JANUARY 17, 2017
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
VOL. 128, ISSUE 19
THE MYSTERIOUS WORLD OF SID COLTON Why This SSA Alum Is Posting (and Timestamping) Every Article About the University on His Social Media BY JAMIE EHRLICH DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR
No one from the University of Chicago is more active on Facebook than alumnus Sid Colton (A.B. 89). He posts his photographs of ducklings f loating in Botany Pond. He keeps the campus updated on the University’s DIII athletic teams. He shares almost every news article that even peripherally involves the University— often adding a timestamp and some criticism of the administration.
A University alumnus and campus employee for nearly 47 years, Colton knows campus like the back of his hand. I spoke with Colton in October and again last week about his involvement with the University. Colton is somewhat of a Facebook “celebrity.” A member of over 150 groups on Facebook, he is a frequent poster on Overheard at UChicago and the “Class of ” groups for the graduating classes of 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
U of C Leftists Unite Against Trump A new activist coalition is mobililizing to combat Trump’s “bigotry.”
Continued on page 6
BY VIVIAN HE STAFF REPORTER
Sid Colton pets his dog, Ethel, in the SSA building.
Ruben Abbou
Nikita Dulin
Hundreds of people filled a room in Kent for the first U of C Resists meeting.
On Friday, January 13, a UChicago coalition of concerned students, faculty, and staff in the dawning age of Trump made a call for an Inauguration Day protest here at the University of Chicago. Collectively known as U of C Resists, the new coalition hosted its fi rst meeting at Kent
Baptism by Fire Page 7
107, officially titled “Resisting Trump: Where Do We Go From Here?” “This is a matter of life and death,” third-year Steph Ban said to a fully packed Kent lecture hall. Seconds later, the auditorium-sized room erupted into an applause for Ban. Ban was speaking on behalf of the Organization for Students with Disabilities (OSD), one of
11 University and local organizations that lent their voices to the event of the evening. U of C Resists describes itself as a “coalition of UChicago students, staff, and faculty organizing to resist Trump’s agenda and the bigotry that his election has emboldened.” Days before the 13th, posters for the event had been distributed across campus.
Away Weekend Ends in Wash for Chicago
Contributing to the Maroon
Page 16
T he University is often perceived as a place of privilege in an area that has historically been neglected and marginalized.
“This weekend is the toughest travelling trip in the UAA, and we managed to escape 1–1.”
Trump and the U of C: Title IX
Espresso Yourself Without Stigma
Page 4
Page 13
As the Trump administration poises to take power, the future of Title IX policies nationwide remains unclear.
“I think it’s the perfect ending to the week—an informal setting to bring people together to celebrate difference.”
Continued on page 6
If you want to get involved in THE M AROON in any way, please email apply@chicagomaroon.com or visit chicagomaroon.com/apply.
Excerpts from articles and comments published in T he Chicago Maroon may be duplicated and redistributed in other media and non-commercial publications without the prior consent of The Chicago Maroon so long as the redistributed article is not altered from the original without the consent of the Editorial Team. Commercial republication of material in The Chicago Maroon is prohibited without the consent of the Editorial Team or, in the case of reader comments, the author. All rights reserved. © The Chicago Maroon 2017
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Kuvia in Photos — 2017 Students wake up before 6 a.m. to perform sun salutations and particpate in various RSO workshops for Kuvia, an annual University of Chicago tradition that takes place second week of winter quarter. Participants who make it through the week are rewarded with a free t-shirt... and bragging rights.
Yao Xen Tan
Students participating in Kuvia walk at sunrise.
Yao Xen Tan
A tired student naps in Henry Crown Field House.
Yao Xen Tan
On the last day of Kuvia, participants perform sun salutations at the Point as the sun begins to rise.
Nikita Dulin
Students practice yoga in Crown.
Yao Xen Tan
Yao Xen Tan
A polar bear dabs in a group photo.
More sun salutations at the Point.
Fraternity Presidents Answer Maroon’s Questions About New Sexual Assault Prevention Policy BY MAROON STAFF Last week, The M A Editorial Board met with the presidents of the 10 fraternities on campus to talk about Fraternities Committed to Safety (FCS), a new sexual misconduct agreement they all signed last quarter. The meeting was on the record—a 10,000+ word full transcript is on our website. Here’s what we had room to put in our print paper: This version of the transcript is heavily trimmed for brevity: ROON
On what FCS is, Psi U: The FCS agreement is a group of fraternities coming together to try to create a baseline of standards for safety procedures and risk management procedures, and to kind of create a forum and outlet for transparency so that we can best make our campus safer. AEPi: We’re meeting three times per quarter essentially (once per month)—and at the begin-
ning of every quarter we’ll take a vote—we did this the other day actually—so every fraternity will be up and it’s a majority vote of the signing members to decide whether you will be a part of FCS so to speak. Psi U: In addition to having all of our info online so people can reach out, there is a reporting mechanism on the website to allow for reports of violations of only the document. It’s specifically designed not to deal with issues of sexual misconduct or sexual assault because we’re not qualified to deal with that. And on the website we make an effort to direct such a claim to go to the proper channels, the University. So this is solely for violations of the document and any line items mentioned in it. On when disciplinary action against brothers is made public to the community, Psi U: Some instances might warrant making a full-blown public statement, some cases might not depending on what
someone’s being suspended for— On whether an incident of sexual misconduct necessarily violates FCS, Psi U: The Fraternities Committed to Safety agreement doesn’t try to be a judicial arm to rule on such instances because it really isn’t our place. And I mean that’s why I think the purpose of this document is to promote education, prevention, and transparency. On whether all chapters were invited to resign this quarter, Psi U: We had a meeting on Sunday. Every chapter was voted to be able to re-sign and every chapter chose to do so. On whether it will be publicized if a frat is found to be noncompliant with the FCS guidelines and not invited to re-sign the document, AEPi: Should that happen, what we discussed is yes. Addressing the fact that a fraternity is no longer complying with our standards and making the campus aware of the fact that this fraternity is not meeting this baseline set of standards. We sort of
establish legitimacy for the fraternities that are a part of the document and sort of take away some from anyone who fails to meet the standards in some way. So that’s part of the efficacy of the document. Lambda: So for the fi rst time, all of the presidents and all of the fraternities have come together. From a year ago, that’s a massive change. We didn’t used to communicate all the time. We now meet every month—way more frequently in the spring when we were writing this. When you have every fraternity united, if you have a fraternity that doesn’t sign this document, it’s not just going to look really bad, but it is really bad. I think as soon as one organization gets singled out, it’s going to be very devastating to that one organization—it’s reputation, it’s members, how people perceive them, how they can function because I’m sure Nationals would find out as well. That would be really bad not just reputationally, but also National reper-
cussions. On why there isn’t University oversight, DU: That’s a question for the University. Nothing in the document says that FCS won’t work with the University. In fact, it says that we will work with the University offices. O n whether F C S should expand to issues beyond sexual misconduct, Sig Chi: I think if there was an issue that would benefit from an agreement between all the fraternities, I think we would all agree to sign the document or add on to FCS and address those issues. On whether accused brothers would actually self report the allegations against them to their chapters, Psi U: I think I would certainly hope so. I mean we can do everything we can, but at a certain point the University tells everyone who is under a certain hearing “No, you cannot tell your fraternity,” I’m not sure what else we can do—that’s set in stone. But we certainly do try to foster and culti-
vate a culture that does have people who not only would not commit these actions, but would take accountability for themselves if they were to. On whether a pattern of sexual assault without specif ic FCS breaches could lead to a no-vote on re-signing, AEPi: If a fraternity has seven issues in a quarter, I would assume that they would not be voted back to be able to sign again. I think that would indicate a pattern of maybe not following…. But if they follow the document to the letter and that still happens, I mean there are serious conversations that would need to happen and we would need to talk to them about. I mean, are they really doing the education in earnest, are they really adhering to these principles, are they really doing anything both to the letter and the spirit of the document? And I can almost guarantee that if those instances are coming up time and time again the answer is going to be no.
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Tuesday, January 17 Roti Grand Opening Roti, 1526 Ea st 53rd Street, 5–8 p.m. Hyde Park’s iteration of the casual Mediterranean chain will offer a special deal on its fi rst day of operation: in return for a donation to the Hyde Park Art Center, guests will receive a free entree and beverage.
On & Around Campus 1/17 — 1/19 Christian Slavery: Religion, Race and Freedom in Protestant Missions to the Caribbean Common R oom, Swif t Hall, 4:30–5:30 p.m. Katherine Gerber, an assistant professor of history at the University of Minnesota, will give a public lecture on the participation of slaves in Protestant rituals in the Caribbean in the 17th and 18th centuries. Moving Off-Campus on Financial Aid 107 Kent Hall, 5:30–7 p.m. RSVP online. Questbridge, the Center for College Student Success, and College Aid will convene a panel of students living off-campus while on fi nancial aid to discuss budgeting. Wednesday, January 18 Ca reer Lunch and Learn: Conservation of Ancient Art and Artifacts Oriental Institute Museum, 12 –1 p.m. Register online and bring a valid student ID. Oriental Institute conservator Alison Whyte will explain her work and introduce students to the field of conservation. Pizza and drinks will be served. Co-sponsored by UChicago Careers in Journalism, Arts, and Media. D&D Curious Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, 4:30–7:30 p.m. Attendees will be introduced to Dungeons and Dragons, play the game, and engage in a conversation about “what it means to imagine yourself as something else.” The event is part of the Center’s Alternate Realities and Virtual Worlds series. Inaugural Implications
School of Social Service Administration, 5:30–7:30 p.m. Faculty at the SSA presumably have a special perspective on the implications of Trumpian policies in areas including migration, health care, and child welfare. Four faculty members will address the forum and take questions. Urban Reader Series: Fantasies of Neglect Seminary Co-Op Bookstore, 6–7:30 p.m. Pamela Robertson Wojcik’s newest book explores America’s conflicting ideas about how cities shape the children that live in them—who are meant to be simultaneously exceptionally neglected and self-suffi cient. The event is part of the Urban Reader Series, presented by UChicago Urban and the Seminary Co-Op. America in the Trump Era: Opposition Re search by the RNC Library, Quadrangle Club, 6:15–7:15 p.m. Registration required. Raj Shah, the head of research for the RNC during the most recent election will discuss the uses of opposition research. He has recently been hired as Donald Trump’s deputy director of communications and head of research. Thursday, January 19 R e: ac tion : A c tiv is m Fair Ida Noyes Hall, 2–5 p.m. People can connect with local activist organizations at this event. Part of “A Day of Resistance and Rebuilding ” hosted by the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. From 2–8 p.m., there will also be a bringa-book, take-a-book “Radical Activism Library” at the same location. Talking Trump: Conver s at ion , C ont ex t , Controversy Mandel Hall, 5:30–7 p.m. University of Chicago professors from across the social sciences will gather for conversation the day before Donald Trump takes the presidency. Under the Sun Logan Center, 7–9 p.m. The Russian director Vitaly Mansky was allowed to film in North Korea, provided he toed the party line. As his handlers and subjects tried to stay on message, Mansky kept fi lming. The fi lm will be introduced by Professor R ober t Bird, who has written books on Russian fi lmmakers.
