UChicago DisOrientation 2010

table of contents

(a map to your disorientation guide) Introduction …… 1 An Activist History of the U of C/Hyde Park …… 2 7 Years of Campus Politics …… 14 Student Arrest Incident 2010 …… 15 Pedagogy & Learning Spaces …… 16 Language & Race (a glossary) …… 17 On Being an Ally …… 18 Sexuality & Gender (words & links) …… 20 Gender Assignments: …… 21 A Transgender Campus Survival Guide Feminism is not Dead …… 23 Worker Solidarity @ the U of C …… 24 Investment @ the U of C …… 25 On the Possibilities of Student Life …… 26 Safety & Police (& alternatives) in Hyde Park …… 27 Bursting the Bubble: How to get out of Hyde Park …… 29 Living Creatively & Communally in HP …… 30 Off-Campus Housing & MAC Properties …… 32 Community-Supported Agriculture in HP …… 33 Map of Hyde Park/Woodlawn …… 34 Neighborhood Map of Chicago …… 37 Transportation in/around/out of Hyde Park …… 38 2 Wheels for Realz (Why Bikes are Great) …… 39 Consent is Sexy …… 42 In the Name of Better Sex Everywhere …… 45 Surviving @ the U of C …… 46 Dealing with Sexual Assault …… 49 Seven Lessons of School …… 51 Questionable Authorities …… 52 The Left is Dead, Long Live the Left …… 53 Getting Your Tuition Back …… 54 Do Academics have Political Responsibilities? …… 58 Radical Faculty @ the U of C …… 59 Activist Organizations @ the U of C …… 63 The Depoliticization of Activism …… 66 Research Websites…Know your shit! …… 67 Radical Reading List …… 68 What kind of UofC do you dream of? …… 69

Thanks to all the folks who helped make this Disorientation Guide #1possible through your writing, ideas, and 12support.

1 1 Edited by Eliot Fiend, 1 afiendstra@gmail.com 1 Front cover by Rachel 2 Tredon and back cover 1 by Eliot Fiend.

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DisO 2010 contributors include…Bex – Ricky –

1 Caro – Mister Malic 1 Muffin – Mark – zee – 1 Greg – Tones – Jory – 1 Chris – Hannah – Daniel – Craig – Luis – T.Rex – 2 Tmo – Rachel – and 1 Eliot.

2 1 Special thanks also to the Madison Infoshop 1 (makers of the UW 3 Madison DisO zine), NYU, Inc. (the folks who

1 made the 2008 NYU DisO), the makers of the 3 Fall 2009 UofC GSU 3 bulletin, Crimethinc, and 1 the Hampshire College 3 DisO zine crew for inspiring us and lending 2 us bits and pieces for this 1 zine.

1 1 And finally, thanks to everyone who takes the 4 time to read this zine! We 1 are so thrilled and 4 excited to be able to give 3 this to you and we hope you’ll appreciate it.

1 1 Anti-copyright: All 1 materials in this zine for the authors have 1 which legal copyright can be freely copied and distributed with no need for prior permission from the authors, except where otherwise noted.

UChicago DISORIENTATION 2010 an introduction welcome to our heavily-guarded fortress! you’ll find that it’s not quite the paradise depicted on all the brochures you got in the mail…there is a lot of good learning to be had here, but also a lot of fucked up shit that goes on that you don’t hear about in the classroom or during o-week….which is what this disorientation guide is for! over the course of four years, you’ll likely bump up against the question “What am I doing here?” again and again. many of you are here because of the strangeness and intellectual eclecticism that claims to define the U of C; others perhaps the promise of an elite education; and others because it was on your list and you got in. inevitably these reasons will change as you encounter reality and you might feel a little…disoriented. we’re here to help that process along and help you through it. we put this Disorientation Guide together as a testament to the diversity of lives that happen here—not the kind of colorful diversity you’re sold on an admissions pamphlet, but the ups and downs of living in Hyde Park, slowly dying in the Reg, finding modes of survival and resistance, and allowing our creative and angry voices to flourish. one of the reasons we decided to make it, while talking under the warm eves of the Reg in bitter january, was to connect you to a history of student activism and to some of the current struggles facing the U of C community. students today are standing on the shoulders and legacies of radical activists—from the small group of women who provided underground abortions in Hyde Park in the early 70s to the 400 students who occupied the admin building in ’69 to more recent campus campaigns against Coca-Cola and Taco Bell, revision of the assault policy, underpaid campus and graduate student workers…the list goes on. as students, we have power, and it’s up to us to use that power for good. hopefully this Guide will be a first step in the direction to empowering yourself as a student and human being in your 4 years here, and to come out with the abilities to think clearly and begin to address some of the problems in your communities. in these pages, you’ll find valuable information that the questionable authorities would rather leave under the rug. we also want this guide to be a source of hope. by understanding the history of the UofC, you are better equipped to understand the impact you can make in your few years here. another uchicago is possible, if you rise to demand it. in love & solidarity, eliot & the disorientation crew disclaimer: this is the first disorientation guide, and is undoubtedly radically incomplete. there are many voices that are not represented here and awesome stuff that isn’t on the map. all of which is to say that this is the beginning of a conversation and hints of a roadmap for radical exploration and self-empowerment. sorry for any small errors, misquotes, etc. the crew who put this together was trying to write from our experience and knowledge rather than a position of grandiose authority— we hope that in future years, you and some other kids will get together to make a new 1 disorientation guide to reorient the firsties in this fast-changing world.

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Student Arrest Incident 2010 Where it stands now Overview In February of 2010, a University Police officer put a student in a chokehold and wrestled him to the ground in the Regenstein Library. The student was charged with criminal trespass and resisting arrest, and spent the night in jail. For many, the arrest highlighted issues of decades of racial bias and improper use of force by the UCPD, and exposed fractures in the University community around communication and collaboration.

In response, after several public forums, the administration admitted that several “procedures” had failed to operate correctly, including perhaps the Library, UCPD, and the Dean on Call program. Pressure from students, faculty, and staff mounted as President Zimmer did not make a statement on the incident.

For more info, check out the Chicago Maroon archives along with the official statements at the below locations: http://csl.uchicago.edu/pdfs/Report_on_Regenstein_incident_%204-2-10.pdf http://csl.uchicago.edu/pdfs/Community_Forum_Update_03-02-2010.pdf http://www.chicagomaroon.com/2010/4/9/shooting-blank The Alliance for Student and Community Rights is a loose group of students and others who came together following the public forums regarding this issue.

To facilitate conversation amongst the students planning action around the recent episode of police violence and racism in the Reg, individuals formed a listhost: studentarrest@googlegroups.com. Peep their demands here: http://sg.uchicago.edu/blog/alliance-for-student-and-community-rights-demands/ .

We encourage you to get involved.

Ad Hoc Committee of Campus and Student Life, Student Government, and the Alliance for Student and Community Rights. Long name, complicated task. VP for Student Life Kim Goff-Crews founded this committee following several open forums on the subject. Made up of faculty, admin, and students, this committee is working to “monitor and advise the process moving forward on institutional changes related to the student arrest.” Public forums reporting on this work should be forthcoming, but that doesn’t mean your voice shouldn’t be heard in the meantime. For more info, contact the co-chairs, Karen Warren Coleman (admin) and Toussaint Losier (PhD student).

Check out the Common Sense Guide for the Administration’s take on what students need to know about Safety and the UCPD. http://commonsense.uchicago.edu/ So What’s Next?

It’s up to you. Incidents of a similar nature have occurred in the past, and clearly 15 there is a need for transformative, systemic, and collaborative change.

Pedagogy and learning spaces We live in a white supremacist classist heteropatriarchy and the dominant institutions in society reflect these power structures. This is obviously true of the University of Chicago. It’s less obvious that the same holds of every classroom and learning space at the U of C—but unless we actively oppose classism, racism, and heterosexism in these spaces, they’ll be characterized by these structures as well.

The power structures in educational spaces have been written about a lot. In educational spaces we get taught our class and race position. In less privileged locations than Hyde Park—but not far from Hyde Park—that’s manifest in the school-to-prison pipeline and the school-to-military pipeline.

How do these structures come into the U of C classroom? In some ways these structures define who and what’s kept out of the U of C classroom.

The U of C is not open to the community where it’s located. Our classrooms are closed to all who don’t meet exacting admissions requirements that don’t test talent or intelligence—they test how well we’ve been prepared. The supposed meritocracy of academic elitism is a huge lie. We’re not the “best,” most of us are just the most privileged.

But no matter who we are before we get to the U of C, in the classroom we have to conform to the white, male, cis, middle-class image of a student. Too many professors don’t see students as whole people: they see us as academic subjects. They don’t see our whole selves: they see the parts that participate in the intellectual, academic game. That game doesn’t have to be so limiting, but historically it’s been predicated on exclusion, and practically it denies the multiplicity of our identities and histories.

I can only speak from my experience taking mostly humanities classes at the U of C. The first lesson in the writing seminars that accompany the required core Humanities class is: don’t say “I.” Don’t write subjectively. Don’t bring yourself into your writing. Learning to write like this is important, but needs to be kept in context. Charles Bernstein says: I can think of few more valuable survival skills [than expository writing]. “But if one learns to dress as the white man dresses one does not have to think the white man dresses best.” And again the danger is that writing is taught in so formal and objectified a way that most people are forever alienated from it as Other. It needs, to use Alan Davies's terms, to be taught as the presentation of a tool, not mystified as a value-free product.* This is not only true of expository writing. In general, the humanities class is alienating. Students are often rewarded for aggression and any personal response to assigned material is looked at askance by professors and classmates. Though intellectual criticisms of texts and ideas are encouraged, emotional reactions are regarded as out of place in the classroom setting. In office hours, I tend to try to build a more personal connection with a professor; but these attempts are often met with awkwardness and redirections to academic questions. In most classes, in most papers we write, in most academic interactions, we can’t bring in our emotions, or our bodies, or our histories. Are you invisible or gone?

How can we fight this? We can continue bringing our whole selves into the classrooms and fight to make them spaces where our whole selves can be heard. We can create alternative educational spaces in discussion and study groups, and working in the surrounding community. We can teach and learn skills and experiences that are beyond what’s usually taught in a classroom.

There is a lot to be said for impromptu, unorganized, unplanned educational experiences, but we can also learn through better-organized pedagogy. I was inspired by the wealth of pedagogical styles at the workshops and assemblies at the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit this past June. In some workshops we participated in break out discussions, or we paired up and talked through a question or our experiences on an issue, or we filled in timelines on big shared pieces of butcher paper and had impromptu conversations. The workshops were usually diverse on the levels of age, race, class, gender, and orientation, and we tried to learn from each other’s different experiences. Maybe another reason these workshops were so great is that they weren’t oriented around an abstract academic idea of education, but to action outside the classroom.

