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UNION PRESIDENT, EXNYT REPORTER TALK LABOR, SOLIDARITY

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Suspected Coronavirus Patient Tests Negative at UC Med

By MAROON STAFF The University of Chicago Medicine (UCM) patient suspected of contracting the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has tested negative for the virus, according to Lorna Wong, executive director of communications at UCM. The patient was not affiliated with the University, according to a statement published by University Provost Ka Yee Lee this afternoon. In an email forwarded to The Maroon, Wong informed hospital staff of UCM’s continued approach to handling the virus.

“We remain committed to providing safe and effective care to those in our community who become infected with COVID-19. We will continue to work with federal, state and local health officials as we monitor the situation locally and nationally while also ensuring UChicago Medicine’s readiness for the various stages of the epidemic,” Wong said.

UCM admitted the patient Monday night, and notified faculty, staff, and

students who work in the hospital via an email. The email said that UCM “has been preparing for this eventuality since COVID-19 became a global health concern in January.”

In a statement published last week, UCM Vice President of Risk Management and Patient Safety Krista Curell said, “We’re following rigorous isolation and infection control protocols to ensure the safety of our staff, patients and our neighbors.”

Last week, Lee and president of the University of Chicago Health System Kenneth Polonsky also sent an email to the University community saying, “If one or more members of the campus community contract COVID-19, the University is ready to provide care and advice.”

More frequent surface disinfecting is also being implemented in response to the virus, and the University has also established a designated email, coronavirusinfo@uchicago.edu, and a resource CONTINUED ON PG. 6

Second Hong Kong Program Moved

By YIWEN LU News Reporter The College has relocated the spring 2020 Hong Kong: Colonizations study abroad program to London in light of the coronavirus outbreak in China and at the recommendation of Dean John Boyer in consultation with the program faculty and staff from the Yuen campus in Hong Kong. The program will take place in the same classroom as the existing autumn

GREY CITY: Gothic Evolution

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quarter British literature and culture program.

According to University spokesperson Gerald McSwiggan, this decision is in line with the University guidance regarding international travel from Provost Ka Yee Lee’s recent message to the campus community about the coronavirus. Following the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. State Department, which has CONTINUED ON PG. 2

EDITORIAL: The Unsung Dilemmas of Unrecognized Greek Life

DOMINIQUO SANTISTEVAN

Maroons Basketball Triumphs on Senior Day

By DANIEL ZEA Sports Reporter This past Saturday, UChicago’s basketball teams suited up to face Wash U at home for what would be a pair of exciting games and an emotional Senior Day for the teams’ seven graduating fourth-years.

While Saturday’s games carried different stakes for the men and women, both teams had the same objective—to finish their seasons strongly with a win over a division rival.

The men came into their game as underdogs, with the Bears ranked No. 13 in the nation and vying for a UAA title. However, bolstered by a game-high 23 points from third-year Brennan McDaniel, the

Maroons managed to pull off the upset, winning the game 77–70. Despite a disappointing first half, the team came together to take the lead in the second and never looked back. Fourth-year Jordan Baum, who scored eight points and finished his career as UChicago’s all-time assists leader, commented on the comeback, saying, “We knew we only had 20 minutes left together, and each and every guy gave it all they had to make sure we pulled out a win.” Proving that point, fourth-year Mattia Colangelo led the team with five assists, contributing nine points to the winning effort, while fourth-year Cole Schmitz added another nine. After the game, Baum said, “I think all of the CONTINUED ON PG. 20

ARTS: Youuu Should Listen to COIN’s Newest Album

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University Cancels Second Hong Kong Study Abroad over Coronavirus and Security Concerns CONTINUED FROM COVER

maintained its highest level of alert for China, Level 4: Do Not Travel, Lee said in the message that the University “continues to strongly discourage travel to mainland China and Hong Kong.”

The Colonizations program in Hong Kong has been taught since spring quarter 2015. The program counts toward the civilization studies component of the Core, and allows participants to explore civilizational studies through a cross-cultural perspective as they take advantage of the resources in Hong Kong, a major financial center in Asia and former British colony. Participants also take a Mandarin course.

The reorganized Colonizations sequence in London will still fulfill the civilizations Core requirement. Students who chose to remain in the London sequence were offered the opportunity to

take an optional Mandarin course, taught by local language instructors and offered at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels.

In London, students will “reside in shared, fully-furnished apartments with kitchens in central London,” according to an email sent to students. Originally, students would have been housed in the Robert Black College guest house on the campus of the University of Hong Kong.

The cost for the program is unchanged, but students need to adjust their plane tickets if they already purchased flights to Hong Kong. Due to the recent outbreak, most airlines have issued full refunds to travelers who cancelled tickets, according to the email sent to participants.

Details of the reorganized program are not yet available. Because this is the first time that the Colonizations sequence

will be taught in London, the course was redesigned from scratch, according to Lauren Schneider, the program director.

Participants were given until February 14, three days after the announcement, to decide whether they would attend the program in London or remain on campus. Those who decided not to study abroad were not charged a withdrawal fee and were able to participate in class pre-registration during seventh week.

More than 20 students originally enrolled in the program were affected by the change. Schneider told The Maroon that most chose to remain in the program.

In winter 2020, the University cancelled the Hong Kong economics study abroad program due to protests in the city. The program was relocated to the UChicago Center in Paris.

The Yuen campus in Hong Kong has been closed since January 29 in response

to the coronavirus outbreak. Last week, the University decided to postpone the potential reopening from February 24 to March 2. All programming has been postponed or relocated through that date.

“The decision of when to re-open the Yuen Campus is considered on a weekly basis and is based on the latest available information, including the operating status of other Hong Kong institutions such as Hong Kong University, where classes are being held online through March 28.

The paramount goal is maintaining the safety of faculty, students, staff, and visitors,” McSwiggan told The Maroon by email.

McSwiggan added that future study abroad programs in Hong Kong are not currently affected. Hong Kong: The Global Urban, the next program to be hosted on the Yuen campus, is scheduled for September 2020.

Credit Rating Agency Moody’s Downgrades UChicago Medicine’s Credit Rating

By LEE HARRIS Editor-in-Chief The University of Chicago Medical Center’s (UCMC) credit rating fell in December due to concerns about the increased debt load taken on by the hospital system.

Moody’s Investors Service, a ratings agency, cut its main rating on the Medical Center by one notch, to A1 from Aa3. In the same update, the agency upgraded Ingalls Memorial, a recently-acquired part of the UCMC system, from Baa2 to A1. UCMC and Ingalls merged in 2016.

Lower credit ratings signal that an organization may be less able to pay back its debt—making it a bigger gamble to invest in. Moody’s also switched UCMC’s outlook from negative to stable, indicating that UChicago is not expected to fall further anytime soon.

The update applies to approximately $717 million in debt, Moody’s said in a report about the downgrade.

“UCMC’s margins will not likely be sustained at levels sufficient enough to offset its relatively high leverage, which is not in line with higher rated peers,” the report explains. “In addition to elevated financial leverage, UCMC will face headwinds as it continues to focus on integrating Ingalls Health System.”

Last year, Moody’s upheld higher grades for other Chicago-area hospitals, including an A1 rating for Rush University Medical Center and an Aa2 rating for Northwestern Memorial HealthCare.

In a statement to The Maroon on Wednesday, the hospital said the Moody’s assessment wouldn’t affect its borrowing strategy.

“The University of Chicago Medical CONTINUED ON PG. 3

Investment-Grade Ratings by Moody’s. MAROON STAFF

THE CHICAGO MAROON — MARCH 4, 2020

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UChicago’s Aa2 rating from Moody’s sets it behind other elite schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia CONTINUED FROM PG. 2

Center does not expect Moody’s action to affect existing obligations or its debt strategy, nor will it impact patient care,” the hospital said, adding that the Medical Center maintains AA- ratings from Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings agencies.

Moody’s recommended in its report that the Medical Center maintain “close alignment with its parent, University of Chicago.”

Since issuing the updated grade for the hospital, Moody’s has also weighed in on the University of Chicago. Last week, the ratings agency affirmed the existing Aa2 rating on approximately $4 billion in debt issued by the University, excluding the UCMC. That debt includes about $3.5 bil-

lion of revenue bonds and $470 million of debt and commercial paper “supported by the university’s internal liquidity.”

Describing the rationale for upholding the Aa2 rating, a Moody’s report explains that it was boosted by the University’s impressive ranking.

The rating, the report said, reflects “University of Chicago’s excellent strategic positioning anchored by global prominence as an elite research university with extremely strong undergraduate demand.”

Despite strong fundraising, the University’s high debt-to-assets ratio—driven by increasing spending—gave Moody’s analysts pause.

“Favorably incorporated are significant wealth and exceptional fundrais-

ing, although monthly liquidity, already relatively modest for its rating category, provides thinning coverage for the university’s rising expense base. The university remains highly leveraged and has rising debt service obligations against relatively weak operating performance.”

The University has pursued aggressive development in recent years, building new residential facilities including a megadorm expected to house more than 1,000 students, purchasing sought-after real estate near the planned site of the Obama Presidential Center, and expanding its global footprint.

UChicago’s Aa2 rating from Moody’s sets it behind other elite schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia uni-

versities—all considered prime investments.

In the past, Moody’s has attributed ratings cuts—such as Northwestern University’s recent downgrade from Aaa to Aa1—to mounting competitive pressures in higher education.

Maintaining top rankings can mean higher fixed costs, including big outlays on faculty and infrastructure, an analyst at Moody’s told the Chronicle of Higher Education last year.

Explaining why it chose to downgrade Northwestern, Moody’s cited liquidity concerns similar to those it identified at UChicago, noting that “pressure to invest to sustain competitiveness with other elite universities will be challenging.”

President of Flight Attendants’ Union Talks Solidarity, Prison and Police Unions with Ex-NYT Labor Reporter

By JULIET GOSWAMI News Reporter On Monday, Sara Nelson, who leads a union representing flight attendants, and Steven Greenhouse, a former New York Times labor reporter, discussed the state of the American labor movement. Noam Scheiber of The New York Times moderated the discussion, whose topics ranged from new union vitality to the role of the labor movement in the 2020 elections.

Though union membership is at historic lows, Greenhouse said, strike activity and grassroots excitement have pushed labor struggles into new terrain.

“In our field, in media, the two most anti-union newspapers in the country have unionized recently: the Chicago Tribune and the L.A. Times.”

“We’ve seen a lot of graduate students unionizing, here and elsewhere,” Greenhouse added, referring to Graduate Students United, the union of graduate workers at UChicago. “As a reporter, I’m not supposed to sound opinionated, but I say, how could a university administration deny that the teaching done by

graduate teaching assistants is work? I mean, that’s just absurd to me.”

Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, also trained her sights on local labor struggles, namechecking the Student Library Employees Union—students who work in the University of Chicago’s library bookstacks and at check-out desks, managing library materials.

“The labor movement is for every working person,” Nelson said. “It is people of color, it is women, it is anyone who has a job…and I should just take a quick moment to say, it is also the student library workers right here at the University of Chicago who have been fighting for two and a half years to get recognition for their union.”

Nelson also spoke about how employer maltreatment has affected the labor movement. “It’s a real microcosm for what I think is happening all across America, in that there is this feeling [in this next generation of workers] that no one did it for them. They’re going to have to do it for themselves. They’re more prone for collective action.”

Nelson highlighted the fact that recent American union activity has inspired other workers’ movements within the country. “People are ready to fight, and they’re looking for answers. The labor movement has it for them.”

Greenhouse agreed. Workers, he said, “are trying to take power into their own hands in the form of collective power.”

Referring to the Chicago Teachers Union’s strike last year, Nelson said that the degree of labor solidarity, and the fact that teachers struck alongside low-wage workers for student rights—not just pay raises—signaled a new moment in union organizing.

