The Obama we know and love

On the front page of the New York Times' website today is a feature on Barack Obama, the UChicago law professor, something that is harped on a lot more on campus than in the national media. 

The article portrays Obama as an engaging professor whose nuanced lectures echo some of the principles he espouses on the campaign trail today, but as someone who was somewhat removed from the culture of being a teacher (given that he had two other jobs at the time, the article says). One of the more interesting passages:

But as a professor, students say, Mr. Obama was in the business of complication, showing that even the best-reasoned rules have unintended consequences, that competing legal interests cannot always be solved, that a rule that promotes justice in one case can be unfair in the next. 

So even some former students who are thrilled at Mr. Obama's success wince when they hear him speaking like the politician he has so fully become. 

"When you hear him talking about issues, it's at a level so much simpler than the one he's capable of," [a former student] said. "He was a lot more fun to listen to back then."

Also posted are a series of old exams and memos from eight years of constitutional law classes, as well as his syllabus from "Racism and the Law," supplied by our very own Adrian Florido. The questions are thorough, to say the least, and sometimes a little silly, as law exams tend to be. Worth reading at least one, if only to say you did. 

Princeton Review rates UChicago...as kinda nerdy

The Princeton Review issued a resounding warning today to any incoming first years who were the Kelly Kapowskis or Zack Morrises of their graduating high school class. If the Princeton Review replaced its categories with Saved By The Bell characters, we'd probably be Screech.

The 2009 ranking of the 368 best colleges in North America - "based on...outstanding academics and the opportunities provided to students" - came out today. Each year, colleges are ranked in various categories that relate to all aspects of the student experience, from the quality of professors to the taste of cafeteria food. (Right now, the website is REALLY slow...a lot of eager high school students are probably checking).

In what might not come as a surprise (or an affont) to U of C students, the ranking reinforced the school's bookish rep, ranking it ninth for Best College Library, ninth for Students Study the Most, and 14th for Intercollegiate Sports Unpopular or Nonexistant. The U of C was ranked in these same categories last year, but came in at 11th, fourth, and 15th, respectively.

The "Best Overall Academic Experience" ranking - a category which UChicago topped twice in recent years - was absent this year, as it was last year.

College rankings are often criticized for taking complex institutions like the U of C and boiling them down into a few numbers or oversimplified traits. (How do you think A.C. Slater felt when friends described him as "a wrestler"? He was quarterback, as well!)

US News & World Report rankings should be out in the new few weeks. That ranking is simpler, if potentially even more problematic: colleges and universities are ranked according to a single overall score.

Farewell to Obama's Favorite Restaurant & The New Yorker on UChicago

Barack Obama will not be pleased.

Calypso Cafe, a restaurant he called his favorite in Hyde Park according to this week's New Yorker, will be vacating the area.

According to a blog post that Justin dug up, Calypso Cafe, C'est Si Bon and Dixie Kitchen will leave Harper Court now that the University owns the property.

The New Yorker article (yes, the one with THAT cover) focuses on Obama's quick political ascent, charting how he laid roots in Hyde Park.

The very in-depth (read: long) article will interest students, Hyde Parkers, and anyone who likes to read about the Democratic presidential nominee (perhaps three groups with some overlap?). It quotes Will Burns - a UChicago grad, Chicago pol, and former Obama aide - who had this say about UChicago's role on the South Side:

“Even though the University of Chicago is one of the largest employers on the South Side of Chicago, it is seen by some, particularly black nationalists, as a bastion of white political power, as a huge entity that doesn’t take into account the interests of the community, that doesn’t have a full democratic partnership with the community, and does what it wants to the community in maintaining clear boundaries about where black people are. It’s seen as an expansive force, trying to expand into Bronzeville and into Woodlawn”—historically black neighborhoods adjacent to Hyde Park—“and put poor blacks out of the area. The University of Chicago is not a brand that helps you if you’re trying to get votes on the South Side of Chicago.”

Whether you consider it an informative read could hinge on how you feel about using the Hyde Park Herald "as a sort of time capsule" - the article cites it over nine times. Either way, it's still worth checking out to see your local alderman Toni Preckwinkle raking in some national attention. It starts with Preckwinkle - calling her a "tall, commanding woman" - and includes a few of her characteristically blunt remarks, this time targetting the Democratic presidential nominee.

Milton Friedman Kerfufle

A group of more than 100 faculty members from across a departmental spectrum recently sent a letter to President Zimmer and Provost Rosenbaum to express their concerns about the Milton Friedman Institute and have begun a petitioning process to call a meeting of the entire faculty to discuss the issue.

The Maroon recently posted an article about the debate. Check back over the week for updates.

Physical sciences department receives $20 million gift from mathematics alumnus

President Zimmer announced yesterday a $20 million gift to the University’s physical science division from alumnus William Eckhardt. The gift will fund construction a new Center for Physical and Computational Sciences on the west side of Ellis Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets, slated for completion in 2013. The Center will be comprised of the Eckhardt Research Institutes building and a new building to be built over the site of the current Accelerator Building.

In an email memo to the University community, Zimmer said that the gift and the building project would attract valuable researchers and thinkers to the University faculty.

“Mr. Eckhardt’s gift in support of these efforts will help ensure that we can continue to attract the world’s most original and innovative scientists and foster the development of their work,” Zimmer wrote.

Zimmer said that the department would also use the gift to strengthen inter-disciplinary studies within the sciences, including specialties spanning computation, particle astrophysics, and neuroscience. Zimmer also mentioned the possibility of directing gift monies to launch a new molecular engineering program.

Discussion concerning the University’s standing relative to other research institutions has been underway since February 2007, when the Zimmer and Provost Thomas Rosenbaum convened a faculty committee to discuss the merits of adding a molecular engineering program to the physical sciences division. Although some voiced concern that an engineering program would detract attention from the University’s longstanding emphasis on theory and “the life of the mind,” most biological and physical science professors said that the lack of an engineering program is a limitation for the University, faculty, and students studying the physical and biological sciences.

“[The departments] are all basic science, and that works for and against us. I’d say that right now, it is primarily working against us. We lack the kind of expertise that links science to new technologies,” said Neil Shubin, a biology and archeology professor, in a February 2007 interview with the Maroon.

The committee meetings culminated in a list of faculty recommendations and a report, which estimated a conservative cost of a molecular engineering program around $250 million, according to an October 2007 Maroon article. Apart from the Eckhardt gift, the University has not mentioned other potential sources of funding for the engineering program.

Echkardt received a master’s degree in mathematics from the Univeristy in 1970, and is currently chairman and CEO of Eckhardt Trading Company based in Chicago. He is also a member of the Physical Sciences Division Visiting Committee at the University.

Reader's Comments: David Stein

Rising College third-year David Stein was found dead by apparent suicide in his Hyde Park studio apartment Friday, June 27.

The Maroon has posted an article on its website, and will be providing additional coverage soon.

If you knew David Stein, we invite you to post your comments and reflections here.