Chicago Maroon

President Robert Zimmer is dating classics professor Shadi Bartsch, Crain's Chicago Business reported today, after separating from his wife Terese in early September. He has also moved out of the presidental house on University Avenue and 59th Street. 

Zimmer, whose wife is the director of strategic initiatives at the Urban Education Institute, is dating a professor, University spokesman Steve Kloehn said. Crain's quoted "campus sources" naming Bartsch, but Kloehn did not identify the professor.

Kloehn added that Terese Zimmer will continue to live in the president's house in Zimmer's absence, though Zimmer would still "conduct presidential business and host University events" in the house. The house is provided by the University for the president and his family.

“President Zimmer has been separated from his wife since the beginning of September," Kloehn said. "This is a matter for the family, and we hope people will respect their privacy.”

Trustee memberss supported Zimmer, according to Crain's:

One university trustee calls the affair a personal matter and says he still has confidence in Mr. Zimmer.

"On this personal thing, that’s up to others to handle," says trustee George Ranney. "He’s doing a fine job."

Board of Trustees chair Andrew Alper released a similar statement. “President Zimmer has been forthcoming with me and with the board regarding his family situation. We see this as a personal matter, not an issue of university governance,” he said.

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At a January 23 stop on the Bold & Fresh Tour with Glenn Beck in Westbury, NY, Bill O'Reilly compared the South Side of Chicago to Haiti—albeit Haiti systematically, not directly after earthquake.

O'Reilly, speaking about President Obama and his commitment to government programs, criticized Obama's plan to help a recovering Haiti through the U.S. government. While his argument doesn't hold, it is interesting in that he thinks the South Side has similar infrastructure problems to the half-island nation in the Caribbean.

Transcript:

O'REILLY: I'm seeing a guy who's very, very committed to the government. To government, the government's going to solve the problems, and I'm going I don't know how that's possible. If you've ever been to the South Side of Chicago, I mean, it's a disaster, all right? It's like Haiti, it's like -- I've been to Haiti a couple of times. I support some charities there, but Haiti just never gets better, no matter how much money you put in there because they don't have a system. And I said the government can't do it but, Obama really believes the government can do it.

"Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 80% of the population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty," according to the CIA Factbook. The 2000 Census placed 16.6 percent of Chicagoans below the poverty line (data for the South Side alone was not available), compared to a national average of 9.2 percent.

Clip and transcript from Media Matters.

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It's been five days of getting up before dawn, five days of mustering up the energy to shake my tush, and after this morning's walk to the Point, I felt so accomplished: I finished Kuvia/Kangeiko.

It’s amazing to think that I had done so much—and seen Hyde Park from one of its most scenic spots as the sun rose—all before 9 a.m. I contemplated the merits of making this a regular routine, but that's more the spirit and energizy of Kangeiko, not the reality of an overburdened student.

I am a part of Dodd-Mead House (in B-J), and it’s a sturdy tradition that fourth-year members of the house—residents and ex-pats alike—remove a piece of clothing after completing each Friday morning salutation. This year, three of our own were brave enough to keep the practice alive, one zealous house member triumphant in nothing but tiny boxer shorts (no socks, shoes, or gloves) doing push-ups in the snow. Cameras clicked and groaning filled the air as we all felt the pain of just watching what they went through. 

After buses took us back to Henry Crown, students swarmed around tables laden with  bagels, hot chocolate, and, most importantly, the prized Kuvia t-shirts, special because they can only be earned, not bought. I’ll admit I was a little disappointed that the shirts this year aren’t the long-sleeved kind characteristic of the past few years’ Kangeiko ware. But I’m still proud to have this year’s Kuvia shirt to show for my dedication, its fire-breathing polar bear printed on the front an awesome memory of Kangeiko to hold onto until next year.

For myself, my housemates, and the couple hundred others who have participated, the past week has been marked by self-discipline and a “we’re in this together” closeness. Right now, I know everyone is fatigued and grateful for the three-day weekend ahead, but I don’t think I just speak for myself when I say that it’s been a worthy, memorable experience.

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The Weekly has a great cover story on 4th Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle (A.B. ’69, M.A.T. ’77) today, profiling the Hyde Park politico's bid for Cook County Board President. Facing incumbent Todd Stroger in the Democratic primaries February 2, Preckwinkle outlines her four main reform goals: repeal Stroger's controversial one-percent sales tax hike, keep the healthcare system independent of the County Board, reduce the incarcerated population, and create more jobs, especially green ones. 

Much of the platform is in line with her opponents. Everyone besides Stroger vows to roll back the tax, and all candidates support keeping down the prison population (and job growth is a perpetual crowed pleaser). "It doesn’t seem like Preckwinkle has much clout by way of new and innovative political ideas," The Weekly wrote, but pointed to her "trustworthiness and her no-fear approach to Chicago machine politics" as key virtues.


“Preckwinkle reinforces this image when she notes that she is vocally calling for zero-based budgeting of the county’s finances, which she explains as an initiative that would scrap each existing budget within the county and rebuild it from the ground up, in order to weed out inefficient spending and demand transparency.”

Recent endorsements in both the Sun-Times and the Tribune agree, with the Sun-Times calling her "Chicago's brainy, no-nonsense alderman, known for coalition-building and standing up to the powers that be." They were also impressed with her pledge to keep the county's healtcare system "out of the mitts of County Board members," a promise not made by any of her opponents. 