Another education is possible! * “Writing and Method”, Content’s Dream: essays 1975-1984, (Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1984), 225.

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Gender Assignments:

A Transgender Campus Survival Guide by malic moxie

After my first year at UChicago, I went from dykediva to transfabulous, smashing through the gender binary and escaping with only a few cuts and bruises. Here’s a survival guide for my transgender and gender-variant sisters, brothers, and others who continue pave the way for genderbenders on campus.

The Name Game: Changing Your Name In the Classroom and Online Faculty: I either email my professors before class begins and ask them to use my preferred name and pronoun, or I just mention my preferred name during introductions on the first day. When the Samanthas ask to go by “Sam” and the Benjamins become “Bennies,” my switch from [girlname] to [genderfabulous boyname] generally goes unnoticed.

CNet ID: Even if your CNet ID is a name that you no longer use, you’re stuck with it unless you change your name “at the University level.” Although it is possible to do this, I’ve never heard of anyone doing it successfully, so if you’re stuck with name you don’t like on the Chalk site, you can at least change your UChicago email address to reflect your most fabulous self. You can learn how create a “CNet alias” by going to this website: http://itservices.uchicago.edu/docs/email/aliases You can create a pointer that allows you to receive mail at preferredalias@uchicago.edu in addition to your regular cnetid@uchicago.edu. Unfortunately, you can’t use your alias to log into any other system (so your CNet ID will be the same on Chalk).

Think Like A Tranny: Counseling From my experience, it seems like many of the folks at the Student Counseling and Resource Center are well-intentioned, but the therapists I have had were not exactly up-to-date on trans stuff. John McPherrin runs a Coming Out support group and one of my tranny friends had a good experience with him; he’s perhaps the most queer & trans-friendly therapist at the SCRS (although he’s a straight cis guy). If you’re seeking a trans-friendly therapist (to discuss gender identity or anything else), try one of Chicago’s LGBTQ-specific counseling services like Howard Brown Health Center (www.howardbrown.org). Ask about their special program for folks under 24! If you don’t have insurance, you can pay for therapy visits on a sliding scale (students with no source of income can pay as little as $10 per visit!).

Livin’ It Up: Gender in the Dorms Open Housing (a housing policy that allows you to live with people of any gender) finally became a housing option at UChicago in 2009. You will not be assigned to Open Housing unless you elect to do so on your housing form. This choice is available in all Houses, except those traditionally designated as single-gender.

Open Housing is usually not offered to first-year students, but I’ve heard that first-year transfolks can make a case for their preferred housing option. For more information about student housing, visit housing.uchicago.edu Big Strong Tranny: Going to the Gym

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Once people started reading me as a fourteen-year-old boy, going to gym became really stressful! Unsure about using the men’s locker room at both Ratner and Henry Crown, I opted for the women’s locker room…where I was promptly asked to leave. Ratner has bathrooms on the second floor that are usually unoccupied.

Unfortunately, the bathrooms are gendered, but they still create a safer space to get dressed. Henry Crown also has wheelchair-accessible bathrooms on the first floor (also gendered) that you can use for the same purpose.

Piss Like A Tranny: Gender-Neutral Bathrooms Given the city’s ridiculous building codes and the oldschool buildings on campus, UChicago has few gender-neutral bathrooms. You can find a list of the gender-neutral bathrooms that do exist here: lgbtq.uchicago.edu/resources/uchicago.shtml On-Campus Resources: Pronoun Hoedown (student-led transgender discussion group) Queers and Associates (LGBTQ student organization) Transgender Support Group (at the SCRS on Fridays) COMING SOON: trans.uchicago.edu Off-Campus Trans-Affirming Resources: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Genderqueer Chicago: genderqueerchicago.blogspot.com The New Gender blog: www.chicagonow.com/blogs/new-gender GenderJUST: www.genderjust.org Transformative Justice Law Project: www.tjlp.org Affinity Community Services: www.affinity95.org Amigas Latinas: www.amigaslatinas.org Broadway Youth Center: www.howardbrown.org Chicago Dyke March Collaborative Chicago Gender Society: www.chicagogender.com Chicago Women's Health Center: www.chicagowomenshealthcenter.org Gerber/Hart Library: www.gerberhart.org Howard Brown Clinic: www.howardbrown.org Midwest GenderQueer: www.midwestgenderqueer.com TransActions: www.transactionschicago.org Transgender Oral History Project: www.transoralhistory.com

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Worker Solidarity at the University of Chicago

by Daniel Benjamin Not all students are middle class. But as students at the University of Chicago, we’re consumers of a luxury product. And as with all luxury products, the people who work to create our education and student lives are made invisible. Capitalism structurally keeps the living conditions and struggles of these people hidden to those fortunate enough to be benefiting from the system, often at the workers’ expense.

Getting involved in worker solidarity supports the struggles of the workers abroad and on campus who are the backbone of student life. It’s also a way to personally bridge the divide between worker and student. Bridging it on the level of sympathy might make us individually feel better, but it doesn’t compare to the political act of standing together in solidarity.

What is solidarity? Here’s one definition: Stand behind me, don’t divide me, and don’t decide for me. “Standing behind and in solidarity with a movement is about listening to and supporting the needs of the movement, in the various and complex ways those needs are articulated, while taking care not to use the privileges of our location to speak on behalf of those movements.”* As a former student who was involved in worker solidarity, and is currently involved in other solidarity movements, I can speak to how this is a constant struggle but also an inspiration.

When workers and others ask us to stand behind them and support them we have the opportunity to mess with the position that capitalism defines for us as students, as middle-class—but also as U.S. citizens, as white, as cis: wherever we may have privilege. We usually can’t remove our privilege, but through solidarity, we can leverage it in order to dismantle it.

Worker solidarity at the University of Chicago has historically proceeded on two fronts. On one front, students have participated in movements supporting international workers’ rights.

Campaigns have supported Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a farmworkers organization based in Florida, over unfair wages and working conditions for the workers who pick the tomatoes we eat; the Workers Rights Consortium, which monitors the conditions in factories that produce University merchandise; and others. Participation in international worker solidarity has allowed students to think and see globally but act locally.

The second front of worker solidarity is more directly local: it is support for campus workers.

They are dining hall workers, clerical staff in the various departments and institutes, service and maintenance workers, hospital workers, graduate student workers. Many but not all of these workers are represented by campus unions: Teamsters Local 743, SEIU Local 73, Graduate Students United. They make the day-to-day life at the University possible.

Students have participated in fair contract campaigns to support clerical, service, and maintenance workers in 2007, and Aramark workers in 2008-2009. At time of writing Local 743 workers are in negotiations, and students and workers are organizing together to fight for a fair contract. The University has imposed hour cuts on service and maintenance workers and is insisting on further, unprecedented wage cuts, crying poor at the very moment that they throw money into the neo-liberal Milton Friedman Institute, needlessly repaved quads, new buildings that encroach beyond the Midway into Woodlawn, and a new library. As the consumers, students have the power to say, we will not stand for this! From the Students Organizing United with Labor (SOUL) website: “In its actions, if not in its rhetoric, the administration has decided that certain members of our campus community are more valued and valuable than others. By supporting the contract campaign, we can show the University that we refuse to accept such a definition.”

You can get involved with the contract campaign by checking out the SOUL website, http://uchicago.usas.org/. * Defining Terms in the Age of Imperialism: Challenging Alleged “Strategic Solidarity.” Statement by Arab American Union Members Council, Arab Resource & Organizing Center, Break the Siege, Break the Silence Mural Project, Freedom Archives, International Jewish Solidarity Network, Left Turn, Palestine Education Project, Youth Solidarity Network. <http://www.leftturn.org/?q=node/728> 24

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Selections from

On the Possibilities of Student Life: CrimethInc. for College Freshmen assembled by the CrimethInc. Gleeful Ludic Throng CrimethInc. for college freshmen?! I thought ChrimethInc. was all about dropping out of school, quitting your job, and living on the street eating dumpstered bagels as you fought the cops with slingshots and spraypaint!

That sounds suspiciously like the kind of daydream you have when you aren't satisfied with what you're doing with your life, and can't imagine what you could really do differently; and the problem with such daydreams is that they paint the desired life as something so different, so impossible, that it becomes an alibi for doing nothing. Revolutionary activity, exciting activity, fun activity is a lot closer than you may be ready to admit to yourself, even if you aren't an urban guerilla.

Many of us are students. Let's be straight about this. Whether we want to drop out but aren't yet sure of ourselves, or we really think the degree will enable us to do the things we want (without cashing in our privilege to stomp on others), or we have other reasons, we're enrolled, and putting a lot of energy into being college students. So it's problematic that when we think of being a revolutionary, all our examples are so far from our own circumstances (beyond the middle class guilt of that old oxymoron, the "student activist"); after all, any image that makes us feel that "life is elsewhere" from where we are is ultimately our enemy. This little pamphlet is an attempt to offer some leads on revolutionary pursuits for the college student who doesn't want to watch the revolution from afar while he completes his psychology homework.

Lots of us in college are paralyzed by the fear of the unknown - whatever it is that awaits after college, which we can't quite imagine, which all the "responsible" people in our lives have never ceased telling us we have to be ready for, or else, and doing well in college is our one chance to "stay on track" for that. The alternative, of course, is unthinkable.

You know as well as I that this is a myth, but you have to get to a point where you can feel that knowledge, so you won't have to struggle with the constrictions of anxiety in your gut every time you want to do something that deviates even marginally from the aforementioned "track.” You have an idea of what you want to do, however vague, even if it's just a blurry sense of what you think is right and wrong. You can be miserable…if you focus on "achievement" in the limited sense…or you can do something good for yourself, for others…by concentrating some energy on the things you know matter. Remember, whatever you do right now will lay the precedent and framework for what you'll be doing later - should it be things you believe in, or things you do out of fear?

Finally, the most valuable resource college life offers you is simply connection to the lives of others, especially people you would never interact with otherwise. College is one of the last places you'll be brushing shoulders with people with totally different backgrounds and interests.

Remember, in grade school you were all together, even kids from different economic backgrounds.

By high school some had dropped out, others had been sent to institutions or drug rehab or private schools. After this, you'll all be isolated in your various lines of work, even if yours is "activist" or adven-turer. Take advantage of this chance to shake up the lives of people who wouldn't be thinking about sweatshops or sexism or passionate living otherwise. Don't be shy - see who you can meet in existing organizations, and better, start your own dis-organizations. Get creative…interrupt meetings of the Self-Knowledge Symposium to shout out more ambitious demands, then invite people to your own meetings, held around a campfire in the woods... set up a table in the center of campus to give out literature, Food Not Bombs bagels, and hang out with new friends.

