MAY 6, 2016
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
College Council Avoids Up or Down Vote on China, TBC Divestment BY CHRISTINE SCHMIDT SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
At a well-attended meeting Tuesday, College Council (CC) representatives voted to avoid up-ordown votes on resolutions calling for University divestment from China and for Blue Chips’ divestment from companies associated with Israel in the name of human rights. CC approved motions to postpone indefinitely consideration of the two resolutions, which effectively kills the resolutions for the time being. The resolutions may be brought up again in the future. The room was filled with Asian and Asian-American students, many of whom attended to show
their disapproval of the China divestment resolution and suspicion of its intentions. The resolution was proposed last week by second-years Matt Foldi and Tamar Gordis and first-year Paul Soltys—all nonAsian students—at last week’s meeting. Foldi and Gordis are members of the UChicago Coalition for Peace, a student group that opposes divestment from Israel (the coalition itself is not associated with either of the divestment resolutions considered Tuesday). This issue was raised by a resolution presented by student group U of C Divest calling on the University to change the investments it makes with its endowment.
Who Turned Out To Vote
DIV. SCHOOL
DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR
On Tuesday night, the Student Government (SG) Election and Rules (E&R) Committee ruled that SG president-elect Eric Holmberg’s recording of an April 12 College Council (CC) meeting did not violate SG election code. At the April 12 meeting, current CC Chair Holmberg announced that recording was banned due to the sensitive nature of par t of the meeting agenda, which included a discussion and vote on a resolution calling on the University to divest from companies that pro-divestment g roups see as compl icit i n huma n rights abuses against Palestinians. It later became clear that Holmberg recorded part of the meeting after the secretary, who was responsible for the meeting minutes, left the meeting. He explained to the audience that he would destroy the recording after the meeting. The complaint, filed to E&R by CC member Mike Viola, alleged that Holmberg’s recording violated Illinois eavesdropping law and gave his slate an
THIRD YEARS BOOTH SECOND YEARS
FIRST YEARS
Section With UP Plurality
~25 Graduate Votes
OC Plurality
BY ISAAC STEIN
Moose Plurality Adam Thorp
United Progress Wins Student Government Executive Slate Election BY EMILY FEIGENBAUM SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
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Current and prospective Student Government (SG) members gathered in Reynolds Club at 6 p.m. yesterday awaiting the announcement of election results for the upcoming school year. Polls opened on Monday at 10 a.m. and closed yesterday at election advantage. “ This violation of custom 4:30 p.m. The Election and Rules leaves open the question of (E&R) Committee began to tabuwhat happened to the record- late the votes from each division ing in between the time the of the University at 5 p.m. in recording was taken and de- Reynolds 016. Turnout was 3,969 livered to the secretary,” Vi- voters, up from 3,127 last year. E&R Chair Max Freedman ola explained at the hearing. “ This allows them to tailor the announced the winners, beginminutes in a way that harms ning with United Progress (UP) opponents or to tailor the de- as the new Executive Slate: secscription of the amendments ond-year Eric Holmberg as President, first-year Salma Elkhaoudi [to the resolution].” Viola specifically cited the as Vice President for Administrafact that second-year Unite & Support candidate Sara Zubi’s initials were not included in the meeting minutes, as he said was “custom,” and she was instead referred to on ly as a “ Palestinian second-year.” E&R ruled, however, that Holmberg’s recording BY PETE GRIEVE or his use of the recording in DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR recreating the minutes did not give him an advantage in camKaren Warren Coleman anpaigning for SG president over nounced today that she will step Zubi’s slate. down from her position as Vice “ T he Committee acknowl- President for Campus Life and edges that such a recording Student Services at the end of could be used to advantage a this academic year. Dean of Stucampaign,” read the minutes dents in the University Michele from Tuesday’s hearing. “ Ul- Rasmussen will assume leadertimately, we find that no such ship of the Campus and Student advantage was conferred.” Life (CSL) office. C ody Jones, the Un it ed “This was a very difficult decision, and I regret the prospect Continued on page 4
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
tion, and graduate student Cody Jones as Vice President for Student Affairs. UP won with 1,403 votes. Our Campus came in second with 1,108, followed by Moose Party with 750, and Unite & Support with 300. 105 voters marked “Prefer Not to Vote.” According to Freedman, voter turnout in the graduate divisions substantially increased in comparison to last year. The Moose Party won the first year vote, Our Campus won among second and third years, and UP won among fourth years. Freedman later confirmed that Our Campus won the overall College vote. UP won all but two graduate divisions; Our Campus won Booth, and Moose won the law school. “I’m really thrilled we won and people thought we were the right
On Monday evening, over 50 student activists representing a variety of RSOs crowded into Reynolds Club to articulate their goals for administrative policy changes, including increased transparency and attention to undergraduate needs. The event was initially pitched as a town hall meeting with administrators, but no administrators showed. In the week before the meeting was scheduled to take place, the students invited Provost Eric D. Isaacs, incoming Provost Daniel Diermeier, Vice President and Secretary of the University Darren Reisberg, and Dean of Students in the College John “Jay” Ellison to attend. None of the administrators attended. At stake was a fundamental disagreement between the students present and the invited administrators on the terms under which they would meet. Fourth-year and current Student Government (SG) President Tyler
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Head Admin for Campus Life to Leave University
“I think it’s impossible for opera to die...”
T he Un iversit y ’s lack of transparency with the endowment leads to misguided students.
At Admin Town Hall Without Administrators, Demands for Tranparency
DIVISIONS
~25 Undergraduate Votes
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HARRIS
LAW SCHOOL
Panel Navigates the Economic Viability of Opera
What’s in the Portfolio?
SSA
FOURTH YEARS
Recording Complaint Stemming from Divestment Debate Dismissed BY SONIA SCHLESINGER
OTHER
VOL. 127, ISSUE 45
of leaving all of the colleagues whom I have come to admire and respect so much,” reads Coleman’s announcement on the CSL website. “At the same time I am excited about the future and the opportunity to pursue new professional challenges.” Rasmussen will keep her current title when she takes over at the CSL office on June 1. Coleman, who cited the changing national “field of student life” in her announcement as the Continued on page 4
Squad Sweeps on Senior Day
Contributing to THE MA ROON
Page 12
If you want to get involved in THE M AROON in any way, please email apply@chicagomaroon.com or visit chicagomaroon.com/apply.
Despite dropping a game against Illinois-Wesleyan, the Maroons managed two wins.
WHPK: Spinning With the Pride of the South Side Page 9 “My estimate is that we have somewhere around 30,000 records—and that’s just vinyl.”
Photo courtesy of the Office of the President
Departing Vice President Karen Warren Coleman
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 2016
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 6, 2016
TWO DONATIONS TO SUPPORT COMPUTER SCIENCE BY VARUN JOSHI MAROON CONTRIBUTOR
Two major gifts to the Department of Computer Science will fund professorships and push data science research. The department recently received a $10.5 million gift from chairman of the Board of Trustees, Joseph Neubauer, and his wife, Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer, to create three new professorships. It also received another $10 million gift from Board member John Liew and his wife Serena Liew to expand initiatives in data science and to support research and education. The Neubauers’ gift will support three Neubauer Professorships in Computer Science, which will be given to accomplished scholars in computer science. The Liews’ gift will support a variety of activities. Half of the gift will go to the Liew Family Chair of Computer Science, a position currently held by data scientist Michael Franklin, who came from the University of California, Berkeley earlier this year. The gift will establish a fund that the chair can use to recruit faculty and establish instructorships, contribute to research, and develop curricula. The remaining $5 million will be split across two initiatives. The fi rst initiative will receive $3 million to support graduate students, who will be called Liew Family Graduate Fellows. The second initiative will receive $2 million to establish 25 to 30 Liew Family College Researcher positions for undergraduates who wish to conduct research in the Department of Computer Science with faculty members. The gifts support the long-term goal of integrating the Department of Computer Science with other computational initiatives around the University. The Department of Computer Science has been adding other perspectives to its theoretical focus. In January, the University hired Franklin to lead the Department of Computer Science. When Franklin was hired, Shan Lu, an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science, told T HE M AROON, “We are already very good in theoretical computer science, but I think the University realizes we need other parts…we’re hoping that, because we have been progressing toward the right direction…we can have another hire that will lead us to an even higher level.”