“See Through Stigma” Week Promotes Open Discussion About Mental Health and Disability BY TYRONE LOMAX STAFF REPORTER
Last week was UChicago’s second annual See Through Stigma (STS) Awareness Week, which hosted daily events to promote open discussion about mental health and dis/ability. The week of programming, which began on Monday and ended on Friday, was the result of a collaboration between the RSO Axis UChicago and the student organization Active Minds. Axis UChicago focuses on the perception of dis/ability. Through workshops, community service, and dialogues with guest speakers, they hope to create a more inclusive and conscientious campus regarding dis/ability. Active Minds is a non-profit organization with university chapters nationwide. The organization aims to reduce the stigmas surrounding mental illness through open discussion and promotional activities like STS. Laurel Meng, a thirdyear in the College and the current president of the Active Minds UChicago Chapter, strongly supported the founding of STS. This is the second year that STS has been hosted by Axis UChicago and Active Minds. “There are physical dis/ ability issues, and there are mental health issues. All of those things are tied to stigma, are tied to invisibility, feeling not seen or not heard, and we want to make those voices as a whole heard,” Meng said. The various events were focused on allowing those
with dis/abilities to be heard. On Monday, comparative human development professor Anna Mueller gave a talk on stigma. A trigger warning info session was held on Tuesday, directed by senior lecturer Erika Price. STS organized a Health and Wellness Resource Fair on Wednesday in Reynolds Club to provide information to students. On Thursday night in Stuart Hall there was a screening of Touched with Fire, a feature film about bipolar disorder di-
the Arts Coffeehouse, STS’s closing event. At the coffeehouse in Hutch Commons, there were multiple attractions throughout the event. On stage, various students performed spoken prose or musical pieces, ranging from solo artists to five-person bands. In addition, there was an art deco of student paintings and drawings, available for viewing whilst other students manned tables to represent a variety of organizations—including Lean On Me, a stu-
Giovanna DeCastro Students admire the Polaroid Project, part of UChicago’s See Through Stigma week, at the Arts Coffeehouse in Hutch on Friday night.
rected by Paul Dalio. STS volunteers also conducted a Polaroid Project throughout the entire week. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Reynolds, students were able to have their pictures taken. They would then write their mood on the polaroid, and have the picture hung up on a whiteboard for the remainder of the week. The pictures were taken down Friday at
dent organization that orchestrates an anonymous peer-support network on campus. Kelly Elizabeth-Collins, a first-year in the College, performed a spoken-word piece at the Coffeehouse. Collins’ mother is bipolar, an aspect of her life that inspired her performance. “ People really don’t understand what these
illnesses are like for the people that have them and the people that love those people,” Collins said. “It creates a culture in which it’s very difficult to talk about it and difficult to share those experiences”. Eli Winter, another first-year who performed three guitar pieces, dealt with anxiety and depression th roughout h igh school, but was able to channel it through playing music and having a support system of friends. Winter expressed hope that the event would inspire even those who do not suffer from mental illness to acknowledge those who do. “The hope I would have is that regardless of what personal experience they may have with it they can still be there. In that they won’t be afraid or that they’ll be less afraid to help people, friends of theirs, acquaintances, enemies, whoever….to have a sort of support system is very important,” Winter said. The presidents of both Axis UChicago and Active Minds expressed eagerness for next year’s STS Awareness Week. “We want people to be talking about it, we want people to be passionate about it and we want people to not feel alone. That if they’re struggling, there are people who care about that. We want this to be a very positive thing for people to look to,” Meng said. Editor’s note: The M AROON has chosen to adopt Axis’s terminology for the purposes of this article.
Community Organization Revitalizes WhistleStop Program for Violence Prevention BY JENNIFER FENG CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
The Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Council (HPKCC) is revitalizing a decades-old program that fights crime with $2 whistles and community vigilance. Stephanie Franklin, WhistleStop Chair at the HPKCC, has said that a revitalization of the program has been on the agenda for many years, and with the rising uneasiness about violence in Chicago last year, there has been an especially strong push to bring it back. The WhistleStop program follows a few rules. If people find themselves in danger or witness to a crime, they blow their whistles. If others hear a whistle, they call the police, then move toward the source while raising the alarm with their
own whistles. The goal is for people to gather around the scene of suspicious activity. It allows people to come to the victim’s aid, forces the offender to flee, and helps the police pinpoint the location of the crime. The program was first introduced to the Hyde Park community by the HPKCC in February of 1972. It had been widely praised by community members. Many individuals in online community forums report that, in the program’s heyday, they felt safer knowing they could whistle for help if they felt threatened, and many have stories of witnessing crimes being foiled by the initiative. Since then it has gone through several resurgences and periods of dwindling awareness. The last great effort to revitalize the program was in 1994. Today, Franklin says that al-
though some who have lived here for many years may still carry their whistle, not many newer residents are aware of the program. The program faded as people felt safer, perhaps because it is so effective, says Franklin. She has said that another reason for the decline in awareness is that so many Hyde Park residents are students that only stay in the area for a couple years and never have to use a whistle. Maintaining an effective program requires regular reminders because it is only effective when the residents know how it works. Members of the HPKCC expect to meet with the University of Chicago Police Department in the near future to discuss the collaboration between the two organizations. The University has been supportive of Whis-
tleStop in the past, even promoting it in 1988, 1992, and 1994 through efforts separate from those of the HPKCC. Franklin has said that in this latest revival of the program she is working on making the whistles available across campus, including in the dorms. “I want to make it difficult for people to not have a whistle,” she said. Currently, whistles are available for purchase at 10 locations around Hyde Park: the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, Hyde Park Bank, Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce, the South East Chicago Commission, Noteworthy Notes, Bank Financial, and Toys Etcetera, The Silver Room, Kimbark Beverage Shoppe, and Freehling Pot and Pan. There are plans to expand the number of these locations in the future.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 17, 2017
What Trump’s Presidency Will Mean for Title IX at the University of Chicago BY KATIE AKIN DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR
The Obama administration has championed tougher campus policies against sexual assault, and the University has straightened its policies in this area accordingly. However, as the Trump administration poises to take power, the future of Title IX policies nationwide remains unclear. In April 2011, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a “ Dear Colleague Letter,” which mandated that federally funded universities use a low standard of proof in adjudicating cases of sexual assault. The letter said that schools must use a “more likely than not” standard of proof, which
is a lower burden of proof than the current “clear and convincing evidence” standard. According to a survey of U.S. News & World Report’s top 100 colleges, the University of Chicago had implemented this low “preponderance of evidence” standard by August 2011. The 2016 GOP platform states, “ Whenever reported, [sexual assault] must be promptly investigated by civil authorities and prosecuted in a courtroom, not a faculty lounge. Questions of guilt or innocence must be decided by a judge and jury, with guilt determined beyond a reasonable doubt.” As Betsy DeVos’s confi rmation hearing for Secretary of Education begins and President-elect
T r ump’s i naug u ration day nears, the question looms of whether universities will revert to higher standards of proof if the Obama administration’s “Dear Colleague” letter guidance is scrapped. A University spokesperson did not provide an answer when asked to explain how the University’s policy aligns with the GOP platform. “ If anyone chooses to pursue a criminal complaint, the University will still offer support and resources,” wrote News Office spokeswoman Marielle Sainvilus in a statement to T HE M AROON. “We will continue to work with federal offices to ensure compliance with Title IX and relevant regulations, as part of the University’s broader commitment on these issues.”
What Is Title IX, Exactly? Title IX was enacted as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. The law states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education prog ram or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” A Supreme Court ruling in 1992 established that rape and sexual assault fell under the defi nition of sex-based discrimination. What Has Obama Done? T he Obama administration has prioritized ending campus sexual assault over the last eight years. In 2014, the President launched the “It’s On Us”
campaign, which aimed to increase public awareness about sexual assault on campus, and to implore people to intervene when there appears to be a “bad situation.” In that same year, the W hite House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault was formed with the mission to research sexual assault prevention policy and advise institutions on the most efficient methods. T he OCR has been responsible for guiding T it le I X en for c ement pol icies on campuses. The OCR has the power to investigate “covered entities”—any program t h at r e c eive s fe der a l funds from the Department of Education—that allegedly discriminate against individuals. If a
Zoe Kaiser
The Title IX office is located on Ellis, across the street from Ratner.
federally-funded university fails to comply with Title IX, the OCR must fi rst attempt to come to a voluntary resolution with the school. If that fails, the OCR may persecute the institution in a fed-
TRUMP AND THE UNIVERSITY eral court, or take away the institution’s federal funding. The OCR sends “Dear Colleague” letters which, according to the Department of Education website, “ensure that the general public understands how [decisions in precedent-setting cases] apply to schools, districts, and educational institutions of higher learning.” Although these letters do not carry the full force of the law, they do provide the structure by which the OCR evaluates institutional policies. But, because “ Dear Colleag ue” letters are merely a set of guidelines, they have a history of being easily withdrawn and overwritten with each passing administration. A 2005 “Dear Colleague” letter that allowed women’s sport interests to be gauged by online surveys, for instance, was withdrawn by the Obama administration in 2010, thereby cha ng i ng the standards to which universities were held. In 2011, the OCR released the most inf luential and controversial letter which defi ned the Continued on page 6
Uncommon Hacks Awards Quirky Innovations BY VARUN JOSHI STAFF REPORTER
Unc om mon H ac k s , the University’s annual hackathon, was held last weekend at the Polsky Exchange. A hackathon is a n event in which students interested in software or hardware development form teams and work on projects, or “hacks,” over the course of a few days. Hackathons are usually free of charge for attendees, with food and sleeping areas provided. T h is is the second ye a r t h at Unc om mon Hacks has brought together st udent s f r om the University and other colleges around the nation to work on projects together. The event was funded by multiple sponsors, including JPMor-
gan Chase, Accenture, Un it e d A i rl i ne s , a nd GitHub. Attendees went through a rigorous application process for a chance to pa r ticipate. They were chosen based on their answers to the bizarre writing prompts on the application, with priority given to students in the Midwest. “A hackathon is a very creative community to be in. Since it is a mix of beginners and experts, it’s a really good place to be vulnerable about your skills and be open to new things,” said Illinois Inst it ut e of Te ch nolog y computer science student Vinesh Kannan. A rou nd 22 0 people from the University and other col leges a rou nd the nation attended Uncommon Hacks, about
40 more than last year. This is a small number when compared to similar hackathons at other universities. “ Unc om mon H ac k s has a very specific aesthetic — embraci ng the bizarre, the weird, and the uncommon of internet culture,” Juliette Hainline, a third-year student and Director of Uncommon Hacks, said. “To truly capture this aesthetic, we wanted to keep the hackathon small.” T he hackathon had events that people could attend if they wanted to take a break. Uncommon Hacks is well known for Soylent pong, a version of beer pong which uses the meal replacement drink Soylent. Another popular event was the celery eating contest, where contestants battled against
each other to see who could eat the most celery. These events contributed to the unique culture that sets Uncommon Hackathon apar t. “ Instead of reading off the rules, they rapped them. Instead of beer pong, we used Soylent and played Soylent pong,” said Spencer Fricke, a third-year at the University of Wisc on si n – M ad i s on . “ It ’s still the same nerdy computer people, but it’s the little things that they do to make this uncommon.” Uncommon Hacks is also distinctive because it encourages its participants to make hacks that are fun and creative, even if they are impractical. “There’s a group next to me making a weird Teletubby with a human face, which is just really bizarre,” said Zade Kaa-
karni, a recent graduate from Oakland University. “ You won’t ever be able to see that at any other hackathon, where everyone takes it very seriously and makes it a business pitch instead of building something ridiculous.” A t t he end of t he h a c k at h o n , t he pr o j ects were judged, and the winners were given prizes for creating distinctive, impressive, or unique hacks. The “ Madame Zandra” prize was g iven to the hack that best embodied a psychic who h ad c ome t o the event for two hours and told fortunes. The “Most Chindogu” prize was given to the hack that seems like an ideal solution to a problem, but actually creates more problems than it solves, rendering