Union halls, according to Nelson, “bring people together who come from all different beliefs and different political systems.”

“The Chicago teachers, when they struck—they were not all far lefty Democrats supporting Bernie Sanders. There were plenty of Trump voters out there on the picket line because they had a common cause,” Nelson said.

She suggested that Democratic presidential candidates’ extensive labor plans

are no accident, and that targeting worker’s unions is a way to bring more people to the polls. Workers are taking collective action together, and in some cases getting a result in a day or within a couple weeks.

When was the last time you got anything done in the government in that amount of time?”

Greenhouse said that one of the main issues in the 2016 and 2020 elections has been the disparity between union leadership and workers. “I think a lot of the candidates realize that a big reason why Hillary Clinton lost was because she didn’t focus enough on fighting for workers” as opposed to Trump, Greenhouse said. He suggested that the hesitance to endorse candidates results from the crowded primaries: “If only 34 percent support Bernie, you’re not going to say, ‘Well, we should endorse him,’ because 66 percent don’t. Union leaders are being more careful now.”

Nelson defended union leaders, saying that dynamics have changed since 2016, when she believes that union leaders were more tightly bound to estabCONTINUED ON PG. 4

THE CHICAGO MAROON — MARCH 4, 2020

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“We have to be really careful about saying some workers deserve a union, and others don’t.”

CONTINUED FROM PG. 3

lished political relationships. She argued that in 2020 elections unions are leaving endorsements to local chapter leaders.

“So, we want the labor union to be a big tent,” one audience member said during the question period. “Is there room in this tent for unions like police unions or prison guard unions, whose incentives are widely perceived to be imperfectly aligned with a lot of progressive groups?”

“We have a flight attendant who ended up in six weeks of ICE detention this past year,” Nelson responded. When she was eventually released, Nelson said, the flight attendant spoke powerfully about her interactions with the non-unionized guards who detained her.

“The place was a mess, it wasn’t clean, the food was terrible, they were given terrible treatment,” Nelson said the flight attendant recalled. “She remembers talking with a guard who talked about this experience—about being hired, and then not being given the resources to

do the job herself, and getting frustrated, and frustrated with the people she’s guarding, who are saying the conditions are horrible. It’s setting up this conflict between the worker who has been hired, and the person that they are policing.”

“So I think that it’s really important that we recognize that the people who are creating this conflict, and pushing people together into this conflict, are the ones to blame,” Nelson concluded. “We have to be really careful about saying some workers deserve a union, and others don’t.”

Greenhouse and Nelson ultimately agreed that the labor movement is being revitalized, and that the solidarity between all unions is important to its regrowth.

“First and foremost, it can’t be about thinking that [the 2020] election will change anything,” said Nelson. “We should fight forward for our emotions for each other. Because our emotions are not a detriment to us; they are our superpower, because it means that we’re going to fight like hell for the people that we love.”

Former NY Times reporter Steven Greenhouse (left) with Sara Nelson.

LEE HARRIS

Fourth-years Lead Campaign to Redirect Donations from the University to the South Side

By KATE MABUS News Reporter Fourth-year students have launched a campaign, Reclaim Our Gift, to redirect student donations to the University from graduating students, a tradition known as the Senior Class Gift, to South Side organizations.

The campaign was introduced online in a statement released Wednesday, February 19. “Our goal is not only to prevent the University from siphoning more money from us through the Senior Class Gift, but to redirect funds to the communities this University harms the most,” the group wrote in its mission statement.

The campaign aims, according to the statement, to recognize “our legacy as benefactors of the University’s an-

tagonistic relationship to its South Side neighbors, and redistribute the wealth that UChicago has accumulated through its long history of exploiting, displacing, and over-policing Black residents in the surrounding areas.”

At an information session held on Monday night, organizers emphasized that they do not want people to view the campaign as an act of charity. “This is really about establishing an ongoing relationship and using our collective power as UChicago students,” fourth-year Fikayo Walter said.

Reclaim Our Gift is an evolution of a campaign started in 2018 that called on fourth-years to not donate to the Senior Class Gift. That movement, spurred on by a viewpoints article in The Maroon written by a group of Odyssey scholars,

encouraged fourth-years to withhold donations to the University.

Other student activist groups, UChicago United and the UChicago Student Activist Network (USAN), promoted the 2018 Don’t Donate to the Senior Gift campaign by distributing a petition to withhold donations to the University, and in a letter to the Class of 2019 and alumni, USAN encouraged donations to be sent to four South Side community organizations: Assata’s Daughters, GoodKids MadCity, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), and Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP).

All the organizations Reclaim Our Gift wants to donate to say that they are working to repair the adverse effects of gentrification, displacement, police violence, and criminalization upon the Black and

Brown communities on the South Side.

STOP and KOCO organize education and leadership development for low-income families. Assata’s Daughters and GoodKids MadCity do the same for South Side youth, to effect multigenerational change through mentoring and empowerment.

Reclaim Our Gift organizers say their campaign encouraging fourth-years to divert their donations is not only a protest to the University, but is a productive alternative. At the information session, organizers said the campaign has partnered with Assata’s Daughters and will direct all donations to their youth programming.

The organizers of Reclaim Our Gift declined The Maroon’s request for further comment, explaining that their campaign is still under development.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — MARCH 4, 2020

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City Allocates $4.5 Million to Housing Plan for Woodlawn

By BRAD SUBRAMANIAM Senior News Reporter Mayor of Chicago Lori Lightfoot and the Department of Housing (DOH) updated Woodlawn’s affordable housing draft ordinance to appropriate an additional $4.5 million toward loan and housing rehabilitation programs, according to a press release last Tuesday.

The proposed ordinance was based on the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development’s (DPD) draft report, the Woodlawn Report, which recommended passing DOH’s planned ordinance. The report, released on January 29, combined the results of 11 different studies conducted by community organizations and civic agencies over the past 15 years, and advised selling most of the 51 acres of vacant land in the Woodlawn area.

However, the previous versions of the ordinance overlooked a proposed Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) endorsed by 29 aldermen, which would have expand-

ed affordable housing and tenants’ rights within two miles of the planned Obama Presidential Center (OPC) in Jackson Park.

The current draft ordinance would also be expanded to cover the entire Woodlawn area, as opposed to previous versions which only included census tracts within threefifths of a mile of the OPC. In addition to City funding, the plan is also expected to attract $5 million of private investment toward loan funds, and would give current building residents first rights to purchase their building before the landlord puts it up for sale.

Though the updated ordinance attempted to assuage concerns of gentrification resulting from the planned construction of the OPC, some advocates still feel the ordinance does not do enough to prevent displacement. Critics of the plan include 20th Ward Alderman Jeanette Taylor, who has called for expanded anti-displacement measures. The 20th Ward encompasses most of Woodlawn, along with parts of Washington Park, Englewood, and Back of

the Yards.

“This doesn’t protect everyone,” Taylor told Block Club Chicago. Taylor added that she planned to further negotiate with Lightfoot on Monday after meeting with community organizations and residents.

Taylor specifically took issue with the City’s requirements for housing development on City-owned land. The ordinance would require that developers on Cityowned land set aside 10 percent of housing units in small complexes with at least six apartments for residents earning less than 80 percent of area median income, and 5 percent of housing units in buildings with more than 15 units for residents earning less than 50 percent of median income. Taylor argued that these protections were not enough leverage to prevent displacement.

However, Fifth Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston, who had worked with Taylor to introduce the Community Benefits Agreement last year, spoke highly of the updated draft ordinance at her ward meeting on Tuesday. She added that the new proposed

ordinance did more to provide affordable housing for Woodlawn residents than the earlier CBA ordinance.

Lightfoot’s $4.5 million plan includes a $1.5 million expansion of the City’s Preservation of Existing Affordable Rental (PEAR) program, which would allow landlords to more easily refinance multifamily buildings for up to zero percent interest provided the units stay affordable for the next 30 years.

It also allocates $500,000 to Renew Woodlawn, a program which helps low-income individuals purchase homes, and $1.5 million for Woodlawn’s Loan Fund, which funds the purchase and improvement of vacant units for affordable housing.

The Office of the Mayor announced on Thursday that housing officials would continue to meet with aldermen and stakeholders, but that a timetable was not yet available for when the draft ordinance would be introduced to the City Council for voting.

State Rep Endorses Push for Ethnic Studies Department

By PEYTON JEFFERSON Senior News Reporter The UChicago United campaign #EthnicStudiesNow, which advocates for a fully funded ethnic studies department at the University, was endorsed in early February by state representative Theresa Mah (Ph.D. ’99), who formerly served as assistant director at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture (CSRPC) and as a history lecturer at UChicago.

“I truly admire the students behind the #EthnicStudiesNow Campaign of UChicago United,” Mah wrote to University President Robert Zimmer, in her letter of support. “I agree with the students’ view that the field of Ethnic Studies is an integral part of a holistic and rigorous higher education experience. I share their belief that the proposed department’s construction around the research, study, and teaching of the experience of people of color would fill a critical academic gap in the University of Chicago’s curriculum.”

#EthnicStudiesNow is run by the UChicago United coalition of students of color and multicultural students.

In her letter, Mah expressed her dissatisfaction with the way UChicago administration has handled the situation.

“I am disappointed by the lack of support for these students from the University of Chicago administration,” Mah wrote. “I am proud to support the #EthnicStudiesNow Campaign as they continue to fight for the creation of a Race/ Ethnic Studies Department that would engage critically with contemporary social issues around race and inequality, produce scholarship grounded in the analysis of power structures in the U.S. and around the world, and uplift marginalized histories and knowledges.”

Mah was unable to provide further comment to The Maroon before publication.

“Primarily, the function of having [an ethnic studies] department—logistically and structurally—is to have faculty lines of hire, which means faculty who are paid to be teaching in a department for ethnic

studies,” Liana Fu, a third-year member of UChicago United, told The Maroon.

“Currently, the situation is that we have faculty affiliates in the CSRPC here, who are in different departments, so they’re being paid by different departments.

They don’t have ties strictly to ethnic studies and they don’t have an obligation to teach ethnic studies, at least through how they’re paid.”

This is a vision that Mah backs, according to the letter she sent to Zimmer on February 10, which was shared by UChicago United online.

This show of support had been planned for some time. Fu said she has been in contact with Mah since last year, when they met at a PanAsia Solidarity Coalition event. After discussing their shared interests in the CSRPC, Mah agreed to write a statement in support of the #EthnicStudiesNow campaign.

“It’s really important that someone who has experience at this university, and knows how it works, was able to openly support us,” Fu said. “She’s someone to be a strong ally for us, and show that our

campaign is not just something limited to this campus, but something much bigger.”

Some of UChicago’s peer institutions have institutionalized ethnic studies programs in different forms. Harvard has a race, ethnicity and immigration research cluster, Stanford offers a comparative studies in race and ethnicity program, and UC Berkeley has a Department of Ethnic Studies.

However, UChicago’s administration has been resistant to the campaign. According to UChicago United, the administration has told group members that more people need to major in comparative race and ethnic studies before they decide to create a department, and that faculty would first need to write a proposal for the department’s creation, which would then go to University Senate for a vote, before it can decide whether to create an ethnic studies department.

In the future, Fu expects there to be more statements released supporting the campaign, and she hopes that will spur on the administration to begin addressing and acting on the group’s demands.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — MARCH 4, 2020

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University Switching to Nine Week Quarters in 2021

By OREN OPPENHEIM News Editor Quarters will be shortened to nine weeks of class, and autumn quarter will include a weeklong Thanksgiving break beginning in autumn 2021, according to an email sent out by Provost Ka Yee Lee on Wednesday morning.

