The Observer, Volume LV, Issue 21, 03/01/24

SPORTS TWO IN A ROW!

Men’s basketball wins 2024 UAA championship, second ever in program history

Marvin Lee Staff Writer

With a thrilling win in Horsburgh Gymnasium over Carnegie Mellon University on Feb. 24, Case Western Reserve University men’s basketball captured their second-straight UAA Championship (sharing it with New York University, as both teams finished the year at 10-4 in UAA play) and claimed the league’s automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.

CWRU will be making their third appearance in the tournament in program history, with all three having come in the last three years. The NCAA also awarded the Spartans hosting rights through at least the second round of the tournament. CWRU will take on Mary Baldwin University this Friday evening, March 1 at 7:15 p.m. Before that game at 4:45 p.m., Horsburgh will host a matchup between Hope College and Anderson University. The victors of the two games will face off in the second round the next day, Saturday, March 2 at 7:15 p.m.

As a result of their incredible regular season, finishing with a 21-4 record that matched the most regular season wins in program history, the Spartans surged to the No. 6 ranking in this week’s D3hoops.com Top 25. Additionally, two Spartans were named to the All-UAA First Team: graduate students Anthony Mazzeo and Colin Kahl. A forward, Kahl averaged 15.0 points and led the team with 7.6 rebounds per game during the season, finishing the regular season with 1.6 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.9 blocks per game. He shot the highest mark among UAA players from the floor with 57.0%, including 38.1% from beyond the arc. Mazzeo, a guard, averaged an impressive 19.6 points per game during the season while also contributing the third highest amount of assists per game among

LIFE

UAA players with 4.6 assists. Kahl earned two UAA Athlete of the Week nods while Mazzeo racked up five throughout the course of the season. Mazzeo also garnered one D3hoops. com Team of the Week nod.

Before the squad’s matchup with CMU, the Spartans recognized the team’s eight graduating players who each appeared in the final regular season game of their collegiate career on Saturday: fourth-years Hunter Drenth, Ian Elam and Luke Thorburn and graduate students Jaylan Hewitt, Kahl, Preston Maccoux, Richie Manigault and Mazzeo.

After the pregame recognition ended on Saturday afternoon, the 3-point barrage started. CWRU made 8 3-pointers in the first half, and following a tied score at 8 points four minutes into the matchup, CMU did not come within 3 points for the remainder of

the half. Mazzeo scored 17 of his 19 total points during the first half, and he darted around the court making what seemed like impossible shots one after the other. After his fourth 3-pointer of the half, CWRU was up 42-30 with 1:24 left in the half.

Responding to the deficit, a 6-0 CMU run brough the score to 42-36 heading into halftime. CMU built off this momentum after both teams talked it over, using another run to take a 1 point lead with around 15 minutes left in the second half. CWRU responded with a big stretch over the next nine minutes to put themselves back in the driver’s seat, leading 68-57 with 6:21 left to play.

Just as the Spartans thought CMU was going to give up with their season on the line, the Tartans stormed back with a 9-0 run to cut CWRU’s lead to just 2 points with four minutes left to

play. Clutch 3-pointers by guard Maccoux in his final regular season college basketball game made all the difference down the stretch. Maccoux finished with 17 total points, including 12 in the second half. Third-year forward Umar Rashid got in on the 3-point fun late as well, hitting a 3-pointer just after the four-minute mark, which was the Spartans final field goal of the game.

Rashid contributed further with clutch free throws down the stretch, including two makes with just six seconds left. What followed on the final possession was a chaotic stretch from CMU. A full court pass was right on point for the Tartans, but a potentially equalizing 3-pointer was long. The Spartans won 76-75. Celebration ensued on the court, and CWRU cut down the nets in celebration of their second-straight season UAA title—the second time they had captured it in program history.

CWRU a cappella teams prepare for ICCA

Gloria Liu Staff Writer

Darcy Chew Copy Editor

Case Western Reserve University is home to many talented vocal groups including Case in Point, CWRU’s premier co-ed a cappella group, and Dhamakapella, CWRU’s competitive South Asian fusion a cappella team.

Both teams have a highly anticipated 2024 season after their achievements last year. In fact, Dhamakapella has already been participating in the South Asian a cappella circuit and were named champions at their first two bid competitions for All-American Awaaz (AAA), which they were also champions of for the past two years.

One of the major components of an a cappella group’s performance is their

set. Dhamakapella’s current set is arranged by Juniper Duncan, a fourthyear student majoring in cognitive science, who has already been awarded Outstanding Arrangement twice this competition season.

Jennifer Huang, president of Dhamakapella, said that Dhamakapella focused on cohesion when designing their arrangement. “We were a lot more cognizant of making sure everything truly flowed together as best as it could,” she said.

While a cappella groups are mainly known for their vocals, a large part of their performance is also their choreography and creating a visual performance on stage.

Jonathan Morris, president of Case in Point, commented how their group paid more attention to the choreography this year. “There’s a lot more attention to our choreography this year. And while that was an absolutely big component of our set last year, I feel

like it was more music heavy. So this year we’re getting more of a balance,” Morris said.

Most recently, the teams have been preparing for the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA), an annual competition where collegiate teams from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom compete for the coveted spot of ICCA Champion. For the competition, each team curates a set with a maximum time length of 10 minutes and rankings are determined by tabulated scores from three categories: vocal performance, visual performance and subjective rank. The first and second place winners from each quarterfinal will advance to their respective region’s semifinal. From the semifinal, only the first place winner will advance to the ICCA finals.