Shifts in Liaison Access to Board of Trustees BY HILLY STEINMETZ MAROON CONTRIBUTOR
The Undergraduate and Graduate Liaisons to the Board of Trustees no longer will sit in on Board meetings, but will be responsible for facilitating new interactions between students and trustees after a series of changes to the position. According to a statement sent to The MAROON from the News Office, next year the liaisons will be expected to set the agendas for what will be known as the Student Perspectives Series, a quarterly series created by the Board in which students will have an opportunity to meet several trustees. This is in accordance with a March 2016 memo from the University’s Campus and Student Life department and the Office of the Secretary, Darren Reisberg. “To ensure that the two student liaisons can continue to engage with trustees under this new structure, the Board will be launching a Student Perspectives Series. In this new format, the two liaisons and other students will meet in connection with each Board meeting with a small group of trustees. The series, created with feedback from current and past student liaisons, is an opportunity for liaisons to engage in wide-ranging dialogue with trustees on issues of importance to students and within the jurisdiction of the Board,” the statement read. The liaisons are also expected to meet with trustees in private meetings in order to plan for the Student Perspectives Series quarterly meetings, according to current Undergraduate Liaison and second-year Shae Omonijo. Quarterly luncheons hosted by the liaisons that allow for 20 to 30 students to meet and discuss issues with one trustee will continue into next year. “The changes have been discussed with the current student liaisons and student government leaders, who expressed initial support. Conversations with student leadership will continue to help further define and
enhance the arrangement,” the News Office statement read. According to the current Student Government bylaws, in addition to hosting quarterly events through which students and Board members can interact, the undergraduate and graduate liaisons are supposed to maintain contact with the Board, keep students aware of the Board’s actions, and convey student concerns to the Board. The positions are presently held by Omonijo and Katie Perri, a second-year M.B.A. student at Booth. Currently, the liaisons generally attend the Board’s Campus and Student Life Committee’s meetings once per quarter although no subcommittee is explicitly defined in Student Government bylaws. That committee of the board is being dissolved. As a part of the meeting, the liaisons had been given time to make a brief presentation and could answer questions from the trustees. The liaisons have no voting power on the Committee or the Board. SG passed a resolution on April 11 that expressed interest in maintaining a similar relationship with a subcommittee similar to the former Campus and Student Life committee next year. Perri cited attendance at Board meetings as an important component of the liaison position. “Board Meetings give liaisons a unique insight into trustee perspectives around campus life issues both at UChicago and other universities; as well as administrator response to sometimes difficult questions from the trustees,” Perri said. “While Campus and Student Life committee meetings are only a small insight into the overall Board of Trustees, it is the only opportunity for students to see trustee-administrator discussions regarding specific campus issues.” According to Omonijo, this change is not of particular concern. “The reason I’m not really worried is because the liaison doesn’t exactly have voting power on the Board, and I think when you look at the role that students played in these committees—it can be limited at times be-
cause the trustees have a preset agenda in which they need to discuss certain issues,” Omonijo said. “So, it’s better to have a student-focused meeting with six to eight trustees who are very passionate about hearing the student perspective.” Third-year and current Vice President for Student Affairs Kenzo Esquivel won the position of the Undergraduate Student Liaison to the Board of Trustees this past week. Megan Beck, a first-year at the Booth School of Business, was elected as the Graduate Student Liaison. Beck is excited about the new opportunities the Student Perspectives Series affords students and trustees to cooperate together in order to enhance student life. “Overall, I am very excited about the Student Perspectives Series as it is an unprecedented opportunity to work directly with the trustees on issues that matter most to UChicago students,” Beck wrote in an e-mail. “I envision the Student Perspectives Series as a mechanism to bring together a diverse group of students and trustees with a shared passion for improving the student experience and promoting a positive learning environment at the University.” Esquivel, on the other hand, expressed concern over the loss of the ability to attend Board meetings. “While I think that the change in some ways is a step in the right direction in terms of giving students a direct avenue for interacting and speaking with the Board, I also don’t think that it is good to move students out of all other conversations that the Board has,” Esquivel wrote in an e-mail. “Isolating the liaison to simply attend the Student Perspectives Series pulls the liaison out of more substantive conversations that the Board has.” However, Esquivel remains excited about the opportunities presented by the Student Perspectives Series: “That said, I think the opportunity for interaction for the general student body with the Board will increase fairly substantially with the new structure, which is something I’m very excited about.”
FIRE HOSTS SECOND AMENDMENT DEBATE BY ISAAC TRONCOSO SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
On T uesday in Ida Noyes Hall, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) held a debate in partnership with the Institute of Politics as part of its series of political debates to address the motion that the Second Amendment should be amended. F I RE is a nonprof it educational foundation devoted to encouraging free
speech on college campuses and providing legal defense for cases in which individual rights have been violated. The debate was held between Zachary Elkins, an associate professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin arguing for the motion, and Clark Neily, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice arguing against it. Both candidates were open to clari f y ing the lang uage of the Second Amendment since the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller (2008),
which ruled that the Second Amendment protects individuals’ rights to possess handguns for self-defense purposes. “We hadn’t done much with the Second Amendment for 200 years, and in 2008 we took it up seriously, arguing contentiously about what the founders meant by ‘bear’ and ‘arms,’ and ‘the people.’ I think that the Supreme Court’s disagreement and dysfunction on this matter really lies in stark conContinued on page 4
New York Times Columnist Asks “Who Created Trump” BY OLIVIA ROSENZWEIG
“[Trump] is singular in a lot of ways,” Bruni responded. He went on to explain how, for many Americans, Congress seems ineffecFrank Bruni, an op-ed columnist for The tive and corrupt while Trump is an outside New York Times who has written extensively force that opposes this system. about Donald Trump and the 2016 election, “People want to hold a match to the spoke about the portrayal of Trump in the [American governmental] system…. They media at International House on Wednesday want something destructive,” Bruni said. night. He said that he believes Trump’s campaign The conversation, sponsored by the Inhas benefited from the recent atmosphere of stitute of Politics (IOP), was entitled “Who disappointment in government. Created Trump?” and moderated by Jason Bruni explained that he believes people DeSanto, a senior lecturer at Northwestern are drawn to Trump because they think he University Pritzker School of Law. The event talks frankly. “People have conflated vulgarincluded a discussion between DeSanto and ity with direct talk. People are so hungry for Bruni and a short Q&A session with audidirect talk that they are mistaking Trump’s ence members. vulgarity for exactly that,” Bruni said. DeSanto opened the discussion by asking how Trump’s nomination came about. Continued on page 5 NEWS STAFF
Eva I
New York Times Op-ed columnist Frank Bruni (left) and Senior Lecturer at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law Jason DeSanto (right) on Wednesday, May 4.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 6, 2016
Stanford Lecturer Explores South African Issues of Wealth Redistribution BY MAX MILLER MAROON CONTRIBUTOR
On May 3, more than 40 people gathered in a room in the Franke Institute for the Humanities, circling around the acclaimed author and Stanford anthropology professor James Ferguson. Ferguson’s new book, Give a Man a Fish: Reflections on the New Politics of Distribution, was the topic of the brief opening lecture and influenced the subsequent group conversation. The book explores various social welfare methods used by the South African government in trying to slowly recover from the inequities of the apartheid era. Ferguson spoke at length about the focus of his book: direct cash transfers as a form of social welfare in South Africa. The country sometimes uses direct cash transfers, sometimes simply bank deposits, as a relatively easy way to redistribute wealth on a coun-
try-wide scale. This method of cash transfer relies on pretexts instead of simply “giving out money”; this is because some South African communities call a man who can’t support his family on his own “shameful” or “disgraceful.” The transfer might be called a “wage” for “guarding the natural wonder of the forests.” Redistributing wealth, and the methods by which South Africa accomplishes it, formed the basis of Ferguson’s analyses in his lecture. He started the lecture by reviewing South Africa’s position as a leader for the implementation of social welfare programs in the region, later moving on to the possible implications of expanding such welfare programs. Ferguson took care to address the complexities of redistributing wealth by examining what makes up a rightful claim in South Africa. For most of the country, he said, claims of inheritance are gravitating
toward a certain race. Ferguson noted that he, like many of the country’s onlookers, fears a racially defined South Africa, for its inverted similarities to the apartheid-era racial dynamics. At one point, Ferguson recalled an anecdote regarding a waitress who served a few student protesters in South Africa; instead of the waitress receiving a tip, she found a note on the table that said “you will get your tip when we get our land back.” Ferguson used this example to illuminate his idea of South African citizens’ anxiety regarding labor: “Whenever wage labor is scarce, it is regarded as a property that needs to be protected from foreigners,” Ferguson said. He said that the feeling of needing to “guard” wage labor usually leads to protests, violence, and shame in South African communities. Ferguson remarked that the circumstances surrounding the South African communities are much more complex than
they might appear. He warned his audience against seeing the welfare program and receiving communities merely as a market system. “We get a distorted understanding of the world by forcing it into a Productivist mindset,” Ferguson said. “I’m much more interested in what the cash transfers [under pretexts] mean [to South Africans]. Not just, ‘How did they spend the money?’” Ferguson noted that, in some of the region’s communities, there exists a dangerous “idealization of the apartheid labor system for jobs,” a sort of romanticizing of the “time where men could be men.” He explained that social welfare programs are aiming to stop these kinds of angry community sentiments. “[The South Africans’] ancestors collectively worked to make a vast wealth, and the denizens of South Africa claim that they have a right to inheritance from their history,” Ferguson said.
On and Around Campus Friday, May 6
Monday, May 9
Art Is What Resists, Even If It Is Not the Only Thing That Resists: Lecture by Raymond Bellour 4 p.m., Logan Screening Room 201 Literature and film critic Raymond Bellour will be examining the complex relationships between art, philosophy, and resistance. Bellour, the Director of Research Emeritus at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris, has written numerous books on the impact of cinema.
