In the News

The Chronicle’s biweekly column “In the News” offers a digest of commentary and quotations by a few of the University faculty members, students and alumni who have been headlining the news in recent weeks.

In a story about admissions policies and practices at elite schools, Newsweek writer John McCormick took an up-close-and-personal look at Chicago’s criteria for accepting students into the College. The exclusive story, which appeared in the April 5 issue of the national publication, explained the procedures Ted O’Neill, Dean of College Admissions, and his staff use when they must weigh the facts and choose between borderline applicants. Also quoted in the story were Michael Behnke, Vice President and Associate Dean of the College for Enrollment, Peter Chemery, Associate Director in College Admissions, and other admissions counselors who work with O’Neill.

Victor Friedman, Professor and Chairman of Slavic Languages & Literatures, was interviewed for a Chicago Sun-Times story about how electronic mail is proving to be an important means of communication during wartime, linking people in such cities as Pristina and Belgrade with friends in other cities around the world. Friedman, who has friends on both sides of the conflict in Kosovo, has received e-mail with personal accounts about the current crisis. Friedman was also interviewed on ABC Nightly News Thursday, March 25.

In a story in the Friday, March 26 Chronicle of Higher Education, Wendy Doniger, the Mircea Iliade Professor in the Divinity School, is said to be raising eyebrows and stirring up controversy among classicists about her research on myths. Doniger argues that understanding our own stories requires studying the myths of others. “Myths are the bare bones of human experience,” she said.

In its Tuesday, March 30 issue, the Chicago Tribune published an essay written by University Provost Geoffrey Stone, which discussed a fictional Supreme Court decision made in the year 2101. The essay was the first published on the University’s Reflections 2000 Web site, which will continue to feature essays written by University faculty members. The Web site is at http://www.uchicago.edu/millennium.

The University’s Academic Competition Federation quiz-bowl team received coverage in a New York Times article in the newspaper’s Education Life Section Sunday, April 4. The team, which is considered the strongest in the nation, is preparing for its 27-team competition here on the University campus April 23 and 24. Twenty-two-year-old Andrew Yaphe, a graduate student in literature and a Chicago College Bowl team member, is considered the country’s best player. Yaphe was quoted in the article as well as Chicago team president Mike Zarren.

The University’s role in the Manhattan Project was featured in the ABC News documentary The Century, hosted by Peter Jennings. Part two of the documentary, titled “Ultimate Power: The Race to Build the Atomic Bomb,” described in detail the work of Leo Szilard and other Chicago physicists.