it a worthless solution. There were also prizes for the hack that best used Microsoft API technology, hacks that were the most technically impressive and unique, and the top three hacks at the hackathon. Instead of giving out prizes of significant monetary value like most other hackathons, the prizes ref lected the quirky culture of Uncommon Hacks. “ For the top three, we are awarding them with Gameboy Advance SPs with their choice of two games as opposed to g iv ing out an A mazon Alexa or Apple product, common at many hackathons,” Hainline said. “ Unc om mon H ac k s community is really in tune with the way a lot of us kick back and relax,” Kannan said.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 17, 2017
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 17, 2017
Trump Administration May Mean Harsher Standards of Evidence in Title IX Complaints Continued from page 4
“preponderance of evidence” standard for sexual assault proceedings. It mandates that institutions punish defendants who are found to be more likely to have committed the offense than not. “The Supreme Court has applied a preponderance of the evidence standard in civil litigation involving discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” the letter reads. “Like Title IX, Title VII prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.” The letter goes on to argue that schools which use higher standards of evidence for Title IX investigations are “inconsistent with the standard of proof established for violations of the civil rights laws, and are thus not equitable under Title IX.” If DeVos and the Trump administration decide to change expectations for on-campus Title IX investigations, the change will likely come through the OCR. Neither Trump nor DeVos have spoken explicitly about the administration’s plan for the office. University Compliance Last February, the OCR opened two investigations into the University for
the potential mishandling of sexual assault or harassment cases. The same month, the University appointed Sarah Wake as the Title IX Coordinator for the University. In May, a Title IX Deputy Coordinator position was created “for managing the day-to-day functions associated with the University’s Title IX and Violence Against Women Act compliance obligations involving students,” according to the job posting. In 2015, the University launched the U Matter website, which outlines the procedure to follow if a student reports sexual assault, a procedure that utilizes the standards set by the OCR and does not necessarily involve civil authorities. If a formal complaint is filed with the University, the Associate Dean of Students in the University for Disciplinary Affairs, Jeremy Inabinet, will be responsible for the initial investigation into the situation. At the recommendation of the Associate Dean, the case might be dismissed, resolved informally, or sent to the Faculty Chair of the university-wide Student Disciplinary Committee (SDC). If it is sent to the Faculty Chair, then an SDC
hearing will convene. At the hearing, the Committee “decides, by majority vote and in consideration of all of the information before it, whether it is more likely than not that the respondent’s conduct violated University policies and regulations or breached standards of behavior expected of University students.” If the committee finds the respondent likely to be guilty, then they have the power to punish that individual with anything from a formal warning to, rarely, expulsion. Between 2007 and 2015, only two students were expelled due to sexual misconduct, according to the University Disciplinary Report Archive. According to Phoenix Sur v ivors A lliance co-leader Meg Dowd, these non-criminal proceedings often satisfy the needs of the individuals involved. “A lot of people just want smallscale changes, like ‘I don’t want this person living in my dorm,’ or ‘I don’t want this person in my class.’ The police can’t really give you those types of changes,” Dowd said. The GOP platform also objects to the current interpretation of the word “sex” to include sexual orientation and
other categories. According to the platform, this interpretation “impose[s] a social and cultural revolution upon the American people.” The current University policy on Harassment and Discrimination explicitly protects students from discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Sainvilus wrote, “ The University remains committed to ensuring a welcoming environment for everyone. Sexual misconduct and all other forms of discriminatory harassment violate the standards of our community and are unacceptable at the University of Chicago.” In the dearth of any official statements from T rump or DeVos about what the administration realistically plans to do with the OCR, student organizations like the Phoenix Survivors Alliance have turned their energy toward preparing and planning for what may be to come. “We’re definitely considering what the future will look like,” Dowd said. “We want to make sure that the University won’t regress from its current policies, even if the guidances change in the next few months or years.”
Student Groups Gather to Discuss Implications of Trump Presidency Continued from front page
The event was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. on Friday. By 4:20 p.m., the lecture auditorium, which holds 286, was full besides few scattered seats in the front. Anton Ford, an assistant professor in philosophy, moderated the event. He said that the meeting serves as a gathering for those who are alarmed by a future under Trump and believe it to be necessary to fight back. “How are we likely affected and what can we do about it?” Ford asked the audience. Organizations present at the meeting included UChicago Socialists, UChicago Student Action, Graduate Students
United, Students for Justice in Palestine, Pozen Family Center for Human Rights, Organization for Students with Disabilities, Organization for Black Students, Students Working Against Prisons, Faculty Forward Chicago, Muslim Public Affairs Council Chicago, and Teamsters Local 743. The meeting consisted of two segments. The first half featured short speeches from representatives of University and local organizations. The second half was open to floor discussion. Some representatives made speeches citing their own fears and fears of loved ones. Others suggested resistance initiatives forward, like walkouts, protests, or
simple participation in chapter meetings. Alex Shams, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in anthropology and is affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine, took his time to make another point. He reminded the audience that long before Trump rose to the highest office of the land, anti-Semitism existed, far-right ideologies existed, so did the many other sentiments now breeding fear among many in attendance. Alex cited ongoing attacks he and his fellow members had endured from local far-right groups, which he said included blacklists aimed at damaging their future employment prospects. “This is not new,” Alex said. The way forward must take that into perspective.
Toward the end of the evening, a firstyear student in the College stood up to speak during the open floor discussion. Taking a slightly different angle from previous comments, she spoke about the particular need for unity at this moment and the danger of a “us versus them” mentality. After the event, Ford, who noted that he couldn’t speak on behalf of U of C Resists, commented as a participant that he felt the energy and the turnout to be amazing. “There were people who wanted to come here from disparate kinds of activism, to work together going forward, [and] I think that was [precisely] the purpose of the meeting,” Ford said.
Sid Colton’s Fondest U of C Memory Is Writing the Tufts House Constitution Continued from front page
Overheard at UChicago is a platform for students, faculty and staff to post content that may be of interest to the campus community. The “overheard” aspect is interpreted loosely—a typical post might feature quotes actual overheard on campus, but other posts are mentions of the University of Chicago in the news, takes on campus controversies, and the occasional promotion of an event. There are over 10,000 members in the group. Colton’s posts are sometimes unconventional. On December 11, Colton advertised his own private Facebook, writing that he was broadcasting a Facebook Live of the “snow falling.” Colton’s posts typically get between five and 20 likes on Overheard. Last year, Colton created his own group, called “Overseen at UChicago by Sid and All.” Though there are 48 members, all the posts are his own. Colton’s posts on Facebook are distinctive—they usually include a photograph and a timestamp at the bottom of the post, which he includes for accuracy. Sometimes, his posts are shares of his own statuses. “In ‘olden’ days, you could tell when a story was published because you were holding a newspaper in your hand that
had the day and date on top of every page! You don’t have that physical information anymore in an online Facebook story or citation,” Colton said in an e-mail to T HE M A R O ON . However, Facebook posts do contain a timestamp under the poster’s name. “I’ll write to my friend Mark Zuckerberg about him doing this automatically so I don’t have to! :) (He’s not really my friend, yet)” In the October interview, Colton told T HE M AROON that he considered himself in the top 30 most connected alumni after his 47 years at the University. When he first entered the college in September of 1969, he lived in Tufts House in Pierce Tower. “While I was in Tufts House, I was the athletic director. Houses were just becoming co-ed my second year. Third year Tufts House did, and the University asked us to write a constitution, so I wrote the Tufts House constitution. That’s the fondest memory I have,” Colton recalled, smiling. Colton withdrew from the College in 1972 for mental health reasons and after not graduating, Colton did not return to the University until 1975 when he got a job at Regenstein Library. He worked at Regenstein for several years, and in 1987 he started taking courses
again, majoring in Behavioral Sciences. Colton ultimately got his degree but continued working in the library until 1991, when he became the production and building manager at the Social Service Administration (SSA) Building. Colton retired in February of 2016 from his position at SSA. When T HE M A ROON interviewed Colton in October, he joked about having too much time on his hands due to his retirement, opting to spend much of his time speaking to students both in person and on Facebook. Since October, Colton has adopted a dog named Ethel, who he affectionately refers to as “Ethel the Dog.” “ Now I am fully occupied taking care of Ethel! Luckily dogs are lively only 10 hours per day (they sleep 14 hours per day), so I still have at least six hours a day to myself for a continuation of some of my ‘retirement’ activities, while Ethel is resting or sleeping,” he said. Colton often takes his Canon T6i camera with him on walks with Ethel, and plans to post some video content from his walks with her. Since he now lives 30 feet away from the SSA building, he can easily make it to campus with Ethel to shoot photo and video. “It is very encouraging that on my walks—which are always on campus
since I live in a U of C apartment building in south campus—many students who were not smiling, start smiling when they see Ethel! And many students ask if they can pet Ethel, and do so,” he said. “In fact, there is a new trend just starting, where students come up to Ethel and say “Hi Ethel!” even though I have not introduced Ethel to the student—the student knows Ethel from Facebook!” Last spring, students got used to the light-hearted nature of Colton’s posts, with the occasional “doggo” or quad squirrel. As of late, however, his posts have been more serious. Colton has proposed numerous theories on departmental budget cuts, University lay-offs, and recent changes made to UChicago Marketplace. Many of his posts are based upon rumors. “It bothers me enormously when awful decisions by University presidents or trustees or administrators are made which negatively affect the University, and especially the College. So, especially since I have the time now and have no fear of ‘employee retribution,’ I will always speak up if I see something stupid or less-than-good or not-optimal,” Colton said. “ These days I have not had a shortage of things to speak up about!”
THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 17, 2017
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Baptism by Fire Who Is the Student Protester? BY MIMANSA DOGRA The University of Chicago has had a long and robust history of student activism. From protesting against the Vietnam War to the Apartheid divestment protests of the 1990s, students have been exercising their freedom to speak out against administrative policies since the institution was established. Protest is certainly not unique to the University of Chicago: according to The Atlantic, student activism has been on the uptick across American colleges since 2014; more than 160 protests occurred on college campuses during the fall of 2014 alone. Many protests have focused on issues such as racial profiling, police brutality, and a push for students to have more power within their universities’ administrations. Activism at the University of Chicago exists in a unique space, however. The University is often perceived as a place of privilege in an area that has historically been neglected and marginalized. So who are the students who are heavily involved in student action? What are their backgrounds, how did they get involved in protest and activism, and what issues are they passionate about? For student activists like third-year Ryn Seidewitz, organizing protests has become something of a second nature. When she was 16, she got involved in Occupy Wall Street, a social movement against economic and social inequality worldwide. “Activism and political action has been a huge part of my adolescent life. It is what has made me an adult,” Seidewitz said. Both Seidewitz and fourth-year Johnathan Guy began engaging in political activism in high school. Guy’s parents were both public school teachers, and his father ran their local teachers’ union. His family played a large role in sparking his passion for civic engagement, and this enthusiasm inspired him to participate in his fi rst protest as a high school sophomore after a law was passed that eliminated collective bargaining rights for public employees in Wisconsin in 2011. “Hundreds of thousands of people came to the state capitol to protest for several weeks. I was there almost every day. I helped lead people from my school there and organized carpools. That was just a very formative experience, like baptism by fire,” Guy said. Unlike Seidewitz and Guy, fourthyear Jessica Law did not participate in student activism until college. Law’s fi rst rally was a protest at the Regenstein Library in response to police shootings of black men. She now works with UChicago Student Action (UCSA), an RSO founded in 2004 and dedicated to fighting for racial, economic, gender, and environmental justice on campus.
