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M AROON The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892
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TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2011 • VOLUME 122, ISSUE 42 • CHICAGOMAROON.COM
STUDENT LIFE
PERFORMING ARTS
SRIC delivery goes on Balle Bhangra's got talent without Zimmer’s audience Students behind last week’s widelysupported referendum calling for a Socially Responsible Investment Committee (SRIC) went knocking at President Zimmer’s door Friday to deliver the news. But he didn’t answer. In Zimmer’s absence, the group filed into the lobby outside his office, where organizer and fourth-year Craig Johnson read their statement to his secretary. “We are aware of the long-standing history regarding the controversies surrounding the University’s investment practices,” Johnson read from the statement. “Past campaigns have called for specific divestments and have been political in nature. This delegation is different.” The organizers said their intent was to present Zimmer with the prepared statement on why the administration should heed the non-binding referendum, which passed during last week’s SG elections with 80 percent of the vote. The group asked for a response to newly-elected Undergraduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees and third-year Nakul Singh by May 6. “A significant amount of our money is going to the University,” demonstrator and first-year Alyssa Skar said. “We should be knowing where our money is going, particularly where they’re investing it, and I think it’s good to put it toward socially forward projects.” Fourth-year Rafael Menis, however, had stronger words for the University’s current investments, alleging that a few
of them may even be criminal. “Right now, the University is invested in several companies that are engaged in, to put it simply, socially irresponsible actions, and, to put it less simply, quite possibly illegal actions, as determined by the EPA and the FDA,” Menis said, citing the University’s investment in Arch Coal, whose mountaintop mining practices in West Virginia have come under the scrutiny of the Environmental Protection Agency. Despite the high level of support, the reported voter turnout was just under half the student body, retaining previous years’ levels of election participation. Demonstrators argued that students should have a stronger say in where their tuition fees are going. “We’re hoping to get Zimmer to acknowledge the fact that the University student body voted in recent elections by an overwhelming majority for the creation of a Socially Responsible Investment Committee,” Menis said. “The student body wants this, it’s a legitimate demand, and the administration should consider it.” Although the group was unable to gain an audience with Zimmer, Johnson still counts the demonstration as a victory and is hopeful about the future. “The next step is to continue to gain student support and to inform students about what the functions of this committee would be and exactly why it is necessary,” Johnson said. “I’ve been involved in this campaign for two years. This is beautiful.”
FACILITIES
ALUMNI
Housekeepers concerned by job uncertainties
Gillis’s parents reflect on Libya experience Laptop thefts
By Harunobu Coryne Associate News Editor
B
alle Bhangra garnered the most votes at UChicago's Got Talent, a competition showcasing performing arts organizations. All proceeds for the event went to Pakistan Flood and Japan Earthquake relief.
TERENCE LEE/MAROON
FACULTY
Lipinski to lead Nieman Foundation By Christina Pillsbury News Editor Vice President for Civic Engagement Ann Marie Lipinski will leave the University for a position as Curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University this June. During her three years at the University, Lipinski, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former editor-in-chief of the Chicago Tribune, shaped programs
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Clare Morgana Gillis poses for a photograph while hiking in September 2010. Gillis was captured in Libya on April 5 while reporting about the civil conflict in Libya.
COURTESY OF JANE GILLIS
University leaders thanking her for her service. The announcement of her departure has led to bittersweet reflections from colleagues and students. Lipinski, a 1990 Nieman Fellow, was the managing editor of the Tribune when Associate Vice President for News and Public Affairs Steve Kloehn began working there as a one-year resident reporter in 1996. She placed him
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CRIME
By Jonathan Lai Associate News Editor
By Hans Glick News Staff In the wake of an announcement that the housekeeping staff will be merged with the facilities department, a coalition of concerned students brought three members of the residence hall staff together to learn what’s at stake. An audience of more than 50 people gathered in Harper last night for the event, hosted by several house and RSO representatives under the banner of the Worker-Student Coalition. Although the facilities department outsources its employees through subcontracting firms, it is not yet confirmed to which company housekeeping jobs will be sent. Their union is in talks with the University to maintain workers’ union rights through the transition.
with Chicago Public Schools, Hyde Park arts programs, and campus security, safety, and transportation. “The University is an extraordinary resource to Chicago and, in turn, benefits greatly from being here. I have no doubt that the work we have in place will continue and flourish,” Lipinski said in an April 19 press release. The University has not named her replacement, though President Robert Zimmer sent an April 19 email to
Freelance journalist Clare Gillis (A.B. ’98) made national headlines last week when she called home from captivity in Libya. With renewed hope, friends and family continue to call for her release. “She said that she was being held captive in Libya, and we said we knew that, and she apologized for causing us worry, she said that has been most on her mind. She said that she is fine,” her mother Jane Gillis told the maroon Saturday. Gillis, who received her degree in English Languages and Literature with honors, called her parents last Thursday. That phone call was her first direct contact with outsiders since being captured on April 5 while reporting on the situation in Libya as a freelance journalist. According to her parents, Gillis confirmed that she had been with two other freelance journalists, U.S. citizen James Foley and Spanish citizen Manuel Brabo, before being moved to
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sweep campus By Sam Levine Associate News Editor Students reported four different thefts of unattended items in the Reynolds Club last Friday, the latest in a series of nonviolent crimes that have occurred in nonresidential University buildings this month. Since April 1, eleven unattended laptops have been stolen inside University buildings, four of which were taken from desks in the Regenstein Library. During the same period, two iPhones and one laptop were also reported missing in University dining halls. While the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) will continue routine premise checks inside University buildings, there will be no increased police presence in affected areas, according to UCPD spokesperson Bob Mason. “You can’t just walk away from your property, even if it’s inconve-
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