Kerry’s comment typifies the isolation of the military in U.S.

By Joel Lanceta / November 3, 2006

Since moving to Boston for graduate school, I often get asked two questions by people I meet: “Where are you from?”—and then after my answer—”You’re from Kentucky?” I’m so used to this question that the reply is almost automatic: “People in my family joined the U.S. army and were stationed in Fort Knox, and the...

Undergrads need to apply the tools a U of C education supplies them

By Joel Lanceta / June 2, 2006

I sat in a chair, catatonic, my stuff haphazardly stuffed into boxes around me in my living room for storage, as the end of another academic year finally approached. I waited, pleading with time to be on my side for once, daring the sun to pull itself farther from the horizon and propel the space-time...

New, improved CTA routes in sight

By Joel Lanceta / May 26, 2006

New transportation proposals—including additional and altered CTA routes—are some possibilities that the University is considering for the growing U of C campus. Transportation and Parking Services held a town hall meeting Wednesday at the Biological Sciences Learning Center for staff and students to discuss new commuting initiatives. The proposed CTA change would add a Red...

Philippines stuck in cycle of vicious dictators and failed democracies

By Joel Lanceta / March 3, 2006

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared a state of emergency on February 24 because of reported coup plots from leftists, rogue army officers, and political adversaries. In doing so she heaved the troubled country into a state characterized by: ransacked news media offices, troops in the streets, arrests without warrants, and general disarray. For foreign...

UT’s R and G breaks this winter of discontent

By Joel Lanceta / February 21, 2006

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is one of my favorite plays. Tom Stoppard doesn’t create a new, excessive story for Hamlet’s doomed duo. No—they’re still stuck as hapless bystanders in Hamlet’s story. And that’s his stroke of genius. Turning the play to their point of view, Stoppard uses Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to expand on Hamlet’s...

Students party to bring in Class Gift bucks

By Joel Lanceta / February 14, 2006

Anyone walking into the Reynolds Club last Thursday would have thought a high school had taken over. Dozens of seniors took time off from B.A.s and applications to party like it was 2002 by celebrating the first U of C Senior Prom, organized by the 2006 Senior Class Gift Committee. “We were waffling between a...

Mid-term report: SG reflects on progress

By Joel Lanceta / January 24, 2006

During last year’s elections, charges of SG being secretive, unapproachable, and almost invisible to most students were voiced during the campaign and at the debates. Better Slate than Never, this year’s Executive Slate, pledged to begin resolving these problems and make greater inroads to the student body. This all begs the question of how well...

$1.5 million donated to renovate historic organ at Rockefeller Chapel

By Joel Lanceta / January 6, 2006

Knowing President Don Randel’s fondness for Rockefeller Memorial Chapel and his commitment to the arts, a group of University trustees, deans, and donors presented him with a gift of $1.5 million December 9-—his 65th birthday-—for the restoration of the chapel’s notable instruments. Formerly a professor of musicology, Randel had made the preservation and repair of...

U of C prof snags top U.S. science award

By Joel Lanceta / November 29, 2005

Robert Clayton, the Enrico Fermi Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in Chemistry, Geophysical Sciences, and the College, has been awarded the National Medal of Science, joining the ranks of 12 other University faculty members. Clayton was one of eight recipients of the 2004 National Medal of Science, awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). President George...

Senator Dick Durbin visits Law School to discuss Alito

By Joel Lanceta / November 22, 2005

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) explained to an audience of University of Chicago Law School students—“the talent pool Karl Rove will not pull from”—what he believed was at stake with the Supreme Court nomination of Samuel Alito in a talk yesterday. “Many rights Americans take for granted hang by a single thread,” said Durbin, who was...

Hamilton’s depiction of the bird flu is horribly flawed

By Joel Lanceta / November 21, 2005

After researching the H5N1 virus, the strain currently causing concern about an avian influenza pandemic, for the past three weeks, I read Laura Hamilton’s latest article “Fears of a bird flu epidemic are overblown” and had the distinct feeling of getting beaten with a club labeled “misinformed antipathy.” I admonish the MAROON for allowing this...

Warren plans to boost campus diversity as deputy provost

By Joel Lanceta / November 15, 2005

Kenneth Warren originally had no intention to become a deputy provost. He had co-chaired the Provost’s Initiative on Minority Issues (PIMI), the taskforce that recommended the creation of an official post dedicated to recruiting a more diverse body of faculty and students. “When we took this recommendation to Provost [Richard] Saller, I had no intention...

