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NOVEMBER 20, 2018

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

Four Dead in Mercy Hospital Shooting, Victims Treated at U of C Trauma Center

Mayoral Candidate Proposes Police Monitoring App

By DIMITRIY LEKSANOV news reporter

There was a heavy police presence outside the University’s trauma center. euirim choi

By MATTHEW LEE & EUIRIM CHOI

news reporter & editor-in- chief

A shooting at Mercy Hospital in Chicago’s South Side left four dead, including a police officer, a doctor, a pharmaceutical assistant, and the gunman. The University’s trauma center treated multiple victims, including a Chicago Police Department (CPD) officer who was fatally shot.

The police superintendent said at a press conference that the shooting occurred shortly after 3 p.m. very

close to the hospital. The gunman fatally shot a female hospital employee in what was referred to as a “domestic dispute.”

He then fled inside the hospital as police responded. Police entered the hospital and began exchanging gunfire with the offender. The gunman shot another woman and a CPD officer. CPD says it is still unclear whether the gunman died of self-inflicted wounds.

Officials said that one of the victims was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Two, including

a woman and the police officer, were taken to University of Chicago Medicine, where they later died.

The police officer, Samuel Jimenez, was assigned to the second district and entered the hospital when he heard gunshots. He began his job as a CPD officer in February 2017. He had three children.

This is the highest-profile mass trauma incident for the University of Chicago’s new facility, which opened in May 2018 after years of campaigning by community activists.

Obama Reflects on “Common Hope” at Second Annual Obama Foundation Summit

By WILLIAM YUEN YEE news reporter

“I set up this foundation just so I could hang out with cool people like you,” Barack Obama joked to a crowd of youth leaders on Monday afternoon.

The talk marked the closing session of the second annual Obama Foundation Summit, which took place at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Chicago. The summit gathered 650 youth participants from the Foundation’s international programs, including Harris Public Policy’s Obama Foundation Scholars and Foundation Fellows.

The theme of this year’s event was “Common Hope. Uncommon Stories.”

Obama spoke with author Dave Eggers about an array of topics, from enacting meaningful societal change to his community organizing in Chicago.

He then delved into the challenges of making a positive difference, iterating the importance of community. “There are few human

From Diving Boards to Dining Hall: A History of Bartlett

By MALLORY MOORE

page 3

endeavors that are worthwhile that you can do by yourself,” he said.

“The idea of each of us having very unique, specific stories, but that, if we bother listening to each, that those stories merge and blend. There’s a community to be unearthed there,” he said. “I think the reason we don’t see that or feel that now is because it does require you to listen to others.”

The former president was frank in his criticism of current institutions in modern civil society today.

“You get to the U.S. Senate— and you’re looking around like, oh man, you got all these jamokes here. Then when you’re president, you’re sitting in these G20 meetings with all these world leaders, and it’s the same people,” he quipped to the crowd. “What I’m trying to say is the nature of human dynamics does not change from level to level.”

Obama also did not mince words in his discussion of obstacles to societal progress.

“What prevents us from imple-

menting most of the things that we would probably collectively agree would make the world better is not an absence of technical solutions.

It’s because there are humans involved,” he said. “The reason we don’t do it is because we are still confused, blind, shrouded with hate and anger and racism.”

He continued, “It’s going to be up to you to figure out how to refashion those institutions so they work. And that is a big project, and it is a heavy burden, but what a joyous burden that is.”

He closed his remarks on an optimistic note. “If you had to be born at any moment in human history, and you didn’t know ahead of time whether you were going to be Black, white, Asian, Latino, that you didn’t know what country you were from, whether you’re male, female, gay, straight…you’d choose now.

“Or maybe two years ago,” he concluded to laughter.

During the two-day summit, attendees discussed how to adcontinued on pg.

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VOL. 130, ISSUE 16

“Rahm Failed Us.” The biting slogan first made waves plastered on T-shirts at a Bernie Sanders campaign rally in 2015 and has since become the refrain of Chicago’s many progressive activists.

It is only fitting, then, that the man who coined the slogan, Ja’Mal Green, a 23-year-old activist, entrepreneur, community leader, and now mayoral candidate, has never been one to mince words.

Green entered the city spotlight as an ardent gun violence activist, pushing for the release of the infamous police dashcam video of the shooting of Laquan McDonald. His social media base has grown rapidly, and he now has the largest Twitter following out of all the mayoral candidates.

The Maroon sat down with Green to learn more about his candidacy.

Background and platform Having grown up in Chicago, Green has aimed to improve community relations since his early teenage years. At 15, Green founded the youth program Skyrocketing Teen Corps, later called Majostee Allstars. It aims to promote finan-

cial literacy, entrepreneurship, and assorted life skills, from gardening to money management.

After founding Majostee Allstars, Green went on to make waves as a progressive activist.

Leading up to the 2016 election, Green worked for Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign, while also serving as a leading player in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. At a campaign rally in December 2015, Green appeared in his iconic “Rahm Failed Us” shirt, contributing to the popularization of the slogan.

In March 2016, Green led a group of counter-protestors at a Donald Trump campaign rally, prompting Trump to cancel the event. In July, Green made national news when he was taken into custody during a BLM protest of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s response to the murder of Laquan McDonald.

Today, this fervent desire for more transparency and improved relations between communities, the police, and government fuels Green’s candidacy. “If Rahm Emanuel was transparent about what happened at Laquan McDonald’s situation and did not cover it up to get reelected, he wouldn’t be continued on pg.

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Waka Flocka Flame perfomed at Mandel Hall last Saturday. Full review on page 6. jeremy lindenfeld

The Problem With Mimicking Harvard

Advertising in The Maroon

By RUBY RORTY page 5

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2

Events 11/20–11/26

Tuesday Relay for Life Kickoff: PJ Party and Free Food!

McCormick Lounge, Reynolds Club, 6–8 p.m.

Join Colleges Against Cancer for a PJ party filled with delicious pastries from Au Bon Pain, milk and cookies, Relay for Life giveaways, music, and fun. Sign up for the Relay for Life event, which will be held from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, May 3, on the main quad in the spring.

Dinner with SACH: Save A Child’s Heart!

Stuart Hall, 6:30–7:30 p.m.

Join International Youth Leadership Director Brianna Fowler for a sushi dinner and hear about the organization “Save A Child’s Heart,” a humanitarian organization working to save the lives of children with heart disease in developing countries, and the ways you could get involved with it.

Thursday Thanksgiving Dinner at Sanctuary Café Sanctuary Café, 4 p.m.–7 p.m.

Sanctuary Café will live upto its name by hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for students who cannot go and chose to not go home. The dinner is free of charge. Donations and volunteers to help at the dinner are accepted and appreciated.

Saturday

Summit Also Included Activists and Artists continued from front

vance community leadership in today’s society, participating in guest lectures and group breakout sessions. Other high-profile guest speakers at the summit included Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, singer Janelle Monáe, and bestselling author Tara Westover.

Mario Mazic was an attendee and is part of the inaugural cohort of Obama Foundation Scholars at UChicago. The program combines a Master of Arts degree from the Harris School of Public Policy with a scholarship covering tuition, expenses, and opportunities to pursue civic engagement outside the classroom.

Mazic is the founder and program board president of Youth Initiative for Human Rights Croatia, a nongovernmental organization that supports victims of human rights abuses in areas affected by war. He discussed his hopes for his Obama Foundation Scholarship experience with The Maroon.

“I think it’s very valuable to have an opportunity to dedicate some time to actually thinking and planning what I’m going to be later,” he said. “Because what we often miss in civil society is actually the time to sit down and think about the approach.”

Upon graduation, Mazic plans to return to Croatia and advocate for a stronger judiciary and presence of the rule of law in his home country.

Manual Cinema’s Frankenstein Court Theatre, 7:30–10:00 p.m.

