Bowing to SG pressure, Law School joins Graduate Council

By Robert Katz / November 21, 2004

Student Government (SG) scored a victory for intra-campus unity on Monday when two Law School students joined the Graduate Council (GC). The Law School’s two seats on GC had previously been vacant. The appointment of two representatives appeared to be caused by a new Student Government Finance Committee (SGFC) guideline, passed by the Student Assembly...

Dangerous liaison: Atkinson wants to voice your concerns

By Robert Katz / November 16, 2004

Six months into his job as undergraduate liaison to the board of trustees, fourth-year in the College Rush Atkinson is moving into the job nicely, members of SG said. “I perform the diplomatic function by reporting to College Council. My goal is to develop intimacy with College Council so that if they feel something needs...

SGFC allocates funds for student group to purchase 15 teacups

By Robert Katz / October 31, 2004

Student Government Finance Committee (SGFC) received funds requests for $13,567.34 on Tuesday, but only allocated $5,841. Four requests for funding were rejected outright. The committee also allocated $45 for the purchase of 15 teacups for the Chinese Undergraduate Students Association (CUSA). The RSO will use the teacups for its weekly tea meetings rather than buying...

SGFC plans to keep RSOs funded for school year

By Robert Katz / October 27, 2004

At the next Student Assembly (SA) session on November 3, the SA will consider resolutions to adjust Student Government Finance Committee (SGFC) funding practices. The committee, which allocates the student activities fee to Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), drew criticism last year when it ran out of its annual funds during second week of spring quarter....

Elections usher in new class of officers

By Robert Katz / October 17, 2004

The 2004 College Council elections ended Wednesday night with an allotment of 14 class officers but candidates were disappointed by the low level of publicity and debate surrounding their campaigns. Kyle Lee, a first-year class officer, said he always imagined the process to be intensely stressful, extremely polarized, and fraught with discussion. “I never dreamed...

Webmail has problems. Who knew?

By Robert Katz / October 17, 2004

One of the four system boards that support the back end of the Plaisance mail server went down Thursday at about 3:06 p.m., according to Bob Bartlett, director of Networking Services and Information Technology (NSIT) Voice and Data Networking. Bartlett said that the boards store the mail for the domain uchicago.edu. He said that once...

Klass will present new dorm plans soon

By Robert Katz / October 12, 2004

The new dorm to be built on 61st Street and South Ellis Avenue may be attached to the existing, upgraded Burton-Judson cafeteria, and will include many different types of housing, according to Steve Klass, vice president and dean of students in the University. Klass will present plans for the dorm to University trustees on October...

College and Graduate Council elections approach

By Robert Katz / October 8, 2004

Early next week, the student body will elect this year’s Student Assembly, the student organization responsible for student initiative and disbursing about $500,000 in funds. Students will vote for College Council (CC) and Graduate Council (GC) online at sg.uchicago.edu, beginning at 9 a.m. Monday and finishing at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Twenty students are running for...

Non-members may get to vote in SGFC

By Robert Katz / June 8, 2004

The Student Assembly heard arguments last Thursday concerning a resolution that would include non-Student Government (SG) members as voting members of Student Government Finance Committee (SGFC). SGFC allocates tuition money to Registered Student Organizations. David Courchaine, who introduced the topic for discussion, said at the meeting that he was not going to officially introduce the...

Shuttle debate needs statistics

By Robert Katz / May 24, 2004

One friend says, “Oh my God, it’s so not safe for the school to make us wait 40 minutes for the Garfield!” Another says, “Dude, that’s so ridiculous. It comes every 20 minutes. Learn how to wait for the freakin’ public bus.” In my opinion, neither of them have any idea what they’re talking about....

Limestone proves feasible

By Robert Katz / May 21, 2004

The mediator in the Promontory Point dispute, Jamie Kalven, asserted on Monday that a renovation plan including limestone would be cheaper than the city’s all-concrete plan. Kalven’s report, released on May 17, compared the feasibility of the city’s plan to renovate the Point and a renovation plan called Figure 1. The report acknowledges that Figure...

SGFC considers changes to funding practices

By Robert Katz / May 15, 2004

Student Government Finance Committee (SGFC) is mulling over a number of guideline changes to their funding of Registered Student Organizations (RSOs). The funding changes come on the heels of a controversy in which the committee ran out of money earlier than any year in recent memory. Ben Mainzer, the chair of the committee, said that...

