Chicago-Maroon-09-11-03

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TUESDAY

IN VOICES

IN SPORTS

VOLUME 121

UT gets in Shape

Volleyball nets win 25

ISSUE 11

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CHICAGOMAROON.COM

UT’s new show premieres.

Most wins for Maroons since 1996.

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

CHICAGO

AROON

The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892

HYDE PARK

CAMPUS LIFE

University Market to close

Admin responds to SOUL activism for workers’ hours By Nathalie Gorman Senior News Staff

University Market employee Alma Silva rings up a costumer Monday night. The market is scheduled to close on December 13 due to large increases in rent. ERIC GUO/MAROON

The store’s deli operations will move to Medici Bakery By Ella Christoph News Editor University Market will close December 13, the store said yesterday, after the University raised the store’s rent 50 percent over the past two years, according to co-owner

and manager Kirsten Esterly. The market, co-owned by Esterly and Hans Morsbach, will continue many of its deli services in Medici Bakery. Morsbach owns Medici Bakery, and Medici Restaurant, University Market. He also operates the Pub. Morsbach said the proposed rent, $40 per square foot a year, was the highest he had heard of in Hyde Park. “The rent has gone up some-

thing horrible,” he said. The University declined to comment, citing its policy of not discussing rental and lease issues. “Our rent has been raised significantly and we just decided it’s not in our best interest to keep on with rent that high,” Esterly said. The space is approximately 20 by 65 feet, and would have cost about $52,000 a year if the Market had accepted

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Campus administrators responded to protests and a letter from Students Organizing United with Labor (SOUL) decrying the 35-hour workweek, down from a standard 40-hour workweek, for campus employees. I n r e s p o n s e t o S O U L’ s l e t ter to President Robert Zimmer, University Chief Financial Officer Nim Chinniah and Kim Goff-Crews, vice president for Campus Life, sent a reply in which they emphasized that, among others, this decision was made to maintain the University’s fiscal health, and that it was made to prioritize staff retention. The workweek for RHC staff was cut to 35 hours July 1, following a decision made last April. “Reducing hours per week enabled the University to keep as many people as possible employed with full-time benefits,” they wrote, explaining that only four employees were laid off. But SOUL, which advocates on the behalf of campus workers and workers with the employee union, disagrees with the decision. They see the University’s failure to reinstate 40-hour workweeks for Resident Halls and Commons (RHC) staff, even as the campus undergoes renovation projects, as incongrous. SOUL member and fourth-year Sarah Farr said the signs, which pointed to new renovations, were

posted to raise student awareness of the cut in hours. “We think a lot of people aren’t aware that all the people who are cleaning up [the campus] —all these people have been cut to 35 hours,” she said. Farr said that the decrease in hours amounted to an eight percent pay cut for campus workers. “It’s pretty significant, especially in light of the fact that Zimmer sent out an e-mail saying the budget crisis is now over so we can get on with our lives as usual,” she said, citing initiatives such as repaving the main quad, and the faculty expansion announced by President Zimmer. “We need to respect people who are important” to the University, Farr said. University spokesman Jeremy Manier said decisions such as cutting back the workweek are a necessary response to the financial crisis, a response that will eventually enable the University to return to greater financial stability and flexibility. “I think it is true that, relative to some peers, the University has been doing OK the last several months,” he said, adding that cuts to this year’s budget do not reflect the future outlook. “That’s why we can look at making decisions like expanding the faculty and continuing the Mansueto Library,” he said. Chinniah and Goff-Crews also promised to meet with S O U L members to discuss their concerns.

ARTS

CEREMONIES

Court Theatre keeps costs low and theatergoers happy

Space jam: Hubble ball returns to Ratner

By Hannah Fine Senior News Staff Court Theatre is moving away from large-scale productions this season to help balance the budget in a difficult economic climate, but theater administrators said its relationship with the University may spare it from severe cuts felt throughout the business. The theater said it will find a healthy balance between financial and artistic concerns. “Like all arts organizations, we were very cautious when budgeting this season,” said Heidi Thompson Saunders, general manager of Court Theatre. “But because of the University, we do not have those same concerns about the day-to-day budget that other theaters may have.” In addition to providing performance space on campus, the University pays five percent of the theater’s operating budget, and half of the theater’s board is affiliated with the University. The rest of Court’s income comes from season subscriptions, ticket sales, donations,

and arts foundations, Saunders said, but she added that subscription sales are lower than in past years. In addition, drastic funding cuts to the Illinois Arts Council mean that Court is receiving substantially less overall funding this year. Along with “minor cosmetic cuts to the budget,” Saunders said Court chose to produce shows with fewer performers this season. The Mystery of Irma Vep, starting November 12, features two actors, and The Year of Magical Thinking, starting January 14, has only one. Overall, Court will be using approximately half as many actors as last year. Still, Saunders said Court “didn’t want to compromise on any of the artistic integrity of the shows. We wanted to create an interesting season with great plays and fewer actors.” Court often performs classic plays and musicals that are proven crowd-pleasers, as well as comedies and more intellectual plays. The theater won four Jeffs—Chicago’s version of the Tony—last month for its production of Caroline, or Change last fall.

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Former astronaut John Grunsfeld (S.M. ’84, Ph.D. ’88) speaks with fourth-year basketball players Micaela White (left), Sophia Senyo, and others at a ceremony in Ratner Athletics Center. JEREMY MARTIN/MAROON

By Stacey Kirkpatrick Senior News Staff Edwin Hubble (S.B. ’10, Ph.D. ’17) got another chance to globetrot this summer thanks to fellow U of C alum and astronaut John Grunsfeld (S.M. ’84, Ph.D. ’88), who took Hubble’s championship basketball to space with him while he fixed the Hubble Space Telescope. Grunsfeld was on the court at

Ratner Athletics Center this Friday to replace the ball, which he had taken up to space as a tribute to the instrument’s inventor. Led by the famed astrophysicist, the Maroons took the Big Ten basketball title in both 1908 and 1909. The basketball, which usually resides in Ratner, is from the 1909 championship game and stands in Ratner as a testament to Hubble’s athleticism and prestige at the University.

“It’s much more than a basketball. It’s an icon of science,” Grunsfeld said. Hubble went on to become a Rhodes Scholar and eminent astronomer and astrophysicist. For its stay in Ratner, Hubble’s basketball was stuffed with straw to preserve its spherical shape. But straw is a fire hazard in space, NASA said, so Grunsfeld had to find a

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