Witness Mary Shelley’s classic, Frankenstein, at the Court Theatre. Love, loss, and creation merge in unexpected ways in this thrilling classic Gothic tale. General admission is $38–74, and student tickets are $25–35.

Monday UCPU Presents: Should the U.S. Abolish ICE? Kent Hall, Room 107, 6–7:30 p.m.

Join UChicago Political Union, which is featuring Sean McElwee, the founder of Abolish ICE and Data for Progress. The debate will is on whether ICE should be abolished or not.

Support Our Advertisers Page Four: The College is offering two capstone courses in the Big Problems sequence. These classes, open to third- and fourth-years, address matters of global importance.

Page Six: Jimmy John’s, located on 55th Street, sells sandwiches.

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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The summit also featured a variety of other speakers including Diane Guerrero, an Orange Is the New Black actress and ardent immigration activist whose undocumented Colombian parents were deported from the U.S. when she was 14. Fatima Zaman, also an Obama Foundation Scholar at the University of Chicago, shared her work with combating violent extremism in her home country of the United Kingdom. 15-year-old Esperanza Rivera discussed her experiences with 826CHI, a nonprofit organization that amplifies Chicago’s youth voices through creative writing.

National Poet Youth Laureate Patri-

cia Frazier performed three original spoken-word poems chronicling her personal experiences in Chicago. One memorable piece decried negative media portrayals of the South Side, titled “71st and Wabash,” the location of the first apartment she moved into.

“Since I moved here I walk twice as fast/ because of what my family tells me/ about this patch of Chicago land, a city/ caught in the wrong throat. I walk like I don’t/ know how quickly saliva decomposes. like/ I don’t know how quickly a mouth can swallow/ a whole people before even checking/ for nutritional value.”

Green Says Campaign Is “Experience of a Lifetime” continued from front

Community Yoga with YogaCare Washington Park Arts Incubator, 10:30–11:30 a.m.

This beginner yoga class is an introduction to basic yoga poses and healthy alignment. The program also incorporates yogic breathing, meditation, and relaxation techniques and is great for stress relief and overall relaxation. Admission is free.

Obama discussed social change and Chicago with author Dave Eggers. jeremy lindenfeld

in the horrible mess, and this city wouldn’t be in the horrible mess that it’s in today,” he said.

Green suggests that an improved police oversight board to deal with abuses of power by police officers would ameliorate Chicagoans’ relationship with the police. He said that members of the committee would come from all walks of life, ranging from retired officers to attorneys to regular civilians.

On his campaign website, Green also proposes a mobile app called Excuse Me Officer, which would be used to observe and analyze behavioral trends in police interactions.

“Transparency is important so that you can get communities to understand government, to be a part of government, to be a part of politics, to love their police officers in the community, and want to call 911,” he said.

Youth empowerment, the motivation behind Majostee Allstars, has also manifested into a key component of Green’s campaign.

For instance, Green believes that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) needs to undergo significant reforms to be workable.

“You can’t have a kid come from a broken home, dodge bullets on the way to school, have a mental health problem, and then stick

them in class and think that they’re going to learn with 40 other kids around them,” he said. “It’s not going to happen.”

Although CPS has made improvements in recent years, especially in terms of four-year graduation rates, minority students have not seen the same improvement as white students, with more than a third of black males still dropping out.

The promotion of mental health is also a pressing issue for Green. He plans to begin by rebranding clinics as “wellness centers” to change public attitudes about mental health.

“It has not been a priority in this administration, and mental health correlates to crime in our streets,” he said.

Green added that this priority extends to not only youth, but also other community groups that are flagrantly underserved

by Chicago’s mental health services, noting high depression rates among veterans and the elderly.

To combat this, Green has devised a holistic plan.

“As far as my wellness centers [go], it’s not just psychiatry, but yoga, boxing, karate, [and] massage therapy,” he said. He plans to train dogs and cats to be service animals for veterans and people with disabilities.

Green also believes that mental health is a critical issue for police officers, noting that several officers have committed suicide in the last few months. He said he will ensure that every officer has a mental health evaluation each year.

The road ahead As a first-time politician and the second youngest candidate in the race, Green has hit some bumps in the road, saying, “It has been hard, stressful at some points, being looked down on by some older leaders.” All in all, however, he said he’s enjoyed the journey, describing the mayoral race as “an experience of a lifetime.”

When asked about the process of promoting the campaign, Green said that it has been “difficult,” but also noted that social media has been extremely effective in promoting his message, saying, “We haven’t been shut out completely.”

In the future, Green plans to continue growing Majostee Allstars, which he said may move into a permanent facility soon.

Now, however, his focus is entirely on the campaign: “You know, of course I can have dreams and goals, but I gotta see how this goes first.”

Professors Discuss Book on Decision Making

By NEEL LAHIRI & ZEFF WORLEY news reporters

Booth School of Business professor Richard Thaler and Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein, coauthors of the bestseller Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness, sat down to talk about their past work and its lasting impact in an event organized by the Becker Friedman Institute (BFI) on Thursday. Economics professor Michael Greenstone moderated the freewheeling discussion in front of an audience of hundreds at the University of Chicago Lab School.

Thaler, a Booth professor and Nobel Laureate, and Sunstein, a former University of Chicago law professor and the most-cited law professor in the country, coauthored Nudge while both were faculty members at the University of Chicago. The bestseller brought behavioral economics into the public con-

sciousness, and inspired governments across the world to incorporate their theories into public policy.

Their work casts institutions as “choice architects” to give people “nudges” in different directions. Nutritional fact labeling, optout savings deduction programs, and opt-out organ donation all frame a particular choice in a certain way and reflect nudging in action.

Sunstein used the metaphor of a GPS system to further elaborate on the concept of a “nudge”: “Think of a GPS device as a mechanism that preserves freedom of choice, but also steers people in a direction that they have specified.”

Given this, Nudge suggests that institutions set the “default choices” to encourage certain behaviors, while also preserving the person’s ability to choose. They classify nudges as “libertarian paternalism”—paternalistic in the sense that people’s behavior is being directed in a certain way, but libertarian in the

sense that their freedom of choice is retained.

Both professors stressed automatic enrollment as one type of “nudge” with significant real-world impact. “If you see a 50-year-old that has a total of $3,000 saved, you know, it’s a good guess that that’s too little,” Thaler explained. “And if we can automatically enroll them into a savings plan—that they can opt out of—they save a lot more.”

Sunstein cited subsidized lunches as a tangible positive effect of automatic enrollment.

“In a bad year, ten million children are having meals to which they’re legally entitled as a result of automatic enrollment,” he said.

According to Sunstein, choice architecture is already ubiquitous. However, he also mentioned that a population could have a negative reaction to being nudged and said that its potential emotional effect must be considered.

Thaler hopes that choice architecture will continued on pg.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 20, 2018

“We didn’t invent

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Winter is Coming... But Not Yet

nudging. We just coined the term for it.” continued from pg.

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one day help to address issues such as voter registration and environmental change, but also emphasized that nudging can have no effect, or could even be abused, calling this sort of choice architecture “sludge.” He pointed to his own experience with a popular newspaper’s online paywall and the difficulty involved with cancelling its subscription.

“You can absolutely nudge for evil, or nudge for profit,” he said. But the “best” choice architecture, the speakers relayed, leads to the greatest general welfare.

Both professors acknowledged that nudges, though they should in principle only be used to beneficial ends, can be abused, especially in business. “Bernie Madoff was a master of nudging,” Thaler said. “We didn’t invent nudging. We just coined the term for it.”

In the latter portion of the discussion, the professors emphasized the benefits they saw to pursuing a career that students actually found rewarding, as opposed to making the most “rational” choice.

“There’s no need to do something that you hate. You’re too talented for that. Find something that’s at least fun, and rewarding, and self-fulfilling,” said Thaler.

Sunstein encouraged young researchers to follow “that tingle or tickle” that comes with an interesting idea, “because what you spend on your time on…that will be for you time really well spent, and chances are unusually good that you’re going to end up doing something that’s worthwhile.”