Last year, CWRU completely swept the quarterfinal competition. Case in Point took first overall, Best Arrange-

ment for their entire set (awarded to CWRU graduate Andy Regli), Best Soloist for “Miss You” (awarded to CWRU graduate Zion Thomas) and Best Choreography for “Miss You” (awarded to Andy Regli, Zion Thomas and current CWRU students Adaeze Izuegbunam and Jake Model). Dhamakapella took second overall and Best Vocal Percussion for “All For Us x Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” (awarded to current CWRU senior Sashvat Iyer). Both groups advanced to the Midwest Semifinals held at Washington University in St. Louis, with Case in Point missing the mark for first by a mere eight points.

This year both teams are excited for the opportunity to compete and perform in the quarterfinals hosted by CWRU at the Maltz Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 2 from 7-10 p.m.

Disclaimer: Gloria Liu is the treasurer of Case in Point.

The CWRU men’s basketball team finishes the UAA season tied for first place with New York University, winning the UAA title for the second year in a row. Courtesy of CWRU Athletics

Proposed Cleveland tax increment financing program fund allocations to be reviewed

Anisha Dasari Contributing Writer

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb proposed legislation to the Cleveland City Council on Jan. 9, requesting permission to implement a largescale Tax Increment Financing program (TIF). This kind of monetary plan has never been executed in Cleveland before. The program’s main goal is to revitalize the city’s isolated and abandoned downtown waterfronts on the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie, using future property tax increases for funding.

The submitted ordinance states that the program will “implement a tax increment financing program under the TIF Act to create the ‘Shoreto-Core-to-Shore TIF District’ to create, capture, and leverage growth in Cleveland’s Downtown and the near west side to benefit all Clevelanders, support robust public infrastructure investments to strengthen waterfronts and Downtown, and fund investments in parks and recreation throughout Cleveland’s neighborhoods.”

According to Bibb, if the city significantly invests in public infrastructure along the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie waterfronts, it will spur economic growth and create billions of dollars that would otherwise not be possible.

Earlier this month the City Council reviewed and amended the proposal.

Council President Blaine Griffin stated that he wants to guarantee that half of the funds gathered through this project will be used to help enhance city neighborhoods. While Bibb and his team agree that some of this revenue should be utilized to improve Cleveland’s neighborhoods, they say it is too early to determine exactly how much.

Over the next 42 years, Bibb predicts that the Downtown TIF program will bring in between $3.3 billion and $7.5 billion. To promote future growth and reverse decades of decline, he believes that the majority

Mayor Justin Bibb’s proposed Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program calls for the revitalization of the Downtown and waterfront areas along Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River. Courtesy of The City of Cleveland

of the funds should be reinvested in the Downtown and waterfront areas and central business district.

After a series of discussions and the exchange of potential numbers, the council agreed to drop their ask from 50% to 35%.

The amount that city government

officials may spend on waterfront and Downtown upgrades has not been disclosed, and the TIF district’s potential earning power is still unknown. As a result, it is uncertain how much “excess revenue” would actually be available. Because of this, both Bibb and Griffin are seek-

ing community benefits agreements with developers to provide neighborhoods with immediate financial support.

Once the budget hearings are concluded by the end of the month, the TIF district legislation will proceed through City Council hearings.

SpectrumU, CWRU’s cable-streaming service, available to students

Zachary Treseler News Editor

SpectrumU is a product offered by Spectrum Enterprise, part of the Charter Spectrum company. The service offers online cable streaming for on-campus residents of Case Western Reserve University, in addition to normal daytime television.

When asked what SpectrumU is, many CWRU students were confused and perplexed. Director of Print Elie Aoun, a third-year student majoring in classics and history, overtly questioned the whole concept. He asked, “Don’t you mean the cell company?” A thirdyear student, who wished to remain anonymous, asked if it was like Monsters U from the “Monsters, Inc.” franchise.

Having cable television is a relative commonality for major research universities: In the UAA, the University of Chicago is the only institution to not advertise cable TV for its on-campus residents.

[U]Tech at CWRU advertises that there are 125 channels offered to students at no charge. Internal SpectrumU information states that the university must subscribe to each one individually. As an additional benefit, students are able to sign in to various cable TV channels. Included in this are channels such as WKYC 3 (the NBC affiliate) and Ideastream Public Media and national cable networks such as CNN and MTV. Also included are premium cable channels and some specialty channels, including FX, the Hallmark Channel and Lifetime.

Many students who actively use

SpectrumU have extremely positive things to say. “I watched the Super Bowl on it,” said third-year mechanical engineering student Nolan Sayer. Justin Zimmerman, a third-year student majoring in material science, said that “it [works] alright—but you can’t stream two things at a time.”

However, not all students know they have access to SpectrumU.

Opinion Editor Beau Bilinovich, a fourth-year student majoring in aerospace engineering, said, “I have been going here for four years and did not know this existed.”

The only notice that some current on-campus residents received about SpectrumU was in September 2022. This was when the university signed a contract with Spectrum for between three to five years, replacing the previous cable provider, Apogee Electronics, and

its app, Stream2.

According to a university spokesperson, SpectrumU has seen over 800 sign-ins the past few months.

Further, this service is not offered to everyone, even if it is promised to residential students. Students who live in the 1609 Hazel Apartments reported issues with accessing the service from inside their apartments, as they do not have access to the CaseWireless network. The Hazel Apartments’ webpage states that the building is not “eligible” for SpectrumU.

SpectrumU is not the only service of its type available to CWRU students. OpenText XM Fax allows CWRU students to receive and send fax messages with their SIS PeopleSoft ID number. The service’s purpose is to allow students to access research materials and databases while not on CWRU internet.

