Dear Reader, 

Welcome back to campus! Here’s what you missed over break. 

News

Leaders from harm reduction advocacy organizations discussed drug policy and the harm reduction movement in Chicago at an event hosted by the UChicago Harm Reduction Project and the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights. 

The Rohr Chabad Center at the University of Chicago and Hyde Park officially reopened last month after more than a year of renovation. New additions to the building include a recreation room, event center, lounge, and mikvah. 

The Organization of Black Students (OBS) held a vigil last month to mourn the death of UChicago Dining employee Keith Butler. “He knew how to make students feel welcome,” one attendee said. 

Longtime University of Chicago trustee and businessman Thomas Pritzker and New York Times columnist and former University of Chicago trustee David Brooks appeared in photographs from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein released last month. The images do not indicate any wrongdoing by those depicted. 

Viewpoints

College expansion, cuts to doctoral programs, and borrowing have led to “not simply broad-based precarity, but a shrinking of the University’s ambitions across multiple areas of historic eminence,” writes professor Clifford Ando in his latest op-ed. 

Arts and Culture

The South Asian Students Association (SASA) hosted its annual Diwali celebration in Hutchinson Commons last month. Attendees enjoyed catered food and performances from music and dance groups. 

“In every scene, one yearns to reach into the screen and punch Marty in the face yet cannot help but cheer for him with the same closed fist,” writes Head Arts Editor Shawn Quek in his review of director Josh Safdie’s newest film, Marty Supreme.

The Art Institute of Chicago’s new exhibition, Strange Realities: The Symbolist Imagination, delves into dreams, nightmares, and fantasies with a series of late 19th- and early 20th-century works by artists like Edvard Munch, Paul Gauguin, Odilon Redon, and even Vincent van Gogh. 

During his tour stop in Chicago last month, singer-songwriter David Osterhout spoke to the Maroon about songwriting, shows, and his next album. 

At Thalia Hall, Indigo De Souza “offered a generous ear for the crowd to let out their emotions without inhibitions in a kind of emotional share-and-tell,” writes Arts Reporter Ciara Balanzá. 

Sports

The Bears hope to build a domed, climate-controlled stadium in Arlington Heights. But funding has proved to be a sticking point, with many taxpayers opposing state spending on the venue and surrounding infrastructure.