Currently, quarters comprise nine-anda-half weeks of class, and students have two days off for Thanksgiving. These changes are part of a set of recommendations for adjustments to the quarter system following a committee review of the current calendar.

“These adjustments result from a comprehensive review of the academic calendar by a committee composed of faculty, academic staff, and undergraduate and graduate students, who worked at the charge of ARCH [College] Dean John W. Boyer with support UCATIONfrom the Office of the Provost,” Lee wrote.

SCIENCEThe Faculty Senate and College Council, as well as other deans throughout the UniverROLE sity, have also reviewed the changes.

Lee wrote in the email several “key recROPY ommendations” that detail the main changSSES

es to the quarter system in six bullet points: · Conclude all coursework and exams

by June 1 · Institute a week-long break for Thanksgiving · Reduce each quarter’s instructional period from 9 ½ to 9 weeks · Establish a three-day Reading Period, extending from Saturday of the final instructional week through Monday of Exam Week · Administer exams Tuesday through Friday of Exam Week · Introduce a three-week September term with limited on-campus course offerings, modeled after study abroad programs and Summer Session The recommendations are further detailed in a report released by the Committee to Review the Academic Calendar, which Boyer formed in January 2019 to explore potential changes to the University calendar, including possibly changing to a semester system.

The report made it clear that the University should remain on a quarter system, but

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recommended adjustments to not overburden students.

“Above all, our findings confirm the centrality of the quarter-system to our identity at the University of Chicago,” the committee wrote in the executive summary that opens the report. “We also recognize that the quarter system, as currently operated, likely contributes to elevated student stress, although the exact mechanisms here are difficult to capture quantitatively.”

The new September term, which will be three weeks long, starts post–Labor Day, and students taking classes then would get both autumn quarter credit and financial aid. Currently, the College offers a number of September courses abroad and at the Marine Biological Laboratory alongside its summer quarter offerings. The report also indicates that courses for language, technical, or artistic skills could possibly be taught for the September term, and this recommendation would expand and formalize September offerings.

Currently, faculty that teach in September make overtime pay, but that may change under the new schedule.

“Instructor compensation will be examined separately by the College, Divisions, and Schools,” the committee wrote in the report. “Compensation might involve either extra-service payments (as with Summer Sessions) or the fulfillment of teaching obligations.”

The report’s executive summary also says that autumn quarter will keep its “11week footprint” but that the entire week of Thanksgiving will be given for break, as opposed to only Thanksgiving and the day after, as is current practice.

Additionally, autumn quarter reading period would be shifted to Saturday of 10th week through Monday of 11th week,

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with Tuesday through Friday for exams.

Currently, reading period spans Thursday and Friday of 10th week, not including the weekend.

Winter break would remain three weeks long, the report says, but winter quarter would be shortened to 10 weeks—nine weeks of class; reading period from Saturday of ninth week through Monday of 10th week, with Tuesday through Friday for exams. “The Registrar may include evening scheduling for exams,” the committee wrote in the report. While there is currently no official evening scheduling for classes that don’t meet in evenings during the quarter, some departments, such as computer science and economics, hold evening finals during reading period.

It is not clear whether spring break will become two weeks or remain one week, and the report says “the decision to retain a oneweek break or to extend spring break to two weeks will determine the footprint of Spring quarter.” Lee did not address spring break in her email.

Spring quarter is planned to also have nine weeks of class, and reading period from Saturday of ninth week through Monday of 10th week, with Tuesday through Friday for finals and allowances for evening finals.

Under the new changes, 11th week would be “reserved for Senior Days/Week, with Convocation events to follow.”

Lee wrote that the report’s recommendations could benefit both students and professors in various ways. “Such benefits include increased flexibility for students to schedule coursework, a better coordinated conclusion to the spring term across all units of the University, and better alignment of the calendar with a range of summer opportunities including research, internships, and summer study,” Lee said.

center for inquiries about the virus.

To date, there have been four confirmed cases of coronavirus in Illinois.

Two of the confirmed coronavirus patients have since made a full recovery, according to officials. An additional 286 individuals in the state were being actively monitored as of Monday afternoon, ac-

cording to NBC. The University has been responding to the coronavirus outbreak. It has closed its Center in Beijing and the Yuen Campus in Hong Kong, cancelling a planned study abroad program in Hong Kong this spring.

THE CHICAGO MAROON — MARCH 4, 2020

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VIEWPOINTS

The Unsung Dilemmas of Unrecognized Greek Life The administration trots out Greek organizations when it proves lucrative to do so, then cries “non-recognition!” to avoid association with Greek life’s less savory aspects.

By MAROON EDITORIAL BOARD Fraternity houses line South University Avenue, but there is no Greek life at the University of Chicago—or at least, that’s what the University’s non-policy on fraternities and sororities would have us believe. Last quarter, the University’s news office labeled fraternities “outside organizations.” In 2016, the College’s Dean of Students Jay Ellison called Greek organizations “non-recognized” groups.

But for a university with an explicit stance of non-recognition, fraternities and sororities certainly play a conspicuous role in official, and heavily promoted, UChicago programming.

One example occurs every Alumni Weekend, at the University-hosted Interfraternity (IF) Sing. Every June, past and present Greek members file into Hutchinson Courtyard, clad in carefully coordinated semi-formal attire, to compete against each other with renditions of their chapters’ songs. IF Sing culminates in the presentation of five championship cups: for the organization with the highest quality of singing, for the “most spirited, yet respectful, performance,” and so on.

The affair has been a mainstay since 1911, according to the section of UChicago’s official Alumni Weekend website dedicated to IF Sing. The site boasts: “Few colleges and universities have events of comparable age.” After a review of IF Sing history— in 1922, we learn, more than 18,000 alumni and current students competed—the page concludes with a reflection on the state of Greek life today.

“IF Sing has endured at Chicago, notwithstanding intervening wars, societal shifts, and institutional changes in the University that have affected fraternity representation on campus,” it reads. “Campus Greek life continues to expand in the new century.”

Just how big this expansion has been,

however, is an open question. Because the University does not recognize fraternities and sororities, it does not track membership. In response to a request for comment for this editorial, a spokesperson said that UChicago “does not keep official records.”

But in 2016, an administrator from the Alumni Association confirmed to The Maroon that the alumni office does keep tabs on former students’ Greek pasts.

For his part, Dean of the College John Boyer has denied any suggestion that alumni donations play into the University’s Greek life policy.

“Certainly a lot of alumni leaders that I know were part of Greek life, and they feel very strongly and protective of that. That’s undeniable,” Boyer said in 2016. Prominent donors from Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji), for example, include Bernie DelGiorno (A.B. ’54, A.B. ’55, M.B.A. ’55), Jeff Metcalf (A.M. ’52), and former Goldman Sachs vice chairman Byron Trott (A.B. ’81, M.B.A. ’82).

But Boyer rejected an explicit link: “Anyone with any special interest money can take a hike.”

Meanwhile, Admissions employees are instructed to mention UChicago’s thriving Greek scene to prospective students, as part of a pitch about the College’s bubbly social climate. Student tour guides are instructed to tell visitors that roughly 15–20 percent of undergrads here are Greek-affiliated.

And even as the College website contains no Greek-related information (something that appears on nearly all peer institutions’ websites—whether or not they recognize fraternities), the official blog run by Admissions does discuss Greek life. One 2018 essay on Admissions’ Uncommon Blog, for instance, lauds sorority philanthropy.

A two-faced approach Alumni and Admissions thus expose a broader bifurcation in the University’s

approach to Greek organizations. Does the University, in fact, have a real “non-recognition” policy?

Clearly, administrators trot out the presence of Greek life when it is useful in luring alumni—and alumni dollars—back to campus. And at the Admissions office, the school’s Greek presence has helped put to rest the notion that UChicago is “where fun goes to die.”

Meanwhile, the University cries “non-recognition!” when it wants to avoid association with Greek life’s less savory aspects.

A recent example? Last quarter, after a sexual assault was reported at Delta Upsilon’s fraternity house, administrators emailed a community alert to undergraduate and graduate students that said the incident had occurred at “an off-campus party at 5714 South Woodlawn Avenue.”

The alert did not link this address to Delta Upsilon (DU), or to any fraternity.

As many students took to Facebook groups and other online forums to point out, this use of “off-campus” is, at best, misleading. DU’s house is sandwiched between the Center for Identity and Inclusion and the Pozen Center for Human Rights—two University buildings. The Quadrangle Club, a popular hangout for professors, sits in DU’s back yard, and David Axelrod surely enjoys a clear view into the fraternity’s upper floors from his office at the Institute of Politics, across the street.

Administrators’ selective distancing of Greek life—their acknowledgment of it only when it makes the University money—isn’t just self-serving: It affects student safety. Students should not have to conduct independent research in order to learn that a sexual assault was reported under the oversight of an expressly University-affiliated organization—since, after all, fraternities brand themselves with UChicago’s name.

As it stands, it also falls solely to the

Panhellenic Council, composed of student sorority members, to address alleged abuses by canceling social events, as the council did in the wake of reported date rape drugs at Sigma Chi parties. Here, a lack of University intervention makes it so that a group of students in sororities must take on the task of governance and communication after events like drugging or sexual assault—clearly, not ideal.

The University’s failure to name fraternities in conversations about sexual assault and safety also inevitably fuels gossip and misinformation, as many students scramble to fill what they see as an information void.

Half-hearted solutions In defending the administration’s approach, Boyer has said that “as long as people don’t violate the criminal laws of the state of Illinois, I don’t care what they do.” But of course, allegations about illegal activity—sexual assault and the use of date-rape drugs—have surfaced repeatedly in fraternities’ recent history on campus.

UChicago’s inconsistent stance on recognition has seemed to wear thin at some points in recent years. In spring 2016, for instance, the Center for Leadership and Involvement unveiled the Student Engagement Fund, which prevents non-RSOs from using campus spaces for free. Instead, in order to reserve rooms for chapter and philanthropy events, Greek organizations have since had to apply for funding each quarter. When the fund was launched, some saw it as constraining regularly occurring functions of Greek life, especially for sororities.

More outstandingly, in summer 2018, administrators wrote directly to top fraternity leaders, asking them not to hold O-Week parties with first-year students.

The administration cited “several highly concerning incidents last year” as the rea-

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“Many schools use recognition as a conduit for more active support of fraternities and sororities.”

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son for the request.

Not only was this direct, semi-private outreach an unusual move for a university that doesn’t otherwise track Greek membership, it was also an ineffectual one: At least one fraternity party held during O-Week that year did, in fact, allow first-years.

What this illustrates is that half-hearted attempts to negotiate the relationship between the administration and Greek organizations are not the solution.

These decisions wind up being either toothless, as with the 2018 fraternity letter, or meaninglessly bureaucratic: UChicago should, after all, have no urgent reason to clamp down on evening on-campus chapter meetings.

Possible decisions, and peer schools’ practices

The administration must, therefore, iron out its stance.

UChicago’s current, wavering position is both hypocritical and unsustainable.

We are not picking a side in a debate about whether Greek life belongs here. Instead, we urge the administration to adopt a self-consistent stance: They are the ones who need to choose a side.

How might administrators’ current fence-sitting resolve?

The school could recognize Greek life, allowing it to exist on campus under appropriate oversight. Alternatively, it could continue its policy of non-recognition but apply it consistently and intentionally, instead of waiving it when alumni (and their wallets) come to town.

What we’re asking is not unusual: A clear, consistent stance on Greek life is the norm at peer

institutions with Greek life on campus. Columbia, Stanford, and UPenn have clear recognition policies and similar proportions of Greek-affiliated students as UChicago. On the flip side of the issue, Harvard imposes harsh sanctions on Greek involvement, while Princeton has a clearly delineated policy of non-recognition, with accompanying restrictions on fraternity access to school resources and events.