Across 1. Terrible tsar 5. Former name for Myanmar 10.

14. California wine valley 15. They might earn touchés 16. The Kite Runner protagonist

17. Undergarment size 18. One celebrating October’s National Coming Out Day? 20. Relatively small continent 22. Famous computer scientist Dijkstra 23. Your new offcampus housing?

25. Duck-like rela-

ruby schnirman , chrisopher jones , & katrina lee

tive of a flamingo 28. New building wings 29. [Sizzling water] 31. Shower singer s syllable, perhaps 32 . Coconut Girl Scout cookie 35. Recent IOP guest Khizr 37. Some high-end cameras, for short

38. Crunchy leaves and pumpkins, but they re separated?

41. Jane of bestseller fame 42. Fall asleep, with out 43. They smell 44. Econ bro’s ratio, for short 45. Physically scar 46. Caesar’s there-

fore 4 8 . K i n gdom of Kush’s land 50. Quarter without many classes?

54. Darker 57. Shipping containers 58. O-mance?

61 . Un m a n ly, i n slang 62. Diva’s solo 63. Gymnast Korbut and one of Chekhov s Three Sisters, for two 64. Milk, à Paris 65. Pinkish 66. Hou ses for grouses 67. First responders Down 1. Like everyone, but not me (gram.)

2. Empty spaces 3. A stitch and then 4. He once owned Louisiana (Alt.) 5. Happened to 6. Put ___ fight 7. Sublease 8. Canasta play 9.T r e n d y, o n line-only fashion retailer 10. Boil it, mash it, stick it in a stew!

11. They re-used rain or shine 12. Cristo Redentor city 13. Like the Arctic 19. Some sheepskin

boots 21. We Love Our Gay Children org.

24. Request 26. Ballet studio fixture 27. Shuttles that go to 53rd 29. Chatty one 30. T V show frequently featuring Trump 32. Titanic end?

33. Silly goose!

34. Wondrous (Lat.) 36 . S olo i n T he Force Awakens 3 7. L i k e m a n y Razzie winners 39. Ctrl (2017) artist 40. When ___ rises, think of the consequences : Confucius 45. California rolls, e.g.

47. Good time to hit the gym?

49. Embed, as a pattern 50. A nima ls that can absorb oxygen through their skin 51. Starters 52. ___ go 53. Fut u re J.D.s tests 55. Privy to 56. Fashion mag 58. Remote 59. Vampire leader in Twilight 60. Grape container

Dumbbells, Diving, and Dining: Bartlett’s Role on Campus Former Gym Witnessed Abolition of Football, Introduction of Coed Facilities

By MALLORY MOORE grey city reporter

On a frigid January day during Chicago’s coldest winter on record, varsity athletes with the letter “C” emblazoned on their jackets shuffled across the street from the annual football dinner to attend the opening ceremony of Frank Dickinson Bartlett Gymnasium.

Music from the University Military Band drifted down from the elevated track as the athletes assembled, joining a procession of student council members, faculty, and trustees.

The maple floor of the basketball court shone underfoot. The polished brass gymnastics equipment, which complemented the building’s Gothic architecture, gleamed. Trustee Adolphus Bartlett had spared no detail in the three-year construction of the gymnasium, erected as a memorial to Bartlett’s son and as a symbol of the University’s mission to nurture the body, mind, and spirit.

1,000 people clustered in the second story in eager anticipation of the opening speeches.

University President William Rainey Harper had hoped to build a gym since 1892 and, now, a dozen years later, this dream was coming to fruition.

“The longer a prediction is delayed in its fulfillment, the larger and more glorious is the

outcome when it is actually realized,” Harper said with pride. “These remarks are intended….for the encouragement of those heads of departments who still await, though not too patiently, the fulfilment of other predictions.”

Barely a decade old at the time, the University was perpetually strapped for cash.

However, Harper saw the facility’s completion as evidence that he was able to make good on promises, placating other faculty eagerly awaiting adequate facilities.

Harper considered the gym worth the wait. “This building is, or ought to be, the best and most efficiently equipped gymnasium in the country,” he said. Amos Alonzo Stagg, the head of the athletics department, agreed.

“Tonight, we are in a palace—a perfect dream of a gymnasium, the best in the world,” Stagg said.

Adolphus Bartlett, a successful industrialist and chair of the University’s Committee on Finance and Investment, had fully financed the construction of a men’s gym in memory of his son, Frank Bartlett, who died from appendicitis at 20 years old. In his speech, Harper declared that the gym would “stand for centuries, let us hope, as the memorial of a father’s love seeking to strengthen other fathers’ sons.”

Given its dual purpose as a memorial and a gym, the building had a kind of a spiritual

quality. Bartlett, for his part, described the gym as “the fruition of a young life—a life in which good fellowship, truth, high aspirations, and kind deeds were the cardinal principles.”

Moreover, administrators commissioned the gym with a specific conception of manhood in mind: one based on leadership, obedience, and strength, which pastor and University lecturer Frank Gunsaulus considered “the type of manhood most needed today…. [It] had fine promise in Frank Bartlett; he was an obedient and law-abiding youth.”

Even the building’s English Gothic architecture was designed to reflect these values so that, in the words of the architecture firm, “in the Gymnasium the masculine character [is carried out] in its strength and solidity—ideas so fitting in a men’s athletic building.”

People at the turn of the 20th century regarded athletics as a means to further train the mind, and considered control over the body as an admirable signifier of mental command. Harper alluded to this idea in his speech, saying the gym held the “responsibility for the life and health, yes, and for the character, of the young men” at the University. For Harper and his contemporaries, sports were a means of ensuring intellectual diligence, not a frivolous or purely recreational activity.

Gunsaulus proclaimed, “Let this building

be a temple in which men shall learn that each man’s body is so far the servant of the soul.”

In the case of the University, Gunsaulus saw the physical discipline of scholars who would eventually lead society as a way to further law and order in the world.

“The hour has come when the athletic man, having obeyed the law that he might obtain liberty and mastery over himself, shall be the obedient son and guardian of all law and the champion and defender of all order….

If the student and scholar are not to incarnate law and order, what may we expect of the untrained minds of a fierce democracy?”

By encouraging discipline, the gym contributed to the University’s mission of educating the whole person in order to impact society, one of the foundational and distinctive characteristics of the University at its inception. According to the dean of the Divinity School at the time, Eri Baker Hulbert, “among the regulations under which the University opened was one requiring attendance at chapel, class-room, and gymnasium.”

Most other higher education institutes at the time did not have compulsory physical education, but, at the University of Chicago, it was institutionalized rather than extracurricular. In his 2005 annual address, Dean of the continued on pg.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 20, 2018

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The interior of Bartlett as it looked in 1910.

university of chicago archive

stress reduction.”

It was a swing back to Stagg’s conviction that “men’s best efforts do not spring forth when they are in a low condition of physical life…. Raise the standard of health and you will raise the quality and widen the breadth of achievement.” This increased popularity of athletic facilities on campus further tested Bartlett’s capacity.

As a result of the building’s physical limitations, Bartlett was not updated for continued use as a gym facility, and Henry Crown became the main athletic space on campus.

“The space of the second floor wasn’t big enough to do two courts.… It really could only accommodate one group and set of activities at one time,” Resch said.

