Skip to main content

050423

Page 1

NEWS: International Students Weigh in on Campus Safety Over a Year After Fatal Shootings PAGE 3

MAY 4, 2023 SEVENTH WEEK VOL. 135, ISSUE 14

University Agrees to Settle Lawsuit Over Financial Aid Policies By JUSTIN WALGREN | Senior News Reporter The University of Chicago has agreed to settle an antitrust lawsuit that accused the University of conspiring with 16 other highly selective private institutions to limit financial aid packages to students. It is the first institution named in the lawsuit to agree to settle. The agreement was announced on Wednesday, April 19. “Plaintiffs and the University of Chicago will now, as quickly as reasonably possible, work to negotiate and finalize a settlement agreement, which plaintiffs would then file with the Court as part of a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement,” said Eric L. Cramer, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, in a statement to the presiding judge. The lawsuit, filed in January 2022, stemmed from a class action complaint on behalf of alumni from 17 private universities, including Brown, Columbia,

Duke, Northwestern, and Yale. The plaintiffs allege that the defendant universities sought to reduce competition amongst themselves by adopting uniform financial aid policies. All of the defendants were at one point members of an association known as the 568 Presidents Group. The association is named after Section 568 of the Improving America’s Schools Act, which allowed universities to use the same formula for determining financial aid for all students as long as they adopted need-blind admissions policies. The University was a member of the 568 Presidents Group from 1998 until 2014. The group was officially dissolved on November 4, 2022, after Congress allowed the Improving America’s Schools Act to expire. All former members of the 568 Presidents Group awarded financial aid pri-

marily based on need rather than merit. The members met annually to determine a formula for calculating financial need. The result was that students received similar or identical aid packages from most members. The plaintiffs characterized this arrangement as a “price-fixing cartel.” They contend that the practices of the defendants did not fall under the Section 568 exemption because their admissions policies were not truly need-blind. They claim that nine of the defendants disqualified themselves from the exemption by giving preferential consideration to the children of donors or by considering financial need when admitting students off waitlists. The remaining defendants, including the University, used the same financial need formula as the other defendants, thus implicating themselves in the violation. The lawsuit alleges that the members of 568 Presidents Group deliber-

ately sought to reduce their financial aid awards while increasing their tuition and living costs. The plaintiffs estimate that 200,000 students may have received reduced aid packages. In August 2022, the 17 defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case, but the presiding judge denied the motion. Concurrently, the University filed a separate motion to dismiss the individual case against itself, citing its withdrawal from the 568 Presidents Group in 2014. That motion, too, was denied. The lawsuit represents all UChicago alumni who received financial aid between 2003, the year the University adopted the 568 Presidents Group formula, and 2014, when the University withdrew from the group. The University and the plaintiffs have not yet negotiated the terms of the settlement agreement. After negotiation, the agreement must be approved by the presiding judge before it may be finalized.

Regenstein Library, Hutchinson Commons Evacuated Following False Police Report of Armed Person By THE Maroon STAFF Regenstein Library was evacuated and shelter-in-place orders were put in place across the University after police received a report of an armed person on campus around 7:20 p.m. The alert was rescinded around 8:17 p.m. after police searching the buildings “found no sign of [a] threat.” Beginning around 7:20 p.m., multiple social media posts appeared claiming

that there was a person with a firearm in the Regenstein Library and that the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) was evacuating the library. The first cAlert was sent around 7:31 p.m., notifying recipients of “police activity around the area of Regenstein Library.” At 7:39 p.m., the communications division of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) told The Maroon that the incident in

Regenstein Library was “non–bona fide.” “CPD and [UCPD] immediately searched library facilities while the University issued a cAlert directing individuals to avoid the area,” University Spokesperson Gerald McSwiggan told The Maroon in an emailed statement. An update from the University sent around 7:51 p.m. clarified that “police received an anonymous report” and that there was “no evidence of a shooting at the time.” The update said that people

NEWS: Phoenix Sustainability Initiative Opens Semi-Permanent Thrift Store on Campus

GREY CITY: The Wild Goose Chase to Chase Out the Canada Geese

VIEWPOINTS: Open Letter to the University’s Department of Safety and Security on Traffic Safety

PAGE 6

PAGE 7

should “continue to avoid the area.” Around 7:56 p.m., The Maroon received reports that police officers carrying rifles also evacuated Hutchinson Commons, located at 1131 East 57th Street. Multiple sources confirmed to The Maroon that Cathey and Woodlawn Dining Commons were placed under a shelter-in-place order. Individuals were not allowed to leave Woodlawn until around 8:30 p.m., after the all-clear was given.

SPORTS: The Chicago Bulls Tried to Fast-Track Their Rebuild. It Failed.

PAGE 10

Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/chicagomaroon and follow @chicagomaroon on Instagram and Twitter to get the latest updates on campus news.

PAGE 14 chicagomaroon.com


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
050423 by Chicago Maroon - Issuu