It’s worth re-emphasizing: Recognition can work in many ways. Administrators’ acknowledgment of, and accountability for, Greek activities does not equate to discouraging or restricting these organizations’ existence. In fact, many schools use recognition as a conduit for more active support of fraternities and sororities.

UChicago’s Greek life dilemma is thus easily resolved. There

COURTESY OF UCHICAGO PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE

are two choices here: support for Greek life, with the school’s requisite oversight and accountabil-

ity, or intentional and consistent non-recognition. The administration simply needs to pick one.

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Proposed Changes to the Academic Calendar May Hinder, Rather Than Help, Student Mental Health

By MANYA BHARADWAJ In an email on Wednesday morning, Ka Yee Lee, the newly named provost of the College, informed members of the UChicago community of recommended changes to the academic calendar that will be implemented in the 2021–22 academic year. These include shorter quarters, longer breaks, and shortened reading periods as the four-day weekend prior to final exams is replaced with a three-day one. The email announcement included a link to the 2019 Academic Calendar

Report, a committee-produced review of the current academic calendar requested by Dean of the College John Boyer, with the purpose of gaining insight into “the calendar’s impact on and relationship to emotional stresses and academic outcomes.” Proposed changes are informed by the report’s findings, and it is clear that the authors had positive intent: It explicitly discusses the adjustments as a means of addressing student mental health issues.

Unfortunately, while this effort to address widespread concern over mental health is a step in

the right direction, the modifications to the academic calendar fail to accomplish this effectively.

“The cycle of quarters, each following rapidly one after the other, sets a ‘relentless’ pace,” the report finds, and this is true. In an attempt to combat this, the report’s authors suggest longer breaks within and between quarters in the hope that these will allow students to recover in between bursts of academic rigor. A weeklong Thanksgiving break and a two-week-long spring break CONTINUED ON PG. 9

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“A final disadvantge of nine-week quarters is that there will be ‘almost no ‘shopping period’”...

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would definitely be welcome.

But while the report acknowledges the flip side of this decision as “more intense academic terms,” it categorizes this as a benefit to faculty, saying that this change encourages “the delivery of varied and diverse course content.”

For professors to prefer the delivery of diverse course content is understandable, but there is no value in this if students are not mentally prepared to receive course content. The relentlessness of the quarter system is a significant factor impairing mental health on campus, and while longer breaks may indeed allow for better recovery, this effect is negated by increasing the intensity of the academic period. The report does not detail how course curricula will be modified to reflect the shorter instructional time, but it does affirm that there will be “less ‘down time’ at the beginning of the quarter.” Concern is already being expressed among the student body that existing 10-week curriculums will simply be overloaded in nine weeks.

As a potential solution to the planning challenge faced by faculty, the economics program suggests scheduling midterms for evenings or weekends. Since economics is one of the most popular majors at UChicago, implementing this in its department alone would impact a significant undergraduate demographic. Speaking from personal experience, balancing work and play at this university can be uniquely challenging.

Having exams, one of the most demanding aspects of coursework, spill over into non-instructional time may not be the most logical method when it comes to the goal of improving students’ mental health with regard to work-life balance. In

particular, this change would disproportionately affect student-athletes, artists, and any student with significant time commitments to pursuits that are not single-mindedly academic, lending new significance to the epithet “where fun comes to die.”

One of the most popular critiques raised in student Facebook groups such as UChicago Secrets and UChicago Memes for Theoretical Midwest Teens focuses on the shorter reading period. As a consequence of longer breaks within and between instructional periods, the new academic calendar will reduce the length of College reading period by a full 25 percent of its original duration. Less time to prepare for exams and less time in between them is likely to increase rather than decrease stress—another negative effect on student mental health.

A final disadvantage of nine-week quarters is that there will be “almost no ‘shopping period’…allowing course content to begin immediately.”

The precise scheduling repercussions of this are unknown, but there is seemingly an implication that add/drop will be reduced to far less than the standard three-week period.

This does have a valid benefit in that it “eliminates empty time.” But it is a change that is likely to pressurize and disadvantage students who are undecided or seeking to change their placements—perpetuating the stress culture surrounding academic and preprofessional decision-making at UChicago, similar to having to choose a career path even as early as firstyear summer. It would also penalize students who might need to safely drop classes because of mental health reasons.

An important factor affecting student mental health that the report does not address is the midterm schedule. Many

ALVIN SHI UChicago students, myself included, have had as many as five consecutive weeks with at least one midterm or paper due. Nearly every student has at some point had a week with three midterms and a paper.

This rigor permeates the calendar to such an extent that some weeks, such as fourth week and seventh week, have become infamous for their exacting nature. A more effective solution to students’ mental health troubles would have addressed this problem by reducing the

average number and weightage of midterms and papers, or by staggering them to avoid overworked weeks.

To say that the sole effect of the academic calendar change will be to increase stress and impair mental health would be untrue. There are undoubtedly some positive effects: Longer breaks, as mentioned earlier, are indeed likely to aid in the recovery process between quarters. In addition, ending the three-quarter academic year by June 1 will be a wel-

come change with regard to opening up more possibilities for internships. However, the negative impact the new calendar will have on student mental health cannot be ignored, particularly because these changes were created with the purpose of improving it. The new calendar will not be implemented until late 2021, and the Office of the Provost should use the time between now and then to incorporate and address student feedback and concerns.

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We Need to Complain More Critically UChicago Students Complain a Lot, but in Order to Actually Benefit, We Need to Change How We Complain

By GAGE GRAMLICK As I see it, UChicago is, in many ways, a utopia: Every aspect of our lives, from food to housing to activities, is designed for optimal comfort and minimum inconvenience. An army of people, employed by the university, work tirelessly so that we may devote our energies to more important matters, like Bar Night. Yet, to complain, it seems, is to be a true member of the community. From griping about Bartlett to bemoaning the laundry room lag (we didn’t pay $80,000+ for soaking-wet clothes, right?) to lamenting the cost and inconvenience of printing, we seem to criticize endlessly. This complaint culture, while seemingly interwoven into the social fabric of the university, is in-need of a facelift: We need to be more purposeful with our complaints.

Firstly, it’s essential to recognize that UChicago’s culture seems to endorse this tendency to complain. It wouldn’t take long for an outsider to realize that we are competitive with our pain, academically masochistic. We pile on enormous workloads, and carry upon our shoulders the burden of our chosen hell like a medal.

Who was at the Reg the longest? Who

slept the least? These are our heroes.

Complaining, consequently, becomes a means by which we seek approval, even show off.

While academic rigor is integral to our university’s identity, the negativity associated with it doesn’t have to be. In fact, this culture of bragging about how little sleep we got or who was at the Reg the longest is quite harmful. Indeed, complaints create positive feedback loops; the more we complain, the more pessimistic we become, making us complain even more. Because of these positive feedback loops, we end up in an echo chamber of negativity, unable to climb out of our spiraling gloom.

The consequences of these negative feedback loops are dire—and very visible on campus. Left in a vacuum of complaints, outlooks grim, our mental health falls to pieces. It’s no wonder students at UChicago are rightfully calling for better mental health resources—our complaint culture is toxic. Moreover, the stress associated with complaint culture weakens our immune systems, raises our blood pressures, and leads to increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

Yet, we need to complain. Reality is not what the brochures claim. Life at UChica-

go can be ugly. Life in general can be ugly sometimes, too. Complaining gives us the opportunity to interact with these truths, to process them, and to find solace among our peers. Furthermore, real problems need to be recognized, called out. To cease complaining would be to cease evolving.

What is a world void of criticism? Constant positivity, in many ways, is just as corrosive as constant negativity; we have to be able to unload. The question then becomes: How should we complain? How do we avoid the deathly domino effect of complaint culture while still allowing room for honesty and emotional catharsis?

We need to complain more deliberately. In an environment where complaining is a form of passive communication, in that we counterintuitively use complaints to feel better about our choices, the grievance itself loses significance. In these instances, complaining is a means by which validation is sought, not a mechanism for change or catharsis. This is to say that very little arises in the way of action from most complaints on campus. To be fair, change is rarely our goal. We want to throw our frustration into the ether and maybe catch a bit of commiseration in return. This, as I’ve pointed out, is an

unhealthy habit, as our unchecked complaints devolve into a negative outlook on life. Instead, the majority of our complaints should be clearly tied to a call to action—and those that aren’t should still be purposeful. We should complain with a goal in mind. Doing so forces us to analyze our motivation for complaining: Is the critique constructive or destructive?

Furthermore, change-focused complaints put an end to the feedback loop, helping to stabilize our mental and physical health.

Nevertheless, we do occasionally need to just let it out. It’s unrealistic to expect otherwise. This doesn’t mean, though, that venting sessions are meant to be pity parties. Sometimes life happens, and we want to be heard. And that’s okay. But we can still be intentional about how we release our frustration. Schedule venting sessions with friends; my RA calls it Cookies and Complaints. Make boundaries that promote catharsis and prevent unchecked negativity. I’m going to complain now, then I’m going to move on with my life.

If we take the time to really examine our relationships with complaints, and actively seek a well-balanced diet of positivity and controlled negativity, maybe this utopia can start to feel like one.

Take a Break from the Theory, and Practice UChicago’s Emphasis on Theory Over Practice deprives many students of a crucial creative outlet

By ANDREW FARRY When was the last time you made something? Something physical, something real?

Probably not in class: UChicago’s focus on theory relegates the practice of making to RSOs and arts majors, forcing most of us to go outside of school to make things. I made dinner last night. And the night before. But I don’t feel like that counts. I didn’t choose to make dinner; I needed to. While I was chopping onions and waiting for my rice to cook, I wasn’t thinking that I was in the process of creating something. I was executing a task. I

chose to make a stir- fry and so there I was, pushing vegetables around a frying pan, listening to a podcast. I was on autopilot, concentrating neither on my stir -fry nor on the disembodied voice talking about basketball.

So maybe I asked the wrong question. When was the last time you created something?

Creation requires imagination. You make dinner; you create a new recipe. Creation is personal. Both you and I can make the same piece of Ikea furniture, but we can’t create the same sculpture. Creation is often outsourced: to recipe books, to wikis and online tutorials, to Ikea catalogs, leaving

us as biological bots, going through somebody else’s motions. Chop three onions, put a redstone torch here, drop stitch then purl, and remember not to put the shelves in backwards. Voila! You’ve made Emma’s best chili, supergamerman77’s piston door, Oliver’s neon earflap hat, and Ikea’s best-selling shelving unit Billy. I’ve made the same thing too: My secret Minecraft base opens the same way and my Sosc books are on the same shelves. Maybe your chilli has more jalapeños and your hat is red, but in the end, we made someone else’s creation, followed the steps of someone else’s plan.

When we create, we manifest ourselves.

That clay sculpture of a sea monster on my dresser at home: That’s me or at least a part of me. But more of me is in the painting I spent weeks on in a middle school art class and even more of me is in that angsty poem I labored over in high school. This process is, I think, fundamentally enjoyable. The more intent, the more imagination, embedded in our creations, the more of us is in them and the harder they are to create. Making great art is a taxing, laborious process, a struggle to create magic, a struggle for perfec-

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“I would encourage a more balanced diet of critical consumption and creation.”

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tion, and often we judge all art against the standards of great art, even art that has no pretensions to being great. The fear of being judged in this way, by ourselves or others, can stop us from creating, but I don’t think it should. Just as we understand that the pancakes we make with our friends aren’t going to be restaurant standard, we should understand that the album our friend made or the poem we wrote were created in the spirit of fun. We need to overcome our own biases about art. We need to practice making art for fun.

