Green party

By Maroon Editorial Staff / February 5, 2008

How much free food does it take to get a U of C student to turn off a light bulb? Last week, the Green Campus Initiative (GCI) kicked off its Battle of the Bulbs campaign in the hopes that a little bit of hoopla can go a long way in cutting back on energy usage....

Looking beyond the Super Bowl circus

By Maroon Editorial Staff / February 5, 2008

I confess: I don’t know beans about football. I’m sure it’s a lovely sport, and that behind the grunting, overpaid men, the shoulder pads, and the butt-slapping there really is a complex and interesting challenge. But I really couldn’t care less about who is best at smuggling an oblong ball across a striped field. As...

A union divided: Organized labor strikes out

By Matt Barnum / February 5, 2008

I miss The Office. A lot. Thankfully, though, my favorite show will likely return soon, as the writers’ strike appears set to end this week. Likely, this will be heralded as a victory for fairness. To most, unions are the good guys, fighting for fair wages and just treatment. Opposing these principles are big, greedy...

Editorial slant can save the press

By Maroon Editorial Staff / February 5, 2008

At a friend’s holiday dinner over break, the jovial conversation of the adults at the end of table turned to politics. The members of this cadre were, to put it nicely, impaired—and not just by their unflinching, nearly unthinking, liberal ideals. They remarked that with the shallow sensationalism of news outlets like CNN and MSNBC,...

With policy, choose safety first

By Zach Werner / February 5, 2008

At around 10:15 p.m. on January 5, Ethan Stanislawski, a fourth-year in the College and a Maroon columnist, turned around in front of the Ray School on South Kimbark Avenue to find a handgun pointed at his head. Ethan had just picked up a pizza from Edwardo’s on East 57th Street, and now he was...

A recipe for disaster

By Maroon Editorial Staff / February 1, 2008

The dubious quality of dining- hall food is already a popular topic for griping, but the University administration seems determined to add more fodder to the criticism. The University is planning to transition Bartlett dining hall—long an oasis of campus cuisine, thanks to its higher quality and à la carte menu—into the buffet-style system to...

Taking the “work” out of “workout”

By Zack Hill / February 1, 2008

I used to hate working out. I dreaded the prospect of going to the gym, despised the act itself, and found that the famed “endorphins” did nothing but leave me sweaty, sore, smelly, and wondering why I’d just spent an hour of my life pretending to ride a bike. Because of this hatred, my goal...

Time for U.S. to get off SOFA in Iraq

By Marshall Knudson / February 1, 2008

Every January for some years now, the news media publish accounts of the key words and turns of phrase used in the State of the Union address. Performing an autopsy on this president’s verbal effluent has helped some struggling writers achieve economic security—a topic which, incidentally, was not covered in the 2008 address. But here...

To B.A. or not to B.A.?

By Maroon Editorial Staff / January 29, 2008

In recent weeks, fourth-years have foregone sunlight, non-caffeinated beverages, and anything resembling a healthy diet so that they can complete their B.A. theses. At a school that prides itself on its academic rigor, it is surprising that these suffering students represent only a portion of their class. The University does not require all of its...

Current convocation setup is super bad

By Alec Brandon / January 29, 2008

Change is a pretty hot topic right now. Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Hillary Clinton can’t use the word enough. Apple is trying to change our lives with its MacBook Air. Even President Bush has joined the party, saying that if he were to seek a third term, he’d run on a platform of change...

Keep on Barackin’ the free world

By Tim Murphy / January 29, 2008

Fourteen years ago, Axl Rose had a dream. Blending his rare talent for screeching incomprehensible nothings into a microphone and his titanic powers of self-promotion, the Guns ‘N’ Roses front man would introduce the music-loving masses to a new world order: Chinese Democracy. While Bono was busy tending to starving kids unlikely to ever make...

Jerusalem program won’t cut it

By Shira Tevah / January 29, 2008

As an undergraduate studying Arabic, I was faced with a frustrating predicament when second year came around. French students were applying for programs in Paris; Spanish speakers for programs in Barcelona and Mexico; others for programs in India, Vienna, and Beijing. It was time to apply for study-abroad programs, but there was not a single...