Bring the mind back to life

By Ryan McCarl / April 28, 2008

[img id=”80547″ align=”alignleft”] The “examined life” is a thing more often discussed than lived at the U of C. For all our questioning, one thing that goes largely unquestioned is the U of C’s own educational philosophy and academic culture—as well as the actual quality of the lives of students living in that culture. Is...

Three blind Moose

By Zack Hill / April 25, 2008

[img id=”80532″ align=”alignleft”] Sitting through Monday’s interminable Student Government (SG) debate, I couldn’t help but think of the things I’d rather be doing with my time: watching TV, doing homework, gnawing off a limb. The debate was excruciating for the same reason it always is—the Moose Party once again proved that if you like your...

Beyond the ivory tower

By Marshall Knudson / April 25, 2008

[img id=”80530″ align=”alignleft”] Community is an idea that most of us respect and few denigrate. We grow up venerating community leaders, taking up the torch of community service, and reading the community paper. It’s a word of great currency and much contestation. Do we mean a group of individuals living in meaningful proximity, as in...

Dirt off his shoulder

By Tim Murphy / April 22, 2008

[img id=”80511″ align=”alignleft”] It had been a rough month-and-a-half for Barack Obama. Since the Texas and Ohio primacaucusaries on March 4, he’s jumped from one mini-controversy to another, sometimes with grace, sometimes with agility, and oftentimes with neither. At a stop in Scranton, he bowled a 37 over seven frames and then scored about as...

The way forward

By Hollie Russon Gilman / April 22, 2008

As the current representatives, we are delighted to see the increased interest in Liaison to the Board of Trustees positions. Student Government (SG) has made progress this year in helping trustees get a firsthand sense of what is most important to students at the University of Chicago. Seeing the depth of the various candidates’ proposals...

Summer internment

By Alec Brandon / April 22, 2008

[img id=”80509″ align=”alignleft”] It must really pay to sell your soul. Or, at least, given the effort of so many students to land this or that summer job you’d certainly think so. Metcalf season may have passed, but this is the time of the year when all the non–finance and consulting people (read: the ones...

Abortion comes to life

By Matt Barnum / April 18, 2008

[img id=”80497″ align=”alignleft”] The most important social-political issue of the last 30 or more years has lain relatively dormant throughout this presidential campaign. While the Democratic candidates rush to defend a woman’s right to choose abortion at any time, the Republican candidates brandished their anti-abortion credentials and argued about who is “more” pro-life—but largely, it...

Image is something

By Melissa Maciejewski / April 18, 2008

[img id=”80491″ align=”alignleft”] The other day in class, a science professor remarked that the two most popular biology courses at the U of C were the Biology of Gender and Nutritional Science—or, in other words, sex and food. Sex I can understand, but the overwhelming interest in food surprised me a bit. After privately ridiculing...

Why coalitions matter

By Aaron Goggans / April 18, 2008

Disenchanted with your student government? Raise your hand if you know your Student Government (SG) reps. Keep your hand raised if you know what they have done and what committees they’re on. Keep your hands up if you’re not already in SG. If everyone with their hands raised were in a room together, by now...

Bad council

By Ryan McCarl / April 14, 2008

[img id=”80479″ align=”alignleft”] This week, after a small group of U of C activists spoke to an alderman about the issue, the Chicago City Council condemned the University’s decision not to divest from Sudan. The scolding was a bit late in coming; the University made its decision in early 2007 and most members of the...

For bitter and for worse

By Claire McNear / April 14, 2008

[img id=”80475″ align=”alignleft”] …And John McCain wins the election. In the extended run-up to November’s presidential toss-up, it has appeared inevitable to many that after eight long years a cleansing blue wave will sweep over the crimson that has stagnated in the White House since January of 2001. “The Bush Administration has been so disastrous,...

Bringing down the house

By Zack Hill / April 11, 2008

[img id=”80465″ align=”alignleft”] May 1, also known as May Day, brings with it a set of familiar rituals: All across the world, people hold parades celebrating how fantastic socialism is (excepting, of course, every instance where it’s actually been implemented); Americans, having renamed the occasion Loyalty Day, embrace their love of Orwellian holiday names; and...