University of Chicago Archives (edited)
“[Before college], I cared about social issues in a very removed way. I did student stuff and some small volunteer things. Looking at it now, I don’t think they were very meaningful activities,” Law said. Elijah Wolter is a third-year who is also involved in UCSA. Like Law, Wolter was introduced to organized activism and protest upon entering the University. “I had done a bit of political work [in the past], like canvassing for the Democratic Party in 2014. In terms of doing political work like direct action, I had not done any before I got involved [with UCSA] during my first year. After seeing the work they were doing, I decided, ‘Okay, I am going to set aside time and commit to doing this.’” All of these activists are heavily involved in leading their respective organizations. Seidewitz is the co-president of the Phoenix Survivors Alliance (PSA), an organization that provides advocacy and peer support to survivors of sexual violence. PSA was founded in 2014, the year Seidewitz entered the College. That same year, an anonymous group published the “Hyde Park List,” a list of students who had allegedly demonstrated “troubling behavior towards romantic and sexual partners.”
In response to the Hyde Park List, a group called the UChicago Electronic Army, an anonymous group of hackers, infiltrated the Moda Facebook page and threatened to assault students from the Class of 2018. The group also made a point to specifi cally single out fourthyear Olivia Ortiz, who fi led a Title IX complaint against the University of Chicago in 2014. In response to these threats, a group of students organized a protest that gave sexual assault survivors a place to speak out about their experiences. It was there that Seidewitz not only attended her first protest on campus, but also witnessed the formation of PSA as a student organization. For the past few years, PSA has targeted the University’s lack of compliance with Title IX requirements. The group’s persistence helped lead to the implementation of Haven, an online program that addresses the issues of sexual violence, stalking, and harassment. Seidewitz said that this training is required by federal law, and all students at the University of Chicago were required to complete it in the summer of 2016. “Two years ago, [the administration] told us that Haven was never going to happen. Now it’s here, and the committee that convenes to address sexual
assault is getting double the amount of training it used to receive. We’ve heard that this has actually made a difference,” Seidewitz said. According to Seidewitz, PSA is currently in the midst of reassessing its goals as an organization. Its main goals are to create a strategy for addressing rape culture and to fi gure out ways to hold students accountable for their actions. “Previously, it was all about Title IX. Now we want to expand our focus. We have two arms: one is cultural, working with our peers and trying to educate, and the other hand is trying to have the administration to comply with federal law. Even though they have changed all these policies on paper, they still remain very anti-survivor in many ways,” Seidewitz said. Like Seidewitz, Law and Wolter are active leaders of a student active initiative: the Fair Budget Campaign. They are currently fighting for the implementation of a $15 minimum wage for all workers on campus. They additionally collaborate with organizations based outside of Hyde Park. “I was part of the Good Jobs Taskforce with the People’s Lobby. We were fi ghting for the passage of legislation Continued on page 8
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University of Chicago Archives Demonstrators gather in Rockefeller Chapel for a military draft moratorium rally.
Continued from page 7 that would have forced large employers of Cook County to pay a living wage of at least $15 an hour to all their employees or pay into a charge that would be put into social services that employees rely on, because they are making poverty wages,” Wolter said. This version of the bill did not end up passing. The Fair Budget Campaign also works to promote disability justice in Chicago. In the past, members have pressured the University to delegate more resources to students who have disabilities, and they held a teach-in on
“The stance that people can be too privileged to organize is a false alarm. I think being... attuned to people’s positions in the world... is really important.” the issue last November. UCSA also endeavors to convince the University to divest from fossil fuels; an effort that is spearheaded by students like Guy. “There hasn’t been a lot of transparency around the University’s precise holdings in fossil fuels. They gave a number a few a years ago, [and it was found that] around three to four percent of the money in the endowment is going towards investment in fossil fuels, which is still a lot.” Fossil fuel investment doesn’t necessarily mean that the University is directly investing in the fossil fuel industry—the University also invests in firms that have stakes in the fossil fuel industry. “The trick is going to investment firms who are offering mutual funds that don’t have any fossil fuels in them… their products have been pre-screened for fossil fuel investment,” Guy said. Guy also expressed concern over the humanitarian ramifi cations of invest-
ment in fossil fuels. “Around 350,000 people die per year [from causes linked] to climate change, and that number will increase to fi ve million by the year 2030. That’s an existential rate of death and destruction that is unparalleled to any other crisis that we have ever faced. Most of UCSA’s strategy has been [to reach] the Board of Trustees, and to put pressure on the stakeholders. There’s been a lot of dialogue with the administration over the past four years, and there was a referendum in which 71 percent of the students voted in favor of divestment.” The divestment activists, like all of the students who were interviewed for this article, claimed that the administration wasn’t as responsive to their concerns as it could be. According to Seidewitz, there were several reasons as to why the administration does not comply with Title IX requirements. “First of all, there isn’t really an enforcement mechanism in Title IX. The only enforcement mechanism is that you can file complaints [against the university] and the U.S. government comes down and investigates those claims. Compliance also requires reprioritizing resources, and the University doesn’t want to do that. They want to spend money on things like new dormitories and new centers; things that make them look good.” An example of non-compliance was evident in the ways survivors were treated after reporting an assault. “When you go to report your assault, it’s supposed to trigger an investigation. The person who reported does not have to be involved in any way. That does not happen. In fact, the University encourages students to not reach that complaint status, so that they can keep their numbers down…. The administration is set up to perpetuate itself, and to maintain its reputation…and to minimize problems,” Seidewitz said. University spokesperson Marielle Sainvilus wrote in an e-mail that numerous changes have been made to administrative policies around Title IX since 2015, including mandatory sexual misconduct prevention and response
training for all members of the University community and the redesigning of sexual misconduct training provided to all first-year students during the orientation program. Sainvilus noted that the University recently created the position of deputy Title IX coordinator, enhanced training to staff in College Housing, and increased training for the Disciplinary Committee (which adjudicates sexual misconduct complaints where a student is the accused). She also commented that the administration appointed a Title IX student advisory board and developed print resources for faculty and staff who are required to report instances of sexual misconduct to the Title IX Coordinator. Law agrees with Seidewitz’s assessment, noting that the University administration often uses the Kalven Report as a way to justify their inaction and reluctance to meet with student activists. The Kalven Report, written in 1967, states that the University should be a space of free and unbiased inquiry, and therefore notes that “it should not permit itself to be diverted from its mission into playing the role of a second rate political force or influence.” “When we said that we wanted the University to have a $15 minimum wage, [Provost Daniel Diermeier] said that it would be political, and that it would go against the University’s stance on being apolitical,” Law said. According to Law, the administration usually responds to protesters negatively or ignores them altogether. “A lot of the things that my organization has done have been brushed off, or not really cared about.” Wolter agreed with this sentiment, stating that one of the ways in which the Fair Budget Campaign put pressure on administration was by protesting at the Waldorf Astoria, where University trustee Ken Griffin lived. “It was pretty much just radio silence. It wasn’t like they outright rejected a meeting, but it was just a matter of us building up enough power and pressure. Once they had to publicly state whether or not they would meet with us, they agreed to meet with us.” Guy claims that the administration
often uses the Kalven Report as a shield in order to justify their position against fossil fuel divestment. “There were times when the administration promised us meetings with the Board of Trustees, and they walked back on their promise. They said that they thought it would be an inappropriate form of engagement…In response, at the end of my second year, there was this huge protest on campus called the ‘Walk Back,’ in which we all dressed in casual business attire and literally walked backwards from the Booth School of Business to Levi Hall. As a result of that, [we ended up] meeting with some stakeholders.” The administration’s statement claimed that these characterizations were inaccurate. “The Kalven Report was raised in the context of the contention that the University should ‘lead by example’ on the minimum wage issue, for the purpose of infl uencing local and national minimum wage policies. The University does not have a position on these policies. Decisions on compensation and financial support are made for the benefit of the University, its faculty, students and staff, without regard to how such decisions affect particular political interests.” In addition to the minimum wage discussion that you mentioned, administration leaders routinely meet with students on a wide range of issues, including numerous recent discussions related to undocumented immigrants and DACA, Title IX, diversity and inclusion, and other concerns as they emerge,” Marielle Sainvilus said in a University statement. Regardless of their backgrounds, all of the student activists interviewed for this article have one goal in common: to create a more democratic and responsive administration. Besides seeing changes in the administration, Wolter wants to see a shift in the model of labor at the University for both professors and students. “We need to break away from the ideology of constant work and constant achievement for both professors and Continued from page 8
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Continued from page 8 students. What you have now is people doing backbreaking work all the time. There is a lot of institutional pressure because your standing as a professor and as a student is based on how much you can produce all the time. This is really untenable and self-destructive.” Law also envisions a university that is more accessible to students and faculty. “I want to have a university that is democratically run, in which other constituencies of the University…have the power to make decisions. For the next few years, I would want to see us moving in that direction. Signs of progress would be seen in smaller scale things, like the $15 minimum wage.” However, all of the activists acknowledged that while they want to see changes in the administration, they have work to do in regards to the structures of their respective student organizations. They noted that though student activism is often perceived as a “white activity” on campus, the privilege of attending an elite school like the University of Chicago means that they need to be more cognizant of their place in their community. While they possess the belief that everyone should have the ability to organize, many note that activism is not for everyone. Seidewitz stated she is well aware of the fact that her upbringing has provided her with opportunities that were not easily available for others. “I went to a private school, and I was educated in very progressive modes of education my entire life. My ability to do this work comes from a place of privilege, but my desire to do this work comes from a place of gendered oppression,” Seidewitz said. She noted that activism on campus has a problem with being “really white.” “People have definitely said that
about PSA: that sexual assault activism is often considered a ‘white woman’s issue.’ [This] is something that we try to combat in PSA. It’s about creating an environment in which every woman’s voice is welcome.” Law, however, cautioned against removing oneself from activism over concerns of privilege. “I am a first-generation student, and I am Asian. I am also of the belief that anyone can and should be able to organize. I think that the stance that people can be too privileged to organize is a false alarm. I think that being conscious and attuned to people’s positions in the world…is really important. For example, it’s true that UChicago Student Action is really white, which definitely does reflect the demographics of the University. It also requires a degree of dedication and awareness [about] how to organize with people of color.” Guy notes that though it is very easy to act like a quarterback from the sidelines, those who critique student activism often don’t concern themselves with ways of improving it. “I think UCSA is [productive], but it frustrates me that people who criticize organizing see what’s going wrong as an excuse to not get involved.” Wolter, who comes from a working-class family in Iowa, said that the issues he fights for are very personal to him. “It’s not because of some abstract or moral reason that I think all workers should get 15 dollars an hour. I know that people need money to get by, and what they’re getting now isn’t enough because I’m living it. I know other people who are living it.” These students view activism as a way to mitigate and fight against inequity and an unfair world. Because of that, Guy feels that people should attempt to
be more involved in student action. “Citizens have a moral responsibility and obligation to change things. When there are things going wrong, I definitely think that everybody has a political responsibility to rectify structural inequalities.” In contrast, Wolter doesn’t concern himself with those that are not involved in student action, and instead focuses on the work that he is involved with. “At the end of the day, I know that there are students that do not share my values…. I’m much less concerned with convincing them or winning them over than getting people politically involved who have felt voiceless and pushed aside. I’m involved in organizing for people who do share my values. I don’t hold ill will for people who are not involved or wag my finger at them, but [organizing] is something that I’ve benefited from.” Seidewitz notes that not all students are comfortable with organizing, which she says is completely fine. “Activism is something that you have to come to. You can’t be forced or guilted into it…it’s a slow build of belief. There are a lot of ways to be political in the world, not just organizing. Organizing is not for everyone.” Even though activism isn’t the right thing for everyone, it can still be accessible to anyone. While Wolter acknowledges that he has privilege from being white and male, he believes that he still has a place in student activism. “When I started, I struggled with… feeling guilty about participating. I was worried that I was shutting people out or talking over others by being involved. I think what gave me more clarity was understanding that even I, as a white man, don’t have the power to implement my vision into the world. [However], working with others and coming together with people can only result in a net
positive. At the end of the day, none of us have much political power to begin with.” Wolter wants to create a space in which activism is open to anyone, and eventually a world in which activism isn’t needed anymore. “I’ve never seen [activism] as trying to help other people. Instead, I see it as working with other people to reach simi-
“My ability to do this work comes from a place of privilege, but my desire to do this work comes from a place of gendered oppression.” lar goals. I think that there are definitely a lot of legitimate concerns regarding activism, and [it’s important to make activism] an accessible space.” The people who are engaged in student action are a diverse and eclectic group of people. Despite their differences, Seidewitz believes that activists are united by their earnest desire to make a space in which all students are enfranchised. “There are ways for everyone to be involved in the ways they want to be involved. They should take the time to explore the different groups on campus. Find your niche; it’s not all or nothing. We are a political group, but politics is so, so personal. People should be free to engage in it however they want. For me, student action is fulfi lling, and this is how I choose to engage with the issues that are important to me.”