Bartlett’s 2001 transformation into a dining hall was just one aspect of a broader $500 million campus master plan to “substantially improve” facilities. This development goal, announced in a 1999 press release, coincided with updated enrollment goals in 1996, which ultimately enlarged the College to 4,500 undergraduates. Bartlett’s conversion from a gym to a dining hall, the creation of Gerald Ratner Athletics Center, and the construction of Max Palevsky Residential Commons were

Announcing

Winter 2019 Courses in the Big Problems Capstone Curriculum for juniors and seniors ALTERNATE REALITY GAMES: THEORY AND PRODUCTION

Patrick Jagoda (English), Heidi Coleman (Theater & Performance Studies) BPRO 28700, ARTV 20700, CMST 25854, ENGL 25970, MAAD 20700, TAPS 28466

FROM FOSSILS TO FERMI’S PARADOX: ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENT LIFE

Paul Sereno (Organismal Biology), Leslie Rogers (Astronomy), Sarah London (Psychology) BPRO 28800, ASTR 18700, BIOS 29142, PSYC 28810

For more information, please see:

http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/bigproblems

The Big Problems curriculum addresses matters of global or universal concern that intersect with several disciplines and affect a variety of interest groups.

p r o b l e m s

was entering her second year at the College as the Regenstein Library emerged from the grounds where a football field had once stood.

As a woman, Resch’s experience of sports at the University was quite different. Resch remembered that women did not use Bartlett’s facilities until the late 1970s.

“When I came here, the men’s and women’s physical education departments were separate departments,” she said.

Nonetheless, women could access athletic facilities in Ida Noyes Hall, which, since its 1914 opening, had been the “social and athletic center for women students at the University,” providing a space for a dining hall, clubrooms and a gymnasium complete with a swimming pool.

However, “a lot of women wanted to swim at Bartlett,” Resch recalled. As they were constructed in the early 20th century, both pools were somewhat antiquated.

“The swimming pool in Bartlett was a slightly better bad swimming pool,” she said.

The Bartlett pool was deeper and had better hours because Ida Noyes’ pool was frequently closed for physical education swimming classes. Resch recalled, “a group of women, I’ll always remember their name, the Women Organized for Locker Facilities—the WOLF group—banded together to push for the provision of locker facilities for women in Bartlett.”

Bartlett had no women’s locker rooms and only one women’s restroom at the time. The men’s locker room was directly attached to the building’s only shower room, presenting a significant logistical challenge in adapting the facilities. Nevertheless, extensive renovations took place to add women’s locker rooms to Bartlett.

In addition to the infrastructural challenge, a cultural shift also had to take place.

Though Resch did not recall significant opposition to women using the facility, “the men were very used to swimming in the nude,” she said. “They had to retrain the men to put on swimsuits.” Some men also raised concerns about the swimming pool becoming too crowded.

After the passage of Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational settings, the University had to adapt its athletics programming along with the rest of the country to ensure equitable sports participation and scholarship opportunities.

“Things changed very, very quickly in a very, very short period of time after Title IX was passed,” Resch said.

The two athletics departments merged in 1976 and eventually came to inhabit offices in Bartlett, which became the department’s administrative center in addition to the center of student recreation.

However, as the College continued to expand its enrollment, particularly in the 1990s, Bartlett became inadequate to meet the increasing athletic demands of the student body, prompting the need for renovation.

For example, Resch noted the rising popularity of the department’s FitChicago classes as well as the “very active” clubs program. She attributed this change to the observation that, “across the country I think there’s much greater awareness for young people to understand the benefits and values of regular activity,

all elements of the University’s effort to attract more applicants and to accommodate the expanded undergraduate presence.

While community, both within the College and beyond, remained an important goal, the means of attaining it had shifted. In his 2005 address reflecting on the renovations and his vision for the College’s future, Boyer argued that “a more strongly residential campus would be a real asset to the University, both by encouraging stronger communities among our students and reinforcing student morale and by encouraging greater alumni satisfaction.” In contrast to Harper’s emphasis on sports as the means to achieve unity, Boyer envisioned the strengthening of the residential college system as the best way to boost student satisfaction.

Bartlett was converted into a dining hall for the new dorms, whose suite-style design and splashy colors were also meant to encourage sociability and cheerfulness.

Upon its reopening in January 2002, Bartlett, at twice the size of other campus dining halls, was able to serve more than 1,000 students. This consolidation of students into a shared, central space further supported the expansion of residential life, which administrators hoped would create a more unified social atmosphere.

Today, many physical features of Bartlett’s past remain. The brass rivulets where parallel bars and vaults fit into the floor are still visible to diners at the taco station, and the running track remains overhead, retrofitted with outlets. The gym’s old scoreboard, “a monument to the building’s past,” is visible among the banners marking house tables.

Downstairs, the mural, “Athletic Games in the Middle Ages,” still proclaims “the glory of manly sports,” making an idiosyncratic feature of many prospective students’ tours on campus. Along the wood-paneled hallway, members of Delta Upsilon have, in recent years, added their own athletic victories to the gold-lettered lists of fraternity victories.

b i g

College John Boyer noted how this emphasis on athletics and physical education was unique to the University in that the school “imposed faculty control over the athletic program which heretofore in many institutions had been left in the hands of students and alumni.”

Despite being an important part of the school’s identity, the focus on athletics was not without controversy. Boyer noted that, as early as 1900, there was “a significant group of faculty who believed…‘the present increasing interest in athletics in the University is undesirable.’” The movement away from the idea that sports and academics were mutually beneficial would culminate under President Robert Maynard Hutchins’s leadership decades later.

However, at the turn of the 20th century, Harper pressed the importance of sports in the life of the University. He was loyal to his close friend Stagg, head of the athletics department, but also encouraged athletics as a way to facilitate community. He envisioned that, with increased unity and collegiality among the students, alumni would be more inclined to donate. Sports provided a critical avenue to this kind of donation, particularly during the school’s financially vulnerable nascent period.

Boyer noted these phenomena in his *The University of Chicago: A History*. The University’s flexible quarter system allowed students to matriculate and graduate at any point in the year, creating a “loss of class identity among graduating seniors and, thereafter, among the alumni…. This, in turn, created serious problems for Chicago’s future success in development and fund-raising.” To mitigate this, Harper set about “exploiting the University’s newfound athletic prowess to cultivate wider civic and alumni support.”

Though this sports-oriented focus created controversy, the physical education component of the Core curriculum distinguished the University from many other institutions at the time, and well into the 21st century. In 2012, the athletics department elected to eliminate the swimming proficiency test, general fitness test, and mandatory P.E. requirement for students who did not place out. Since then, the athletics department has shifted its energies into expanding extracurricular programs such as cardio kickboxing, yoga, and Zumba as a way of exposing UChicago students to sports.

Bartlett also underwent a number of changes between its opening and the elimination of the physical education requirement.

While, in the first decades of the 20th century, Bartlett’s single basketball court had served as the home for Division I games, by 1931, competitive sports had moved into Henry Crown Field House’s expanded facilities. Gone were the days when Edwin Hubble of the Hubble telescope played varsity basketball on its polished floors or when former senator Charles Percy played water polo in its basement pool.

Instead, Bartlett became the hub of men’s intramural and recreational sports activities on campus, including club badminton and handball.

At the same time as Bartlett was transforming into a recreational facility, the University’s attitude toward sports was shifting drastically under Hutchins. Highly critical of the expansive football program, Hutchins called it “an infernal nuisance” in a 1954 essay for *Sports Illustrated* and, unlike Harper, did not consider it necessary to attract donations.

“Students will come to college to study.

Alumni will believe that this is something a normal, red-blooded, young American can properly do. Donors will understand that they are asked to support the institution, not because it has succeeded in attracting a few boys who are huskier and faster than those representing another college, but because when they give it, their money will be well spent in improving education and advancing knowledge,” Hutchins said of the effects of eliminating Chicago’s football team.

By 1970, this academic mindset was firmly in place. Rosalie Resch, now senior associate director of athletics for budget and finance,

THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 16, 2018

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VIEWPOINTS The Problem With Mimicking Harvard UChicago’s Administration Needs to Stop Trying to Copy the Ivies Just to Boost Our Rankings

RUBY RORTY Harvard’s crimson and UChicago’s maroon may be different colors, but our school administration doesn’t seem convinced. In a recent statement, Dean John Boyer discussed a variety of proposed changes to the structure of the College, some of which are already underway.

