UChicago Writing Instructors are delivering petitions to administrators announcing that they are unionizing. The group is seeking voluntary recognition.
Just in: UChicago College Council passed a resolution to allocate high-quality face-coverings for students on Tuesday night. USG will distribute 15,000 KN-95 masks to every undergraduate student and members of the UChicago community within the first week of in-person classes.
“As faculty members we will protect the safety of our students if the administration attempts to violently remove them, even if that means arrest and detention,” Elham Mireshghi, Assistant Instructional Professor in the Divinity School and the College, said.
This video, taken at 6:40 p.m., shows a Palestinian student who participated in the sit-in in the process of being released by University of Chicago Police Department officers after being arrested and processed.
Of note, while CPD were not present at the raid according to our reporters on the ground, there was a sizable Cook County Sheriff’s office presence.
In light of the reported opposition to University’s plan from Mayor Johnson, it appears assistance was sought from Cook County.
BREAKING: Robert Zimmer, UChicago’s Chancellor and former President, announces he resigned from the University of Austin Advisory Board last Thursday. Zimmer explained in a statement that U of A made a number of comments critical of higher ed he disagrees with.
The new Writing Faculty Union is seeking to join Faculty Forward, which would require the reclassification of writing instructors, who are currently considered staff, as faculty. 88% of the constituency that WFU is looking to represent have signed union authorization cards.
In an email to members of the University community Monday afternoon, University President Paul Alivisatos emphasized the school’s commitment to free expression. Story to come.
BREAKING: Several protesters engaged in a sit-in inside Rosenwald Hall since 11 a.m. today have been arrested by UCPD as of 6:15 p.m. Arrests are being processed in adjacent Walker Library.
At least 250 protesters have gathered outside the buildings to witness the events.
Protesters have arrived at University President Paul Alivisatos’s house and are congregating on the sidewalk and on the road. Protesters are blocking off South University Avenue.
Live updates here:
BREAKING: Police in riot gear are near the quad as tensions between pro-Palestine demonstrators and counterprotesters have grown in the center of the quad.
The University has sent out a cAlert advising people to avoid the quad.
Folllow along:
“When all of this is over, the University of Chicago will have to answer for its principles,” associate professor Anton Ford said. “Is what happened at Columbia and Emory what the Chicago principles look like in practice?”
About 50 joined
@care_not_cops
to gather in front of the Crown School to protest an announced expansion of police surveillance in Hyde Park and reiterate demands to shift funding from policing to community-based measures that address violence. Via
@NewsMaroon
:
Jessica Darrow, an associate instructional professor in the Crown School, says, “As educators, it is our responsibility to nurture not only the intellectual, but also the moral development of our students.”
Professor Allyson Nadia Field tells attendees, “We’re holding this press conference to express solidarity with our students who have spent the last week demonstrating peacefully against Israeli genocide.”
“Twenty years ago, I was a student in Iran, and I was fighting for what I thought are the moral is that and the Islamic government of Iran was cracking down on peaceful student protests as a pretext of security,” Mehrnoush Soroush told attendees.
BREAKING: UChicago students who live in residence halls and tested positive for COVID-19 may be asked to isolate in their assigned rooms instead of relocating to Stony Island "if on-campus cases rise substantially in the weeks ahead," according to Housing & Residence Life email.
“Increase police surveillance will not work.” A speaker stressed that community engagement is more important. Participants from the crowd asked: “what’s your solution?” “It will work.”
In an email to members of the University community, University President Paul Alivisatos addressed the University’s continued concerns over the state of the encampment and its “systematic disruption of campus.”
@care_not_cops
and UChicago Against Displacement are marching up Woodlawn Avenue from 59th street. In a statement to the Maroon, organizers announced their to intention to protest during a speech by University President Paul Alivisatos.
Hyde Park Produce Market is temporarily closed after a fire on Friday night. The store, located at Kimbark Plaza on the corner on E 53rd St and S Woodlawn Ave, posted a sign on the door saying it would reopen “as soon as possible.”
The Chicago Fire Department advised Woodlawn Residential Commons residents to “stay in place” as they investigated an incident on the sixth floor. After a few minutes, an all-clear was given for students to "return to their rooms" except for those who live on the sixth floor.
An international student from SAIC said that it is her second month in Chicago and has been worried about hearing UChicago students dying under gun violence. “The Black kid who killed him…he was raised in drugs…gun violence…it raised him,” they said. “It’s about Chicago.”
Inter-hall visits among on-campus residents will be allowed starting Friday at 5:30 p.m., a Thursday email from housing announced. Off-campus and non-UChicago-affiliated guests are still not allowed.
Happy new year from your news eds! We are so happy to have a great news team last year, with many talented writers. Can’t wait to see what y’all achieve in 2022!
Instructors have "discretion in using remote options" at UChicago over the next two days as Chicago expects severe winter storms from 8 p.m. on Tuesday through 6 p.m. on Wednesday. The plans for classes remain in place.
