Dear Reader, 

Here’s what the Maroon has been covering this week. 

Local Elections

Read our guide to Illinois’s March 17 primaries, written to help you make informed choices in federal, state, and local elections. 

UChicago alum Ridge Knapp (A.B. ’20, M.P.P. ’21) is running for the Illinois House of Representatives. Six UChicago students joined him in February as he canvassed in the North Side Ravenswood community.

The Maroon also spoke with State Senator Robert Peters, who represents the city of Chicago and is running to represent Illinois’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

UChicago affiliates can participate in the final day of on-campus early voting today at the Reynolds Club from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., or find their Election Day polling place here. Illinois offers same-day voter registration, and students can register to vote using their residence hall or off-campus address. 

News

During a panel with senior administrators from Northwestern University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, UChicago President Paul Alivisatos spoke about federal funding cuts, recent investments in quantum development, and the rise of A.I., which Alivisatos described as “an exciting moment if you care about learning and ideas.”

At a closed-door session on March 7, College Council passed a resolution calling for the Board of Trustees to remove Thomas Pritzker from its ranks following Maroon reporting on Pritzker’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein. While Pritzker is already required to step down from the Board after he turns 75 this year, Class of 2029 Representative Aaron Horowitz believes it would be “unacceptable” to “[let] Pritzker retire quietly.” An amended version of the resolution will also appear on the spring quarter election ballot. 

Paul Sereno, a UChicago paleontologist, published a paper last month revealing the discovery of Spinosaurus mirabilis fossils in Niger, the first new species found in the Spinosaurus genus in more than 100 years. The Maroon joined Sereno in his lab to see the new fossils and learn more about the process of unearthing them. 

Housing and Residence Life announced on March 11 that it will no longer require students in on-campus residence halls to preregister University-affiliated guests, a departure from the unpopular policy enacted last academic year. Residents will still be required to register guests who do not have a valid UChicago ID in the myHousing Portal.

David Auburn (A.B. ’91), a playwright and theater director best known for his Tony Award–winning play Proof, will return to Hyde Park in May as the 2026 Class Day speaker. Ahead of his visit, he sat down with the Maroon to talk about his time at UChicago, the lessons he has learned from more than 30 years in the theater industry, and the speech he hopes to deliver. 

Arts and Culture

Head Arts and Culture Editor Nolan Shaffer captured scenes from the University of Chicago Folk Festival’s day of music, dance, and art workshops in Ida Noyes, where festival attendees celebrated folk traditions and participated in impromptu jam sessions. Read his interactive story here.

The Maroon sat down with Chicago-based musician and songwriter Ryan Rumchaks ahead of his solo show at Gman Tavern last month. Rumchaks, who is best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of pop-punk and emo band Knuckle Puck, discussed his musical influences and upbringing and reminisced on growing up in the Chicago music scene. 

Fourteen-year-old violin prodigy Himari performed a wide-ranging program of music from the Classical, Romantic, and contemporary eras with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) last month. The concert, led by guest conductor Jaap van Zweden, proved that Himari is “no ordinary prodigy.”

“In my excitement to watch the film, I’d forgotten that I don’t know a thing about chess,” writes Arts and Culture Reporter Jin Tuan in their review of Computer Chess. The experimental film, which screened at Doc Films last month, follows a computer chess competition at a remote hotel. The screening was followed by a Q&A with director Andrew Bujalski and cast and crew member and UChicago computer science professor Gordon Kindlmann.