While many of these changes seem beneficial (I, for one, am a sucker for the semester system), they were presented, problematically, as a response to decisions made by our Ivy League peer institutions, particularly Harvard. UChicago’s goal should not be to match, compete with, or “beat” these institutions. In fact, the University has historically defined itself as a uniquely quirky, intellectual alternative to its prestige-driven, grade-inflating peers. Sure, the Core might resemble Columbia’s, and our winters may be as bad as Cornell’s, but UChicago makes clear to prospective students that its culture, accomplishments, and philosophy are entirely distinct from other schools. From uncommon essay prompts to self-consciously idiosyncratic subjects for admissions e-mails (“Our Campus is Zombie Ready” and “Giant Ants!

Ahhh!!!!”), the school actively takes on a tone that is silly and lighthearted

relative to the normally self-serious, cringingly promotional messages of college admissions offices.

As a first-year and recent applicant to the University, I was certainly drawn to UChicago’s self-portrait as an oddball among elite schools, and I would be sad to see that character diluted through mimicry. All colleges evolve over time, making structural adjustments to meet the needs of new generations of students, but it is important that those decisions are made based on an institution’s philosophy and not out of a desire to match schools perceived as more prestigious.

This is an institution that has cultivated a reputation for emphasizing theory as much is it does practice. Thus, even more so than at other schools, the philosophy behind an education here is just as important as its implementation. While it is tempting to say that the positive impact of changes is more important than the reasoning behind them, to do so creates a slippery slope toward assimilation and the loss of everything that makes our school so special. Furthermore, blind adoption of the policies and structure of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton lends tacit credence to the already popular idea that they are the only schools

worth attending. As a leading non–Ivy League university, we have a responsibility to alleviate, rather than contribute to, Ivy fetishization, and offer smart, talented applicants an option outside of the League.

Let’s take a closer look at some examples of these generally good changes backed up by bad reasoning. In his statement, Dean Boyer emphasized efforts the University has undertaken over the past 20 years to match the student body populations of Harvard and Yale. This expansion has led to a larger, more bustling campus community and may have boosted our desirability to prospective students, as many applicants seek a school with approximately 6,000–8,000 undergraduates. But, the decision to expand should have been made on the basis of our school’s philosophy and what will work for the students and faculty here. Similarly, while the upcoming plan to decrease class size is certainly beneficial, the change shouldn’t be coming from the University’s insecurity. There are much better reasons to decrease class size than simply proving that we’re as good as Harvard or trying to increase our U.S. News & World Report ranking. Boyer didn’t mention the decision to move to the Common Application or other efforts to enlarge UChicago’s application pool and thus drive down the acceptance rate, but those are similarly unfortunate in that they largely serve to improve our rankings and boost our standing in a ranking system that rewards efforts to match the Ivy League.

We might soon achieve the name recognition of Harvard and its fellows, but we must do this on our own terms

Jessica Xia

and by following our own path.

The poor wording of Boyer’s announcement doesn’t mean that this isn’t possible or that it isn’t already happening; as disappointed as I was by the statement, I am continually surprised to see just how much student opinion influences our campus growth. From the upcoming town hall inviting undergraduate input about the design of the new wellness center to uncommon grants that make student ideas a reality, UChicago has consciously and continually trusted its student body to create a culture that suits them and, because of the bright, quirky, imaginative applicants it admits, the resulting community is pretty great. That is how we should continue to evolve—drawing on the creativity from within our halls and libraries, as opposed to focusing on outside opinion.

Overall, while UChicago’s goal in making these adjustments is admirable, the justifications it provides

fall flat. Shrinking class sizes is awesome, but the fact that the University would only do so to be more like Harvard is diametrically opposed to our educational philosophy and dilutes the wacky, wonderful culture that led us to choose UChicago in the first place. Boyer is correct when he says that “Chicago has a profile of high intellectualism, life of the mind ideals,” but this is not a product of our recent high rankings. It is the result of a commitment to learning, a refusal to conform, and a self-selecting student body that brings fresh ideas to campus each year. There are plenty of Ivies, but there has always been one UChicago. Let’s keep it that way by operating off of our institutional values and creating a school that the coolest kids in the country will be proud to attend.

Ruby Rorty is a first-year in the College.

The Maroon Gives Thanks What We’re Thankful For (And What We’re Not) 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.

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By THE MAROON EDITORIAL BOARD It’s been a long year, but The Maroon prevails. As Thanksgiving approaches, here’s what we’re thankful for: We had the highest voter registration of any university in the United States, according to TurboVote. It only took thousands of e-mails, Facebook events, and balloon-intensive pop-up events from UChi Votes.

The Trauma Center opened in May, becoming the first adult Level 1 trauma center the South Side has had in nearly 30 years. Especially after nearly a decade of activism, this is a huge victory.

While we’re on the subject of activism, Graduate Students United has stayed strong in the new school year, demanding that the University bargain willingly with them. The Columbia University administration agreed yesterday to acknowledge a graduate student union, so perhaps UChicago will follow its lead.

Eve Ewing wrote a comic book.

Ironheart will focus on a Black teen superhero in Chicago who becomes Iron Man’s apprentice. Ewing is a poet,

activist, visual artist, and associate professor in the School of Social Service Administration. The book will be released by Marvel on November 28.

The Center for Leadership and Inclusion, especially Regina Filomeno and Karen Pryor, helped us establish paid staff positions at The Maroon.

Our women’s soccer team made it into the NCAA Division III finals last season. Although sports are widely overlooked on this campus, many of our teams are at the top of their brackets, both last year and today.

We’re also thankful for the several places near campus hosting Thanksgiving events for students without a place to go: - Sanctuary Café, 4–7 p.m. Donations are encouraged.

- The Center for Identity and Inclusion is matching students with faculty members who will host dinner.

-I-House arranged the Thanksgiving Homestay program, allowing international students to stay with an American family for the break.

Of course, there were a few things that didn’t quite make our list this year: The Clinton Global Institute

visited, providing campus another reason to avoid going to Ratner.

There will be at least three more Fantastic Beasts movies, allowing the admissions department to ride Harry Potter hype for years to come.

Thanks, J.K. Rowling and Eddie Redmayne, for our applicant pool.

David Axelrod, eternal Believer, crossed party lines to teach a MasterClass with Karl Rove. We probably won’t pay 90 dollars to watch it, but the trailer gave us a good taste of what it’s like.

Phi Delt is starting a fresh, new chapter on campus. We had just been thinking that what campus needed was another fraternity.

The inevitable IOP event featuring both of the UChicago alumni planning to work for the Bolsonaro administration.

Finally, we would like to reflect on some fallen heroes from this year.

Always in our hearts: - Treasure Island - Stony Island - Yerkes Observatory - The “Stevanovich” Institute - Rahm and Rauner

THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 20, 2018

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ARTS Waka Flocka Ignites at MAB Fall Show

Waka Flocka (left) was joined by UChicago graduate Ben Glover, “Black Sam” (right), at Saturday night’s performance in Mandel Hall.

By ZOE BEAN deputy arts editor

Waka Flocka Flame closed his show at Mandel Hall on Friday by remarking, “There’s some beautiful people in this audience.” This was a change from his mood at the beginning of the concert—after his first song, he paused to remark that security was too tight. He then jumped in the audience, causing a rush to the area by the stage that had previously been blocked off after a certain number of students were allowed in. Waka Flocka is known for rowdy concerts, and this show was as close as a crowd of UChicago students could get to that.

Aside from jumping into the crowd, Waka Flocka also snuck offstage and reappeared at

the back of the auditorium (accompanied by the DJ asking, “Where’s Flocka?”). This was as effective at energizing a room full of youths as the game adults play with small children where they pretend they can’t find them, finally bemusedly remarking, “There you are.” Which is to say, very effective. On the whole, the rapper’s stage presence was tangibly uplifting, despite an overwhelming (but enthusiastic) crowd.