An in-depth review of every (playable) pinball machine at Cleveland’s Superelectric Pinball Parlor

UPinBall trip inspires students with mechanical retro games

News Editor

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go with University Program Board (UPB) to the Superelectric Pinball Parlor, a pinball establishment in the Gordon Square Arts District. The Parlor was opened in 2016 and houses a collection of pinball machines put together by former Bowling Green State University students.

I will be honest, even after spending a good few hours at the parlor, I am still only 50% sure I understand how pinball works. Generally, there are various targets on an upwards tilted board that you try to hit the ball into and various other surfaces that will deflect the ball. At the bottom of the board are two flippers that can be used to push the ball up, or if not used correctly, will allow the ball to fall through. Normally each game is played with three balls. And depending on the machine, there is an elaborate light show with sound effects that go along with the game.

There were roughly three types of machines. There were the old school styles with a manual clicker that would cycle through from zero to nine. There were also those that had a dot matrix screen, and finally there were those with a liquid-crystal display (LCD) screen. While the first two were okay, the overreliance on machines with the LCD screens was distracting. These were mostly made up of scenes from famous movie franchises, such as The Avengers, Jaws or Jurassic Park. Logistically, these things made no sense to me; they were positioned so that one must either focus on the board or the screen. Also, as someone who is not an avid fan of any of those franchises, I was left confused by all the scenes shown on the screens and struggled to connect them to the game of pinball.

Cactus Canyon: 7/10

This machine had a vague train aesthetic, which was a lot of fun to play with. It was genuinely rewarding but very difficult due to its open board.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian: 6/10

Playing this machine was addictive. It was fun and hard to take my eyes off of but lacked substance and an awe factor. Part of the reason, in my view, was because when you would shoot a ball off, it would only go halfway up the board before being dropped down. This decreased the satisfaction from playing this game.

Jurassic Park: 4/10

While “Star Wars” was an enjoyable playing experience, this one was downright frustrating. Part of my problem with this machine was that you were unlikely to get any special trick shots, even if there were tracks all over—almost teasing at the player. As a result, it was incredibly boring.

Whirlwind: 9/10

This was by far the most enjoyable machine, even though I had zero clue what I was doing nor what was going on. This machine had several small rotating plates that would throw the ball off course, various places to aim and shoot the ball and even a small fan on top. In all, it was like those tacky 4D films you would get at an amusement park.

Dragon: 3/10

This one gets three points for being old, with rotating number clickers and a nice mechanical sound. Other than that, the machine was frankly boring and also hard to play, owing to the small paddles and lack of obstacles.

Demolition Man: 9.85/10

This machine was simply crazy and so much fun. Point inflation is definitely a thing in this game—on my first go, I got a cool 93 million points, with the high score being above a billion points. The game was remarkably accessible, the targets were reachable and the lights and sounds added to the fun. At times even a second ball would be deployed, stirring chaos and garnering enjoyment. Yet, the 0.15 point reduction came from there being these bizarre handles controlling the pins.

Jaws: 7/10

This machine was very friendly, which is a bit odd considering there was a giant shark on top. It would literally give out second tries whenever I messed up. Play was quite fun, with the game being accessible and the targets approachable.

Stranger Things: 2/10

This was just boring. There was so much empty space; it was like watching an ant crawl across an empty pizza box

Iron Maiden: 6/10

This machine is one where I wish I had understood what I was doing. The game itself was very engaging and entertaining, with plenty of tracks and targets to shoot at. Yet, it was centered around collecting some letter thing … and to be honest, it confused me a lot. Also, the cutscenes on the television were frankly long and unbearable at times, stopping the ball midgame.

Avengers: 5/10

This was another spelling game, which frankly confused me. I also found that when you hit the ball, it could take 30 seconds before it returned into view. In the back of the board, there is some kind of labyrinth where the ball was once stuck for 30 seconds.

Centaur: 4/10

It was just so boring. From what I could gather, there were four targets that looked like scrabble pieces, and nothing else. I had no reason to try and play the game: The tracks that run all over the board were inaccessible, and the lighting was not attractive.

Seawitch: 8/10

First, I should mention that this board is beautiful. The lighting and sounds were on point, and the board design was quaint while also being modern. In all, it reminds me of a more fun version of the Centaur game.

Bad Cats: 7/10

This game was average. It was fun, but I was a little confused as to what I was supposed to be doing.

Yukon: 10/10

This is the most perfect little pinball machine west of the Cuyahoga River. It was all mechanical, from the counter to the different parts that the ball would bounce off of. You could hear the machine tick its way up and down as the game commenced. My favorite part about this machine was the fact it was much slower. The ball would not be going at twice the speed of sound, so you could analyze your next attack. However, the consequence of this was having to make sure that every move you made was intentional.

Elvira and the Party Monsters: 4/10

I found the game to be interactive yet utterly confusing and frankly bizarre. Why in the world is there a massive spine on this board? We will never know.

All in all, traveling with UPB to the Superelectric Pinball Parlor was a really fun event. Getting the opportunity to hang out with friends in a new part of Cleveland that CWRU students often do not get to go to is an experience in and of itself. However, getting to play with the enormous variety of pinball machines is arguably an even better one, and it is a trip that I would recommend to any CWRU students looking to spend an afternoon away from campus.

“Anatomy of a Fall” is as forensic as the name suggests

Kethan Srinivasan Social Media Content Creator

Most courtroom dramas tend to be compelling pieces of Oscar bait, and for good reason: revelatory investigations, intense crossexaminations and a restoration to order take a heavy weight off the audience’s shoulders, whether the verdict is “guilty” or otherwise. But French director Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” uses this format in a more intriguing way, making the law feel like a cultural immersion experience in both a figurative and literal sense, while also using the courtroom as the foundation for telling the story of a complicated marriage.