The University of Chicago U.S.-China Relations Forum 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m., International House Assembly Hall The University of Chicago Chinese Students and Scholars Association will host a series of speeches, panels, and interviews on a variety of topics related to U.S.-China relations, including finance, climate change, and politics. Speakers will include UChicago professors, businesspeople, and Henry Paulson, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Lunch will be provided.
Deirdre McCloskey : “Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World” 6 p.m., Seminary Co-Op Bookstore Economist and historian Deirdre McCloskey will be hosting a discussion about the subject of her latest book: how the true catalyst for the Great Enrichment of the 1800s was a buildup of ideas rather than a buildup of capital or the strength of cultural institutions. She will not only speak about the influence of technological advances, like electric motors, but also about the importance of social and political ideas, such as equal liberty for all people.
Simon Sebag Montefiore: The Romanovs: 1613–1918 6 p.m., Seminary Co-Op Bookstore Simon Sebag Montefiore, a British historian of Russia, will be discussing his new book The Romanovs: 1613–1918. The historical chronicle covers the reigns of some of Russia’s most famous rulers and some of its most obscure, tracing the story of the Romanov dynasty from the 18th-century Age of the Imperial Petticoat to the reign of the last tsar, Nicholas II.
Saturday, May 7
Tuesday, May 10
12 O’Clock Boys 2 p.m., Max Palevsky Cinema (Ida Noyes) The Renaissance Society in partnership with Doc Films will be showing the 2014 documentary 12 O’Clock Boys, a film following a young man’s obsession with a local group of wild dirt-bike riders in the suburbs of Baltimore.
Kestnbaum Reading by Jennifer Egan 6:30 p.m., Logan 901 Jennifer Egan, the Kestnbaum Writer-in-Residence, will be reading from her Pulitzer Prize–winning book, A Visit from the Goon Squad. This novel centers on a punk-rock-singer-turned-record-executive and one of his employees.
South Asian Music Ensemble: Spring Concert 7:30 p.m., Logan 901 The South Asian Music Ensemble is hosting their annual spring event, which will feature a variety of South Asian music and traditional dance. Book Launch: K.B. Jensen’s A Storm of Stories 2 p.m., 57th Street Books Local author K. B. Jensen is holding a launch party for her second novel, A Storm of Stories. This work of fiction centers on a woman and a hitchhiker who must tell stories to pass the time while her group is stuck in a terrible snowstorm. Jensen is also the founder of Indie City Writers, a neighborhood group that tries to strengthen the South Side writing community.
Larissa MacFarquhar: Strangers Drowning 6 p.m., Seminary Co-Op Bookstore Author Larissa MacFarquhar will discuss her latest book, Strangers Drowning, which tackles the delicate balance in life between doing good and being practical. MacFarquhar examines a number of real individuals whose strong morals drastically influence their lives, such as a couple who decided to start a leprosy colony in the wilderness of India even though their children ran the risk of contracting the disease or being eaten by animals. Wednesday, May 11 Humble Mediocrity: The Moral Treatment of Ambition During the Early Nineteenth Century 4 p.m., Social Science Research Building Room 224 Javier Moscoso, the Lurcy Visiting Professor and Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the Institute of History of the
Spanish National Research Council, will be giving the Georges Lurcy Lecture. The Lurcy Visiting Professorship, supported by the Georges Lurcy Charitable and Educational Trust, seeks to bring distinguished European scholars to UChicago in the Humanities and Social Sciences Divisions. Crook County: Book Discussion by Author, Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve 4:30 p.m., The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration Lobby, 969 East 60th Street, RSVP Online Author Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve will be discussing her new book Crook County, an account of the injustices she witnessed during her 10 years working in the Chicago Cook County Courthouse. In particular, her work focuses on the racial injustices and how prejudice influences the justice system as a whole. Leora Auslander, “Jews at Home in Paris and Berlin, 1918–1933/40” 5–6 p.m., Social Science Research Building Room 224 Leora Auslander, professor of history and Arthur and Joann Rasmussen Professor in Western Civilization, will be speaking at a joint meeting of the Jewish Studies and Modern Europe workshops. The event is part of the Council of Advanced Studies Workshop Program, a series of interdisciplinary workshops bringing together students and faculty from the Divinity School, the Humanities Division, and the Social Sciences Division. Scattering the Dark: A Poetry Reading and Conversation with Krystyna Dabrowska 6–7:30 p.m., Classics Building Room 110 Polish poet and Wislawa Szymborska Prize winner Krystyna Dabrowska will read a selection of her poetry, followed by a discussion with fellow poet Karen Kovacik and literary translator Antonia Lloyd Jones. Participants will discuss female poets in Poland and the challenges involved in poetry translation. Food and wine will be provided afterward during the book signing. Every Picture Tells a Story: Illustrated Art from Poland at Chopin Theatre 7 p.m., Chopin Theater, 1543 West Division Street Married illustrators, children’s book authors, and graphic designers, Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski, will speak about the use of art in communication alongside local author Richard Reeder. Family History of Fear: Agata Tuszynska and Ron Balson, in Conversation with Greg Archer 6:30 p.m., 57th Street Books
Polish historian Agata Tuszynska, Chicago litigator Ron Balson, and journalist Greg Archer will discuss Tuszynska’s new memoir, Family History of Fear. In the chronicle of her life and family, Tuszynska wrestles with the discovery that her mother hid her Jewish identity during World War II and continued to keep the secret after Tuszynska’s birth. Thursday, May 12 Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on America’s Security Architecture Doors open at 3 p.m., event begins at 3:30 p.m., Logan Performance Hall Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel will be discussing America’s security architecture, the threat of ISIS, and the challenges that the U.S. faces in Syria. Robert Pape, professor of political science and director of the Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism, will moderate the discussion. Spring Film Series: UnSlut: A Documentary Film 4:30–6:30 p.m., Centers for Gender/Race Studies Community Room 105, 5733 South University Avenue UnSlut: A Documentary Film is inspired by the death of Rehtaeh Parsons, who took her own life after being gang-raped, labeled as a slut, and constantly harassed online. The film seeks to explore the causes of sexual shaming in North America and is part of the CSGS’s Consent, Choice, Agency documentary film series. The film is 40 minutes long and will be followed by a discussion. Spanish Film Club Festival, I AM FROM CHILE 5–7 p.m., Rosenwald Hall Room 015 I AM FROM CHILE, a coming-of-age film by Gonzalo Díaz Ugarte, will be screened in Spanish with English subtitles. It follows Salvador, a Chilean immigrant living in London with his parents’ financial support. A financial crisis forces him to adapt to a harsh new reality. Anthony David: An Improbable Friendship 6 p.m., Seminary Co-Op Bookstore Author and UChicago alum Anthony David will be discussing his book, An Improbable Friendship, with associate professor of Hebrew and comparative literature Na’ama Rokem. An Improbable Friendship is a dual biography that traces the 40-year relationship between Israeli Ruth Dayan and Palestinian journalist Raymonda Tawil in the middle of endless conflict.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 6, 2016
Isaacs, Diermeier Did Not Attend, Will Meet With SG and Phoenix Survivors Alliance Continued from front
Kissinger, who was present at the meeting, said that “[administrators] should be meeting with students whenever students ask.” Fourth-year Spencer McAvoy, an organizer with Fair Budget UChicago (FBU), an RSO that advocates for a $15 minimum wage for on-campus jobs, who coordinated the meeting, said that by refusing to attend, the administrators “make us feel like they’re not connected with the needs of students.” All of the student groups present, except the Phoenix Survivors Alliance (PSA), were affiliated with IIRON, a Chicago-based activism coalition “devoted to social, economic and racial justice through people power,” according to its website. Affiliated RSOs include FBU, UChicago Climate Action Network (UCAN), Students for Disability Justice (SDJ), and the Coalition for Equitable Policing (CEP). The administrative invitees, including Isaacs and Diermeier, are slated to meet with students in two upcoming forums. Isaacs is scheduled to answer questions
in a Q and A session during the upcoming regularly scheduled SG meeting on May 23. According to second-year Simone Brandford-Altsher, an organizer with PSA, Diermeier has promised a meeting with that group after he takes office on July 1. The meeting was originally scheduled for April 27, but was postponed because of a conflict with an event honoring Myles Johnson, a student who recently passed away. E-mails shown to THE MAROON indicate that on April 21, McAvoy invited Isaacs, Diermeier, Reisberg, and Ellison to the April 27 meeting. McAvoy said that he did not invite the administrators to the rescheduled meeting after they initially declined. In an e-mail to THE MAROON, University spokesman Jeremy Manier emphasized that Diermeier had not yet become provost, and that Isaacs will answer questions at the SG General Assembly. The students argued that University administrators have ulterior motives when they choose to meet with students. After relating his experience as a first-gen-
Rasmussen Will Take Leadership of Office of Campus and Student Life Continued from front
reason for her departure, will step away at the end of June. “The field of student life has recently undergone profound change, and there is a need nationally for strong leadership and expertise, especially in all areas of campus climate and inclusion,” Coleman wrote in the announcement. “At this time I have decided to assess the manner in which I can contribute the most to this changing landscape.” In an e-mail to undergraduate and graduate students, Coleman said that through her administrative experience, she has “gained a perspective that will allow [her] to provide thought leadership for [her] field.” She said she is considering how she can best “influence the national dialogue” and “have a positive
impact on higher education.” I n her a n nou ncement , Coleman cited her work in examining the campus climate, launching the Center for Identity + Inclusion, building new residence ha l ls, a nd mod ify ing dining ser v ices. Last week, T H E M A R O ON reported that Coleman made the final decision to switch food service prov iders from A ramark to Bon Appétit. “We reorganized almost every piece of our CSL structure and built one of the finest student life teams anywhere in the country,” she said. According to the CSL organizational chart, Coleman currently holds the highest executive position in the CSL, followed by Rasmussen, who ca me t o the Un iversity i n 2013.
