Metropolitan Tenants Organization (MTO), a Chicago-based organization that seeks to empower and educate individuals about their rights as apartment renters, led a workshop open to the community this past Wednesday in Pierce.

The workshop was part of a campus-wide response to the impending demolition of Pierce and the consequent expected influx of new renters for the following academic year, though the topics discussed were not specifically Pierce resident–related. The event was hosted by SG, Inter-House Council, UChicago Dining, and the South Side Solidarity Network.

The aim of the event was to elucidate the contingencies of Chicago’s Landlord-Tenant Ordinance, which grants renters several rights that, according to Grace Park, third-year community and government liaison to SG, many renters are not fully knowledgeable about. The presentation by MTO centered on the specifics of documenting apartment damage, filing work orders, and negotiating with landlords.