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NEWS: University Removes Via Loophole for Free Lyfts

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Faculty Forward Averts Strike, Secures Contract Agreement with University

By AMY MA | Deputy News Editor Faculty Forward, UChicago’s nontenure-track faculty union, reached a full tentative contract agreement with the University after a 12-hour bargaining session Friday, November 1. The deal—covering the contracts of over 500 lecturers, instructional professors, teaching fellows, professors of practice in the arts, and writing specialists— comes after months of negotiations, 29 bargaining sessions, and growing momentum towards a possible strike. Key wins for the union include a five-year raise package that exceeds inflation rates, benefits parity, visa sponsorship, and enhanced job security for its most

vulnerable members. Faculty Forward members approved the new collective bargaining agreement by a margin of 200 to 27 during a ratification meeting on November 11.

Negotiations for Faculty Forward’s third collective bargaining agreement with the University began in early spring of this year. Increased compensation, visa sponsorship, and benefits eligibility for non-tenure-track faculty and writing specialists were the main priorities of this bargaining session. The union also received assistance from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) CONTINUED ON PG. 2

Faculty Forward members in front of Levi Hall in early October, when they delivered a petition to University administration during the final leg of negotiations. jazmine salas.

University Budget Deficit Hit $288M in FY24, Now $221M

By TIFFANY LI | Head News Editor and ANIKA KRISHNASWAMY | Deputy News Editor The University’s budget deficit increased from $239 million in financial year (FY) 2023 to $288 million in FY 2024, then dropped to $221 million this budget cycle, University Provost Katherine Baicker and Chief Financial Officer of the University Ivan Samstein said at a budget town hall meeting on Monday, November 11. The town hall was the third since December 2023.

At the meeting, they explained that the University’s revenue growth has begun to outpace its expenditure growth, leading to a reduced budget deficit for the July 2024 to June 2025 budget compared

anika krishnaswamy.

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NEWS: UChicago Launches Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth PAGE 8

with that of July 2023 to June 2024.

Baicker and Samstein attributed the reduction to the University’s plan to address the severe financial pressures it faces. The four-year budget plan aims to eliminate the budget deficit by 2028.

According to Samstein and Baicker’s presentation, expenditure cuts came from debt refinancing, paring down central administrative expenses, and moderating academic units’ spending by limiting faculty and staff compensation increases. Meanwhile, they attributed much of the increased revenue to successCONTINUED ON PG. 3

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“This is a huge victory, especially given the uphill battle we had fighting the austerity narrative that management has been pushing for two years.”

CONTINUED FROM PG. 1

Local 73, a union representing more than 31,000 workers in public service.

While the two sides made notable progress on issues such as academic freedom and protection from harassment, union leaders grew frustrated by early October over the administration’s limited response to economic concerns.

This frustration led to a rally in early October, during which union members delivered a petition to the University.

Although the administration confirmed receipt of the petition, Faculty Forward Secretary Tristan Schweiger reported that “not much” progress followed.

Still dissatisfied with the University’s reaction to its demands, Faculty Forward began circulating a strike authorization petition among its members on Tuesday, October 22. Over several all-member meetings, union leaders presented the petition as a necessary action to apply pressure on management, emphasizing it as a last resort measure to secure fairer contract terms.

“We were at a position where management was not moving enough on the top-line issues, most centrally compensation,” Schweiger explained in an interview with the Maroon after the tentative agreement had been reached.

“We knew that we were not going to get the deal that our members needed if we were not willing to bring some pressure.”

By Friday, November 1, nearly 90 percent of active union members supported giving Faculty Forward the authority to call a strike. “Overall, it was a very quick process, and people were very enthusiastic,” Faculty Forward co-chair Jason Grunebaum said. “We all decided that we were willing to fight for where we wanted to be.”

Faculty Forward leaders also mobilized support beyond their membership by engaging students, faculty allies, and the broader University community in a parallel outreach campaign. The union gathered more than 500 signatures from students and alumni in solidarity with their cause.

Compensation was Faculty Forward’s top priority going into the final

bargaining session on November 1. The union argued that faculty salaries had not kept up with inflation, leading to a 10 percent reduction in purchasing power since the previous contract was signed in 2019.

At the Friday meeting, the University answered the union’s demands by proposing a 25.1 percent pay raise over five years for non-tenure-track faculty across the board. This provision not only compensates for inflation but also begins to close the 18 percent pay gap between UChicago non-tenure-track faculty and their peers at similar Ivy Plus institutions.

“This is a huge victory, especially given the uphill battle we had fighting the austerity narrative that management has been pushing for two years,” Schweiger said.

While the five-year deal is longer than the union had wanted, Schweiger explained that the union was willing to “meet management on that if they addressed in substance our material needs.”

The bargaining committee also secured significant benefit enhancements for union parity, including parity with tenure-track faculty on tuition benefits for faculty children and a new childcare allowance of $1,000 per quarter. Additionally, paid leave for professional development—equivalent to one quarter— has been introduced, along with H-1B visa sponsorship for all instructional professors.

Throughout the bargaining sessions, Faculty Forward strongly focused on improving conditions for the union’s “most precarious” members, such as per-course lecturers, teaching fellows, and writing instructors, who received drastically lower pay and benefits than other faculty groups.

“The part time and per-course instructors historically have been the most exploited, the most dispensable and disposable [faculty group] in this university and across academia. Sometimes they would actually be teaching many courses and still get paid per-course with no benefits,” Dmitry Kondrashov,

a bargaining committee member, said.

“This is actually one of the original missions for our union in general—[this] fight against the precarity that is spread across academia.”

Writing specialists were only recently awarded access to the union’s benefits in May 2023. Earlier in this negotiation process, Faculty Forward had secured a significant win by successfully advocating for the reclassification of writing advisors in the creative writing and social science departments from part-time to full-time employees. According to Faculty Forward, this adjustment would provide better job security and grant them access to full-time benefits.

Friday’s bargaining session further materialized some of Faculty Forward’s key demands in this space. Teaching fellows received an immediate 17 percent pay raise and will receive a 34.9 percent raise over five years. Writing specialists, writing and research advisors, and lecturers received similar raises to address their respective financial disparities.

“They are getting a much higher percentage raise because they needed it,” Kondrashov said.

In addition to pay increases, Faculty Forward obtained improved benefits and job stability for its most vulnerable members. For example, the new contract will establish expectations of more equitable advising loads and precept capacities in master’s programs.

The union also secured a seat on an advisory board for the restructuring of the writing program, the details of which are still being finalized by the University. “[We wanted to] provide as much security as possible for the writing instructors in the face of a still very murky restructuring process that could potentially leave some of the writing faculty without jobs,” Grunebaum said.