eration college student who had extreme difficulty navigating the University’s financial aid system, Kissinger said that Isaacs’ scheduled appearance at SG is a misleading attempt to appear engaged with students, and that the University has not shown enough commitment to shared governance between students and administrators. “We go to this school to get an education. We should have a say over that education, and the way that educational institution asks. It makes me really angry that administrators don’t think that way. Administrators actively do not want to interact with students, and they remind us, too. And they ignore my e-mails, too. I have tried to meet with the provost’s office more times than I can count… when we wanted to talk about the way we oversee student life fees, they couldn’t get back to us. But as soon as [IIRON] asks to meet with the provost, I get an e-mail within 24 hours, asking when our next assembly is, so they can come and talk to you there. And that makes me really angry, because I
don’t want to be used as a prop,” Kissinger said. Brandford-Altsher added that her interactions with administrators on issues related to Title IX and on-campus sexual assault prevention programming have led her to believe that the administration is not fully committed to evaluating PSA’s recommendations, which include hiring more Title IX staff, and that officials then cite a lack of staff resources as a reason for not meeting with PSA. For second-year Christina Uzzo, an organizer with UCAN’s campaign for the University to divest from fossil fuels, the University’s repeated reference to the Kalven Report, which was published by a University faculty committee in 1967 and recommended that the University maintain political neutrality in the interest of ensuring free expression, is not a defense against what she sees as the social danger of investing in fossil fuel companies. “The reason they cited was that the Kalven Report, which says that the University has to be politically neutral, but we feel that
is not a reason not to divest. Because the money that is invested in fossil fuel companies...has already destroyed our environment, and it has led to many vulnerable people, put in even worse and more vulnerable situations,” Uzzo said. A lu m n a B r i a n n a Tong, the lead citywide organizer of IIRON, related her own experience as an on-campus worker earning $8.50 per hour as evidence that administrators did not care about student needs. “It’s very clear to me, and this is sending a message, that the people in charge of this university don’t actually care about students, don’t care about faculty and staff, and don’t care about the people who make up this institution. And that’s really upsetting to me, as someone who graduated from this school, and understood the huge difference between the status of a regular student and a worker at this school. While students like me were making $8.50 an hour at our jobs…[the University] had the resources to pay more.”
“Not even so often as every 40 years, but perhaps every generation or two, we ought to update the Constitution and just change it a little” Continued from page 2
trast to what I think is agreement among the A mer ica n people. I think the consensus among A mericans is simply this: that there is, for all intents and purposes, a right to bear arms, but it is coupled with reasonable regulations,” Elkins said. Neily addressed the question of whether handgun ownership is constitutional, and broadened the debate to include a discussion of the public policy issues at play. “In debating gun policy, I think it’s important to look at both sides of the equation— to recognize that while there are tragedies, not just mass
shootings but every day—and see that sometimes lives are saved with guns. These types of incidents are in fact far from unusual. There’s a debate among criminolog ists about how often guns are used for legitimate purposes, to save lives or prevent crime, and the general agreement is that it’s somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million times per year,” Neily said. Another point of agreement between the debaters was that whatever the out come, the Constitution is a living document that, while made more effective by citizens’ reverence towa rd it, must be a ltered from time to time.
“ I think that not even so often as every 40 years, but perhaps every generation or two, we ought to update the Constitution and just change it a little. I think that if Madison were here today, he would have been very proud that his Constitution has survived until today, but I think he’d also be a little disappointed that we haven’t updated it. The Supreme Court’s interpretations can certainly keep it alive, but I think it’s the time to have a national conversation about what we want from it, and how it can be improved,” Elkins said.
Student Government Election and Rules Committee Said Recording Did Not Violate Election Code Continued from front
P rog ress candidate for v ice president for student affairs, argued at the hearing that allegations of Holmberg’s intent to ha rm another campa ig n were unfounded because he did not know who his slate would be running against at the time of the meeting. United Progress and Unite & Support were in the process of collecting signatures, but they had not formally announced their campaigns. Holmberg claimed to have consulted the Center for Leadership and Involvement (CLI) and the University News Office’s legal team after the April 12 meeting and said that both told him that his recording of the meeting was not illegal.
Second-year Max Freedman, E&R chairman, contacted CLI mid-hearing to clarify its role in the recording of the meeting. CLI members confirmed that they had advocated the recording ban but that they had no input in Holmberg ’s decision to record the meeting. CLI also said that the News Office legal team did not inform it of contact with Holmberg, but that the legal team would have notified CLI had Holmberg consulted it. When reached for comment, Holmberg wrote in an email, “Our line of communication was not directly with the News Office. As I understand it, our College Council advisor, Jamila Anderson, communicated with S a r a h C u n n i n g h a m [f r om
CLI], who was in contact with the News Office. Jamila was my point of contact for any information that came through that chain of communication.” T he releva nt se c t ion of I l l i nois eavesd roppi ng law outlaws the recording of conversation when there is a “reasonable expectation” that the discussion will remain private. Viola alleged that Holmberg created such an expectation by ba n n i ng record i ng, a nd then broke the law by recording. Freedman said during the hearing that he did not think there was an expectation of privacy. The ruling, as documented in the meeting minutes, added that in order for the committee to find Viola’s complaint to
be an election code violation, Holmberg ’s act of recording would need to have met three conditions: that the candidate would have refrained from the activity had it not given him or her an election advantage; that the activ ity was done with the intent of advantaging one’s own campaign or disadvantaging another; and that the activity was illegal. “ You say the damage inf licted on a campaign is that the minutes referring to Sara Zubi as ‘ Palestinian second year’ thereby minimizing her role by not giving proper attribution,” reads the advisory opinion E&R issued to Viola before the meeting. “ However, as you say, the custom of using the initials of non-CC
members is just that: a custom. T here is no r ule requi r ing such attribution, and it is very possible that had the secretary been there, the same attribution would have been used in the minutes.” Because the committee did not find that the conditions of advantage and intent were met, it did not rule on the question of legality. T he committee a lso d iscussed at the hearing the fact that members of CC, including both Viola and Michael Meng of Zubi’s slate, voted unanimously to approve the April 12 meeting minutes at a later meeting even though names of non-SG members were redacted.
THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 6, 2016
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While Some on CC Hoped to Close the Book on Divestment, Others Signaled Start of a New Chapter Continued from front
U of C Divest wanted the University to move away from a list of companies associated with Israel that the pro-divestment group deemed complicit in violations against Palestinian human rights. CC passed that original resolution on April 12 by a vote of 8–4, with three representatives abstaining after voting down amendments supporting the existence of a Jewish state and removing all mentions of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. During the debate over that divestment vote, opponents of divestment had asked why the resolution targeted Israel, but not other human rights abusers. The China divestment resolution considered Tuesday closely resembled the U of C Divest resolution. Tuesday’s debate about the China resolution began with third-year and audience member Sam Dong reading a response to last week’s statement that he and others had written. “We are here today not to critique divestment generally, but to question the motives behind this resolution and this vote,” he said. “Its rhetoric and its surrounding arguments...make it clear that the resolution is intended primarily as a political tool, with the objective of thrusting College Council into a ‘moral inconsistency.’” “We have reason to suspect that China was selected by the proponents of the new resolution partially as a target of convenience, due to the perceived political meekness of the Asian community in the U.S., in particular that of international Chinese students,” he added. Immediately following Dong’s statement, second-year represen-
“I don’t think Student Governtative Calvin Cottrell moved to The council voted 15–1–0 in liefs on divestment, on foreign policy, postpone a vote on the resolution ment is elected on a platform to favor of postponing the resolution on domestic policy. I don’t think that indefinitely. “I’ve said from the make decisions [like this] to repre- indefinitely and moved onto the my interests are fairly represented very beginning that [CC] is not the sent the entire student body,” one next topic: the resolution proposed by a body if I vote for the represenplace for divestment on these issues, attendee said. “I think it would by Foldi regarding the RSO Blue tatives and they decided to vote on I think both on the Israel petition be good to…make sure we send a Chips, which manages a portfolio something that I quite frankly did and on this petition. We’re truly out clear message to the entire Univer- donated by a University alumnus. not expect or factor into my deciof our scale,” he said. “I think we sity that [CC] will never again in The resolution asked CC to call on sion,” one student said. “It’s almost should just put divestment behind the future make any such decisions Blue Chips to disclose its list of in- personally offensive to me that a relating to political and social ideas vestments and to divest from any group of elected officials chose to us.” Second-year representative Cos- pertaining to the student body. You of the companies named by U of C kind of overstep their bounds in an mo Albrecht, who had spoken out don’t have a right to do that. You Divest or risk losing its RSO status. attempt to make a statement.” in support of the divestment reso- need to vote and make it clear.” A supporter of U of C Divest According to a letter read at the lution last month, called the China responded to these comments by meeting by third-year representaAnother student pushed for resolution “farcical.” “We should not CC to denounce the resolution for tive Peggy Xu from the president thanking her representatives for consider this because Asian-Amer- using the Asian and Asian-Amer- of Blue Chips, third-year Cyrus responding to issues that students ican students were not consulted in ican student community as a rac- Adamiyatt, the RSO is not invested bring forth, including divestment. the drafting of this [resolution],” he ist action. “I think that [the issue in any of the specified companies. “I actually voted for four people to said, noting that the students who of divestment and CC’s purview] Adamiyatt said that disclosing or actually take on things that I would presented the resolution last week has been consistently used in this controlling its investments in the bring to CC and respect what I are all anti-divestment. “This is conversation as a way to get away way the resolution proposed would would want them to vote on, knowpolitical.” from the issue at hand, which is the “truly damage the educational envi- ing that things would come up that Second-year representative Mi- use of Asian-American and Asian ronment” of the RSO. CC represen- they didn’t know were going to come chael Meng argued for voting on the issues co-opted for the benefit of... tatives ultimately voted 9–7–0 to up. This is a part of how democracy resolution rather than postponing it non-Asian politicians,” the student postpone the Blue Chips divestment works and a part of how [a] repreindefinitely. “We should be telling said. “I think when you’re bringing resolution indefinitely. sentative works,” she said. everyone we don’t stand for these up that point you’re excusing what’s Xu effectively ended the debate Debate centered on whether shenanigans [of the China divest- at hand and you’re complicit in con- Blue Chips, as an RSO, is under the on the issues of the night by calling ment resolution] and we’re going to doning racism, and that’s what hap- purview of CC. Fourth-year repre- for more action from CC to acknowlvote no on it,” he said. pening here and you should take sentative Mike Viola noted that Sar- edge the inappropriateness of the First-year representative Quds- ownership of that.” ah Cunningham, the senior director China divestment resolution. “I was iyyah Shariyf argued in support of Third-year representative Kath- of the Center for Leadership and deeply offended by the way that the voting on the resolution, citing the erine Shen brought the debate to a Involvement, had told CC members resolution was brought up, but I’m fact that students had brought the close before CC moved toward a vote. in an e-mail that her office had the glad that that [motion to postpone issue before CC and, as the repre- “In the future, think about the peo- final say on any decision to dissolve indefinitely] passed,” she said. “I sentative body of the College, CC ple you’re affecting when you pro- an RSO. do think that [the issue] was swept should at least consider it by way pose a resolution about this. Think Many CC representatives under the rug, and I do think that of a vote. “It’s problematic for us to about reaching out to the groups of agreed that the resolution deserved there needs to be more recognition refuse to vote on something that people who care,” she said. “I really a “no” vote but that a vote should about what just happened in terms students bring to us. I know that’s would like to thank everybody who be held regardless because this was of the resolution and the fact that a point of contention, but personally is here today. I’m sorry if [CC] has more directly related to CC. This led an issue that was deeply personal it doesn’t sit right with me,” she said. disappointed you, and I’m grateful into a larger discussion about CC’s to many of the people in this room Audience members were able you’re still participating.” jurisdiction related to campus af- was appropriated for political ends. to share their viewpoints as well, I don’t think this solves that even Foldi, Soltys, and Gordis de- fairs versus foreign affairs. with many calling for a vote from clined to comment during the de“I voted for four people in this though the motion passed.” CC rather than dismissing the res- bate or after the meeting when ap- room, and I voted on those four peoolution as a political maneuver. ple without articulation of their beproached by THE MAROON.
Liaison Positions and College Council Representatives Also Announced Continued from front
choice. I’m glad graduate students are going to be a little bit more represented, and I’m looking forward to doing good work with Eric and Salma,” Jones told THE M AROON. “I’m really grateful to everyone who participated, excited that turnout is continuing to grow and can’t wait to get started moving campus forward,” Holmberg said. Megan Beck will be the next Graduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees and current Vice President for Student Affairs Kenzo Es-
quivel will be the Undergraduate Liaison. Unopposed second-year Cosmo Albrecht, a current CC representative, will be the Community and Government Liaison. College Council (CC) Class of 2017 representatives are Jake Mansoor and incumbents Louisa Richardson-Deppe, Katherine Shen, and Peggy Xu. Class of 2018 representatives are Chase Harrison, Alice Kallman, Elijah Wolter, and Adam Biesman. Class of 2019 representatives are Elizabeth Ortiz, Zander Cowan, Mahi Senthilkumar, and incumbent
Ahona Mukherjee
United Progress celebrates its win with a cake.
“Who created Trump?” Bruni simply quipped: “His parents.”
ratings. He criticized the media’s Continued from page 2 Qudsiyyah Shariyf. Apart from describing what dramatic and suspenseful presen“I’m super excited and grateful, DeSanto deemed the “Trump phe- tation of the election. “It encouragready to represent our amazing nomenon,” Bruni went on to ex- es a reality-show reaction to what’s class and build a better student press his disappointment with the happening,” he said. government that works for all stuWhile it costs money to do obmedia, especially with respect to dents,” Shariyf said. this election. He claimed that the jective reporting, it is far less ex“It’s humbling to be one of the news industry has become more pensive for news outlets to work people chosen from eight incredi“European,” with news now pre- from a common pool of informably strong candidates to represent sented from an ideological stand- tion that has already been released, our class. Election season isn’t point rather than an objective one. Bruni said. easy and I have a lot of respect An audience member asked According to Bruni, this leads for everyone who ran. Right now, to ideological polarization. “Mutual Bruni who he thought would have I’m just ecstatic to start pushing suspicion of political parties is a re- won the Republican nomination this university to do the best for sult of ideological media coverage,” had Trump lost, to which Bruni its students and community and replied that Marco Rubio would he said. I’m also incredibly hyped to see He added that due to modern have won the nomination. the growth that I know will hapIn answer to the titular questechnology, the news industry is pen in the coming year,” Sentilkuable to calculate what types of tion of the talk—“Who created mar said. news coverage will draw the most Trump?”—Bruni simply quipped: Graduate Council represenattention and that they are using “His parents.” tatives are elected by their own this information to boost their divisions in a separate electoral process. We received significantly fewer complaints about candidate conduct than last year, so I would like to thank the candidates on behalf of the whole committee for acting in a sportsmanlike and ethical manner. I’d like to congratulate every candidate for making the decision to run and participate in the democratic process, and I’d especially like to give my heartfelt congratulations to those who won this year,” Freedman said.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 6, 2016
VIEWPOINTS Raising the Bar on UCPD Accountability Recently Collected Data Points to Racial Profiling and Demonstrates the Need for FOIA Legislation The University, in an effort to increase accountability, began selectively releasing University of Chicago Police Department ( UCPD) data last spring. To test its commitment to transparency, the Chicago Reporter requested copies of its policies, procedures, and directives, but the request was denied for reasons of “best practice.” Were the UCPD subject to the Freedom of Information Act ( FOI A), it would have been required to release all of these documents, which are presumably innocuous. L ast Februar y, I llinois State Representatives Barbara Currie and Christian M it chel l —whose d istr icts both fall within UCPD jurisdiction—introduced bill HB3932, which would have amended the Private College
Campus Police Act to require police departments at private universities to release the same information public law enforcement agencies are required to release under FOIA. It died in the Senate Judiciary Committee after passing unanimously in the House, and was reintroduced this fall. The Private College Campus Police Act gives private colleges the right to have their own full-f ledged police forces but does not obligate them to adhere to F OI A . This means that the UCPD, though its jurisdiction extends far beyond campus and its officers have sworn arrest authority, is not required to publicly release information such as arrest records, data on field and traffic stops, and dispatch tapes.