Students raise money to help Katrina victims and families

By Joel Lanceta / October 3, 2005

Images of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction of the Gulf Coast strewn all over the media—the flooding of New Orleans, the trapped survivors, the evacuations—were too painful for many University students to watch. But instead of feeling helpless, students returned to campus energized and inspired to help the hurricane victims. The University Community Service Center held forums...

Fourth-year minority students receive prestigious fellowships

By Joel Lanceta / September 13, 2005

Recognized for their commitment to education and accomplishments as minority role models, rising fourth-years Sonia Wang and Kandice Washington were two of 25 students from 17 colleges named recipients of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s (RBF) 2005 Fellowships for Students of Color Entering the Teaching Profession. The fellows will each receive up to $22,100 from the...

Stein to take charge of investments

By Joel Lanceta / June 3, 2005

The University has hired Peter Stein, the Managing Director of the Princeton University Investment Company, as the new vice president and chief investment officer. He will replace Philip Halpern, who was appointed to the post in 1998 after serving as treasurer of the California Institute of Technology. A search team of administrators for Halpern’s replacement...

Private records discovered on server

By Joel Lanceta / May 27, 2005

Students recently found confidential, unprotected information on the Krypton server—which hosts the bulk of the University’s webpages—sending adminstrators scrambling to find out where the files came from. Information included students’ social security numbers (SSNs), grades, and comments on financial aid applications in some cases. A third-year student in the College and web-developer—speaking under condition of...

Swimming trio led team out of deep end

By Joel Lanceta / May 24, 2005

At this point in time, most members of Chicago’s young swimming team have known nothing but the glass arches and long lanes of Myers-McLoraine Pool, the squad’s home since Ratner’s opening in 2003. But for three of the Maroons’s best swimmers, it’s easy to recall a time when the swimming program was without a permanent...

Shooting suspect arrested Thursday

By Joel Lanceta / May 23, 2005

A man was shot yesterday, on Ellis Avenue between 47th and 48th Street. According to the Safety Awareness Alert, two men were arguing on the 4700 block of Ellis when one pulled out a handgun and shot the other. The victim was taken to the hospital and is currently in critical care. According to Rudy...

In Yoda-speak: Worth the wait, Episode III is

By Joel Lanceta / May 20, 2005

AMC River East 21: You will never find a more wretched hive of fandom and geekiness. Grown men and women in Jedi-wear battle with toy lightsabers. And I was proudly participating in a debate on whether the Ewoks saved or destroyed Return of the Jedi. Yes, the loyal had gathered to see if Star Wars:...

Campus receives a makeover for FOTA

By Joel Lanceta / May 13, 2005

U of C students have yet another indication that spring has arrived: A random mannequin torso in Bartlett Quad and art exhibits springing up around campus signal the start of the annual Festival of the Arts (FOTA). FOTA organizers have striven to showcase and promote student art on campus since the organization’s creation by the...

Samahan presents 10th annual show

By Joel Lanceta / May 3, 2005

Samahan, the Filipino Students Association, is presenting its 10th annual cultural show, Alamat: Beyond Traditions, on May 7 at Mandel Hall at 7:30 p.m. Samahan, which is Tagalog (Filipino) for “unity,” was formed in 1995 to create a community for Filipino and Filipino-American students at the University of Chicago, as well as for those interested...

Incumbent wins close SG election

By Joel Lanceta / April 29, 2005

Better Slate Than Never emerged as the newly elected executive slate on Wednesday night, giving current SG president Robert Hubbard a rare second term. Nina Chihambakwe, the chair of the Elections and Rules Committee, made the announcement at the SG Election Night Press Conference and Celebration in Hutch Commons. Better Slate Than Never garnered 608...

Crerar shuts down according to plan

By Joel Lanceta / April 22, 2005

Crerar Library scheduled a power outage for Thursday morning from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. The shutdown was overseen by ComEd, Chicago’s primary electrical provider and attended by University facilities engineers and the Interdisciplinary Research Building (IRB) project staff. The outage caused an early 10 p.m. closing time on Wednesday at the USITE Crerar Computer...

SG Preview: Better Slate Than Never

By Joel Lanceta / April 19, 2005

With their hearts and minds set on helping the University community, the members of Better Slate Than Never said they decided to run because they thought the student body deserved competent and balanced representation with the Administration. The current SG president, Robert Hubbard, is running for reelection on this slate. He also ran in 2003...

SG Preview: The Doomsday Party

By Joel Lanceta / April 19, 2005

Despite their pessimistic name, the Doomsday Party decided to run with the main goal of making students more optimistic about SG. The slate members said they believe that most students see SG as secretive, unapproachable, and almost invisible most of the year. The Doomsday Party seeks to change this perception. “The current executive slate has...