One ironworker has died and another is in critical condition after falling from construction scaffolding at a UChicago Medicine building during high winds on June 6, Chicago Fire Department confirmed. OSHA has opened an inspection into the accident.
In-person classes at UChicago will start on Monday, Jan. 24, as scheduled. The University has not announced changes to its existing making requirement. In an email sent on Jan. 7, the University "recommends close-fitting masks such as KN95 or surgical masks."
A group of UChicago students is holding a rally for campus safety on the main quad at noon on Tuesday. The theme of the event is “we are hear to learn, not to die.” Follow
@NewsMaroon
for live updates.
There is significantly reduced police presence on the quad and immediate vicinity. No officers are consistently on the quad, 57th Street, or 58th Street, with at most one officer intermittently present.
Starting 2022-2023, the Student Service Fee for enrolled Ph.D. students will be covered by the division at UChicago's Social Science Division,
@UChicagoHum
,
@UChiDivinity
,
@UChicagoCrown
, and Physical and Biological Sciences, after one year of organizing at
@uchicagogsu
.
SJP and seven other organizations—CNC, UCAD, EJTF, the National Lawyer’s Guild, Behind Enemy Lines, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and GSU—organized an action on the quad today that included art making, chanting, and a bake sale.
23 police officers, some in riot gear and others in standard uniform, have entered the center of the quad. They have formed a line between protesters from the encampment and counterprotesters who marched towards the encampment from the east side.
The University's email services are experiencing significant disruptions, according to IT Services. The University's IT status page said the disruption would take "a significant amount of time" to resolve due to the scale of the problem.
The rally has now moved in front of the entrance to the Oriental Institute, near the quad where tents have been set up for Alumni Weekend. The crowd is made up of around 40 community members and activists from student and community led organizations.
A group of UChicago students is holding a rally for campus safety on the main quad at noon on Tuesday. The theme of the event is “we are hear to learn, not to die.” Follow
@NewsMaroon
for live updates.
Day 1/2 of grad elections!
@uchicagogsu
has organized meet-ups by department to review voting protocols and walk over to polling locations together.
Crucial voting notes: face masks are required, and ballots are only valid if marked with an X
Organizers spoke about the aftermath of Tuesday morning’s raid, which cleared the “UChicago Popular University for Gaza” encampment nine days after its inception on April 29.
Contrary to social media reports, Chicago Police Dept. stated they "do not have a report of a shooting incident [at 53rd and Kenwood]."
Per CPD scanner, police chased a silver Infiniti east on 53rd, eventually detaining 3 individuals and seizing 2 weapons at 53rd and Kenwood.
BREAKING: Hutchinson Commons and Pret A Manger were closed indefinitely earlier today. Signs posted said food service was unavailable until further notice.
Pre-packaged meals were available to purchase in Hutchinson.
The University has yet to announce a reason for the closure.
For the next three days, the Maroon News team will live-tweet coverage of Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy, a seminar hosted by
@TheAtlantic
and
@UChiPolitics
Institute of Politics. Tonight’s keynote speaker is former president Barack Obama. Follow for updates.
UPDATE: The Chicago Police Department arrested a student Tuesday in connection to a small fire in a single occupancy room, per an email from University administrators to residents of Woodlawn Residential Commons.
Chicago Fire Department declared the building free of fire risk.
The Chicago Fire Department advised Woodlawn Residential Commons residents to “stay in place” as they investigated an incident on the sixth floor. After a few minutes, an all-clear was given for students to "return to their rooms" except for those who live on the sixth floor.
After a first day marked by protest, University responses, and tensions between supporters of Palestine and Israel, UChicago United for Palestine's encampment enters its second day.
Follow along with live updates:
A man was shot on 53rd and Drexel around 2:40pm this afternoon, according to audio heard on CPD scanners. CPD cameras spotted two men in dark clothing jumping out of a red jeep with tinted windows. The victim was taken to UCM trauma center and was in critical condition.
Beginning July 1, the University's Lyft Ride Smart program will offer students seven subsidized Lyft rides per month in the program's service area, with discounts of up to $10 per ride.
Previously, students could take 10 subsidized Lyft rides monthly, with up to $15 off on each.
A speaker announced that SWAT had been deployed to the encampment at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They warned those traveling to SAIC to provide support of rubber bullets.
“They’re at risk, we’re not, so we encourage you to travel there,” the speaker said.
In a second email, University Dean of Students Michele Rasmussen said that the demonstrations were in violation of University policy while emphasizing the University's commitment to free expression.
“We will not stop until our community gets the reparations it needs and deserves” - Sharon Payne, South Side Together Organizing for Power (
@STOPChicago
)
The Maroon would like to apologize to Vee for not identifying their name. Our reporter missed Vee’s name at the rally and we wanted to share their speech rather than leave it out. Thank you for bearing with us as we learn to live tweet events and do our best to cover on the fly.
