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Good morning. It’s second week.

UC Dems are gearing up for the Iowa caucuses, but won’t endorse a candidate until the general election. The group will take students to Iowa ahead of the state caucuses—during the weekend of February 1-2—where volunteers will be connected with campaigns and knock doors.

Joe Walsh, a Republican presidential primary candidate and Harris School alum, spoke at an Institute of Politics event at Ida Noyes last week. Walsh decried President Trump’s presidency while also criticizing some of his fellow Republicans for not criticizing the president.

A new partnership has been announced between the centers for the study of race at Chicago, Yale, Brown, and Stanford Universities. A $4 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will underwrite new initiatives including “programs that center on questions of race in humanities teaching and scholarship,” a news release from Yale said.

UChicago geophysicist Philipp Heck is the lead author of a new study on “interstellar dust”—Heck and other scientists are examining stardust found on a meteorite that fell in Australia about 50 years ago. The “presolar grains” under examination are estimated to be between 5 billion to 7 billion years old—older than the sun.

In Viewpoints

Editor Zahra Naseer writes in:

Columnist Brinda Rao criticizes the way in which students were left in the dark about the decision to cancel Hong Kong study abroad programs.

Columnist Leena El-Sadek endorses fellow UChicago law student Sarah Gad, explaining how Gad’s story and determination make her a strong congressional candidate for Illinois’ 1st district.

In Sports

Editor Brinda Rao writes in:

Women’s basketball defeat their rival WashU. Track and Field continues their legacy of success at annual Phoenix Invite.

In Grey City

Editors Avi Waldman and Alex Dalton write in:

As the OI enters its second century, Grey City examines its complicated history and how the Institute is orienting itself to the future.

In Crossword

Editor Chris Jones writes in with a hint:

The “Pope who wrote erotic poetry prior to papacy” in this week’s crossword is PIUS II. A lifelong writer, Pius is also responsible for the only autobiography written by a pope. ⛪️

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