The film revolves around the successful German novelist Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller), her French husband Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis) and their visually impaired son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner), who live together in a mountainside chalet outside Grenoble. From the film’s opening sequence, there is a sense of tension that is almost assaulting between Sandra and Samuel. He blasts 50 Cent from the attic as Sandra is being interviewed by a young journalist, forcing the latter to cut the interview short and leave. Daniel, out for a walk with the family dog Snoop (Messi), arrives home only to discover his father lying on the ground, unresponsive to Daniel’s calls. A frazzled Sandra is now thrust into an alien legal system full of conflicting testimonies and forensic details. The question the audience must find out: Was Samuel pushed out of the attic window, or

did he fall of his own will?

While on trial, Sandra finds her life and her marriage gradually unraveled for all to see. We learn in a secretly recorded argument that Samuel never got over the guilt from the accident that left Daniel visually impaired. We also learn of Sandra’s infidelity, Samuel’s writer’s block and the accusations of plagiarism after Sandra borrowed a passage for her literature—the last of which the seemingly scrupulous yet annoying prosecutor (Antoine Reinartz) takes a strange interest in. Samuel’s therapist reveals his accounts of Sandra as controlling after an incident where she asked Samuel to stop taking his prescription, despite Sandra’s own account of his overdose.

The slough of prosecutorial arguments finally causes Sandra to break the norm of linguistic supremacy and speak in English to defend her character after initially treading so carefully in broken French. This was noticeably reflective of the dynamic of her marriage to Samuel, who still found himself speaking English to Sandra in his own home country, but struggled to connect with Daniel, who could only speak French.

As the audience is left to piece the truth together on their own, Triet, along with her co-writer and partner, Arthur Harari, do everything in their power to enlighten yet elude us from the truth, while also giving us an introduction to and simultaneously mocking the French legal system and its peculiarities.

Meanwhile, Sandra Hüller keeps you focused on her in every second of her appearance, masterfully portraying a woman whose inten-

tions are obscure. We never find out whether Sandra is a woman who cared for her husband’s wellbeing or child’s welfare, a manipulative and career-driven thespian who is trying to stay afloat or perhaps a combination of the two.

But Milo Machado-Graner gives the most underdog performance of the year, portraying a young child whose maturity supersedes his perceived youthful nature. He must attempt to reckon with the fact that he lost his father, and just might also lose his mother in the process.

“Anatomy Of A Fall” is a story that always seems out of reach, and that is perhaps what makes it so much more thrilling than your average le-

gal drama. Its portrayal of a woman whose identity is picked apart for the amusement of the law leaves you worrying for her endlessly and admiring her willingness to fight back. At the same time, it causes you to wonder if that willpower could have been the root of her spouse’s downfall. It makes sense seeing the list of prizes the film has acquired since its genesis, from the Cannes Palme d’Or to two Golden Globes, a BAFTA and now five Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Director for Triet, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress for Sandra Hüller, whose performance just might complicate the race even further.

Nocturnal Terror’s “Blasphemous Crushing of Angels”: The fun of early Bathory with heightened extremity

Cason Willman Staff Writer

Nocturnal Terror is a black metal project out of Brazil, whose creative core is multi-instrumentalist Evokator of Storms—a name obviously indebted to Blasphemy guitarist Caller of the Storms. An independent act, they have not achieved—and unfortunately, likely never will—any kind of widespread popularity or notoriety. Only those ensconced in the black metal scene and willing to listen to random demos on YouTube, such as yours truly, will ever hear of this band. And boy, oh boy, am I glad I heard of them. This is not your straightforward amateur black metal release: It’s dirty and evil, but above all, fun!

My first point of interest in Nocturnal Terror came from the tracklist, as I immediately recognized the third track, “Reaper,” as a Bathory cover. Being a godfather of black metal, Bathory has been covered to death, so seeing their song on the tracklist was no real surprise. However, Nocturnal Terror’s cover art on “Blasphemous Crushing” was so striking—taking hints from the black-and-red-paletteobsessed heathens in war metal—and my interest sufficiently piqued that I tried this extended play (EP) out. And the Bathory influence is evident,

and that is not just from the fact that Nocturnal Terror covers them. The track is saturated in early Bathory, specifically their eponymous debut in 1984. “Blasphemous Crushing of Angels,” released on Jan. 23, is almost like a revamped Bathory for a new generation, with influences from genres such as death metal and fullfledged second-wave black metal, of which Bathory themselves were the pioneers.

The Bathory influence is evident from the first title track, “Blasphemous Crushing of Angels.” A gritty, muted, death-metal-tinged riff kicks the EP off; the same riff is repeated in both channels at a higher volume before blasting into the admittedly restrained drums. That opening riff, besides making me bang my head, reminded me of “Necromancy” or “Reaper” off the Bathory debut, songs which similarly start with a muted version of the main riff which then repeats at a higher volume before the song proper commences. The drums complementing this riff, unlike the clangor of most black metal, are admittedly restrained. The EP, unlike most releases in this genre, is more concerned with the riffs, hence its proclivity for death metal. A similarly awesome, death-metal-esque riff commences on “Sepulchral Desecration.” Slow and grimy, like something

off a mature Bolt Thrower release, sounds like a song off of Bathory’s “The Return……” was given a healthy dose of “The IVth Crusade” or Asphyx.