“Non-tenure track faculty have a right to a seat at the table as those decisions are made,” Schweiger added, referring to the restructuring advisory board.

While the new contract represents significant progress, Faculty Forward acknowledges that some significant issues remain. For example, although the

pay raise has narrowed the gap, compensation for non-tenure-track faculty at UChicago still lags behind peer Ivy Plus institutions.

Union leaders also pointed out that certain part-time appointments, such as lecturers classified as L2s, still face inadequate compensation. “L2s, even with our very strong [pay] increase, are still going to be making substantially less than a graduate student stipend.

That burns me a little bit, to be honest,” Kondrashov said.

Nevertheless, Faculty Forward remains optimistic about the contract’s overall impact. “In aggregate, we definitely felt that this was a deal we could take to members with an enthusiastic recommendation,” Schweiger said. The tentative contract now heads to a ratification vote in the coming weeks among the union’s members.

Kondrashov expressed gratitude to all members of Faculty Forward, as well as to students, allies, and SEIU representatives, for their support throughout the seven-month negotiation process. He also extended thanks to the opposing side, stating, “I think that [the University] bargained with us fairly, and in good faith. In the end, I think they worked hard to come up with a deal that we could live with and bring to our [members].”

While the next contract negotiation is five years away, Faculty Forward plans to continue its work in the interim, focusing on enforcing the new contract terms and providing support for its members. The union also anticipates celebrating its tenth anniversary next year.

“And now,” Jeremy Schmidt, a bargaining committee member said, “we’re going to grade papers and sleep.”

In a statement to the Maroon, a University spokesperson acknowledged the state of the negotiations. “We appreciate SEIU Local 73’s engagement throughout this process and are pleased that this contract will provide additional support to our valued colleagues as they continue making outstanding contributions to our academic community,” the statement read.

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“We’ve had 150 percent of the typical three-year average of philanthropy over the last two years.”

CONTINUED FROM PG. 1

ful increases in “campus utilization and enrollment,” philanthropy, and expanded master’s and non-degree program offerings.

The expansion of academic offerings has emerged as a major contributor to recent financial improvement. According to the presentation, the approximately 7,000 students enrolled in non-degree programs brought the University $23 million in revenue in 2023. This fall, about 350 more master’s students are enrolled in the University, roughly 250 of whom are studying in new programs at Booth School of Business and the Physical Sciences Department.”

Baicker added that the growth of enrollment in master’s and non-degree programs not only benefits the University financially but also serves the University’s educational goals. “There are a lot of people in the world who would benefit from some UChicago thinking,” she said.

“Having the opportunity to reach more people at scale furthers our mission.”

In addition to its plans for directly targeting revenue growth, the University has also implemented new software to improve efficiency and planning capability.

The Financial Systems Transformation (FST) began replacing the University’s previous finance and operations systems in a phased rollout of Oracle Cloud ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) that began this past February and concluded in August, before the start of the academic year. According to Baicker, it will let the University “provide academic leaders with a multi-year planning horizon.”

“I know I can see deans in the audience, they’re like, ‘I’ll settle for next year.

Could you just give me next year?’ But I think we’re actually way ahead of where we were last year in providing next year’s budget,” Baicker said. “And the goal is to provide [the ability to financially plan] a couple of years out… enough of a sense that people can plan accordingly and invest.”

Though Samstein admitted that the University has been facing some growing pains with FST, he expressed confidence that the system’s benefits would soon be-

come apparent.

“Those who lived through large, complex systems transformations like this, [know] you always have some challenges the first six months. We are not immune,” Samstein said. “[Previously] we basically had a 1980s abacus with a bunch of things popped on top of it, and it’s been very challenging… to really know what’s going on in the projected forecast. [So FST] will be pretty significant for us in the long run.”

Baicker highlighted the recent philanthropic support the University had received as well. Since September, the University has announced three major donations: an anonymous $100 million donation to the Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, a $60 million donation from alumni Clifford Asness and John Liew to Booth’s Master in Finance program, and a $75 million donation from the AbbVie Foundation to support the construction of UChicago Medicine’s cancer care and research center.

“We’ve had 150 percent of the typical three-year average of philanthropy over the last two years, so that is a remarkable trajectory and reflects, I think, how exciting the work that we’re doing [here is] to potential supporters,” Baicker said.

The remaining 20 minutes of the town hall were reserved for a Q&A, during which attendees directed questions toward Baicker and Samstein.

One audience member questioned why the police budget had not been an area to face cuts, saying it was the only unit of the University to be “involved in violence against students,” referencing UChicago United for Palestine’s October 11 rally—during which University of Chicago Police Department officers used pepper spray and batons against students.

“I very much disagree with the characterization of the events that you outline,” Baicker responded, “but I will say that we, in thinking about what budget priorities are, very much prioritize everyone’s safety and security, so there was not a cutback in safety and security spending as part of this budget plan.”

Samstein then answered a question about what role the University’s invest-

ments play in the plan to reduce debts, saying that the University’s historically “conservative” endowment investment strategy emphasized stability over greater return on investment, unlike many of its peers. He said he saw the endowment investment strategy as “a core element of the long-term prosperity of the institution,” but that it would not be what the University relied on in its financial planning “on a year-to-year income basis.”

Samstein and Baicker also reiterated that the University’s current level of debt was the result of choices it had made to invest in what Baicker called “wonderful things,” including the decision to use a need-blind system of financial aid before its endowment reached the scale of other schools who practiced need-blind admission. Samstein said, “Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, they have an endowment of the scale that they could

do it without [extra financing], [but] we made… the decision that [beginning need-blind financial aid] was a value statement and critical.”

Another audience member said the University’s 2009 financial plan had been “consistently, wildly rosy” in its estimates compared to reality and asked if the current plan might have similar inaccuracies.

Baicker explained the University was attempting to “learn from what worked in the past and what didn’t work in the past,” adding, “part of what you’re seeing here [in this town hall] is our effort to be really transparent about that.” She said the fact that “we didn’t see a credit downgrade” for UChicago was a testament to the plan’s efficacy and the team working on it. In May 2024, credit rating agency Fitch affirmed UChicago’s credit rating at CONTINUED ON PG. 4

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“Thanks to everybody’s hard work, we’re now focused on growth and revenue opportunities placed in the plan.”

CONTINUED FROM PG. 3

“AA+”, just below Fitch’s “highest credit quality” rating tier of “AAA”, and revised its rating outlook of the University from “negative” to “stable.”

In his closing remarks, Samstein reiterated the importance of staying proactive with the budget plan to achieve the 2028 goal. “We have to keep executing on this,” he said. “A budget doesn’t make

itself.”

Baicker concluded the session by expressing appreciation to the attendees.

