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NOVEMBER 16, 2018

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

VOL. 130, ISSUE 15

Biological Sciences Drops GRE Requirement Number of People

180 135 90 45 0

2014

2015 URM Matriculated

Mayoral candidate Amara Enyia invited UChicago students to an upcoming fundraiser event. adrian mandeville

Chance a No-Show at Enyia Rally on Quad

By ELAINE CHEN news editor

To many students’ disappointment, Chance the Rapper did not come to campus Tuesday afternoon, as previously speculated.

But Amara Enyia, the mayoral candidate whose on-campus rally students were hoping Chance would join, announced what might possibly be a consolation prize. Several University of Chicago students will get free entry to her fundraiser event Wednesday night at Chicago Chop House in River North. Regular entry to the event, which will feature Chance and other celebrities, costs from $100 to $5,000.

“Because you all came out and you stood in the cold,” Enyia said at the on-campus rally in front of Cobb Hall, “you are all invited to this fundraiser as our guests.”

Kristi Kucera, a spokesperson

for Enyia’s campaign, clarified after the rally that due to limited space, the first 25 UChicago students who show up on Wednesday will receive free entry to the “after party” that goes from 9 p.m. to midnight. There’s a $100 fee to enter for students who arrive later.

The crowd of students at Enyia’s rally quickly grew to over 100 people. Many of them were hoping to see Chance, who has joined Enyia in several rallies, the first one occurring several weeks ago a few blocks south of campus.

The Maroon reported on Monday night that Chance and Enyia would both appear on campus on Tuesday, after receiving the information from an organizer from Enyia’s campaign. On Tuesday morning, The Maroon updated the article to reflect a new statement from Enyia’s press team that Chance’s appearance is not

confirmed.

The rally was the first in a series of “college pull up rallies” that Enyia’s team will hold with the aim of motivating youth to vote. Two college rallies will be held Wednesday at Harold Washington College and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

As Enyia’s team passed around clipboards with voter registration forms, Enyia discussed the importance of getting young people to vote.

“This election is going to affect future of generations of Chicagoans,” she said. She asked students if they were planning to stay in Chicago after graduation, and added, “I know it’s a little chilly, but give it some time.”

Enyia spoke about the historic number of youth who voted in the midterm elections last week, and continued on pg.

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GSU Walks Out of Admin Town Hall

By LEE HARRIS news editor

Graduate Students United (GSU) supporters walked out of a Committee on Graduate Education (CGE) town hall meeting Tuesday night after initially participating in a discussion on the results of a survey circulated to graduate students over the summer. Following GSU’s walkout, fewer than five attendees remained to speak with the seven-person CGE panel.

“Ultimately when we felt like we weren’t getting anywhere, we felt like we should go spend our time on our other work,” Emily Smith, a GSU spokesperson, told The Maroon after she and others walked out of the town hall.

“Even though we have been

skeptical from the get-go, given the circumstances in which this committee was formed…and even after we saw the survey and how it was designed, we did come to the town hall in the hope of creating some conversation, because we value the labor of the people who are on this committee—both faculty and, mostly, the graduate students,” a GSU organizer told The Maroon following the walkout. “We want the labor that they put into creating a change to be meaningful.”

However, the organizer said, he found the conversation unproductive. Referring to the remarks of Clifford Ando, a law school professor and faculty council member on CGE, the organizer noted that Ando declined to express support for GSU even when pressed to de-

scribe his personal views on union organizing.

“Basically he said, in a kind of convoluted and flowery way, that he thinks unions are great, but is not sure about graduate student unions.”

CGE is an 18-member committee comprising faculty and graduate students from a range of academic divisions, with student representatives selected in a process administered through Student Government. Last spring, Provost Daniel Diermeier charged the committee members to examine the “most basic assumptions” of graduate education, directing it to “survey graduate education at the University in the broadest sense.”

Tuesday night’s town hall was continued on pg.

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Looking for a Better Way to Prevent Sexual Assault

Stan Lee Infused his Magic Into the Adult World

By MAROON EDITORIAL BOARD

By JESSICA JIWON CHOE page 4

2016

2017

URM Admitted

2018

URM Applicants

The number of underrepresented minority (URM) students matriculating to the BSD has been steady in recent years, despite the efforts of staff. euirim choi

By LEE HARRIS news editor

At GRIT’s Urging, Biological Sciences Drops GRE Requirement Across Graduate, Ph.D. Programs Data from the Biological Sciences Division provides a window into changing priorities for graduate school admissions.

The University’s biological sciences graduate program in June removed the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) admissions requirement across all graduate programs, at the urging of the Graduate Recruitment Initiative Team (GRIT), a student organization that advocates for diversity and inclusion.

Since its founding in 2016, GRIT has seen its membership skyrocket. It currently counts over fifty members spanning the Biological Sciences Division (BSD), which houses 16 graduate programs totaling about 400 doctoral students and admitting about 75 students annually for Ph.D. study. GRIT also recently expanded into the Physical Sciences Division (PSD), recruiting

for the mathematics and chemistry departments.

In June, following the College’s announcement that it would go test-optional and no longer require candidates’ SAT or ACT scores, GRIT sent an open letter to BSD faculty asking graduate programs to follow suit and drop the GRE. For over 80 years the GRE has been used as the standardized test admissions requirement of choice for most graduate schools in the United States. According to parent organization Educational Testing Service (ETS), the exam measures verbal and quantitative reasoning, analytical writing, and critical thinking skills.

Urging faculty to remove the GRE requirement from applications to the division, GRIT cited studies that “have highlighted the exam’s bias against minorities, women, and persons from low so2cioeconomic backgrounds.”

Within four days of sending out the letter, the organizers learned that the division had agreed to drop the GRE requirement, GRIT cocontinued on pg.

2

Former First Lady Michelle Obama shakes hands with a supporter at the Seminary Co-op book signing. Coverage on page six. courtesy of michelle obama

page 5

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 16, 2018

2

Events 11/16–11/18

Friday Modern France Workshop: Jennifer Cole Social Science Research Building, Room 224, 4–5:30 p.m.

Jennifer Cole, professor of anthropology, will be leading a discussion on her paper “Peasants into Frenchmen? The work of Malagasy wives in France.” A wine and cheese reception will follow.

Low: “Double Negative” Rockefeller Chapel, 7:30–9 p.m.

Band Low turns 25 this year and is celebrating with an abrasive new album, Double Negative. The concert is brought to campus

by Empty Bottle and will also include a performance by IN/VIA , the synth piano project of Minneapolis musician Nora Marie Invie. Tickets cost $11 for students.

UT Presents: good friday Logan Center for the Arts, 7:30­–9 p.m.

Artist Kristiana Ray Colon tackles issues surrounding gun violence and assault in modern times in her play. Tickets cost $6 in advance and $8 at the door.

Saturday Buddhism, Thought, and Civilization: A Memorial Symposium for Steven Collins Swift Hall, 9 a.m.–10 a.m.

This Saturday and Sunday there will be a symposium in celebration of the late Steve Collins, former chair of the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations. The event will involve a representative group of colleagues and students reflecting on Collins’ scholarship—primarily on civilizations and Buddhism—as well as sharing personal reminisces about the beloved professor.

Robert Needleman - Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care 57th Street Books, 3–4 p.m.

Dr. Robert Needleman will be discussing his book, Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care, now in its tenth edition.

Amplify Workshop: Time and Space for Trauma/Healing Smart Museum of Art, 10–1 a.m.

