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Dear reader,

What a journey it’s been.

Writing this newsletter as we wrap up this school year, I can’t help but think back to the day I took the role of managing editor from Adyant Kanakamedala, who taught me so much about running the student newspaper at UChicago. There are many people to thank along the way, but at the top of my list are the upperclassmen who made my college experience complete. It is through our peers that we made a community out of our time at UChicago and created precious collective memories even during a pandemic.

To the graduating Maroon staffers (Ruby, Matt, Adyant, Suha, Pranathi, Peyton, Elizabeth, Ray, James, Cynthia, Charlotte, Gabby, Isaac, Ram, Wahid, Alina, Veronica, Adrian, Alison, Alex, Avi, and many others who I didn’t get a chance to name), the fourth-year leaders in every aspect of life, and the people I learn from and admire and love: Congratulations! As Gage put so well in our editor’s note, “It’s hard to imagine this campus without you, but we know that it’s time for us to share you with the rest of the world.”

To the Class of 2022: We hope you will find some snapshots of your time at UChicago in this issue. In the years to come, we hope this could become a souvenir of some sort. Enjoy reading!

With love,

Yiwen

NEWS

Many fourth-years remember the one class that transformed their UChicago experience. Eric Fang spoke with three fourth-years who shared what made their all-time favorite classes so special.

As the school year comes to a close, fourth-year students face the difficult decision of where to live and work. For international students, visa challenges and living away from home complicate these questions, Jinna Lee and Taryn Kim report.

This June, some fourth-years will be among the first to graduate with new majors and minors. Shinjini Chakraborty interviewed fourth-years Alina Kim, who graduated with a minor in Media Arts and Design (MAAD), and Noor Elmasry, who graduated with a major in data science. Both attested that these programs made their UChicago experience more fulfilling.

RSO leaders pass on the baton. Fourth-year leaders of the Business Organization for Latino Development, Phoenix Survivors Alliance, and Phoenix Sustainability Initiative reflect on their legacies, accomplishments, and hopes for the future in their interviews with Tomas Vallejo.

Class of 2022 student Ilan Naibryf was set to graduate from the University of Chicago this year. He died at age 21 in the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida, on June 24, 2021. Naibryf’s friends and classmates remembered him in an obituary by Michael McClure and Olivia Chilkoti.

Per tradition, Yiwen Lu sat down with outgoing Undergraduate Student Government President Allen Abbott to discuss his tenure.

What are the Class of 2022’s favorite businesses in Hyde Park? Casey Kim talked to them and put together a guide to the neighborhood.

The 2021–22 academic year was one that constantly made headlines. Anu Vashist collected nine stories, spanning April 2021 to April 2022, that shaped our collective memories of the year.

ARTS

Former Arts editors Wahid Al Mamun, Veronica Chang, and Alina Kim reflect on their time with The Maroon in what they call “a love letter to the [Arts] section.”

Arts reporter Belle Nahoom found Beautiful Snail, the MFA thesis exhibition, to be “immersive and obscure.”

VIEWPOINTS

In a witty and sentimental series of senior columns, graduating seniors from the College contemplate the ups and downs of the undergraduate experience:

Olivia Morkved shamelessly brags about the intellectual community she’s found, while Justin Smith recognizes the “truly uncommon friends” he’s made amid many classes and RSOs.

Alexandra Fiorentino-Swinton muses on having expansive plans for the future and tossing them aside. Meanwhile, Brinda Rao carves a space for herself in the field of classics.

Finally, a graduating anonymous contributor calls for The Maroon to endorse the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement.

GREY CITY

Grey City Editor Solana Adedokun does a deep dive into the history of what it’s like to be a Black student at the University while also adding her own experience and those of other Black students on campus.

CROSSWORD

If you’re finishing up your time at UChicago, conGRADulations! We’re so proud of you that we didn’t study for our exams and made you a special puzzle instead. (Don’t worry, non-graduates—you’re invited to solve it too!)