Campus politicians resist change

By Robert Katz / May 7, 2004

The College Council tabled a resolution Monday that would have established a precedent for the College Council setting policy, taking some legislative control away from the executive slate. The tabled resolution seeks to increase the transparency of the Student Government Finance Committee (SGFC). Cameron Downing moved to table the resolution, and Robert Hubbard seconded the...

Despite restraint, SGFC spends over $240,000

By Robert Katz / April 13, 2004

An investigation into the early exhaustion of funds controlled by the Student Government Finance Committee (SGFC) has revealed a system exposed by a lack of spending safeguards and has raised questions about control in the SG bureaucracy and what the role of SGFC is in determining the type and character of student activities. SGFC, the...

Registrar’s website faces interruptions over break

By Robert Katz / April 2, 2004

Heavy traffic caused cMore, the website administered by the Office of the Registrar, to experience service interruptions during spring break while students tried to check their grades from winter quarter. “We were experiencing connectivity problems between the data server and the web server on Monday and into Tuesday,” said Alex Henson, director of student and...

A-level keeps lights on through the night

By Robert Katz / March 12, 2004

With finals coming next week, the A-level of the Regenstein Library has been full of people working hard to finish papers and to study for final exams late into the night, pounding away at computers and staring at texts until the early-morning twilight. Third-year in the College Neena Kapoor sat reading for her ethics paper,...

A-level keeps lights on through the night

By Robert Katz / March 12, 2004

With finals coming next week, the A-level of the Regenstein Library has been full of people working hard to finish papers and to study for final exams late into the night, pounding away at computers and staring at texts until the early-morning twilight. Third-year in the College Neena Kapoor sat reading for her ethics paper,...

B-J dining hall re-opened after failing second inspection

By Robert Katz / February 24, 2004

About 500 students were left without their dining hall for the weekend when the Burton-Judson (B-J) Dining Commons failed a re-inspection by the health department officials who found mouse feces and carcasses on glue traps in the kitchen. The dining hall re-opened for lunch Monday after passing an examination in the morning, with burgers sizzling,...

Faulty pipe leaks gas in Hyde Park

By Robert Katz / February 20, 2004

A gas leak at the intersection of 55th Street and Dorchester Avenue interrupted heat service for more than 300 residents Thursday, causing traffic problems and forcing some residents to flee their homes. Both towers on the island formed by the division at 1400 East 55th Street were affected, but only the north one was evacuated....

Community activists reject City compromise over Point

By Robert Katz / February 17, 2004

Plans to rebuild Promontory Point collapsed last month when the community rejected a city proposal that would have rebuilt the top two steps of the revetment with limestone and the bottom two steps and promenade with concrete. In response, city representatives tabled the project indefinitely. Money earmarked for Point construction will go toward other projects,...

Writer will explore “sensual world”

By Robert Katz / January 30, 2004

Brent Staples, New York Times editorial board writer and University alum, will present a lecture titled “Digital Communication and the Death of the Sensual World” today at 3:30 p.m. in Ida Noyes Hall. Staples wrote a memoir in 1994 entitled Parallel Time: Growing Up in Black and White, an exploration of the sharply divergent lives...

McDonald’s to relocate and upgrade

By Robert Katz / January 13, 2004

Hyde Park’s McDonald’s will soon undergo major changes: as the location moves from 53rd and Kendall to 52nd and Lake Park Boulevard, the look and feel of the restaurant will be substantially changed to a more modern and sanitary facility. Current plans project that McDonald’s will reopen at its new location by summer. Abraham Morgan,...

Pub closed for health concerns, expects to re-open mid-January

By Robert Katz / January 11, 2004

Students returned to campus on Monday to find that a favorite watering hole, the Pub, will closed until mid-January. The Pub, located in the basement of Ida Noyes Hall, has been asked to cease operations by the Chicago Department of Public Health until it mid-January. At that time the Department will inspect to see if...

Panel calls for neutral bathrooms

By Robert Katz / November 21, 2003

For most people, deciding which bathroom to use in the Regenstein Library does not require mental gymnastics. But for some, a trip to the restroom is less simple, with gay, lesbian, and transgendered students worried about the implications of which bathrooms they enter. At the Center for Gender Studies on Wednesday night, a panel of...

