Let students choose where to eat

By William Baude / April 18, 2002

University of Chicago students in housing will soon receive a description of the new dining plans available to them. The end result of these changes is likely to be the restriction of Bartlett to those living in Max Palevsky Residential Commons. Students at other dorms may be able to purchase meals using Flex Dollars, but...

Support somebodies and get what you deserve

By Andrew Brokos / April 18, 2002

Finally, someone is willing to take a stand against all the mealy-mouthed and hypocritical liberals who pride themselves on being “part of the Hyde Park community.” I refer, of course, to The Somebodies, the only candidates willing to admit the unspoken premise upon which even those who would never own to it implicitly act. University...

Support the unusual suspects

By John Cottrell / April 18, 2002

I’m not about to sit here and preach to you about the benefits of Student Government or the hypocrisy involved in criticizing a body which you students are responsible for electing. Instead, I expect the intelligent students at the University of Chicago to make an intelligent and well-informed decision next week. Yes, that does require...

Wake up about the Middle East

By Yazen Joudeh / April 18, 2002

It is disheartening to see the lack of American concern for human rights violations in the Palestinian territories. Recent Gallup polls indicate that generally Americans side with Israel in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but what is more worrisome is that most Americans believe that the United States should not be directly involved in resolving the conflict....

So-called “ex-gay” causes controversy

By Phoebe Maltz / April 11, 2002

The “ex-gay” who gave a talk entitled “Homosexuality-Biology or Choice?” Tuesday night at Ida Noyes had the misfortune of being conservative to the point of nuttiness and inaccurate to the point of being laughable in front of an audience for whom scientific accuracy and open-mindedness (if not a degree of self-righteousness) appeared to be the...

Showing our initiative

By Maroon Editorial Staff / April 11, 2002

The Chicago Initiative, announced to students on Wednesday afternoon, is a massive fundraising campaign with the purpose of putting the University in the same economic league as that of its academic peers. While our endowment seems substantial, given the miniscule budget the typical undergraduate lives on, other research institutions of comparative reputation have the resources...

Administration dining plan unappetizing

By The Maroon Staff / April 11, 2002

To the Editor: Heaven forbid the administration should allow students here at the U of C to be happy. The proposed new regulations on meal points to limit dining at Bartlett seem both heavy-handed and unnecessary, designed without the best interests or preferences of students in mind. While many people eat dinner at Bartlett rather...

Faculty participation is an important part of liberal education

By The Maroon Staff / April 11, 2002

To the Editor: The closing line of your spirited staff editorial asserts that the Western Civ sequence “embodies the hallowed scholastic tradition of the classic Chicago common education.” I have a different take on the matter. As I understand it, what most distinguishes the Chicago tradition of general education has been not any particular course...

Television is a product of Satan

By Stephen McGuinn / April 11, 2002

It’s sort of like watching a really bad movie on TV. Or maybe it’s sort of like me watching a really bad movie on TV. I don’t know if I am lazy or tired or bored or lame. I can hold the remote and change channels when ads come up but beyond that I am...

Save Western Civ

By The Maroon Staff / April 11, 2002

To the Editor: Is the other shoe finally dropping? Over the last several years, students, alumni, and faculty have raised their voices in protest over attempts by the University administration to further water down the course offerings and requirements that had continued to make undergraduate education at Chicago distinctive. Confronting parallel objections to assaults on...

Why Russians do not smile

By Natalija Tancjura / April 11, 2002

Cultural differences create a lot of misunderstanding in communications between Westerners, particularly Americans, and Russians. In this mini-ethnography I present the main differences in perception of the smile in Russia and in the United States. I am Russian. I came to the U.S. directly from Latvia last year for college. One of the first things...

On President Bush’s visit to Peru

By M. K. Wong / April 11, 2002

When President Bush made his first visit to Peru last month, it reminded me of my own first visit to that vibrant country just this past December. In my month-long stay, however, I had time to experience a bit more of Peru than the president did, exploring the country from the Pacific coast to Lake...