FRIDAY
IN VOICES
IN SPORTS
The minds behind Twitterature
Rivalry results
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 19
» Page 7
CHICAGOMAROON.COM
Not in 140 characters or less.
JANUARY 12, 2010
CHICAGO
AROON
» Page 12 Men’s and women’s basketball have disappointing days at Wash U.
The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892
STUDENT LIFE
CULTURE
Mac Lab ends free printing
Out of the stacks, back to the newsstands: Editor tries to resurrect dormant porn mag By Asher Klein News Editor For the last two years, fourth-year Jackie Todd has been trying to get ahold of the student body. A naked student body, to be precise. Todd is looking to publish another issue of Vita Excolatur, a pornographic magazine made by, for, and about students at the U of C, last published in 2007. The magazine translates the name, which is taken from the University’s motto, as “the life well lived.” But as the head of the organization since her second year, Todd has had trouble getting people to join, from photographers to designers; even asking people to help her table at RSO fairs “was like pulling teeth.” Todd heard about Vita as a senior at a conservative Catholic high school, where “sex and sexuality were
never explored,” she said. “Having a venue where sex can not only be explored, but can be brought up as a topic of conversation” appealed to her. When she matriculated, she approached the editors with an idea that she produced and posed for. “Everyone thinks that you go off to college and its going to be this crazy place full of co-eds hooking up, booze, all that stuff. And while it’s funny to joke around about sex, it should be addressed in a way that’s not super serious,” she said. “It should be out there in a magazine.” Todd is hoping to resurrect the magazine, which once printed seminude fashion photography shot on top of the Reg, an article explaining the Asian fetish, and even a “money shot,” to use a trade term. Vita didn’t look much like a porn
VITA continued on page 2
ALUMNI The Mac Lab in the Regenstein Library will no longer offer free printing in an effort to cut costs, which have been increasing every year.
Peace Corps outreach director speaks at career fair
CLAIRE HUNGERFORD/MAROON
Students breaking Mac Lab rules threatened to “bankrupt” University By Nathalie Gorman Senior News Staff The Computer Science L ab, commonly known as Mac Lab, terminated its popular free printing service last week. It was the last such service available on campus. Mac Lab is now integrated with the unified campus printing system, which charges 10 cents per blackand-white page. Until this quarter, Mac Lab provided up to 30 pages of free black-and-white printing per student each week, but only for usercreated documents. Terminating free printing is one of several measures taken to curb the
University’s printing costs. “It had to be stopped because it was bankrupting the University,” said William Sterner, director of the computer science department and Mac Lab. Sterner sympathized with students’ frustration over the disappearance of the service, but said the widespread flouting of the Mac Lab’s rules played a role in precipitating the change. “I don’t think anybody involved here...wants to make this difficult for students,” he said, adding “we constantly found students trying to push the limits that we were setting. It’s clear that we could have a very large expense if we just let that happen.” To Sterner, this activity suggested a misunderstanding of the Mac Lab’s purpose. “We’re here to provide space for computer science courses,” he said. “We’re not a print service.”
Sterner said the “explosion of printing” coincided with many course documents being placed online in 2000. “NSIT was confronted with the problem of people printing thousands of pages, where before they printed 15.” While other parts of the University began to charge for printing, Mac Lab developed the policy that allowed students to print content they had created, which was considered responsible and practical. “That carried forward until very recently—until the library and the dorms and the college offices were revamped—and now they have a relatively uniform system. When that came up the library asked us to stop our free printing and switch to a payfor-print [model],” Sterner said. He added: “Basically, we decided
MAC LAB continued on page 2
By Evette Addai News Staff Dozens of alumni and hundreds of students converged downtown Saturday to explore career possibilities and share trade tips at this year’s Taking the Next Step (TNS). David Medina (A.B. ’91), the event’s keynote speaker, challenged the classes of 2011 and 2012 to make public service a part of their future and to “live life out loud”. Medina, director of public engagement for the Peace Corps, traced his experiences in Chicago social and political activism, urging students to give their lives greater meaning. Medina, who worked on Carol Mosley Braun’s (J.D. ’72) successful senate campaign in 1993 and later became her aide in Washington, moved to the Peace Corps to focus on resolving
poverty around the world. He formerly served as Michelle Obama’s deputy chief of staff in the White House. After a recent trip observing Peace Corps volunteers in Panama, Medina said he felt humbled and inspired. “These volunteers were living their lives out loud with their service in the Peace Corps.” Medina ended the talk by asking the students to imagine their futures. “Imagine devoting your life to helping. Imagine standing up here and being able to say, ‘I lived my life out loud.’” Dean of the College John Boyer spoke before the lunch, joking that TNS would have made former President Robert Hutchins roll in his grave. Boyer said Hutchins, who believed universities should not “teach the young how to make a living”, would be appalled at an event so focused on getting students jobs outside of college.
Morning glory
ADMINISTRATION
New technology director suited to University’s decentralized system, admins say By Michael Lipkin News Editor Klara Jelinkova will serve as Chief Information Technology Officer, the University announced Monday. She will be responsible for NSIT and represent the University on IT issues nationwide. Jelinkova, who will start at the U of C March 1, is currently an information technology administrator at Duke University. At Duke, Jelinkova was in charge of campus e-mail and developing systems to support campus research. She also served for 10 years at the University of WisconsinMadison, where she centralized data storage and implemented universitywide infrastructure changes.
Chief Financial Officer Nim Chinniah, to whom Jelinkova will report, said he was impressed with her ability to lead Duke through IT changes and her skill at collaborating with faculty, students, and staff. He added that her background at Duke, another large research university, was a key factor in the decision to hire her. “We do a lot of research across our divisions and we’re decentralized in the way we approach our information technology...which lets deans and faculty have a lot to say about how it’s managed, while accounting, payroll, and alumni networks are managed centrally,” Chinniah said. “Duke has a very similar environment.”
Chinniah said Jelinkova will be in charge of “any new technology we roll out,” and will develop new ways to get feedback on the University’s projects and services. She will also oversee NSIT, which handles campus e-mail, server management, networking, and telephone services. Jelinkova’s predecessor, former Chief Information Officer Greg Jackson, also represented the University’s technological interests, once testifying before a U.S. House of Representatives committee on copyright infringement on college campuses. Jackson left the University in early September and now works for a nonprofit that advocates for technology-based higher education issues.
U
of C sociology professor and Kuvia founder Donald Levine leads morning calisthenics at Henry Crown as part of COUP’s annual Kuviasungnerk/Kangeiko winter celebration.
ERIC GUO/MAROON