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VIEWPOINTS Fraternizing With THE M AROON We Sat Down With Fraternity Presidents to Talk About FCS. These Were Our Takeaways. Last week, the M AROON Editorial Board sat down for an hour with all 10 active fraternity presidents to talk about the first-ever fraternity-wide policy on sexual violence prevention, written in October of 2016. We support the mission of the document—and we’re glad fraternity presidents are meeting regularly to address the issue of sexual assault in their community—but there are areas of the document that need revision and a few more steps that could be taken to improve fraternity response to sexual violence. Fraternities Committed to Safety (FCS), a six-part policy, attempts to outline basic standards for sexual assault prevention, laying out policies for member education, party safety, and fraternity transparency. FCS establishes minimum standards for chapter
sexual misconduct policies for all fraternities and adds an element of inter-fraternity accountability. At the end of each quarter, fraternity presidents will meet to decide which members will be invited to re-sign the document. FCS is not designed to adjudicate accusations of sexual assault, but rather to take steps toward a Greek community that addresses sexual violence seriously. It’s a major signal of inter-fraternity cooperation and communication, a renewed commitment to improving campus safety, and a self-directed recognition of accountability. We found that, while the document is a clear step forward, FCS is simply not equipped to handle members who have been accused of sexual assault, which they themselves recognize. The pres-
idents were very upfront in the meeting about the fact that they cannot and should not decide the fate of parties involved in sexual assault claims. Instead, their goal is to direct those wishing to report sexual violence to University police, emergency contacts, and administrators. The FCS website has a form for reporting violations of the FCS policy, but not complaints of sexual misconduct. Sexual misconduct, without institutional non-compliance with FCS policy, is not actually a violation of the FCS document; even in the event that FCS is aware of sexual assaults or alleged sexual assaults, this knowledge may not lead to any sanctions against a chapter. But a fraternity learning that a brother is under investigation is never guaranteed. The Uni-
versity of Chicago will not inform chapters when a brother comes under investigation or is found responsible for sexual misconduct. Without any mechanism in place for reporting sexual assault on the FCS website, fraternities can only become aware of an alleged assault if a brother under investigation willingly comes forward. One clause states: “If any member of an undersigning fraternity is formally accused of sexual assault, that member is to be suspended from social events, pending the results of any police or University investigations.” This clause has no promise of enforcement—it relies on brothers to come forward and tell their chapters’ leadership about accusations made against them, a prospect that seems tenuous at best. This clause could potentially be mis-
leading, and students should not assume that there are no fraternity brothers under investigation by the University or other authorities for sexual misconduct, as it is at least possible that a brother under investigation could retain membership in his fraternity if he conceals the allegation against him from his chapter. Based on our conversation with the fraternity presidents, the online reporting mechanism is the main link between campus and Greek life; the only way members of FCS could be held accountable is if members of the UChicago community filed a complaint over its website (or e-mailed a specific president). But, the purpose and efficacy of the website’s reporting page is overall unclear. Nothing has yet been reported on the FCS Continued on page 12
A Consideration of MLK and an Introduction to the Section The unfortunate reality we live in today is that in many ways, Martin Luther King, Jr. has become a figure distorted by white supremacists in order to silence modern-day protesters. When Black Lives Matter activists show that they are not ashamed of their blackness and that they are prepared to fight against racial and economic oppression, MLK is thrown in their faces as an argument against their movement, saying that King would have agreed that “all lives matter,” and that his end goal was, as he said in his famous “Dream” speech, to “live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Paradoxically, in celebrating a day in King’s honor, his true beliefs have been misapplied, muted, and
too often forgotten entirely. To think that King wanted to live in a race-free, color-blind society is to misconstrue the Civil Rights Movement. Quotes like these have been taken completely out of context and are used in order to silence, shame, and oppress minorities. The existence of race was not the underlying cause of oppression to King; rather, oppression stems from the way race was and still is exploited in order to socially and economically subjugate black Americans. King by no means thought that his race was a problem or something that had to be eliminated in order to finally achieve equality. Rather, he stressed that to effect change, we must interrogate the underlying power structures of our society, actively protesting a
Maggie Loughran, Editor-in-Chief Forrest Sill, Editor-in-Chief Annie Cantara, Managing Editor The MAROON Editorial Board consists of the Editors-in-Chief and editors of THE MAROON.
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world seemingly designed to persecute those who are not white, straight, and male. For our second annual MLK issue, we have chosen three articles that we hope illustrate King’s true message, not only arguing why protest is still a valuable and
essential way to fight for racial justice, but also bringing attention to the ways African Americans and other minorities face oppression in all aspects of life, even at elite, supposedly liberal institutions such as ours. Our understanding of King’s legacy must extend beyond a tacit
approval of his now seemingly uncontroversial ideas. We hope that these articles inspire you to think, reflect, and join the fight toward racial equality. —Cole Martin and Sarah Zimmerman, Viewpoints editors
A New Form of Political Discourse Axelrod Ignores the Fact That Protesting Is a Form of Free Speech BY ELIZABETH ADETIBA AND STEPHANIE GREENE MAROON CONTRIBUTORS
Last Thursday, the Director of the Institute of Politics (IOP), David Axelrod, penned a letter to the editor in response to the Black Lives Matter protesters who organized a collective interruption of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. Axelrod argued in favor of giving all IOP speakers the opportunity to respond to “probing questions”; while we agree that democracy thrives on debate, his response is mired in a view that privileges traditional modes of political discourse which are largely inaccessible to marginalized communities, thus leaving them silenced. We must fi rst recognize that protesting, by its very nature, is a political act. Direct action has long been used as a tool by black activists due to the fact that it was, and in many ways still is, the only outlet available for them to challenge the political status quo. Chastising protesters for engaging in a political act at the Institute of Politics seems oxymoronic. While Axelrod is correct in stating that everyone has the
Ted Davis
opportunity to “vote with their feet” and boycott events featuring speakers that represent ideologies and actions they view as reprehensible, we would like him to recall the fact that activists in the Civil Rights Movement not only utilized boycotts to get their message across but
also engaged in numerous acts of civil disobedience. Shutting down a publicly elected official who attempted to use her political power to deny justice for a victim of police brutality is akin to staging sit-ins at lunch counters to bring down oppresContinued on page 11
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MLK DAY CELEBRATION Continued from page 10
sive Jim Crow segregation. One is not worthier of respect than the other. But what we find most inspiring about the protest at the IOP is that it exemplifies the ways in which young black people are reimagining democracy. They are living out a world in which they are louder than the politician who was complicit in one of the grossest injustices Chicago has seen in years. They are re-imagining a democracy in which protest is more than nominally valued. Axelrod has yet to realize that, through protest, black people are able to force seemingly rigid and unjust institutions to bend. It is a shame that his response implies that these activists should have opted to stay silent, as this much-needed conversation would not have been able to take place on this campus without their
protests in the fi rst place. Some may read this statement and question our understanding of both the importance and the rarity of an opportunity to be able to question—or in some cases grill—politicians who appear to have violated the public trust. That is not the case. Rather, the more important question should be why, when confronted by a non-violent, impassioned group of young people, a seasoned politician would choose to run out of the building instead of engage with them? Axelrod was right to state that intolerance threatens public discourse, but cowardice threatens public accountability even more. To characterize the protestors as “loud and profane” while commending Alvarez for theoretically being prepared to answer ‘tough’ questions causes us to wonder
if Axelrod has any legitimate interest in understanding their motivation in shutting down the event. Axelrod’s response inadvertently indicates that this institution only recognizes young black people when we adhere to the bourgeois standards of decorum that often leave our questions and concerns unaddressed. As black student leaders with strong ties to our communities, we cannot in good conscience allow Axelrod to capitalize on the actions Black Lives Matter has carried out to place racial injustice at the top of the political agenda for the sake of enriching the IOP’s programming, while belittling them in the same breath. Unlike the two of us, many of these activists and organizers are not protected by the shroud of respectability that comes with being a University of Chicago student—they are more likely to be
affected by State’s Attorney Alvarez’s draconian approach to criminal justice. And still, they organize, they protest, and they seize upon any and every way to hold her accountable. We task the IOP to uphold its mission of “igniting in young people a passion for politics” not by denigrating the protesters’ non-traditional approaches to effecting political change, but by engaging with them instead. Elizabeth Adetiba is a fourth-year in the College majoring in political science. Stephanie Greene is a fourth-year year in the College majoring in English. Editor’s Note: The original version of this article appeared in print on February 23, 2016.
