College Council (CC) voted at an ad hoc meeting on Saturday to pass a resolution proposed by Class of 2029 Representative Aaron Horowitz calling for the removal of Thomas Pritzker (J.D. ’76, M.B.A. ’76) from UChicago’s Board of Trustees.
The Maroon has previously reported on Pritzker’s close relationship with Epstein, which lasted until Epstein’s death.
CC voted 11–0, with three abstentions, to enter into executive session, requiring all non–CC members to exit the room during the deliberation. The meeting minutes will be made public when approved by CC after spring break.
CC Chair Ben Fica explained that some students felt confidentiality was necessary due to the sensitivity of the resolution and because CC members were concerned about misspeaking and having their opinions misinterpreted.
After the executive session ended, CC unanimously voted to pass an amended version of the resolution, which “calls for the University Board of Trustees to vote to remove Thomas Pritzker as a trustee, effective immediately.”
“I think we have a duty as representatives to enforce that this is not what the University of Chicago should stand for and what our trustees should stand for,” Executive Vice President Alex Fuentes told the Maroon after the meeting concluded.
The amended resolution also adds a referendum to the regularly scheduled spring quarter election that would separately allow the student body to “formally call upon the University of Chicago Board of Trustees to remove Thomas Pritzker from the Board.”
Horowitz said that the resolution “takes on added weight” by including a referendum to communicate the opinion of the student body to the University.
CC, part of Undergraduate Student Government, lacks the power to remove Pritzker from the Board of Trustees, and Pritzker is set to retire from the board in June upon reaching the body’s mandatory retirement age of 75. Still, Horowitz said that it is important that Pritzker is removed before that point.
“There is a big difference between letting Pritzker retire quietly at the end of the year versus voting to remove Pritzker as a trustee or Pritzker stepping down before then,” Horowitz said. “Intent here really does matter, and it is unacceptable for us to really tolerate this kind of behavior.”
Editor’s note: CC representative Aaron Horowitz is a current staff member of the Maroon. He had no involvement in the reporting of this story.