The standout on the EP for me, though, is in fact the Bathory cover. Covers are tricky: You can either stick to the original almost note-fornote, like in Sodom’s excellent cover of Motörhead’s “Iron Fist,” or completely reinvent it, like in Imperial Triumphant’s nigh unrecognizable “Motorbreath.” Nocturnal Terror eschews this dichotomous thinking, but not in a cowardly, non-committal way. Their reinvention of the main riff, still with all the groove and kinesis of Bathory’s original, makes me want to move in a looser and almost more wild way than Quorthon’s classic. Nevertheless, Nocturnal Terror has proven that they’ve studied the classics, as the solo is nearly the same as the original … as it should be, since that hellish solo—the sound of bats breaking out of Hell—cannot be topped. It takes moxie to put your own spin on an early black metal staple such as “Reaper,” and Nocturnal Terror passes the test with flying colors. It’s just as fun as the original but with the band’s own signature flair. The death metal influences reemerge on EP closer “Sodomy,” undoubtedly the most “brutal” song on

the album. While Nocturnal Terror is not quite a war metal band, since most of their riffs are classic black metal and do not pummel as much as simmer with Satanic sizzle, “Sodomy” is the exception. Deep, guttural growls, unlike the screams of “Reaper,” and double-kick drums make this track a highlight of the release. Nocturnal Terror’s production also well suits its songs. Like Darkthrone’s genre classic “A Blaze in the Northern Sky,” the production is low-fidelity, but crisp enough to let the headbanging riffs stand in the fore. Darkthrone’s “In the Shadow of the Horns” finds its analog in “Sodomy” or “Sepulchral Desecration.”

Above all, “Blasphemous Crushing of Angels” is downright fun. The riffs are slick, dirty and even more enjoyable upon re-listening. Bathory was already fun in and of itself—I dare you to not enjoy yourself listening to “Necromancy,” “Sacrifice,” or “Born for Burning—but by adding the extremity characteristic of modern metal, especially death metal, Nocturnal Terror presents a far-from-amateur showing. The album highlights both their knowledge of the extreme essentials but also a creativity and studio intuition that makes these songs shine. I hope my review sheds some light on this criminally underrated band.

Justine Triet’s thrilling courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall” has already garnered praise, including winning two Golden Globes, and is slated to gain more with five upcoming Academy Award nominations. Courtesy of NEON

Celebrate Women’s History Month in 2024 with the Women’s Coalition! We are a student-run umbrella organization made up of 12 student groups on campus. We will be hosting a variety of events all throughout the month of March, so please follow our Instagram (@coalition. cwru) for details!

Lucas Yang/The Observer

Beyond the bin: A new approach to dining hall food can help reduce food waste

Katharina Staehr Staff Writer

Brace yourself for an unpopular opinion—but when I enter Leutner or Fribley Commons, I’m excited for the fiesta of flavors that awaits. It might be a mediterranean-style bowl heaped with roasted chickpeas and hummus one day, a pasta bowl loaded with marinara sauce and vegetables another. The options are near endless, and even as a vegetarian myself, I never fail to leave the dining hall on an empty stomach. But when I scan the overflowing compost bins or sweep a glance over at the dining tables to find plates heaped with uneaten food, I come to think I may be one of the very few who steadfastly believes Case Western Reserve University’s dining hall food tantalizes my taste buds.

When I came to CWRU, I was shocked at the amount of perfectly good food being tossed out. Plates upon plates I would find loaded with food, half of which, if not more, were sporadically picked at or remained untouched entirely—only to disappear in the compost bins or to find trash tucked away in the alcove of the dining hall’s dish turnaround machine. That is not to say we are the only contributors to food waste. According to Ensia, the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment media outlet, worldwide, one in every three bites of food produced never even makes it onto our plates. A great deal of food is lost in harvesting, storage, transportation and distribution, amounting to a whopping 46% of food lost by the food industry annually in the United States, as stated in a report by the non-profit Feeding America.

Still, we must look no further than ourselves to find the ultimate culprits

in the food waste dilemma: More than double the food is wasted by consumers than retailers, says The Wall Street Journal. Every year, 80 million tons of food are thrown out in the United States—that translates into approximately $218 billion and more than 325 pounds of food waste per person annually.

What’s more, these numbers may not even come as a surprise; the severity of food waste has been a point of longstanding concern, and urgent calls to reduce the amount of food we toss out are unceasing. The source of food waste might be the supermarket culture that places convenience at the forefront of every consumer purchase. We become disconnected from the ins and outs of how food is made, grown, harvested and processed—and we’re prevented from rethinking whether we should throw out the apple just because it’s got a brown spot. Perhaps “food waste” is also being reduced to a trend, a label we conveniently plaster on our lifestyles to claim a stake in the “sustainability,” “going green” and “social advocacy” arena, but rarely end up committing to.

Either way, the paradox remains unmistakable: If we so frequently feel guilty for wasting food, why do we throw out half of our burger from Leutner’s grill table or slide the leftover heap of rice from Fribley’s bowl station into the compost?

Perhaps the serving was too big, or the flavors were lacking. But these are easy problems to fix. Ask the chefs for a smaller serving, and verbally remind them when to stop heaping toppings into the sizzling pan. Alternatively, split your plate with a friend, and when serving yourself, don’t load your plate with food. Instead, help yourself to seconds. Also, forget bland food; the dining hall is the right place to get creative. Add a

dollop of yogurt and peanut butter to your oatmeal, drizzle lemon juice and olive oil over your rice bowl, experiment with the selection of sauces at the salad bar or hot sauce stand. All of a sudden, a new world of flavor combinations begins to unfurl in front of you, and you are left to your own devices to explore them all.

