CHICAGO
MAROON The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892
Blizzard 2011 Photo spread, pages 6–7
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2011 • VOLUME 122, ISSUE 26 • CHICAGOMAROON.COM
CAMPUS
STUDY ABROAD
Historic blizzard buries campus
Egypt evacuation encounters troubles with travel, security By Jonathan Lai Senior News Staff
Pedestrians cross the quads as the storm begins Tuesday night. The blizzard brought high winds and 20.2 inches of snow. DARREN LEOW/MAROON
By Adam Janofsky News Editor Even as buildings reopen and classes resume, unplowed side streets have suspended SafeRide service until Monday. The University shuttle system will operate on a temporary, single route over the weekend. University administrators decided to cancel all classes Wednesday, and again
on Thursday, after the campus shuttle service ceased operation at 9 p.m. on Tuesday night. At least four buses were not able to complete their routes, and at least two were involved in accidents. Vice President for Safety and Security Marlon Lynch sent out a campus-wide e-mail at 11 p.m. Tuesday night warning students to seek shelter and call the police if stranded. “High winds, blinding snow and cold make walking dan-
gerous,” Lynch wrote, asking people not to go outside. Around 100 students were stuck in campus buildings after the shuttles had been cancelled, according to University spokesperson Steve Kloehn. University of Chicago Police Department patrol SUVs were used to transport students home, and campus buildings were cleared by around 1 a.m.
BLIZZARD continued on page 3
Students participating in the College’s first-ever study abroad program in Cairo, Egypt were evacuated to Paris the weekend of January 29 as widespread protests broke out in the country’s capital. Sixteen undergraduate students, along with faculty member Sooyong Kim and graduate student and program assistant Tanya Treptow, are currently at the University’s Center in Paris, where they will finish their quarter abroad. To get to Paris, however, required a carefully orchestrated plan between Director of the Study Abroad program Martha Merritt, study abroad staff in Cairo, the Center in Paris, other University administrators, and the State Department’s Egypt Task Force.
Choosing to evacuate Merritt and Dean of the College John Boyer were in Cairo just before protests began and visited students on the night of Sunday, January 23. The next day, Boyer flew back to the United States and Merritt flew to Paris, where she conducted business at the University’s center in Paris through Thursday.
On Tuesday, January 25, the first protests began. Though Merritt and her staff monitored the situation, the relatively orderly nature of the protests led them to believe that they would compliment the students’ experience abroad without raising safety concerns. Classes were held inside the student apartments beginning on Tuesday because of the protests, and continued until Thursday. As the situation in Cairo continued to deteriorate, Merritt, by now back in Chicago, convened a meeting Friday of the Study Abroad Risk and Safety Assessment Committee. That committee, made up of representatives from the Office of Risk Management, Audit, and Safety, the Legal Office, the Office of the Dean of Students, and the Study Abroad Office, began outlining scenarios. Evacuation was considered fifty percent likely at the time, and the team began to make the required preparations. Merritt opened communication with Academic Director of the Center in Paris Philippe Desan as part of these preparations, telling Desan that students in Cairo might need to be evacuated, and that they would ideally
CAIRO continued on page 2
STUDENT LIFE
DISCOURSE
Free New York Times expected in spring
Daley talks education policy
By Hans Glick News Staff Free copies of The New York Times will likely be making a return to campus next quarter after the fall’s newspaper pilot program garnered a positive response from students. Student Government (SG) officers are trying to get the estimated $15,000 needed to offer free copies of The New York Times during spring quarter. The
eventual goal, SG says, is to establish free publications as a permanent student service at the U of C. “It’s SG’s top priority,” said SG president and fourth-year Greg Nance. “We’re confident that we can make it happen.” During a four-week trial period in October and November, free copies of the Chicago Tribune, USA Today, and The New York Times were available on weekdays at six locations around
campus. The newspapers were offered through the Collegiate Readership Program, a national print distribution program which is run by USA Today owner Gannett. The New York Times was the most popular on campus with all 600 copies being taken daily, compared to the 75 percent of the 300 copies of USA Today and Chicago Tribune, according to SG.
NEWSPAPER continued on page 3
ACADEMICS Mayor Daley spoke Tuesday at the U of C's Future of the City Symposium.
Modified AP curriculum meshes with AP 5 Bio sequence By Rebecca Guterman MAROON Staff The Advanced Placement (AP) Biology curriculum is shifting from memorization to more inquiry-based learning in order to better prepare students for modern science, which the University biology division expects will better coincide with the goals of the AP 5 Biology sequence. Currently, students entering the University with a 5 on the AP Biology exam can take an accelerated three-quarter sequence that assumes students have solid understanding of basic concepts and know how to approach more challenging inquiry-
based work. The University’s biology department believes the changes will better prepare students for the AP 5 sequence, according to Master of the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division José Quintáns. “Those changes are going to very helpful and increase the number of students excited by biology by doing away with memorization,” he said. “Science should be exciting and hands-on, not painful.” Professor Rosemary Zaragoza, who is teaching the AP 5 Bio sequence this year, found some incoming students overwhelmed by the pace. “We go through the fundamentals quickly and then focus on one particular area,”
she said. She has also found some students unprepared for the lab work required in the sequence. “I had a handful of students who’d never touched [a pipette, an instrument for dropping liquids] before,” she said. The changes to the AP curriculum will allow high school teachers to focus on broader concepts and let students have more of a role in designing experiments, according to AP Communications Director Jennifer Topiel. “Based on colleges’ recent review of the revised AP Biology curriculum, the [new] course [will prepare] students to develop inquiry-based strategies,
AP BIO continued on page 3
ADAM JANOFSKY/MAROON
By Adam Janofsky News Editor Mayor Richard Daley had kind words for the University of Chicago at the Future of the City Symposium Tuesday, but said without federal funding, Chicago Public Schools will remain unable to give students the education they deserve. Daley spoke on education policy, funding from the federal government, and the need for cultural diversity at the symposium, which was organized by the Harris School of Public Policy Studies and the Office of Civic Engagement. “We must provide a high-quality education for every student in any school,”
said Daley to over 100 business leaders, public service workers, and academics at the Chicago Cultural Center downtown. “It is the most important service we provide in government.” But as the city tries to revive its education system with programs like charter schools, government deficits are halting progress. Chicago Public Schools had to cut charter school funding by six percent per pupil in August. Daley said the only solution to this is help by the federal government, which isn’t constrained by a balanced budget. “Local taxes cannot be moved higher and higher every year because of tax caps,” he said. Last month, Illinois lawmakers
DALEY continued on page 3