This school teaches us that artistic expression is childish or that it’s a job. Classes are dominated by analysis; creation is relegated to the arts Core or sequestered far away from the quad in Logan. The University’s emphasis on theory over practice contributes to this. Arts Core classes are considered easy; many of them don’t even require you to create, just to write more essays or memorize snippets of Beethoven and facts about Degas. There’s a professional theater on campus, but how many people go to the plays or even know what’s playing? How many of the interminable emails from the University mention student art? The University just doesn’t seem to care, unless you are a major in a creative field, in which case you are looking for a job and will be bombarded with emails accordingly. You can

devote your life to art, but if you don’t you should still create; it’s not just something for children or professionals. The problem is, we’ve all been persuaded that it is—that if you’re an adult, and your art isn’t beautiful, you simply shouldn’t bother.

We need to force ourselves to create, to allow our imagination to work its magic. Because our curricula are already so theoretical, I would encourage a more balanced diet of critical consumption and creation. Don’t only take those theoretical arts classes; try taking ones with creative assignments like On Images or Intro to Genres. The University should offer more arts Core classes with creative assignments. Students should be more encouraged to paint, write, make plays, and make music. I believe there should be classes that fulfill the arts requirement where students learn an instrument and the basics of song writing. The University could also offer free music lessons, as money is no object. Taking classes like these is a way to force ourselves to create, by providing incentives which we respond to: grades.

It seems like this should suck the fun out of art, should turn a joyful activity into yet another thing you get through on Sunday evening. But by being more encouraged to create, we might make it a habit and even enjoy it.

Just as the University should force us to create, we should also force ourselves to

create. Write poems, draw pictures, sing songs and all that. Create new recipes, try things out. Maybe that combination of chili powder and cinnamon doesn’t quite work,

but you’ll certainly remember it. When you build snowmen, don’t stack three spheres, create something new. Despite all we are told, we can do magic and we should.

JESSICA XIA

Why I’m Not Recruiting New Students This Year The Administration’s Refusal to Recognize GSU Makes it Difficult to Encourage Graduate Students to Attend UChicago

By DANIEL KNORR Early March is one of my favorite times in the academic calendar—and not just because it’s not February anymore. Every year at this time, admitted graduate students come to campus for recruitment days to learn more about the programs they are considering, meet with current students and faculty, and begin to form relationships with each other. It’s an exciting opportunity to meet interesting people who could be future colleagues, and introduce them to the University and neighborhood that has become home to me, my wife, and now my

daughter.

But this year I won’t be participating.

Last fall, the University announced a set of sweeping changes to graduate education.

Among these was assigning departments, rather than divisions, the responsibility of designing teaching requirements for their students. Per the University’s continued refusal to recognize the results of graduate students’ 2017 vote to unionize, any teaching undertaken at the behest of departments will be without the benefit of a collective bargaining agreement. Under these conditions, departments that require any teaching at all become institutionally com-

plicit in the University’s denial of rights to graduate student workers in a qualitatively new way. The ethical solution, which the Department of History has so far eschewed, is simple: Don’t require Ph.D. students to teach.

There are good arguments for departments nevertheless imposing teaching requirements on their students, in spite of the University’s mistreatment of graduate student workers. Perhaps the best is that teaching is in students’ own interests; teaching is a vital component of professional training for Ph.D. students who aspire to work as faculty members. However, the University’s

anti-union position hinges on the argument that graduate student teachers’ contributions to the education of undergraduates is, in the words of Dean and Director of Graduate Affairs in the Biological Sciences Division Victoria Prince, “incidental”. Of course, this is a flagrant mischaracterization of much of the teaching that graduate students perform for the University, which can include leading weekly discussion sections, performing the entirety of grading for a course, or even designing and teaching their own courses with no immediate faculty supervision.

CONTINUED ON PG. 12

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“How are we supposed to explain away our own administration’s devaluation of our contributions to students’ learning?”

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To be generous, though, let’s assume that in the future graduate student teaching will come to resemble the picture painted by administrators, where undergraduates are basically lab rats for graduate student trainees in carefully controlled environments. How can a teaching experience where undergraduates are “incidentally” educated be meaningful preparation for academic employment? If graduate student teachers grade only a token number of papers or lead one or two discussion sections over the course of the term, how will they be ready to step into positions that require them to grade dozens of exams and papers, lead multiple class sections a week, and handle all administrative responsibilities across multiple classes within a single term? When we describe our experience in job documents like cover letters and statements of teaching philosophy, how are we supposed to explain away our own administration’s devaluation of our contributions to students’ learning? The administration has claimed that unionization will undermine the value of teaching to graduate student professionalization, but in fact the effects of the administration’s own vision of the place of graduate students in College education

are far more pernicious than any harm collective bargaining could conceivably inflict.

This situation has put departments in an admittedly impossible situation, and I sympathize with them for that. They must choose between implementing the version of graduate student teaching dictated by the administration, with all its deleterious effects on graduate student training, or perpetuating the administration’s lies about what graduate students are actually doing in the classroom. Of course, honesty isn’t always a clear-cut issue, especially when the interests of others are at stake. I won’t begrudge faculty and colleagues the logic that suggests we should suck it up and make the best of a bad situation; that we should still strive to create teaching requirements for graduate students that will prepare them for greater responsibilities later on, while minimizing our dependence on unrecognized labor. Although, especially at this historical moment and at an institution of higher learning, compromising intellectual integrity, even in the name of the greater good, should bear a second thought.

More concerning to me is that accepting the administration’s terms for graduate student teaching sounds another round in the steady erosion of faculty governance,

not only at the University of Chicago, but across the country. As The Maroon has reported, faculty have expressed concerns about this trend. But what does it take for concern to become resistance? Last spring, we graduate students put ourselves out on the (picket) line, and faculty, including those in the Department of History, lent their support and even joined our picket lines in a welcome show of solidarity.

Participating in a strike was unusual for me because I like working within institutions. I’ve been the president of my department’s student association and served on one of the much-maligned Dean’s Advisory Councils for two years because I saw a chance to make things better for students.

But working within institutions is only effective if we use the opportunities at our disposal to subvert the aspects of them that are broken. Every department now has the opportunity—working entirely within the institutional parameters available to it—to demonstrate the value of graduate student labor to the University by refusing to require their students to perform teaching labor without the collective bargaining agreement that we voted to negotiate.

I understand where my department seems to be going by working within this

system, but I can’t go with it. It’s unfair to both prospective students and the department to participate in recruitment either while keeping these reservations unspoken, or while speaking them when convincing prospective students to come here. So, I’m going to sit this year out.

I am not betraying my department. I look forward to new student recruitment every year because I want my department to prosper, and that means inviting other people to experience how great this university can be. That’s why I’ve gone to as many History Day events as I can and have housed six different admitted students over the years. But if we aren’t using every means at our disposal to make the University as good as possible for the prospective students we’re inviting to campus, then we’d better send them somewhere else. I hope people in my department will understand, but even if they don’t, our university is supposed to value free speech. If we don’t use our speech to criticize the brokenness of our own institution, then what good can it do beyond our campus?

Daniel Knorr Ph.D. Candidate Department of History

From Gothic to Studio Gang Grey City Examines the Cultural History of Campus Architecture

By MILUTIN GJAJA and KATE MABUS Grey City Reporters

Among all campus debates, architecture can be surprisingly divisive. The diversity of architectural styles on campus, from iconic Gothic to controversial brutalism, leads to the development of architectural rifts among students. A survey on the quad conducted by The Maroon found Harper Memorial Library to be a favor-

ite student building, but also identified a lover of concrete and a fan of Stony Island.

One cannot browse the UChicago Secrets Facebook page without seeing common expressions of dislike for the Regenstein Library and Max Palevsky’s distinguished modernist architecture. Yet, campus architecture also serves as a living record of the University’s history. The University’s built form embodies important administrative decisions and messaging, illustrating the development of the University’s cultural

history.

When the first University of Chicago closed in 1886 for financial reasons, its Baptist founders in 1890 saw an opportunity to create something new. The founders of the University had a vision to integrate the school into a long tradition of higher education wanting to match the reputations of its long-established Methodist and Presbyterian competitors in Evanston and Lake Forest, Illinois. The founders wanted the new school to feel elite and long-estab-

lished, so they used Gothic architecture to imply a greater degree of antiquity than the University really possessed. The new University was built on a land grant from entrepreneur Marshall Field, who owned land in the Hyde Park and Kenwood neighborhoods. The area was essentially unoccupied at the time yet situated in an economically stable and promising location, offering the founders room to fulfill their ambitious, expansive CONTINUED ON PG. 13

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vision for the University.

To achieve a reputation of established elitism, the founders decided on a Gothic architectural style for the new campus and commissioned architect Henry Ives Cobb to design the iconic Gothic facades, including Kent, Ryerson, and Cobb Hall itself (named for donor Silas Cobb), which enclose the main quad.

Cobb chose an English Gothic style for the University to make the campus feel like an escape to intellectualism to “remove the mind of the student from the busy mercantile conditions of Chicago.”

The Gothic style also served a practical purpose: to allow for a variety of interconnected buildings linked by bridges and trestles. In this way, campus architecture could embody and encourage the interdisciplinary model founders envisioned for the University.

Cobb designed the iconic quadrangles which make up the main quad to symbolize the unity of graduate and undergraduate education. He envisioned the original campus as a series of six quadrangles, surrounding a larger, central court to give the college practical separation of disciplines while also promoting unity under the umbrella of the University.

“The University was founded by men and women who admired the German research university as the ideal,” said Dean of the College John Boyer in an interview with The Maroon. “But, they also thought they were founding an undergraduate college. The German universities did not have colleges, they were just universities in general.”

Of the college’s inception, Boyer said that “it was an attempt to meld together different academic cultures. And I think the logic was, ‘If we do that we will create greater legitimacy and greater prominence for ourselves.’” Boyer emphasized that “[the idea was] that out of this confluence and combination of the two will come something new. Because neither Oxford nor Berlin had the traditions of the American liberal arts college.”

After plans for the University quadrangle were decided, President William Rainey Harper lobbied for the construction and funding of Harper Library. After his death, a number of donors pledged

money to construct the building, including John D. Rockefeller, the University’s primary donor whose contributions were intended to push the school toward a Baptist style of education.

The University appointed Charles Coolidge as head architect to guide the construction of the library. Although Coolidge directed the plan to a more historically accurate Gothic style, modeled off of iconic British universities, Cobb’s master plan still served as the blueprint for the larger University and acted as a road map for the first five decades of the University’s construction.

Cobb constructed the facade of campus, represented in the Tower Group—which was designed by Coolidge’s architecture firm and includes Reynolds Club—to resemble the German universities of Berlin and Vienna. Coolidge’s vision was realized, however, with the construction of Harper Memorial Library, which was designed to resemble the buildings of Oxford and Cambridge.

In the early 1930s, as the University underwent a reorganization that divided it into four graduate divisions and the undergraduate College, University leadership sought to more closely adhere to the model provided by the Ivy League by building student housing and enhancing the undergraduate experience.

This would bring the University into the modern age of higher education—a more comprehensive system of academic and social life which universities such as Yale and Princeton had already begun to imagine.

Architect Charles Klauder planned an entire student village to attract students who were living off campus, a majority at this time, and to fully incorporate academics into student lifestyle.

The ambitious plan included 12 courtyards and a 300-foot tower. However, the economic conditions of the Great Depression and resistance from senior faculty who were against the promotion of the undergraduate division hamstrung the execution of the plans. Burton-Judson Courts was the only new housing constructed as part of Klauder’s plans.

Klauder designed the dorm in the beaux arts style and included an especially luxurious interior, with carved wood and large common rooms. Klauder’s use of

neoclassical architecture embodied the University’s rejection of modern industrialism, as President Robert Maynard Hutchins instituted the Core Curriculum, symbolizing a re-embrace of classical thought and the long-established Western literary canon.