Artist Leah Gipson and The Time is Now! exhibiting artist Nathan Wright will lead this professional workshop for educators, teaching artists, and administrators; using artwork currently at the Smart Museum, the workshop and sharing session will prompt atendees to consider how they relate to students and their trauma.

Sunday University Wind Ensemble Logan Performance Hall, 4–5 p.m.

The University Wind Ensemble will be giving its first performance of the academic year, featuring works by local composer Kimo Williams, Aaron Copland, and UChicago Ph.D. candidate David Clay Mettens.

Advertise in the paper If you want to place an ad in The Maroon, please e-mail ads@chicagomaroon.com or visit chicagomaroon.com/pages/advertise.

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Student Group Grit Led Push for Diversity in the BSD founder Cody Hernandez, a Ph.D. candidate working in molecular genetics and cellular biology, told The Maroon.

While the College made headlines as the first top research university to go test-optional for undergraduates, UChicago’s BSD was joining a growing slate of institutions, including University of California–Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Stanford University, that have opted to remove the GRE requirement in recent years.

This shift in admissions requirements follows a change in national standards for science funding: In 2015, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it would no longer require GRE scores in applications for fellowships and training grants.

The NIH decision, in turn, came seemingly in response to an influential article by physicists Casey Miller and Keivan Stassun, published in Nature in 2014. The article argues that admissions committees’ reliance on the GRE metric “severely restricts the flow of women and minorities into the sciences.”

Referring to data from ETS, the article notes that in the physical sciences, women score 80 points lower on average than men, and Black people score 200 points below white people.

“In simple terms, the GRE is a better indicator of sex and skin colour than of ability and ultimate success,” Miller and Stassun conclude.

In conversations with The Maroon, GRIT organizers echoed these views.

GRIT’s Inception and GRE Removal

Initially, GRIT organizers focused on attracting underrepresented minority (URM) students to apply to the University of Chicago, traveling to national conferences and research fairs to recruit potential candidates.

The organization’s cofounders were familiar with literature arguing that the GRE is biased against URM students, and in 2017 floated the idea of removing the GRE admissions requirement, bringing it up to Victoria Prince, dean of graduate affairs in the BSD. At the time, they were told there simply was not enough departmental support.

Just a year after GRIT’s unsuccessful first venture, however, the College announced that it would drop the SAT/ACT requirement for undergraduate applicants. GRIT seized the moment to make their case again.

“The political climate had changed— GRIT was now an officially accepted thing— and also, GRIT was included in a lot of these training grants, now. So GRIT had a lot more leverage,” said GRIT cofounder Mat Perez-Neut, a Ph.D. candidate in molecular epigenetics. While the timing was key, he added, “there was still a lot of resistance.”

Although their proposal to drop the GRE passed the second time, “one-third of the faculty members were opposed to eliminating the GRE,” Perez-Neut told The Maroon. “I was actually surprised that two-thirds wanted to remove it.... I think a lot had happened that really changed the culture to allow for something like this to occur.”

Prince told The Maroon that GRIT’s efforts helped the department rethink its skepticism toward dropping the test.

“When we thought about it last year, people thought there was still some value in the number, even though they understood that it’s a bit of a flawed measure, that has some links with socioeconomic group rather than being anything close to an IQ test. But they thought, ‘there’s still a bit of signal there.’ So it took that additional pushing from the GRIT students and from a careful evaluation of the literature,” she said.

Reasoning Behind GRE Removal

Nationally, graduate departments that have removed the GRE requirements have noted the poor test performance of women, students who are from poor socioeconomic

In this PowerPoint slide from a departmental presentation, provided by Dean Prince, “Percentage of URM’s admitted” corresponds to underrepresented minority students who were recruited by or in contact with GRIT. adrian mandeville backgrounds, and URMs. Studies of the exam have also found that the GRE is a poor predictor of admitted students’ academic outcomes, and many opponents of the test argue that admissions committees should instead favor a holistic analysis of interviews, research experience, college GPA, and letters of recommendation.

Prince told The Maroon that a “subliminal stereotype threat” accounts, in part, for racial and gender disparities in GRE performance. Stereotype threat refers to a finding in social psychology that individuals who belong to negatively stereotyped groups perform worse on tests due to anxiety, widening the achievement gap between different groups.

She said that departments at other universities have tried various approaches as they struggle to achieve diversity in their programs.

“The physical sciences in some schools have decided to just weight the scores differently for male and female candidates, because there’s so much evidence that in more quantitative testing, women don’t do as well, and yet when they get into the program, they do fine.

So rather than not use the test, they’ve decided to actually give kind of different weights,” Prince said, noting that this strategy is “also an imperfect approach.”

Leading up to the GRE’s removal, Prince said, she had the Graduate Education Advisory Committee, a faculty group, “drill into the literature” on the lower exam scores of female and URM students. They found that the literature supporting a positive correlation between GRE scores and student outcomes in graduate school is often flawed.

The dean also stressed that the GRE does not measure soft skills like students’ perseverance and commitment to research.

“It’s really difficult to assay whether stronger performance in classes correlates with stronger research performance, and just anecdotally, it probably doesn’t,” she said.

“And GRIT have pointed out that tenacity is—as their name suggests—is a key element of success.”

GRIT also had an early ally in Nancy Schwartz, dean and director of postdoctoral affairs. For Schwartz, GRE elimination has been a long time coming.

In the ’90s, she and several other University faculty members in the sciences set about examining best practices in graduate education, including the GRE, and quickly “realized it was a pretty bad test,” she told The Maroon. After she and four other faculty members met with administrators from ETS, Schwartz was invited to sit on the board of the GRE, where she subsequently served for four years.

During Schwartz’s tenure on the GRE board, she and other members successfully pushed to revise the exam, removing archaic vocabulary requirements. They wanted to go further, pushing to replace the current mod-

el of a general GRE and subject tests with a field-specific GRE designated for graduate students in the sciences, but were unsuccessful.

Still, Schwartz is glad that biological sciences departments at top research institutions are beginning to drop the GRE.

Admissions, Yield for URM Applicants

Admissions data for the past five years, provided to The Maroon by Prince, reveals a consistently higher acceptance rate for URMs than for non-URM applicants, and, meanwhile, a lower yield rate for URMs than overall.

While the actual number of URM candidates has increased, the percentage of URM applicants hasn’t budged, just kept pace with a growing total application pool. Still, Prince and Schwartz emphasized that they consider any increase in URM applicants to be a victory for GRIT, given the challenges of attracting URM candidates.

GRIT attributes the recent boost in URM applicants, in part, to their model of active recruitment at research fairs. GRIT students accompany admissions representatives like Schwartz on trips to recruitment fairs, approach prospective applicants and, if they seem interested, put them in touch with UChicago faculty in their field.

Hernandez said putting prospective applicants in touch with faculty boosts their interest in UChicago: “If we plugged them in with at least two faculty, they were almost guaranteed to come here.”

Prince concurred, saying GRIT’s efforts “have made the difference in encouraging people who have offers to actually come.”

Still, administrators continue to hope that GRIT and similar initiatives will boost the URM yield rate.

“Our current conversion rate from applicant to matriculant is not where we want it to be,” Schwartz acknowledged.

GRIT in 2017 recruited or had contact with about 40 percent of the admitted minority students; this past year, 80 percent of admitted URMs had contact with GRIT. Over the same two cycles, the number of URM applicants increased from 32 to 42 people, and the number matriculated into the class went from nine to 12.