Most importantly, however, it’s about time we start changing our mindset towards CWRU’s dining hall food. Sometimes, amidst comments about “disgusting smoothies” or “dry chicken,” the awareness of the amount o f energy required to

feed an entire college campus, along with the hard work of chefs and dining staff to deliver nourishing meals, seems to get lost. Agreed, not every meal is top-notch restaurant quality—but does it have to be? If it’s filling and healthy, and we can use our own creativity to spice up the flavor profile, that’s all that matters. It doesn’t take much to become more appreciative of the food we eat if we begin considering it an elemental step in eliminating our food waste. And maybe next time, you’ll walk out of Leutner with your taste buds tantalized, too.

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Hannah Johnson Copy Editor Lexy Jensen Development Editor

DESIGN

Auden Koetters Director of Design

Anjali Bhuthpur Layout Designer

Bowen Zhang Layout Designer

Elizabeth McHugh Layout Designer

Lucas Yang Graphic Designer

Tyler Vu Graphic Designer

DIGITAL MEDIA

Joce Ortiz Director of Digital Media

Clay Preusch Photo Editor

Noah Henriques Web Editor

Nandana Vinod Social Media Manager

Aambar Agarwal Social Media Editor

Shejuti Wahed Social Media Content Creator & Video Editor

Kethan Srinivasan Social Media Content Creator

BUSINESS

Khushali Desai Director of Business Operations

Kamila Sattler Sanchez Business Manager

Sophia Ran Distribution Manager Cayley Ng Distribution Manager

The Observer is the weekly undergraduate student newspaper of Case Western Reserve University. Established in 1969, The Observer reports news affecting students and provides an editorial forum for the university community. Unsigned editorials are typically written by the opinion editor but reflect the majority opinion of the senior editorial staff. Opinion columns are the views of their writers and not necessarily of The Observer staff. For advertising information, contact The Observer via e-mail at observer@case. edu.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR should be e-mailed to observer@case.edu or submitted on our website at observer.case.edu. Letters can be mailed to Thwing Center 11111 Euclid Avenue, Suite 01, Cleveland, Ohio 44106. For policy and guidelines related to the submission of Letters to the Editor, refer to observer.case.edu/submit-a-letter.

The Observer is a proud member of CWRU’s University Media Board. Follow The Observer on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram @cwruobserver.

Why reading hard books is important, despite how difficult it can be

Milo Vetter Staff Writer

In middle school and high school, your teachers probably encouraged you to seek out primary sources, which are original accounts of a topic, as opposed to secondary sources, which are retellings or summaries of the primary sources. However, teachers often don’t acknowledge an important fact: Primary sources are really boring and hard to read. If they’re historical texts, they’ll have different writing conventions, which makes them much harder to parse. Or, if they’re from the present but are academic, they’ll use language that is uncommon outside of their field. Reading a modern account that summarizes the topic, such as a Wikipedia article, can help you understand a concept much more quickly than you would’ve by reading primary sources.

With the advent of the internet, summaries have proliferated. It used to be that if you wanted to learn something, and your professor’s curriculum wasn’t working for you, the best way to learn was to go to the library and find a book with what you wanted. But now we live in a more advanced world where challenging subjects have been

EDITORIAL

summarized and popularized in YouTube videos and Wikipedia articles. Learning class material via YouTube isn’t bad by itself—I’ve certainly saved many hours by watching videos by The Efficient Engineer instead of reading my textbooks—but using YouTube as your professor won’t work forever for two reasons.

First, as you continue to learn from the internet, you’re bound to notice diminishing returns. For example, there must be hundreds of thousands of videos, articles and websites out there that explain how to multiply and divide fractions or factor polynomials. Once you get higher up into mathematics and have to deal with concepts such as derivatives and Laplace transforms, though, things get trickier. There’s still information out there, but it gets much harder to find resources that will explain it better than the textbook you paid an extortionate amount of money for. Eventually, once you reach math concepts that I’m not educated enough to know the names of, you will have to accept the sad truth that not all knowledge is free and easy to find on the internet. Some of it can only be gained from an expert in the field, which is why becoming a part of an academic community is useful. But, much more often,

it’ll exist in a textbook or journal, completely unsummarized. If, up to that point, you’ve been avoiding textbooks like the plague, what happens then?

Second, a person who relies on summaries can be abused by them. The act of summarizing itself involves making value judgments about what parts of a text are important, and the person making that video may not even be aware of the judgments they made. More importantly, there’s active disinformation: Someone could simply lie about what’s in the text that they’re summarizing. How would you know that they’re wrong?

This risk of misinformation isn’t just unique to us college students, though. Most people get their facts and opinions not from primary sources, but from news outlets or commentators that do the research for them. Obviously, if you relied solely on primary sources at all times, you’d spend all your time doing research and never come to any conclusion. But being a responsible agent of knowledge means that when your brain tells you that something doesn’t seem right, you have to do the research the hard way. Still, being good at reading complex works is important in other ways. Being able to parse legal documents, tax forms or contracts can help

you catch important points that you otherwise would’ve missed.

This is why it makes me sad when I ask my classmates about what they’ve read recently and they say, “Oh, I haven’t been able to keep up with reading over the past few years.” Reading difficult material is a skill, and you’ll get better at it if you practice. Quite a bit of being able to parse difficult passages is just a matter of vocabulary and experience. If you know what that word means, or if you’re familiar with that rhetorical flourish, then the task of understanding becomes that much easier.

But reading doesn’t have to be a chore—if it seems like it is, you just haven’t found the right genre yet. I personally had been slowing down on my reading habits until I discovered “creative nonfiction”: the art of weaving true but disconnected events into a coherent story. Another obstacle might be the form factor. I used to be a big stickler for physical books, but then I discovered that I read more books when they’re in an open browser tab instead of being buried at the bottom of my backpack. Hence, it’s understandable why reading might fall by the wayside for students with so much on their plate. But never, ever stop reading—it’s far too important of a skill to ever give up.