Following World War II, ornate architectural styles, such as Gothicism and neoclassicism, became unfashionable in a cultural era of grief and industrialism.

University President Lawrence Kimpton (served 1951–60) commissioned architect Eero Saarinen to embark on a new modernist architectural project.

Saarinen crafted a complete overhaul of the Midway Plaisance and drafted designs for the University’s developing south campus, at that time consisting of only Burton-Judson; the plan included more courtyards and openings to streets around it—a juxtaposition to the exterior of the original quadrangle, a fortress-like complex of Gothic traditionalism. The Midway acted as a barrier to separate the old-fashioned Gothic architecture of the quad from the new construction to the south as the University sought to compartmentalize itself.

Chicago historian Jay Pridmore wrote that the University’s development in the late ’60s and early ’70s “revealed an institution struggling with new economic realities, untried construction technologies, and experimental architecture styles.” In an attempt to reinvigorate the University, Provost Edward Levi

and President George Beadle designed the Ford Plan, an academic master plan approved by the board in 1965 and designed for one of the Ford Foundation’s challenge grants. (In the ’60s, the Ford Foundation issued a number of grants totaling almost $3 billion today to various colleges and universities around the country which could produce a realistic long-term plan for the institution).

This plan, which eventually won a grant worth $25 million ($204 million today), had lofty ambitions, including a sharp increase in faculty, a near-doubling of enrollment and tuition, and a much-needed update to campus infrastructure including a new STEM building, flagship library, residence halls, and renovations of some of the older buildings such as Cobb and Harper. On the administrative side of things, the plan also included a separation of the College into five divisions. Levi was keen on keeping the spirit of the University intact; according to Boyer, “Edward Levi was often wont to talk about Chicago as ‘one’ university, and this principle was [never] more acutely present than in the Ford Plan.” In the previous decades, the University had “merely continued to survive,” and the then-provost was determined to uphold the core educational values that defined and differentiated the University from all others.

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The Regenstein Library under construction in 1969. COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SPECIAL COLLECTIONS RESEARCH CENTER

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flagship library on campus, continued in that vein. Regenstein Library, built in 1970, isn’t entirely the complete departure from previous architectural styles that it may at first seem to be; in fact, similarly to Levi’s plan, it pays homage to the foundations of the University. Its massive scale reflects that of the larger buildings on campus (such as Rockefeller Chapel), while the uneven blocks that make up its facade are meant to create a complex interplay of light and shadows, a signature characteristic of the Gothic style. In other ways, however, the Regenstein Library was a considerable departure from everything that had preceded it. Stylistically, the brutalism that Le Corbusier pioneered in the ’60s, which relied on exposed concrete and blocky masses, clashed with the deeply intricate Gothic aesthetic that had characterized campus up until then. Gone, too, were any attempts to emulate other prestigious institutions.

The appointment of Hugo Sonnenschein as president in 1993 once again brought on a new direction for the University. A distinguished economist, Sonnenschein immediately went to work fixing the financial problems that had plagued the institution for decades, which at that point included a yearly $14.8 million deficit. The centerpiece of this reconstruction was a master plan, approved by the board in 1998, which provided funds for new structures.

In an interview with the Maroon, Sonnenschein, now a professor in the Department of Economics, explained that the goal of the plan was to “tease out the aspirations of the sub-communities of the University,” then to “imagine what this might look like physically.”

Although concretely, the master plan had as its main objective the construction of a number of buildings, Sonnenschein emphasized that this went beyond a simple physical renovation of campus: “More than a physical plan, it’s a plan for the way that you’re going to grow more generally.”

In combination with this plan, however, Sonnenschein made a number of controversial administrative changes, including reducing the size of the University’s Core Curriculum, which many

faculty members considered a sacred part of its identity, and substantially increasing undergraduate enrollment in an effort to increase revenue. The backlash to such changes by faculty and alumni alike was swift and furious, and a New York Times exposé published in December 1998 following interviews with distressed professors and administrators further fanned the flames on campus. With increasing interest from the media and faculty pressure mounting, Sonnenschein resigned in 2000.

Yet, Sonnenschein’s financial competence was undeniable. One of his most impressive achievements was raising $386 million as part of the University’s centennial fund campaign. A large amount of that money was subsequently directed towards the construction of a number of buildings in the 2000s, such as the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center, the Gordon Center for Integrative Science, and Max Palevsky Residential Commons. And his master plan, approved by the board a few months before his resignation, guided the University’s administration for years to come.

One of Sonnenschein’s main goals was to improve the University’s dour image. Up until then, the University had acquired a reputation for isolationism, elitism, and being out of touch with the modern world. Acceptance rates were strikingly high for an institution with such lofty ambitions, rising over 40 percent in 2000. Yet of those accepted, only a third decided to attend the University, giving many the impression that UChicago was a safety school for most applicants. This combination of a high acceptance rate and a low yield effectively laid waste to the myth that students self-selected due to the University’s Spartan life-of-the-mind attitude towards education. With the University lagging behind its designated competition of Ivy League schools, Sonnenschein and the administration realized they had to make campus a more attractive destination to retain students.

Architecture played an important role in this revolution, rendering the campus more alluring through visual beauty and technical brilliance. The early 2000s saw a development boom on campus as brand-new, modern com-

plexes emerged from the money raised in the previous decade, filling in areas where the University was sorely lacking infrastructure. The Gordon Center for Integrative Science, for instance, built in 2005, was a much-needed comprehensive STEM center. The Gerald Ratner Athletics Center, opening in 2003, was the first gymnasium built on campus in more than 70 years (Crown Field House opened in 1931), and was designed to attract potential students. The imposing glass facades of the gymnasium and pool wings let natural light flood in, breaking sharply with Bartlett Gymnasium and Crown’s dim, artificially lit interiors.

Additionally, the towering spires atop the gym recalled the flying buttresses of Gothic cathedrals, adding an air of divinity to the structure while creating a memorable addition to the University skyline, as was the intention of head architect César Pelli.

Yet the most emblematic (and controversial) structure of this period was easily Max Palevsky Residential Commons, known colloquially as Max P. This was first and foremost for historical reasons: As the first purposefully built dormitory at the University since Burton-Judson and International House in the ’30s, Max P was necessary to fulfill housing needs, particularly given the administration’s renewed emphasis on undergraduate education. For such a project, the university brought in Ricardo Legorreta, a famed

Mexican architect known for his bright colors, in an attempt to rejuvenate campus. The bricks used for Max P’s main orange structure were reportedly the brightest that Legoretta could find, rendering the building one which “amplifies the sunlight, especially in the cold, gray months of winter” (as explained in Building Ideas by Jay Pridmore). The blue, purple, and pink that feature prominently in each wing of the complex are a notable break from the uniform gray that makes up most of campus, particularly the Regenstein Library and Bartlett, its two closest neighbors. In the face of the Gothic style’s intricate towers and ornate facades, Legoretta chose simplicity, creating a geometric complex built from a combination of squares, rectangles, and triangles.

Max P also illustrated an increasing awareness of the neighborhoods surrounding the University. For much of its history, UChicago had an uneasy relationship with the rest of Hyde Park, even going so far as to sign agreements not to build past certain streets so as not to infringe on the neighborhood’s identity (agreements by which the University did not abide in future plans). But with Sonnenschein’s revolution came a departure from the University’s isolationism, at least aesthetically, which was reflected

by Max P’s design. When Legoretta came to the building site, being relatively out CONTINUED ON PG. 15

The West Tower of Harper Memorial Library collapses during construction in 1911.

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of his comfort zone of warm climates and colors, he decided to take a few weeks to walk around Hyde Park and take in the local scenery. From these promenades, Legoretta was inspired to imitate the red brick structures that he saw on display; from this was born Max P’s distinctive break from the concrete and limestone that defined the University’s architecture up until then, in favor of a style that was more in line with the architectural trends surrounding the University.

It wasn’t just the architectural styles that reflected the University’s change in philosophy, but also the choice of architects themselves. In the past, the University had often hired architects to plan large-scale structures for the campus: Cobb’s original vision in the 1890s, the student village of Burton-Judson in the ’30s, or Eero Saarinen’s ambitious plans in ’60s to make the Midway the center of campus. In the past 20 years, however,

LOTS

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modern way 33. Wager 34. Alexa’s is always on 35. Mystery writer Josephine 36. Even more modern vegetablebased pasta 41. Weekly comedy show 42. Parabolic toss 43. When duplicated, ’10s dance trend 44. Less warmed up 47. Brand with a recent Super Bowl ad featuring Lil Nas X 51. “Do, ___... ” 52. 45-Down, subjectively?

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the University has preferred to invite world-class architects to design single buildings, with little or no connection to the rest of campus. Ratner, for instance, was designed by César Pelli, a world-famous architect who designed, among others, the Petronas Towers, at the time the largest buildings in the world. Helmut Jahn, the mastermind behind Mansueto Library, created the designs for a number of airports (including O’Hare’s Terminal 1) and the Sony Center in Berlin. This trend continues even today: Studio Gang, the firm which designed the divisive Campus North, is also responsible for a massive renovation of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, due to be completed in 2022.

Since 2004, much of the construction on campus has been because of a two-part extension of Sonnenschein’s original master plan. The first part, completed in the early 2010s, includes 60. Drop the ball 61. Exult 62. Significant 64. Singer who rarely reveals her eyes due to stagefright 65. Mtn. movers?

66. Lots of this puzzle?

67. Profs’ aides 68.Manhattan ‘hood 69. Readies Down 1. Missouri mountain range 2. Use Google Docs 3. Deadlock 4. Paean 5. “Sing” along 6. Bingo-based gambling game 7. Modern crooner Michael 8. Case 9. “G’day!”

10. Yoda’s home 11. Quiche kin

the construction of campus-defining structures such as Granville-Grossman Residential Commons and Mansueto Library, as well as a renovation of the Law Library, among others. The larger second phase is in the process of being constructed right now; among its most important structures are the Logan Center for the Performing Arts, Campus North, and the Eckhardt Research Center, as well as the new Forum building and Woodlawn Residential Commons, both currently under construction. In an interview with the University Magazine, dating from 2005, former provost Richard Saller said that the overall plan “grew from the bottom up, starting from the individual needs of projects and schools,” with overall objectives including making Ellis Avenue “the backbone of campus” and filling up property south of the Midway that the University had acquired years ago.

As such, the years since Max Palev-

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36. Jellyfish, coral, etc.

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sky’s construction have largely been characterized by the construction of vast residential spaces, commonly referred to as “megadorms.” The first of these, Granville-Grossman Residential Commons, built in 2009, can accommodate over 800 students. Campus North Residential Commons, built in 2016, houses 800 more, as well as a number of cafés and restaurants on its ground floor. Finally, Woodlawn Residential Commons, slated to open in the fall of this year, will accommodate over 1,200 students in 11 houses, with 16 floors. Among the notable similarities between these complexes is the addition of a dining hall within or right next to the complex. The days when students would trek from International House to Cathey for a meal may soon be gone. As it has over the decades, UChicago’s architecture continues to evolve with the University’s needs.

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ARTS The Self-Defeating Irony of Progressive Animation

By ALINA KIM Arts Reporter

My first vivid memory of a jarring cinematic animation shot was of Carl Fredricksen, sitting alone at a chapel after Ellie’s funeral, grasping a blue balloon. Up (2009) was many people’s first experience of stunned silence in the theater, but also an important lesson in letting go, embracing the unknown, and accepting that life goes on. Animation, although likely designed to attract younger audiences, brings nuanced messages that embrace human faults, some so subtle that only mature audience members can detect them.

Animated films have become a masterful medium in disguise: a portrayal of ugly reality embedded in optimism, a hopeful message in a moment of subtle bleakness, or a downright celebration of an oppressed history. Disney and DreamWorks churn out movie after movie, attracting children and adults alike not only through their spectacular 3-D animation advancements, but also their uncanny ability to appeal to a progressive—and often self-congratulatory—audience.

