Last school year, SG worked to bring Plan-B to the SCC at a discounted rate. Below is a letter I got this morning from Celia Bergman about changes in how Plan-B is available on campus. It will still be available at a discounted rate of $20, but will no longer be available at the SCC, but it will be at the DCAM pharmacy in the Hospital complex.

***

Matt,

Thanks so much for soliciting feedback from SG about the latest developments in the dispensing of Plan B.

Based on this feedback, and based on budgetary considerations for students and the University, we will move the dispensing of Plan B to the DCAM pharmacy. Students will receive Plan B at a discounted rate (approximately $20), and it will be dispensed for emergency and non-emergency situations.

Students who would like a follow-up consult with SCC can certainly schedule one.

Thanks much for your help with this!

Celia

***

Have you ever wondered what the temperature is in the middle of campus, not as far away as midway?  With the lake so close, this can sometimes represent a really significant change, just watch Tom Skilling on WGN (or read the interview in Noyes Magazine):

Using funding awarded by Student Government, the Ryerson Astronomical Society purchased a Vantage Pro2 weather station from Davis Instruments and installed it at our observatory on the roof of Ryerson Physical Laboratory on the main quads.

This weather station collects local weather data, such as temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed and direction, precipitation, and solar radiation, and it transmits this information to a receiver in our office below.

The closest major Chicago-area weather data comes from Midway Airport, but often the weather in Hyde Park is quite different due to the lake effect.  The data collected by our weather station is more local and therefore more relevant.

The weather station is completely wireless and is solar powered.

We have developed a website to display this data, as well as live feed from the National Weather Service.  This can be accessed at http://weather.uchicago.edu/.

We hope that the weather station will be a useful tool not only for our observatory but for all of campus.

:

Attention University of Chicago Students, Staff, and Faculty

On Wednesday May 28th and Thursday May 29th, we call upon you
to hold your classes outside to show solidarity with graduate
student employees and their demands for fair pay, guaranteed
teaching opportunities, and health care benefits.

For over a year, we have been calling attention to the
shockingly low wages paid to graduate students teachers. Our
pay has not increased in over eight years. Whether we grade
papers as Teaching Assistants ($1,500 per quarter) or instruct
a course ($3,500 per quarter), our pay remains the lowest
among peer institutions and most area universities, and far
below the cost of living. Furthermore, none of the teaching
positions we hold include health care insurance or other
employee benefits,

The work we do is essential to the functioning of this
university, but we are paid as if we are disposable.

In response, Graduate Students United and the Graduate
Council’s Graduate Funding Committee have been collecting
petitions, holding rallies, and organizing students to fight
for a change. While we have won some improvements in graduate
stipends, summer funding, and dissertation fellowships, these
limited changes have not met the needs of current students.

And it was only at the start of the Spring Quarter that we
were successful in getting the Provost’s Office to convene a
student-faculty Committee on Teaching to review these and
other employment issues.

While this committee will likely recommend a much-needed raise
in teaching pay, these recommendations must be approved by
many of the same administrators who have failed year after
year to increase pay!

To help support the work of the Teaching Committee, Graduate
Students United and the Graduate Funding Committee is calling
for a two-day Teach Out so that the university can see how
much teaching we do as well as how much support we have from
students, staff, and faculty.

Who: All Students, Staff, and Professors

Where: Outside on the Main Quad

What: A Two-Day Teach Out in Solidarity with Graduate Students

When: Wednesday May 28th and Thursday May 29th

Why: Graduate students demand fair pay and health care
coverage for all university employees!

For more information or for a PDF copy of the event flyer,
contact:

Toussaint Losier: tlosier@uchicago.edu

Joe Bonni: joebonni@uchicago.edu

Sponsored by: the Graduate Funding Committee and Graduate
Students United

For more info:

http://uofcgradfunding.blogspot.com/

http://www.uchicagogsu.org/

A letter from Bill Michel:

As the University considers ways to strengthen and enhance student life on campus, I write to invite you to a conversation on co-curricular life at the University of Chicago. Over the next six months, I will be leading an effort with students and staff, to reevaluate the many aspects of student life, the goal of which is to understand the strengths and challenges to organized and informal student life events and groups. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on your own student life experiences, particularly the ways in which the University has been successful in supporting you and SG, as well as the areas where we could do more.

