The Chicago Maroon, the independent student newspaper of the University of Chicago, is a weekly publication founded in 1892. During autumn, winter, and spring quarters of the academic year, The Maroon publishes every Wednesday. The paper consists of seven sections: news, opinion ("Viewpoints"), arts, sports, Grey City, podcasts, and games. In the late summer, it publishes its annual orientation Issue (O-Issue) for entering first-year students, including sections on the University and the city of Chicago.

David Brooks is a Canadian-born American conservative political and cultural commentator who writes for The New York Times. He has worked as a film critic for The Washington Times, a reporter and later op-ed editor for The Wall Street Journal, a senior editor at The Weekly Standard from its inception, a contributing editor at Newsweek, and The Atlantic Monthly, in addition to working as a commentator on NPR and the PBS NewsHour.