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Police and Safety in Hyde Park Hey kids,

by caro c-o & eliot fiend

So, welcome to the UofC. Bet you've been talked to death about safety in the city, safety in Hyde Park, and how to use â&#x20AC;&#x153;common sense,â&#x20AC;? as though you didn't have any before you got here.

We're not saying that safety isn't important, because it's pretty fucking important. I like to know that I'm safe when I walk around my community but you know what? None of the safety services offered by the UofC make me feel safer. Not the big blue emergency poles, not the persistent police cars roaming around the neighborhood, and not the opportunity to have a police car accompany me home while I'm walking. I've realized now that the constant police presence goes against my feelings of safety, and that my initial fondness for the blue emergency lights was because I was made to feel that I was not capable of being independent and finding my own ways of keeping myself safe.

After having lived in Hyde Park for about two years, I've found that most of the ways I keep myself have nothing to do with campus safety services, and that my methods feel a whole lot, well safer than University of Chicago methods. For one thing, I feel like keeping yourself safe should be empowering. I like knowing that I can be responsible for my own well-being and can support the well-being and safety of my friends and neighbors. I don't like feeling like I can't take care of myself, that my well-being is dependent on the police watching out for me. What if the police aren't there when I need them? What if my calling the police comes at the expense of someone else? What if my calling the police comes at my own expense? The police are ill-equipped to handle many sensitive situations, like those involving mental health or sexual abuse. And as long as groups of people are oppressed or marginalized, they will be the chief victims of police violence, and the police serve to perpetuate that oppression. (Take, for instance, Maurice Dawson's recent arrest in the library for "being too loud" while being black, which brought to light the harassment many students and nonstudents of color have faced on campus at the hands of the UC Police. They assumed Maurice wasn't a student and he was forced to plead guilty to resisting arrest.) The police don't provide proactive solutions for our communities...they just create an atmosphere of fear and mistrust.

Not to mention that these police-free safety methods have led to some pretty rad friendships. [one] Make friends with your surroundings and your neighborhood When you're familiar with the streets you're walking on, have adventured off campus during the day, you're less likely to get lost or scared. Even when it's 3am and you're drunk. Promise. [two] Make friends with that kid at the party who lives kinda near ya Arranging to walk home at night with someone else is a great way to keep yourself feeling safe without having to wait on the safe ride or campus bus system. You'll get oriented to the neighborhood faster, too. Other perks: friends or friends-to-be are way more entertaining than the radio on the safe ride. [three] Make friends with your neighbors In a dorm, this often isn't a huge issue. But new apartment-dwellers often don't know the other people who live in their apartment building, especially if those people aren't also UofC students. If your neighbors know who lives in your apartment, they know who doesn't live in your apartment. Try talking to your neighbor instead of calling the police if they're having a loud party--they might do the same for you next time or invite you in. So introduce yourself and start building a network of trust within your community. That can include the people who hang out outside your apartment, that you see at the park, who work at Hyde Park Produce, or chill on the sidewalk on 57th street. You might be surprised by how friendly and willing to help or just say hello most people are. [four] Don't tolerate racial profiling Racial profiling makes everyone unsafe. If you witness police harassment, try to ask the person being harassed what their name is and document the time and place as you are able. Get involved with the 27

Student Arrest Ad-Hoc Committee (see more about this on the Student Arrest page). Learn more about how to be a white ally to people of color on the Ally page of this zine. [five] Take a self-defense class The UofC offers tons of kinds of martial arts and self-defense classes and groups. In my mind, the major reason to try this out is not because you'll necessary need to kick someone in the chest anytime soon, but because it is empowering and may give you the confidence to feel safe, empowered, and in control (and healthy!). It's a good workout, a good way to meet friends, and good for your sense of security. Check out some of the many RSOs and Ratner/Henry Crown classes that offer martial arts and self-defense classes. [six] Recognize the diversity of your community and that you are a member of that community Often at this school Hyde Parkers are divided into two groups: "students" or "community members."

Usually this rhetoric veils the distinction administrators or the Maroon or the Police is trying to make: "white" or "black," "middle class" or "working class." And, maybe most damaging, it suggests that students are students before being members of a community, whether Hyde Park or Woodlawn or the street you live on. You'll probably hear sometime during O-Week that going south of 60th or west of Cottage Grove is "unnecessary" or "dangerous," and that "basically everything to do is on the North side"--this kind of thinking keeps us afraid, stuck in our little University bubble, and disconnected from the place we live. Fuck that! Recognizing the diversity of our neighborhood and that we are all members of it is an important step to feeling a sense of belonging and safety. The more you get involved in HPâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; whether through getting a community garden plot, volunteering, tutoring, doing community service, teaching a class at the Woodlawn Collaborative, working off-campusâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the faster you will begin to experience the richness and uniqueness of this community beyond the UofC bubble.

Even if you think police are necessary as a last resort, building community-based alternatives can help make sure that conflicts don't get to that point. If you feel unsafe or are the victim of violence, you should reach out for support and help--to friends, R.H.s or R.A.s, the Deans on Call (University official trained to respond to emergency situations and informed about services available to students on campus; they are available 24-7 and there's a specially trained Sexual Assault Dean-on-Call. They can be reached through the UCPD at 773.702.8181 or 123 from a campus phone), and to the police as a last resort.

Chicago Copwatch is a network of people that observe and document police (mis)conduct, videotape police activity, and educate people about their rights and about police brutality. There are groups operating in Pilsen and on the North Side. If you're interested in volunteering/copwatching, to get help filing a complaint, or to find out more, call 312-772-2COP or email contact@chicagocopwatch.org.

(Northside Copwatch is (312)-623-1602 / aforjcopwatch@gmail.com.)

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bursting the bubble:

how to get outside of hyde park

by Mark Hopwood “Don’t go south of 61st, west of Cottage Grove, or north of 47th, and whatever you do, don’t fall asleep on the #55 and miss the red line station.” If you’re new to the UofC, you might have been offered this advice already. If you haven’t, you probably will soon. I must have heard it at least half a dozen times in my first week, with various additions: the alarmist (“you’ll get shot”); the sociological (“it’s, like, a total ghetto”); the official university line (“it’s an urban area”); and the disconcertingly frank (“that’s where the black people live”). Most people probably feel at least some discomfort about being offered this kind of advice – do I really want to live in a bubble? isn’t this kind of like racism? could it really be that bad? – but most people end up following it all the same, perhaps understandably: no-one likes getting shot, and the south side does seem like kind of a scary place. What are you supposed to do?

The reality is that the moment you step into Hyde Park, you’re stepping into a neighborhood whose history has a fair claim to be among the most complex in the whole nation. The basic lines of the story are easy to tell: in the 30s and 40s, overcrowding in the “black belt” just north and west of Hyde Park led African-American families to move into traditionally white neighborhoods on the south side. In many areas – Englewood for example – this led to race riots, white flight, and economic crisis as slum landlords exploited black homebuyers and local businesses moved out en masse. The UofC, horrified at the prospect of the same thing happening to Hyde Park, used eminent domain to acquire huge chunks of land and spent the 50s and 60s planning and executing a massive “urban renewal” project that demolished hundreds of buildings and displaced thousands of white working-class and black residents. To get a sense of the scale of the changes, walk down 55th street and try to imagine what it might have been like with twenty-two bars on it – before urban renewal, that’s what you’d have seen.

The story of urban renewal (or “negro removal”, as it’s still known to many on the south side) helps to make some sense of why Hyde Park feels like such an artificial bubble at times – it’s because it is an artificial bubble, created by a large and powerful institution acting aggressively to maintain a small and privileged community with boundaries enforced by a huge private police force. The question with which many students find themselves faced, however, is more practical: what do you do if you find yourself part of that privileged community but you don’t want to live inside the bubble? One option is to get involved with one of the many student clubs and tutoring programs that offer a chance to get outside of Hyde Park and give something back to the community. There’s a lot to be said for this option – with the current state of the Chicago Public Schools budget, most local schools are grateful for all the help they can get, and college students tend to have the right kind of skills to be useful tutors and mentors – but there are also some questions that many students who have taken this route find themselves asking. If the only available way for students to get involved in the community outside campus is to give something back to those ”less fortunate” than themselves, is that breaking down the barriers set up by urban renewal or is it actually helping to reinforce them?

I should make myself clear: as someone who has volunteered in local high schools myself, I’m not saying that other students shouldn’t do the same. What I do want to suggest is that there’s another option. You won’t find it advertized on the university website, but over the past decade students have been working together with local residents to resist further displacement of low-income people of color, displacement that is being brought about not by the blunt instrument of 60s style urban renewal, but by the more subtle forces of gentrification. As the university continues to expand south, residents find rents going up, low-income housing being threatened with demolition, and vital services being “consolidated” into facilities way across town. The more that students and local residents think of themselves as two separate communities, the easier it is for the city and the university to set them against each other, but when the two groups have organized together, the results have been spectacular. In 2007, a long campaign to save Grove Parc, a subsidized housing complex a few blocks from campus, won a major victory after students and residents occupied the offices of the Department of Housing and Urban Development downtown. Today, the complex is undergoing a badlyneeded rebuilding, but due to the success of the campaign, all 504 subsidized units will be retained. More recently, the same coalition of students and residents worked together with patients at a local mental health center to prevent it being closed down, and after another occupation – this time of the Mayor’s office – they got their way and the clinic remained open.

As one of the students involved in some of these campaigns, one of the most important things that I’ve learned is not to trust received notions of who is “less fortunate” than whom. The kind of problems facing residents on the south side are problems that, on the broader scale, we’re all facing: lack of affordable housing, unemployment, crime, etc. One of the reasons, I think, that we’re made uncomfortable by living in a bubble is that we know it’s not real – to think that we can insulate ourselves from such problems by setting up barriers is a form of denial, one that the “community service” model can have a tendency to reinforce. To come back to the point at which we started: it’s true that Cottage Grove can be a dangerous place at night, and I’m not suggesting wandering around there on your own at one in the morning, but it’s a dangerous place for everyone. Getting to know the people the other side of 61st who are sometimes scared of going there too, and understanding that getting outside of the bubble means recognizing that these are our problems, not someone else’s, is one way of responding to that helpful piece of advice you got when you arrived – i.e. by refusing to follow it.