Making a Space for Black Women in Academia At a Predominately White Institution Like UChicago, Black Students Can Too Often Feel Disconnected BY JENN JACKSON MAROON CONTRIBUTOR
“Maybe I shouldn’t be here.” This is the thought that crossed my mind several times last fall. It was my first quarter at the University of Chicago and a combination of self-doubt and fear of failure prompted me to question my right to occupy physical space on a campus so revered, so esteemed, and so predominantly white. Being a 30-year-old mother of three and a black woman makes me a unique doctoral student. Starting my life over in a state as different from my native California as any place could possibly be meant reestablishing my self-identity. It meant trying to find a place for myself among classmates who were
more likely to be the age of first-year college students than of my professional peers. While I first struggled with being a student again, having been on the other side of the podium for two years, I mainly struggled with the blatant disregard for my existence that I faced in classrooms and on campus. From white male students who found it perfectly acceptable to repeatedly cut me off or make comments like, “Oh, absolutely not!” while I was speaking in class to people who simply didn’t “see” me walking (even though I am six foot four inches tall) and consequently ran into me at full speed, I faced a social isolation I hadn’t experienced since my earliest days as an engineering student at the University of Southern California. Only, this time, no one could claim I was there because
Amelia Frank
of affirmative action programs. Perhaps they still wondered. “What are you studying?” was a seemingly innocent question, which I soon realized was laden with presuppositions, potential minefields, and racial innuendo. Replying with “political science” rather than “black politics” initially afforded me more cordiality from whites whom I encountered in passing. But there have been others who probed further. In one conversation, when I mentioned that I would be studying how news media frames violence in black communities, the lively conversation screeched to a halt. The individual with whom I was speaking literally had nothing further to say to me. Perhaps it was rooted in an unfamiliarity with the subject. It could have been discomfort with discussing the topic of race and violence. In either case, it was uncomfortable, awkward, and isolating for me. Speaking with other black woman scholars on campus, I found that many had faced criticism about their chosen fields of study. One, in particular, indicated that her choice not to study African or African American topics was often questioned by whites on campus who assumed she was there specifically for ethnicity- or race-related research. In my case, I received questions like, “Well, isn’t black politics just American politics?” or, “Why does everything have to be separate?” From these experiences, and others like them, I changed my description of my studies, saying, “I am looking into explaining how certain racial messages are transmitted in the news media.” That lessened the eye contact avoidance and led to more engaging conversations. But it felt unnatural. It felt dishonest. More than anything, it felt like I was complicit in reifying a status quo that excludes racial, sexual, and gender minorities from the Ivory Tower. These feelings of complicity, of mutual guilt, made me uncomfortable with the type of academic I felt I was signing myself up to become. Recent and past issues on campus with racial discrimination underscore a need for change. In November, 41 University faculty and staff noted that the “environment for students of color on campus is one of hostility, and maybe increasingly so” in a letter to President Zimmer and Provost Isaacs. Students like me, who are dual minorities—or those who may be triple minorities (e.g. LGBTQ+ students of color)—are living through this hostility each day. In classrooms, restrooms, dining halls, and librar-
ies, we are working through the very tangible impacts of implicit racism and subversive discrimination as we traverse tenuous roads through academia. About halfway through the fall term, I decided to work against those pressures. By that, I mean I resolved to exist unapologetically on campus. I did what Tommie Shelby, Caldwell Titcomb Professor of African and African American Studies and of Philosophy at Harvard University, might call living “thick black.” I stopped worrying about my blackness because I decided it was worth expressing it authentically, rather than suppressing it, even if it resulted in exclusion on campus. I started living more comfortably in academic spaces rather than contorting to fit some narrow image of what a respectable black student looks like. I raised my hand whenever I had a question or an answer rather than shrinking away from an opportunity to engage with my studies and peers. I started introducing my field of interest as “black politics” again, no matter the reaction. Plainly, I started living in academic spaces in the way that I found most comfortable. I did this every single day. It’s true that my mere existence on campus is disruptive, not in the same way as our rallies, dine-ins, and physical demonstrations of how “Black Lives Matter” are. Yet it is still disorderly, rambunctious, and defiant. I have decided not to live as though I am burdened by my blackness. I participate in diverse spaces like the Center for Study of Race, Politics, and Culture and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, but I do not restrict myself to those spaces alone. I have sought valuable relationships with faculty, staff, and students within and outside of my department whose insights have been invaluable in managing my emotional responses to isolation on campus. Their efforts to champion my research and support my academic goals have reinforced my weak places and helped me surmount the doubt overcoming me. Most importantly, rather than force-fitting myself into spaces which are not amenable to black women in academia and are generally unwelcoming, I have embraced the spaces which are committed to my success while preserving my right to exist freely on campus as a whole. No, this doesn’t look like much from the outside looking in. It isn’t necessarily jarring enough to register cognitively, but it is a part Continued on page 12
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“Making space for myself is a revolutionary, feminist act. It is one I now do proudly...” Continued from page 11
of what it means to make space for black women in academia. It challenges preconceived notions and it undermines efforts to exclude us from spaces we have earned the right to occupy. Making space for myself is a revolutionary, feminist act. It is one I
now do proudly and with intention. There will come a time when black students no longer have to make the conscious decision to exist in academia. Until then, I will be here, in solidarity with other marginalized groups, laying bare the spaces we have worked so
Continued from page 10
of being removed from the FCS community—an apparent PR blow. It seems ironic that the punishment for failing to comply with sexual assault prevention guidelines is to relinquish the fraternity from the obligation to actually prevent sexual assault. If anything, the FCS’s form of sanctioning is actually a greater risk to campus safety, as a fraternity that is excluded from the document would not have the same inter-fraternity oversight and, though it would still have its individual policy, it would not be held to the baseline set of standards put forth in the document. The document is not perfect, but it represents a good faith effort and has the potential to grow from quarter to quarter and address new problems as they arise. Recognizing that there is only so much they can do, the presidents should consider making a few changes to the existing document when it is up for
Kids of Color Need to Grow Up With Books That Reflect Diversity
diligently to reach.
BY ADIA ROBINSON Jenn Ja ck son i s a third-year doctoral student at the University studying political science. E dit or’s Not e : T h e original version of this article appeared in print on February 20, 2015.
“The document is not perfect, but it represents a good faith effort and has the potential to grow...” website, and none of the fraternity presidents have received e-mail complaints. The portal also requires users to only select from a list of policy violations—none of which involve sexual assault—and does not provide a space for open reporting. It strikes us as inherently paradoxical that a document that sets up standards for sexual assault prevention does not offer a portal to report incidents of sexual assault. This portal, moreover, is not anonymous: it requires an e-mail address. So, not only can sexual assault survivors not report their experiences to the FCS, but also, even if they could, their identities would not remain anonymous. One of the biggest problems with FCS stems from the fact that it is entirely self-regulated, with no external pressure for accountability. For now, the only incentive for a fraternity to follow the policies outlined in FCS is the threat
When Will My Reflection Show?
re-signing next quarter. At the top of the list of changes should be: making the reporting system anonymous and opening up the form to complaints that extend beyond the line items of the policy. Additionally, fraternities should work to further publicize the currently under-utilized reporting mechanism by including a link to the page as part of the safety procedures that they are required to publicly post before each social event. A final priority should be changing the punishment for failing to adhere to the FCS document, either by making the fraternity in question undergo extra sexual assault training, forcing the fraternity to post that it violated FCS policy on all social event invites, or anything else that can still be considered a punishment without relinquishing the fraternity from its obligation to promote campus safety. —The MAROON Editorial Board
MAROON CONTRIBUTOR
When I was a kid, my parents would only buy me black dolls. T here was Christie, the black B a rbie w it h s t r a i g ht hair, and Maddison, the light-skinned MyScene doll with actual curly hair, and my Addy American Girl doll, which was my favorite thing in the world. I had a little dollhouse with a little black family that came with a little dog. At the time, I never understood why my parents were so determined for me to grow up surrounded by toys that had the same skin color as I do. They tried to do the same thing with books, but I loved to read too much and soon ran out of books with black protagonists. A lot of the time, I could only find historical novels about slavery. I didn’t even realize how problematic it was that the only black “American Girl” doll with a background was a slave. In books where the author never ex pl ic it ly mentioned a character’s race, I always pictured them as black. I remember telling a friend that I thought Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all black and she laughed at me. “How cou ld they be black? ” she said. “ They’re from England. A nd, besides, there’s a white kid on the cover.”
In the world of literature there’s this idea that stories about black people aren’t “relatable.” Books about black people don’t sell. But why does someone have to be white to be relatable? It’s not like black people never read. Every year, there are hundreds of children’s and young adult books with white main characters. Over a 20-year period, from 1994 to 2014, the Cooperative Children’s Book Center found that only 10 percent of children’s books published featured a main character of color. Characters of color are also rarely ever depicted on book covers. And books that are written about black characters are often historical novels with slave narratives or “hood chronicles” filled with characters that are stereotypically ghetto. Junot Díaz, who spoke recently at UChicago as a part of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs’ heritage series, once said something extremely powerful: “If you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves.” Like me, he grew up as a kid of color and didn’t see himself reflected in books and on TV. His writing was a way to make a mirror so that kids like him could see themselves in popular culture. Kids of color need to see themselves in a position outside that of slavery. They need to learn that people of color can
also be heroes—that heroes aren’t a role reserved for white people. This is one of the reasons I also decided to start writing. I couldn’t fi nd many stories with well-rounded black characters, so I decided to write my own. We need more books with black, Latino, Indian, Asian, and Native American characters. We need more books that reflect the diverse range of lived experiences. We need books about black girls with strange scars and magical powers and books about Latino boys who love poetry and have girl troubles. We need books about characters of color that aren’t just based on stereotypes. We need people to stop telling authors of color that their stories aren’t relatable because their characters aren’t white. Because those stories, contrary to what white people say, are relatable; those voices are powerful. They matter. They matter to all the kids of color looking for a mirror in what they read. Adia Robinson is a third-year in the College double majoring in English and political science. E dit or’s Not e : T h e original version of this article appeared a s a BlacklightxMaroon collaboration, and appeared in print on December 1, 2015.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 17, 2017
ARTS Espresso Yourself Without Stigma BY GRACE HAUCK ARTS EDITOR
“A couple years ago, she stretched her legs on the couch next to me and told me she had bipolar disorder,” fourth-year Rachel Harrington said. “I’m ashamed to say the first image that came to my mind was a clown.” Friday’s first annual “Arts Coffeehouse” was anything but farcical. To conclude their second See Through Stigma (STS) Awareness Week, Axis UChicago and Active Minds teamed up to host a thought-provoking evening of visual art and performance in Hutchinson Commons, where students sang, strummed, and spoke to de-stigmatize dis/ability and mental health. “ I think it’s the per fect ending to the week—an informal setting to bring people together to celebrate difference,” said STS board member and fourth-year Alita Carbone. The Robert J. Zimmer? band opened the showcase with a long, low trumpet solo that soon morphed into a selection
of jazzy tunes, setting the tone for the evening: a complex cabaret exploring cycles of mourning, healing, and festivity. As guests—more than 100 throughout the evening—meandered around the room and snacked on pizza and pastries, Harrington and first-year Kelly Elizabeth Collins of UChicago’s Memento performance ensemble presented the first spoken-word poems of the night. While Harrington reflected on her role as a supportive friend, Collins spoke about her personal experience of abuse at home—a war that “drafted” her by circumstance. Words gave way to lyrics and rhythm as performers and survivors emerged from the audience to present a short story about pesky spiders, a haunting adaptation of Radiohead’s “Creep,” a “lullaby” poem, a guitar solo, and, finally, an original piano composition. Meanwhile, silent faces flashed on two large screens below presidential portraits as the student documentaries “Campus North North North” and “The
Undergrads Gaby Osirim and Jackson Mariotti performed “Creep” in Hutch.
Grace Hauck
Grace Hauck Students captioned how they really felt on polaroids displayed in Reynolds Club.
Last Taboo” screened on opposite walls. Student drawings and paintings hung on either side, along with the culmination of STS’s weeklong Polaroid Project. On one table, fourth-year artist Juliet Eldred showcased her two-part zine series on the impulse control disorder known as trichotillomania: hair pulling disorder. Eldred collages black-andwhite images, altered text, and medical surveys to juxtapose the experience of an illness with clinical attempts to address it. A drawing of an enraged, Medusa-like figure is paired with a “Massachusetts General Hospital Hairpulling Scale” survey, filled out by Eldred herself. While the performances and visual pieces offered attendees a chance to respond to and process mental illness and dis/ability through artistic channels, other groups offered different resources. Lean On Me UChicago, an anonymous texting peer support network founded last year, ran an
information booth at the event. Elizabeth Gerald, a member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and founder of the Marcie Jonea Gerald Movement, spoke with attendees about her work, dedicated to her daughter. A third table provided an array of informational pamphlets and handouts on eating and anxiety disorders. “It’s a good opportunity for us to perform about something that really matters and creates discussion,” Harrington said. It may not have been a laugh-out-loud affair, but, over the course of the two-hour showcase, Hutchinson Commons buzzed with intimate conversation. After five months of planning, board members Carbone and third-year Tom Carden were pleased with event attendance and audience response. “I founded Axis four years ago, and then, it was empty. I’ve been thinking about how we fi rst started—and how we were nothing,” Carbone said. “We’re definitely doing the Coffeehouse again next year.”