The latter is what Mihaela Mihailova, University of Michigan film professor, criticized last Friday in her talk, titled “Computer-Generated Ideology: The Neoliberal Multi-Verse of Contemporary US Studio Animation,” which is part of the annual Hannah Frank Memorial Lecture series. She argued that animation has succumbed so much to a liberal progressivism that, along the way, it has become the very thing it swore to overcome: an advocate for the conservative status quo. In the spirit of Hannah Frank, Mihailova’s talk was compelling and her criticisms intriguing. That said, I cannot help but be skeptical about the limits of her analysis of modern animation and its ironic tension between progressivism and conservatism.

After briefly reflecting on Frank’s impact in the world of cinema studies, including her signature frame-byframe cartoon analysis, Mihailova then

analyzed the underlying hypocrisy in the political commentaries of modern day 3-D animated movies. She began with Zootopia (2016), which Mihailova jokingly remarks is “blatantly engineered for maximum wokeness.” At face value, it is the story of a stereotypically weak female character (Judy Hopps) who shatters the glass ceiling, condemns racist generalizations, and celebrates diversity despite prejudices.

It is seemingly the perfect concoction in accordance with the movement of #BlackLivesMatter. However, even at the movie’s triumphant, hopeful resolution, Mihailova suggests that nobody in the city of Zootopia has quite learned anything from the plot’s conflict (i.e. the predator animals suddenly going “savage” due to a chemical weapon), and this disturbing ending only furthers the prejudiced agenda of our own world.

Judy, for instance, obstructs justice as a means to an end, such as blackmailing Nick Wilde via tax evasion without his consent, or collaborating with a mafia boss to solve her case. Rather than being condemned for breaching the limits of her jurisdiction, she is instead praised for her daring actions. Consequently, there is no recognition of the injustice within the system itself. Mihailova disapproves of this systematic bias, for while xenophobia could have been properly addressed by examining faults in the police force, it instead glorifies a counterproductive rallying cry to support an institutional violence that runs on discrimination…as long as it serves “just” ends. Zootopia is an accumulation of the many ironies in the American government, and it fails to call for a political transformation that genuine progressivism would demand.

Essentially, Mihailova argues, Zootopia is a Blue Lives Matter movie, a claim bolstered by the fact that white men dominated the production.

Mihailova then discussed the How to Train Your Dragon (HTTYD) trilogy (2010–19), which she believes has an admittedly heartwarming conclusion, but is nonetheless as disturbing as that of

Zootopia. Although HTTYD could certainly be read as a message for wildlife conservation efforts or disability advocacy, Mihailova sees an underlying imperialist sentiment: The protagonist Hiccup is a Viking and conqueror, who has discovered the exploitable weaponry behind dragons’ fire and flight, and hence enslaves this other species to boost his power and the glory of his Nordic heritage. HTTYD was a startling parallel to a militaristic fantasy of American political hegemony, coming out in theaters when U.S. military spending increased exponentially.

Even when Hiccup finally lets his dragon Toothless go in the third installment of the trilogy, it comes across as a testament to the false hopes of nuclear disarmament, couched in faintly xenophobic terms. Is it not concerning, Mihailova questions, that the villain who seeks to siege Toothless is Drago Bludvist from the South, a man with dreadlocks, dark skin, and an intentionally “exotic” barbarity? And the group that seeks to defend Toothless is the representation of the white man, who feels a responsibility to not hand a powerful weapon over to a group they believe should not handle its power? That they would rather let Toothless hide forever in a Hidden World, where he would remain (and proliferate) until humans are ready to see him and the other dragons again? To Mihailova, HTTYD is a continuation of America’s imperial desires to conquer, which birthed our God complex in the creation and limitation of our nuclear technology.

Although I agree that there are racist and xenophobic undertones in the characterization of the villains in the franchise, I am skeptical of Mihailova’s reading of Toothless as metaphor for nuclear proliferation and U.S.–dominated global order. The difference between the pacifist fantasy of Berk’s politics and U.S. global hegemony lies in how Hiccup embraces—and bids farewell to—his dragon-friend. Toothless is not a mindless weapon, but a living being who has his own autonomy. Designed intention-

ally to resemble a dog in friendliness and a cat in other behavioral aspects (in contrast to the typical serpentine lizard), Toothless and Hiccup’s friendship strictly symbolizes a promise of an achievable amiability, despite a looming danger that underlies every interaction.

Toothless appears more as a faint hope for peace that we can temporarily grasp, but a reliability we nevertheless cannot always hold onto by ourselves. Hiccup and his mother typify the successful example of achieving peace, as opposed to continuing an imperialist complex. Our own world cannot give up a connection that grows too dangerous to sustain, but Hiccup is willing to make that sacrifice, not only for his village, but for Toothless’s safety as well. An ironic peace is achieved when we do not contain and weaponize it for ourselves, but when we humanize an ally or even an enemy by acknowledging that we alone are not the determinants of peaceful ends. Thus, by letting Toothless go, it is not a selfish means to a selfish resolution, but a liberation that recognizes our hypocritical pitfalls and our allies’ freedom to think for themselves.

The final segment of Mihailova’s lecture focused on Frozen II (2019), in which she argued that indigenous cultures were glamorized for the white audience in a way that erases white guilt.

Kristoff ’s reindeer dress, the Norwegian chant, the Water Spirit—all of them carry some legacy from the Sami tribe in Norway, yet these cultural ties were ignored in the first movie, only to be hinted at in the second because of a signed contract. And if they were clearly featured in the film, Mihailova suggests, it was an exploitation of the exotic. The retcon of Elsa and Anna’s heritage is irrelevant until it conveniently helps Elsa in her journey: It is an instrument politically abused to save Elsa’s life, to have the royal sisters unanimously accepted into the Northuldra tribe, and to promote Elsa to a position not dissimilar to a shaman. If Disney truly wished to describe the mass genocide of native CONTINUED ON PG. 17

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peoples, wouldn’t the dam, destroyed as the symbol of prejudice, have swept away Arendelle altogether? Or, at least, wouldn’t a more perfect “bridge” between two peoples be the inclusion of the Northuldra people in a newly-constructed Arendelle’s politics? Instead, we have Elsa as a white savior, and Arendelle basically unaffected.

And what of the violent, racist past of Arendelle? Its legacy exists through Lieutenant Mattias, the (only) Black person in the movie. He is thrown into the movie for the sake of diversity—a half-assed tokenism by Disney producers. Crucially, considering that a Black

man must bear the white man’s guilt, American genocide is displaced from the perpetrators, instead pinning the burden of its history on an equally oppressed people. Mihailova is cynical, asking how this is even politically correct. She then concluded her talk, insisting that indigenous culture is only mentioned when it benefits one’s personal gains—a far cry from what progressivism should be—and white Hollywood is still afraid of fully exposing the worst of humanity’s past.The lecture then moved to a Q&A section. The question that struck me personally was of the pedagogical nature of animated movies, in which the asker inquired about

whether these conservative ideologies are merely an unpredictable byproduct of an educative experience. It brings into light a classical Barthesian aspect that Mihailova did not touch in her lecture (understandably due to time constraints): the reaction from the general audience, and not film critics or scholars of cinematic analysis. Mihailova left it, naturally, up to the audience to decide, hinting that the convolutedness of modern animation pushes animation away from reliance on fairy-tale fantasies and grounds it in a reality mimicking ours.

All in all, it goes back to how appealing a certain story will be to a general audience, in comparison to similarly de-

signed films.

This lecture on ideology in cinema was the spiciest, yet most fascinating talk I listened to regarding the future of the film industry. Perhaps I disagree in some aspects of her analysis, but it truly captured the spirit of why we movie fanatics drag ourselves to the theater religiously, project these movies at Doc Films, or even rip a movie apart in our reviews: They tell us something about our own world, intentionally or not, and demand for our awareness of their nuances underneath their progressive campaigns.

Aaron Diehl Talks Jazz and Baroque

By ISAAC KRAKOWKA Arts Reporter

On February 20, American jazz pianist Aaron Diehl joined music professor Jennifer Iverson for A Listening Session with Aaron Diehl. Members of the Hyde Park and Woodlawn community, including UChicago students and staff, gathered in the Logan Center for a glimpse of the brilliance of American jazz. The two engaged in thoughtful discourse about the roots of jazz and classical music, and how this history relates to Diehl’s understanding of his vocation as a professional musician. Diehl shared his insights about the roots of jazz instrumentals and the genre’s relationship with Baroque and classical themes, lauding specific groups such as the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) to illustrate how the combination of instruments in a piece can allow for the unique development of a composition.

Diehl discussed MJQ members John Lewis, Percy Heath, Kenny Clarke, and Milt Jackson and one of their songs, titled La Ronde Suite, while focusing on the influence that piano, bass, vibes, and drums play in the division of the composition. Iverson reflected on the compositions’ kaleidoscopic variations, comparing this melodic configuration

to giving four people the same ingredients and saying, “Make something out of this.” Diehl agreed, adding, “John Lewis’s version is different than Percy Heath’s version is different than Milt Jackson’s version, right? And they’re all using the same ingredients, but they’re really foregounding [many] different elements and shaping the tune in [many] different ways.”

Diehl acknowledged Clarke as a major contributor to the puzzle-like complexity of composition and its implications on later iterations of the MJQ, as in the case of his utilization of the bebop style drumming. This ultimately led Lewis to depart from MJQ because, while he wanted to perform bebop, he tended toward a refined classical trajectory.

During the listening session, Diehl masterfully riffed on the piano to demonstrate different trends in topical jazz music, including Bug’s Groove, which showcases the blues sensibility embraced by Milt Jackson, and “the circle of fifths,” which Diehl described as a sgnature element in Baroque music.

Diehl then examined the relationship between the MJQ and Baroque music. MJQ’s album Blues on Bach exemplifies this dynamic: Newly composed blues tunes in various majors are

interrupted by Bach arrangements on the record. “You have these pieces that are by Bach that are re-orchestrated for the MJQ and then, against that, you have these blues,” Diehl said. “You have blues against all of that. Blues on B-AC-H. And it’s a really nice balance. It’s like a game of ping-pong going back and forth between these two effects.”

Iverson continued this discussion by questioning whether MJQ fits within the somewhat controversial concept of “third stream”—a theory posed by composer Gunther Schuller which suggests a style of music can synthesize jazz and classical music—and the cultural response to this kind of composition.

Diehl emphasized that the dichotomy that many people take issue with concerns the class roots of each form of music. Paraphrasing Austrian composer Friedrich Gulda, he said that classical music was supported by European aristocrats, while jazz music emerged from the Black experience. “We should be aware that we are litigating other issues around class and race and so on, at least implicitly, when we talk about the tension between these two ways of doing music,” Iverson said.

Concluding the seminar, Diehl performed a Lewis composition, Milano, which Diehl included in his most recent

album, The Vagabond. This MJQ -inspired piece complemented many of the themes examined during the listening session, such as the circle of fifths.

Diehl said he wanted The Vagabond to capture his creativity as a musician.

“I wanted to be, maybe, more experimental with my composition and not necessarily have a set agenda in terms of content,” he said. “I did want to have a certain kind of sound, one that was certainly more intimate—inside the ensemble, one that was exploring more color and different types of textures.”

Diehl traces his musical lineage back to Columbus, Ohio. Growing up as someone inspired by the arts, Diehl believes that his passion for what he loves has gotten him to his current point in his career. “It all comes down to having a deep desire and love to do something, and music has always been that for me.

It sort of chose me,” Diehl remarked. “I didn’t choose it.… The magnetism of music really just, kind of, was just a beam that drew me in. I haven’t looked back since.”

