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Michelle Welch gives us a road map to the last season of Lost.
Both basketball teams have had their ups and downs in the first half of the season.
FEBRUARY 5, 2010
CHICAGO
AROON
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 25
CHICAGOMAROON.COM
The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892
CITY GOVERNMENT
SAFETY
Hyde Park alderman wins Cook County Board President primary
Unsolved Classics quad thefts frustrate faculty Thieves trumped UCPD efforts to prevent further break-ins By Amy Myers News Staff Burglars bashed through some third-floor walls in Goodspeed Hall to steal a laptop and five computers last month. The January 25 incident comes after a string of thefts this winter in the Classics quad, prompting faculty to ask for increased security and to be alerted about crimes that occur where they work. Robbers have targeted Goodspeed Hall, Cobb, and Gates-Blake in the past two months, according to UCPD spokesman Robert Mason; the music, film, and French departments, as well as the Center for the Study of Languages (CSL) were robbed. Every office on the fourth floor of Gates-Blake has
been broken into, some twice, creative writing instructor Dan Raeburn said. The UCPD does not know how many burglars are involved in the thefts, and no one has been taken into custody for the break-ins, Mason said. He called the localized rise in crime unusual and said that UCPD has upped its patrols in Goodspeed in response to the thefts. The robberies, which have taken place since early December, have resulted in thousands of dollars of lost property. On December 7, a thief smashed a glass-fronted case at the CSL in Cobb using a billiards ball taken from the commuter lounge in the basement. A flat-screen TV was stolen. The January 25 burglary followed a similar incident on the fourth floor of Goodspeed in December, Senior Director of Capital Planning in the Humanities Patricia Monaghan said.
BREAK-IN continued on page 2
Fourth-Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle at the House of Hope last week. Preckwinkle won the Democratic nomination for President of the Cook County Board Tuesday. If elected, she will be the first woman to hold the seat. COURTESY OF GREG A. RODIL
By Hannah Fine Senior News Staff Fourth-Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle (A.B. ’69, M.A.T. ’77) won the Democratic nomination for Cook County Board President Tuesday in a landslide. P r e ck w i n k l e w o n n e a r l y 5 0 percent of the vote out of a field of four, with twice as many votes as her closest competitor, Metropolitan Water Reclamation D i s t r i c t P r e s i d e n t Te r r e n c e O’Brien. Preckwinkle also defeat-
TRANSPORTATION ed incumbent Todd Stroger, who was criticized for his controversial sales-tax increase and claims of patronage hiring. “It’s a great night; we’re really pleased,” Preckwinkle said in an interview after the results party, which ended unexpectedly early because of Preckwinkle’s decisive win. Preckwinkle will face Republican Roger Keats November 2. She stands to be the first woman elected to the position. Preckwinkle said she saw her victory coming, however, after polls
indicated she was pulling away as early as January 22. “We’ve known the polling numbers were good for a while,” she said. Sixty-three year-old Kevin Corrigan, a developer, described Preckwinkle as “independent” and a “splendid lady.” He has known her for about six years through construction work he has done on the South Side. H found her to be fair, which he said is unusual in Chicago. “She doesn’t ask for any favors,” he said, adding that she had earned
PRECKWINKLE continued on page 2
ADMINISTRATION
Drinking policy unchanged, despite spike in alcohol-related ER visits By Carolanne Fried News Staff There are currently no plans to change University alcohol citation policy despite a spike in alcoholrelated ER visits last quarter, administrators said this week. The policy, relatively lenient compared to that of peer institutions, has resulted in a handful of disciplinary cases, but no arrests. “The incidence of over drinking on our campus is still quite small compared to other schools,” Dean of Students Susan Art said. “It’s not a prevalent part of our culture in the College.” According to crime statistics provided by the University of Chicago Web site, there were 14 disciplinary referrals for campus violations of liquor law during the years 2006–2008, and no arrests. According to similar information published online by the University of Pennsylvania, the UPenn campus had 73 disciplinary referrals and 54 arrests for on-campus violations of liquor law in the same time period. Despite last quarter’s spike in emergency room visits due to exces-
sive alcohol consumption, Art said that fewer than 20 students were sent to the ER as a result of alcohol intoxication last fall quarter. “Certainly there is protocol for students committing violations. But we just don’t have that many incidents,” said Bob Mason, a UCPD spokesman. “Maybe that has to do with the size of the student population or maybe that has to do with the kind of people here at the University of Chicago.” Mason added that the UCPD arrests underage drinkers. “Students are treated like any other member of the community,” Mason said. While the University of Penn-sylvania is one of many schools to employ police citations as a method of disciplinary action, the University of Chicago does not have a formal citation process. “We haven’t had our police doing citations for underage drinking or for behavior related to drinking,” Art said. Northwestern University, which reported 37 arrests and 872 disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations on their Evanston campus from 2006–2008, uses a system of police
citations and administrative action to discipline alcohol-related infractions. “We tend to do municipal citations for possession of open alcohol in public areas, underage possession of alcohol, fraudulent identification; those types of things are sent to a hearing officer and they are adjudicated by the city,” said Daniel McAleer, deputy chief of the Northwestern University police department. Municipal citations at Northwestern are accompanied by academic action. “With every citation written against a student, a copy goes to the judicial affairs office at Northwestern University,” McAleer said. While the University does not have such strict guidelines regulating alcohol-related behavior, the administration will still address dangerous alcohol use among students, Art said. “We are most focused on student health issues. We make sure to get students the help they need.” The lack of formal disciplinary guidelines related to alcohol abuse is partly attributable to the average U of
DRINKING continued on page 2
CTA cuts #55 and #6 service, threatening downtown travel By Tiffany Young News Staff Several CTA bus routes connecting Hyde Park and downtown will be cut or reduced in service Sunday as part of major budget reductions across the transit system. Two express bus routes running through Hyde Park will be cut: the X55 Garfield Express that runs along 55th Street to the Red and Green Lines and Midway Airport, and the X4 Cottage Grove Express that runs to Michigan
Avenue. The 55 Garfield and 6 Jackson Park Express routes will operate less frequently, and the 6 will begin running later in the morning and make its final runs at 12:30 a.m. All major CTA rail lines will also operate less frequently. “It’s going to be increasingly hard to get out of Hyde Park,” Student Government president and fourthyear Jarrod Wolf said. “People who don’t live in the eastern part of town near the 6 will suffer.” Students said that while they still
CTA continued on page 2
Poetic Justice
F
ormer South African Justice Albie Sachs lectures Tuesday at the Law School on the right of same-sex couples to marry. Sachs helped draft the South African Constitution after he was tortured and then exiled by the pre-apartheid government. He lost his arm in a car-bombing. SHANE COUGHLAN/MAROON
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