SG Preview: Moose Party

By Joel Lanceta / April 19, 2005

Although the Moose Party endorses Better Slate Than Never, it is still campaigning on providing students more beer than recommended by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which it argues will cure the student body of “U of C goggles.” “I love the University, though I am concerned by the so-called U of...

Two undergraduates win coveted award

By Joel Lanceta / April 3, 2005

Two University of Chicago undergraduates, Kristin Greer Love and Anyu Fang, both third-years in the College, are among the 75 students selected by the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation to be 2005 Truman Scholars. The announcement was made on March 29 by Dr. Madeleine Albright, the former Secretary of State and current president of the...

Abstract art, holy music coalesce beautifully in Rockefeller Chapel

By Joel Lanceta / March 4, 2005

Imagine: In a Gothic chapel shrouded in darkness, 13 abstract paintings of the apostles hang above the audience. Coupled with the ethereality of Felix Mendelssohn’s Te Deum, a rich tapestry of music and sound was formed. Last Saturday, the Department of Music presented “In the Glorious Company of the Apostles,” a concert that celebrated and...

909 apartment wins Theta’s Mr. University pageant

By Joel Lanceta / February 25, 2005

A possible dynasty started last night as Dan Yeksigian left a packed Mandel Hall crowned Mr. University 2005, the second consecutive year the 909 apartment won the title. The event is always sponsored by the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. This year’s pageant, entitled “A Few Good Men,” is now in its fifth year of attracting...

Orchestra, torture devices invigorate UT’s Poe

By Joel Lanceta / February 25, 2005

Tired that horror has degenerated to nothing but zombies, aliens, and psychotic serial killers with Oedipal complexes? Then visit UT this weekend, sit back, and get your psyche on edge with Edgar Allen Poe. The 19th-century writer is best known for concentrating on the evil that lurks within humanity; it’s not any external, contrived device...

Professor makes ear-splitting discovery with fossils

By Joel Lanceta / February 22, 2005

Some may wonder how our ears developed to tell Bach apart from the Beatles. Thanks to a 115 million-year-old fossil co-discovered by James Hopson, a retired professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University, scientists now have a better understanding of how acute hearing developed in mammals—and how it may have developed twice. Much...

Crime Report 2-18-2005

By Joel Lanceta / February 18, 2005

The South East Chicago Commission [SECC] issued a crime bulletin this week for the University, after 12 incidents occurred in the last two months in Hyde Park, ranging from robberies and attempted robberies to aggravated batteries, all involving victims who have been walking alone. Because of the varying descriptions of the offenders, the number of...

Mardi Gras, Chicago style

By Joel Lanceta / February 15, 2005

Mardi Gras, Chicago style Was Undergraduate Break Day too short for you to escape to New Orleans or Rio de Janeiro for Carnival? Luckily for all deprived revelers, the Council on University Programming (COUP) is coming to your aid with its annual Mardi Gras celebration this Friday, February 18, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m....

MUNUC hosts national convention for high schoolers

By Joel Lanceta / February 12, 2005

This past weekend, Model United Nations of the University of Chicago (MUNUC) hosted one of the premier high school United Nations simulations in the country for the 17th year. Some 150 Chicago students sacrificed time and sleep to teach thousands of high school delegates that, unlike the Bush administration’s policies, diplomacy and debate can work....

Gates of Diskord

By Joel Lanceta / February 1, 2005

Diskord, a student-run social issues magazine, introduced its first issue to the University on January 21. The journal covers domestic and international current affairs, with an emphasis on progressive causes and thought. “Diskord was the result of a group of like-minded students, introduced to each other through common acquaintances, who agreed on the need for...

Online registration may get facelift

By Joel Lanceta / January 28, 2005

Choosing classes and other uses of the Registrar’s office may become easier for students in the upcoming year, if a proposal is approved to consolidate all the Registrar’s internet sources into one website. The SG Committee on Academic Concerns met with University Registrar Thomas Black and Therese Allen-Vassar, the director of web services in NSIT,...

Portrait of Ida Noyes vanishes without a trace

By Joel Lanceta / January 25, 2005

A gold-framed portrait of Ida Noyes, approximately three by six feet, was discovered missing on Saturday, January 22. ORSCA facilities managers and service workers at Ida Noyes Hall noticed over the weekend that the painting of the building’s namesake, which hung in the first floor library, had disappeared before the International Food Festival that day....