It’s unwise to draw conclusions about general trends from such a small sample population, when each admitted class has fewer than 100 students.

Prince acknowledged the challenge: “We had a terrific matriculation year back in 2015.

To some extent, it’s about laws of small numbers—I think we kind of hit lucky that year.

But it does show that we have always been making strong efforts, because this predates GRIT.” Prince noted that top schools compete to attract talented URM candidates—“it’s almost like an arms race,” she said. continued on pg.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 16, 2018

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Dean Schwartz: GRE “Does Not Measure Persistence” continued from pg.

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Asked about the URM yield rate, which dropped from 41 percent in 2015 (before GRIT’s founding) to 28 percent in 2017—a data point that could just as easily suggest GRIT caused fewer URMs to join—Prince attributed the dip to competition with other leading research institutions and said she believes the number is coming back up “because we’re doing something new and better.”

Beyond recruitment at research fairs and hosting inclusion events, GRIT organizers would like to see more direct student input as candidates’ applications are reviewed.

Baeza-Loya, the current director of recruitment, told The Maroon that starting this year GRIT is piloting a model for student advisors to work with faculty admissions committees.

Using the biophysics graduate program— which has seniors sit as full-fledged members of the admissions committee—as a model, GRIT is piloting student advisor positions on several programs, including neurobiology, according to Baeza-Loya. The students will not have direct say in admissions decisions, but would act in an advisory capacity.

Gender Parity and Expansion Into Physical Sciences

Getting the GRE dropped from the BSD was just one component of GRIT’s organizing work. In addition to URMs, GRIT advocates for women and LGBTQ+ people, and just started a team focused on students with physical disabilities.

Within the BSD, admitted students have averaged 52 percent female over the last five years. Gender parity “has not been a problem in our field for many years,” Prince said, noting one exception: the medical physics program, where students are drawn from a background in physics, rather than biology, and the applicant pool has averaged 20 percent female over the past five years.

More recently, GRIT expanded into the Physical Sciences Division (PSD), where in

addition to minority underrepresentation there is a significant gender disparity. This year, GRIT organizers began recruiting students for math and chemistry Ph.D. programs.

Leaders of GRIT were initially hesitant to expand the program to the PSD. In the biological sciences, the NIH sets national benchmarks for diversity, attaching grant money to inclusion initiatives to ensure that departments are making efforts to support underrepresented groups in science.

Physical science funding, by contrast, comes from the National Sciences Foundation, and grant requirements are rarely tied to diversity efforts, meaning GRIT leaders have struggled to find “leverage” in making the case for departmental change.

Perez-Neut said he was therefore surprised when Emily Easton (A.M. ’01, A.B. ’01), then the associate dean of students in the PSD, urged him to consider expanding GRIT to the PSD. Despite the lack of funding pressure, he says he’s met with “heartening” support for diversity efforts in the PSD. “In the physical sciences, those pieces of leverage don’t exist, and if they do we don’t know what they are. So there’s a lot of goodness in working in the physical sciences…. Everyone involved is doing it because they want to do it,” Perez-Neut said.

Linsin Smith, GRIT’s current director of retention, told The Maroon the group’s immediate goal in the PSD is to demonstrate that GRIT’s recruitment and retention activities can increase the number of underrepresented applicants that matriculate into math and chemistry.

“I think once we can show how impactful the work GRIT does will be for the PSD, we’ll be able to expand to the rest of the programs in the PSD and also from there can start having conversations with admissions committees and the deans about potentially dropping the GRE as a requirement,” Smith said.

As GRIT continues its efforts in the BSD and beyond, organizers stressed the impor-

Seoul Taco, Korean-Mexican Chain, Comes to 57th

By ALISON GILL news reporter

Hyde Park’s restaurant scene will welcome a new addition later this month with the opening of Seoul Taco. The casual, Korean-Mexican fast-food chain will be at 1321 East 57th Street, a location that has a history of failures for restaurant business.

Hyde Park’s Seoul Taco hopes to replicate the success it had found elsewhere. Starting out as a St. Louis food truck in 2011, Seoul Taco quickly transitioned to its storefront location in the Delmar Loop near Washington University in Saint Louis, where it was an immediate hit. There is also a branch in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, at 738 North Clark Street, which opened in June 2016.

The restaurant serves, for under $10, a variety of Korean-Mexican fusion dishes, including burritos, nachos, gogi bowls, quesadillas, and tacos. Each dish comes with the choice of bulgogi beef, spicy pork, chicken, or marinated tofu.

Popular with college students, the brand has expanded across Missouri and Illinois.

Seoul Taco currently has locations near the University of Missouri and the University of Illinois, as well as its flagship store by Wash U. In the Chicagoland area, in addition to its Hyde Park location, Seoul Taco is planning to open a branch in Naperville.

“Following the success of our first Chicago restaurant, we’ve been looking to open in communities that would embrace the Seoul

Taco concept,” chef and owner David Choi said. “Both Naperville and Hyde Park are home to vibrant business districts and residential neighborhoods comprised of families, students, and young professionals. Our team looks forward to continuing to build the Seoul Taco brand within Chicagoland.”

Seoul Taco’s new location had previously supported Edwardo’s Pizza for nearly 35 years. Open since 1980, Edwardo’s shuttered in the spring of 2014 after declining sales.

Since then, the space has struggled to find a long-term tenant.

Packed: Dumplings Reimagined opened in January 2016 and closed only four months later, after suffering from poor reviews and poor sales. In a statement released at the time of its closing, owner Aaron DiMaria pointed causes towards the high costs associated with Packed’s commitment to sourcing seasonal and local produce, and how college students sought cheaper food options.

Mexican sandwich shop Cemitas Puebla moved into the space in September 2016, with its doors closing in March 2018. The restaurant’s director of operations wrote that the business closed because “ownership has decided to focus on building a stronger beverage program which did not fit with the family friendly atmosphere that 57th street so lovingly provides.”

Seoul Taco will soon open its doors in Hyde Park, serving lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, with extended hours until 4 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

tance of sustainability, noting that many graduate diversity and inclusion initiatives fizzle out as soon as leaders graduate. To ensure that GRIT is around long term, organizers have split the codirector position into two roles—director of recruitment and director of retention—and stipulate that no individual can serve in a leadership position for more than one year, predicting that consistent turnover will keep the organization’s survival from becoming too dependent on any one person.

Meanwhile, while Hernandez and Perez-Neut are no longer directors, they continue to work with GRIT in an informal role and are hoping to expand the model to open GRIT programs at other university campuses. They are currently in talks with the University of California–San Francisco and the University of Virginia (UVA). At UVA, they recently facilitated a dialogue between students and faculty modeled on similar forums they’ve hosted at UChicago.

Hernandez said that the GRIT model provides both students and faculty with an “open platform” to discuss concerns.

“This hasn’t been a one-sided thing—students are critiquing the faculty about their shortcomings, but faculty are also providing students with feedback so that they can also help their relationship with the faculty. So, the system works because it’s equitable, and it removes the power dynamic,” Hernandez said.

It remains to be seen whether dropping the GRE—or, for that matter, the SAT and ACT for the College—will drastically increase the number of applications to the University, further driving down acceptance rates that have plummeted in the past decade.

“I don’t know whether it is going to influence the applicants—whether applicants are going to be more prone to applying to those schools that have dropped it, and therefore their applications are going to skyrocket.

That we don’t know until we see what happens,” Schwartz said.

GSU Rep: “We Weren’t Getting Anywhere” continued from front

the third of several forums slated for discussion of CGE’s work and the results of the graduate student survey administered this past summer.

