NOVEMBER 11, 2016
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
VOL. 128, ISSUE 13
TRUMP VICTORY SHOCKS U OF C “The air has been pumped out of the student base”
Courtesy of the Institute of Politics Second-year Josh Parks, who campaigned for Trump in Michigan and Illinois, watches results at the IOP watch party in a sea of anxious Clinton supporters.
This article is by KATIE AKIN, JAMIE EHRLICH, PETE GRIEVE, EVANGELINE REID, OLIVIA ROSENZWEIG, HILLEL STEINMETZ, ADAM THORP, and ALEX WARD.
We gathered Tuesday to watch the election results roll in, in towering new dorms and off-campus apartments. The course of the election, it
seemed fair to assume, would be interesting, but the result was not particularly in doubt. The pundits and quants had spoken (the University has graduated a few of both in its time), with various degrees of confidence. Eight years after their contentious primary fight, the University’s most famous former faculty member had strongly fallen in
behind the Democratic nominee, and only a few months after his own grueling fight with Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders (A.B. ’64), one of the University’s most famous alumni, did so as well. Respectable opinion and empirical evidence seemed to be lining up behind her campaign. As one swing state after another fell to Donald Trump, the prevailing
opinion on campus turned to shock. The student body has long been left-leaning, but this year felt different than past elections. Trump’s candidacy somehow posed a threat, indicated that a whole slate of values central to the University’s identity—respect for experts, openness to ideas, an aversion to emotional decision-making—were not, maybe, that widely shared. At watch parties, students crowded around TVs, anxiously tallying up electoral totals and obsessively refreshing forecasts. As the night turned into one not worth celebrating for Clinton supporters, rooms got quiet as students tried to stomach the reality of “President-Elect Donald Trump.” At one Hillary Clinton party, bottles of champagne were never popped. At others, the rate of alcohol consumption and Clinton’s odds of victory were inversely correlated. The Institute of Politics (IOP) decked out the Reynolds Club in red and blue stage lights, and an American flag made of balloons. Hundreds of students were energetic when the doors opened, but devastated when the party—scheduled to end at 11 p.m.—finally let out, just before 1 a.m. At midnight, nearly 300 stu-
dents flocked to the quad for a collective “primal scream.” Around the same time, several students lit a Trump banner on fire at the cheers and encouragement of the crowd, and chants of “Fuck Trump” returned in choruses. On the fringes, a student played a mournful national anthem on his trumpet. Another wave of students arrived just after, carrying a large speaker. They played rapper YG’s song “Fuck Donald Trump” on repeat and students sang along with the protest anthem. Pro-Trump messages that had been scribbled in chalk on the quad were crossed out or written over. Come Wednesday morning, campus was noticeably quieter than usual. Several students were seen in tears. The Center for Identity and Inclusion had open drop-in hours for students to “process” the outcome. Some teachers postponed midterms and assignments—one Sosc professer offered extensions on an assignment to anyone who planned to attend an anti-Trump rally on Wednesday outside Trump Tower. One professor described Trump’s win to THE MAROON as a “national tragedy.” Continued on page 2
How Hyde Park and Its Neighbors Voted This Election Cycle BY ADAM THORP
FOR HILLARY CLINTON 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION %IN VOTE HYDE PARK AND KENWOOD
NEWS EDITOR 43RD
HYDE PARK
% OBAMA, ‘12
TURNOUT DROP FROM ‘12
% OBAMA, ‘08
THIRD PARTY
<20% <10%
<15% <5%
55TH
100%
>99%
95% – 99%
90% –95%
STONY ISLAND
KIMBARK
60TH
COTTAGE GROVE
Let’s keep everything in perspective: the results in Hyde Park, Kenwood, and a few surrounding precincts were very strong for Hillary Clinton. She registered more than 89 percent of the vote in every precinct. In many precincts, as much or more support was registered for third parties as on the Republican ticket. But there is some evidence of softening here. Gone are the precincts that registered more than 99 percent support for favorite son Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. Voter turnout dropped dramatically at times (in the Seventh Precinct of the Fifth Ward, it dropped by 28.77 percent), an indication, perhaps, of the drop in enthusiasm that dogged her across the country.
MORE VOTES FOR 3RD PARTIES THAN TRUMP
<90%
Adam Thorp
Hamilton in Chicago: Who Hears Your Story?
Chicago Kicks Off Fall NCAA Championships
Page 9
Page 11
Hamilton has come to Chicago, one of the most diverse cities in America, but its audiences are— unsurprisingly—white.
This marks the fourth consecutive year Chicago has made the postseason, as well as the 15th in the team’s history.
UChicago Manual of Style
What Does It All Meme?
Page 8
Page 9
The Maroon’s fashion feature rigorously inquires: “Who are you wearing?” This week, we talked to fourth-years Aminah Sallam and Jason Deng.
Memes are curated by the public, for the public: What med ia outlet c ou ld bett er represent who we are in the present moment?
Contributing to THE MA ROON
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