Resources: 29 Southside Solidarity Network – http://southsidesn.wordpress.com/ Southside Together Organizing for Power – http://www.stopchicago.org/

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Off-campus housing

and mac property management Maybe you’re not thinking yet about offcampus housing. Or maybe you are already dreaming of the sweet communal house or cozy studio you want to set up as soon as you get out of housing. Regardless, you’ll hear sooner or later about our friendly neighborhood housing monopoly, MAC. Here’s a brief intro.

MAC Property Management (the management arm of Antheus Capital LLC, an investment capital organization based in New Jersey) manages over 3000 apartments in more than 70 HP buildings and is one of the largest non-UofC landowners in Hyde Park as well as a major renter to students.

Many students have complained about MAC’s poor communication skills, rudeness, rising rent costs, being non-responsive to work orders, losing security deposits and other paperwork, and other substandard services, but many agree that MAC is doing a better job than K&G, the prior near-monopoly on HP housing.

Generally, the feeling is that it's up to tenants, and tenants who know their rights, to make sure things get done and the proper services are provided. The maintenance services have improved somewhat in the past few years since MAC moved in and took over tons of apartments in poor repair from K&G in 2006-2008 (now they have an on-call maintenance service). Also, MAC is now building condos in a couple places as well as hopefully continuing to try to provide affordable housing, though it's not their highest priority.

MAC has no competition in HP, so there's little motivation for them to improve the quality of their work. The alternative for off-campus housing is to seek out a nonMAC apartment (see the map above), rented out by a landlord who might own only that building or perhaps a few in Hyde Park--of course, small landlords have their quirks and pros and cons, too, but many are more flexible, friendly, and available than the MAC organization. Or, you could consider living in one of the Qumbyq co-ops, which are not MAC-owned.

For more info, check out the Maroon archives or the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference's page on MAC Properties and its impact on HP/Kenwood (http://www.hydepark.org/neighborhood/AntheusMAC.htm.)

And know your rights as a tenant/renter! To see the text of the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, check out the Center for Renter’s Rights (http://www.renters-rights.com/html/chicago.html) and http://www.depositlaw.com/CHICAGO%20RLTO.htm for the full text. 32

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2 Wheels 4 Realz!

You should totally get a bike.

There are plenty of good reasons to get a bike. Do you prefer to be places quickly? Are you environmentally-aware? Do you prefer the feeling of wind through your hair to that of aching feet? Do you find walking terribly pedestrian? (ahahaHA, hysterical).

If you even bothered to answer these questions, you’re well on your way to bicycle enthusiasm. The Hyde Park bicycle, well used, is a majestic tool, and its user anything but. Imagine practically instant transportation at your fingertips, free and easy, 24/7.

Imagine… magnificence. With this handy guide, you’ll be ready for the road. I wish you many safe, convenient, and exhilarating rides.

Dick Zacharias Third-Year in Mathematics in the College (but in Rome this quarter. see you in the winter!)

Rule 1: Wear a Helmet If, You know, You’re Into That.

I really don’t know what the law is*, but I know that if I were interested in giving maybe-illegal legal advice, I’d mention something about it being completely unenforced. I do know that automobiles hate bikes, that bikes have a tendency to suddenly explode, and that your skull, unlike factorials, does not divide well. You don’t have to be an MD-JD with a concentration in self-preservation to know that helmets are superb. But go ahead and figure it out for yourself. Hot tip, huh. *The law is almost certainly that you have to wear a helmet.

Rule 2: Don’t Ride On Sidewalks Even though you’re the cool new first-year on a bike, this is not about you. The world is not about you. Remember Copernicus? You are not at the center of things. In particular, we need to focus on the others: the walkers. You know what loves to run out from corners? A large group of children. You know what suddenly walks out of apartment building doors? Grandma. You know what, frustrated by your rudeness, decides to stick a branch in your front wheel as you tumble into a very relaxing coma?

Sidewalkers.

So be a pal. Stick to the street.

And of biking on the Quad? This is a judgement call, though you should always tend toward not at all. The rule-of-thumb goes like this: If the path is wide enough and the traffic is low enough that you can very easily bike without getting closer than Yao Ming to a pedestrian, go nuts. Stay away from skinny paths, especially during the day.

There’s no shame in walking your bike, since everybody who sees you together knows you’re going to ride it all night long! … from the Reg to your tiny double in Pierce.

Regardless, the name of the game is empathy for the bipedal from the bi-bikepedal. As one recent grad used to scream at bikers nearly every day, “HEY! LAST TIME I CHECKED IT WAS A SIDEWALK NOT A SIDEBIKE!” Rule 3: Two Wheels Shouldn’t Pick On Four Have the time of your life on your bike. Go to the Point (early and often).

Transport groceries from Hyde Park Pro. Don’t bother with the drive-thru McDonalds because they won’t allow it, but head to Walmart at 3:55 AM for some processed doughnuts and dirty magazines. But whatever you’re up to, do not endanger, irritate, or even involve drivers. Sometimes this behavior is even technically illegal (riding against traffic), but in general, it’s just not in the right spirit.

Your near-suicidal inability to gauge danger should not come between anyone else and his/her shiny new rims. Want to bike after snowfall? Make damn sure you’re alone on the street. Did you leave a ding on somebody’s fender? Leave an apologetic note too with your name and number under the windshield so the owner39 won’t miss it.

Remember, drivers are prone to serious jealousy of your freedom and ease and lack of insurance premia. Be sensitive to that.

Tip: Attend Critical Mass Around 6pm on the last Friday of each month, thousands of cyclists (depending on weather) converge on Daley Plaza in the Loop for this superb experience. A political statement, a revolution, a goofy good time, or otherwise, this 2-3 hour bike ride tours mobocratically through bits and swaths of the whole Windy. It is not physically exhausting for the even mildly fit, and you can certainly break off whenever you like. And it is free. I thoroughly encourage you to find out for yourself the excitement and joy of cycling en swarm. Be back in time for Off-Off or spend the night on the North Side.

Tip: Get Your Bike At Working Bikes Don’t bring your expensive bike from home unless you’re interested in being a ceaseless worrywart. Buy something inexpensive here. A great idea is Working Bikes, a co-op located a short bus-trip away by CTA on the West Side. Working Bikes constructs bikes from donated parts and sells them in order to fund a primarily volunteer operation getting the ones they don’t sell out to poor people in countries around the world. More importantly, they have a large and varied selection of very cheap bikes. Be sure to check the website for the right days of the week to visit, and get there early for the best selection. workingbikes.org Important accessories you might like are a lock, flashing lights for the front and back of your bike if you’ll be biking a lot at night and want the added safety, and a helmet.

Note: Besides Working Bikes, Blackstone Bikes (below) and Craigslist are superb options for used or cheap bikes and accessories.

Tip: Get Your Bike Fixed At Blackstone Bikes.

Blackstone Bicycles is a another co-op, this time run out of the Experimental Station at 61st St. and Blackstone in the Woodlawn neighborhood that borders Hyde Park to the south. They don’t always have the resources to do the job on the double, but they’re certain to do it well and to treat you with respect and genuine concern and friendliness. Don’t believe me? They’ve been running a free after-school clinic for years that teaches children in Woodlawn to work as bicycle mechanics before rewarding them eventually with their own custom-built bikes. These folks are good folks. They also have a limited retail selection, and since they’re so close to campus, it’s worth checking whether they’ve got anything before heading elsewhere. experimentalstation.org/blackstone Note: There is also a crabby guy who works on bikes in his shop at 55th and Kenwood. Despite his crabbiness, he is rumored to know his way around a bicycle with some agility. Other bike shops exist in and around Hyde Park, and you should do your own research at chicagobikeshops.info if you’re interested!

Tip: Lock Both Your Front Wheel And Your Frame It’s pitiful when you see a frame locked to a pole lacking a front wheel. It’s way worse when you see just a front wheel locked to a pole with no frame or back wheel.

You don’t have too much to worry about in the way of locking your back wheel, although if your tires contain any platinum or your chain is diamond-encrusted, it is not unheard of. The U-Lock is the generally accepted standard of protection, although some choose a thick wire-lock or padlock/chain. Many dorms and buildings offer a place to store your bike inside, although this can be a hassle for some. Your bike is safe during the day. I parked my bike on a tree next to the sidewalk every day last year all three quarters and never encountered a problem, but bike theft happens.

Tip: Ride the Lake Shore Path 40south, and It’s right where you’d expect to find it. It runs really far north and

you can use it to get downtown (although expect to spend some time at that, since the wind really whips at you and it can be arduous at times). Keep to the right and always look behind you since there’s someone faster coming up on your right or your left or someplace. And take advantage of this while the going is beautiful! Autumn in Chicago lasts 4 days, before which it’s beautiful and after which it’s windswept and frosty.

Tip: Use The CTA To Transport Your Bike Elsewhere Need to get someplace far away fast but know you’ll want to bike around once you get there? Economically-sound transportation, meet economically-sound transportation. The front of almost every CTA bus is equipped with rack to hold two bicycles, and it comes at no extra cost. There are two different kinds of racks, one that is red and the other that’s yellow. They’re both easy to use, but sometimes people get very nervous under the pressure of holding up a whole bus and screw it up, so try looking for the videos of how to use them online at the CTA website (yourcta.com) if you like. Always remember after you’ve taken your bike off the rack to lift it back up, or the bus driver will shoot leaden arrows at you. And be courteous!

Tip: Look To The Bike Ambassadors For The Official Deal On This Stuff.

They’re the information tube from Daley and they’ll tell you the real deal about what’s legal. Some of their advice is pertinent and interesting. They have a website and whatever. They’ll even give you stylish advice on what to wear. But you’ll be fine without ‘em.

Tip: If you aren’t ready to buy a bike, rent one by the day from the U of C. The U of C just started a free bikesharing program called Recycles! You can register online at www.universitybikeshare.com and borrow a bike for the day. The bikes you'll rent from the University aren't exactly 1961 Gitanes, but they certainly suffice. Actually, they'd probably suffice for a romp down some alpine path; mountain bikes are crazy overkill in flat, flat Chicago. Anyway, ecotransport for free on rental sounds good to me. Pickups available from the Reg, Ratner, and elsewhere on campus.

put the fun between your legs…ride a bike!

wondering what to do with all those old textbooks?

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mental health @ the u of c by tmo So you feel like you’ve wandered into crazy-town – a somewhat unavoidable position at the UofC. What do you do about it?

Let’s start with the basics. The natural state of a UofC student is one of being totally and utterly stressed out. If you’re finding your self in a panic about getting things done on time or having a social life and doing well in school or helping your parents pay for tuition without working so hard you fail your classes, there are plenty of places you can get support. First stop is always your advisor – for the most part the college advisors are knowledgeable and pleasantly impartial. They are incredibly good at getting students to pare down their tendency to overload.