GSU has argued that the survey glossed over several crucial areas of concern, pointing out on Twitter that it avoided using words addressing specific issues of equity and inclusion such as “sexual misconduct,” “race,” and “gender,” and omitted any mention of graduate worker pay. Instead, the survey used more general categories such as “campus climate,” “inclusion,” and “financial support.”

Earlier this month, CGE published “highlights” and aggregate responses to the enrolled graduate student survey.

“Although only 19 percent of Ph.D. respondents reported being very or mostly dissatisfied with their financial support (the number for non-Ph.D. respondents was 31 percent), 7 percent of all respondents reported troubling levels of financial insecurity,” the CGE survey report reads.

2,261 graduate students participated in the survey, comprising 40 percent of enrolled doctoral students and 24 percent of students in other graduate degree programs, according to the report.

GSU had urged students not to fill out the survey in a Maroon op-ed and on Twitter.

The CGE also wrote and circulated a faculty survey, which will conclude this week, according to an e-mail sent out to faculty and graduate students.

CLASSIFIED PIANO RECITAL DEBUT. MICHAEL DUBENSKY, PIANO. CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY: BLACKSTONE. NOVEMBER 24, 2018. 9:00 AM-10:45 AM. FREE.

25 Students Will Get to See Chance for Free

Amara Enyia addresses a crowd of students gathered outside Cobb Hall. adrian mandeville continued from front

said she hopes to see similarly high turnout in city elections next February.

“There wasn’t really a strategic plan for what college we would go to first,” Enyia told The Maroon. When asked why she came onto campus with such short notice, she said, “Pull ups by their very nature are spontaneous.”

“We have a lot of other events where people get more of a notice, like meet and greets.

This just isn’t that,” she added.

Of Chance’s attendance, Enyia said, “He’s committed to working with us on campaigning in general, but he’s not coming to each particular event.”

Enyia, a 35-year-old native of East Garfield Park, a neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago, is running on a platform that includes creating a public bank and establishing community benefit agreements (CBAs) for major development projects. CBAs legal-

ly bind developers to requirements meant to prevent the displacement of local residents.

A noteworthy example of a proposed CBA concerns the Obama Presidential Center; activists have long pushed for an agreement with the Obama Foundation, the City, and UChicago.

Originally considered a longshot in the heated mayoral race—which now has 17 candidates—Enyia saw her popularity skyrocket when Chance endorsed her at City Hall last month.

After Chance’s endorsement, Kanye West donated nearly $200,000 in total to Enyia’s campaign. Lori Lightfoot (J.D. ’89), another mayoral candidate, has criticized Enyia for accepting donations from West, a supporter of President Donald J. Trump. Enyia has responded that she does not have to answer for West’s support for Trump.

THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 16, 2018

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VIEWPOINTS Looking for a Better Way to Prevent Sexual Assault UChicago’s Current Sexual Assault Prevention Course Is Unspecific and Unhelpful

By THE MAROON EDITORIAL BOARD By now, you should have completed the University’s sexual assault prevention course. The web seminar was long and wide-ranging, covering every thing from the broader issue of consent to stalking, abuse, and harassment.

While it is important to train students to recognize red f lags and navigate difficult interpersonal situations, an online course is not the most effective way to have these discussions. Real-life scenarios are inevitably more complex than three-minute video clips, and one’s ability to click the correct response will only go so far in a more nuanced situation. The online training course cannot adequately educate students about maintaining healthy, supportive relationships with one another. An in-person training would be far more effective in helping students understand the gray areas surrounding sexual abuse and harassment.

Instead of an online course focusing on social skills, the University should use this mandatory training to better advertise and explain its Title IX resources.

This year’s program provided very little concrete information about dealing with the fallout of a sexual assault. Who specifically would you contact at this University if you wished to report an assault?

W hat if you wanted to talk to someone, but did not want to invoke a disciplinary hearing? How long do hearings usually take, and what possible consequences are there for perpetrators?

The final section of the module, titled “Reporting Options and Responding to a Survivor,” seems like it should be able to address these concerns. However, this course has been written to apply to schools across the country, so very little University-specific information is present. The slides are rife with empty phrases like: “When a report is made to our school, we must provide the person who experienced the offense with information on a number of things.” The course does not explain to whom a student should report, nor how the process would unfold after the initial meeting with that representative.

Some slides in the module attempt to bridge this gap by linking to external pages on our Title IX website. This is doubly ineffective. First, we must acknowledge that most students are not engaging deeply with the training program. The video and dialogue slides require participation, but slides with links to the Title IX website can be skipped over. Second, even if a student clicks on the link, the resulting page is often not directly related to the topic at hand. The slide entitled “Reporting Contact Information,”

for instance, leads to a generalized landing page with no names, contact numbers, or information about how one would begin an official complaint process.

One could click through the University’s entire Title IX website and figure things out, more or less. The problem is not that the information doesn’t exist, but that it is not well known. A sexual assault prevention module that does not fully explain the Title IX reporting process is incomplete and ineffective.

The best list of resources is located in the appendix of the University Policy on Harassment, Discrimination, and Sexual Misconduct. Title IX coordinators are listed with their contact information and a list of reasons why one might contact them. In terms of offering resources and practical solutions, this appendix renders the training module useless.

Having discussions about consent and healthy relationships is essential on a college campus,

Zita Ouyang

but these conversations would be more meaningful in person, so that students could ask questions and engage with one another. The online training should be used instead to provide information about University services for sexual assault and abuse survivors.

What My American Friends Don’t Know About Me The Way Americans at UChicago Talk to International Students Reveals a Deep and Pernicious Bias

SOHAM MALL

Euirim Choi, Editor-in-Chief Pete Grieve, Editor-in-Chief Katie Akin, Managing Editor Kay Yang, Managing Editor The Maroon Editorial Board consists of the editors-in-chief and editors of The Maroon.

NEWS

Deepti Sailappan, editor Spencer Dembner, editor Lee Harris, editor Emma Dyer, editor VIEWPOINTS

Cole Martin, editor Meera Santhanam, editor

GREY CITY

Caroline Kubzansky, editor

As an Indian who lives in the Philippines, I learned several new things after stepping onto U.S. soil for the first time last fall. Tipping is 15 percent. Having a near-5.0 score on Uber is not uncommon.

Only one person should be in the compartment of a revolving door at a time—let’s say “someone I know” had an embarrassing moment. “How are you?” is a ques-

tion that you will be asked endlessly and be expected to answer with “Good, how are you?” until the question becomes devoid of meaning.

A list of things I already knew how to do: Speak, read, and write in English. On more than one occasion people have told me, “You speak English so well!” No one had ever said that except for my loving

BUSINESS

Antonia Salisbury, chief financial officer Alex Chung, director of development Michael Vetter, co-director of marketing Xavier Worsley, co-director of marketing

ARTS

Alexia Bacigalupi, editor Brooke Nagler, editor May Huang, editor Zoe Bean, deputy editor Perri Wilson, deputy editor

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Rather than provide occasional, optional links to the Title IX site, the module should focus on making these University-specific processes clear and easy to navigate.

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mother, in response to my eighthgrade English teacher Mr. Burke giving me a bad grade. If I knew it was this easy to impress people here, I should also have mentioned that I know that red light means stop and green light means go.

A fter sharing stories with friends who are also international students studying in predominantly white, English-speaking countries, I realized that this form of cultural ignorance is commonplace and often goes unchecked.