Groups band together to counter inauguration

By Joel Lanceta / January 21, 2005

With images of President George W. Bush’s Washington inauguration being broadcast live on a big screen television as a backdrop, spoken-word artists and campus poets voiced their complaints and anxieties with Bush’s administration to an audience of approximately 100 people in Rockefeller Chapel at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. The event began the daylong Counter-Inaugural, an alternative...

Protest erupts over firing of firing of Local 743 hospital worker

By Joel Lanceta / January 14, 2005

No one leaving the Administration building at noon on Wednesday could have missed them. A group of approximately 50 University students, alumni, and staff convened on 58th and Ellis to march, beat on drums, wave banners, and, as one demonstrator did, carry a giant ax. The protesters were clamoring for one goal: the reinstatement of...

Candles around the Admin building will commemorate tsunami victims

By Joel Lanceta / January 14, 2005

For students who are overwhelmed by the effects of the tsunami in South and Southeast Asia and not sure how to help, a low-key fundraiser should give some peace of mind. A candlelight vigil will be held on Monday, January 17, at 6 p.m. around the flagpole in front of the Administration building. Candles will...

The time is now of Israeli-Palestinian peace

By Joel Lanceta / January 13, 2005

The relatively peaceful election of Mahmoud Abbas, nicknamed “Abu Mazen,” as president of the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) shows a new willingness on the part of the Palestinians to move towards stability, perhaps for going the violence and chaos of the past four decades. Abbas promises to reform the corrupt and mostly unproductive P.A. created by...

Committee thinks big in aiding relief efforts

By Joel Lanceta / January 11, 2005

A group of University students are organizing what they hope will be a “mega-event” to raise money for the tsunami relief effort and tap into the spirit of philanthropy and community on campus. The group, which formed its own ad-hoc committee at the beginning of this quarter, is trying to realize their goal of a...

Student groups show outpouring of support to raise relief money for those affected

By Joel Lanceta / January 7, 2005

After a holiday break overshadowed by images of the devastation from the tsunami in South and Southeast Asia, University students have returned to campus inspired to help out—organizing fundraisers and charity events to donate money and goods to survivors. More than 140,000 are known to have died after an underwater earthquake on December 26 spawned...

Cohen stops being PC, admits latkes are superior

By Joel Lanceta / November 23, 2004

Ted Cohen, a philosophy professor in the College, has been teaching almost exclusively at the University since 1967. Almost as long as his tenure here has been his involvement in the annual Latke-Hamentash debate, now in its 58th year, which has been held on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving since 1946. Sponsored by the Newberger Hillel...

You Decide 2004: Potato pancakes vs. three cornered cookies

By Joel Lanceta / November 21, 2004

You Decide 2004: Potato pancakes vs. three-cornered cookies In preparation for Chanukah, the 58th Annual Latke-Hamentash Debate—the oldest debate on which of the two traditional Jewish foods is better, will be held at Mandel Hall, 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 23. For all gentiles or goyim out there, a latke is a traditional Jewish fried...

In UT workshops, offerings prove to be mixed bag

By Joel Lanceta / November 16, 2004

A man is in love with his washing machine. Latter-day cannibals invite the descendents of one of their previous “main courses” over to apologize. And six hyperactive youths act out everything they’ve never done before in their lives. Add a transvestite hooker and his pregnant ex-girlfriend and you’d get an episode of The Jerry Springer...

“What happened” with elections not Kristol clear

By Joel Lanceta / November 16, 2004

William Galston, a professor of civil engagement at the University of Maryland, and William “Bill” Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard, will jointly give a presentation on the 2004 U.S. presidential election entitled “What Happened?” The talk, part of the John M. Olin Center for Inquiry into the Theory and Practice of Democracy lecture...

High school students prepare for SATs with PrepMe

By Joel Lanceta / November 16, 2004

Current and former Chicago undergrads are pursuing entrepreneurial aspirations through PrepMe, a new online SAT preparatory service for the nation’s high schoolers. Founded by Karan Goel, a Chicago alumnus and a current student at the GSB who won the US Small Business Administration’s 2004 Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, PrepMe bills itself as a...

Student workers keep coffee flowing, food supplied

By Joel Lanceta / November 12, 2004

When students cannot escape to local Hyde Park eateries, campus dining provides them with a multitude of options. But for students who absolutely have no time between classes to eat at Bartlett or Pierce, much less cross the Midway to go to B-J, and are out of flex dollars to use at Hutch, their ray...