They will help you get done what you need to get done instead of what you think you need to get done. If your advisor sucks (and they might for any number of reasons), ask around for recommendations and SWITCH. This is totally doable and can be really good for you. The university also holds stress management, organization, and meditation workshops and some individual sessions (through the Student Counseling and Resource Center). These gatherings can provide okay remedies but will only give you a very general set of solutions. Most people who have participated in these workshops have said that they provide a good introduction to techniques and also routes to finding more long-term, in-depth support groups and solutions throughout Chicago.

But if it seems to you that your feelings go deeper than stress, what are your next steps? If you’re struggling with more than not being able to keep your papers in order and you’re more worried about if you can even get up in the morning? The university has a Student Resource and Counseling Center that provides mental health services to the UofC community. If you are looking for individual therapy sessions you can call.

If you do decide to go to the SCRS, you will go through a gauntlet involving an intake survey and interview. A good way to get the best out of the SCRS is figure out EXACTLY what issues you are facing before that first appointment. If you can speak clearly about what’s bothering you, the SCRS will be able to help you better.

They will give you a whole list of things that they think could possibly be ailing you and it can be overwhelming, so knowing your feelings can really help.

There are a lot of attendant issues that come with visiting the SCRS. They are: 1. They will almost always suggest medication. They will be pushy about it, even if you are uncomfortable with the idea.

2. They do not do long term therapy. After six months they will refer you to another doctor.

These are based on their understanding of you, not your understanding of you. Also, because the therapy is short term, you may feel as if it is kind of pointless, as you can’t build a serious lasting relationship with your therapist.

3. Their referrals are based on your mental health needs, not your monetary needs. They will not look for alternate doctors for you based on your insurance or lack thereof. If you have monetary restrictions, you have to let them know yourself.

The best solution to these problems is always self-education. Talk to your family about relatives who have faced the same issues and how they have dealt with it. Research the kinds of medication that has been suggested to you. Understand your insurance policy and what it covers. Look up the doctors that you have been referred and decide what you would like from a doctor.46Sometimes, just knowing that you don’t want to talk about your paralyzing fear of failure with some old dude who

wouldn’t understand your issues with the patriarchy can make it much easier to choose a doctor. In general (and this is hard when you’re feeling discombobulated and defeated), you have to be firm with the SRCC. The mental health industry and its institutions have a way of shunting people along without a lot of thought and you have to be willing to combat that. Stand up for yourself (it will make you feel good)!

If you’re not into one on one therapy there are also group sessions available at the SCRS. Individual therapy can be extremely isolating and sitting alone in a room with a person prodding you for answers to increasingly personal questions, can make some people feel like a freak. If you find that that’s the kind of response you have to individual sessions, you should definitely consider group sessions. At the moment the SCRS offers the following support groups: Working and Mothering, Breaking the Procrastination Habit, Coming Out Support Group, Dealing with Social Anxiety, Dissertation Support Group, Relationships Group for Grad Students, Sexual Assault Survivors Group, and Students of Color Group. If you find that these groups don’t provide the kind of support you need, think about putting together your own group. Once again, if you ask for something and are very clear about what you need, the SCRS will generally be willing to meet your needs. Ask about starting a group for your specific needs and see what you can do!

University of Chicago, Student Counseling & Resource Service Center: 5737 South University Avenue Chicago, IL 60637 Phone: (773) 702-9800 Monday–Friday: 8:30am–4:45pm Fax: (773) 702-2011 In emergency cases call during non-office hours: x2-3625 ((773) 702-3625) to talk to the oncall doctor.

What if you don’t want to go through the whole SCRS thing or you do it and find you totally hate it? What other resources are available to you around the city? You will have to go a little farther afield, but there are many excellent (often free or really cheap) alternate institutions you can visit. And hey you can see more of the city on your way there!

Howard Brown Health Center 4025 N. Sheridan Road Chicago, IL 60613 773-388-1600 (awesome LGBTQA and addiction support) Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance Groups DBSA Greater Chicago (Northwestern Memorial Hospital group) Contact 1: Manny Silverman Phone: (773) 465-3280 or (312) 938-8585 Fax: (773) 465-3385 Email: wecanhelp@dbsa-gc.org Website: www.dbsa-gc.org DBSA GLBT Chicago Contact 1: Bob Phone: (773) 525-6589 Email: jlkwright@yahoo.com Website: www.dbsalliance.org/glbtchicago

DBSA Greater Chicago Contact 1: Judy Sturm Phone: (773) 465-3280 or (847) 359-4140 Contact 2: Dr. Manny Silverman Additional Phone: (773) 497-2711 or dr_decision@comcast.net Fax: (773) 465-3385 Email: dbsa-gc@sbcglobal.net Website: www.dbsa-gc.org Counseling Center of Lakeview 3225 North Sheffield Avenue, Chicago (773) 549-5886 The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Greater Chicago 1536 West Chicago Avenue Chicago, IL 60642 (312) 563-0445 Circle Family Healthcare Network 47 (not just for families!)

Division Health Center, 4909 W. Division St. #305, Chicago, IL 60651-3161 Hamlin Health Center, 1629& 1633 N. Hamlin Ave. 2nd Fl., Chicago, IL 60651-3161 Parkside Health Center, 115 N. Parkside Ave. 1st Fl., Chicago, IL 60644-3040

Austin School Health Center, 231 N. Pine Ave., Chicago, IL 60644-2333 Community Counseling Centers of Chicago 4740 N Clark St l Chicago, IL 60640 773.769.0205

Each of these centers provides different kind of services and its important to look into what they offering before you decide to get involved. Remember, the key is always to do your research.

Of course, beyond all the official help you can get from various places, often times the best support can come from your FRIENDS. Sure, it can be a totally scary proposition to let your buddies in on the issues your going through – you think they might not know how to help you or they might freak out about being faced with someone who they think is “mentally unstable.”

Maybe you’ve told someone about your issues before and they reacted badly. But remember, this does not mean you will get that reaction from all your friends. If you are upfront and honest about the issues that you are facing, the people who really love you will be able to support you. Things are more likely to get contentious when you don’t talk about what you’re going through because you can’t help what you don’t understand!

In my own personal experience, it is absolutely vital that you have more than one person on your side when it comes to these situations. Make sure you have a network and not a sponsor.

Different people have different styles of support and you will most likely need certain kinds of support at different times. It also helps your friends to feel like you are aware of their needs, because it’s a lot to expect one person to help you out all the time. It can be an incredible relief to find one person who you think really understands you, but it’s good to remember that variety is the spice of life (even when you’re feeling a little bit crazy).

And last, but very certainly not least, remember not matter how strange or out of sorts you feel, YOU ARE NOT A FREAK. You don’t deserve to be sent to live with all the cuckoos on Cuckoo Island, you are not a waste of space, and you are most certainly are worthy of love.

Society has taught us to regard mental illness as something deems a person totally unfit. THIS IS NOT TRUE. What you need is a little love and understanding, especially from yourself. Take care of yourself, own up to your shit, and you will feel a hundred times better.

***All of the pictures in this article come from the Icarus Project website. “The Icarus Project envisions a new culture and language that resonates with our actual experiences of 'mental illness' rather than trying to fit our lives into a conventional framework. We are a network of people living with and/or affected by experiences that are commonly diagnosed and labeled as psychiatric conditions. We believe these experiences are mad gifts needing cultivation and care, rather than diseases or disorders.” They are awesome folks and have a special page for college students here—http://theicarusproject.net/campus and a zine called “A Student’s guide to mental health” available here http://theicarusproject.net/files/a_students_guide_to_mental_health.pdf 48

If you or someone you know is sexually assaulted…

If someone you know discloses to you about a sexual assault, the way you react is a crucial part of their healing process. The most valuable thing you can do is validate their feelings, decisions and wishes. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

Believe them. Verbalize it explicitly. You may be one of the few who do.

Don’t make assumptions. No one experience is like another. Survivors as well as perpetrators of sexual assault can be of any gender, race, creed, class and can have any other social relationship to one another (sibling, spouse, neighbor, lover, teacher, hairdresser, etc). do not pass judgment based on any preconceptions of rape, or of the relationship between the perpetrator and the survivor.

It’s not about you. It’s totally understandable to have a strong emotional response to receiving this news. If you become upset or angry to the point that your friend is comforting you, or calming you down, you are drawing energy away from them instead of supporting them. If you want some help and support, Rape Victim Advocates offers free counseling for friends, family and significant others of survivors.

Don’t make decisions for them, tell them what to do, or challenge their decisions. Let them reclaim their agency! Any decision they make is the right decision because they made it. Encourage them to make informed decisions, and be understanding and supportive of the decisions they make.

Let them know they have options. For a survivor it may feel like doors are closing all around them, but there are always options. Help them way and balance advantages and disadvantages to certain lines of action.

Ask them about their desires and talk about the best way to obtain them.

SASETA- Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act If you decide to go to the emergency room, SASETA’s got your back.

This Act outlines and protects certain rights for survivors during their emergency treatment in Illinois. Sometimes ER staff aren’t familiar with treating survivors and don’t know much about SASETA. Here are some of the basic rights provided by this law, so that you can be prepared to defend them if necessary.

• You should never receive a bill for any procedures, medications, or follow-up tests. If you’re insured they will bill your insurance company and that which is not covered by your policy is covered by the state. Sometimes the insurance company bills the policy holder for the remainder by accident. If you don’t want your policy 49

• •

• • •

holder to know I would suggest not providing your insurance info to the hospital.

Minors do not need to have parental consent for medical treatment or evidence collection.

You should be offered crisis counseling. Most Chicago hospitals contract with RVA and YWCA for on call medical advocates and crisis counseling. (they are the best resource, full of info. Ask all of your questions!)

You should be given a private room (at least three walls and a curtain).

You should receive written and oral information about STI testing and treatment, pregnancy and emergency contraception, about all medication dispensed, and all follow-up visits and testing.

For the full law, go to www.icasa.org and search SASETA.

RESOURCES: Chicago Rape Crisis Hotline: (888) 293-2080 24 Hours, free and confidential.

UChicago Sexual Assault Dean-on-Call: (773) 702-8181 The number listed above is for UCPD. You do not have to tell them anything, but you do have to ask them to speak with a dean-on-call. The on call deans have been trained by Rape Victim Advocates. sexualviolence.uchicago.edu/ I really like this page. Lots of info, well put together.

Rape Victim Advocates: (312) 443-9603 RVA provides free and confidential services to survivors of sexual assault or abuse and their significant others. Their services include medical advocacy, legal advocacy, and counseling (free up to 16 sessions).