We hate how
@ChicagoMaroon
names the student speakers but then our neighbor is just "another speaker"!!!
That was Vee from
@AssataDaughters
+ Trauma Center Campaign, they spoke longest, and they have way more mf experience fighting UChicago + creating healing than we do:
A group of activists have just exited the Oriental Institute and joined the rally, announcing that they stood up and left during President Alivisatos’s speech inside the OI. The activists are now relaying excerpts from the speech, to boos from the crowd.
UChicago President Paul Alivisatos,
AVP for Safety & Security Eric Heath, and Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown are holding a campus discussion on safety and security webinar today. Turning in with
@peter_maheras
from
@NewsMaroon
:
BREAKING: UChicago students living off campus can sign into residence halls beginning Friday, April 1, at 5:30 p.m. Visitors must sign in and show their UChicago ID to a front desk clerk. Those unaffiliated with the University are still not permitted in residence halls.
While talking, speaker may temporarily pull down their masks “in order to be heard or understood,” the University announced in the latest UChicago Forward update.
@uchicagogsu
4/ Sam Thorpe, an organizer within Booth is tabling in Saieh Hall, right across from the statue of Milton Friedman: “famously a union supporter,” Thorpe joked. He said that a supermajority of graduate students in the economics department have signed GSU’s “Vote Yes” cards.
“The topics of how governments can control information are really ones that our university needs to grapple with very deeply,” University President Paul Alivisatos told the Maroon in anticipation of this week’s Disinformation Seminar.
UChicago’s Lyft Ride Smart program will remain available 7 days a week from 5 p.m. to 4 a.m. through the end of the 2021-22 academic year, according to an email the admin sent today.
A speaker from South Side Together Organizing for Power, Sharon Payne, is addressing the crowd. She’s relaying her own experience of being priced out of the neighborhood. “Our neighbors are being pushed out every day, rents are going from 800 to 2000 dollars.”
In emails addressed to members of the University community, President Alivisatos and University Dean of Students Rasmussen emphasized UChicago’s commitment to free speech while explicitly stating the encampment is in violation of University policy.
Bartlett Dining Commons is closed today due to a pipe burst. It will reopen on Monday morning for breakfast service, according to an email from Housing Sunday afternoon.
UCUP’s rally scheduled for 1 p.m. has begun. The Maroon estimates a crowd of approximately 200 people are gathered on the quad. Protesters’ chanting is accompanied by drums and noisemakers.
This afternoon at Nichols Park in Hyde Park, affiliates of the
@UCLaborCouncil
and community organizations are rallying to commemorate International Workers Day.
We were notified that the lights on the Midway Plaisaince crossings at Ellis and Woodlawn Ave. are not functioning due to a power outage.
@UChicago
and
@chicago
are working to repair the outage, visit our website for more information.
The march has now stopped in front of the 55th street Starbucks, which has been engaged in its own union drive. Irene from
@uchicagogsu
took to the megaphone and spoke about GSU’s fight for recognition and celebrated the cancelation of the student services fee for grad students.
The rally has now moved back to the main entrance of the Oriental Institute. Organizers, who were aiming to intercept President Alivisatos, now have announced that they intend to take a lap of the building before dispersing.
“It needs to be better than this,” a speaker said. “We need to stop the politics…it’s so preventable... Supporting UCPD will save lives in the future.”
While isolating in place, the student will need to travel to their designated bathrooms and pick up their food from a certain location, as with Stony Island isolation. Certain bathrooms will be reserved exclusively for those students in each residence hall.
UCPD detained a person "making threatening gestures and talking incoherently" Monday at Regenstein Library, per the incident report log. Victims did not press charges; no arrest was made. Suspect was taken to UCMed for mental evaluation. No one was injured, per the University.
He emphasized his commitment to UChicago and said he will continue to speak on the topic of free expression across campuses, wishing the University of Austin luck with this “essential priority.”
UPDATE: There will be no COVID-19 testing at University testing locations, including Walker Museum and the Stuart Hall, on Wednesday. Woodlawn residents who are scheduled to get tested on Wednesday will be tested on Friday, without the need to reschedule their tests.
Instructors have "discretion in using remote options" at UChicago over the next two days as Chicago expects severe winter storms from 8 p.m. on Tuesday through 6 p.m. on Wednesday. The plans for classes remain in place.
Chicago Fire via
@CFDMedia
reporting a massive fire at 5130 S Kenwood, around 250 firefighters and 90 pieces of equipment.
At least one helicopter, from
@ABC7Chicago
, in the air above Hyde Park.
@uchicagogsu
5/ Dozens of Harris School students have been meeting up throughout the day to vote. Organizers say even students whom they had not previously contacted have been energetic and knowledgeable about the process.
A car was on its side this evening on S. Woodlawn Avenue between E. 57th Street and E. 58th Street. The driver was taken away in an ambulance.
Another vehicle parked nearby had visible damage to its left-rear corner.
The Maroon understands that the two cars may have made contact.