FRIDAY • NOVEMBER 9, 2012
CHICAGOMAROON.COM
ISSUE 11 • VOLUME 124
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
Last stop, McCormick: Obama supporters rejoice Ankit Jain Senior News Staff As third-year Lee Kuhn sat behind a curtain Tuesday night at McCormick Place, he heard cheers from the thousands of people on the other side but had no idea what was happening on stage. On the other side were thousands of campaign volunteers and supporters, from veteran canvassers to firsttime voters, who supported the newly re-elected President Obama with never-ending cheers. Thanks to a stroke of good luck, Kuhn and his friend second-year Lauren Thomas were picked out by Obama staffers to sit behind the President as he gave his speech on stage, where they waited for three hours before the speech. “We could hear the crowd roaring on the other side—but we didn’t really know what was going on. It was pure excitement and anticipation,” he said. After MSNBC and then CNN called the election in Obama’s favor at 10:20 p.m., McCormick Place’s main convention room shook with roars from Obama’s most fervent supporters. Attendee Todd Belcore, a poverty lawyer, said he was “overcome with emotion; just overjoyed and in a sense relieved; with happiness and gratitude for all the solidarity, all the people working together.”
President Obama delivers his acceptance speech in McCormick Place after his re-election on Tuesday evening.
OBAMA continued on page 2
COURTESY OF CATHERINE TARSNEY
Valois hands out meals Village Foods becomes Whole fit for a president Janey Lee News Contributor
Linda Qiu News Editor Victory is a dish best served hot. President Obama’s favorite restaurant gave out his favorite breakfast in celebration of his reelection Wednesday morning. Valois, the Hyde Park diner famous for its cafeteria-style grub and POTUS approval, served breakfast on the house from 6 to 11 a.m., inviting hundreds of Chicagoans to feast upon the No. 2— two scrambled egg whites, turkey sausage, hash browns, and wheat toast. In little over four hours, more than 700 had been served, with the line spanning a block and half from East 53rd Street and South Harper Avenue to Lake Park Avenue. “[Valois] did it for Obama, for his people,” said Dimitrios Lathouris, who was cooking behind the counter Wednesday morning during the giveaway. The morning after Election Day 2008, Valois also gave out free breakfast
to a larger crowd and a tired Presidentelect Obama, who stopped by for a hot meal after his first win. Since then, Obama’s returns to the diner have been less frequent: His last publicized visit was in 2010 after a campaign rally on the Midway for Alexi Giannoulias’s bid for Obama’s old Senate seat. “He doesn’t come here regularly anymore. I think he’s busy,” joked Jon Lathouris, a manager who has been at the restaurant for over 20 years. Lathouris, who used to flip Obama’s eggs back when he frequented the restaurant, pointed to a wall next to the cash register with a photo of a smiling Obama, and said, “Yeah, I miss him, I miss my friend.” The Lathouris brothers said that even those who were not supporters of Obama were welcome to enjoy the meal. The morning, however, was decidedly a moment of celebration and victory for Obama’s neighbors and supporters. “This is very special for me,” Yolanda Willis, who had canvassed for Obama in VALOIS continued on page 4
Village Foods, a low-cost grocery store that has served Hyde Park residents since 1983, closed on October 16. It will be replaced by the upscale organic grocery Whole Foods. The new store is part of City Hyde Park, a development that in 2014 will occupy the area now known as Village Center. Antheus Capital acquired the building in 2005, when a number of tenants, including Vil-
lage Foods, were approaching the end of their leases. Seeing an opportunity to redevelop the entire site, Antheus sponsored workshops and focus groups in order to gauge neighborhood residents’ main needs, which included retail stores, high quality handicap-accessible housing , and affordable housing. To meet these needs, the development plans to include 110,000 square feet of retail on two levels as well as 182 apartments, 20 percent of which will be designated affordable housing.
City Hyde Park has received support from numerous local organizations including the Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce and the Coalition for Equitable Community Development (CECD). “This proposal includes 38 new units of affordable rental housing , which will be the first of its kind in many, many years in our community. CECD’s mission is to preserve the economic diversity of our neighborhood, and the creation of this TIF and the resulting deGROCERY continued on page 3
Panel dissects Chicago teachers’ strike Alex Hayes News Contributor A panel of labor activists spoke about the recent Chicago teachers’ strike and the challenges that the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) faces during a discussion in Harper last night.
Chicago Public School’s (CPS) teacher Sarah Chambers, a member of the teacher activist group that laid the groundwork for the strike, Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE), said that the build-up was five years in the making. CORE first had to change the
top-down management style of the teacher’s union to a more effective grassroots effort by union members. Panelist Micah Uetricht, a journalist for The Nation, said that it is rare for union members to be as involved as CTU memSTRIKE continued on page 3
IN VIEWPOINTS
IN ARTS
IN SPORTS
A new scientific method » Page 5
Logan’s black box theater lights up with youthful glow » Page 7
Nationals in sight as Maroons line up for Midwest Championships » Back Page
Spielberg logs Lincoln in biopic » Page 7
South Siders face uphill battle to qualify for NCAAs » Page 11
Facing the elephant in the room » Page 6