Health department closes Quad Club

By Robert Katz / November 6, 2003

Think the Quadrangle Club is an ivory tower? Think again. A neon-green laminated sign was posted on the wood-and-iron front door of the club Monday, announcing that the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) had closed down the food and beverage services at the Club. It cited a rodent infestation, easy access for rodents, and...

A-level Regenstein may become computer lab

By Robert Katz / October 20, 2003

Can’t get a computer on the A-level? That may soon change, as Network Systems and Information Technology (NSIT) is currently considering opening a new USITE center that will cover the entire Regenstein A-level. The new computer lab would be modeled after the USITE/Crerar, which opened up to rave reviews in 2000 for its innovative use...

Law schools, faculty file suit against government

By Robert Katz / October 3, 2003

A group of law schools and faculty members have sued the federal government over the possible withholding of federal funds, claiming that the government is blackmailing administrators into allowing the military to sneak around the University’s anti-discriminatory recruitment policies. At the core of the dispute is the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that the military...

Siegler and Thaler will speak at graduation

By Robert Katz / June 5, 2003

Mark Siegler, a professor in the Department of Medicine, will address outgoing fourth-years in the College this weekend for the first three convocation sessions, while the Graduate School of Business session will feature Richard Thaler, the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics in the Business School. Siegler is the Lindy Bergman Distinguished...

Greek Sing showcases campus fraternity life as part of alumni weekend

By Robert Katz / May 29, 2003

Campus festivities celebrating Alumni Weekend will include the Inter-Fraternity Sing, an event showcasing the dedication some former members of the Greek community hold toward their fraternities. In the Inter-Fraternity Sing, various campus Greek organizations perform renditions of their fraternity or sorority songs, competing for awards in quality, quantity (most singers), and spirit. The groups gather...

Community proposes alternative Point plan

By Robert Katz / May 5, 2003

Community activists opposed to the City of Chicago’s plan for renovating Promontory Point presented their own updated plan to rebuild the community landmark last week. Presented at the Hyde Park Union Church, the plan represents a more aesthetically pleasing and flexible engineering design than the one presented by the city, according to its designers. The...

Registration plagued by online glitches

By Robert Katz / April 4, 2003

A malfunction in the registrar’s website this week left students unable to register for classes and check their final grades for the winter term. Other students were frustrated about being timed out of the system, a lack of data synchronization, and the server’s unusual slowness. According to Alex Henson, director of student and development applications...

Conference examines relevance of Kalven Report

By Robert Katz / March 4, 2003

The Kalven Report, a 36-year-old document that recommends against the University’s involvement in political affairs, received a thorough review at a faculty and student conference in Ida Noyes Hall on Saturday. Pamela Bozeman-Evans, associate dean of students in the University, director of the University Community Service Center, and moderator for the conference said that student...

Chalk Web site gets $170k boost

By Robert Katz / February 4, 2003

Chalk, the University Web site where teachers can post class materials and syllabi for students, is here to stay for at least the next three years. An additional $170,000 was recently allotted to vastly improve the system by the fall, according to a spokesman for Networking Services and Information Technologies (NSIT). Chad Kainz, senior director...

Second City plans training center in Bronzeville

By Robert Katz / January 21, 2003

The Second City is on a mission to better reflect the cultural diversity of Chicago. The company has been operating from a North Side theater since it opened in 1959, but plans are currently underway for a South Side training center in Bronzeville, a once-thriving and mostly black area not far from the University’s campus....

Second-year involved in DirecTV scandal

By Robert Katz / January 10, 2003

The FBI charged second-year in the College Igor Serebryany last week with distributing secret documents on the Internet that could help users of DirecTV, a leading satellite television provider, steal their signals. Court documents released by the FBI indicated that Serebryany admitted to distributing the documents on the Internet. Serebryany, 19, faces a maximum sentence...

Researchers find language skills are influenced by environment

By Robert Katz / November 26, 2002

A study recently released by University researchers shows that individual differences in the ways in which a child produces syntax is influenced by the child’s language environment. This study bucks the conventional wisdom that an individual’s language develops uniformly through that person’s inherent characteristics. The study, which showed that students in language-rich preschool classrooms experience...

CPD holds Great Lakes summit

By Robert Katz / November 1, 2002

The Chicago Park District hosted a summit Wednesday for the environmental departments of the states surrounding the Great Lakes to discuss increased beach closings. Ann Kiolkowski, the marketing supervisor of the South Shore Cultural Center, described the annual meeting as one for informational sharing. Among the 75 people who attended the conference were representatives from...