THE CHICAGO MAROON — MARCH 4, 2020

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Youuu Should Listen To COIN’s New Album

By ISABELLA CISNEROS Arts Reporter

After three years of waiting, COIN’s third album, Dreamland, is finally here. At first listen, it’s evident that this third album is uniquely different from its predecessor, How Will You Know If You Never Try. The COIN we encounter in this new album is more mature and emotionally attuned to itself than ever before, providing a rich emotional journey for the listener willing to embark upon it.

COIN has been a feature of the alternative and indie scenes since 2012, when they released their first E.P., Saturdays, followed quickly by 1992 in 2013. They released their first full-length album, COIN, in 2015. However, they received most of their popular acclaim with the 2017 release of How Will You Know If You Never Try. Featuring one of their most popular singles, “Talk Too Much,” the album was an unforgettable explosion of sound and energy. It cemented the band’s potential, while simultaneously setting up the stage for their future. And now, three years later, the band delivers in the form of Dreamland.

At its heart, Dreamland tackles the swirl of emotions that comes with the experiences of growing up and falling in love. As COIN puts it, it’s an album of “certain uncertainty and loving someone.” Lyrically, this album is among the band’s most relatable, conveying

universal emotions in a way that feels tailored to the listener and their experiences. It is also home to some of the most vulnerable moments on the band’s discography. “Let It All Out,” which stands out as the crown jewel of the album, deals with complex feelings of doubt and the overwhelming nature of change, but ultimately culminates in one imperative: “Let it all out.” As the band puts it, they set out to write a song that “could mean anything to anyone at any time,” and they certainly achieved it.

Sonically, Dreamland continues to build on an increasingly diverse repertoire. The band does not hold back, incorporating everything from string instruments to choral elements to create a never-before-heard COIN. The band also took a step back in post-production, adding distorted vocals, voice memos, and untuned instrumentation. These sounds emphasize the rawness COIN strives for in this album—the need for authenticity both in the creation of music and the emotions the music itself conveys.

However, despite the diversity of sound, the album remains sonically contiguous.

Transitions between tracks “Youuu” and “Valentine,” as well as “Lately Ill” and “Babe Ruth,” introduce an element of cohesion across a landscape of distinctive sounds that serve to guide the listener along. Coin’s willingness to reinvent themselves with each song and experiment with instrumental techniques they’ve never used before is

only one of many characteristics that distinguish the band within an already fluid and ever-changing musical genre.

The variety evident in Dreamland is noteworthy, and is beginning to draw wide critical and popular acclaim. As COIN began releasing singles in anticipation of Dreamland, beginning with “Growing Pains,” fans were quick to note the sonic difference in comparison to prior releases. COIN aptly responded to this sudden outcry, with lead

singer Chase Lawrence tweeting a picture of the phrase “Oh my God!! COIN has changed sooo much!!” written on the bass drum of the band’s drum set, a prominent display of their thoughts while on tour. However, despite the changes in their third album and the band itself—bassist Zach Dyke left the group in 2018—the central message of Dreamland is this: In the midst of so much change, the magic that COIN has built never will.

COIN strides into magical form with Dreamland. COURTESY DAVID O’ DONOHUE

When Subject Matter Is Matter Itself

By JAD DAHSHAN Arts Reporter

The seductively sweet scent of thousands of cigarettes; the sublimity of a wave suspended in time; the sweaty surface of someone’s insides; the softness of light seeping through the crystalline viscera of the sick; the supple silkiness of being subdued; and the strange, still silence of cement.

These are among the experiences evoked by the 48 works in The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China, currently on view at both the Smart Museum and Wrightwood 659. Taking contemporary Chinese art as a case study, co-curators UChicago art history professor Wu Hung and Smart Museum

curator Orianna Cacchione posit the term “material art,” or caizhi yishu, to demarcate a new art historical category “in which material, rather than image or style, is paramount in manifesting the artist’s aesthetic judgement or social critique,” according to Wu’s introductory essay in the exhibition catalog.

Sauntering through a selection of works that prioritizes the primacy of material is a decidedly sensory experience. The experience is olfactory, as in Xu Bing’s “1st Class”— an enormous tiger skin rug composed of 500,000 1st Class cigarettes, made as part of his Tobacco Project. It is haptic, as in Ma Qiusha’s “Wonderland: Black Square,” in which the shards of a shattered slab of concrete are delicately ensconced in stockings

and reassembled. It is ephemeral, as in Song Dong’s interactive installation, “Traceless Stele,” on which viewers are invited to paint with water and watch their markings evaporate. It is visceral, as in Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s “Civilization Pillar,” a testament to 21st-century overconsumption, sculpted with human fat. It is also somewhat humbling, with many of the works looming large—even monumental.

As a show that challenges viewers to hone their awareness of materiality, The Allure of Matter offers drastically different—though still coherent—experiences at its two venues. In contrast to the off-white walls, floors, and ceiling of the Smart Museum, the Tadao Ando–designed Wrightwood 659 is a compelling composite of concrete,

brick, and wood. The variegated textures and unique forms of its interiors interact with the works on display with much more complexity than they do at the Smart. Hu Xiaoyuan’s Ant Bone series, for one, finds an ebbing resonance in the wooden floors and the curvature of the ceiling at Wrightwood.

Additionally, whereas the Smart comprises only one floor, the works at Wrightwood stretch across four stories. The spiraling ascent creates a more directional form of exhibition flow than the Smart’s more level, elliptical path.

Material art offers an alternative framework through which to trace phenomena in Chinese art since the ’80s, which has been overshadowed by more commercialCONTINUED ON PG. 19

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“Despite the show’s geocultural focus, material art is not inherently Chinese...”

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ly successful trends. Following the end of the Cultural Revolution, clusters of artists, critics, and curators sought to spearhead a modernization effort based on Western cultural models as part of the ’85 Art New Wave movement. However, their scholarship did not focus as much on the kinds of unconventional materials featured in this exhibition. The term also puts pressure on the Eurocentric tendencies of art history as a discipline to project Western concepts and categories into contexts where they do not necessarily fit. Additionally, the show resists art-historical conventions that privilege the form of an artwork over its material, putting forward an object-based analytical approach that highlights the sociocultural, political, and historical meanings embedded in materials themselves, as well as the collective labors often implicated in their transformation into art.

Despite the show’s geocultural focus, material art is not inherently Chinese, but rather a porous concept susceptible to application to other parts of the world. The Allure of Matter rewrites simplistic and sometimes negligent canonical narratives of contemporary Chinese art into a more nuanced history.

Xu Bing’s remarkable “1st Class” installation is made out entirely of 500,000 cigarette butts. COURTESY C.J. LIND

Lacrosse Kicks Off Season with Win Against Capital Crusaders

By MIRANDA BURT Sports Reporter

The University of Chicago’s women’s lacrosse team (2–0) opened up the 2020 season with a 14–9 victory last Wednesday over the Capital Crusaders (2–2).

The Maroons endured temperatures in the low 30s and frigid winds to control the game throughout. UChicago outshot Capital 30–21, and forced 20 Crusader turnovers to the Maroons’ own 16. Almost half of Capital’s goals were the result of free position shots (4–5), whereas the Maroons only struggled to convert in this aspect of the game (2–6).

Capital scored the first goal of the game at 28:26, but the Maroons used three goals to answer, two scored by first-year Katie Large and the third by second-year Ali Sheehy. Fellow sec-

ond-year Sarah Bloomquist picked up two of her three assists during the run.

Capital answered, but the Maroons would grow the lead to 8–2 before Crusader Luci Kanowsky scored with two seconds in the half to make it 8–3. In the second half, the lead grew as great as 14–5 on a goal by second-year Lally Johnson with 13:22 left to play. Four of the six goals scored by Capital in the second half were free position shots.

Sheehy discussed the newcomers as well as her impact on the opener: “The first-years have been really great additions to our team. Their excitement and competitiveness make every practice and game that much more exciting.

We’re definitely becoming a much more well-rounded team, which is great considering our more challenging schedule this year. It’s exciting to be able to make

an impact, especially in the first game of the season. It shows all the hard work that each of us has put into practices leading up to the start of our season, which will continue throughout the rest of the year.”

First-year goalkeeper Emily Feigen picked up the first win of her young career, saving four out of nine shots on goal. UChicago’s scoring sheet was littered with Maroons tallying multiple goals. Rookies Anneke Pulkkinen and Katie Large each scored three times, and second-year Audrey Kaus and firstyear Zoe Torok each totaled two goals.

Bloomquist had three assists for the Maroons, followed by Kaus with two. Defensively, first-year Charlotte Rapp led the Maroons with eight draw controls.

Sheehy also talked about the team’s outlook going into the rest of noncon-

ference play: “We have a much more difficult schedule this year in regards to out-of-conference play. Overall, though I think they will pose as really good tests for us, especially with being such a young team, and allow us to learn and continue to improve throughout this season and in the future.”

The young Maroons team followed their home opener with a total team win on the road against DePauw. Chicago walked away with a 16–3 victory after outshooting the hosts 35 to 11. Johnson paced the team with four goals and one assist, and all three Chicago goalkeepers saw action. The Maroons’ next action at Stagg Field will take place the following Saturday against UW–River Falls at 1 p.m.

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SPORTS Maroons Basketball Triumphs on Senior Day CONTINUED FROM COVER

seniors just wanted to make sure we went out on a high note and made the most of our last game together.” If head coach Mike McGrath’s post-game comments are any indication, they certainly did. According to McGrath, “the game…was a satisfying way to end a roller coaster season. We beat the league champs playing our best basketball of the year.”

As for the women, they entered the day as favorites, ranked No. 19 and looking to secure the UAA title and a solid seed in what would be their fourth consecutive NCAA Division III tournament. According to fourth-years Miranda Burt, Nireet Dhillon, and Taylor Lake, this objective was their primary focus going into the game, despite the

emotion of playing their final game at Ratner Athletics Center. Led by fourth-year Mia Farrell’s team-leading 20 points, the Maroons managed to do exactly what they set out to, holding off the Bears to win 76–72 and capturing the UAA title in the process. According the Dhillon, “the game…reflected our season so far in a lot of ways. There were some ups and downs, but we never gave up, continued to fight, and were determined to close out the game.” Burt and Lake, who poured in 12 and 16 points respectively, echoed this sentiment, with Lake stating that “it was an incredible all-around effort.”

Reflecting on their careers after their final regular season games, this year’s fourth-years offered a number of thoughtful statements about their time

as Maroons. The athletes universally attributed much of their success to the efforts of their coaches and teammates.

Lake emphasized her teammates’ “relentless work ethic,” while Burt, noting the selflessness of her teammates, said, “It is hard not to be successful playing with teammates like that.”

In spite of their humility, the athletes also deserve immense praise for what they’ve accomplished in their four years here, and their coaches made sure to point that out. Women’s head coach Carissa Sain said, “Our seniors have been incredible leaders and teammates during their time here. They have changed the trajectory of this program.”

Meanwhile, coach McGrath said of his seniors, “Their collective passion for basketball has had a tremendous impact

on the team and will continue to have impact in future years. I think they have instilled the mentality that you can be great students, pursue amazing career opportunities and devote a lot of emotion and time to being successful basketball players.”

Undoubtedly, UChicago’s basketball programs will miss what their departing fourth-years have brought to the court, but their impact on their respective teams will certainly be felt for years to come. While the men likely wrapped up their season on Saturday, fans can look forward to watching the women compete for an NCAA championship later this month.

Maroons regain focus on a time-out during their final game of the season.

Senior Mia Farrell takes the ball down court for the Maroons.

ALL PHOTOS BY DOMINIQUO SANTISTEVAN

The Maroons held on to their lead to defeat Wash U in their final regular season game.