Critic to campus jokesters: Stop this world, I want to get Off-Off

By Joel Lanceta / November 9, 2004

The comedic universe has been cruel to us this past year: Friends went off the air, that Charlie Sheen sitcom is still on the air, Rodney Dangerfield died, and the funniest movie to come out this summer was Catwoman. To make matters worse, the gods of humor played the biggest cosmic joke on the United...

Graduates, donors celebrate new GSB opening

By Joel Lanceta / November 9, 2004

The new Graduate School of Business Hyde Park Center made its official opening Saturday, November 6, in a giant celebration as part of the University of Chicago’s Alumni Weekend. Approximately 200 former and current faculty and students of the Graduate School of Business (GSB) gathered in the maroon and white decorated building to listen to...

Architect Viñoly’s new GSB designed with eye to detail

By Joel Lanceta / November 9, 2004

With his thick Uruguayan accent and dark, imposing glasses, Rafael Viñoly, the world-renowned architect and designer of the GSB Hyde Park Center, talked Saturday to faculty and students about his Chicago creation. Viñoly gave a lecture with Karen Van Lengen, his friend and the dean of the department of architecture at the University of Virginia,...

Liberals must move on and forward

By Joel Lanceta / November 5, 2004

I woke up Wednesday morning, having spent the night before drinking

Crime Report 11-2-04

By Joel Lanceta / November 2, 2004

A strong-arm robbery occurred on October 28 at 7:30 p.m. on the 5400 block of South Blackstone Avenue. Two men walking on Blackstone Avenue were approached from behind by two men who said, “Give us what you got.” The offenders then threw both victims onto the ground. The first victim gave up his wallet, which...

2nd to none: Tunes store closes down

By Joel Lanceta / October 28, 2004

Django’s 2nd Hand Tunes at 1377 East 53rd Street was forced to close its doors in early October, after the owner lost his two-year battle with the city to get the Secondhand Dealers ordinance rescinded. As published in the Hyde Park Herald, Johnny Balmer, the 35-year old owner of the store, filed a federal suit...

Onion editors: We are anti-stupid, you are dumb

By Joel Lanceta / October 24, 2004

Joking that Maroon Managing Editor Laura Oppenheimer’s introduction was going to be better than anything they would say, Carol Kolb, the Editor in Chief of the Onion, started with a little self-deprecation about her rag. “Why do people turn to us for the news?” Kolb said, flanked by Amie Barrodale, her associate editor. Kolb emphasized...

Grad schools grapple with Europe’s new college plan

By Joel Lanceta / October 24, 2004

The University’s Graduate Schools are expecting difficulties with a broad new European plan that harmonizes the continent’s fragmented educational system but reduces the undergraduate education to three years. Chicago does not officially recognize the new three-year degrees—dubbed the “Bologna process” after the Italian city where it was founded—highlighting differences between American and European higher education...

Fire Escape premieres new film

By Joel Lanceta / October 12, 2004

The latest Fire Escape student project— And The Pursuit of Happiness-—will premiere at Max Palevsky Cinema at 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday, October 12. Co-produced by the University of Chicago Arts Planning Council and University Theater, the film, shot in five weeks during Spring Quarter 2004, is a 35-minute narrative absurdist comedy that satirizes American politics....

Student defends woman in Red Line scuffle

By Joel Lanceta / October 8, 2004

Eric Schmitt, a third-year in the College, had no plans to be a hero last week. So it came as a surprise when he found himself protecting a young woman who had been attacked while traveling on the CTA Red Line southbound between the Jackson and Cermak-Chinatown stations at 10 p.m. on Saturday, October 2....

Debate round one: Both show weakness

By Joel Lanceta / October 6, 2004

The most profound thought I had last week occurred to me while watching the first presidential debate: People should play drinking games while watching debates. I’ve already formulated my own set of rules for the next one: Take one drink whenever John Kerry mentions “Vietnam,” two drinks when President Bush stares blankly at the camera,...

Shoreland residents ask: How much is $6 million?

By Joel Lanceta / October 6, 2004

The University’s decision to sell the Shoreland last August for approximately $6 million to Kenard Corporation has dismayed students and faculty, particularly new and returning residents of the dorm. While many Shoreland residents are disheartened by the news, the question on many other students’ minds is why the University is selling the dorm for only...

Red Line Shuttle remains untouched since spring

By Joel Lanceta / October 2, 2004

When Student Government (SG) reconvenes later this quarter, one of the most pressing issues it will inherit from last year’s SG will be the status of the Red Line Shuttle, the pilot project intended to provide safer transportation for students to downtown Chicago. The shuttle, which had an experimental run during the last half of...

