Chicago Maroon 021715

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TUESDAY • FEBRUARY 17, 2015

CHICAGOMAROON.COM

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

ISSUE 27 • VOLUME 126

» Find our annual Historical Issue insert on page 5

Axelrod describes himself as Believer Christine Schmidt News Editor Since announcing the establishment of the Institute of Politics (IOP) on campus in January 2012, David Axelrod (A.B. ’76) has become a familiar face at the University of Chicago. A former adviser and campaign strategist to President

Fourth-year Nikita Sachdeva is an international student from India. “UChicago has been pretty invested in India—now they have a center in Delhi, which they opened last year—which is a big deal,” she said. “I think...UChicago’s really got that going for them.” A full interactive story is available at chicagomaroon.com. MARTA BAKULA | CHICAGO MAROON

International students make up one-fifth of the College Raymond Fang Associate News Editor The life of the mind has gone global in the last three decades, with international student presence doubling over the last 30 years to encompass a fifth of the University’s student population. According to data obtained from the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education, the percentage of international students at the University grew from 9.55 percent of the total student population in 1980 to 20.61 percent in 2013, for an overall increase of 11.06 percent. The undergraduate international student population grew from 1.14 percent of the undergraduate population in 1980 to 9.47 percent in 2013, for an overall increase of 8.33 percent. Though specific country data are only available from 2011, the percentage of students from main-

land China at the University has grown significantly in the last four academic years, increasing from 19.49 percent of the international student population in fall 2011 to 25.76 percent in fall 2014. The percentages of the three next largest countries, India (12.28 percent to 11.61 percent), Canada (6.58 percent to 6.27 percemt), and South Korea (7.53 percent to 6.24 percent), all remained stable or declined over the same time period. Specific-country data was obtained from official University Censuses. Josh Liu is an international outreach intern for the Admissions Office and a second-year international student from China. Liu attributes this dramatic rise in Chinese international students to an increase in the number of Chinese middle-class families, who are able to afford to send their children abroad to American universities as a result of the burgeoning Chinese economy. “Ten years before, we’ve got a stereotype that people STUDENTS continued on page 2

#HistoricalIssue2015

Barack Obama, Axelrod is now the author of the recently published book Believer. He sat down with The Maroon to share his thoughts on optimism in politics, the state of the IOP, and his hopes for the Obama presidential library. Chicago Maroon (CM): At nearly every IOP event where you speak, you emphasize the optiAXELROD continued on page 3

Crunchbutton expands to Univ. Shelby Lohr News Staff Crunchbutton, a food delivery startup, recently added a branch at the University, promising students one-click food ordering and delivery for traditionally pickup-only restaurants in Hyde Park such as Chipotle, Starbucks, and Five Guys. “It’s a great service for those late nights if you’re studying or partying—you know you can... quickly get food the way you want it,” said first-year Emma Madden, a marketer for Crunchbutton. Crunchbutton operates from 6 p.m. to midnight every day, adding a $3 delivery charge to

orders and arriving within a 30-minute delivery period. Orders can be made both online and through an app, and both platforms save previous orders to enable one-click ordering. The service is particularly useful “when it’s zero degrees outside and and you can’t leave the Reg,” Madden added. Crunchbutton has already existed in its early stages on a national level. It is popular on the west coast, but is gaining more of a national presence. David Klumpp, one of the founders of Crunchbutton, began it at Yale with several undergraduate seniors. “We started at Yale with a single sandwich called the Wenzel,” he said in an e-mail. “We STARTUP continued on page 4

#HistoricalIssue2015

Pierce houses spend “toilet money” Anne Nazzaro News Staff As Campus North goes up, the Maroon has decided to take a look at how Pierce went down. Pierce Tower was built in 1960 and demolished in 2013 due to extensive maintenance and facilities issues. In order to compensate for deplorable housing conditions, the University doled out what was known as “toilet money” to Pierce residents.

The residence hall had been plagued with maintenance issues for a long time prior to its closure. Elevator outages, water outages, broken drains, and decaying furniture were regular and recurring problems. Not only that, but in February 2012, toilets actually exploded—turning into geysers upon flushing—with enough force that pieces of shattered porcelain were found on the floor around one of the toilets. PIERCE continued on page 4

A history of University housing Adam Thorp News Staff For almost 100 years, the University has had the vision of using on-campus housing to create a cohesive undergraduate community. Ambitious plans to draw undergraduates to campus imagined huge complexes rising to the north and south; though the architects’ 1920s and 1960s drawings never became reality, these plans anticipated this last decade’s dorms sprouting around campus. The post–World War I era found few undergraduates living on campus, essentially making the University a commuter school. A 1923 study titled “The Problem of Housing for the Junior College” found that the number of students in University housing was much lower

than in every other type of housing. Members of the administration were concerned that this isolated students and planned a large, unified housing project as a solution. “We must bring together the great majority of our students, graduate and undergraduate, in comfortable and attractive residence halls…. Until this is done it will be impossible to achieve the social solidarity and esprit de corps which are essential to the carrying out of a well-rounded educational program,” Vice President and Dean of Facilities Frederick Woodward wrote in a 1927 report. The planned solution was a complex south of the Midway, which would provide housing for 1,200 undergraduates. Undergraduate students would move into the complex, freeing HOUSING continued on page 4

The legendary Pierce Tower, opened in 1960, stood at the corner of East 55th Street and South University Avenue before its demolition in 2013. Its demise came as a result of “exploding toilets” and other issues in its infrastructure. PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES

IN VIEWPOINTS

IN ARTS

IN SPORTS

Is the price right? » Page 8

Carillonneur carries on aft er decades of playing at Rockefeller Chapel » Page 9

Several South Siders shine at conference championships » Back page

Despite hype, Fift y Shades of Grey feels flaccid » Page 9

Depth propels Maroons to victory over DII Lewis » Page 11


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