“Everybody wishes we were in a world where there were not budget constraints,

but we have real opportunities here,” she said. “Thanks to everybody’s hard work, we’re now focused on growth and revenue opportunities placed in the plan. I think there’s exciting things ahead.”

Michael Greenstone to Serve as Inaugural Faculty Director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth

By KALYNA VICKERS | News Reporter In an interview with the Maroon, Michael Greenstone, who was appointed as the inaugural faculty director of the new Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth by University President Paul Alivisatos in 2024, spoke on the decision to launch the institute, its primary goals, and the ways in which students and faculty can get involved.

Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and faculty director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), has been a UChicago faculty member since 2014, after previously having worked at the school from 2000 to 2003. Under the first Obama administration, Greenstone served as the chief economist on the Council of Economic Advisers.

According to Greenstone, the decision to create a new Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth was “driven by the reality that we have a climate challenge, and climate change is here. We’re feeling its impacts, and it’s just a taste of what’s coming.”

“A primary goal of the institute is to catalyze an all–University of Chicago approach to finding solutions to the climate and sustainable growth challenge,” Greenstone continued. In accordance with that goal, the institute will support several education-based initiatives designed to span several disciplines and research topics.

“On the student side, we’ve developed a really unique and powerful curriculum on climate and sustainable growth that’s

going to produce a series of undergraduate and master’s programs,” he said of one of the academic opportunities the institute will support.

The program will feature a core curriculum that includes courses on climate sciences, energy technologies, economics, and politics, allowing students to “see the problem from 360 degrees.”

“A capstone of those core courses will be an experiential course where students will have to go to either rural India or rural sub-Saharan Africa and see what it’s like to actually live with very low levels of electricity,” Greenstone said. “[They can also] go to places like West Texas where there’s a fracking boom, and see the local economic benefits of energy production.”

The institute’s research will prioritize three areas: economics and markets, energy storage and materials, and climate systems engineering. Greenstone explained that these focus areas were chosen “because they’re in service of finding a way to balance climate goals with sustainable growth.”

Greenstone emphasized the institute’s goal of producing research that supports tangible change across the focus areas. “On the economic side, we [UChicago] have a very strong track record of developing new research ideas that help people understand the world better and then delivering them to policy makers,” Greenstone said. “It [UChicago] influenced the United States government’s official number for the damages from climate change, called the social cost of carbon. There are pollution markets now

Michael Greenstone (right) participates in a panel during the launch of the institute on October 30. courtesy of jason smith. in India that are a direct outgrowth of the research we’ve been doing here,” Greenstone added.

Supporting UChicago’s climate objectives, the institute will commit to the University’s pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030. Currently, 70 percent of the University’s emissions come from natural gas and electricity use in campus buildings. On-campus reductions will make up an estimated 27 percent of greenhouse gas emissions reduction by fiscal year 2030. This includes the use of software, equipment, and team structures to maintain and drive efficient operation of building systems. Another 24 percent will be through the procurement of renewable energy via a virtual power purchase agreement.

“The University is fully on track to following its plan for fiscal year 24 and fiscal year 25, and onward to marching towards fiscal year 2030,” Greenstone said.

Beyond Hyde Park, UChicago operates in over 48 nations. The University’s sustainability plans extend to these satellite campuses, and the campuses in Delhi, Beijing, and Hong Kong have been used

to launch research projects for EPIC—of which Greenstone has served as director for a decade.

“At this point, we’re going to continue to do that and be looking for collaborations with local institutions. There’s great collaboration with Tsinghua University currently in China, as one example,” Greenstone said. “[Those collaborations are] central to getting the message across that 80 percent of the greenhouse gasses are projected to come from the worlds outside the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] and to understand the nature of the problem and find solutions to it. It’s not good enough to sit here in Hyde Park.”

Greenstone believes UChicago is uniquely equipped to support the institute in addressing climate challenges.

“First, the University has a long tradition of using economics to help diagnose and find solutions to all kinds of social problems… so it’s very authentic for the University to see this through an economics lens,” he said. “The second thing… is that every path to reducing greenhouse gas emissions… runs through getting better batteries, and [UChicago will] help green the grid. They’ll help make transportation less greenhouse gas–intensive. And then the third comes from the University’s ethos of principles of free expression and going wherever good ideas go and being fearless and relentless about that.”

The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth held a launch on October 30, which included remarks from Alivisatos, Greenstone, and Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker, among other notable leaders in the climate and energy space.

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University Removes Via Loophole for Free Lyfts

By NATHANIEL RODWELL-SIMON | Senior News Reporter St udents book ing r ides w ith RideSmart by Via will no longer be able to add more than one additional passenger to their trip, removing a loophole that would often give riders free Lyfts when they added multiple additional passengers to their booking. The University-partnered rideshare service, which offers an unlimited number of rides from 5 p.m. to 4 a.m., usually

involves shared vans but promises a free Lyft if there are no vans arriving within 15 minutes.

In an email sent on Thursday, Associate Vice President for Safety and Security Eric M. Heath and Interim Dean of Students in the University Mike Hayes said they were disappointed that students were exploiting the loophole.

“Unfortunately, we have learned

that a significant number of riders are requesting rides and adding multiple guests in order to get Lyft rides, or cancelling booking requests in quick succession until they get the Lyft option when wait times are low,” the email read. “These Lyft rides are intended only as a backup option to limit wait times. The misuse of the Lyft option incurs unnecessary costs, and if left unchecked will prevent the Via program from being sustainable.”

Via will now only allow students to book a ride for themselves and one additional guest. Previously, students could add up to three additional guests to their ride. According to the email, no other changes to the service were made.

The email also indicated that the University would continue monitoring the service for “misuse,” which it said “could lead to the suspension of individual student accounts, and further changes to the program.”

UChicago United for Palestine Files Federal Civil Rights Complaint Against UChicago

By NATHANIEL RODWELL-SIMON | Senior News Reporter UChicago United For Palestine (UCUP) has filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), according to a September 25 press release

by Palestine Legal, the legal organization representing UCUP. The complaint, filed on August 19, alleges that the University of Chicago “has reinforced the hostile anti-Palestinian environment by repeatedly engaging in different treatment of Palestinian students and their allies.”

“Through lack of support and discriminatory enforcement of its policies, UChicago’s actions violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” the complaint reads.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance,” which include most private colleges and universities.

“Based on the facts described here,” the complaint continues, “we urge [the OCR] to conduct a systemic investigation into the University of Chicago for violating its obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

If the University’s conduct is found to be in violation of Title VI and it does not voluntarily resolve the issues, the complaint may be referred to the Department of Justice, and the University could lose access to federal education funds. At a House Committee on Education and the

Workforce hearing last May, Secretary of Education Michael Cardona called that option the “last step” in dealing with Title VI complaints, stressing instead the importance of voluntary compliance.