Friends of mine have been asked by their American classmates whether they took the SAT or knew about the American college application process. One met an American who was unaware of the existence of the Philippines, and one who thought it was in Philadelphia. Another was commended for not speaking with an accent and then asked to “do the accent.” These are obviously only anecdotes, but the apparent frequency of these comments is concerning. To deny the existence of such microaggressions would be shortsighted.

W hat makes me seethe the most about these moments is the difficulty many Americans have understanding that English is the primary language of instruction in countries other than the U.S. The country I live in was occupied

by Americans for nearly 50 years.

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the Philippines is English, taught side-by-side with one of the local languages, depending on the region. The country I’m from, India, was occupied by a country with a passable grasp of English for almost 100 years. Why is it so surprising that I can speak English?

Before I moved to the Philippines when I was eight and started attending an international school, I went to a public school where English was the primary medium of instruction. Granted, I was privileged enough to go to schools with great resources and cannot extrapolate the same standard for all the students in my countries of

study. But the very fact that I now attend the same institution as you should give you a clue that I have received enough education to be here.

Americans who question international students about their understanding of English and the college application process might seem merely ignorant, but out of this guise slips a latent superiority complex. I respect the pride that Americans have for their country—we love our country where I’m from too. However, I draw the line when someone assumes another ’s level of education is inferior solely because he or she went to school outside the U.S.

True, there is a correlation between socioeconomic conditions and literacy rates in a country, and there are massive disparities in educational attainment across the globe. However, educational inequality exists in the U.S. too, as it does in countries regardless of where they lie on the spectrum of development. I don’t see you complimenting other Americans on their English proficiency.

When a student is unable to process that another student—at the same institution but from a different country—is equally capable, they reveal themselves to be insular, prejudiced thinkers.

They call into question the valid-

ity of my presence as a student in this country. I did not go through some different, dumbed-dow n application process that turned a blind eye to my inadequacy in English. I wrote the same essays you did, struggled through the same application deadlines you did, and took the same tests you did.

They’re called “standardized” for a reason. This attitude is deplorable and evidence of cultural ignorance that pervades this country on a much larger scale.

I believe America offers some of the best education in the world and has made prodigious strides in law, human rights, multiculturalism, freedom, and tolerance.

When America learns, it engenders monumental change because the rest of the world is always watching. I hope that it can take the same strides to discard the cultural ignorance that stands in its way.

A friend of mine gave me some advice that I am morally obliged to pass on: The next time someone tells you that you speak English well, the only correct response is “Thanks, your English is pretty good too.”

Soham Mall is a second-year in the College.

ARTS Sweet Honey in the Rock Takes Rockefeller Chapel to Church

By ZOE WILLIAMS arts reporter

People of all ages filled the aisles of Rockefeller Chapel last Saturday to hear the words and music of acclaimed music group Sweet Honey in the Rock. The ensemble, made up of Carol Maillard, Louise Robinson, Nitanju Bolade Casel, and Aisha Kahill, was joined by bassist Romeir Mendez and guest vocalist Rochelle Rice.

Sweet Honey in the Rock, which is celebrating its 45th year of musical excellence, is this year’s Don Michael Randel Ensemble-in-Residence.

Sweet Honey in the Rock was founded in 1973 by Bernice Johnson Reagon. Since its inception, the all-female Black a cappella group has focused on entertaining and educating its listeners on the injustices that plague the world. Their sage lyrics, often presented in a fusion of gospel, spoken word, and blues, portray inequality with brutal honesty while also projecting a

sense of overwhelming hope. In the course of their 45 years, Sweet Honey in the Rock has achieved international acclaim for its unique and powerful performances.

The night opened with a performance from the University Chorus. Conductor Mollie Stone described how music “must be socially, spiritually and politically relevant ” and spoke on the importance of recognizing the historical context of the music they were singing. For instance, the chorus sang “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, a spiritual that slaves used as a code to help each other escape. Their four-song set was the perfect prologue for the story Sweet Honey in the Rock told next.

The audience gave Sweet Honey in the Rock a standing ovation as they made their way to the center of the stage. The group greeted the crowd with keen political commentary about this year’s midterm elections. Soon after, their melodious voices echoed throughout the chapel, accompanied by the infectious rhythms Mendez

provided.

The group’s lyrics were centered on civic engagement, hope, and racial injustice. When Sweet Honey in the Rock sang about standing up to inequality, the entire crowd stood up, moved by the message that the fight for freedom will not stop until all are free.

The second half of the show had a specific focus on women’s empowerment. The UChicago Women’s Ensemble and the Hyde Park Presto, the all-female ensemble of the Chicago Children’s Choir, sang about the strength and intelligence of women in power. A set dedicated to the political voices of women, it was well complemented by the harmonic voices of fellow women.

Sweet Honey in the Rock followed with more politically charged commentary, this time touching on topics such as gun violence, environmentalism, and criticisms of President Donald Trump. Their second set incorporated a wide variety of styles: Songs deeply influenced by African

culture, a Hebrew song to honor of the victims who lost their lives at the Tree of Life congregation in Pittsburgh, and a somber hymn about the ubiquity of gun violence.

Despite the weight of their lyrics, Sweet Honey in the Rock still inspired hope and empowerment. The set closed with a song called “The Women Gather,” led by founding member Carol Maillard and backed by the Women’s Ensemble.

Sweet Honey in the Rock’s beautiful performance was indicative of the ability music has to transcend notes on a page and to echo throughout the corridors of our lives and social realities.

If you missed Sweet Honey in the Rock last week, be sure to check out their performances next year at “An Intimate Evening With Sweet Honey in the Rock” on February 8, or their last concert of their UChicago residency with the Chicago Children’s Choir on Saturday, May 11.

Stan Lee Infused His Magic Into the Adult World

By JESSICA JIWON CHOE arts reporter

If you haven’t stumbled across the buzz about Infinity War plastered all over Facebook or encountered wistful “I don’t feel so good” memes floating around the Internet, you have been living under a rock.

These days, the world of comic books— one relatively isolated in the confines of what many used to categorize as “nerd world”—has seen the light of day, largely due to the efforts of “that old guy in sunglasses”: Stan Lee. Whether you know his name or not, he has probably touched your life in some way—he could be referred to as the comic book version of J. K. Rowling.

Based in a small office in Manhattan, Lee initially only wrote comics with the hope that he could “keep [ his] job, keep eating and paying the rent,” according to a 2002 interview with 60 Minutes. However, what f lowed from his pen were worlds of fantasy that captivated a legion of dedicated fans, including yours truly. His empire only grew over the years with the success of Marvel.

As much as I appreciated him during his life, Lee’s passing forced me to take a step back and reconsider what it is that makes his legacy so unique. Was it the billions earned by his company? Was it the sophisticated cinematography and CGI of the continued on pg.

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Stan Lee’s wit was a signature of his comic worlds. courtesy of matt carr

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Marvel universe? I think those traits serve as merely garnish on a truly simple secret: Stan Lee infused magic into our grown-up world. He excavated buried magic from our childhood by reimagining the princes and princesses of bedtime stories as Avengers and X-Men. Through his comics, I watched him rework fairy tales that I had never truly grown out of, witnessed him juxtapose them with my mature setting. In Black Widow, I found a new Mulan and in Captain America, a much more intense version of Sleeping Beauty. Tailor-made to reflect the struggles of the adult world, superheroes became relevant again and the magic that fairy tales embodied found a way of resurfacing in a more relatable manner.