Last spring, in response to calls for increased transparency by the Coalition for Equitable Policing (CEP) and others, the University began releasing some of this information to the public, making UCPD more transparent than the law requires it to be. Though this release of data has been a major step forward, it has proven the need for even greater transparency. The Chicago Reporter also published numbers last month which strongly suggest that the UCPD is complicit in racial profiling. Since June, when the University f irst made data on f ield interviews available to the public, the UCPD has stopped and questioned 166 people, 155 of whom were black. Fifty-nine percent of people who live within the patrol zone of the
UCPD are black, and 93 percent of the field interviewees were black. Given the fact that only 17,000 of the roughly 65,000 people within the UCPD patrol zone are students, the UCPD performs the same functions as public law enf o r c e m e nt a g e n c i e s a n d should be held to the same standards of accountability. Selective disclosure of information opens the door to corruption and deceit, which is why the government uses FOIA to mandate the release of information. It’s great that the UCPD has beg un the process of releasing policies and data, but it needs a legal nudge if it’s going to be truly accountable to the entire community it serves. United Progress, which was elected this week as next
year’s Executive Slate, dedicates a part of its platform to UCPD transparency and accountability. Among its goals is working with the CEP to advocate for the passage of HB3932. As the University looks to develop land in Washington Park and a widening of the UCPD patrol zone becomes a possibility, The M AROON Editorial Board recommends that United Progress follow through on its commitment to making relations between the UCPD and the community a top priority. —The M A ROON Editorial Board
What’s in the Portfolio? The University’s Lack of Transparency With the Endowment Leads to Misguided Students Felipe Bomeny Where Fun Comes to Write Acceptance rates plummet ; endow ment s s wel l . America’s most prestigious private schools are locked in an endowment-fueled arms race, vying for superstar professors, talented students,
and new buildings plastered with benefactors’ names. Consequently, administrators, students, and legislators are weighing in on where these funds should go. These questions have inevitably mate-
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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rialized on our own campus with the recent Student Government (SG) election. Even if endowment-related issues such as divesting from Israeli companies or financially supporting cash-strapped Chicago State University (CSU) fall beyond SG’s inf luence, the ethics—and limitations— of endowments are surely on students’ minds. While UChicago’s current endowment—currently valued above $7.55 billion—is significantly smaller than other peer institutions’ portfolios, such as Harvard’s whopping $37.6 billion portfolio, UChicago’s increasing returns on investment have allowed it to expand on its ambitious projects. The sleek, elegant Campus North façade towers over 55th Street, embodying the University’s construction initiative. Other efforts, also made possible by a growing endowment, allow for expansion beyond buildings: take, for example, the No Barriers initiative announced in 2014, which was launched with the intent of improving the University’s socioeconomic diversity. As the endowment grows alongside the campus, UChicago has also accrued sizeable debt in vying with the Ivies for prestige, as Bloomberg News reported in 2014. Although these efforts have improved
Anne Wang
student life and academics, some of the investments in UChicago’s por tfolio have sparked debate on campus. Student activists have called for the University to divest from a wide range of sources: fossil fuel companies for their role in perpetuating climate change; China, for its organ ha r vesti ng; a nd , perhaps most controversially, compa-
nies listed by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions ( BDS) movement for their cited complicity in human rights violations. The latter movement’s fervent (and often tasteless) politicization of an incredibly nuanced geopolitical conflict certainly does not represent the entire student body. But the intensity of the Continued on page 7
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“The University and its handling of the sizable endowment lacks transparency and thus accountability...” Continued from page 6
debate, beside the usually contentious Israeli-Palestinian discourse, points to a continued lack of transparency in the University’s investment portfolio. In 2007, the University, under President Zimmer’s leadership, declined to divest from Sudan despite the atrocities of the Darfur conflict. In defending the Board of Trustees’ decision, President Zimmer cited the 1967 Kalven Report, which promotes the University’s dedication to free inquiry over political influence. The Kalven Report has been continuously referenced as a deterrent for other divestment resolutions and proposals. As the University continues to
focus its resources on its academic arms race with other elite private institutions, the United Progress slate’s now-rescinded call to support the embattled CSU through endowment funds, while noble, was completely divorced from the reality of endowments. This lack of knowledge might stem from the mystery surrounding the endowment. This lack of transparency means we have no idea how many blood diamonds (figurative, literal, or imaginary) are in the University’s portfolio. While the administration continues to prioritize its ambitious plan to dethrone its academic rivals, it could definitely find inspiration in Stanford’s student-driven decision to
divest from coal. T hese contentious suggestions from the SG election—divesting from countries linked to human rights abuses and investing in salvaging the underfunded CSU—are practically misguided considering SG’s scope and knowledge but do point to a legitimate campus problem. The University and its handling of the sizable endowment lacks transparency and thus accountability. Whereas the administration defends its international interests in the name of free speech, there is something unsettling about investing in countries where free speech does not exist, among other human rights and environmental violations. More
transparency is essential: if the student body is informed, we can avoid the more annoying and infeasible calls for divestment. Due to the nature of endowments, the University might not be able to release all information about its investments—but some transparency will at least help us know what we can ask for. Felipe Bomeny is a first-year in the College.
Letter to the Editor: Student Center Would Facilitate Campus-Wide Student Culture
The University of Chicago has traditionally been known as the place “where fun goes to die.” This funny yet self-deprecating slogan has proven extraordinarily resilient over the years. Yet Jim Nondorf, Vice President and Dean of Admissions, says that perception is changing. In a 2013 M A ROON Q&A, when asked about the humorous slogan, he responded, “Oh, gosh. Well, you know, I don’t hear, ‘Is this where fun goes to die?’ that often, I have to say. The fun dying has died, which is great.” That being said, fun isn’t usually the fi rst thing that comes to mind when one thinks of UChicago; rather, it is the inquiry and discussion, characteristics that Dean Nondorf noticed right off the bat, that are endemic to this university and that most people pick up after spending just a few hours
on campus. It is curious, then, why a school so enthralled with inquiry and discussion has no centralized space that is open to all students to partake in exactly this kind of activity. Sure, we might spend far too long in Bartlett carrying out debates about which fruit or vegetable is objectively the best. We tend to linger in our house lounges for untold hours debating the merits of quadratic voting. Both of these spaces, however, are demarcated by our house affi liations. To be clear, I think the house system is wonderful for many reasons, and is often an attractive feature of the college for prospective students. That being said, we shouldn’t prioritize house culture at the expense of broader, campus-wide student culture. An example we might look to is the
Paresky Center at Williams College. This building, described as the “campus living room,” contains “spaces in which to study, eat, go to class, perform, relax, watch movies, hang out with friends and professors, and hold meetings and events.” A space such as this, open to all students and not designated for specific uses, such as exclusively eating, studying, or sleeping, would facilitate a more robust social life and encourage a more relaxed atmosphere. No longer would people have to go to the Reg to hang out with their friends or feel obligated to congregate at frat or apartment parties for socialization. A student center with ample recreation room would widen the claustrophobic space in which current dayto-day social interactions occur on this campus.
With the construction of the new Campus North Residential Hall and Dining Commons, Studio Gang Architects identified “creating vibrant student communities within the residence halls” as one of its main goals, and Dean Boyer concurred, emphasizing the importance of “developing active and stimulating learning communities among our students.” However, it seems once again the University is prioritizing the advancement of in-house communities while forgetting the cohesion, school spirit, and general sense of belonging which an all-inclusive student center would promote. —Henry Connolly, fi rst-year in the College
MASTER OF ARTS IN NEW ARTS JOURNALISM The School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s (SAIC) Master of Arts in New Arts Journalism program reinterprets and transforms the skills of a traditional journalist into the multitasking demands of a contemporary arts journalist where art writing, editing, and design skills are intertwined.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 6 , 2016
ARTS Panel Navigates the Economic Viability of Opera BY HANNAH EDGAR ARTS EDITOR
On Tuesday night in Saieh Hall, the Intercollegiate Finance Journal at UChicago hosted “Opera-nomics: The Business of Opera,” a panel discussion on the economics of opera. Co-moderated by second-year Eric Li and third-year MJ Chen, the panel brought together the general directors of two Chicago-based opera companies: Anthony Freud of Lyric Opera of Chicago and Daniel Grambow of the Floating Opera Company. The panelists represented different extremes of the operatic landscape. Based in the Civic Opera House, Lyric has been a Chicago mainstay for more than 60 years and has an annual operating budget of about $75 million. Floating Opera, which performs in venues throughout the city, was incorporated as an LLC last year and had an annual budget of only $25,000 its fi rst season. Freud admitted that, as the general director of the second-largest opera company in the United States, he envied the “flexibility and nimbleness” possible in smaller companies like Floating Opera, especially given the general decline in ticket sales and subscribers for opera over the past 50 years. “[Lyric is] rather monolithic in arts organizational terms, in that it has a very large, infl exible overhead that plans four to six years in the future,” Freud said. On the other hand, Floating Opera is, in Grambow’s words, a “professional development company” which attracts young, employable singers new to the Chicago area. “We are very, very flexible, but at the same time we try to prioritize the basics,” he said. “We’ve done Cosi fan tutte, we’ve done Don Giovanni, we’ve done Le
nozze di Figaro…so people who are coming to Chicago who have never sung a role in those operas have an opportunity to learn them.” Though Floating Opera holds standard repertoire at the heart of its programming, there’s little that’s “standard” about its productions, which are often held in unconventional venues. A recent example was the company’s Don Giovanni, which was staged in the Bohemian National Cemetery on Chicago’s North Side. Upon the conclusion of the opera’s run, Floating Opera donated $1,000 of total ticket sales back to the cemetery, which is recognized as a National Register of Historic Places site. “Activating spaces around your community makes the community engage with what you’re doing,” Grambow said. “We partner with as many different people as we can.” Freud pointed out that the community engagement Grambow described contrasts markedly with so-called “outreach” by larger companies. He noted with relief that arts organizations are shying away from framing their community involvement efforts as such. “[If] a big opera company goes into a community and says, ‘Here is Tosca, we think you should like it,’—that’s not collaboration, that’s colonization, and that went out of fashion with the British in India,” Freud said. “We [ought to go] to a community with humility and an [interest] in exploring more ways in which we can collaborate, not on our terms, but on [its] terms.” “I think our work should reflect the communities that we’re in,” Grambow said. “I think we need to make choices as artists to comment on the things we think are important, and we need to take the tools we have to make that commentary.”