In a statement to the Maroon, the University affirmed its commitment to fostering an inclusive environment on campus and its prohibition of unlawful harassment and discrimination.

“The University of Chicago values and welcomes students of all backgrounds.

The University has worked over many years to build an inclusive environment in which everyone is free to participate in the life of the University, and we are proud of this ongoing commitment,” the statement read.

“The University prohibits unlawful harassment and discrimination, takes allegations of such conduct seriously, and acts to prevent and address harassment and discrimination.”

Rifqa Falaneh, the Michael Ratner Justice Fellow at Palestine Legal and the author of the complaint, spoke to the Maroon about her organization’s involvement and the support they are providing to UCUP throughout the legal process.

Palestine Legal, a project of the nonprofit Tides Foundation, is a legal organization that supports causes related to the movement for Palestinian rights.

“When we file Title VI complaints, discrimination complaints, it’s on be-

half of students. And so this is only one mechanism that students have been going through to address the repression that they’re facing on campus,” Falaneh said. “We give [students] different types of legal support or legal avenues that they have, and this is just one, which is filing a complaint to the Office of Civil Rights.”

In a press release shared by Palestine Legal with the Maroon in September, the organization also mentioned the University’s updating of policies surrounding on-campus protests, which now explicitly prohibit “staying overnight in outdoor structures on campus or in non-residential campus buildings.”

The new policies were first shared with University students in a September 24 email from Interim Dean of Students in the University Michael Hayes.

The complaint proceeds to list dozens of examples of the alleged “discriminatory enforcement” of University policies against pro-Palestine, Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian students, including “administrative sanctions, censorship, racial profiling of campus police, uneven enforcement of university policies, and usage of the disciplinary system to repress student activists.”

Among the examples was the withholding of degrees from five pro-Palestine students for their involvement in the encampment or Institute of Politics occupation in May. Per University policy, students involved in ongoing disciplinary processes may not graduate until pro-

ceedings have concluded and any sanctions have been completed. All students received their degrees by the beginning of August, and disciplinary complaints against non-graduating students were dismissed.

The complaint also cited the alleged racial profiling and University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) surveillance of students in the days following the encampment raid. The complaint describes a scenario where a group of “majority visibly Muslim” students and community members on the main quad were watched by four separate UCPD officers and an Allied Security officer over the course of two hours as a Muslim graduate student in a hijab delivered her thesis presentation.

Several attendees were repeatedly questioned by UCPD officers, who asked if they were students or members of the press.

In addition to the examples provided, the filing includes photographs, social media posts, emails, and text messages as evidence of the allegations. Falaneh told the Maroon that the evidence was largely sourced from students and publicly available information. Several sections of the complaint are redacted to protect the identities of students involved.

OCR policy states that a “complaint must be filed within 180 days of the date of the alleged discrimination unless OCR grants a waiver.” The complaint notes that some of the incidents included took place more than 180 days before the filing CONTINUED ON PG. 6

THE CHICAGO MAROON — NOVEMBER 21, 2024

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“Through lack of support and discriminatory enforcement of its policies, UChicago’s actions violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” the complaint reads.

CONTINUED FROM PG. 5

and requests a waiver of the requirement “wherever appropriate.”

According to Falaneh, Palestine Legal has not received notice from the OCR that an investigation into the complaint has been opened, nor have they received communication from the University.

When asked about the general timeline that OCR investigations follow, Falaneh said that there isn’t a set timeline for how long a civil rights complaint takes to be resolved.

“We’ve had cases open up in less than a month. We’ve had cases take as long as a year, so it’s really up to OCR here….

The timeline just varies [on a] case by case basis, and so it could take months [or] it could take years from what we know,” Falaneh said.

Despite the uncertain timeline, Falaneh expressed UCUP’s hope that the University engages in good faith with the process and resolves the issues raised in

the complaint.

“UChicago United is mainly hoping that UChicago will take meaningful steps to work with them in good faith in responding to the needs of what most students want,” Falaneh said.

A student representative from UCUP declined to comment.

Local Election Results: Incumbents and Democrats Sweep, Losses for CTU-Backed School Board Candidates

By EVGENIA ANASTASAKOS | Senior News Reporter On Tuesday, November 5, Chicagoans cast their ballots in the general election.

Polling places across the city’s 50 wards were open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. City-wide turnout was high, at around 60 percent of the electorate.

Here’s how they voted on state, citywide, and other local races: U.S. House Illinois District 1 Incumbent Democrat Jonathan Jackson held his seat with 63 percent of the vote, despite a challenge from Republican Marcus Lewis. Jackson, who is the son of civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, has represented Illinois’s 1st Congressional District since 2023, following the retirement of previous representative Bobby Rush. The district includes much of the South Side, including parts of Hyde Park and Woodlawn.

U.S. House Illinois District 2 Democratic incumbent Robin Kelly also held her seat with 75 percent of the vote, after facing off against Republican Ashley Ramos and write-in candidate Mike Vick. Kelly was first elected to represent the 2nd Congressional District in 2013. The district also includes significant portions of the South Side, including parts of Hyde Park and Kenwood. This will be Kelly’s seventh term.

Advisory questions Illinois residents voted on three advisory questions, which are non-binding ballot measures meant to help lawmakers gauge public opinion on potential policies. This year’s questions addressed three controversial issues: reproductive healthcare, income taxes, and election interference.

The Illinois Assisted Reproductive Healthcare Advisory question let voters weigh in on whether reproductive treatments like in-vitro fertilization should be covered by health insurance plans that also cover pregnancy benefits. “Yes” won with 72 percent of the vote.

The Illinois Income Tax Advisory Question asked voters whether the Illinois Constitution should be amended to create an additional 3 percent tax on incomes greater than $1,000,000 to fund property tax relief. “Yes” won with around 60 percent of the vote.

The Illinois Penalties for Candidate Interference with Election Workers’ Duties Advisory Question addressed whether state officials should establish civil penalties if a candidate interferes or attempts to interfere with an election worker’s official duties. “Yes” won with an overwhelming 88 percent of the vote.

Illinois State Senate District 13 Incumbent Democrat Robert Peters ran unopposed for re-election to continue to represent the 13th State Senate District, which stretches from Wrigleyville in the north to 95th Street in the south.

Republican James Kirchner launched a campaign against Peters but was disqualified from the general election after a change in election policy.

lican Michelle Pennington, and Libertarian Christopher Laurent competed in the Cook County Clerk race. Gordon won with over 65 percent of the vote.

The Cook County Clerk is responsible for administering Cook County’s elections, along with maintaining and providing records such as birth, marriage, and death certificates, and issuing property tax rates.