Within a whirlw ind of fa ntasy a nd magic, Lee’s characters always retain a familiar humanity, a sense of reality. During my angst-filled teen years, the phrase “If Thor can make a mistake, so can I” became a personal mantra which not only drove my family crazy due to the insane number of times a day I would chant it, but also served as a steady lifeline in my ocean of unpredictability. Lee’s wise realization that magic had to be taken out of its exhibition case and fused with the slightly more realistic nature of humanity created superheroes with moral qualms and real problems. In his own words, he “just tried to write characters who are human beings who also have superpowers.”

This memoriam seems to burden Lee’s

legacy with a great amount of weight. However, true to his style, I’d like to spotlight Lee’s light comedic nature—his innate wit that flowed through each of his comics and is reflected so authentically in the Marvel franchise. Wittiness was the glue binding Lee’s worlds of reality and fantasy. Iron Man, arguably one of Lee’s most popular characters, is known for his sarcastic comments on impending world catastrophes.

Wit became the lifeblood of an enterprise that made billions, because honestly, who doesn’t fall for funny?

As if he were worried his distinctive wit would not be properly portrayed in the movies, Lee actually made cameos in most, if not all, of his Marvel movies. An old man with glasses telling off Thor is probably one

of his most famous scenes. I can’t describe how many times I’ve held my friends back at the movie theater to catch his cameo— much like a three-hour game of “Where’s Waldo.”

Out of reverence to Stan, I wish to refrain from concluding this memoriam with wit, because I think that’s best left to him.

When I heard the news of his passing, I immediately thought of a scene in the original Spider-Man 3 movie with Tobey Maguire, where Lee walks up to an unsuspecting Peter Parker who is quietly ref lecting on his adventures. Ever so simply, Lee says, “You know, I guess one person can make a difference.” Today, we honor that man—his name is Stan Lee.

Gravity Pairs Beckons Towards Beacon’s Future

By ALEXANDRE LABOSSIERE-BARRERA arts reporter

Beacon was founded in 2011 by Thomas Mullarney and Jacob Gossett when they were both students in Brooklyn. The duo caught on to the latest wave of the psychedelic and electronic rock scene that was emerging at the time, presumably inf luenced by more prominent names such as Tame Impala, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Beach Fossils, and others to which they are often compared. Regardless, the band has managed to find its own sound in an often-oversaturated market. Gravity Pairs marks Beacon’s third full-length studio album, and sixth official release.

Over its life, Beacon has seen a trend of notable musical development, and this album is no exception. Anyone familiar with Beacon’s music is probably used to hearing a fairly minimalist approach to downtempo electronic. Gravity Pairs follows suit, but now seems to lean a bit more on more traditional instruments as leads and bold melody-makers, as opposed to the heavy synthesized sounds and electronic drums of their past. W hile this ty pe of change is often risky, especially for artists like

Beacon with fairly established sounds, the duo executes it well, providing something fresh for their listeners but staying true to their sound for longtime fans. This change in the forefront of their sound is dampened with the same ambient droning and pulsating synths which, paired with Mullarney’s signature haunting and emotional vocals, makes for an album that is definitively and unmistakably Beacon.

Gravity Pairs starts off with a simple dampened arpeggiator in “Don’t Go Looking”, which eventually fades into the background as swelling pads and passionate vocals take front stage. The track reaches a climactic moment almost two minutes in as a more traditional drum kit makes its first appearance. The track gives a concise but comprehensive preview of what is to follow, leaving a listener satisfied but eagerly wanting more.

Other standout songs include “Marion” and “The Road,” both of which are situated in the middle of the album, sitting at the top of the Gaussian curve of energy that the album provides. Looking deeper into Gravity Pairs, one can find a world of incredible fragility. The album’s lyrics are poetically cryptic but contain clear romantic undertones. These delicate lyrics,

paired with track names such as “On Ice,” create incredible tension that contrasts effectively with downtempo instrumenta ls, fabricating a sense of uniformit y throughout the album.

In examining the album further, one finds Beacon taking a turn in the details as well. The lyrics of the album are the same emotional verses that people expect of Mullarney, but interestingly contain their own fair share of religious undertones, as seen most explicitly in “Be My Organ”: “Be my organ now and play for me./ Be my witness now and set me free./ Be the altar, I’m falling to my knees./ And in my wicked hour bring me peace.”

This theme and others are continued throughout the album, most notably imagery pertaining to nature and the senses, as well as extraterrestrial and supernatural motifs. This helps tie the album together from a conceptual standpoint, on top of an already musically consistent work. In this way, Beacon has developed lyrically, continuing its trend of musical progress from album to album.

W hat Gravit y Pairs gives in uniformity among its tracks, though, it lacks in uniqueness. The duo opts to use what

sounds like the same set of sounds and drums throughout the album, creating a homogeneity among tracks and a more cohesive listening experience. Unfortunately, that same strength is Gravity Pairs’s biggest weakness. The musical consistency between tracks detracts from the true impact of Beacon’s thoug ht f u l, poetic lyrics. Many tracks are so similar, in fact, that large portions of them often seem to act as filler between standout moments.

Thankfully, there’s more than enough of those moments to make a full listen of the album worth it. This misstep, however, could deter some listeners entirely.

Gravity Pairs is a great step forward for Beacon and provides a tastefully fresh sound for the duo while remaining rooted in their past musically. The album provides an emotionally-fragile-yet-tense feeling on Beacon’s signature downtempo instrumentals. Consistency between tracks is a defining characteristic of the album but at the same time proves to be its biggest f law. However, these dips in intensity are more than reconciled in the buildups of tension and incredible payoffs scattered throughout, and make for a complete and noteworthy listening experience.

Michelle Obama Graces the Seminary Co-Op

By ALINA KIM arts reporter

It did not matter to students or local bookstore members that the weather app warned temperatures would drop to the 20s last Sunday. The instant Seminar y Co-Op Bookstore announced at 11 a.m. that former First Lady Michelle Obama would be coming to celebrate the release of her memoir *Becoming*, excited fans— some still in their pajamas—bolted to the bookstore to purchase a ticket. The event sold out completely in a matter of hours, with people buying 500 tickets and 800 books in total.

Before the ma in event, 57th Street Books hosted a midnight release party to celebrate Obama’s debut as an author.

Blue and white balloons hung from the ceiling and the walls; hot cocoa, coffee, and #IAmBecoming cookies were placed on the tables; and #IAmBecoming cards were taped throughout the bookstore with hopeful messages. Some cards stated its writer’s hope to become “kinder,” “happier,” or “patient,” while others took the time to make light jokes, remarking that they would become “$32.50 + tax poorer” or “an efficient procrastinator.”

Seminary Co-Op director Jeff Deutsch reflected the enthusiasm bustling around

the shop, commenting, “The moment the former first lady signed the book deal with us, we immediately began planning this event. This is the most important book in our neighborhood, because she is one of the most accomplished women in our community who inspires us all because she is so human. Even before she was the first lady, we were her biggest fans. It’s so thrilling to see her come back home, especially to the bookstore she was a member of since 1985!”

“She is admirable to not only Black women, but to all woman for her bravery,” an attendee said. “This book is raw, unedited—she is out of the White House, after all—and her vulnerability will encourage people.”

The celebration ended with a countdown to midnight followed by the distribution of the first copies of Becoming.

