT 23, 11:30 AM Carillon Climb and Tower Tour Weekdays 11:30 am Rockefeller Chapel (meet at front desk) Climb 271 steps up Rockefeller tower’s spiral staircase and see the spectacular view from the highest point on campus. Ask about joining a full moon climb! BEGINNING TUES SEPT 24, 4:30 PM Tea and Pipes Every Tuesday 4:30 pm Bond Chapel Half an hour of music on the new Baroque organ in the exquisite Bond Chapel, every week, with tea and biscuits served from 4 pm! BEGINNING TUES SEPT 24, 4:30 PM AND 5:45 PM Restorative Yoga Every Tuesday 4:30 and 5:45 pm Rockefeller An hour of restorative yoga (calm, meditative) in the amazing setting of Rockefeller Chapel, with Meredith Haggerty. Bring a yoga mat if you have one, and wear loose clothing. BEGINNING WED SEPT 25, 12:30 PM Lunch with Mr. Skinner Every Wednesday 12:30 pm Rockefeller Chapel 8,565 pipes and a little ecstasy: the weekly organ recital at Rockefeller, half an hour. Bring your lunch — we provide the drinks. Please visit spirit.uchicago.edu for information on services and programs not listed here.
BEGINNING WED SEPT 25, 5 PM Zen Meditation Every Wednesday 5 pm Rockefeller Chapel Still your mind with a half hour of Soto Zen meditation at Rockefeller, with Nyozan Eric Shutt. 5 pm instruction for those who desire it, 5:30 to 6:05 pm meditation, followed by optional dharma talk or discussion until 6:30 pm. THURS SEPT 26, 10 AM Bhajans Rockefeller Chapel Stop by to offer morning prayers and meet other Hindu students! At the Hindu prayer room at Rockefeller Chapel. Come and go as you are able. THURS SEPT 26, 11 AM Spiritual Life Open House Rockefeller Chapel Drop in for refreshments in our spirit lounge, check out our offerings and meet our staff. From Atheist to Zoroastrian, our office serves everyone! THURS SEPT 26, 12 NOON Welcome Lunch for new Muslim students Rockefeller Chapel, Uncommon Room A halal lunch offered by the Spiritual Life Office, with an opportunity to meet the Advisor for Muslim Affairs, the Dean and Assistant Dean of Rockefeller, see the Muslim prayer room, and explore questions about Muslim life on campus. No RSVP necessary. BEGINNING THURS SEPT 26, 4 PM Gentle Yoga Every Thursday 4 pm Bond Chapel A combination of easy movement and breathing exercises to relieve stiff necks and backs! Students are encouraged to come early and spend some time in quiet reflection or meditation. Bring a yoga mat. BEGINNING THURS SEPT 26, 8 PM Worship without Prerequisites Every Thursday 8 pm Bond Chapel This weekly time of worship allows those interested in progressive Christian theology and community to gather for music, discussion, open prayer time, communion, and fellowship. Led by Bromleigh McCleneghan, associate for congregational life.
Rockefeller Chapel and Spiritual Life are part of Campus and Student Life
FRI SEPT 27, 1 PM AND 1:45 PM Jumu’ah Prayers Every Friday 1 and 1:45 pm Bond Chapel Muslim Friday prayers FRI SEPT 27, 6 PM ONWARDS Shabbat services See O-Book Shabbat services and dinners are held at various campus locations representing the diversity of Jewish life at UChicago. Full details in your O-Book. SUN SEPT 29, 11 AM Sunday at Rockefeller: Jazz Sunday Every Sunday 11 am to 12:15 pm Jazz at Rockefeller featuring members of the UChicago Jazz Xtet Communion open to all, of all traditions, with glorious music (choral, organ, instrumental, carillon; world music, classical choral, jazz) amidst the incomparable setting of the chapel. Light refreshments afterwards. Bromleigh McCleneghan, preaching SUN SEPT 29, 1 PM Blessing of the Animals Rockefeller Chapel Missing your pets? Come and join Hyde Park’s dogs and cats as they come for their annual blessing at Rockefeller Chapel, following the Sunday morning service. Literally a touching event!
5850 South Woodlawn Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60637
spirit.uchicago.edu rockefeller.uchicago.edu ELIZABETH DAVENPORT
Dean of Rockefeller Chapel JIGNA SHAH
Assistant Dean of Rockefeller Chapel Director of Spiritual Life