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Good morning. It’s seventh week.

GSU to strike? Graduate Students United (GSU) announced a strike authorization vote on Wednesday. Members will vote this week on whether to withhold their labor for a period during spring quarter in an effort to compel the University to voluntarily recognize the union.

• The outcome of the vote will be announced Monday, GSU told The Maroon; if the authorization to strike is passed, members will move forward to determine logistics of the strike.
• GSU voted over 18 months ago to unionize but has since withdrawn its petition from the National Labor Relations Board in order to protect pro-union precedent.

Trader Joe’s comes to Hyde Park: The store will open this fall at Lake Park Avenue and 54th Place, in part of the space formerly occupied by the now-shuttered Treasure Island.

• The University, which owns the building, and Trader Joe’s made the announcement on Monday.
• The store will be the first Trader Joe’s on the South Side. In a statement, a Trader Joe’s spokesperson said the store expects to hire most of its employees from the area.
• In a community survey released by the University in November, 628 people said the new grocer they most wanted to see in Hyde Park was Trader Joe’s, three times more respondents than for any other grocery store.

• “I think a Trader Joe’s in this location fills an important need,” said third-year Sam Joyce, who posted in the UChicago Class of 2020 group last fall asking others to use Trader Joe’s “Location Request” form to ask for the grocer to come to Hyde Park. “I’m glad I won’t have to go all the way to the South Loop for the Mandarin orange chicken and those dark chocolate peanut butter cups.”

UChicago United held a rally on Monday outside Levi Hall, the University’s main administrative building, to raise awareness of its #CareNotCops and #ReleaseTheBudget campaigns.

• Activists painted banners and chalked the pavement with messages demanding that the University release budgetary information about the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD).
• Most recently, the group previously rallied for #CareNotCops outside Levi Hall in April. Organizers argued that students should have access to information about the UCPD budget, since a portion of the University’s budget comes from tuition payments.

Goldwater Scholars: Three third-years, Keir Adams, Nikhil Pandit, and Maritha Wang, received Barry Goldwater Scholarships, the preeminent honor nationwide for undergraduate excellence in STEM.

• Adams, a molecular engineering and chemistry major, has spent time researching the chemical makeup of interstellar space and working on renewable energy technology in Scotland.
• Pandit, a mathematics major, conducts research in symplectic geometry—a field he describes as involving “the process of rebuilding geometric intuition in an unfamiliar setting, using techniques from diverse branches of mathematics to understand the most basic properties of…spaces.”
• Wang, a physics and chemistry major, develops textured 2-D materials for use in flexible and foldable electronic devices. “The advent of 2-D materials in the last two decades has given modern society the opportunity to explore the ultimate realm of ‘small,’ placing a man-made world of micro- and nano-machines and robots within reach,” she said.

MeaningFull Meals, a startup founded by three Booth students, aims to eliminate food insecurity by inspiring consumers to give back through small everyday purchases at local restaurants.

• When a consumer visits a partnering restaurant and purchases a MeaningFull Meal (which is labeled on the menu with the startup’s logo), MeaningFull Meals donates a dollar to local food pantries and nonprofits chosen by that restaurant.
• According to startup cofounder Ashray Reddy, after MeaningFull Meals launched with Loop restaurant Russian Tea Time in late February, the restaurant saw “a 92.14% overall increase in sales of MeaningFull Meals items in the 38-day pilot period compared to the previous 50 days [when those items were not branded on the menu with the MeaningFull Meals logo].”

Fifth Ward aldermanic candidate William Calloway unveiled plans last Thursday to lodge a new complaint against incumbent and winner Leslie Hairston.

• Calloway’s plan comes three weeks after formally filing a petition for a discovery recount that has now been completed. Whereas that petition was for recounts in 10 precincts within the Fifth Ward, the new, amended petition will ask for a recount of the entire Fifth Ward.
• Hairston will be sworn in on May 20 with the rest of City Council.

• “I beat Leslie Hairston on election night,” Calloway told a group of supporters at a May 2 hearing. “But in this world, it’s not about what you know. It’s about what you can prove, and we have to prove that.”

In Viewpoints

Editors Meera Santhanam and Alexa Perlmutter write in:

Columnist Soham Mall argues that there is something we can learn from all the different students in UChicago Core classes, including “That Kid.”

The South Inter-House Council Representatives argue that students in Renee Granville-Grossman Residential Commons need a gym in the building to promote physical health and overall wellbeing.

In Sports

Editor Brinda Rao writes in:

Track and field prepares for the end of its regular season with individual wins at the team’s penultimate meet.

Women’s tennis secures a place at the NCAA quarterfinals and their fourth consecutive regional title.

Men’s tennis continues their streak of wins, with eyes set on the upcoming NCAA quarterfinals after taking home the NCAA Division III regional title.

Men’s baseball ends their season with record wins by their senior class.

In Grey City

Editor Caroline Kubzansky writes in:

While students love to ridicule Canada Goose jackets on campus, Grey City discovered a much more complicated discussion about socioeconomic diversity at UChicago than the jacket memes would have you believe.

In Podcast

Editor Austin Christhilf writes in:

Last week in the news: Student Government elections, the provost beginning an internal audit of graduate student payments, a donation of rare books to Special Collections, and much more.

This week on the quad: Phoenix Farms, UChicago’s premier beekeeping and urban farming RSO. Find out about Harper Hives, the highest bees in Chicago, or Avantgardens.

Crossword

Play The Maroon’s crossword online.

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