Giovanna DeCastro
Daniel Grambow, general director of the Floating Opera Company, and Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera, spoke at the Intercollegiate Finance Journal’s speaker event, “Opera nomics,” on May 3.
To that point, Freud and Grambow agreed that an opera company of any size must have this strong sense of identity in order to realistically assess what it can and cannot do. “There are many small-scale opera companies that think of themselves as intimate Metropolitan Operas, and I have a problem with that,” Freud said. “It’s our job as opera administrators to offer our audiences the real thing, not something compromised.” The 2013 folding of New York City Opera, which was broached in the post-panel Q&A, was provided as an example of institutional identity crisis. Freud called the company’s bankruptcy “tragic, but predictable.” “There is a very specifi c challenge of second opera companies in major cities that are not diverse in the way that Floating Opera is completely different
from Lyric Opera,” he said. “New York City Opera failed to create a brand identity that was distinct from the Met at a time when the Met’s brand was being sharpened and revitalized.” Though some naysayers viewed New York City Opera’s fate as indicative of a greater decline in opera, both Freud and Grambow rejected the notion that the art form was in grave danger. “I think it’s impossible for opera to die, because there are so many people [out there] who are making it continue,” Grambow said. “ If you distill opera down to its basics, what is it? It’s telling stories through words and music, and that’s utterly universal,” Freud said. “My job is to keep this institution as relevant and vibrant and healthy and accessible as I possibly can, for as long as I possibly can.”
Haitink Proves Able Storyteller at CSO with Mozart, Strauss BY MJ CHEN DEPUTY ARTS EDITOR
It’s the Edward-or-Jacob question of classical music. Which has more value: music for its own sake or music as representation? Last Friday’s Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) concert offered an accessible—yet philosophically rigorous— program of Mozart and Strauss to explore this very theme, commanded by Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink. The question boils down to form vs. function: music is beautiful either a) by virtue of its being music or b) by arousing the senses. Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 is an example of the first, which elicits enjoyment primarily by relating the music to itself in such terms as melody, rhythm, and structure. Think of the music like banter on a first date—it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Austrian pianist Till Fellner brought considerable lyric intelligence to the Mozart concerto, pairing expressive clarity with naturalistic phrasing throughout. Though unproblematic, his playing lacked a sense of newness. The joy in hearing Mozart comes from hearing him for the first time. His strongly intuitive musical writing surprises and satisfies; you are convinced that each note is beautifully, sublimely in place—that it must be so. You take Mozart for granted, because he seems so obvious. The challenge in playing Mozart is
playing so that the audience hears it again for the first time. Fellner’s third movement was most successful in this regard: he conveyed a coquettishness in the rondo theme that infused the familiar tune with infectious energy. Haitink lent deft support from the orchestra, coaxing upbeat chatter from the flute and bluster from the bassoons. Yet Fellner’s cadenza felt overly prepared despite genuinely surprising thematic content. (A descending sequence of the rondo tune in retrograde!) His delivery felt less than spontaneous—a quibble, to be sure, but one that designates his interpretation as more standard than sensational. Following Mozart is a Strauss tone poem, or a symphonic poem, among the best examples of music as representation. Think of them as film scores sans film— music alone conveys action and atmosphere to an audience. Listening becomes an active process of discovery. The composer gives you an itinerary, or program, to his work; he leaves the task of completing it to your imagination. An Alpine Symphony packs a mountain trek into 50-odd minutes of music. Strauss marks the piece into 21 continuous episodes, from glorious sunrise to thicketed trails to a stormy descent. Central motifs maintain unity and indicate changes in atmosphere: to invoke a mountain pasture, Strauss modifies the climbing melody for English horns (suggestive of yodeling) and sets it over cowbell and fluted birdsong.
Todd Rosenberg
Bernard Haitink, pictured here from a 2007 performance with the CSO, led the orchestra in Strauss’ epic Alpine Symphony.
Coy but adventurous, An Alpine Symphony takes effort to put on. Intermission added about a hundred musicians to the stage, not to mention more than a dozen pieces of offstage brass (Mozart only needed, like, 20 violins). Haitink led the 150-odd musicians with extraordinary sensitivity. The sheer physical force of his orchestral sun pins you to the seat—brazen brasses full-blast, horsehair fracking first fiddles in half. Yet he also extracted
moments of extraordinary delicacy, coaxing from the strings a satiny transparency suggestive of mountain mists. Awe. Awe at the scale of the work, from its vaunting peaks to après-ski. Awe at the cohesion of the orchestra, at the seamlessness with which you pass from forest to glacier to summit in the soundscape. Awe at the composer as a narrator and the conductor as a storyteller.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 6, 2016
WHPK: Spinning With the Pride of the South Side BY GRACE HAUCK ARTS EDITOR
Rock DJ Brian Sunberg climbs the stairs above Hutch, signs into WHPK, and pops open a 2 a.m. Coke. He fingers through a stack of records and makes his selection, placing the vinyl on the turntable. He takes the mic, greets his listeners, and—like a pledge he knows by heart—repeats the government-issued advisory on bomb threat procedures. “It’s nice to have a place I can go to and just relax for two solid hours. I don’t really think about outside stuff,” Sunberg, a second-year in the College, said. Now in its 49th year, UChicago’s second-oldest RSO is undergoing some changes: DJs are working to increase public programming, archive the thousands of records in the office, and line up a pre–Summer Breeze sister show. Just last month, WHPK invaded the Film Studies Center for its annual event “Pictures and
Sounds,” a multimedia showcase featuring artists like Japanese electronic composer Ryoko Akama and Brooklyn-based rock musician Dan Friel. Basking in the wild success of the event, WHPK has now shifted gears to preparing for its May 13 show, which, after two years of preemptive rain cancellations, is finally back. “This year we’re doing something different, especially with the weather we’ve been having,” rock format DJ Connor Plunkett said. “So we wanted to make an event at ECO, a DIY venue. We’re having four acts with the headliner Pile, from Massachusetts, who actually has a pretty big following across the country. We sold out the last show that we did like this in the fall.” The Funs, Highness, and Crown Larks will play alongside Pile next weekend, interspersed by short sets by WHPK DJs. Liaisons from the Feminist Action Support Network will also be present. Plunkett, a second-year, has
been working at WHPK since last year, when he started with Radio Dada, a live, three-hour experimental show. He currently runs a show every other Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., but his recent endeavors have begun to expand beyond DJing, becoming WHPK’s self-appointed archivist. “I’ve started to organize all the records in our library. My estimate is that we have somewhere around 30,000 records—and that’s just vinyl. We also have a collection of 7-inches and CDs, probably around 20,000 CDs,” Plunkett said. These thousands of tracks run the gamut: WHPK hosts shows across the major genres of international, jazz, rap, folk, classical, and rock, as well as a few talk shows and specialty sets. Technically a community radio station run through the University, WHPK maintains a staff of students and locals alike. Naturally, first-years get stuck with the 4 a.m. slot, but Plunkett’s slowly working his way up.
“Since we buy our own records and choose to curate our own collection, we’ve always been a free-form station: each DJ gets to pick what records he or she wants to play, and they’re not dictated by some sort of format of hit records,” Plunkett said. “There’s a huge variety— everything from ABBA or Beach Boys to Amon Düül, 1970s-weird Krautrock stuff or one-off punk compilations from the ’80s.” Free-form always runs the risk of low listenership. For this nonprofit, however, that’s not a monetary concern; the RSO operates with sponsors and University funding, allowing it to cut out ads. While some DJs persevere through the early unpaid hours for the key to a hidden haven, others view their work as a public service. “There’s obviously a slide across the whole country away from radio, but what I feel lacks is the forced variety. Oftentimes, Spotify playlists just skim the surface of the music that’s out there, picking up the latest hits or ‘underground’
hits…. But they’re not actually delving deep into an eclectic mix,” Plunkett said. At most, Plunkett’s only ever had 16 listeners live-stream his set online. How many are really listening on the radio? He can’t be sure—although Sunberg and I got a call at 3:30 a.m. from a certain “Daddy Mac” asking for a legal consultation. But as WHPK begins to take inventory of its stock and push for a combination of promotion and programming, listenership is looking up. “Our unwritten rule is to play music that other sources wouldn’t be playing,” Plunkett said. “We want listeners to be open-minded— who just want to hear new music. So it’s up to us to play music of a high quality.” Tune in to 88.5 FM or stream live 24/7 at whpk.org. Stay tuned for more info on the upcoming show at ECO on May 13. Show starts at 8 p.m. $10 donation suggested.