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Welcome to Kangeiko culture, when the days are longer, the alarm clocks louder, and the breakfasts tastier—and shared with everybody in the house.

Modeled after Japanese samurai training, Kangeiko is a sacred tradition for Dodd-Mead house (of which I am a member). It's a part of COUP's annual festival of early morning calisthenics: Kuviasungnerk.

Dodd-Mead boasts the greatest participation at the event for twelve years running, and they're serious about keeping it. I started feeling the energy on Saturday night, when I received an e-mail from my resident heads to get rested and ready for the rigors of the week ahead.

On Sunday there were posters in the house bathrooms, motivating us all to, “Nap as a House,” and to take part today because, for one, “Your Mom Does Kangeiko.” Amused, I proceeded to take pictures of every one. At the final house meeting before the big day, Dodd-Mead worked out the details on  wake-up calls and preparation strategies.

This morning, I woke up to my alarm ringing at 5:30 a.m., thought it was playing tricks on me or maybe broken and stumbled out of bed, into the hallway to find a good number of my housemates assembled in the lounge, bleary-eyed but awake, bundled up for the cold outside.

While lining up in front of Henry Crown with my housemates, happy about how many of us had shown up, we discussed the merits of getting together as a house to bring home the win—and the $100 prize.

“We do it all for the shirt,” someone joked, referring to the free t-shirt earned by those who attend every day of Kangeiko; it separates the die-hards from the merely crazy.

Once inside, Associate Dean of Students Jean S. Treese prepared to lead two cycles of the salute to the sun yoga routine. “I think this is the biggest turnout we’ve ever had,” Treese said, surveying the crowd.

Afterwards, the Balle Bhangra, RBIM, Hwa Rang Do, and Aikido RSO’s were on hand to get people moving to start the day in a fun way. As for me and my house, we adjourned to an empty squash court to engage in some good, old Duck Duck Goose—wipe-outs ensued—and then, with relief, sat down to breakfast, the dining hall mostly empty except for us.

Every morning this week I’ll be rising before the sun. Though not pumped about crashing during my 9:30 a.m. class (already up for four hours!), I am looking forward to the change of pace and seeing my fellow students and housemates in a different light. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

Tiffany Young is a staff writer for the Maroon.

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The owners of 5040 S. Greenwood Avenue have finally put a price on the priceless opportunity to live next door to the president.  $1.85 million dollars for the 17-room brick house that needs a lot of renovations - and neighbors that you'll never, ever be able to keep up with.

Owners Bill and Jacky Grimshaw put the house up for sale, without a price tag, this fall.  Their real estate agent, Matt Garrison, had no idea how to calculate the Obama factor.  Apparently, everyone was too hesitant to give it a shot - they haven't gotten any offers yet.

The listing, which requires a price, goes up Tuesday morning.  Garrison believes the Obama factor will give a couple thousand dollars to the value of the house.

But the current listing price isn't unusual for the desirable Kenwood location.  Large houses in the area often go for $2.3 to $2.4 million -  albeit ones that won't need the sort of renovations 5040 Greenwood, which hasn't been renovated since the owners bought the house in 1973.

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President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize Sunday, as some of you may have heard already, surprising pundits and politicians around the world (journalists covering the press conference apparently gasped when they found out).

The Nobel committee awarded "Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons," calling him "the world's leading spokesman" for peace.

Obama, a former lecturer at the Law School for 12 years, got some mileage out of the award at home, even as several former Peace Prize winners called his win premature and undeserved. Local media combed Hyde Park for barbers and diners heaping praise on the Kenwood resident. Valois even went so far as to put the "Obama Special" back on the menu this weekend--raising the question of why they would ever take it off.

Obama wasn't the only U of C professor to win a Nobel last week, however. Ada Yonath, who once visited the University from Israel's Weizmann Institute in 1977, was one of three scientists to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry Thursday.

Yonath, Thomas Steitz of Yale, and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of Cambridge, were honored last week for their work mapping ribosomes, organelles that translate DNA into proteins inside the cell. Using high-tech X-rays at the University's Argonne Laboratory, the trio were able to create 3-D ribosome maps, down to an atomic level.

"This knowledge can be put to a practical and immediate use; many of today's antibiotics cure various diseases by blocking the function of bacterial ribosomes. Without functional ribosomes, bacteria cannot survive," the Nobel committee said.

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It's settled, Northwestern is better than the U of C.

Well, at least according to those who visited the debates page on nbcchicago.com. Voting for "Best University" ended today, and Northwestern's 51% gave it the title, beat out the U of C. It tallied a scant 49%.

NBC enabled twitter-like comments on the page, which hosts a different Chicago-themed debate every other week. Previous winners: radio station B96 > WGCI; Lollapalooza > Pitchfork Music Festival; Zanies is funnier than iO, while the voting ignoring Second City. The comments pushed the debate beyond the numbers.

At 6:11, an anonymous poster implied members of Northwestern and University of Chicago voted in proportion to the sizes of their student bodies. "If only the size of the UC student body and alumni base was as large as Northwestern's (which is about 50% larger)..." he said.If only the size of the UC student body and alumni base was as large as Northwestern's (which is about 50% larger)...

At 7:05, another anonymous writer replied, "Here come more of the UofC excuses for losing. Just suck it up...you LOST."

Along with the title of "Best [Chicago] University," Northwestern wins "Brian, the world's first human statue," for the next two weeks. Comment below, or on NBC's page to vent your spleen or, I suppose, to gloat.

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