Nando’s on 53rd Poised to Be Peri, Peri Good BY BROOKE WHITE MAROON CONTRIBUTOR
In August 2016, UChicago students said goodbye to Clarke’s, the 24-hour diner iconic for its mediocre drunchie food, after almost six years of business on 53rd Street. Regardless of the food’s quality or the excruciatingly long wait for a plate of pancakes, students of all stripes found themselves crammed in tiny booths in the early hours of Saturday mornings. Following the loss of what seemed to be an irreplaceable Hyde Park staple, Nando’s appeared, and its diverse dining experience replaced 3 a.m. comfort food. Nando’s Peri-Peri restaurants are scattered across Chicagoland, but the Hyde Park branch finally launched this week, surprising residents with an earlier-than-expected opening and special perks for UChicago students. This coming Tuesday, students with a UCID and an appetite will score a quarter of a chicken, a chicken sandwich, wrap, or pita for free. But what is all the hype about? Hyde Park already has its food icons, be it a slice of pizza from the Med or a hot panini from Z&H. However, Nando’s cuisine—a Portuguese–South African fusion of sorts—brings an exciting edge to the Hyde Park eating experience, encouraging students and residents to break free from their cuisine comfort zones. As the restaurant becomes a Hyde Park staple, regular customers will affectionately coin it Nando’s, dropping the name of the spice so intrinsic to its dishes. Peri-peri, or African bird’s-eye chili, is a mainstay
ingredient in Nando’s sauces. The periperi chicken is, after all, what the chain is most famous for; you’ll have the option to order chicken breasts, legs, or thighs. For the adventurous, there are the Peri-Peri chicken livers, which are rumored to melt in your mouth. Half of a chicken and two regular sides (the macho peas are a musttry) will cost you less than $15, giving you a bang for your buck. Even better, all of the peri items are customizable, and your sauce can be prepared at any level from plain-ish to extra hot; if you’re looking for a happy medium, go for the mango and
lime sauce, which pairs heat with full-bodied flavor. For vegetarians who want to the peri experience, portobello mushroom wraps, veggie burgers, and roasted veggie wraps are also staples on the menu. When owner Burton Heiss secured permits to complete a $70,000 revamp of the restaurant’s interior, he likely envisioned a dining experience much different from that of its predecessor. The new restaurant is undoubtedly influenced by a South-African aesthetic. Lighting fixtures, enveloped by white and pink shades, hang from the ceiling and close up the space, allowing
diners to eat in a comfortable, cozy, and intimate setting. Diners can choose wooden booths or opt for open seating. The service is quick, the waiters are friendly, and the food satisfies the craving for comfort food with a spicy twist. Not to mention, Nando’s also secured a liquor license, so a glass of red wine sangria or the Portuguese beer Super Bock will cost you only $6 a glass. When dinner and a drink are just $20, you get a dining-out experience with the unique flavor of a restaurant downtown but without the transportation costs. Nando’s seems well on its way to fill Clarke’s big shoes.
Nando’s Peri-Peri, Hyde Park Nando’s Peri-Peri, a Portuguese–South African fusion restaurant, replaces Clarke’s diner on 53rd Street.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 17, 2017
Chaplin to Chinatown: Doc Curators Present Winter Lineup BY EVANGELINE REID SENIOR ARTS EDITOR
Doc Films’ winter lineup is brimming with classics and new films alike, from Charlie Chaplin to La La Land to Icelandic film. Hear it from the programmers themselves, plus a few hand-picked highlights. Outcasts, Iconoclasts, & Delinquents of the Silver Screen Sundays Like all of the programmers, Tien-Tien Jong, a cinema and media studies Ph.D. student, organized this series last spring. But given today’s political climate, she said her program of films about marginalized characters has “taken on a new level of emotional resonance.” The program spans decades and cultures—Chinese, Japanese, German, French, and American—and looks at stories of very different types of outcasts. “The stories about outsiders in a society reveal a lot about that society…I’m really drawn to stories about…people who fit uneasily into society,” she explained. Some of the protagonists are well intentioned, and some less so, but their stories are all linked. Though the stories in the series can be dark, they all capture strength of character in tough times. She hopes that viewers will find consolation in the art and a reminder that anyone who feels like an outsider is not alone. 1/29 Shanghai Triad (1995) is not well
who were actively creating political artwork during that time. Other films, like Derek Jarman’s Blue (1993)—a long single shot of blue—abstractly capture the suffering of the dying filmmaker. Schultz and Wolfson emphasized that the experimental nature of many of these films purposely mirrors the different narratives that evolved within the queer community. They end the series with the Hollywood film Philadelphia (1993), which Wolfson describes as “a marking point of a new narrative…[in which HIV/AIDS] can become fully redemptive.” 1/23 Blue (1993) is a poetic and poignant reflection on the deterioration of an AIDS victim. 1/30 Silence = Death (1990) documents Keith Haring, Allen Ginsberg, and other New York political artists. 2/06 A Virus Knows No Morals (1986) gives the AIDS epidemic a campy, comedic spin. Icelandic Film of the Past 25 Years Tuesdays This quarter, third-year medical student Ejólfur Gudmundsson shares some of his homeland with Chicago through Doc Films. “Icelandic cinema is a very niche field. You don’t see a lot of these films outside of Iceland. If anyone was going to program it, it would probably have to be an Icelander,” he said. Gudmundsson’s selection offers a chrono-
Early Queer Responses to the AIDS Epidemic Mondays Curating this series was a labor of love for Ph.D. students Daniel Schultz and Alex Wolfson. Their program gathers films made within the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis, before the disease was widely understood. These early films represented the epidemic very differently than later ones, pushing back against normative narratives of death. “There was a queering…of what it means to live towards one’s death,” Wolfson explained. “[We wanted to document] this lost idea of resistance.” Several films were created as part of the political movement. The documentary Silence = Death (1990) interviews artists
shown at Doc since the 1980s. Arbetter’s first attempt to return Chaplin’s films to the big screen had to be abandoned after the Film Studies’ prints were found in unwatchable condition. But this quarter, with help from programming director Anton Yu, she was able to procure the film prints from Janus Films. Arbetter couldn’t be more thrilled to bring Chaplin back to Doc. “Part of what makes [Chaplin] so great is seeing him on the large screen in the dark, not distracted by…the goings-on of everyday life,” she said. 1/25 Gold Rush (1925) is a humorous, pantomime-filled film about a tramp. 2/22 The Great Dictator (1940) satirizes Hitler but ends on a serious note. 3/01 Limelight (1952) includes a scene with Buster Keaton and Chaplin—the comedians’ only collaboration.
Time Travel Cinema Thursdays, late After volunteering with Doc since his first weeks on campus, fourth-year Henry Lewis is finally curating his own program and checking off an item on his UChicago bucket list. His theme, time travel, is rife with hypotheticals—Would you change the past? What will your future bring?—and creates a space for reflection that Lewis finds particularly resonant. “The power of science-fiction…is the ability to take those questions and explore them in a way reality can’t,” he explained. His program explores time travel in many ways: some more or less literal, some more or less playful. He made sure to include Back to the Future (1985) and its sequel, but also lesser-known films like the Spanish-language film Timecrimes (2007). 1/19, 1/26 Back to the Future (1985) and Back to the Future II (1989) are classic time travel films, with the latter having predicted a Cubs World Series win—albeit one year off. (They guessed 2015 instead of 2016.) 2/23 Primer (2004) is a cult-classic written, directed, produced, edited, and scored by a former software designer.
logical overview of Icelandic film over the past decades, bringing with it glimpses of life on the pastoral island. 1/17 101 Reykjavik (2004) is a dramedy that comments on life in the eponymous city. 2/21 Angels of the Universe (2000) explores stigma around mental illnesses. 3/07 Rams (2015) captures lives of isolated but resourceful men in Iceland’s rural valleys.
Paranoid Thrillers from the Land of Nixon and Beyond Thursdays, early Like the program he previously curated for Doc Films, fourth-year Nick Quintana’s program this quarter focuses on Hollywood films from the 1970s. This time, however, he zooms in on the period’s culture of suspicion and fear—something that he says strangely parallels the current political moment despite a four-decade difference in setting. Some of the thrillers are typical Hollywood fun, but most are actually quite serious, politically-inspired films. “These films are not really transgressing aesthetically, but narratively…and that’s where a lot of the fun comes from,” Quintana explained. Current—now historical—events pop up often, blurring the boundary between fact and fiction. But in the hands of famed directors and stars like Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, and Jane Fonda, the nail-biters go down smooth. 2/02 Day of the Jackal (1973) lets viewers identify with the conspirators for a change. 2/23 Besides being considered one of the greatest films of all time, Chinatown (1974) inspired the money-hungry villain in Rango. 3/02 The Parallax View (1974) is a JFK-inspired assassination thriller.
A Charlie Chaplin Retrospective Wednesdays Rivka Arbetter is writing her undergraduate thesis about Chaplin, so you know she’s a devoted fan. But she promises there’s something in the late actor’s oeuvre for everyone. “His comedy is universal…. It’s just this guy who gets into trouble and finds unique ways to get out of it,” she explained. But, as Arbetter pointed out, “not all of Chaplin’s films are humorous—or silent!” Her chronological retrospective stretches from 1915–57 cover Chaplin’s varied career. For instance, films from Chaplin’s later years, after he left the United States during the Red Scare, are markedly more serious. Most of Chaplin’s films have not been
Hawaii International Film Festival The Umbrellas of Cherbourg inspired another Doc Films showing: La La Land.
The Film Sufi Shanghai Triad, starring Gong Li, is set in the criminal underwold of Shanghai in the 1930s.
known despite having won Best Cinematography at Cannes, and tells the tale of unlikely friendship within a corrupt world. 2/12 Fox and His Friends (1975) follows a gay carnival worker in West Germany who wins the lottery. 2/26 The Mayor of Hell (1933) captures the desperation of children during the Great Depression.
YouTube Juliette Binoche as Julie Vignon de Courcy in Blue, an avant-garde film about living with AIDS.
Recent Releases, Restorations, and More Fridays and Saturdays The weekend program is a collaborative programming effort. This quarter includes recent blockbusters like Arrival (1/21), La La Land (3/04), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2/11), and Scorsese’s Silence (3/11). The rest of the series includes a healthy mix of new and old fan favorites. 1/27 Sleeping Beauty (1959) is a Disney classic. 2/03 Groundhog Day (1993) is a film you can watch again and again. 2/04 Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) sees Hayao Miyazaki at his imaginative best. 3/03 The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) was a key inspiration for La La Land. Doc Films is the oldest student-run film society in the nation. Find the full schedule and screening times on docfilms.uchicago.edu. All screenings are in Max Palevsky Cinema in Ida Noyes Hall. Tickets $5.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 17, 2017
From the Quad to the Kremlin: Exploring Russian Censorship BY CAITLIN HUBBARD ARTS STAFF
Marianna Tax Choldin (LAB ’59, A.B. ’62, A.M. ’67, Ph.D. ’79), preeminent scholar and librarian of Russian literature and culture, made the University of Chicago her undergraduate home and launching pad into academia. In the past, she has served as the president of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (formerly known as the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies) and won numerous awards, including the Pushkin Gold Medal, which the Russian government gave to her in 2000. On Wednesday, January 11, Choldin gave a talk at the Seminary Co-Op on her latest book, Garden of Broken Statues: Exploring Censorship in Russia. The memoir begins here in Chicago, with Choldin growing up in Hyde Park and listening to her grandmother’s stories of life as a young Jewish girl in Ukraine. Judith Stein, Choldin’s interlocutor and close friend since O-Week 1958, said Choldin has been an impressive force since her days at the College. (Other friends from the audience jumped in: “Since the College? No, since high school!” And another: “No, since elementary school!”) Insatiably curious, with a drive to match, she even translated a book from English to German in her spare time while she was a student. Indeed, Choldin described herself as a “conference kid,” going to academic talks
and conferences from a young age with her father, an anthropology professor at UChicago. It was at one of these conferences that Choldin’s “love affair with Russian” began. She was 14, sitting on a bench outside the lecture hall, nose buried in an English translation of War and Peace. Two Soviet anthropologists—the fi rst Soviets she met, as it was during the heart of the Cold War—noticed her book. They sternly told her that if she was to read War and Peace, she must read it in Russian. Later, as a first-year at UChicago, she drilled verb patterns in her Russian 101 class in preparation for a trip to Moscow that summer, benefiting from a slight thaw in the Cold War. For Choldin, the experience was like walking “onto another planet—not another world, another planet.” The people looked different, spoke differently, and lived by different rules and customs. Her curiosity was irreversibly piqued as she explored the city, pushing the bounds of her one-year knowledge of Russian. Choldin would eventually return to UChicago for her doctorate in the 1970s. A run-in with a Soviet customs officer, who confi scated books and magazines from passengers entering Russia by train, spurred Choldin’s obsession with censorship. Her responsibilities of organizing and managing the library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign led her to stumble upon literary works that had been marked up and edited by Tsarist censors.