Grace Hauck | The Chicago Maroon
the Sketch A RTS , B RIEFLY .
GloGlobal Connections: Ireland Access Contemporary Music concludes its 2015–16 season with an exploration of music by Irish composers. The U.S. premiere of David Fennessey’s 5 Hofer Photographs serves as the concert’s centerpiece, inspired by the work of 20th-century photographer Evelyn Hofer. Friday, May 6, 7 p.m., International House, $20 at the door, $15 online. Basant Mahotsav: Spring Concert of South Asian Music and Dance This Saturday, UChicago’s
South Asian Music Ensemble presents Basant Mahotsav, its annual spring showcase. Performances will range from kathak dancing to nagaswaram playing, featuring both student performers and vocals from the Department of History professor Dipesh Chakrabarty. The event is sponsored by the Department of Music, the Committee on Southern Asian Studies, and the Logan Center for the Arts. Saturday, May 7, 7:30 p.m., Logan Center for the Arts, Performance Penthouse, free with reception to follow.
CSDS presents: Electro Swing If you thought you could only swing dance to music from the ’20s–’50s, you’re in for an electric shock. This Saturday, the Chicago Swing Dance Society will be hosting its second electro swing night at Ida Noyes. Swing by in your brightest and sparkliest clothes to dance under disco lights with glow sticks. There will be a beginner East Coast Swing lesson from 7:30–8:30 p.m., followed by open dancing until 11 p.m. Saturday, May 7, 7:30–11 p.m., East Lounge, Ida Noyes, free.
Apsara Presents Navarasa: Reimagined Combining the English translation of Vicente Huidobro’s epic poem Altazor with a set of unique soundtracks, Navarasa: Reimagined portrays the nine classical emotions known as Navarasa. The show will feature eight dance vignettes designed to continue Apsara’s goal of exploring the relationship between storytelling movements and pure technique. Together, this combination will illuminate a deeply-rooted artistic tradition for modern audiences. Thursday, May 7, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Logan Theater West, tick-
ets available at tickets.uchicago.edu. The Underground Collective Presents: Anatomy Twelve performers—poets, rappers, comedians, and dancers—will present an original body of work at The Revival next Friday, exploring subjects that range from love to the matriarchy. Having performed at various events throughout the year, the Collective has proven time and time again that it is not a force to be underestimated. Friday, May 13, doors open at 6:30 p.m., The Revival, $4 (or roll a die and pay the number of the side you land on).
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 6, 2016
Answers to Friday’s crossword puzzle, “Split Seconds.”
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 6, 2016
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 6, 2016
SPORTS IN-QUOTES... “This Chelsea-Tottenham game is the soccer equivalent of the GOP debate where they just yelled over each other the whole time” —Seth Vertelney
Squad Sweeps on Senior Day SOFTBALL
BY OLA OBI SPORTS STAFF
The Maroon’s six-game winning streak came to an end on Tuesday this week, but they were able to rally for Senior Day the following day to sweep Elmhurst College. The squad f i n ished up its season w ith th is week’s games, ending with a record of 25 – 8. The NCA A Selection Show for the tournament is on Monday. In a tough doubleheader on Tuesday, the Maroons were swept by the Illinois Wesleyan Titans. In game one, the first five innings were stagnant for both the Maroons and the Titans as neither team managed to get runs on the board. However, in the sixth inning, Illinois Wesleyan was able to put three runs across thanks to an error, which scored one run and put a runner on base. Two more earned runs gave Illinois Wesleyan its three for the game. The Maroons put up an effort to respond to this late lead by their competitors and were able to put up a run thanks to fourth-year Kat Kohm’s bomb over the fence. Unfortunately, being the seventh inning, the lone run was not enough to get them back in the game and the match ended with the Maroons falling 1–3 against the Titans. Game two against Illinois Wesleyan proved equally as tough. The Maroons looked more promising than they did in their first match as they went toe-totoe with the Titans. Kohm again was responsible for her team’s only run in the first inning when she hit another solo homer to right field. However, Illinois Wesleyan responded in the bottom of the first inning by putting its own run on the board. The next two innings were unsuccessful for the Maroons. The Titans managed to put up two runs in the third inning bringing
University of Chicago Athletics Department
Third-year Anna Woolery bats in a game against Wheaton College last year.
the score to 3 –1 at the top of fourth. Neither team scored in the fourth inning, but the fifth inning proved successful for both teams as the Maroons were able to drive in two runs while the Titans scored three of their own. The Maroons couldn’t overcome the deficit and the game ended 6 –3. When asked on what could have gone better for the Maroons, first-year pitcher Jordyne Prussak emphasized their ability to make changes during the game. She said that “ better adjustments could have been made earlier in both games on the offensive side.” The Maroons were able to turn things around Wednesday as they swept the Elmhurst Bluejays during Senior Day. In their first game, an incredible offensive effort was brought by the Maroons. Prussak, who pitched
the Elmhurst game, said that “to turn around after Wesleyan, we brought a lot more focus and enthusiasm to the Elmhurst games.” The Bluejays were unable to respond offensively in the first match and fell to the Maroons 0 – 5. UChicago ended up with eight hits, led by fourth-year Jordan Poole’s 3-for-3 performance at the plate. Thirdyear Maggie O’Hara also went 2-for-3. The second match of the doubleheader was another great show by the Maroons. Within the first inning of the game, the Maroons tallied four runs while Elmhurst was unable to respond. In the second inning, the South Siders kept attacking and posted six more against Elmhurst’s lone run. Although the squad did not put any more runs on the board, its early offensive explosion made it impossible for the Bluejays to put
up much of a fight. Scoring four runs in the fifth inning was not enough for Elmhurst and it fell 14–5 to the home team. Also on Wednesday, Chicago honored its four fourth-years, who have led the program to an 83 – 53 record, which includes a trip to the post-season. These fourth-years are Kohm, Poole, Kristin Lopez, and Devan Parkison. The Maroons were able to send these four leaders off with a couple of wins, but they certainly aren’t planning on ending their season this week. The Maroons’ season record now stands at 25 – 8, and they are now ranked number two in the region. NCAA tournament selections come out Monday at noon, and the Maroons are eager to know what postseason play lies ahead for them and are looking forward to hopefully playing some competitive teams.
South Siders Enter Busy Final Stretch BASEBALL
BY ALEC MILLER SPORTS STAFF
The final stretch of the season is finally here for the Maroons and the squad will be playing up to six games in a week. This is no easy task for a student-athlete going to one of the most prestigious schools in the country. However, thus far, UChicago has been up to the challenge, winning two games this week. On Tuesday the Maroons drummed No. 12 North Central 14 –6 and on Wednesday they squeaked by Dominican 3 –1. The week is still not over as the South Siders will play against St. Norbert on Friday and on Saturday. Then, UChicago will finish up its weekend by playing a doubleheader at Edgewood on Sunday. This past Tuesday, the Maroons finally found their stride offensively. The squad brought in 14 runs, the highest in a game this season by UChicago. It seemed like the team was making University of Chicago Athletics Department Second-year Michael Davis bats in a game contact with any pitch thrown its way. against Wisconsin-Platteville on April 3. A couple standout players were third-
years Ryan Krob and Nicholas Toomey, who both drove in four runs each. This victory is even more impressive because North Central is one of the best teams in the country. The No. 12 Cardinals came into the game on Tuesday with a record of 26–6, and is the first ranked opponent that UChicago has beaten this year. Following the win on Tuesday, the Maroons traveled to Dominican on Wednesday. The result was the same. T he Maroons were v ictor ious, but they won in a much different fashion. They won in a 3 –1 pitching duel. F irst-year Brenton Villasenor was phenomenal on the mound. Villasenor threw seven innings, allowed one run, and struck out seven batters. “A lot of strong show ings from our pitching staff this week,” said f i r st -ye a r out f ielder Jo sh Pa rk s . “ They really allowed us to feed off each others’ excitement and focus. We go as far as our arms take us.” Whether it is the hitting they had Tuesday, the pitching they had Wednesday, or both, the Maroons will need to
bring it if they want to keep winning this weekend. On Friday and Saturday they will play against St. Norbert at home. UChicago comes into the game with a record of 15–14, and St. Norbert has a record of 17–12. This should be a pretty fair matchup for the South Siders if they play their best brand of baseball. O n Sunday, UCh icago h its the road for Edgewood where it will play a doubleheader. Edgewood comes into the weekend with a record of 14 –20. T he biggest factor in this doubleheader will definitely be fatigue for UChicago. These will be games five and six on the week and the pitching staff will certainly be stretched thin. On Friday, the Maroons will play against St. Norbert at 3 p.m. on Stagg Field. Then on Saturday, UChicago will meet St. Norbert at noon on Stagg. On Sunday, the Maroons will face off against Edgewood at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. After this weekend, the South Siders’ next opponent will be Chicago State on the following Wednesday.