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The Chicago Maroon
UCPD Officers Union Alleges Wage Discrepancies and Bad Faith Bargaining, University Maintains Good Faith Bargaining for a New Collective Bargaining Agreement
Recently retired University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) officer Gordon Dameron suspected something was wrong with his wages around 2015; he was making the same amount as officers who had served for far fewer years than he had. He couldn’t fully determine what the issue was until Officer Victor Vazquez, president of Police Benevolent and Protective Association of Illinois, Local 185 — UCPD officers union — informed him that he had been missing his longevity raises since 2017.
University to pay $13.5 Million in Antitrust Settlement Over Financial Aid
On February 28, Judge Matthew Kennelly of the Northern District Court of Illinois preliminarily approved an antitrust class action settlement involving the University of Chicago, in which the University will pay $13.5 million. The settlement was reached in the lawsuit Henry, et al. v. Brown University, et al., which alleges that UChicago, among sixteen other universities, was part of a price-fixing cartel that determined financial aid amounts in violation of antitrust laws.
ARACHNIDAE: A Celebration of Eight Graduating Visual Arts Students
Through April 21, the visual arts B.A. thesis exhibition ARACHNIDAE showcased the work of eight undergraduate artists who will be graduating this June. A curiously woven patchwork of materials, moods, and moments, each piece stood simultaneously on its own, within its artist’s collection of works, and in the midst of the exhibition as a whole.
Three Students Robbed Near Campus, Blue Light Near Incident Broken
Three students were robbed at gunpoint in two separate incidents on the afternoon of April 17 on and near the University’s campus. In one of the incidents, an emergency blue light box located nearby to be used to contact emergency services was inoperable and had been since at least September 2023.
Hyde Park Produce Remains Closed After Fire
Hyde Park Produce (HPP), the locally-owned grocery store in Kimbark Plaza, has been temporarily closed since a small fire took place inside on April 5. A sign posted on the front door and a Facebook post on April 11 said that the shop will reopen at an unspecified date. The...
The Rural Alberta Advantage, Loud and Proud
In a likely first for Chicago, both opener Julianna Riolino and band the Rural Alberta Advantage noted the crowd’s silence. The audience at the Lincoln Hall show, though, took these quips as a challenge to raise their voices—a difficult feat for an audience in which I was the youngest by about 20 years and where the only throngs of concertgoers formed by the bar.
How Little Does Palestinian Life Matter to the University of Chicago?
My first distinct recollection about Palestine dates back to late 2014. Israel had just concluded one of its periodic massacres in Gaza, slaughtering more than 2,200 Palestinians and destroying more than 18,000 homes in the space of just 51 days. Reading UN reports on my phone, I was particularly horrified to learn that nearly 65 percent of those killed had been defenseless civilians, including 551 children. And I was even more horrified when I reflected on the fact that these Palestinian children had been murdered with U.S.-made bombs, to the bipartisan applause of U.S. lawmakers, with considerable support from the U.S. public. This would be my first concrete lesson in just how little my government, my co-citizens, and many in my community care about Palestinian life.
Uncommon Interview: Dean of Students in the College Philip Venticinque
Dean of Students in the College, Philip Venticinque A.B. ’01, A.M. ’02, Ph.D. ’09 sat down with the Maroon early this quarter to discuss his transition into the role of dean of students, his work with other offices and groups in the College, and who he looks up to as his mentors and role models in being a “dean for students”.
Uncommon Interview: Jenn Jackson, Ph.D. ’19
In 2007, Jenn Jackson was working as a workload and staffing analyst for the Walt Disney Company. Even though Jackson considered that their “dream job” and imagined themselves retiring with Disney, they faced a multitude of microaggressions and hurtful discrimination from their coworkers. Jackson’s manager was of no help in changing the work atmosphere, only saying, “Well, that’s how they are.”
UChicago Students’ Startup is Changing the Way Entertainment Venues Operate Nationwide
Just last year, the three co-founders of Speakeasy, Paul Stacek ’23, Tamas An ’23, and undergraduate Alex Manavi met on campus. A software-as-a-service company assisting venues with payments and booking optimization, the startup has acquired a client portfolio boasting some of the biggest names in hospitality across eight major cities.