Student feedback moves CWRU forward

Editorial Board

Case Western Reserve University is our home for nine months out of the year. It’s the place where we as students receive a top education from some of the best professors and experts in the humanities, STEM, medicine and law. We as students shouldn’t discount the many amazing opportunities available to us. From a diverse array of student organizations to CWRU’s wonderful research opportunities, there’s much here that students can benefit from.

These opportunities would not be possible without a strong commitment between the student body and the university administration in making CWRU a place that we can all be proud of. And it’s that commitment—that undying striving to make the university the best it can be—that moves CWRU toward a greater future.

We can see this striving in the recent reversal of Leutner and Fribley Commons’ made-to-order policy. Both dining halls implemented this policy in an attempt to ensure that food being served was as fresh as possible—an honest attempt at improving student life. However, many students complained that the policy had the effect of significantly increasing wait times for meals and the sizes of lines. After students reached out to university faculty about their issues with the new service, the dining halls reverted to their original policy.

Here, the university actively listened to its student body. And by actively listening, the experiences of students on campus were made much better. When we as students have our voices represented in the university’s actions and changes, that connection to the university administration grows.

This is what all universities should strive for.

Consider also the switch from the Seminar Approach to General Education and Scholarship (SAGES) to the Unified General Education Requirements (UGER). The SAGES program was intended to provide students with a diverse academic skill set, including research and academic writing. Stu-

dents who matriculated to CWRU prior to August 2023, who still have to follow these requirements, expressed frustration with the program, especially with regards to the lack of courses being offered. In response, the administration began to adopt the UGER program as an attempt to streamline the process.

Both of these changes show that when the university listens to the student body, great progress can be made. And while there might be flaws with some of the changes that the university makes, they do show a genuine commitment to making this school a better place for students to learn and live.

But we also should address where the university is still lacking in making progress, or even where it explicitly doesn’t listen or seek feedback from students since that affects us all.

On Wednesday, Feb. 28, all undergraduate students were informed of an overhaul to the Student Information System’s (SIS) Academic Requirements Report, called Stellic. This notice came as a surprise, as no one except for the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) was informed of this change, even being given a full presentation at their most recent General Assembly.

The vast majority of the student body—who rely on SIS to schedule courses and see where they are in making progress towards graduation—was not informed of the overhaul. Instead, the administration rolled out Stellic abruptly, not allowing for any feedback or opinions from the people whom USG is supposed to represent.

This incident is part of a larger issue between the administration and USG, which is frequently informed of university decisions and policies without further communicating with the student body. Transparency is worsened, and as a result the ability for the university to improve is made much more difficult.

There are a plethora of other issues with the university that suffer from a lack of communication. The decision to demolish Yost Hall—which completely ousted the Department of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics—was made with no input from students. Most egregiously, however,

has been the university’s response—or lack thereof—to student organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). In the months since Oct. 7, SJP has been calling upon President Eric Kaler and his administration to seek reconciliation and an acknowledgement of the ever worsening humanitarian crisis, with a death toll nearing 30,000.

Civil discussions should always be encouraged, but to blatantly ignore student feedback and protests for months goes against the principles that CWRU

should always strive towards.

No university can be perfect, not even CWRU. There will always be problems that need to be addressed and important changes to be made. Our university is a top school for a reason, and we shouldn’t discount that fact. And if there’s anything that can help move this university toward a better future, it’s an everlasting commitment with input from the student body, making this university the very best it can be. When that happens, we can truly see where CWRU shines the brightest.

Men’s tennis disappoints despite third place finish at ITA championships

Sidharth Ranga Staff Writer

The No. 1 Case Western Reserve University men’s tennis team kicked off the ITA DIII National Indoor Championship with a 4-3 victory over the University of Chicago. The matches were played under Division I scoring rules: Even with a sweep in the doubles matches, teams needed to secure wins in at least three singles matches.

All three of the Spartans’ doubles pairs dominated their opponents from Illinois to give CWRU a 1-0 lead. With a loss at second singles, the Spartans suddenly found themselves tied at 1-1. Victories secured by third-year Casey Hishinuma at fourth singles and graduate student Diego Maza at fifth singles propelled them to a 3-1 lead. However, with both fourthyear Vishwa Aduru and third-year Ansh Shah losing at first and third singles, second-year Anmay Devaraj needed to clinch a victory to beat Chicago.

Though he was only moved into the singles lineup several days prior to the tournament, Devaraj was focused on winning and did not let the pressure phase him. He won sixth singles 6-3, 6-3 to seal the first round victory.

“It was a great feeling knowing that your team needed you and delivering on that,” said Devaraj.

The Spartans rode with momentum into their semifinal matchup with ninth-seeded Washington University. With third-year Ajay Mahenthiran back into the lineup at third singles, CWRU hoped for a win over the Bears for a ticket to the finals for the third consecutive year.

The Spartans found themselves in a 0-1 deficit after losing two of their three doubles matches. Both the first and third doubles partners, fourth-year Sahil Dayal/

Devaraj and graduate student Michael Sutanto/Shah, lost 6-3 to WashU. Maza evened the score with a win at sixth singles, but WashU regained the lead with two significant wins at first and fifth singles against Aduru and Hishinuma, respectively.

Holding a 3-1 lead, the Bears needed one more singles win to move on to the finals. When they needed it the most, Sutanto and Mahenthiran beat their opponents, despite Mahenthiran missing the first match.

“It was definitely tough going to the match a little cold. But I had been playing at a really high level in the fall,” commented Mahenthiran about his confidence going into the semifinals.