Recently, the rapper, known for trap bangers, has hinted at a change of direction, if his Twitter is to be believed. He did not comment on this at the show, but he did change pace for a moment to ask if the audience had soul, and proceeded to play “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” If the fact that this song was as well received as Waka Flocka’s own discography is any indication, they

ICONIC: Black Panther Exhibits Art as Part of a Social Movement

By SUSIE XU arts reporter

A visitor entering the Stony Island Arts Bank might be surprised by the content of its latest flyer. The simple black-and-white fold page prints out not a curatorial text, but 10 registers of “What We Want Now!” The list runs from freedom to “land, bread, housing, education, clothing, JUSTICE, PEACE and people’s community control of modern technology.”

The 10 Point Program of the Black Panther Party provides a common theme for the collective exhibition, ICONIC: Black Panther, which invites artists to interpret the “fifty-plus years of the Black Panther Party.” Diverse in their material and style, the artworks revolve around issues and experiences pertinent to black and marginalized communities. From police violence to joblessness, the exhibition, as the Black Panther Party (BPP) did, tackles grave injustice through the entangled lenses of race, class, culture, and gender.

In the late 1900s, the BPP answered injustice with radical self-determinism. Conceived after the assassination of Malcolm X, the BPP expanded his message and used militant action to achieve social advancement for Black communities and the proletariat. The BPP most memorably set up free breakfast programs for school children and patrolled Black neighborhoods to prevent police violence, using extra-governmental spaces to help marginalized people. In Illinois, the chapter chairman Fred Hampton organized five breakfast programs

and free clinics, reaching out to local gangs to enlist them in the class war. Yet the FBI listed BPP as an enemy of the government, and director J. Edgar Hoover pledged to exterminate it.

Hampton was assassinated in his sleep during a raid by the Chicago Police Department and the FBI in December 1969; his death was later ruled to be justifiable homicide by a coroner’s jury inquest.

Among the several works in ICONIC that pay respect to Hampton is a particularly moving piece by local artist Liz Gomez. On two boxes, painted grey to resemble the concrete slabs of a tomb, is Hampton’s most famous declaration, painted in red: “I am a revolutionary.”

Flowers frame the words, some wilting, some blooming. The curving petals stand drastically in contrast with the blunt, monotone boxes, evoking at once the ardor of life and the impenetrable seriousness of death. Bridging the two is the slogan painted in red, dripping like the blood Hampton died bleeding. To face the piece is to stand face to face with the dead, recognize the history of oppression that led to their murders—which lives on today—and realize the firm necessity for revolution.

Several works indeed directly address current political issues. Amanda William’s “Uppity Negress” juxtaposes, on a long piece of black cloth that hangs from ceiling to floor, the recording from Sandra Bland’s arrest and a speech made by Michelle Obama. Bland, who was pulled over after a traffic violation, explains solemnly why she seemed irritated continued on pg.

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jeremy lindenfeld

did have soul, or at least a baseline knowledge of the hits of the last century. Perhaps this song was a hint at his new direction, perhaps just an acknowledgement that most of the audience was only there to hear “No Hands,” “Hard in da Paint,” and “Grove St. Party.”

Aside from a large portion of the crowd that most likely attended to hear Waka Flocka’s most famous songs and see the show, there seemed to be a lot of real fans in attendance—especially members of the MAB board who joined the rapper on stage for a few tracks, and two brave non–MAB-affiliated students who somehow made their way on stage and danced solo for a few minutes.

As for the rapper’s actual performance, it did not disappoint. He appeared to be unaccom-

panied other than the choruses of a few songs, which is unfortunately not to be counted on these days. He even, in a refreshingly candid moment, freestyled, poignantly recounting seeing his brother shot and other low moments in his life before fame, which painted a stark contrast to the cushy university setting. Between this, the aforementioned hits and (relatively) lesser known songs like “O Let’s Do It,” all of Waka Flocka’s set held up quite well, signaling that he might have been ahead of his time, having released many of his most famous tracks almost a decade ago. However, he continues to innovate—he is set to release his next album, Flockaveli 2, which will be produced by Zaytoven and 808 Mafia’s Southside.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 20, 2018

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“ICONIC...inserts itself into the continuous fight for justice and peace” continued from pg.

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and repeats “you do not have the right” to the police arresting her. On the other hand, Obama’s message is to take criticism and name-calling as “just noise.” As the interwoven words flow down the drape, Obama’s high-brow oration engulfs Bland’s struggling protest. The BPP, unlike the other Black movements of its time, was more occupied with the actual suffering of black people than

their representation in language and culture. As the Obama Presidential Center is scheduled to be built in Jackson Park, this piece holds particular gravity.

The exhibition itself echoes the call to action. The lack of gallery text leaves the visitor space for individual interpretation, and two rows of sofas carve out space for conversation in the center of the exhibition. In collaboration with the Illinois Black

Panther chapter’s celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Stony Island Arts Bank has programmed events that include conversations with existing BPP members, film screenings, and community gatherings. The BPP is also resurrecting clinic drives testing for sickle cell disease, along with other survival programs. Part of the proceeds from works sold at the exhibition will go to helping BPP members still imprisoned.

“Who does the art serve?” asks Emory Douglas, whose quotes dot the walls of the exhibition. The former Minister of Culture of the BPP spoke much about how art must serve the people. “The art we were making transcended the Black community and became iconic for communities interested in social justice all over the world,” one quote reads.

An icon becomes an element of society because it propels, unites, and

mobilizes people; iconic art extends beyond observation and critique. It offers itself as an actor within social movements. Perhaps this is why the 10 Point Program is printed on a flyer. Instead of resigning to the language of galleries, ICONIC: Black Panther inserts itself into the continuous fight for justice and peace.

Crimes of Grindelwald: A Failed Magic Trick

By WLAD SARMIENTO arts reporter

Everyone who was a kid in the early 2000s remembers the sense of awe and wonder when Harry Potter arrives at Hog warts for the first time, with its talking hat and magical architecture. Those films made us all want to be a part of Ha rr y ’s universe, discovering quirks along with Harry that made it all the more appealing.

That is why it makes me sad to say that Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is bereft of any of that magic. It is an inexcusably unfocused film, unable to create a connection between the audience and the grimy semblance of Harry’s magical world which it portrays.

The plot of this film is unnecessarily convoluted, but essentially follows soft-spoken Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as he attempts to stop the evil wizard Grindelwald (Johnny Depp)

from tracking down the mysterious Obscurial Credence Barebone, in a long-winded MacGuffin that sends the characters from New York to London to Paris. Along with Scamander, the mostly forgettable characters from the previous film are revisited, including a bumbling muggle played by Dan Fogler and a stoic witch played by Katherine Waterston. A young Albus Dumbledore, played by Jude Law, also appears briefly, in one of the only legitimately inspired performances in the film. I wish I could tell you why these characters all get together throughout this movie, but I have absolutely no idea why—characters appear seemingly for no reason and tag along haphazardly for the purposes of the plot.

The real problem with this film lies squarely in the hands of screenwriter J.K. Rowling, who was presumably surrounded by yes-men unwilling to revise her bloated and directionless script

during production. There is no thread of cause-and-effect in her script, with action set pieces and dramatic reveals spread randomly throughout and no significant impact to any of them. Grand climactic scenes will occur, and the protagonists will immediately move on to the next set piece with little time taken to explain their motivations or reasoning. The result is an experience akin to watching a series of expensive YouTube videos that explore different aspects of Rowling’s extended wizarding world, with only vague suggestions throughout that the videos are related.

