The Council of University Programming (COUP), which organizes Kuviasungnerk/Kangeiko (Kuvia), announced it will not host the annual winter tradition in 2025, in solidarity with a UChicago student arrested in relation to the October 11 pro-Palestine protest.
In a January 8 statement posted on Instagram, COUP stated that “this decision was made in response to the arrest of a vital COUP member on our leadership team.” The student was “personally in charge of Kuvia 2025, serving as its primary planner, and their removal has created immediate and severe logistical challenges.”
The student, identified as Mamayan Jabateh in a UCUP press briefing, was arrested on December 11 on two felony charges, including “aggravated battery of a peace officer.” Jabateh served on the executive board of COUP prior to their eviction from campus by the University. Jabateh is the second UChicago undergraduate who has been evicted from on-campus housing and placed on indefinite academic suspension in connection with the October 11 pro-Palestine protest.
Kuvia is a long-standing UChicago tradition, typically taking place during the second week of winter quarter, in which streams of students walk to Henry Crown Field House in the early morning to perform sun salutation yoga poses and participate in various RSO-led activities. The weeklong festivities culminate in a walk to Promontory Point to perform salutations, and students who attend all five days are rewarded with a Kuvia-themed shirt. Monday would have marked the 42nd celebration of Kuvia.
COUP’s decision reflects increasingly strained relations between campus activist groups and the University in recent years, as marked by multiple building occupations, a weeklong encampment on the quad, and continued protests.
The funds allocated toward Kuvia will remain in COUP’s RSO account to be saved for next year’s Kuvia, according to COUP Co-President Pietro Juvara.
Juvara stated that COUP has no plans for a future Kuvia event this year and does not anticipate asking for additional funding from the Program Coordinating Council (PCC), which is responsible for establishing budgets and providing support for performance groups on campus like COUP. However, PCC still plans to organize other COUP-related events.
“COUP has no plans to cancel any other future events this year, and we can also confirm no money from the University, PCC, and/or student government has been spent or will be spent on behalf of COUP for anything other than our events,” Juvara said. “If Snowball and Summer Breeze are executed as planned, we will request funding for those events from PCC at the end of the year in accordance with policy.”
In a statement to the Maroon, a University spokesperson wrote: “Kuvia has been a valued, student-run tradition since its inception in 1983. Campus and Student Life and the College offered support for Kuvia this year as they do for all student activities, and are prepared to do so this year if the student group chooses to proceed.”