The following afternoon, though the temperature dropped to freezing, people hurriedly rushed their way to the Seminar y Co-Op. A nticipation filled the air as the serpentine line snaked around the block; all 500 people gathered in hopes of catching a glimpse of Obama before she entered the bookstore. Seminary Co-Op employees passed around hot cocoa, cider, and coffee as even the two-hour-long wait failed to dampen the spirits of the

fans who eagerly anticipated the start of the event.

Explaining why she came for the event, an attendee said, “Michelle is back home in the South Side. I think it’s so thoughtful of her to host a book signing in her hometow n before her tour launches. It just shows how fantastic she is as a person.”

As the time of the event drew closer, the bookstore became a crowded maze of attendees. W hen the employees a nnounced Obama’s arrival, books immediately thudded back onto the shelves in an almost-rhythmic fashion, and people could barely contain their excitement.

Obama made time to meet her youngest fans first, greeting them with a high five and of fering them adv ice, encouraging them to work hard, and to be kind and understanding to their siblings, even when it seemed i mpossible. She t hen greeted her older fans with a firm handshake and a warm smile. Although most people had mere seconds to talk to her, she made the most of each conversation. She advised her student fans to study hard and never abandon their dreams. When called a personal hero, she broke out into a huge grin and thanked everyone for their love and support.

After meeting Obama, many fans were witnessed wiping tears from their eyes,

overcome by emotion, or staring at the book in awe.

“She was more beautiful than I could have imagined,” a fan tearfully stated. “I will read this book the instant I get home.”

Michelle Obama signed copies of her new memoir Becoming at the Seminary Co-Op. courtesy of penguin random house

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Frankenstein Sans Dialogue: A Twist on the Classic Story

By SANJANA VENKITTU & MAY HUANG arts reporter and arts editor

The scene: summer, 1817; a young Mary Shelley enters a competition with her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and their close friend Lord By ron to see who among them can come up with the best ghost story. The product is published anonymously in early 1918 and quickly becomes a staple, perhaps even the beginning, of science fiction literature.

Over 200 years later, Mar y Shelley’s story and the history behind her creation come to life in a spectacular production by Manual Cinema. Staged at Court Theatre, Frankenstein tells the familiar story of the arrogant young scientist Victor Frankenstein who transgresses the laws of nature to create a monstrous being—but with a twist.

After all, this production cannot be described simply as a play or a musical, because it is neither.

Rather, Frankenstein combines elements of shadow puppetry, live silent film, and stop-motion animation to tell the many layers of the story. True to the style of Manual Cinema, whose co-artistic directors include University of Chicago

faculty and alumni, live musicians and vocalists perform alongside the images on screen to produce a visual and auditory experience unlike any other. Manual Cinema has come a long way since it began in 2010. With accolades from the National Puppet Festival to the Emmys under its belt, the performance collective is, as The New York Times put it, “conjuring phantasms to die for.”

The use of multiple media helps to expound upon the many different layers of the Frankenstein story. One layer, of course, focuses on the story of Frankenstein himself. Another showcases the creative process behind the story, going into detail about the challenges Shelley faced in her personal life as well as those she faced as a woman in the early 19th century; this background, juxtaposed with the Frankenstein story, gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the well-known, well-loved story. In a meta way, it also doubles the figure of the “creator”—both Mary Shelley and Victor Frankenstein are played by the Manual Cinema’s co-artistic director Sarah Fornace, and both are responsible for creating a “hideous progeny” (a phrase Shelley used to describe her novel, and one that could equally describe

the creature).

What current theatregoers will not realize is that a previous rendition of the play, the version shown during previews, included a third layer—the story of Fanny Imlay, Shelley’s half-sister. Parallels between biography and fiction traversed the production as the relationship between Imlay (played by the same actor who portrays Frankenstein’s monster and Frankenstein’s wife) and Shelley spoke to the overarching theme of abandonment. Just as Frankenstein deserts his monster after bringing him to life, Shelley neglects Imlay while writing her novel. What responsibility, Manual Cinema asks, do creators have for their creations?

“In a story so focused on the female experience, we felt it important to reflect the female perspective,” explained Fornace. The production features a powerful all-female cast, doubling roles onstage as well as multitasking between puppeteering and acting.

The result is a rich and emotional product that pulls no punches, calling out the careless misogyny that so many women recognize.

Fornace also explained that the absence of spoken dialogue in the play (not a single word is uttered in the production, although words

appear onscreen) limits the scope of the storyline, making the adaptation less faithful to the source.

Literature purists may be disappointed with the verisimilitude of this play to the novel, considering that the production takes numerous liberties with the well-known story. However, the piece nonetheless manages to relay the main ideas and events of the narrative, taking diversions to lend humor to the plot and to further the artistic directors unique interpretation of the story’s meaning.

The predominance of shadows and silhouettes above speech makes the versatility and expression of the cast all the more incredible. Fornace evokes empathy as well as disdain in separate situations, leaving the audience to wonder whether it really is a single person or a double who performs her multiple roles. Similarly, Leah Casey’s portrayal of Percy Shelley reveals his lyrical writing as a Romantic poet even as he remains completely silent.

The use of music, central to Manual Cinema’s productions, also makes the play unique. Though the audience can clearly see the musicians performing on stage (as opposed to the actors, who primarily inhabit the shadows), music and

visuals blend seamlessly. As the music helps the audience experience the story without words and the story helps contextualize the music, both narrative and sound blend together.

Those coming to this production hoping to see the “creature” at its most monstrous and grotesque might be disappointed. With the precedence of SFX makeup used on the creature in other productions, this rendition comparatively has rather unimpressive and unconvincing costuming. The creature ends up looking less like an undead monster, and more like a rag doll built by a child. We almost wonder whether something so not intimidating can be capable of the violence seen on screen. Audiences either come to sympathize with the creature or are left hoping they were watching something more “believable.”

Yet it is clea r that Ma nua l Cinema’s production of Frankenstein goes beyond the archetypes portrayed by popular culture to expound upon the genius of its creator, Mary Shelley. This is certainly not the Frankenstein we have encountered before. At the end, one is left wondering: Who really is the Modern Prometheus?

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SPORTS Men’s Soccer Advances to Third Round SOCCER

By DIESTEFANO LOMA sports editor

After a close and hard-fought victory against Carleton College, the No. 3 University of Chicago men’s soccer team advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament, where they will face off against Trinity University on Saturday, November 17. This will be the second time these two teams meet, after a 3–3 draw that went to double overtime in early September.

The No. 5 Trinity Tigers (17–1–3) faced a difficult path to advance this far, having played two games in two days. Nevertheless, they made easy work of their opponents, defeating both Chapman University and Mary Hardin-Baylor 3–0, in what amounted to their 10th shutout of the season. One advantage the Tigers have is the experience of playing long and grueling matches. Five of their matches in the regular season went to overtime, three of which went to double overtime. When you add that to the extra 90 minutes they played in the

Fourth-year Matthew Koh looks to bring the ball up the field. university of chicago athletics

Cross Country Sprints To NCAAs

first round, it demonstrates the high stamina they possess and the ability to thrive in exhausting conditions. The Tigers are prepared to endure even longer if they need to and are confident in their capabilities since they have never lost a game that went to overtime.

This season, the Tigers conceded only 15 goals and scored a total of 76 goals. They are led by fourth-year forward Austin Michaelis, who has 12 goals this season, with four of them being game-winning goals. Trinity is a team that initiates the attack and puts pressure from the very beginning. In the first eight minutes of the game against Chapman, they already had three on-target shots, and similarly had four shots on goal in the first 17 minutes against Mary Hardin-Baylor. In both games, the Tigers combined to outshoot their opponents by a 43–25 margin. The defense has also played its role well by limiting the number of shots on goal each team gets. In total, the two goalkeepers combined for 61 saves this season, with the starter responsible for 56 of them.