Scientific discoveries highlight U of C summer

By Joel Lanceta / September 18, 2004

Over the summer, three University of Chicago researchers developed a model that accurately reproduces periodic population surges and explains why these surges, known as outbreaks, have historically been unpredictable. Outbreaks typically occur at long, irregular intervals, and the population suddenly rises and declines. The team, which includes Assistant Professor of ecology Greg Dwyer and Ph.D....

Do not attempt to adjust your television set: There are no Asians here

By Joel Lanceta / June 8, 2004

Feeling Friends withdrawal? Yes, what is the world to do now that the Central Perk sextet has left the building, and possibly to other, not-so lucrative acting gigs? In the case of most of America, they’ll mourn, they’ll buy the season seven DVD, and they’ll continue watching it endlessly in reruns. However, since I never...

Unidentified students shatters Shoreland door

By Joel Lanceta / June 8, 2004

Kai Wright, a first-year in the College and Shoreland resident, was walking to his dorm Saturday morning around 3 a.m. when he saw that the right front door of the building’s lobby had been completely smashed, with no glass left on the door. “I saw the shattered glass, like, all around,” Wright said. “I asked...

Future movers and shakers get started

By Joel Lanceta / June 8, 2004

Life has changed vastly since the Class of 2004 entered the University as first-years in fall quarter of 2000, when then Vice President Al Gore and George W. Bush were neck-and-neck in the presidential election, the stock market had just begun to feel the dot-com bubble burst, and September 11 was a day that carried...

Socialism meets free markets

By Joel Lanceta / May 25, 2004

Many people believe the collapse of the Soviet Union 12 years ago proves that free market capitalism is the only viable socio-economic model for modern countries to follow. But David Schweickart, the speaker at the Big Problems lecture, “After Capitalism: How about Democracy?” would disagree that the fall of the Soviet Union means the end...

NSIT failure temporarily shuts down e-mail

By Joel Lanceta / May 21, 2004

A hardware failure in the NSIT server’s machines prevented access to all campus e-mail for several hours on Tuesday, keeping students and faculty from logging into accounts. NSIT said it had warned the campus about its need to temporarily shut down e-mail access via alerts on the University homepage and through Usenet groups and electronic...

Conference examines media

By Joel Lanceta / May 18, 2004

John Nichols, Washington correspondent for the liberal magazine The Nation, spoke at the International House on Friday, May 14, beginning his speech by saying he was honored to be the replacement for journalist Seymour Hersh, the original speaker. “Seymour Hersh is not the greatest journalist of our time, but possibly the greatest journalist of all...

Study shows marketability of genetically modified food

By Joel Lanceta / May 18, 2004

Wallace E. Huffman, the C.F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture and Economics at Iowa State University, presented a recent experiment on the marketability of genetically modified foods to students as part of the “Big Problems” Curriculum series. Hosted by the New Collegiate Division, the lecture, “The Effects of Prior Beliefs and Learning on Consumers’ Acceptance...

America must apologize for Abu Ghraib

By Joel Lanceta / May 18, 2004

From the President to the Pentagon to the Senate to the army, each has tried to come up with the best excuse to explain the more than 300 pictures from Abu Ghraib, the Iraqi prison where inmates were allegedly abused and humiliated by army personnel. The pictures demonstrate a basic disrespect for all humanity if...

Scav Hunter devours umbilical-cord Twinkie

By Joel Lanceta / May 11, 2004

Last Sunday, an awed crowd of students and cameramen from NBC -5 in Ida Noyes watched in anticipation as Phil Caruso, a first-year in the College and Rickert House resident, completed item #8 on the Scav Hunt list for the Max Palevsky team. Caruso took out from a package his umbilical cord, which his mother...

Jurassic 5 headlines Summer Breeze

By Joel Lanceta / May 7, 2004

Hip-hop group Jurassic 5; jazz trio Medeski, Martin & Wood; and rock group Guided by Voices will headline this year’s Summer Breeze concert on May 22 in Hutch Courtyard. The Major Activites Board (MAB) will host this concert, the third MAB show of the school year. This year’s Summer Breeze marks the second year in...

N.Y. grad students on strike

By Joel Lanceta / May 7, 2004

Graduate student employees at Columbia University have entered their third week on strike for union recognition. Teaching assistants (TAs) and research assistants disappeared from Columbia’s classes and laboratories when they walked off the job on April 19. The strike has sparked discussion at other colleges, including the University of Chicago, which have graduate students as...

Resident anticipate room-lottery results

By Joel Lanceta / May 4, 2004

Students are anxiously preparing for the housing lottery to learn their placements for next year. The annual event, to be held for dorms today, has students scrambling to find rooms or to make plans with roommates with higher lottery numbers. Those without backup plans or good connections may find themselves in a closet-sized double, while...

