THE CHICAGO MAROON — APRIL 20, 2023
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University Announces Death of Second-Year Niv Sparkes By ERIC FANG | Deputy News Editor The University announced this afternoon that Niv Sparkes, a second-year in the College, had passed away. In an email to members of the College community, Deans John Boyer and Jay Ellison wrote, “We extend our heartfelt sympathies to his family, his fellow students and all other members of our community affected by this loss.” The initial email did not provide additional information about the time or circumstances of Sparkes’s death, though a subsequent email from Boyer and Ellison sent Monday morning confirmed that he had “passed away over the weekend.” The second email confirmed that a re-
ception for Sparkes’s friends and family would take place on Tuesday, April 18, from 5:30–7 p.m. in the Resident Deans East Commons on the second floor of Campus North Residential Commons. Sunday’s email encouraged community members affected by Sparkes’s death to reach out to Student Wellness counselors, who are available at the UChicago Student Wellness Center at 840 East 59th Street. Students can book an appointment by calling (773) 834–9355. Walk-ins are also accepted between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. A clinician can be reached by calling (773) 702–3625 at any time.
Other campus and city resources can be accessed by calling the Dean-on-Call via the University of Chicago Police Department at (773) 702–8181. “This is an extremely difficult time, and we hope that all members of the College community support one another as we navigate this tragedy together,” the email read. “Please don’t ever hesitate to reach out for help.” Kehillah, an RSO dedicated to celebrating Israeli culture, announced on Instagram that it would be hosting a separate reception and dinner with UChicago Hillel in honor of Sparkes, a Kehillah board member. The event was on Monday, April 17, at 8 p.m. in the foyer of the Hillel building on South Woodlawn Avenue.
“When we founded the organization, Niv, being Israeli, quickly became an indispensable leader in our events. He served on our board since our founding and was very passionate about his Israeli identity,” Kehillah copresident Aaron Wineberg wrote in a statement to The Maroon. “We want to invite anyone who wants to honor his life and heal together.” Editor’s note: We hope to follow up on this article with an obituary memorializing Niv’s life and his time as a member of the University community. We ask anyone who has memories they want to share to contact us at editor@chicagomaroon.com. Michael McClure contributed reporting.
USG Launches Pilot Program to Provide Free Menstrual Products By CASEY KIM | Deputy News Editor Undergraduate Student Government (USG), in collaboration with Campus and Student Life (CSL) and Graduate Council (GC), launched a pilot program in the beginning of spring quarter that provides free pads and tampons in vending machines on campus. The menstrual products, which will be available throughout spring quarter, can be found in six locations: Harper Memorial Library, Ida Noyes Hall, John Crerar Library, Ex Libris Cafe, Gerald Ratner Athletics Center, and Henry Crown Field House. According to Associate Vice President for Student Life Michael Hayes, the performance of the pilot program will be evaluat-
ed by CSL, GC, and USG, who will collectively determine the future of the program based on student interest and usage. “During winter quarter, we explored the possibilities, feasibility, and potential methods to distribute products in an efficient manner, and we are piloting the program now,” Hayes said. “Campus and Student Life is happy to work with students on ways to improve life on campus for students.” The project was spearheaded by USG President Summer Long (A.B. ’23), who was approached with the idea by Maria Bautista, Assistant Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy. Soon after, Long reached
out to GC and eventually CSL, which is currently funding the initiative. “[Bautista] had asked her students what kind of problems they were facing on campus, and a lot of them had shared that there wasn’t a lot of access to menstrual products on campus,” Long said. “So this prompted her to send an email to both Undergraduate Student Government’s health and wellness committee and Graduate Council’s health and wellness committee, just to get some action on the issue.” When deciding on which locations to place the menstrual products, Long said the team tried to target the most trafficked areas on campus—libraries and gyms. Although a similar program had been implemented in 2017, it failed to continue due to
technical restocking issues. Thus, Long said it was important for the team to develop the new program with the previous initiative’s shortcomings in mind in order to ensure its sustainability. In the current pilot program, products are monitored and replenished by a contracted vending partner. It is also larger in scope with additional locations and with unprecedented cooperation with CSL. “The impression I had gotten before is that there wasn’t necessarily a contracted process for restocking the pads and tampons in the previous attempt,” Long said. “So I’m more optimistic this time about [the program] being sustainable, because it’s basically been incorporated into a different workflow.”
UCMed Receives $300,000 Grant From American Cancer Society for Patient Navigation Program By JENNA MOOR | News Reporter The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCCCC) received a $300,000 Navigation Capacity-Building Initiative grant from the American Cancer Society (ACS) to create an accessible and centralized
navigation system for adult cancer patients with a wide range of needs, as announced in a January 11 press release. The ACS describes patient navigation as a patient-centric healthcare delivery model in which patients and their
families receive individualized assistance to help overcome barriers to high quality and timely care. These barriers may include insurance status, language differences, and health literacy. Gynecologic oncologist Nita Karnik Lee is the principal investigator for the ACS grant and the cancer center’s assis-
tant director for community outreach and engagement. In an interview with The Maroon, she stressed how patient navigation requires the cooperation of a diversity of teams and departments. “If we think about the cancer care continuum, we think about risk reducCONTINUED ON PG. 8