The Maroons advanced to this round thanks to goals from third-year Dayo Adeosun and first-year Kyle Ruark, ending the 16-match unbeaten streak from the Carleton Knights.

UChicago outshot their opponent by a 24–7

Senior Spotlight: Jeremy Vincent

CROSS COUNTRY

By MIRANDA BURT sports reporter

The men’s and women’s cross country teams travel to Winneconne, Wisconsin this weekend to compete in the NCAA Division III Championships. Both teams earned an atlarge bid to the championships. The two teams are coming off impressive performances at a snowy Midwest regionals this past Saturday that the teams believe will help them when facing another cold-weather championship meet.

Women’s third-year Sydney Smith spoke of the season the two teams have had so far.

“This season we have had a number of remarkable finishes! Both our women and men’s team have worked incredibly hard this season, and I really think it shows in our top placements at each race this season! I contribute a lot of success to veterans such as Sophie Elgamal, Claire Brockway, Maggie Boudreau, Ryan Cutter, Tim Koenning, Chase Gardner, and many more who have continued to lead our team week after week. Additionally, our freshman squad is one of the most talented that I have seen, and they too have been large factor in our success this season.”

The women came in fourth in the region, scoring a total of 118 points. They were led by second-years Sophie Elgamal (10th, 22:08.1) and Emma Dyer (25th, 22:42.3) and third-

FOOTBALL

years Maggie Boudreau (21st, 22:36.4) and Claire Brockway (23rd, 22:40.3). All of these women earned All-Region accolades.

On the men’s side, three underclassman led the way to a sixth place finish behind 166 points. All-Region honorees were second-years Ryan Cutter (15th, 25:03.9) and Chase Gardner (33rd, 25:33.7) as well as first-year Henry Myers (22nd, 25:18.7).

Smith spoke on the teams’ chances at the upcoming championship meet: “These are two of the deepest cross country teams I’ve seen since being here, and I look forward to many noteworthy performances at nationals.”

32 teams will compete at the national championships. Sixteen of these teams are automatic qualifiers, and 16 are at-large teams like the Maroons. This marks the ninth year in a row the women have qualified to compete in the championships. The women will look to follow an impressive 2017 showing, where then fourth-year Khia Kurtenbach won the individual national title, and the team as a whole placed 14th. The women’s team took fourth at the NCAA meet in 2013, their highest program finish. The Maroon men are returning for the first time since 2015 and will look to top their highest program finish—ninth place in 2005.

The women’s race will commence at 11 a.m. with the men following at noon at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh.

Upcoming Events SPORT

OPPONENT

DAY

TIME

Swim & Dive

Phoenix Fall Classic

Friday

6 p.m.

Women’s Basketball

Heidelberg

Friday

5 p.m.

Wrestling

Concordia (Wis.)

Saturday

9 a.m.

Cross Country

NCAA Championship

Men’s Soccer

Trinity (Texas)

Men’s Basketball

Claremont

Saturday

margin, with shots taken as early as the second minute. Ruark’s confidence has grown, considering his late-game heroics produced two game-winning goals in the final minutes of matches against Rochester and Carleton.

The team had the opportunity to rest due to a bye week for the first round of the tournament, not to mention the fact that as hosts of this four-team sectional, they have the advantage of playing at home.

While fourth-years Matthew Koh (14 goals) and Max Lopez (13 goals) didn’t get on the scoresheet last game, the Maroons can always rely on anyone to step up and contribute. The Maroons scored a total of 44 goals this season. With 23 of them within in the first half, and 21 in the second half, the Tigers must be well balanced in playing both sides of the field; one mistake and the Maroons will make sure you don’t forget it. They only conceded 13 goals this season, in part due to the defense shutting out all attackers. Additionally, second-year goalkeeper Aaron Katsimpalis has made 69 saves to contribute.

If the Maroons advance to the sectional final, they will face off against the winner of Luther College and University of St. Thomas on Sunday, November 18.

11:15 a.m.

Saturday

1 p.m.

Saturday

2 p.m.

By MICHAEL PERRY sports reporter

The Maroons’ 48–16 victory over Lake Forest marked the end of fourth-year Jeremy Vincent’s outstanding football career. Vincent, who has started all 40 games the Maroons have played in since 2015, was a two-time captain, the UAA Rookie of the Year in 2015, First Team All-Southern Athletic Association in 2016, and First Team All-Midwest Conference in both 2017 and 2018, among many other awards and accolades.

Four years ago in Westlake Village, CA, Vincent played both wide receiver and safety for Oaks Christian School. He quickly became a standout player and garnered interest from many collegiate football programs, including Division I colleges. After taking into account more than just his football career, Vincent settled on the University of Chicago.

“It gave me an opportunity to get one of the best educations in the world and work with some of the brightest students and faculty,” Vincent said on his decision. “It also allowed me to continue playing the sport that I loved.

My goal was always to play college football, no matter the level, and UChicago presented that opportunity to me. Not many places allow you to get a great education, play football, and have Chicago as your backyard for four years.”

Despite originally committing as a wide receiver, plans changed quickly and by the time Vincent showed up to camp during his first year the coaches moved him to the other side of the ball. Now a safety, Vincent quickly fought his way to the top of the depth chart and started the very first game of his collegiate career at his new position.

“I’ve loved every moment of it,” Vincent answered when asked about his sudden move to safety. “I played safety in high school so I was familiar with the position, but it was an opportunity to really develop as a defensive player under the new scheme and coaches.”

Vincent’s initial trial by fire paid off down the road as he accumulated experience. The results speak for themselves: over the course of his four seasons, Vincent accumulated 240

tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, seven interceptions, 27 pass break-ups, three forced fumbles, and four fumble recoveries. More than just the stats, however, Vincent helped lead the Maroon football program through a time of transition. After going 6–4 during Vincent’s first season in 2015, the Maroons fell to 4–6 during his second season in 2016. The team then fought back to 6–4 in 2017 and then broke through this season to a 7–3 record despite starting the season 0–2.

Vincent credits his teammates for the steady improvement; “I think the biggest change has been player investment into the program. We’ve always had a saying that you get out what you put into the program. And over the four years more and more players have been buying into that motto.”

Despite what Vincent says, third-year wide-receiver and fellow team captain Dante Nepa credits Vincent for setting the standard which the team followed: “Jeremy is the epitome of a leader. He goes about his business the right way and provides a great example for the rest of our team on what hard work, dedication, and a drive to win will do both on and off the field.”

In a pleasant turn of events during Vincent’s second year, his older brother Brandon Vincent got drafted by the Chicago Fire out of Stanford in the first round of the 2016 MLS SuperDraft. “It was one of the coolest things I’ve been able to experience,” said Jeremy on Brandon’s drafting. “I knew he was going to be drafted, but never thought it would be in the same city that I went to school in.”

Upon graduation, Vincent, who is often called “JV” by his teammates and friends, will be an Investment Banking Analyst in the Debt Capital Markets Group at Citi. Outside of football, Vincent was involved with the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and the Order of the C. “As much as we will miss him next year, we are all very excited to see the great things JV accomplishes post-graduation,” Nepa added.

“He is the best friend, teammate, and roommate I could have asked for in my time at UChicago and I will miss him dearly.”