E ven for a n a rdent Ha r r y Potter fan, there was just nothing to ground me in this movie’s universe. With the Ha rr y Potter films, there was a very clear thread in each film—Harry would go through a year in Hog warts, discover wacky magical spells and objects, and eventually discover a conspiracy threatening the stu-

dents at the school. Everything made sense, and the simple plots allowed v iewers to connect to Harry and his world. In the Fantastic Beasts sequel (the second installment in what is ultimately to be a set of five), the events of the plot feel so disconnected that there isn’t a chance to experience any rapport with the characters as they discover new aspects of their world. Even the fantastic visual effects of the action are tainted by this lack of connection: Without a connection to characters that experience the wonder of magic with us, it’s all just pretty fireworks that don’t leave an impact.

I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Johnny Depp and Jude Law as Grindelwald and Dumbledore, respectively. Depp, while delightfully sinister and over-the-top, avoids the campy pitfalls that have made his recent performances hard to sit through. And Law masterfully portrays the wise-yet-cheeky atti-

tude that made Dumbledore so enjoyable in the previous films, but I wish the film had focused more on his story as opposed to the other forgettable characters. Redmayne was endearing as Scamander, but his character didn’t grow much through the movie, and he was unable to make up for the lackluster plot his character was put through.

In short, The Crimes of Grindelwald is the Phantom Menace of the Harry Potter prequels. It is a movie driven by incessant, unrelated plot points instead of by a meaningful connection to its characters or world. If this movie is to serve as the foundation for future films in this universe, it is a very shaky one indeed. That said, I still feel naïvely optimistic that Rowling will pull off a miraculous turnaround in the next film and do justice to the magical world she created. However, so did Star Wars fans—and look how the follow-up to Phantom Menace turned out.

“Alexander Fiterstein and Friends” Transcend the Bounds of Mandel Hall

By JULIAN STUART-BURNS & BRANDON ZANG arts reporters

Alexander Fiterstein is currently one of the most acclaimed clarinet players in the world of classical music. He has played with countless classical superstars, has received an array of outstanding reviews, and in 2009 was one of five recipients of the highly sought-after Avery Fisher Career Grant. Given his reputation and the highly compelling program of the concert, his performance at Mandel Hall, titled “Alexander Fiterstein and Friends,” came with hopelessly high expectations. Needless to say, he and his chamber group did not disappoint.

The night started with Weinberg’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (Op. 28), a piece that showcased Fiterstein’s dynamic range and his warm, lyrical tone exceptionally well. Fiterstein noted that the work had been written by a composer whose family was killed in the Holocaust during World War II. The piece is tremendously difficult on the clarinet, requiring extreme stamina and a strong sense of contrast for proper effect. Fiterstein executed even the most difficult, virtuosic sections with profound grace, refusing to compromise his phrasing or tone at any moment.

The folky sections were lively and full of surprising yet welcome

choices of articulation, driving them forward and giving them an inherent sense of direction, while the quiet moments were intimate and rife with absolutely gorgeous phrasing. The last minute of the second movement—a transitory section where the intricate folk melodies and ghostly harmonies of the movement fade away into a few desperate clarinet notes with tension-heightening chords underneath—was a favorite moment in the program, due to Fiterstein’s breathtaking piano. However, pianist Michael Brown’s forte was annoyingly noisy and legato was severely lacking. All in all, however, the piece was a great appetizer for the performance’s main course.

The second piece of the night was the well-known “Quatuor pour la fin du temps” by Olivier Messiaen. Also known by its English title, “Quartet for the End of Time,” the work was written by the composer while in German captivity as a prisoner of war in 1941. The piece is known for its vigorously dark theme and uncommon instrumentation, at the time of its writing featuring a clarinet, violin, cello, and piano.

Premiered in a prisoner-of-war camp and performed by fellow prisoners, the piece has become one of Messiaen’s most recognized compositions and stands as a powerful message of art and faith in the face of war and violence.

For Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time,” Brown and Fiterstein were joined by Elena Urioste and Nicholas Canellakis on violin and cello, respectively. “Quartet for the End of Time” is one of the hallmark pieces composed in the 20th century. It is a grand, all-encompassing work, the central goal of which is to separate music from the confines of time. A great performance of the piece requires an almost absurd amount of contrast—dynamic and otherwise—and absolute cooperation between all members of an ensemble. In response to a UChicago Presents interview question about his fellow musicians, Fiterstein affirmed his confidence in them and the importance of “[trusting] each other, because if you’re playing for the first time…many times it works, but it helps that you’ve rehearsed to a point where you have a certain level of comfort when you go on stage.” “ F it er s t ei n a n d F r ien d s ” gave a striking performance of this legendary piece. Previously uninteresting parts of the piece sudenly became some of the most thought-provoking sections. The group coalesced into one entity, the sounds of distinct instruments bouncing off each other spectacularly, and creating an atmosphere of transcendence among the audience.

The music was, in the truest sense of the word, transportive. A bad or

mediocre performance of this piece can feel long, monotonous, and rather dull. But Fiterstein, Urioste, Canellakis, and Brown brought Messiaen’s other-worldly aims to life and let the music escape from the temporal realm.

While the entire performance was nearly flawless, the solo movements were the highlights of the piece. During the solo clarinet movement, “Abîme des oiseaux” (“A byss of Bi rd s ” ) Fiter stei n showed what he is truly capable of, with his warm, vocal tone resonating beautifully on every note with spotless intonation. He used silence to great effect, slightly exaggerating each of the moments of rest so that the sound had a chance to dissipate completely. When he came back from one of these long rests, his crescendos were so lengthy and gradual that the sound seemed like it was crawling out of the depths of an abyss. By beginning each note with a quiet, harmonics-like tone and gradually increasing its volume to thunderous extremes, Fiterstein demonstrated his masterful and unmatched control of dynamics on the clarinet.

Equally extraordinary was the final movement and violin solo, “Louange à l’immortalité de Jésus” (“Praise to the Immortality of Jesus”), in which Urioste gave a passionate and moving delivery of the piece’s conclusion. Throughout the

performance, the four musicians paid careful attention to balance and blend, always ensuring that no instrument rose above the others. It was in ensemble playing that Canellakis uniquely demonstrated his talent in the higher register of the cello, managing to maintain a dominant presence for the entire duration of the performance. Canellakis bathed his performance in vibrato, making the instrument sound as if it were weeping or lamenting.

Michael Brown played calmly and with a beautiful tone in the background, never distracting the audience from the lead instrument but instead providing lush harmonic context for the languid melodic figures.

It is no exaggeration to say that Alexander Fiterstein and friends transported the audience at Mandel Hall out of time for the entire 50 minutes of the “Quartet for the End of Time.” Fiterstein is modest in his playing, not allowing his virtuosity to eclipse the music itself. Instead, his virtuosity and profound musical sensibility heighten the music he plays to an unmatched level. While the performance was sublime to say the least, it is the underlying message of melancholic retrospection and artistic resistance against the onslaught of injustice that will remain with the audience long after the violin’s last note.

THE CHICAGO MAROON - NOVEMBER 20, 2018

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SPORTS Men’s Soccer Is Final Four–Bound Again MEN’S SOCCER

By CAMILLE AGUILAR sports reporter

The men’s soccer team is on fire as usual. With their exciting 2–0 win over Trinity College this past weekend, the Maroons progressed to the NCAA quarterfinals. There, they met Luther College and won in an overtime game-winning goal. The third seed Maroons’ NCAA quarterfinal win brought their overall record to 18–2–1.

The Maroons first met Trinity College earlier this season on a Texas night with much more pleasant weather. In that game, the Maroons had the first two goals of the first period but allowed the Tigers a period-ending goal in the 40th minute. In the beginning of the second period, the Maroons scored in the first 10 minutes. Unfortunately, Trinity was able to knock off two more goals before the end of the game. The match resulted in a 3–3 draw, the Maroons’ only tie of the entire season. This meeting, however, the Texan team was met with a chilly, rainy Chicago night. The conditions proved to affect the game as the slick turf resulted in a number of highly contested loose balls. The Maroons, however, continued with crisp passing sequences throughout the game. In a way, it seemed that nature worked in the favor of our men, who are much better equipped to play in more treacherous conditions.