The Maroon Weekly, E118
Gregory Caesar, Head Podcasts Editor, Senior Copy Editor, Associate Developer. Gregory is a third-year in the College from New York, studying computer science and data science. Since becoming head editor for Podcasts in 2022, he has led the branch through several milestones, including The Maroon Weekly's 100th episode, a crossover podcast with Northwestern, and live recordings at The Study Hotel at the University of Chicago. This year, he is committed to reimagining the section’s utility within The Maroon by diversifying its content, collaborating with other sections, and expanding its reach to better amplify campus and community voices. Outside of Podcasts, he has served as a senior copy editor since spring 2021 and is involved with data visualization tasks. He is an avid aviation enthusiast and Regenstein denizen.
Meet the Candidates of This Year’s USG Election
This spring’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) elections will take place from Monday, April 15 through Friday, April 19 at 4:00 p.m. Over a five-day voting window, students can cast their ballots for the Executive Slate (President, Executive Vice President), various Cabinet positions, and their College Council class representatives. The Maroon reached out to this year’s candidates to understand their respective platforms.
2024 USG Endorsement: The Timing’s Just Right with “Better Slate Than Never” Slate
With spring marking a new election cycle for Undergraduate Student Government (USG), the Maroon Editorial Board invited the 2024 candidates to interviews to share their respective platforms, ambitions, and hopes for the futures of USG and the University. Across all interviews and correspondence, all of the candidates shared a common, unifying trait: a genuine and obvious commitment to ensuring that USG honors and defends the cares and concerns of the undergraduate student body. Given this, we are particularly eager to urge students to vote in this week’s election, with student body representation and opinions being of particular concern to each of this year’s candidates—starting with this very election. Although the Editorial Board has endorsed certain candidates, we are confident that each and every one of this year’s candidates has the ambition and capabilities to enact meaningful change on UChicago’s campus. Hence, we are hopeful that all eligible voters will take the time to earnestly assess and support their chosen candidates prior to the polls’ closure at 4 p.m on Friday, April 19.
Students Sue Cook County Sheriff, Alleging First Amendment Violations
UChicago fourth-years Ethan Ostrow and Harley Pomper filed a lawsuit in federal court on March 6 against Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. The suit alleges that the sheriff violated the students’ First Amendment rights by retaliating after they criticized the Cook County Jail’s anti-paper policies. Last year, Ostrow...
UChicago Alum Secures Deal on “Shark Tank”
UChicago alum Daniella Morgan-Pascualvaca, A.B. ’22, appeared on Shark Tank on March 1 and secured a deal with investor Mark Cuban for Mella Pet Care. Morgan-Pascualvaca is the chief of staff for the veterinary medical device and telehealth company and made the Shark Tank appearance alongside Mella’s CEO Anya Babbitt and COO Ben Seidman. She spoke with the Maroon about her journey with the company and appearing on Shark Tank, which she describes as being on the “bucket list of almost every entrepreneur.”
Artistic Transformations in “Meiji Modern” at the Smart Museum
Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan at the Smart Museum of Art offers a glimpse into a transformative period of Japanese history. Spanning from 1868 to 1912, the Meiji period was characterized by rapid urbanization and escalating geopolitical tensions. Artists of the time seized upon the uncertainty to explore new possibilities and reshape traditional mediums.
Guardians of Creativity: Glaze and Nightshade Forge New Frontiers in AI Defense for Artists
Ben Zhao, a Neubauer professor of computer science and director of graduate studies in computer science at the University, and a team of computer science Ph.D. students have created a system to protect human artists from style mimicry by AI models. The system, named Glaze, works by making subtle changes to artwork that are imperceptible to human eyes but dramatically alter its appearance to AI models. This prevents AI from using the artwork in its training data.
Professors Monika Nalepa and Andrew Eggers to Join Editorial Board of the American Political Science Review
UChicago professors Monika Nalepa and Andrew Eggers were announced as part of the incoming editorial team of the American Political Science Review (APSR) on February 12. Their term will begin on June 1, 2024, and will conclude on May 31, 2028. “Selection of a new team is a months-long process...
Program Connecting Pritzker Engineering Students With Nigerian Engineering Students Returns for Second Summer
Research Experience for Nigerian Engineering Undergraduates (RENEU) allows undergraduate engineering students at the University of Lagos in Nigeria (UNILAG) to create research projects while being mentored virtually by UChicago Pritzker Molecular Engineering (PME) faculty and postdocs. The program will be returning this summer for its second consecutive year. RENEU was...
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