Chicago-Maroon-11-01-21

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CHICAGO

MAROON The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 2011 • VOLUME 122, ISSUE 22 • CHICAGOMAROON.COM

HYDE PARK

DISCOURSE

Celebration, protest mark MLK Day TEDx prepares for U of C convention

By Hans Glick News Staff

By Adam Janofsky News Editor

Judith Jamison, Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, gave the keynote speech at the Martin Luther King, Jr. commemoration service in Rockefeller Chapel. MATT BOGEN/MAROON

On the 25th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a group of activists honored his legacy with a nonviolent protest against health care concerns on the South Side. The 25 protesters staged a mock funeral—complete with people lying in makeshift caskets—outside Rockefeller Memorial Chapel Friday during the M LK Commemoration Service, which featured Alvin Ailey Artistic Director Judith Jamison as its keynote speaker. The event was one of a number of demonstrations by the local student activist group Fearless Leading by the Youth (FLY), protesting the absence of a level-one adult trauma center at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC). A statement issued by the UCMC on Friday said that adding a level-one trauma center would require changes in staffing and facilities, and could limit the hospital’s ability to provide other important services, including pediatric, neonatal, and advanced speciality care. “Achieving geographic balance on trauma care must not come at the expense of such lifesaving services,” the press release said. But activists believe a trauma center

MLK continued on page 2

By Willy Hu News Staff & Jonathan Lai Senior News Staff A new RSO is bringing the TED experience to the University of Chicago on April 17 with a convention licensed by the global non-profit organization. The event, modeled after the annual Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) conference, will feature 14 speakers, of which six names have been revealed: former President of Bolivia Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (A.B. ’51), Executive Director of the Kellogg Innovation Network Robert Wolcott, U of C Genetics professor and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Janet Rowley (A.B. ’44, B.S. ’46, M.D. ’48), Cybernetics professor Kevin Warwick, Director of the DaVinci Institute Thomas Frey, and Mark Inglis, who was the first man with no legs to reach Everest’s summit. TEDxUChicago is a licensed satellite of the TED conference which brings academics, philanthropists, politicians, and business magnates together under the slogan “Ideas Worth Spreading.” Several U of C professors have made presentations including professors of economics Steven Levitt and Emily Oster, and professor of organismal biology and anatomy Paul Sereno.

TEDx events are entirely locally organized, receiving the TEDx license in exchange for agreeing to a set of rules. One of those rules is finding a previous speaker or attendee to agree to sponsor the TEDx event. The students running TEDxUChicago reached out to Levitt, Oster, and Sereno. Levitt and Oster said they were unable to do so due to other commitments, but both expressed excitement about the proposed conference. “What makes TED-like events great are that the speakers are outstanding,” said Levitt. “If there’s any place to do this, [the U of C] would be it.” “The grand challenge of our century is to activate the life of the mind in more than just a small population,” said Sereno. “If we can build a model to link the university and the community, then we should take the opportunity to do so.” According to TEDxUChicago cochairman and third-year Güimar Vaca Sittic, planning the event wasn’t easy, especially because of the rules that the organizers had agreed to follow. “We want to bring in a lot of inspiring people from abroad, but we have to follow very strict guidelines in order to be allowed to host this conference,” he said. The organizers of a TEDx event will

TEDX continued on page 2

POLITICS

HYDE PARK

STUDENT LIFE

Fourth ward candidates debate education, safety

Hyde Park laws cork barcade proposal

Forum brings dining questions to the table

By Linda Qiu News Staff

By Gabe Valley MAROON Staff & Ennuri Jo News Contributor

Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO) hosted a moderated forum for the fourth ward’s alderman position January 13 at Sixth Grace Presbyterian Church on East 35th Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue. The six candidates addressed concerns regarding housing, education, jobs, and public safety to an audience of 150. The six candidates who attended the forum were Will Burns (A.B. ’95, A.M. ’98), Brian Scott, George Rumsey, Normal Bolden, Adam Miguest, and Lori Yokoyama. The other candidates under review, James E. Williams and Valencia “Mother Diva” Dantzler, did not attend. The candidates questioned the economic disparities between Hyde Park, Kenwood, and Bronzeville, the neighborhoods that make up the fourth ward. The concept of turning areas in the fourth ward into walking communities was brought up by both Burns and Rumsey. The former suggested narrowing East 47th Street, calling it a dividing line. Rumsey said his “final step is to get a new business strip, a small business strip

When L aura Green, former member of the Chicago-based band I Fight Dragons, wanted to open an arcade-themed café and bar, she thought U of C’s campus would be the perfect place. But shortly after she began her search for real estate in Hyde Park she realized she was fighting a losing battle. Green grew up visiting Hyde Park to see her grandparents, who were neighborhood residents and local business owners. She revisited the area when she took a job at the Court Theatre after graduating from Roosevelt College. She then realized she wanted to continue the family legacy by opening her own business in the area. Her business venture, a “barcade,” would b e a bar-arcade combo by night and a café by day that would fit with the college community. “It would be a cross between nerd and awesome, which seems like exactly the kind of thing that the University of Chicago would want,” Green said. But when she came to scope the

ALDERMAN continued on page 3

BARCADE continued on page 2

By Amy Myers Associate News Editor

Laura Green, a former member of the band I Fight Dragons, hoped to open an arcade-themed bar in Hyde Park, but was confounded by red tape. COURTESY OF PISCESBLUE81'S FLICKR ACCOUNT

University administrators discussed new campus dining initiatives at the Student Forum on Campus Dining and Co-Curricular Life yesterday. The hour-long forum included a panel on new campus dining initiatives, comments on co-curricular life by Assistant Vice President for Student Life and Associate Dean of the College Elly Daugherty, and a Student Government (SG) update from fourth-year and SG president Greg Nance. Aramark’s residential dining contract with the University will expire in June 2011, and the administration has launched efforts to reevaluate the dining system across campus. The Global Dining Initiative (GDI), the committee of administrators and students reevaluating current dining programs, has begun reviewing interested providers and will make a proposal request by the end of January. “The question is, can we do better? Or, can we do different?” said Associate Vice President for Campus Life Karen Warren Coleman.

FORUM continued on page 3


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