060413 Chicago Maroon

Page 1

TUESDAY • JUNE 4, 2013

ISSUE 50 • VOLUME 124

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

CHICAGOMAROON.COM

Fourth-year finds own identity thief Joy Crane Senior News Staff

Art Mart Chicago-based artist Joe Smigielski, left, displays his oil paintings in Hyde Park’s 66th annual 57th Street Art Fair last weekend. This year’s fair featured over 200 artists from around the country. SYDNEY COMBS | THE CHICAGO MAROON

After a series of e-mail blasts were sent to UChicago students and faculty in his name last Wednesday, fourth-year Kevin Zhang filed complaints of cyber fraud and identity theft with police. Through his personal blog, Zhang has gone public with the alleged sender of the e-mails, an individual not affiliated with UChicago. The unsolicited e-mails sent last Wednesday, claiming to be from Zhang, a computer science and biological sciences double major, invited students to check out an anonymous posting Web site, Uchicagoanon.com. In the vein of similar Facebook pages, the site endeavored “to discover the hidden secrets of Uchicago through the anonymous sharing of thoughts,” according to the message sent from Zhang’s e-mail

address. The e-mails, sent from a mailing list through MailChimp, an e-mail marketing service provider, were sent to an unknown number of UChicago-affiliated recipients. Third-year Emily Laackman, who received the e-mail, said, “It’s kind of popping everywhere, the whole idea of trying to get engagement of students, either like UChicago Crushes or Confessions…so I just assumed it was one of those.” The UChicagoAnon Web site is now offline and the mailing list has been disabled by MailChimp. According to his blog, Zhang said he suspects the e-mails to be connected to a previous batch of e-mail blasts delivered on May 26, which invited recipients to submit a written list of achievements for consideration to an alleged UChicago secret society. According to his write-up of the ZHANG continued on page 3

Clothesline Project SFCC plans future after referendum fights for funding Anastasia Kaiser News Staff

Stephanie Xiao Associate News Editor A Student Government (SG) Annual Allocations Committee (AnnAl) decision to deny funding for the UChicago Clothesline Project was met with student outrage and the distribution of an online petition on Sunday night. Though the project can apply for money next year under a different funding body and members of SG said they are likely to receive it, the students associated with the project took issue with AnnAl’s reasoning. The petition, which states, “The University of Chicago student body supports the UChicago Clothesline Project: zero financial support is unacceptable,” has currently attracted more than 750 online signatures out of a target 1,000. Over 100 of these are accompanied by personal messages listing support for the project and sexual assault awareness. The UChicago Clothesline Project, modeled after the National Clothesline Project, was started this year under its parent RSO, Tea Time and Sex

Chats (TTSC), to “allow [sexual assault survivors] to share their stories in a striking, powerful way,” according to the project’s Web site. The Project involved nine T-shirt-making sessions in which artists designed shirts based on anonymous submissions from sexual assault survivors over the course of the past two quarters, culminating in a public art installation in Hutch Courtyard last week. This year’s project received startup funding from Resources for Sexual Violence Prevention, the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, and Assistant Vice President of Student Life and Associate Dean of the College Eleanor Daugherty. When the organizers of the project applied for AnnAl funding for next year, however, they were rejected on the basis that they failed to justify and support the project’s high projected future attendance, according to a response that TTSC received from AnnAl. An appeal was also rejected. Instead, the group was told to apply for Student Government Finance Committee (SGFC) funding CLOTHES continued on page 2

Inside: The Class of 2013 Graduation Issue insert

After students voted in support of its referendum for divestment, Stop Funding Climate Change (SFCC), the primary student group behind the referendum, is authoring a proposal providing more detail on divestment in the

hopes that it will be presented to the administration and the Board of Trustees in the fall. SFCC members hope that the proposal, to be written during the summer, will be considered seriously by the University and the Board of Trustees as a guideline for how divestment can be accomplished. According

SOUL seeks guaranteed jobs Anastasia Kaiser News Staff Despite Executive Director of Campus Dining Richard Mason’s assurances that the majority of Pierce dining staff would be relocated to Bartlett and Cathey Dining Commons next year, students involved with Students Organizing United with Labor (SOUL) have expressed skepticism about the fate of the workers. Mason met with the students in response to a letter they delivered to his office on May 21. According to Mason, UChicago Dining expects

current Pierce workers, who are employed by Aramark, the food provider for the dining halls, to remain at the University. He partly attributed this to the additional workers needed at Bartlett and Cathey next year when those commons begin to accommodate more students after the demolition of Pierce Tower. “Between those additions and the natural attrition of dining staff that occurs every year, we do not anticipate any layoffs resulting from the closure of Pierce,” he said in a written response to the letter from SOUL. SOUL continued on page 2

to SFCC President and thirdyear Paul Kim, the proposal will contain an argument about why the University should divest, research on the impact of divestment, and a response to concerns about the impact of divestment on the University’s endowment. At a Student Government

Cabinet meeting on May 7, President Zimmer told students in an informal Q&A session that he wanted to see a more concrete argument made in favor of divestment before the administration considered the issue, according to a student present at the CLIMATE continued on page 2

Logan leaks, students evacuated Jonah Rabb Maroon Contributor The Logan Center for the Arts was plagued with water leaks due to torrential rain last week, forcing some students to temporarily vacate the building. Second-year Sasha Ayvazov was watching the dress rehearsal for University Theater’s Merchant of Venice last Tuesday when he and other students were evacuated due to leaks in the building. According to Ayvazov, the leak spread from the terrace to the catwalk of Theater

East, where the rehearsal was being held. The catwalk, where the lighting for the theater is operated, became a potential hazard, forcing students to leave the area, he said. On Saturday, students once again witnessed leaking in the building. Secondyear Manasa Ravi, who performed in Commedia dell’Arte’s The Pirate King this weekend, noticed leaks in the backstage area next to the courtyard. “From what I could see, it was leaking from the ceiling, along columns, and through LOGAN continued on page 2

IN VIEWPOINTS

IN ARTSFEED

IN SPORTS

On convocation: Take your own advice » Page 4

Top five lists for summer » Page 8

From field to Booth, former Arizona Cardinal takes on next challenge » Back Page

Letter: Burqa ban debate in context » Page 6

2012-2013 Athlete Awards » Page 15


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.