YWCA: www.ywca.org, (312)762-2775 Offers free and confidential medical and legal advocacy, and counseling for survivors (no session limit!).

Porchlight Counseling Services: (847) 328-6531 Porchlight offers free counseling to survivors of sexual assault at college. Based in Evanston, they contract with counselors throughout the city.

From experience: I would suggest going over Provident Hospital at 500 e. 51st street. The staff I met in the UChicago ER were incredibly unfamiliar with SASETA. Also, if you are a UChicago student they may have your insurance info on file from prior hospital or SCC visits.

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seven Lessons of School by john taylor gatto

(from Dumbing Us Down)

The first lesson I teach is confusion. Everything I teach is out of context. I teach the un-relating of everything. I teach dis-connections….Even in the best of schools a close examination of curriculum and its sequences turns up a lack of coherence, full of internal contradictions….Confusion is thrust upon kids by too many strange adults, each working along with only the thinnest relationship with each other, pretending, for the most part, to an expertise they do not possess….In a world where home is only a ghost, because both parents work…or because something else has left everybody too confused to maintain a family relation, I teach you how to accept confusion as your destiny.

The second lesson I teach is class position….The children are numbered so that if any get away they can be returned to the right class….My job is to make them like being locked together with children who bear numbers like their own.…If I do my job well, the kids can’t even imagine themselves somewhere else, because I’ve shown them how to envy and fear the better classes and how to have contempt for the dumb classes….That’s the real lesson of any rigged competition like school. You come to know your place.

The third lesson I teach is indifference….When the bell rings I insist they drop whatever it is we have been doing and proceed quickly to the next work station. They must turn on and off like a light switch….Bells inoculate each undertaking with indifference.

The fourth lesson I teach is emotional dependency. By stars and red checks, smiles and frowns, prizes, honors, and disgraces, I teach kids to surrender their will to the predestinated chain of command.

The fifth lesson I teach is intellectual dependency….It is the most important lesson, that we must wait for other people better trained than ourselves, to make the meanings of our lives….[Only], the teacher can determine what my kids must study, or rather, only the people who pay me can make those decisions, which I then enforce. If I’m told that evolution is a fact instead of a theory, I transmit that as ordered, punishing deviants who resist what I have been told to tell them to think….Successful children do the thinking I assign them with a minimum of resistance and a decent show of enthusiasm….Bad kids fight this, of course, even though they lack the concepts to know what they are fighting, struggling to make decisions for themselves about what they will learn and when they will learn it…Fortunately there are tested procedures to break the will of those who resist; it is more difficult, naturally, if the kids have respectable parents who come to their aid, but that happens less and less in spite of the bad reputation of schools. No middle-class parents I have ever met actually believe that their kid’s school is one of the bad ones. No one single parent in twenty-six years of teaching.

The sixth lesson I teach is provisional selfesteem….The lesson of report cards, and tests is that children should not trust themselves or their parents but should instead rely on the evaluation of certified officials. People need to be told what they are worth.

The seventh lesson I teach is that one can’t hide. I teach students they are always watched, that each is under constant surveillance by myself and my colleagues….The meaning of constant surveillance and denial of privacy is that no one can be trusted, that privacy is not legitimate.

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52

Platypus: “The Left Is Dead! Long Live the Left!”

Vicissitudes of historical consciousness and possibilities for emancipatory social consciousness today

By Chris Cutrone – reprinted with permission

“The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.”

— Karl Marx, The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon (1852) “The theorist who intervenes in practical controversies nowadays discovers on a regular basis and to his shame that whatever ideas he might contribute were expressed long ago — and usually better the first time around.”

— Theodor W. Adorno, “Sexual Taboos and the Law Today” (1963) ACCORDING TO LENIN, the greatest contribution of the German Marxist radical Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) to the fight for socialism was the statement that her Social Democratic Party of Germany had become a “stinking corpse” as a result of voting for war credits on August 4, 1914. Lenin wrote this about Luxemburg in 1922, at the close of the period of war, revolution, counterrevolution and reaction in which Luxemburg was murdered. Lenin remarked that Luxemburg would be remembered well for her incisive critique at a crucial moment of crisis in the movement to which she had dedicated and ultimately gave her life. Instead, ironically, Luxemburg has been remembered — for her occasional criticisms of Lenin and the Bolsheviks!

Two lessons can be drawn from this story: that the Left suffers, as a result of the accumulated wreckage of intervening defeats and failures, from a very partial and distorted memory of its own history; and that at crucial moments the best work on the Left is its own critique, motivated by the attempt to escape this history and its outcomes. At certain times, the most necessary contribution one can make is to declare that the Left is dead.

Hence, Platypus makes the proclamation, for our time: “The Left is dead! — Long live the Left!” — We say this so that the future possibility of the Left might live.

We take our namesake from the platypus, which suffered at its moment of zoological discovery from its unclassifiability according to prevailing science. We think that an authentic emancipatory Left today would suffer from a similar problem of (mis)recognition, in part because the tasks and project of social emancipation have disintegrated and so exist for us only in fragments and shards.

We have organized our critical investigation of the history of the Left in order to help discern emancipatory social possibilities in the present, a present that has been determined by the history of defeat and failure on the Left. As seekers after a highly problematic legacy from which we are separated by a

definite historical distance, we are dedicated to approaching the history of thought and action on the Left from which we must learn in a deliberately nondogmatic manner, taking nothing as given.

Why Marx? Why now? We find Marx’s thought to be the focal point and vital nerve center for the fundamental critique of the modern world in which we still live that emerged in Marx’s time with the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century. We take Marx’s thought in relation both to the preceding history of critical social thought, including the philosophy of Kant and Hegel, as well as the work by those inspired later to follow Marx in the critique of social modernity, most prominently Georg Lukács, Walter Benjamin, and Theodor W. Adorno. Hence, Platypus is committed to the reconsideration of the entire critical theoretical tradition spanning the 19th and 20th Centuries. As Leszek Kolakowski put it (in his 1968 essay “The Concept of the Left”) the Left must be defined ideologically and not sociologically; thought, not society, is divided into Right and Left: the Left is defined by its utopianism, the Right by its opportunism. — Or, as Robert Pippin has put it, the problem with critical theory today is that it is not critical (Critical Inquiry, 2003).

Platypus is dedicated to re-opening various historical questions of the Left in order to read that history “against the grain” (as Benjamin put it, in his 1940 “Theses on the Philosophy of History”), attempting to grasp past moments of defeat and failure on the Left not as given but rather in their unfulfilled potential, regarding the present as the product not of historical necessity, but rather of what happened that need not have been. We struggle to escape the dead hand of at least two preceding generations of problematic action and thinking on the Left, the 1920s-30s and the 1960s-70s. More proximally, we suffer the effects of the depoliticization — the deliberate “postmodernist” abandonment of any “grand narratives” of social emancipation — on the Left in the 1980s-90s.

Platypus is concerned with exploring the improbable but not impossible tasks and project of the reemergence of a critical Left with emancipatory social intent. We look forward to making a critical but vital contribution towards a possible “return to Marx” for the potential reinvigoration of the Left in coming years. We invite and welcome those who wish to share in and contribute to this project. | P Platypus is a project for the self-criticism, selfeducation, and, ultimately, the practical reconstitution of a Marxian Left. We regularly hold public events, and organize a biweekly reading group for selfeducation. Check out http:// platypus1917.org/ or contact gregg@uchicago.edu for more info about the 53 Platypus Society @ the U of C.

Getting Your Tuition Back!

This place is expensive—about $200 per hour of class, if you crank it out. Luckily, there are lots of ways to make your experience worth it—both in experience and $$ terms. Check out some of the legit and not-as-legit opportunities below.

Registered Student Organization Funding Annual Allocations is the way Registered Student Org.s get funded for the following academic year. The funds can be used for projects done every year and events that are already planned for the following academic year. They are due at the beginning of May of each year. Big budget events usually apply through Ann.All. Student Government Finance Committee provides small grants for upcoming RSO projects. Budgets are due by noon Friday of each week to the ORCSA Advisor via email, and are defended Tuesday at SGFC meetings. Some quick and dirty recommendations: Apply 3 weeks before your event. Have a marketing plan. Don’t say you’re expecting a large community/non-UofC presence (they prefer to fund students to attend). Co-sponsor. Talk about the broad range of students who might attend your event.

Uncommon Fund is a $40,000 pot of money that allows all students (undergrad and grad) to submit proposals for ANYTHING. This includes events, capital improvement projects or anything else you can imagine! We are looking for creative, innovative and unique proposals. BE CREATIVE! Past projects include a community garden, a renta-bike program, and a circus.

Reimbursements refer to money you spent to support a student organization’s event, like paying for food out of pocket or buying plates. Try to get everything paid up front via purchase orders, but hold on to any and all receipts to get back the money you spent.

Arts funding University of Chicago Arts Council Summer Fellowships are designed to support students undertaking original creative projects over the summer. (Such projects might involve adaptation, choreography, sculpture, painting, drawing, multi-media, music composition, script-writing, or translation.) Generally, projects should be intended for production or performance during the following academic year. Stipend: $1,500.

Student Fine Arts Fund looks for original ideas for the creation and presentation of all sorts of visual and performing arts, for proposals that bring the arts to more of the campus community, for programs that leverage partnerships among student groups, academic departments, and/or cultural organizations. The Student Fine Arts Fund will assist in the implementation of imaginative projects with grants up to $1,500.

University of Chicago Arts Council looks for original ideas for the creation and presentation of all sorts of visual and performing arts, for proposals that bring the arts to more of the campus community, for programs that leverage partnerships among student groups, academic departments, and/or cultural organizations, whether on 54

getting your tuition back – grants, funding, & tricks @ the U of C campus or off. UChicagoArts will assist in the implementation of imaginative projects with grants normally ranging between $1,500 and $15,000.

The Smart Museum of Art, the Renaissance Society, and the Oriental Institute are always free, and you can get into lots of amazing art museums and hot spots in Chicago for free with your student ID. Check out artspass.uchicago.edu.

Court Theater often provides discounts for students.

Summer Internships Human Rights Internships are $5000 grants to do 10 weeks of human rights work with an organization anywhere in the world. Applications are due in early November.

Summer Links is an 11-week, intensive internship program coordinated by the University Community Service Center. Summer Links pairs 30 undergraduate and graduate students with full-time positions in non-profit and public sector agencies throughout the Chicago area. This internship includes a $4000 stipend and subsidized housing.

Summer Research Opportunities Program/McNair Scholars Program is an early intervention program designed to prepare undergraduate students for graduate-level research, strengthen knowledge and interest in applying to doctoral programs toward the end of increasing the representation of minority faculty in higher education.