The game began rather slowly for the Maroons, with Trinity coming in strong for the first 20 minutes of the game. The Trinity Tigers held the ball on the UChicago goal for the first 15 minutes, managing seven consecutive shots on goal. Luckily none of

these placed, due in part to three saves by second-year goalie Aaron Katsimpalis. At around the 16-minute mark, the ball transitioned down the field toward the opposite goal. For the remainder of the period, the Maroons fired off five shots and kept the Tigers at two. Speaking on the offensive effort, fourth-year midfielder Nicco Capotosto said that the team was disappointed not to score, however, they “stuck to the game plan, got the ball wide, and created a lot of good chances to score.” For Capotosto it was not difficult to remain focused considering the trust the team members have in one another. He said that the players “know we have some of the best attacking weapons in the country, and teams have a hard time keeping us from scoring.”

Defensively, the Maroons played strong and smart with just seven fouls accrued mostly toward the beginning of the period. Capotosto’s comments on the game alluded to this patience as he emphasized the knowledge of each player that they needed to remain level-headed. He said, “It was really important to stay calm, keep our heads up, and just keep pushing,” despite the disappointment they might’ve felt regarding their lack of scoring.

The Tigers, on the other hand, accumulated nine fouls in the period, most of which came toward the end. In the second period, both the Tigers and the Maroons were quick to each pass and fought for every position, accumulating 12 and six fouls respectively. It may be due to these fouls and changing weather conditions that the Trinity players were constantly being cycled in and out throughout the game by coach Paul McGinlay.

After over an hour of gameplay, neither

The men’s soccer team celebrate their 1–0 victory over Trinity. university of chicago athletics team had scored. For Trinity, it was now a survival game as the Maroons held position around the Tigers’ goal for the majority of the half. It was evident that the Maroons had taken their past experience with Trinity to prepare for the second half. The Maroons were able to hold the Tigers to no shots on goal in the second half. While the Tigers had no offensive chance, the Maroons held a 13-point shooting advantage. From these 13 shots attempted, two found net in the 70th minutes.

After a series of corner kicks in the beginning of the 70th minutes, fourth-year Max Lopez received the ball from first-year Kyle Ruark for a pivotal goal. Then, later in the 79th minute, an undefended third-year Dayo Adeosun passed the ball from the top of the box to Lopez whose touch from the post sent the ball into goal. Speaking on these moments, Capotosto commented on his excitement regarding the set up and significance of the goals. He said, “Ultimately the chance came to Max

Lopez and when that happens, we’re pretty happy with our chances. The feeling when he scored was really special. Falling short last year really stung and we’ve been working to get back to that stage ever since. All the team’s work has finally paid off, and we have another shot to bring home a national championship to the University.”

It’s hard to disagree with the notion that this team has worked hard. Not only does the University have a hardworking soccer program on the field, but a diligent and mentally grounded one as well. It is one thing for a team to be the fastest or the strongest in the league. It is another to have a team which recognizes the impact of their thoughts and words in the game. For this reason and more, it is certainly clear that the men’s soccer team has the opportunity to bring the honor of a national championship to the University. Good luck to the team as they face Calvin College on November 30 in Greensboro, NC.

Cross Country Ends Season Strong

Maroons Outswim Competition

CROSS COUNTRY

SWIMMING AND DIVING

By MATTHEW LEE sports reporter

The Universit y of Chicago’s men’s and women’s cross country teams performed admirably to close out the 2018 season at Saturday ’s 2018 NCA A Division III cross country championships at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh.

Both squads placed top 12, and two individual runners earned All-American honors.

On the women’s team, second-year runner Sophie Elgamal earned All-American honors as she took 26th place with a 21:46.9 six-kilometer race, a time significantly faster than the 22:08.1 that she ran at the NCA A Midwest Regional just a week before. With the help of her fellow point-scorers—first-year Lucy Jeffs; second-years Emma Dyer and Abigail Shoemaker; and third-years Maggie Boudreau and Claire Brock way—women’s cross countr y earned 353 points and took 11th of 32 teams, a three-spot improvement from their 2017 14th-place finish. Women’s cross country has qualified for the NCA A Division III champi-

SPORT

onships for nine straight years.

Meanwhile on the men’s team, second-y e a r R y a n C ut t er f i n i s he d t he eight-kilometer race in 24:51.4, placing 20th and earning All-American honors.

Eight-k ilometer r unner Henr y Myers placed 52nd in the same race, an astonishing showing from a first-year. Other scorers on the men’s team include first-year Sam Craig, second-year Chase Gardner, third-years Andrew Kates and Tim Koenning, and fourth-year A nsel Richards. The men’s team came 12th of 32 teams overall with a cumulative 390 points. Saturday ’s meet was the men’s first appearance at the NCA A Division III championships since 2015.

Thus concludes a successf u l 2018 season for the men’s and women’s cross country teams. Based on the strong performa nces on Saturday by the underclassmen, however, there seems to be much to look forward to in the seasons to come.

Upcoming Events

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OPPONENT

DAY

TIME

Wheaton (Illinois)

November 28

6 p.m.

MSOE Invitational

December 1

9 a.m.

Calvin (Michigan)

November 30

11 a.m.

Lake Forest

November 24

3 p.m.

By ALISON GILL sports reporter

It was a dominant weekend for the University of Chicago swimming and diving teams, as both men and women decisively outswam the competition to win the annual Phoenix Fall Classic.

Playing host, the Maroons wrapped up the three-day meet with convincing victories.

The women scored 1,666 points to beat the 10-team pool, more than doubling the score of runner-up Lewis University (796 points). The men similarly outpaced their 11-team competition, recording 1,322.5 points ahead of, once again, Lewis University with 973 points.

The meet was an altogether impressive outing for the Maroons, who collected 32 NCAA B-cuts, three school records, and two pool records. The NCAA B-cuts indicate that an athlete has been entered into the group of potential swimmers for the NCAA individual championships; an A-cut is an automatic qualifying time for the championships in March, while the swimmers with the fastest B-cuts fill the remaining available slots.

Chicago began its showing in strong fashion, taking first in five out of six events on Friday evening. Setting the tone for the weekend, third-year Byrne Litschgi broke the school record in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 48.50 when he led off his 400-yard medley relay.

On Saturday, Litschgi once again cemented his place in program history. With a time of 1:45.07, he set a new school and pool record in the 200-yard backstroke. His time, a NCAA B-cut, was also faster than last year’s NCAA event champion. Litschgi was joined by fellow third-year George Reuter in the Chicago re-

cord book. Reuter’s 200-yard butterfly time of 1:48.33 broke the school record and marked a personal best.

One more record would fall over the weekend, when third-year Taye Baldinazzo swam a personal best of 1:38.56 to break the pool record in the 200-yard freestyle.

Across the board, the program witnessed strong performances from individual athletes.

The female diving trio of third-year Agnes Lo, first-year Elizabeth Cron, and fourthyear Anna Girlich posted NCAA B-cuts in the one-meter dive, while Lo added another B-cut in her winning effort on the three-meter dive.

First-year Martin Baffico captured the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard backstroke, in addition to making B-cuts, while fellow first-year Nick Ding finished first in the 400-yard individual medley with a NCAA B-cut of 3:58.15. On the women’s side, first year Sandra Wong won the 200-yard fly and recorded a NCAA B-cut, and second-year Taylor Hammill won both the 1,650-yard freestyle and then the 500-yard freestyle, capturing the NCAA B-cut in the former. Altogether, there were 11 NCAA B-cuts posted by rookies, a promising indication for the program’s long- and short-term goals.

The Maroons ended the 2018 portion of their schedule with a convincing victory against plentiful competition. They will continue to train throughout the quarter and winter break, before heading into the new year. Their next meet begins Friday, January 18, against Lewis again and Olivet Nazarene University.