Illinois State House of Representatives District 25 Incumbent Democrat Curtis Tarver II also ran unopposed. His district includes much of Hyde Park.

Cook County State’s Attorney The previous State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced her retirement in 2023, after eight years in office. In the democratic primary, former judge Eileen O’Neill Burke won a narrow victory against former prosecutor Clayton Harris III. In the general election, O’Neill Burke defeated Republican opponent Bob Fioretti, a civil rights attorney and former alderman, and Libertarian candidate Andrew Charles Kopinski. O’Neill Burke’s policies include lowering Foxx’s threshold for charging retail theft as a felony from $1,000 to $300 and enforcing an assault weapons ban.

O’Neill Burke won with more than 66 percent of the vote.

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk In a competitive Democratic primary, Mariyana Spyropoulos defeated incumbent Iris Martinez. Spyropoulos, a former commissioner on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago’s board, faced off against Republican Lupe Aguirre and Libertarian Michael Murphy in the general election. She won with around 66 percent of the vote.

The circuit court clerk oversees one of the largest unified court systems in the world. The clerk manages court records and court orders, while also overseeing the court’s hundreds of judges.

Cook County Clerk Democrat Monica Gordon, Repub-

Board of Review District 3 Incumbent Democrat Larry Rogers Jr. defeated Libertarian Nico Tsatsoulis in the race for Cook County Board of Review District 3. Rogers has served as CONTINUED ON PG. 7

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This year’s questions addressed three controversial issues: reproductive healthcare, income taxes, and election interference.

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commissioner since 2004. Tsatsoulis ran on a platform of capping yearly tax increases at 2 percent and ensuring that property taxes do not exceed 1 percent of the property value.

CPS Board Districts 6 and 10 This week, Chicagoans voted for the school board for the first time. The 21-member board is transitioning from being appointed by the mayor to being fully elected by 2027. This year, ten new members were chosen by citizens, with the remaining members selected by Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Ahead of the election, the board faced controversy. Last month, the entire board resigned after Mayor Johnson and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Chief Executive Pedro Martinez clashed over budget issues. After the resignations, Johnson named new members to the board. On November 1, the newly-sworn-in School Board President Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson resigned amid criticism of past social media posts, which Mayor Brandon Johnson called “antisemitic, misogynistic, and conspiratorial.”

In District 6, which includes Washington Park and portions of Hyde Park, former CPS principal Jessica Biggs, for-

mer teacher and Deputy Director of progressive advocacy group Citizen Action/ Illinois Anusha Thotakura, and founder of Chicago Against Violence Andre Smith competed for the seat. Biggs secured the seat with around 45 percent of the vote.

In District 10, which includes parts of Hyde Park and Woodlawn, four names were on the ballot.

Pastor Robert Jones, nonprofit CEO Karin Norington-Reaves, former CPS principal Adam Parrott-Sheffer, and Grammy-award-winning recording artist Che “Rhymefest” Smith competed for the board spot. Smith won the seat with 32 percent of the vote.

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioners The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago is responsible for preventing flood damage, treating wastewater, and planning infrastructure projects. Three commissioners are elected every two years to serve for six-year terms.

Incumbent Democrat Kari K. Steele won re-election with 24 percent of the vote. Two other Democrats, Marcelino Garcia and Sharon Waller, won seats, with 22 percent and 21 percent of the vote, respectively.

How Do Democratic and Republican Students Feel About Election Results?

By DEREK HSU | Senior News Reporter Donald J. Trump officially won his bid for the 47th President of the United States early Wednesday morning, capping off a resurgent campaign focused on the economy and immigration. The Maroon spoke to self-identified Democratic and Republican students about their initial thoughts on the election results and the nation’s direction.

UChicago Democrats (UCDems) was active throughout election season, sending student cohorts to key swing states— Wisconsin and Michigan—on weekends leading up to November 5 to campaign for both Kamala Harris and Democratic seats in the House and Senate. UCDems Co-President and third-year Vera Chaudhry recognized the challenge Harris faced in securing the presidency but was nevertheless surprised by the nearly four million margin of difference in the popular vote.

“A lot of the conversations I’ve had have been kind of a surprise around Trump winning the popular vote,” Chaudhry said. “The Republican shift really shows that the last few years were difficult for a lot of people, making it hard

for an incumbent like Harris to win the election.”

Second-year A kshay Kirthi, a self-identified Republican, expressed a sense of validation from the results of the presidential election, which he believes demonstrated that the Democratic Party is out of touch with the American majority. He believes the strength of Trump’s results reflected the domestic and economic priorities of the American people. “[Democrats] have denigrated the American people for their choice in this election. They called the majority of this country sexist, bigoted, homophobic, deplorable, ignorant, and worse,” Kirthi said.

Similarly, fourth-year Hank Hyatt, who is a part of the leadership of College Republicans, felt the election results matched his prediction. “I definitely did believe Trump was going to win,” Hyatt said. “Personally, I’m very excited for the future.”

Both Chaudhry and Kirthi commented on the nationwide change in voting this election cycle. “In comparison to 2020, I think it shows there has been a

large Republican shift,” Chaudhry said.

Kirthi saw this trend in a more optimistic light. “Fundamentally, the American people want change. They want a vision to grow the economy, close the border, end the wars around the world, and control the federal bureaucracy,” Kirthi said.

While much of the focus of this election season has been on the presidential race, both sides identified positive results in the smaller, more localized races, such as state Senate elections. For Chaudhry, Democratic Senate victories in Michigan (Elissa Slotkin) and Wisconsin (Tammy Baldwin) have helped her remain hopeful. “Sometimes, zooming in, it’s validating to know that there are smaller areas of hope and impactful elections that happened this season,” Chaudhry said.

Kirthi believes that with a Republican-controlled House, Senate, and presidency, there are more opportunities for Trump to follow through with his policies. Although the House majority has not been set yet, many project that Republicans will hold on to their majority.

“Trump will be able to take his agenda far further in 2024 because he knows who the bad actors are [in Washington],

understands more clearly what his agenda has to be, and knows the personnel and the transition team [he needs] to help him achieve this goal,” Kirthi said.

“Trump clearly will be able to implement a much more defined America First agenda.

The next presidential cycle provides a fresh opportunity for both sides to either realign or reaffirm their party’s goals and promises. Chaudhry highlighted the necessity for the Democratic Party to look internally and identify the priorities of young and working-class voters. “Aligning the Democratic Party with working-class people in America is really important,” Chaudhry said. “Democrats need to refocus on issues like the economy and immigration that are very winnable.”

Kirthi, too, sees this as a learning opportunity for the Democrats. “Look into the mirror and acknowledge why the American people didn’t buy into their vision this time,” Kirthi said. “The American people have given the Republican Party a mandate of trust to fully implement their vision, but this trust is contingent on good governance and delivering on promises.”