Stipend: $3000.

Summer Action Grants offer undergraduate students the funding to work or intern in the United States. The average grant amount is $1,500, but can be up to $3,000.

Check out caps.uchicago.edu and stop by the CAPS office to gain access to the postings of internship and funding opportunities on this site. Many will not apply to you, but you’d be surprised at what internships pop up—working with a circus, community organizing jobs, and Peruvian hedge funds have all been posted.

Health The Office of LGBTQ Student Life offers free, anonymous, rapid HIV testing once a quarter. The SCC offers some testing, but it requires and appointment and is not anonymous.

The University offers free flu shots every year, which can come in handy when the winter hits.

Research Norman Wait Harris Fund is administered by the Center for International Studies; will provide $1000 co-sponsorship grants.

The Women’s Board funds from $3,000 to $20,000 for projects that improve the quality of life at the University. Only a few RSOs can do it, but several working collaboratively have a better shot.

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getting your tuition back – grants, funding, & tricks @ the U of C Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture predominantly funds graduate students in research.

Richter Grants support research under the guidance of faculty members. The maximum award for each component is $1,000. Forty to sixty awards are made annually. The Fund also provides grants to students who wish to pursue internships with not-for-profit organizations.

Ruth Murray Essay Prize is awarded for the best essay written by a University of Chicago undergraduate or graduate student in the area of women's studies, feminist criticism or gender studies.

Travel and Language Check out Frogs.uchicago.edu for official fellowship/scholarship info. Don’t let the advisors talk you out of applying for something—just go for it.

A variety of Travel and Language Acquisition Grants are available at sitg.uchicago.edu. For example, the FLAG program offers awards of $3,000 to defray the costs of intermediate or advanced language study abroad.

Free Food It’s everywhere, and often of better taste-quality than the dorms. Get on the free food listhost at lists.uchicago.edu. One PhD student has gone nearly 2 academic years without paying for food!

Restaurants in the Hyde Park area often offer UofC student discounts, from 10 to 25%. Make sure to ask.

The Div School Café has some of the cheapest coffee on campus—and it’s delicious.

Try Cobb Café especially after 4:30pm, when they give away the remaining hot food.

Make sure to hit up the RSO Fair for free snacks and a bunch of goodies like staplers and stickers.

Sports & Athletics Ratner Athletic Facilities are some of the best facilities in the state. Take advantage of your free membership Join an intramural sports team or start your own—you get free access to some great equipment and have fun in the process.

The Point is free all year long, and open for running, biking, swimming, and all other sorts of activities.

Printing There are many sneaky ways to access free or reduced printing across the University. Scout out the best prices early—hint: They’re NOT at the Reg. You have no idea how much you’ll save. RSO’s often get funded for printing costs56for marketing

getting your tuition back – grants, funding, & tricks @ the U of C and other costs, so keep track of a few print codes. Kinkos on 57th st will give HUGE discounts to RSOs and University students who seem like they’re affiliated with RSOs, again, know the codes or ask at ORCSA for how to best take advantage. And remember to print double-sided!

Books Perhaps the highest unanticipated expense of your college career. Try to get your syllabus asap, or write down titles at the bookstore and then search online to try to get deals. Upperclassmen might have the books and be interested in selling, check marketplace.uchicago.edu. And don’t be afraid to check out an older edition from the library—for a lot of classes, the information doesn’t change that much from the 10th to the 12th edition.

Powell’s Books on 57th street has free books in a box, plus cheap used prices.

Furniture Late September and early June are the best times to go dumpster diving! Lots of students end up throwing out lots of amazing furniture and other deals—go on a hunt of your own to help furnish your new space.

And the Rest Have a project you need funded? Try talking to staff at the University’s various centers—they might just make it happen! Want to bring a speaker on Cuban issues to campus? Try with the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Department. Want to start a zine on queer life? The LGBTQ Office of Student Life might help print it. Be creative in who you reach out to, you never know where you can find allies and funding. And the best way to get your four-years’ worth out of the University of Chicago is to prioritize projects that inspire you, take on issues that excite you, and make friendships that challenge you.

donate your old books and textbooks!

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People To Know some awesome faculty, staff, administrators, and allies at the U of C A list of faculty, staff, and other UofC affiliates who have, in the past, been allies to (or points of contact for) student activists around issues of race, sexuality, gender, labor rights, and human rights. Many of these people are also on this list because their classes and teaching styles encourage nontraditional, often interdisciplinary ways of thinking. Their title and research/job interests are listed as culled from their public profiles. They are listed in no particular order, although some are grouped by organization. As with many other resources in this zine, this list is radically incomplete and limited by our experience (so we apologize for any errors). But when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking at classes, an amazing professor is usually more important than a theoretically interesting topic. Make it your goal to expand this list!

Lauren Berlant - Professor of English and Gender Studies the legal and normative production of personhood in the U.S., citizenship, feminist, queer, and Marxian theory, literatures of the US 19th and 20th centuries, African American studies, cinema studies, popular culture, affect theory; gender studies; pedagogies of normativity; cultural studies Bruce Lincoln - Professor of the History of Religions in the Divinity School Interests: issues of discourse, practice, power, conflict, and the violent reconstruction of social borders. His research tends to focus on the religions of pre-Christian Europe and pre-Islamic Iran, but he has a notoriously short attention span and has also written on a bewildering variety of topics.

Leigh-Claire Laberge - Assistant Professor in the Humanities, Harper Fellow finance and literature, politics within the university setting, and the aesthetics of globalization.

Joe Masco - Associate Professor of Anthropology & Social Science science and technology, U.S. national security culture, political ecology, mass media, and critical theory.

Jo Guildi - Mellon Fellow in Digital History at the U of C digital methodologies and the history of information revolutions.

Noa Vaisman - Human Rights Lecturer human rights and anthropology, doctrines of mass-murder, and human rights and the new science.

Ann Boyd â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies performance, improvisational dance, movement, viewpoints, gesture and shape, theatre, constraint-based composition Candace Vogler - Professor of Philosophy practical philosophy, practical reason, Kant's ethics, Marx, and neo-Aristotelian naturalism.

Heidi Coleman - Director of University Theater, Director of TAPS, Professor of TAPS the integration of theory and practice, in both artistic and programmatic arenas.

Leslie Danzig â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Professor of TAPS clowning, physical theatre, ensemble theatre 59

people to know â&#x20AC;&#x201C; rad faculty, staff, allies, & and administrators @ the U of C Luis Manuel Garcia - Lecturer in Ethnomusicology music history, ethnomusicology/music anthropology, critical theory, gender & sexuality studies, crowd/group theories, dance studies, and affect theory.

Ken Warren - Professor of English, Committee on African American Studies american and african-american literature from the late nineteenth century through the middle of the twentieth century, politics and social change.

Christine Stansell - Professor in History women's and gender history; Antebellum U.S. social and political history; American cultural history; History of human rights and post-catastrophic societies.

Moishe Postone - Professor of History, Committee on Jewish Studies modern european intellectual history; Social Theory, especially Critical Theories of Modernity; Twentieth-Century Germany; Anti-Semitism.

Robert Pippin - Professor of Philosophy, Committee on Social Thought issues in political philosophy, theories of self-consciousness, the nature of conceptual change, and the problem of freedom.

Loren Kruger - Professor in English Language & Literature, Comparative Literature, Theater & Performance Studies and African Studies theater studies, cinema, literature, cultural history and theory. Theater: US, African, European, Africa: South Africa, especially culture, history, contemporary social life William Mazzarella - Associate Professor of Anthropology and of Social Science mass media, globalization, public culture and consumerism, critical theory, commodity aesthetics, and post-coloniality in contemporary India.

Linda M. G. Zerilli â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Professor of Political Science and Gender Studies, Director of the Center for Gender Studies political theory, feminist and gender theory, gender and politics Cathy Cohen - Professor of Political Science american politics, although her research interests include African-American politics, women and politics, lesbian and gay politics, and social movements.

Malynne Sternstein - Graduate Advisor for Literature in Czech Literature iconic language, gender and citizenship in the arts, and the prevailing dialectical concerns of surrealism, questions concerning the intersection between art and literature, film and politics, Russian literature, shit.

Omar McRoberts - Associate Professor of Sociology the sociology of religion, urban sociology, urban poverty, race, and collective action.

Mario Small - Professor of Sociology urban poverty, inequality and culture, migration, higher education, and the sociology of knowledge.

Kristin Schilt - Assistant Professor of Sociology & Gender Studies gender, sexualities, culture, and ethnographic research methods.

Bertram Cohler - Professor of Psychology lives over time and within context, using both narrative and counted data perspectives; sexual idenity, developmental psychopathology and family process, family and personality development, aging, self and family.

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people to know – rad faculty, staff, allies, & and administrators @ the U of C Agnes Lugo-Ortiz - Associate Professor, Latin American Literature nineteenth-century Latin American literature, and in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Caribbean cultural history, relationships between cultural production and the formation of modern socio-political identities.

Wendy Doniger - Professor in the History of Religions at the Divinity School, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, the Committee on Social Thought hinduism and mythology, cross-cultural expanses; literature, law, gender, and psychology.

Raul Coronado - Assistant Professor of English latina/o literary and cultural history, from the colonial period to the 1940s. Coronado's work emphasizes the contemporary, social meaning of writing.

Deborah Nelson - Associate Professor in English late 20th-century American literature, gender studies, American ethnic literature, poetry and poetics, autobiography, photography, and Cold War history.

Ramón Gutiérrez - Professor of History & Staff at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture chicano history; Race and Ethnicity in American Life; Chicano/Latino Studies; IndianWhite Relations in the Americas; Social and Economic History of the Southwest; Colonial Latin America; Mexican Immigration.

Don Kulick - Professor of Anthropology language and gender/sexuality, transgender issues, prostitution, disability, psychoanalysis and social science, humor, the species boundary.

Martha Nussbaum - Law Professor ancient philosophy, ethics and the philosophy of literature.

Adam Greene - Associate Professor of American History modern U.S. history; African American history; urban history; comparative racial politics; cultural economy.

Marcelle Medford‐Lee - Coordinator for the workshop on the Reproduction of Race and Racial Ideologies, PhD student in Sociology ethnography, contemporary urban immigration, immigrant neighborhoods, ethnic entrepreneurs, race/ethnicity, and black West Indian immigrants.

