MAY 23, 2017
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
VOL. 128, ISSUE 49
Graduate Student Pre-Unionization Election Hearing Held Downtown BY TYRONE LOMAX NEWS STAFF
Last Friday, arguments from the legal representatives of the University and the Graduate Students United (GSU) affiliates were presented before a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) hearing officer. The hearing is the result of the University filing several objections against GSU’s petition to become a recognized union last week. The hearing’s ruling will determine if those objections are conceded to, which could potentially postpone GSU’s election until next September or overrule graduate students’ ability to unionize. The election, if approved, can certify GSU’s official recognition under the NLRB should a member majority vote in favor of unionizing. The University brought two witnesses: David Nirenberg, dean of the Social Sciences Division, and Christopher Wild, deputy dean and collegiate master. During the University’s initial questioning, Nirenberg provided extensive descriptions of the academic requirements mandated by the University’s graduate and professional schools, with a focus on graduate students within the Social Sciences Division (SSD).
In order to receive a Ph.D., all graduate students who receive funding from the Graduate Aid Initiative (GAI) are required to achieve a designated amount of “points,” which are earned through teaching experiences Nirenberg stressed that the teaching graduate students do is integral for their graduate education, as a means of acquiring “practical pedagogical experience.” The University’s argument in the case depends in part on whether graduate students are workers, as opposed to purely students, under the National Labor Relations Act. Under the University’s questioning, Wild provided similar descriptions of the Humanities Division and the academic requirements for undergraduates within the College. However, Wild was unable to be cross-examined after the University’s initial questioning due to time constraints. The hearing closed at 5 p.m. as both parties agreed to an early adjournment with argumentation continuing yesterday morning. Further hearings are expected to continue throughout the week. The final ruling will determine if GSU’s election will be held and if so, the logistics of the future vote.
Estelle Higgins
PAGE 6 Summer Breeze headliner Tinashe performing in Mandel Hall.
Students Protest at “We Demand” Rally BY DEEPTI SAILAPPAN DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR
Several multicultural organizations co-hosted an inaugural rally for UChicago United, a campaign that aims to make the University campus more accessible and accommodating to minority students. The organizations leading the rally, titled “We Demand,” were the African Caribbean Students Association (ACSA), Arab Student Association, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlan
(MEChA), Organization of Black Students, Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS), and PanAsia Solidarity Coalition. Around 50 people attended the rally, which was held outside Levi Hall, the University’s main administrative building. During the rally, second-year and MEChA member Maya Ruiz described the circumstances leading to UChicago United’s formation. The campaign grew out of a letter penned by several multicultural organizations in response to a construction-themed party held
by the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity (FIJI) on Cinco de Mayo. Ruiz stressed, however, that FIJI’s party did not represent a unique incident. “What FIJI did was not an isolated misunderstanding. It was just one event in a long and continuous history of racism and exclusion that runs deep into the culture and logic of this University,” she said. Ruiz referenced e-mails exchanged by brothers of Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) that were leaked Continued on page 2
Faculty Senate to Vote on Disruptive Conduct Policy BY STEPHANIE PALAZZOLO
What Now?
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
The IOP Grapples With Its Role in the Trump Era BY SRISHTI KAPUR Last November, hundreds of students attended an election night watch party at the Reynolds Club hosted by the Institute of Politics (IOP). They spent the beginning of the night taking photos in front of an American fl ag made of balloons while Steve Edwards, the Executive Director of the IOP, was interviewed in a Facebook live event by T HE M A ROON. He described the watch party as “a place for students to hang with
each other and talk and process what’s going on.” Six months later, the balloon American fl ag is gone, but the processing is far from over. Now, when he is asked about the election, Edwards is more cynical. “Like the rest of the country, much of the world, and many on this campus, we, too, have been trying to process what the implications are of the Trump presidency. [The election was] a cataclysmic event for American
Editorial: South Side With You
Prize Awarded to Book Collectors
politics,” Edwards said. David Axelrod, the founder and Director of the IOP, agrees with this sentiment. “There’s a lot to understand, and there’s a lot of conversation to be had about why this came about,” Axelrod said. For some, this need for processing speaks to the necessity of the IOP. The IOP is, as per its mission statement, “a non-partisan extracurricular organizanContinued on page 3
Page 5 Page 7 “A CBA, or a legally binding agree“I just collected the music I wanted ment between community memto play because I have an—I don’t bers and developers, would be the know what the right word is—inbest step to ensure that history terest? fetish? for German music.” doesn’t repeat itself.”
Letter: Prof. Group Supports Student Unions Page 5 ‘We deplore the University’s stance and attitude towards its graduate and undergraduate student workers.”
Harvey at Court Theatre Page 7 Well-staged and well-acted, the play’s treatment of mental illness is nonetheless jarring, our reviewer writes.
UofC Resists, students, activists, and members of the Hyde Park community discussed the implications of the Picker Report in a meeting held Friday. The Picker Report is a faculty committee–written report comprised of revisions to the All-University Disciplinary System, including a new disciplinary system for disruptive conduct. The faculty senate will vote on this disciplinary system on May 23, and the University has stated that if the vote fails, it will instead implement the University’s 1974 disruptive conduct disciplinary procedures.
Several attendees expressed concern with the timing of the vote. “We believe there is no emergency or incident of disruptive conduct that has happened during this academic year that is actually a cause for the type of urgent discussion that the report suggests,” Ph.D. student Alejandra Azuero said. “On the contrary, we believe the fact that there has been so much pushback is a good enough reason to actually slow down things.” Others stated that the instances of disruptive conduct to which the Picker Report responds, such as the protest during State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s speech at the Institute of Continued on page 2
Women Advance to Elite Eight
Advertising in THE M AROON
Page 8 “It’s hard to be any kind of disappointed because I think we’ve had an incredible season. We beat Wash U four times, which I don’t think we’ve ever done in a single season.”
If you want to place an ad in T HE M AROON, please email ads@chicagomaroon.com or visit chicagomaroon.com/pages/advertise
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