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UChicago Launches Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth

By NAINA PURUSHOTHAMAN | Senior News Reporter and KALYNA VICKERS | News Reporter The University launched its Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth with a day-long series of programs at the Rubenstein Forum on October 30. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) were among the speakers at the event, which featured a series of “fireside chats” to discuss the institute’s three areas of focus: Economics and Policy, Energy Technologies, and Climate Systems Engineering.

In his opening remarks, University President Paul Alivisatos said that the institute—with Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and Director of the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago Michael Greenstone as its inaugural faculty director—“will be the University of Chicago’s central hub… to bring our best ideas and best work to a type of challenge that humanity has not faced before.”

The Institute tackles climate change and sustainable economic growth through research, education, and global collaboration. Focusing on energy policy, technological innovation, and emissions risk assessment, it equips students with climate knowledge and offers hands-on learning through research and internships. Overall, the Institute aims to integrate environmental sustainability with economic development.

Greenstone added that starting next year, courses about climate and sustain-

able growth will be included in the core curriculum for undergraduate students.

Pending approval, there will also be a new major in the college with specializations in climate science, climate politics, climate finance, and climate technology.

At the event, Pritzker said climate change was “one of the most significant challenges our people and our planet have ever faced.”

“I have long rejected the idea that climate policy must necessarily come at the expense of economic opportunity. To the contrary, if we’re going to meet our climate goals in a reasonable amount of time, we will need to incentivize growth. We will need policies that leverage public capital with private capital, drive innovation, and fuel people with entrepreneurial spirit,” he said.

Durbin commented on the 2024 presidential election and its potential implications for climate work. “We are at a cusp, a turning point, in this country in six days.

The question is where we’re going as a nation,” he said. “Here’s what I do know. If the blockheads who believe climate change is a hoax prevail, we’re going to be set back.”

The fireside chats that comprised the rest of the event centered on balancing climate initiatives and economic growth, a discussion of energy storage and the future of clean technology, and how to bridge the gap between the developed and developing world in terms of having informed and eq-

The David Rubenstein Forum. nathaniel rodwell-simon. uitable conversations and efforts around climate.

As the launch was taking place, approximately 15 members of the Environmental Justice Task Force, Care Not Cops, and Students for Justice in Palestine gathered to protest outside of the Rubenstein Forum. The rally began at 1:45 p.m. and was monitored by three University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) officers and two deans-on-call.

The protestors displayed a large banner that read “UChicago invests in Death.

Divest” and wrote several demands with chalk on the sidewalk surrounding the Rubenstein Forum, including “Stop Pritzker the planet killer,” “Don’t do research without acting on that research,” and “I hope you enjoyed that greenwashing

event.”

The protestors handed out fliers to passersby that read: “UChicago invests billions of dollars in fossil fuels—that is to say, UChicago funds death and displacement” and “UChicago cares more about expanding its property, gentrifying the South Side and displacing primarily Black residents, than it does about its own environmental commitments.” The flier also described Greenstone as a “neoliberal economist” and claimed that Governor Pritzker’s support for a quantum computing lab supported by the University would “cause mass gentrification.”

The rally was called to an end by the organizers at 2:50 p.m. The participants did not interact with UCPD or the deanson-call.

New Campus Rideshare Service Via Receives Mixed Reviews From Students

By DANIEL LIN | News Reporter It has been over two months since the launch of the Via program on campus.

After three years of providing a limited number of subsidized Lyft rides to students each month, the University has partnered with rideshare company Via to have greater oversight over its rideshare services while reducing the number of vehicles in the Hyde Park area.

Via is a rideshare service that picks up and drops off students at designated points along a shared route, providing unlimited free rides to and from any location near campus between 5 p.m. and 4 a.m. through the RideSmart app.

Reviews of Via are mixed, with student feedback ranging from praises of the app’s convenience to complaints about

wait times and the cleanliness of fellow riders.

The rideshare app has been convenient for many first-year students, like JC Bermudez. “I think [Via] has been super positive,” Bermudez said. “I use it a lot, especially when I’m going out or just trying to go to the library or coming back after practice.”

However, upperclassmen appear less enthusiastic, with many avoiding Via be-

cause of wait times.

Second-year Ishani Hariprasad expressed her preference for last year’s Lyft program. “I have not really used [Via] at all,” she said. “From what I’ve been told by all of my friends, it just takes a very long time.” “[The app will tell you] the Via is here in 15 minutes, but, because the drop-off and pick-up times take so long, it’ll be CONTINUED ON PG. 9

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However, upperclassmen appear less enthusiastic, with many avoiding Via because of wait times.

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A Via Shuttle drops students off at Max Palevsky Residential Commons. daniel lin.

more on the half-hour side,” third-year Alexander Valbuena said.

For Valbuena, sharing the vehicle with other students was another issue.

“My first Via left a really bad impression because these two guys hopped in, [and] they were just really stinky,” he said.

Despite complaints about Via’s tardiness, the frequently extended wait times have led to one unexpected benefit: free Lyfts. Due to a limited number of Via drivers and high demand for the rideshare service, the app automatically or-

ders riders a free Lyft when it estimates a wait time of over 15 minutes. For many students, this has become the preferred outcome. When asked about his favorite part of the service, fourth-year Joshua Lee said, “The free Lyfts.”

“I’ll use the Via app almost three times every day, but I never actually use the Vias. I almost always use the Lyfts,” Valbuena said.

Students have even developed strategies to increase their chances of receiving a Lyft through the Via app. “There are different tricks you can use in order

to get Via to give you Lyfts… like adding additional passengers,” third-year Neel Maheshwari said.

For some, the Via program’s flexibility and unlimited ride features are seen as overall improvements to previous years’ rideshare offerings. “[The rides are] unlimited… I think probably the Via system is better on net,” Valbuena said.

Lee echoed the positive reviews, adding, “It’s great. I wouldn’t change a thing [about Via].”

Annual Legal Forum Symposium Meets to Discuss Law and Disaster

By GRACE BEATTY | News Reporter Professors, researchers, and policy-makers gathered on November 8 at the UChicago Law School for this year’s Legal Forum Symposium titled: Crisis, Calamity, and Catastrophe: Law in Times of Disaster. Panels included discussions of environmental disaster, financial disaster, democratic disaster, public health, and a keynote speech presented by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. Historic events, including Hurricane Katrina and the most recent Los Angeles heat wave, served as central foci for the speakers.

The event, organized by UChicago law students Kasey Coleman and Caroline Cohen, featured a broad range of presenters, including Co-Founder and Director of the International Human Rights Clinic Sarah Dávila-Ruhaak and renowned Georgetown global health law professor Lawrence Gostin.