With the match tied at 3-3, it was now in the hands of Shah at fourth singles. The match came down to a three-set thriller with Shah winning the second set, but losing in the third against Colin Scruggs of WashU.

Veteran Ajay Mahenthiran said, “It was tough because we had been so focused on beating Chicago, it felt like a lot of us went into that WashU match a little cold and not on our best foot. Something to learn from for sure moving forward.”

The Spartans now looked to finish third place with a win over fifthseeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, and they did just that with a dominant 4-0 victory. The Spartans finished 2-1 in doubles play while the singles matches finished with victories from Mahenthiran, Hishinuma and Maza. The remaining matches were stopped due to decision.

Though the Spartans fell short of expectations and thus will likely lose their status as the No. 1 ranked team in DIII, they now have their eyes set on a string of 11 upcoming matches in seven days in California.

Scores and Upcoming Games

Women’s Tennis

CWRU at Carnegie Mellon (2/24)L 3-6

CWRU vs Otterbein (2/25) - W 9-0

CWRU vs Oberlin (2/25) - W 9-0

CWRU vs Kalamazoo (3/2)

CWRU at Denison (3/3)

Men’s Tennis

CWRU at ITA DIII National Indoor Championship - 3rd place

CWRU vs UChicago (2/23) - W 4-3

CWRU vs WashU (2/24) - L 3-4

CWRU vs Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (2/25) - W 4-0

CWRU at Bakersfield (3/10)

CWRU at Ventura (3/10)

CWRU vs Kenyon (2/17)

Men’s Basketball

CWRU vs Carnegie Mellon (2/9)W 76-75

CWRU vs Mary Baldwin (3/1, 7:15 p.m., Horsburgh Gymnasium)

Baseball

CWRU at Washington and Jefferson (2/23) - W 10-7

CWRU at Washington and Jefferson (2/23) - W 7-5

CWRU vs Ithaca (2/25) - W 9-8

CWRU vs Mount Union (2/25) - W 4-3

CWRU at Wooster (3/2-3) - 3 games

Women’s basketball ends season victorious on Senior Day

Angelina Minaya Staff Writer

Puneet Bansal Sports Editor

The Case Western Reserve University women’s basketball team played their season finale against Carnegie Mellon University on Feb. 24. As part of Senior Day, CWRU recognized graduating seniors Kennedy BooneSautter, Kayla Characklis, Preet Gill, Margaret Terry and Sarah Mitchell as well as graduate students Morgan Micallef and Kate Montgomery.

The Spartans came in with a 1014 record, coming off a 83-68 win against the University of Rochester for Throwback Weekend. The last

time these two teams faced off, the Spartans had come away with a loss 62-82. But that was a road game for the Spartans. This time, CWRU would have home court advantage.

Although the Spartans had a shaky start and trailed close behind CMU, the Spartans sparked a 7-0 run to take an 18-15 lead before the end of the first period. It started with a rebound from third-year guard/forward Lucy Vanderbeck to feed an open first-year guard Mya Hartjes for a good 3-pointer, cutting the deficit to 14-15. Less than a minute later, guard Mitchell stole the ball for a fastbreak layup, and later she stole the ball again for a repeat layup, finishing the quarter 18-15.

After a made free throw and a fastbreak jumper from CMU, the score

Track and Field

CWRU at UAA Indoor Championships (2/24-25)

Men’s team: 5th of 7 teams (37.5 points)

Women’s team: 5th of 7 teams (41.5 points)

CWRU at W&L Track Carnival (3/15-16)

CWRU at Mount Union (3/2)

CWRU vs NCAA Indoor Championships (3/8-9)

Swimming and Diving

CWRU at Midwest Invitational (2/23-24)

Men’s team: 1st of 5 teams (655.5 points)

Women’s team: 1st of 4 teams (622.0 points)

CWRU at NCAA Diving Zone Regional (3/1-2)

Softball

CWRU at NFCA D3 Leadoff Classic

CWRU vs Linfield (3/1)

CWRU vs Belhaven (3/1)

CWRU vs Virginia Wesleyan (3/2)

CWRU vs East Texas Baptist (3/2)

CWRU vs Texas Lutheran (3/3)

CWRU vs Wartburg (3/3)

Women’s Basketball

CWRU vs Carnegie Mellon (2/24)W 63-52

was tied 18-18. CWRU then initiated an 11-0 run, which was fueled by layups and free throws. After a good free throw from fourth-year guard/ forward Boone-Sautter, Mitchell and guard Terry scored back-to-back layups. A three-pointer from Mitchell with 3:22 left in the half gave CWRU a 29-18 lead. The Spartans were able to end the first half with a 44-24 lead, as Mitchell made 8-of-9 shots in the first half for 20 points. Additionally, with 16 seconds left, Hartjes also made a three-pointer.

For the second half, CWRU kept at least a 15-point lead in the third quarter. With five seconds left in the quarter, a layup by forward Characklis gave CWRU a 56-35 lead heading into the fourth. Though the Tartans scored a fiery 17 points in the final pe-

riod, CWRU held on for an impressive 63-52 win over CMU.

CWRU outshot CMU, shooting 39.7% from the field to their 33.3% as well as going 33.3% from beyond the arc while the Tartans shot an abysmal 8.7%. Though both teams had a similar amount of turnovers (12 for CWRU, 15 for CMU), the Spartans were able to capitalize more on them, scoring 16 points off turnovers to the Tartans’ 8.

The Spartan seniors contributed to 51 of the 63 points scored in the game. Most notably, Mitchell ended the game setting a new career high, scoring 27 points total with 12 rebounds and 5 steals.

The Spartans finished their season with an 11-14 overall record and 4-10 in the UAA, taking sixth place.