Center for Gender Studies - 5733 S. University Ave Contact: Gina Olson – Assistant Director for Programming and Administration at CGS Center for the Study of Race, Politics, & Culture Waldo E. Johnson, Jr. - Associate Professor at the School of Social Service Administration & Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture family research, male roles and involvement in African American families, nonresident fathers in fragile families, and the physical and psychosocial health statuses of African American males LGBTQ Office of Student Life - 5710 S Woodlawn Ave Jeffrey Howard - Director of LGBTQ Office of Student Life Kathy Forde - Director of LGBTQ Mentoring Program, Senior Adviser, Bias Response Team Member 61

people to know – rad faculty, staff, allies, & and administrators @ the U of C Religious Life Elizabeth Davenport - Dean, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel provides leadership for spiritual life on campus; directs spiritual and performing arts programs at Rockefeller Chapel; and serves as liaison to campus arts organizations for the Office of Campus and Student Life.

Office of Multicultural Student Affairs - 5710 S. Woodlawn Ave Rosa Yadira Ortiz - Assistant Director of OMSA, Life Series/Crossroads Ana Vazquez - Deputy Dean of Students in the University, Director of OMSA, Bias Response Team Coordinator University Community Service Center - 5525 S. Ellis Avenue, Suite 160 Trudi Langendorf - Assistant Director UCSC, Lead for CSTLC and SummerLinks Open and respectful attitude toward building relationships with students. Coming from a background in social justice, she is a role model, mentor and friend to the students she works with at the University Community Service Center.

David Hays - Assistant Director of UCSC, Chicago Studies Wallace E. Goode, Jr. - Associate Dean of Students & Director of UCSC From folk museums and community theatres to soup kitchens and AIDS service organizations, Mr. Goode has a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of Chicago's community organizations.

Student Counseling and Resource Services - 5737 S. University Ave The Civic Knowledge Project - Walker Museum The community connections branch of the Division of the Humanities.

University of Chicago Police Department JoCathy Roberts - Crime Prevention Officer and community liaison Independent Review Committee for the UCPD (Contact: Belinda Cortez Vazquez) Office of Campus and Student Life Disabilities Services - disabilities.uchicago.edu Belinda Cortez Vazquez - Interim Associate Dean o f Students in the University for Student A f fairs, Bias Response Team Member Administration &tc.

President Zimmer (5801 South Ellis Avenue, Suite 501, president@uchicago.edu) He claims to make time to meet with student groups about their concerns. Take him up on that offer.

Karen Warren Coleman - Associate Vice President for Campus Life and Associate Dean of Students in the University and co-chair of Ad-Hoc committee formed in response to Student Arrest Incident 2010 William Michel - Executive Director of the Reva and David Logan Center for Creative and Performing Arts Toussaint Losier - PhD Candidate in History and co-chair of Ad-Hoc Committee formed in response to Student Arrest Incident 2010, Graduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees Frank Alacron – Undergraduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees Allen Linton – Student Government Community/Government Liaison 62

organizing organizations There are lots of social justice organizations on campus. They all have their own flavor and issues. The best way to figure out what works best for you is to dive in! Go to the RSO fair, the UCSC, or your friend down the hall to find out what’s cool.

Check out the Social Justice Coordinator at the UCSC!! They get paid to know things/people! Also check this out! http://sjuofc.wordpress.com/ for more groups etc. This list is incomplete and we know it…but hopefully it’ll help you get started.

Potluck Project: This group hosts potlucks for social justice oriented students. They’re great to meet people and see what’s going on.

Email: skortchmar@uchicago.edu Listhost: potluck_project@lists.uchicago.edu Southside Solidarity Network: These folks work on issues of the relationship between the university and the southside of Chicago. They’ve got a lot of history and great connections.

Email: Listhost: southsidesn@lists.uchicago.edu Website: http://ucssn.blogspot.com/ Students for a Democratic Society: Not your parents’ (or grandparents’!) SDS! SDS is a multi-issue, radical organizing group focussing mainly on campus issues like Investment and the Milton Friedman Institute. They push organizing across issues and building student power.

Email: craigjohnson@uchicago.edu Listhost: craigjohnson@uchicago.edu Website: http://sds.uchicago.edu/ Students Organized and United with Labor (SOUL) A Chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), these folks mainly focus on labor solidarity with workers on campus as well as international solidarity with workers around the world. They’ve also got great national networks with other activists in USAS. Email: lgrove@uchicago.edu Listhost: Soul@lists.uchicago.edu Website: http://uchicago.usas.org/ Green Campus Initiative: GCI is the only active environmental group on campus. Their main thing is campus sustainability but they are open to more activist or service oriented ideas (in the hopes of reviving the defunct activist (Environmental Concerns Organization) and service (GAIA) groups).

Email: wgu@uchicago.edu Listhost: gci@lists.uchicago.edu Website: http://envirocenter.uchicago.edu/gci/Home.html Woodlawn Collaborative: This is an institution building project that aims to create a shared space in Woodlawn for Arts Education and Activism. There are many programs (and room for more!) house in their space in First Presbyterian Church and it’s all coordinated by a joint committee of students and community members!

Email: cgreim@uchicago.edu Website: http://woodlawncollaborative.org/ 63

The Feminist Majority works to spread awareness of issues and challenges of living in a sexist and patriarchal society. Embracing a range of gender identities and ideological positions, its members work cooperatively and nonhierarchically to organize events and facilitate open discussion on gender, feminism, sexism, transfeminism, masculinity, and human rights.

Contact: whilke@uchicago.edu and jgifford@uchicago.edu Email list: femmaj@lists.uchicago.edu Website: http://femmaj.wordpress.com/ Queer and Associates is the largest queer organization on campus. They have a long and colorful history of current members and numerous alumni working together to create queer community on the UofC campus. Their goal is to empower the queer community on campus through social events, activism, coalition building, and outreach/educational programming.

Contact: jgifford@uchicago.edu Email list: qa@listhost.uchicago.edu Chicago Students for Immigration Reform: With immigration organizing accelerating around the country (Chicago is a hot spot!) this group is doing what they can on the student end by making awesome demands to the university.

Email: cagustin@uchicago.edu Students for Justice in Palestine: Palestine is one the major injustices of our time, so there’s organizing around it. SJP works to raise awareness and when necessary, disrupt things like when Ehud Omert came to speak on campus.

Email: nadiai@uchicago.edu Listhost: sjpalestine@lists.uchicago.edu Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlán (MEChA): MEChA is a national organization that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment through education and political action. This campus chapter is involved with a variety of stuff from celebrating farm worker organizers Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez to working with the Coalition of Imakolee Workers to get tomato farmers higher wages and better treatment.

Email: guadalupel103@uchicago.edu Listhost: mecha@lists.uchicago.edu Website: http://mecha.uchicago.edu/home.html Platypus: The Left is dead. Long live the Left! Or so says Platypus, a Marxist study group that aims to provide a fresh start for revolutionary politics through a critical analysis of the history of Left thought. They host reading groups and public intellectual events to provide spaces for critical reflection.

Email: gregg@uchciago.edu Listhost: platypus@lists.uchicago.edu Website: www.platpus1917.org Organization of Black Students brings together people of all races and ethnic backgrounds to celebrate black history and the diverse cultures black students contribute to the UChicago campus. They work to ensure the continuity and growth of Black educational, cultural, social, and political institutions on campus as well as in the greater Chicago community through their mentorship program, literary magazine, and regular meetings and social/cultural events.

Website: http://obs1.uchicago.edu/ Jewish Action is a social justice group that champions pragmatic activism on campus, 64 reflecting Judaism’s strong commitment to putting beliefs into practice. JA believes that a

well-rounded activism combines direct service with informed advocacy and so offers opportunities for both volunteer projects and education.

Contact: barzel@uchicago.edu Splash! Chicago: Splash! Is a yearly day long festival of teaching a learning. It focuses on getting students from around Chicago who would not normally be exposed to the prospects of higher education on to campus for a day of courses and other activities! This not only gives opportunities for these students to learn but for UChicago students to teach!

Email: rtkraw@uchicago.edu Listhost: splash-updates@lists.uchicago.edu Website: http://uchicago-splash.mit.edu/ Student Global AIDS Campaign is a national student organization that advocates for increased US funding to global AIDS programs, access to treatment for all who are infected, and true debt relief for developing nations. Our campus chapter hosts advocacy campaigns, events that promote awareness about global AIDS issues, and service activities for people in our community living with AIDS. Listhost: sgac@lists.uchicago.edu Organization of Latin American Students strives to promote awareness within and outside of the Latino community incorporating all facets of a culture rooted in the Indigenous, African, and European traditions to encourage social cohesion. Their mission is to expand the Latino community both on a collegiate and community plane by communicating the political, social, cultural and ethnic diversity that exists in it.

Website: http://olas.uchicago.edu UChicago STAND seeks to raise awareness about the dire situation in Darfur as well as play a role in its resolution by pressuring the University of Chicago to adopt a targeted divestment model.

Website: http://sites.google.com/site/uchicagostand/ Students for Human Rights strives to address and promote awareness of human rights issues at the city-wide level in Chicago by working on campaigns concerning health care, police brutality, and other human rights violations and bringing in speakers.

Website: http://shr.uchicago.edu/ Roosevelt Institution is a national network of student think tanks that provide the organizational infrastructure to get student ideas into the public discourse.

Website: http://www.rooseveltcampusnetwork.org/chapter/university-chicago Project HEALTH - http://www.projecthealth.org/ Muslim Students Association - http://msa.uchicago.edu

This page was put together by Luis Brennan and Eliot Fiend. Image from archive.workersliberty.org.

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Research Websites: know your shit.

About the U of C : Adminet : http://adminet.uchicago.edu/index.shtml This is the internal administration website where many things are posted like powerpoints, official policies and best of all, Financial Statements: http://adminet.uchicago.edu/finance/financial_statements/index.shtml Guidestar: http://www2.guidestar.org/ For more information on the university’s or other corporations financial matters you can get 990 tax forms off here.

Or check out the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) listings for the university’s asset holdings: http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html University Org Chart: http://www.uchicago.edu/about/orgchart/ This will tell you who’s who and who answers to whom.

University Board of Trustees (BOT): http://trustees.uchicago.edu/ Procrastinate politically! Google board members, dig up some dirt!

Can you count how many are CEOs?

Generally good stuff to know: Every block: http://chicago.everyblock.com/ A great database to find out about goings-on the block level.

NNDB: http://www.nndb.com/ This web-app let’s you find connections between powerful people.

Who’s on who’s board?!

Chicago Geographical Information System: http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/doit/provdrs/gis.html The city has an interactive map to access all its information on land holdings! It’s awesome, even if it’s actually part of a strategy to make information public while preventing easy data analysis!

by Luis Brennan “No education is politically neutral.”

- bell hooks in Teaching to Transgress: Education as the 67 Practice of Freedom

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