Over the summer months, I will be working to create an initial set of recommendations based on these discussions for how to better support student life outside of the classroom. In your roles as current and incoming Cabinets of Student Government, we believe you would bring useful insights to such a discussion, and I hope you will be able to attend one of the following gatherings:

Wednesday, May 28, 5 – 6 pm, Room 406 of the Administration Building

Thursday, May 29, 12 – 1 pm, South Lounge of the Reynolds Club

Dinner or lunch will be provided at each of these meetings, so please RSVP to Meghan Hammond (mrhammond@uchicago.edu) by Monday, May 26, to let her know if you plan to attend.

Open Forum on Gender Neutral Housing

Hosted by Student Government and Inter-House Council

Wednesday, May 28th

7:30 PM in McCormick Tribune

Student Government and Inter-House Council will host Vice-President/Dean of Students Kim Goff-Crews and the Director of University Housing, Katie Callow-Wright, and members of Inter-House Council’s Gender Neutral Housing Committee.

Come and show your support for Gender Neutral Housing and to learn about how the Housing Office would implement its proposal.

Come and Show you Support!

Maroon coverage about the delay here and about the likely approval here.

I’d like to take a moment and thank the members of SGFC for staying true to the spirit of Scav Hunt when they heard the budget for Scav Air this spring. Their silence made it possible for the Scav Judges to fly eight unsuspecting Scav Warriors to Las Vegas.

By all accounts (Maroon, Scav Blog) it was an excellent addition to this year’s festivities. I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the committee for its role in making this possible.

I’d also like to lay out the SGFC request which was for $4,686.97, which was not included in the official minutes. This is the first time we’ve ever had a ’secret’ budget and it only really worked due to this year’s SGFC surplus.

The $4,686.97 went to fly 11 students, eight warriors and three judges, to Las Vegas and then put them up in Hotels for the adventure. Scav does not normally receive any SGFC or Annual Allocations funds.

I’m pleased to announce the arrival of five new picnic tables, brought to you by the Executive Slate working in conjunction with College Council and Campus Services Committee. Funding was provided thanks to the Student Government Finance Committee.

These tables were secured with the help of the Facilities Department and were chosen to match the main quad’s aesthetics. The five tables will be located near Kent, Ryerson, behind the C Bench, and in the Classics and Social Sciences Quad (See the map). They will probably arrive by early June.

Along with these tables, the Facilities Department has pledged to also order eight new benches which will compliment the new benches.

Enjoy! And hopefully they’ll get here before the end of the quarter.

Open Forum on Gender Neutral Housing

Hosted by College Council and Inter-House Council

Wednesday, May 14th

6:30 PM in Stuart 102

College Council and Inter-House Council will host the Director of University Housing, Katie Callow-Wright, and members of Inter-House Council’s Gender Neutral Housing Committee. Please come out to ask questions of the committee and to show your support for this initiative on campus. There will be a second forum on May 28th, hosted by IHC and CC.

Free Food

Questions? Contact benbejamin@uchicago.edu

Maroon coverage about the delay here and about the likely approval here.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will deliver the Thomas Garrigue Masaryk Lecture on Democracy in the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008.

Before her address, Albright will sign copies of her latest book, Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership, from 2:00 to 3:30pm at the University Bookstore.

Free and open to the public. No registration required.

Co-sponsored by the Prague Committee of the Chicago Sister Cities International Program and the Czech government.

For details, visit http://chicagosociety.uchicago.edu/upcoming-events.htm.
Portrait by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

MAB Presents the Summer Breeze Music Festival 2008!

Featuring:
Cake
Talib Kweli
Andrew Bird
The Cool Kids

Hutch Courtyard
Saturday, May 17th
5:15pm [Doors at 4:45pm]
$15 advance, $20 day of show for students
$20 advance, $25 day of show for faculty/staff

This year’s festival will also feature FREE Kraft Foods Deli Creations sandwiches, FREE Red Bull Energy Drink samples, FREE Fuze Beverages samples, and FREE raffles - including weekend passes to the Summer Camp and Lollapalooza music festivals.

Tickets will go on-sale starting Wednesday, April 30th in the Reynolds Club from 11am - 3pm and continuing weekdays until the date of the show.

University of Chicago ID is required to purchase / pick-up tickets.

**University of Chicago students, faculty, and staff CAN bring guests that do not attend the University of Chicago. We will NOT be checking IDs at the door.

If you’re interested in volunteering for the show, please email mabvolunteer@gmail.com.