Seminary Co-op Bookstore Choldin returned to Hyde Park to speak on her memoir, Garden of Broken Statues.
According to Choldin, censorship in Imperial Russia was blatant. Books arriving from Western Europe would have lines blacked out with pen, pages cut out with razor blades, and passages taped over with scraps from other books. Soviet censorship, on the other hand, was more subtle. According to Choldin, the Soviets wanted to associate censorship with the Tsars, and therefore censored content behind the scenes, for example, tampering with translations. No English, French, or German book was allowed into the Soviet Union unless it had been translated by the Soviets. Censors would add their own writing to the books, disparaging the West and glorifying the Soviet Union.
Choldin found books in Russian translation that were barely reminiscent of their originals, edited to convey exactly opposite of what the author originally intended. She explained that censorship became part of the very fabric of life in the Soviet Union—people simply knew what they could and could not say. Choldin has spent the post-Soviet era traveling across Russia, teaching the Russian people the history of their own censorship, with hopes of creating a new age of widespread intellectual freedom. She called her life the result of “lucky accidents”—and perhaps this is true. But accidents are only lucky for those who see opportunities in the strange and memorable events of their lives.
It’s Tortoise All the Way Down for Post-Rock Influencers BY NIK VARLEY MAROON CONTRIBUTOR
The musical world owes a lot to Chicago. Countless genre and style innovations have blossomed in this t ow n , i nclud i ng post-ro ck , a d i ff icult-to-def ine genre created and largely defined by Chicago artists. Last Wednesday marked the first night of Tomorrow Never Knows, a music festival that brought together multiple generations of Chicago musicians. Headlining the festival was post-rock trailblazer Tortoise, supported by Monobody and Bayonne, two up-and-coming experimental rock outfits. Together, these groups demonstrated the creativity and ingenuity behind post-rock’s inception, and how much the genre has left to say. Tortoise began as Doug McCombs and John Herndon, two instrumentalists who dabbled in diverse genres like rock, punk, and reggae. The group accumulated more members and musi-
cal styles over time. By the time they released their sophomore album Millions Now Living Will Never Die, an album now widely hailed as a classic, Tortoise was a fi ve-piece ensemble incorporating rock, jazz, krautrock, dub, and minimalism into their unique voice. Tortoise’s headlining show at Tomorrow Never Knows had the feeling of a victory lap. Packed with an impressive number of fans for a Wednesday night, the event had the air of a ballgame played on the home field. Concertgoers cheered, the band had an easy rapport with the crowd, and every utterance from frontman John McEntire prompted applause. Tortoise took the stage with two drum sets, three marimbas, a guitar, a bass, and a Dell netbook. Keeping track of any one member of the band was difficult: the musicians would swap instruments between each song. By the end of the night, each musician had touched every instrument on stage. Alternating between loud and soft, the band
juxtaposed punishing, infectious drum grooves with delicate marimba melodies, sometimes within the space of a song. In the closing minutes of the performance, guitarist Dan Bitney played a blistering solo unlike anything I’ve ever heard on a Tortoise record. At times, the band played like a jazz combo, carefully trading rhythms and melodies across parts; however, when the bone-shaking drum beats returned, the group’s rock roots became immediately clear.
EXHIBIT [A]rts [1/17] T UESDAY 7:30–10 p.m. Come to Café Logan for an evening of jazz and a full coffee bar with the Xavier Breaker Coalition as the Logan Center presents its first Third Tuesday Jazz Series of the year. Café Logan. Free. [1/18] WEDNESDAY 7 p.m.–12 a.m. Salsa your winter quarter worries away with Salsa at The Promontory, a Hyde Park staple for every third Wednesday of the month. Come at 8 p.m. for a dance lesson, or make your way inside at 9 p.m. for open dancing. 5311 S. Lake Park Avenue. Free.
MTV From L to R: John Herndon, Jeff Parker, John McEntire, Doug McCombs, and Dan Bitney.
Looking at the rest of the artists slated to play Tomorrow Never Knows, it’s easy to see Tortoise’s influence: Monobody and Bayonne, the opening acts, both acknowledged how much Tortoise had affected their sound. Seeing these artists communicating with each other through their work was perhaps the most exciting aspect of the night. This communication is one of Chicago’s richest qualities: a common language that pervades the city’s music and carries its history within it.
[1/19] THURSDAY 7–11 p.m. Watch the Logan Center’s screening of Under the Sun, directed by Vitaly Mansky, who turned a supposedly scripted film for the North Korean government into an incisive documentary that reveals the harsh reality of North Korea. Logan Center, 201. Free. 7:30–9:30 p.m. Hear jazz percussionist Terri Lyne Carrington, the first female artist to ever win a Grammy for Best Instrumental Jazz Album, perform an hom-
age to Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach’s 1963 Money Jungle. Performance Hall, Logan Center. $5 for students. 8–10 p.m. Enjoy free food (including “radioactive cupcakes”), performances by Phinix Dance Crew and Maya, as well as DJ sets by Rafael FM and Daniel Chavez, as Party at the Smart: Radioactive lights up third week. The Smart Museum. Free. [1/20] FRIDAY 6–8 p.m. Learn about how anthropology and comparative religion intersect with art to purposely obfuscate truth as Kapwani Kiwanga kicks off her exhibition, The Sum and its Parts, with a lecture and reception. Gallery, Logan Center. Free. [1/22] SUNDAY 3–6 p.m. Experience a sweeping view of the Fluxus movement as Instructions for a Fluxus Opening transports you across campus to explore Fluxus architecture, poetry, and more. Exhibits are spread between the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, the Special Collections Research Center in Regenstein Library, and the Smart Museum. Free.
16
THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 17, 2017
SPORTS IN-QUOTES... “The @dallascowboys’ season was a CATASTROPHIC failure.” —ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith
Maroons Weather Difficult Storm of Games MEN’S BASKETBALL
BY SIDDARTH KAPOOR & RHEA BHOJWANI SPORTS EDITORS
O n S u nd ay, t he UC h icago men’s basketball team slumped to its fifth straight defeat against Emory University, with the Eagles winning 80 –72. The Maroons fell to an 8 – 6 record and 0 – 3 in UA A play. The Eagles, on the other hand, bolstered their record to 10 –4 and 1–2 in the UA A. The game was tight from the beginning to the end, but it never seemed like Emory was ever in any trouble. From the get-go, the Eagles established a 10 – 4 lead and never looked back. Every time Chicago came close, Emory responded with a run of its own. This resulted in the South Siders trai ling 38 –27 in the f i rst half. The visitors were hurt by their inability to retain the ball, with 11 turnovers in the first half. T h is on ly got worse i n the second half: The Eagles stretched their lead to 56 –40 m idway t h r oug h t he h a l f , which was the biggest lead in
the game. The Maroons tried putti ng t ogether a r un t o ward the end of the game with fourth-year guard Tyler Howard scoring a few key points to bring the deficit back to single digits with 24 seconds to go. However, it was too little, too late as the Eagles were able to hold out on their home court. A s a whole, the Maroon men shot 41 percent from the field, 24 percent from threepoint range, and 55.2 percent from free throw line. In comparison, Emory shot 50 percent from the field over the course of the game. UChicago led the rebounding stats with a 39 –35 advantage but failed to dominate the turnover category, losing the battle 16 –11. Second-year guard Noah Karras set the tone for the team as he scored 16 points and also managed to add five rebounds. Fourth-year forward Waller Perez also made significant contributions as he tallied 11 points and seven rebounds. The Maroons will be back in action on January 20 at 8 p.m. against Brandeis in Ratner Athletics Center.
University of Chicago Athletics Department
Fourth-year guard Tyler Howard plays great defense on an opponent.
Away Weekend Ends in Wash for Chicago WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
BY BRITTA NORDSTROM SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR
After f lying 1,852 miles in just four days, the Maroons finished the first UA A weekend of the season 1–1. T he squad improved to 9 –5 on the year and 2 –1 in conference play. T he f irst game of the week took the South Siders to Rochester, N Y to take on the Yellowjackets, while the second f light led to Atlanta, GA and the Eagles of Emory. The team was riding high after a win over previously undefeated No. 5 Wash U on January 7. This feeling seemed to carry the Maroons into the weekend, as they managed to continue their streak of knocking off top competitors in the form of No. 22 Rochester. Not only did the Maroons beat the Yellowjackets, they defeated them by 16 points, which was the biggest loss of the season for Rochester. “ T he energ y was incredible,” fourth-year Stephanie Anderson said. “ We came out ready to play and we really wanted this win. We wanted to show people that beating a top team like Wash wasn’t a f luke, that we can do it multiple games in a row.” A nderson was cer ta i n ly part of that movement, as the
fourth-year contributed in every significant statistical category: 12 points, five rebounds, five assists, and three steals. The Maroons made this game a team effort, as five players scored in double digits. Most notably, f irst-year M iranda Burt had 18 points and was 9 -for-9 from the free-throw stripe. The next game, however, did not end so favorably for the Maroons. “Emory is a really dangerous team,” Anderson said. “ They are very scrappy and can claw their way back into any game.” The Eagles did just that, owning the rebounding statistic especially late in the game when the South Siders just needed a free throw box-out to seal the deal. Pacing the Maroons was fourth-year Britta Nordstrom with 18 points, while f irstyear guard duo of Burt and Mia Farrell each chipped in 10. It wasn’t enough to stop the Eagles, however, as Emory second-year Ashley Oldshue and fourth-year Shellie Kaniut combined for 39 points. Also dooming the Maroons was a paltry 50 percent free-throw percentage. Anderson remains optimistic, however. “ This weekend is the toughest travelling trip in the UA A, and we managed to
University of Chicago Athletics Department
Fourth-year guard Stephanie Anderson attempts to convert a tough layup.
escape 1–1. While the Emory game was definitely one that could have won, we still aren’t out of the UA A Championship race with this loss,” she said. T r uer words were never spoken. W hile the UA A has, in years past, been dominated by the Bears of Wash U, who usually only lose a game or two, this year the conference championship is up for grabs. There is a five-way tie at the
t op, w ith Ca r neg ie Mel lon, R o chest er, Bra ndei s , Ca s e Western, and Chicago vying for No. 1. “It’s obviously disappointing to realize that we could h ave b e en a lone at op t he st a nd i ngs i f we h ad be at en Emory. But an important takeaway for us is that if we play our game and play hard for 40 minutes, we can beat anyone,” Anderson said.
E s p e c i a l ly en c ou r a g i n g for the t ea m is that these past two games saw the lowest turnover rate in several yea rs , someth i ng that has doomed Chicago in the past. The Maroons will look to conti nue improv i ng upon that number th is week, as they get a break from travelling when they take on N Y U and Brandeis at home this weekend.