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Chicago Tribune
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Chicago Humanities Spring Festival boasts Leslie Odom Jr., Eve Ewing and Paul Reiser — because culture isn't dead yet
You know how you don't know which end is up right now? Nobody is interested in facts. (So we hear.) Expertise is no longer valued. (So we hear.) Humanities are being yanked out of higher education. (Students would rather join hedge funds.) Just last month, University of Illinois at Chicago announced it planned to close its School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics. The world is on fire, and night is day, and war is peace. And yet, the Chicago Humanities Festival is doubling down. You might even say its Spring Festival, which begins later this week and runs through early June, looks so committed to rallying a defense to the New Reality, it's provocative. How else to read a festival of ideas featuring best-selling historian Timothy Snyder on freedom, plus historian Heather Cox Richardson (of the popular newsletter 'Letters From an American') on the need to revitalize democracy? (Both are part of the festival's Lakeview Day at the Athenaeum on April 27.) Want to hear directly from the front lines? David Rubenstein, always the most interesting person in the room, owner of the Baltimore Orioles, former chair at the Smithsonian, current chair of the board of trustees at the University of Chicago and chair emeritus of the Brookings Institution, will likely talk about being fired by President Donald Trump from his position as chairman of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. (That's April 21.) Activist Tamika Mallory (May 18) will discuss the creation of the Women's March. Deborah N. Archer (April 24) will talk about what it's like to be president of the ACLU now, and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (May 18) will talk about facing armed protestors in 2020 who insisted that Trump won the election. A single afternoon at Bridgeport Day (May 10, at the Ramova Theater and the Co-Prosperity gallery) plays like its own pointed argument for the importance of the free thinking, featuring an all-star group of 21st-century intellectuals: At 4 p.m., Chicago's Eve Ewing discusses her excellent new book, 'Original Sins,' on the history of how American schools fail Black and Indigenous students; at 1 p.m., Maggie Nelson links personal jaw pain with the current need to connect socially; and at 2:30 p.m., essayist Rebecca Solnit talks a bit of everything — abuse of power, climate change, democracy … In fact, if you're feeling excessively distracted by social media lately, there's also a chat for that: MSNBC's Chris Hayes on March 17. Issues with capitalism? That's the New Yorker's John Cassidy on May 18. Just don't know how to argue with people anymore? University of Chicago philosopher Agnes Callard makes a case for Socrates on April 27. Thoughtful-palooza? Sanctuary City Limits? Maybe the Chicago Humanities Festival just needs a better name now, a reminder the humanities is the study of culture. For instance, May 18 (Lincoln Park Day, at the Chicago History Museum), you could hear Chicago cartoonist Chris Ware discuss R. Crumb with his new biographer Dan Nadel, then return that afternoon for Ibram X. Kendi ('How to Be an Antiracist') talking about his new young-adult biography of Malcolm X — and a conversation with Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller, of 'Hamilton' and 'Rent.' I almost feel bad for the festival's relatively lightweight opener: Paul Reiser, at the Music Box on Thursday. Speaking of 'Hamilton' — Leslie Odom Jr. (he won a Tony Award for playing Aaron Burr in the original cast) sings at an Art Institute of Chicago Day on June 7. That same day at the museum, there's a chat with cartoonist Alison Bechdel ('Fun Home'), and, apologies to hipsters for burying the lede here: Director Jim Jarmusch (on guitar) will deliver a very rare concert with experimental lute player Jozef van Wissem. Should art for art's sake prove too slight right now, might I suggest comedian Ed Helms, who brings his popular 'SNAFU' podcast to Chicago (May 3) to discuss the history of huge (and quite real) fiascos, from CIA-trained feline spies to Project A119, an United States Air Force plan to detonate a nuke on the moon, as a show of military strength. See? The world has always been full of wackos. The question is, after the chatting, discussing and thinking — are we going to do something? The Chicago Humanities Spring Festivals begins March 13 and runs through early June. For information on additonal events, times, locations and ticket prices, visit
Chicago Tribune
15-02-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
UIC proposes plan to close School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics amid $22M deficit
The University of Illinois Chicago may be dissolving its School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics in the coming weeks and terminating all of the school's nontenured faculty at the end of the academic year, faculty members said the university told them Feb. 7. The LSCL school is part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which has accrued a debt of $22 million, according to a tenured faculty member who asked to remain anonymous. Other faculty members told the Tribune that if the college does not take measures to close the deficit, it will be forced into receivership, in which a court-appointed receiver takes control of the institution's finances and operations. The university appears prepared to move forward with the closure of the LSCL school, said Steven Marsh, a professor of film and Spanish peninsular cultural studies within the Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies. But the university has given its staff until March 7 to provide alternative options to address the debt, Marsh said. Otherwise, the closure will proceed and go fully into effect by fall 2027. However, many details remain unclear. Faculty members told the Tribune that the move was unexpected, and many said they were outraged by the sudden announcement. Marsh said the faculty was promised a conversation about the dissolution of the school. However, he said it felt as though they were served with an ultimatum. The university said in a statement to the Tribune on Friday that the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which contains six departments and 77 faculty members, is in the early stages of discussing restructuring in the School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics, and that no decisions have been made. 'We understand that change can bring uncertainty, and we are committed to supporting our students and faculty throughout this process,' the university said in the statement. Several faculty members expressed their disagreement with the proposal, with some saying it feels 'half-baked' or not fully thought out. It's unclear whether the proposal will be enough to close such a large deficit, they said, and several told the Tribune other options should be explored, such as raising tuition, which has been unchanged for seven of the past 10 years. Marsh said the closure would eliminate the university's language requirement, which is served by the Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies. 'This is language teaching … that is an important component of our work,' Marsh said. 'It's what is taught by graduate students, teaching assistants and nontenured faculty. According to this plan, they will be gradually eradicated.' If plans for shuttering the school go into effect at the end of this school year, nontenured faculty members, whose contracts are typically for three or five years, will not have those contracts renewed rather than be fired outright, Marsh said. One nontenured faculty member, who did not want to be named over concerns about her job, told the Tribune Friday it was concerning that the college held a meeting without nontenured faculty to announce the plans last week. 'What about the rest of us?' she said. 'There is a lack of transparency.' Although she said she believes the university will respect the remainder of her five-year contract, it's likely her contract may not be renewed. The loss of nontenured staffers will likely result in tenured faculty teaching lower-level classes full-time with little time to pursue research. With a fast-approaching deadline, faculty members said they have been meeting at least once a day, if not twice, to come up with different proposals. At a faculty town hall meeting on Thursday, Aaron Krall, a senior lecturer in the English department and president of UIC United Faculty union, saw some colleagues were upset, others were angry and several were afraid they may lose their jobs. 'I think people were angry both about the kinds of cuts they're hearing already in the (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) but also about the broader attacks on higher education under the new Trump administration,' Krall said. 'We were talking about a variety of issues. We've got a lot of members of our campus community who are feeling really vulnerable now, and so I would say these cuts in the school are sort of that part of that broader picture.' As President Donald Trump's administration targets diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and talks about closing the U.S. Department of Education, UIC faculty members said that the shuttering of the school will not only affect students and staff members but also go against the university's mission statement, which includes serving the student population of Chicago. Some faculty members within the Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies say they are concerned about the ramifications the closure would have on the university, which has been designated a Hispanic-serving institution since 2016 and received related grants from the Department of Education. Being a public institution that teaches classes in Spanish has made UIC attractive to many students, Marsh said. Closing the School of Literatures, Cultural Studies and Linguistics will force professors to teach their classes in English, Marsh said, and that would ignore and undermine the diversity that UIC touts. 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