In a May letter to the campus community President Hiram Chodosh outlined a number of accomplishments over the past academic year and also plans for the coming year.
Calling the 2015-16 academic year both “intensely challenging” and “remarkably successful,” Chodosh discussed the successes of surpassing the initial fundraising goal for the Student Imperative, bringing in more than $100 million for scholarships and financial aid within two years. He also mentioned the men's golf team, winning its first national title, and the Model UN winning its second consecutive world championship. Some key plans for the coming year, include:
- the establishment of an open campus resource center, designed to concentrate expertise (faculty, student affairs, counseling, student fellows) and programming (forums, workshops, difficult conversations, reading groups) in order to support all of our students, to understand the social identities that separate us, to transcend those divisions through direct dialogue and joint action, and to bring our tight-knit community even closer together;
- the adoption of the University of Chicago Statement on Principles of Free Expression as a formal reinforcement of a similar faculty resolution in March 2015 and our institutional commitment to freedom of speech, academic freedom, and free inquiry in both policy and action;
- the further exploration and development of an integrated and interdisciplinary computer science strategy for the College in order to expose and educate all students about the applications of computational technology in each major area of study, from economics to public policy, from science to the humanities
- the creation of the Center for Student Opportunities, which will create a new, open venue for students to engage, receive advice and mentorship, and explore how their interests translate into real world opportunities both on campus and off, in summer internships and in the post-graduate years