Slates prepare for elections

By Joel Lanceta / April 30, 2004

Revealing their platforms and their faces, the candidates in the race for the Student Government (SG) executive slate addressed student concerns in the second-annual SG debate, held in the McCormick lounge Wednesday night. The debate, co-sponsored by SG and the Inter-House Council (IHC), gave each slate six minutes to state its platforms, two minutes for...

Dean recommends closing Shoreland

By Joel Lanceta / April 23, 2004

The fate of the Shoreland seems all but certain, as vice president and dean of students, Steve Klass, sent a letter of recommendation to President Don Randel and Provost Richard Saller this week advising the decommissioning of the Shoreland as an undergraduate dormitory. While not an official document, the letter all but seals the University’s...

Red Line proposal remains in talks

By Joel Lanceta / April 20, 2004

The Red Line Shuttle, proposed to run from University campus to the Red Line, remains in discussion, with Student Government (SG) and the University administration meeting on Monday to go over a proposal for the shuttle service. Student Government Transportation Committee (SGTC) chairman Joe Anzalone, a fourth-year in the College, said that development, cost, and vendors...

Feith reports on Iraq War

By Joel Lanceta / April 16, 2004

Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith, a primary architect of the war on Iraq, addressed an eager audience of University students about the U.S. strategy for the war on terror Wednesday afternoon. Speaking at the Max Palevsky cinema, Feith defended the Bush administration’s approach to the war on terrorism 13 months after hundreds of U...

Feith reports on Iraq War

By Joel Lanceta / April 16, 2004

Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith, a primary architect of the war on Iraq, addressed an eager audience of University students about the U.S. strategy for the war on terror Wednesday afternoon. Speaking at the Max Palevsky cinema, Feith defended the Bush administration’s approach to the war on terrorism 13 months after hundreds of U...

Under secretary of defense will speak on war, terrorism

By Joel Lanceta / April 13, 2004

Douglas Feith, under secretary of defense for policy, will speak this Wednesday about the current U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. His speech, to be held at the Max Palevsky Theater in Ida Noyes Hall, is part of a forum titled “The Future of the War on Terrorism,” hosted by the University of Chicago Political...

Flier removal raises questions

By Joel Lanceta / April 9, 2004

Member of March for Women’s Lives saw fliers and posters announcing an informational session for the group—openly pro-choice on abortion—torn from the bulletin boards of the Reynolds Club last week, prompting the administration to revisit a freedom of speech abuse issue that flared last fall. Lisa Oelfke, a graduate student and the founder of the...

Chávez revolutionized workers rights, deserves to be remembered

By Joel Lanceta / April 6, 2004

César Chávez Day was on March 31, last week, but you probably didn’t know that. What, you don’t know who César Chávez is? Look around; his influence is everywhere.To my social activist friends, he was the soul of the labor movement in the 1960s and completely turned around the status of many migrant workers demanding...

Student republicans elected to local office

By Joel Lanceta / April 2, 2004

University students are known for their frank, outspoken political views, whether debating at a Bartlett dinner table or using political arguments in clubs like Parliamentary Debate and the University’s chapter of the ACLU. But Christopher Coordes, a 21-year-old undergraduate and the treasurer of U of C College Republicans, took his political interests one step further:...

GOP strays from war on terror

By Joel Lanceta / April 2, 2004

“Waving the bloody flag” was an old publicity tactic of the GOP during U.S. elections in the late 19th century to continually remind the public which party won the Civil War and sacrificed its sons’ lives to keep the Union together. This propaganda method actually worked quite well for the Republicans during and after the...

Conseratives have created a plan for resurrecting liberalism in America

By Joel Lanceta / March 12, 2004

I was once told by my roommate, whose-upper-middle class upbringing probably explains his views, that the United States is actually more conservative than expected, and that, in general, college students are now becoming more conservative. There was a time that I did think liberalism in the United States was dying. It was early 2001; George...

Ex-U.N. official talks on policy

By Joel Lanceta / March 2, 2004

Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, a former U.N. ambassador from Mexico, spoke Monday night about the strained relationship between Mexico and the U.S., focusing on the impact of the war with Iraq. The event entitled, “The United States and Mexico: Between Dissent and Understanding,” was sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) and the Mexican...

Protestors demand jobs back

By Joel Lanceta / February 27, 2004

Students and hospital workers delivering a petition bearing 400 names to the University Hospital were threatened with arrest on Tuesday when they attempted to meet with administators without a formal appointment. The petition, started by the Students Organized and United with Labor (SOUL), supported the 52 hospital employees who were fired last month for parking...

