Dear Reader,
How is it snowing in Week 3 of spring quarter? Frankly, the Maroon has no idea. What we do know is that this week has been a busy one. We covered a variety of topics, including international student visas, terminated research grants, and AI professors.
News
Seven UChicago students and graduates had their visas canceled this week by the U.S. State Department. Although the exact reason for the cancellations is unknown, it leaves the affected students with only a short time to appeal the decision or leave the country. Read Senior News Reporter Isaiah Glick’s coverage of the terminations and what they mean for the students involved.
Before the visa revocations were announced, the University’s Office of International Affairs issued new guidance for noncitizen students and faculty regarding international travel. The OIA cautioned that “re-entry is not a guarantee [for noncitizens] and [is] at the discretion of the U.S. government,” and advised that UChicago affiliates limit nonessential international travel. Senior News Reporter Aaryan Kumar has the story.
Universities like UChicago rely on hundreds of millions in federal grants annually to fund studies, pay research staff, and keep labs running. But what happens when some of that funding goes away? Senior News Reporters Grace Beatty and Isaiah Glick will tell you what happened after several grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health totalling more than $6 million were unexpectedly terminated, leaving researchers unsure of what’s next for their projects.
A close friend of Elon Musk, UChicago Trustee and multibillionaire Antonio Gracias (J.D. ’98), has been tasked with targeting what he called “tremendous fraud” at the Social Security Administration as part of the Department of Government Efficiency Service. What else are they targeting? Follow the developing story in Senior News Reporter Zachary Leiter’s coverage.
Another University trustee, Don Wilson (A.B. ’88), had charges dropped against his cryptocurrency trading firm Cumberland DRW this week. A federal judge in Illinois dismissed the case initially brought by the Biden administration’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which alleged that Cumberland had violated federal registration laws for more than $2 billion of crypto assets. News Editor Katherine Weaver covered the story and discussed what new SEC priorities might mean for similar cases against crypto companies.
The University has announced a new major in Climate and Sustainable Growth. The major has been in development for two years, answering what economics professor Michael Greenstone described as “an insatiable demand” for new curricula on climate. Get an in-depth look with News Reporter Eliot Aguera y Arcas’s article on the exciting new major.
In other climate news, students at Northwestern University and UChicago held the inaugural Chicago Energy Conference this past weekend, a forum for students and faculty from both schools to engage with leaders in the energy sector. According to UChicago fourth-year and co-organizer Raghav Pardasani, the event allowed students to “learn from each other, professionally and personally, and [broaden their] understanding of the energy space.” Read more of Senior News Reporter Kalyna Vickers’s takeaways from the conference here.
Former U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp has been a fixture of the University’s Institute of Politics (IOP) since she assumed the role as the Institute’s director in January 2023. Her tenure will come to an end this year, as she’s stepping down to spend more time with her family amid a global search for her replacement. News Editor Gabriel Kraemer sat down with Heitkamp to discuss her time as IOP director, the Trump administration’s threats to universities, and what she hopes to see from the IOP going forward.
Grey City
Botany Pond is more commonly known as the duck pond thanks to its feathered residents, but how do they end up there? Photographer Natalie Earl answers the question in her latest piece, where she interviews professor emeritus Jerry Coyne, the UChicago “duck master,” about the pond’s new inhabitants and the work that goes into caring for them.
Viewpoints
The Trump administration is attempting to dismantle higher education. From withholding federal funding to detaining and deporting university students with lawful visas, the administration is attacking the core tenets of higher education, argues professor Clifford Ando in this latest op-ed. The question then falls back onto universities themselves: How should the University of Chicago respond?
Have your professors been replaced by AI models? Not at the moment, but perhaps it’s not long before it happens. With professors adopting more and more lenient AI-use policies and implementing AI learning tools, the line between innovation and concession is blurred. Read Camille Cypher’s commentary on the temptations of using AI in university classrooms.
Arts
Ever wonder what a quasi-musical starring Jack Black and Jason Mamoa based on an open-world sandbox video game would look like? Is it even possible to adapt such a piece of intellectual property to the silver screen? Get the unmodded take in Associate Arts Editor Shawn Quek’s coverage of A Minecraft Movie.
The collection sculptures in and around Hyde Park are as eclectic as they are unique. Curious about how the history of chainsaw artists intersects with Yoko Ono and Walt Whitman? Read on in Photographer Graham Hansen’s photo essay, “Sculptures of Hyde Park.”
Podcast
Listen to the latest Arts Podcast: “Looking Back at the Grammys.” Your hosts are back with an episode on the Grammy Awards! Who deserved it? Who didn’t? Find out with Associate Arts Editor Elizabeth Eck, Arts Editor Nolan Shaffer, and Editor-in-Chief Tiffany Li as they discuss, disagree, and dissect.