To kick off the morning, Thomas J. Miles, dean of the UChicago Law School, took the stage to describe the efforts of the day: “Our goal, as a university, is to expand the understanding and knowledge of law and our legal system [by] focusing on very important questions in our world, thinking deeply and am-

bitiously about them, being unafraid to ask challenging questions, and enthusiastically crossing interdisciplinary boundaries to bring new ideas and new insights to bear.” He then invited student representatives to speak, and the conversation transitioned into the first panel on environmental disaster.

Jeff Schlegelmilch and Michael Burger, climate analysts and advocates at Columbia University, echoed Miles’s thoughts about the role. “[Environmental advocacy] is not just a job,” Schlegelmilch said. “The recovery landscape of the United States at the federal level… is not a cohesive or elegant system that’s been pulled together. It’s really more of a comic-minded environmental kind of Jenga that’s been assembled over the years.”

Dávila-Ruhaak turned the conversation to human rights and how they might be jeopardized in disasters. “The violation of one human right and one dimension necessarily implicates the other,” she said. “There’s also, with marginalization and vulnerability, an issue with local populations and communities not receiving [medical] information that is accurate.” She described the lack of re-

sources in underrepresented communities and highlighted the difficulties of corporate–government relationships, citing both the lack of access to information and lack of transparent information as key problems in environmental and climate change–related inequalities.

In the following panel, focused on financial disaster, Columbia Law professor Kathryn Judge expanded upon this in her presentation, “The Emergency Lending Authority of the Federal Reserve.” Dhruv Chand Aggarwal and Adrian Walters also spoke about their work on crisis-driven financial legislation and bankruptcy resolutions of mass-harm events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Katrina.

Raoul and appellate lawyer Michael Scodro continued these thoughts in their keynote discussion and Q&A on legal repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic in preparation for the ensuing public health panel. Describing the disaster proclamations, a series of formal statements released by Governor J. B. Pritzker detailing the state’s response and recovery capabilities regarding COVID-19, Raoul said, “We [the Illinois state government] did not have much guidance. The only existing legal authority interpreting the 30-day provision

[meant to aid in the relief of COVID-19] was a 2001 nonbinding opinion issued by a former attorney general, Jim Ryan.”

“In addition to the scientific uncertainty surrounding this new virus, we also faced legal uncertainty on who had what authority to protect public health under Illinois law,” Raoul said. “Unfortunately, the Illinois court system failed to resolve this critical legal uncertainty for months.” According to Raoul, this led to continued health inequalities and inequities among Illinois citizens.

After the keynote discussion, Michael Paulsen, Samuel Issacharoff, and Manoj Mate spoke in a panel on democratic crises, both domestic and abroad, including the failure of checks and balances and election turmoil in many countries.

The final panel of the day, focusing on public health and including speakers Gostin, Michele Goodwin, Michael Sinha, and Alison McCarthy, expanded on the COVID-19 pandemic as a disaster and its legal repercussions.

In the following panels, these themes were continued and expanded upon in the context of the upcoming presidential administration. More information on the Forum may be found on the Law School website.

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PODCASTS On Episode 119 of the Maroon’s flagship podcast, the Maroon Weekly, Pravan and Jake finally return to the studio with Eli, who’s new to the section. The three of them discuss the recent election results, locally and nationally, as well as protests on campus and the University’s new Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth.

Featuring: Pravan Chakravarthy, Eli Lowe, Jake Zucker Edited by: Jake Zucker

ARTS Theater[24] Is Coming Soon to a Theater Near You Theater[24] offers a fun smattering of new plays all written and produced in one chaotic day.

By LUCY WHITEHEAD | Arts Reporter Theater[24], a quarterly production from University Theater, is a showcase of new plays that have been written and staged in the preceding 24 hours. The quick pace of the production process enables every participant to experience the thrill of college theater in one intense night and is conveyed to the audience through hastily constructed sets and quickly memorized lines. Each quarter, Theater[24] provides a theme that can serve as inspiration for the writers.

The theme for the Fall 2024 production was movie tropes. This quarter, we were treated to six plays, each around 15 to 20 minutes long. Although the writers did not have to use the theme provided, movie tropes made an appearance in all six productions.

Killer? I Hardly Know Her! transformed the typical “masked-killer movie” into a 2005 romcom with a twist ending. A man in dramatic Freddy Krueger–esque make-up flirts with

Kassie Rivera (far left) asserts authorship of a fan fiction by reciting it from memory and claims a coveted summer internship from her frat brothers Anthony Stefani (second from right) and Simon Lenoe (second from left). lucy whitehead.

a woman named Candie. An aggressive love triangle ensues between the killer, his barista coworker Brandi, and Candie while jazz music plays. The serial killer is transformed by love, but Candie turns out to be hiding some secrets below the surface (most notably, cannibalism).

Candie murders Brandi, transforming the barista into lollipops the two now-killers share. The whole thing ends with a lovely song and dance to “Lollipop”

by The Chordettes.

Sweet Goodbyes was an A24-style psychological thriller. Carnal and emotional, with low lighting, a couple preparing to separate for a vacation goes on a transformative journey. The boyfriend character goes to buy a book for his girlfriend and is tragically duped into purchasing illegal candy from a candy dealer. When he tries to return it, the candy dealer threatens him. Throughout the play, he is forced to feign normalcy around his clingy girlfriend as the candy dealer casually chats with her. Eventually, the tension comes to a head when the couple knocks out the drug dealer, and, fearing for their lives in the face of TSA, the two eat all the candy.

The events happen quickly, barely leaving the viewer time to process what they are seeing, but a certain satisfaction is derived from the violent revenge the couple enacts against the dealer and the aggressive mukbang that follows.

KAEn is a traditional college comedy made realistic, meaning that the characters suffer the consequences of their unwise decisions. Two girls meet at a college RSO fair and are coerced into talking with the finance RSO table. Later, one of the girls goes on a terrible date with a finance guy, while the other thrives as a fan fiction writer, an occupation she was previously ashamed of. Additionally, the audience is treated to a variety of humorous tangents over the course of the play, including a disastrous Zoom interview and mockumentary-style spotlight interviews. The tragic conclusion comes when despite pledging the finance frat, only one of the students gets a summer internship.

Joey and Johnny Go to White Castle is an extended advertisement taking the form of two 11-year-old boys realizing their queerness over a shared love of exclusive deals. It is the typical 1990s/2000s “harebrained scheme” comedy where two boys attempt blackmail for the first time. Joey and Johnny want to go to White Castle for Valentine’s Day to secure the exclusive White Castle Valentine’s Day special, but they have no one to go with (a romantic partner is required to purchase the special). They decide to blackmail a local babysitter into going with them, and when she storms off in the middle of their date, the boys CONTINUED ON PG. 11

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The energy and buy-in of everyone involved was palpable, creating an incredibly entertaining performance.