U.S. at standstill over cloning debate

By Joel Lanceta / February 24, 2004

Last week, two South Korean scientists announced they had cloned human blastocysts (embryos in their initial stages) to generate embryonic stem cells, touted as leading to potential therapies for many debilitating conditions, including diabetesand Parkinson’s disease. In doing this, the Korean scientists have revived a serious debate in the science world, as scientists, politicians, and...

Panel questions legal aspects of Guantanamo prisoners

By Joel Lanceta / February 20, 2004

In response to questions about the operation of the war on terror, the Human Rights Program sponsored a panel discussion on Wednesday to discuss the legal aspects of the detention of terrorist suspects and enemy combatants at the U.S. base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. About 650 detainees from over 42 countries, said to be Al...

Obama prepares to run for U.S. Senate

By Joel Lanceta / February 17, 2004

With the Democratic primaries one month away, U.S. Senate candidate and law school lecturer Barack Obama is wasting no time making sure the voters remember his name. Obama, a 43-year-old state senator and a senior lecturer in constitutional law, is one of seven candidates running in the March 16 Democratic primary to take up the...

CBS made the right-winged decision, not the right decision

By Joel Lanceta / February 3, 2004

It’s the day after the Super Bowl. The Patriots won with a 41-yard field goal with four seconds remaining. The only thing wrong with the game was that it should have been Peyton Manning and the Colts celebrating. There were a few really good commercials, and even more disappointing and utterly pointless ones. Thankfully, watching...

GOP website voices concerns

By Joel Lanceta / January 30, 2004

College Republicans at the University of Colorado at Boulder found themselves at the center of an ideological and political debate when they launched a website earlier this month to collect complaints about liberal faculty discriminating against conservative students. The website attempts to scrutinize collegiate education by asking whether a liberal bias exists at Colorado and...

Primary system fails America

By Joel Lanceta / January 20, 2004

So, who’s going to be the victor in this close Democratic primary season? Will it be Howard Dean, with his anti-war, anti-Beltway straight talking? Will it be late bloomer Wesley Clark, whose centrist politics and storied military career might assuage Americans’ fears in this post-9/11 age? Or can seasoned Senate veteran Dick Gephardt finally get...

CAPS event jumpstarts summer job search

By Joel Lanceta / January 16, 2004

Flipping through multiple handouts, fliers, and brochures she received from various companies, Anthea Nguyen, a fourth-year Economics concentrator in the College, was making sure she passed her resumé to all the financial consulting firms represented at this year’s Career and Placement Services Winter Job and Internship Fair. “This job fair is better than some before,”...

Students face overflowing classrooms

By Joel Lanceta / January 13, 2004

When Josh Motta, a second-year in the College, went to his Introduction to Chinese Politics class last Tuesday morning at Cobb 203, he found a group of people standing in the hallway. As it turned out, they were also students in his class who were not able to fit in the classroom. “When I arrived,...

University community unfazed by Mad Cow threat

By Joel Lanceta / January 11, 2004

While concern over the first documented case of Mad Cow Disease in the United States gripped the headlines over winter break, students and faculty at the University appear indifferent to the scare occurring in Washington State, some 2000 miles away. The outbreak will most likely be limited, according to James Mastrianni, an associate professor of...

Illinois Senator Durbin elaborates on religious freedom

By Joel Lanceta / November 25, 2003

Surrounded by the ornate Byzantine architecture of the Kehilath Anshe Maaiv (KAM) Isaiah Israel Temple, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) described the tumultuous journey of his grandmother and her children immigrating to the United States in search of religious freedom. “My grandmother, a woman with no formal education, in one gesture did the first act of...

Filibusters on the Hill create problems

By Joel Lanceta / November 25, 2003

Oh, those silly senators and their 40-hour talkathons! After two straight days of trying to overcome Democratic filibusters on three Bush judicial nominees, Republicans ended up with two more Bush nominees filibustered. Oh, the irony! I pulled an all-nighter last week and got a B in my bio midterm. Senate Republicans pull two all-nighters and...

Dean’s Confederate flag remark angers

By Joel Lanceta / November 18, 2003

Howard Dean’s comments about poor white Southerners, where he so earnestly implored those with the Confederate flag on their bumpers to vote Democrat and did not even apologize for the remark until recently, just earned him another enemy: me. Yes, I admit it; I’m technically a Southerner, from the state of Kentucky. But I’m also...