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realize that they can go with each other.

At first, Joey and Johnny’s strange decisions, awkward speaking pace, and obsession with White Castle lead the audience to believe the characters are stoners, but it turns out they are just 11-year-olds.

If the Shoe Fits is a gritty fairytale murder mystery. Imagine Prince Charming was a rich frat bro with a foot fetish who was also a serial killer. There is a din-

gy dive bar, a smart but weary detective, and a twist ending. Moral of the story— the person you’re chasing could be next to you all along, but maybe you shouldn’t be chasing them.

The Man Who Shot Jock Statueofliberty was a play that embodied every cop-centered action movie, while simultaneously centering the thesis “nice guys finish last.” “Good Cop” Cooper is a stickler for the rules to the point of alienating

everyone in his life, even his wife is on the brink of leaving him—regretting their marriage from the moment he gave her a ticket for speeding on their honeymoon.

But when a disgraced bad cop is fired, it is up to Cooper to save the day. Can he do it? Turns out he can but at the expense of his good cop nature. On the bright side, what he loses in morals, he gains in love from his wife.

Overall, I deeply enjoyed myself at

this quarter’s performance. Despite its brief production process, this quarter’s programming was able to send me on a wild rollercoaster of emotions, while simultaneously summarizing every movie I’ll watch for the next two years. The energy and buy-in of everyone involved was palpable, creating an incredibly entertaining performance. Theater[24] was hysterical, innovative, and full of life. Be sure to catch next quarter’s shows!

SPORTS Recent Results Men’s and Women’s Cross Country finished up their seasons at the NCAA DIII Midwest Regional on Nov. 16. The men’s team finished sixth out of 31 teams, and the women’s team finished first out of 32.

Football scored a big win against Grinnell College for the Maroons’ Senior Day on Nov. 11, winning 42–6. They took on Lake Forest College on Nov. 16 in the last game of the season, losing 28–9.

Men’s Soccer ended their season with two losses, falling 4–2 to Emory on Nov. 2 before losing 2–1 in their final game of the season to Wash U. Women’s Soccer got through to the NCAA tournament in Grand Rapids with a 1–1 draw to Wash U in their last conference matchup. They kicked off the tournament with a big 4–0 win against Lawrence University, followed by a 3–1 win against No. 16 Calvin University.

Women’s Volleyball started the UAA Women’s Volleyball Championship in Rochester with a 3–1 win against No. 4 Carnegie Mellon. They fell 3–1 to No. 1 Emory but bounced back with a win against No. 2 Case Western Reserve.

Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving headed to Kenosha to face off against Carthage College, with the men’s team winning 142–91 and the women’s team winning 168–74.

Men’s Basketball tipped off the season with a 70–53 win against Bates College in the 2024 UChicago Midway Classic, beating Transylvania University 77–65 the following day.

Women’s Basketball started off the season with two straight wins against Carthage College and North Park University. Hosting the UChicago Midway Classic, they beat Millikin University 61–45 and Middlebury College 66–41.

Upcoming Games Women’s Soccer: NCAA DIII Tournament, UChicago vs. Messiah University (Pa.) hosted by Wash U (Mo.), Saturday, Nov. 23.

Women’s Volleyball: NCAA DIII Tournament, UChicago vs. Centre College (Ky.) hosted by Marietta College (Ohio), Thursday, Nov. 21.

Men’s Basketball: UChicago vs. Edgewood College (Wis.), 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24.

Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving: Phoenix Fall Classic hosted by UChicago, Friday, Nov. 22–Sunday, Nov. 24.

Men’s Wrestling: 30th CUW Open hosted by Concord University (Wis.), Saturday, Nov. 23.

Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving: Phoenix Fall Classic hosted by UChicago, Friday, Nov. 22–Sunday, Nov. 24.

Men’s Wrestling: 30th CUW Open hosted by Concord University (Wis.), Saturday, Nov. 23.

Women’s Basketball: UChicago vs. Concordia University Chicago (Ill.), 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22.

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CROSSWORDS A Particular Matter

By MICHAEL CHEN | Crosswords Constructor ACROSS 1 Excessively support 5 Sunscreen stats 9 He’s “Big” in a comic strip 10 Winter garment 11 ___lemon (athletic apparel brand) 12 Pelvic bones 13 The Big Bang, for example 15 Type of quark in a kaon 17 Believer of yin and yang 18 Dash of enthusiasm 19 Drink that sounds like words of understanding 23 Exxon, outside of the U.S. 24 Famous celestial object?

25 “Shucks” 26 Anagram of 24- and 25-Across

DOWN 1 “Live from New York” sketch comedy show 2 Most massive lepton, in particle physics 3 Coca-Cola headquarters city: Abbr.

4 “Ghost particles” 5 Oppenheimer, for one 6 Chicago rapper of “Pop Out” 7 Laissez-___ 8 “Don’t leave me!”

14 Contains 15 What chips dance in?

16 Raise one’s spirits?

17 Very special animal?

20 Agcy. that offers the U-Pass 21 Audio frequency receptor 22 Ambulance destinations: Abbr.

Where Are You?

By PRAVAN CHAKRAVARTHY | Head Crosswords Editor ACROSS 1 La ___ (venerated Milan opera house) 6 Natural bandage of sorts 10 Orange end zone marker in American football 11 Ingredient in a purple milk tea, perhaps 12 Common UChicago student’s response to “Where are you?”

14 “We’ll figure out this part of the schedule later” 15 Big ___ (California coastal region) 16 “Smooth Operator” band 18 The Mediterranean, for one 20 “Hi, can you please remove me from this ___?” (annoying email) 23 Org. behind “Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!” and “All Things Considered” 24 Categorize 26 Aang can bend it 28 Birdcall associated with Halloween 29 Train you might take from down-

33 34 35 36

town Chicago to Midway Airport Weight unit shortening often associated with drugs What splits a Nobel Prize?

Motherland, metaphorically Fixed one’s bike, perhaps

DOWN 1 Expectorates, e.g.

2 Product manufactured by the Avedis Zildjian Company 3 “A Whole New World” film 4 Park place 5 Insects with almost 14,000 classified species 6 3-D sound systems 7 Machine on an interstate 8 Is for two?

9 Weigh (down) 13 When doubled, kept secret 17 Language name missing a tilde 19 Not willing to talk 21 Class before pre-calc 22 Stupor 25 British woolen material

For more puzzles, visit chicagomaroon.com/crosswords.

27 29 30

Seized vehicle Gives the go-ahead Setting of the Brazilian film “Ci-

31 32

dade de Deus” Akbar Khan, Hindustani musician O’ahu ring