Volume XLV, Issue 11: Nov. 8, 2013

the

volume xlv, issue 11 friday, 11/8/2013

Observer Capturing

CWRU For CWRU alumnus, home is temporary, film is forever Editor’s note: What or, rather, who is Case Western Reserve University?

Divided in two by roadways and architecture, soft science and hard science, this institution continues to portray the merging of the Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University that occurred more than 40 years ago.

But while the campus may be physically fragmented, the spirit and perseverance of the people who fill it are not. This multipart series will depict very different individuals who have only one thing in common: They are the characters of Case Western Reserve University. And this is their story.

If you want to speak with Mike Suglio, you better be prepared to order a beer. But it’s not about gulping down the suds; it’s about appreciating the conversation in between the sips.

He’ll sit with you as long as you like. He has nowhere to be. No boss to report to.

Because for the first time in his life, this aspiring film maker isn’t just holding his own camera. He’s writing his own script. *** Mike Suglio graduated from Case Western Reserve University in 2009 with a degree in political science, psychology and theatre. It may seem like a strange combination, but friends of the short, happy-go-lucky film enthusiast know it’s just par for the course. It’s to be expected from someone who studies a unique assortment of arts and humanities disciplines at a predominately science- and engineering-focused institution.

“I really wanted to get back into film my senior year,” Suglio says as he gazes reflectively into the glass bottles across the bar of the Coventry Village Winking Lizard. “I had done film in high school, but there just weren’t that many film opportunities at CWRU,” he says.

Tyler Hoffman, Executive Editor

pg. 5 Courtesy Mike Suglio

Law school dean to take temporary leave President Snyder and Provost Baeslack implicated in amended allegations

Following allegations of retaliatory conduct, outlined in a lawsuit filed against him and Case Western Reserve University, Law School Dean Lawrence E. Mitchell announced that he will take a temporary leave of absence. Mitchell made his announcement in an email to staff and students Wednesday, stating “I intend to take full advantage of the legal process to seek justice.”

Mitchell’s leave comes on the heels of an amended complaint, filed Oct. 31, that expands the scope of allegations facing him. The plaintiff, CWRU School of Law Professor Raymond Ku, alleges that Mitchell and the university, including President Barbara Snyder and Provost and Executive Vice President W. A. “Bud” Baeslack, colluded in retaliatory conduct following Ku’s attempts to report sexual harassment by Mitchell in late 2011.

Ku, a tenured member of the law school faculty, alleges that Mitchell engaged in

News

A&E

Opinion

Sports

pg. 2 LEGOs land at library

pg. 9 “Inundation” hits Mather Dance

pg. 13 Thwing Center: Left to waste?

pg. 20 Ultimate: Frisbee flinging fun

Tyler Hoffman, Executive Editor Sheehan Hannan, Director of Print Mike McKenna, News Editor

sexually inappropriate conduct with female members of the faculty and staff of the Law School on multiple instances, including at a party in Mitchell’s residence in Cleveland Heights on August 28. According to the complaint, Ku’s attempts to report Mitchell’s misconduct were rebuffed, resulting

to Lawsuit | 5

Courtesy law.case.edu

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Building blocks, working electrical outlets among popular library initiatives Tanvi Parmar Staff Reporter This past week, students normally huddled behind piles of books in Kelvin Smith Library (KSL) got a bit of a blast from the past—they were presented with an opportunity to play with Legos. What started off as an experiment designed to rejuvenate minds and express creativity quickly became a popular and inexpensive way to let students enjoy some time away from their academics.

“Almost as soon as the Legos went out on the first and second floor we had a suggestion in our suggestion box: ‘more Legos!’” noted Arnold Hirshon, associate provost and university librarian.

This program fits well with the mission and vision of KSL: to be an information laboratory that acts as a source of knowledge and provide a creative commons for the university.

“We have been working hard to create an environment that students will find to be warm, inviting and fun and that leaves students with a positive experience as they do their studying and research,” Hirshon said.

With that in mind, KSL staff has been working to make that vision a reality through several key changes this year.

A previous problem at KSL, and a frequent frustration of many students, was that there were many electrical outlets that did not work. KSL staff have done a complete check of the building and have restored or fixed the electrical outlets in the long tables. They are currently working to identify new furniture to replace the round coffee tables that may not presently be operable. KSL continues to encourage students to report inoperable sockets whenever possible so that they can get repaired quickly.

Last year, KSL invited the University Hospital therapy dogs to visit during finals and are planning to do so again this year.

Additionally, there is a discussion with some student groups to possibly provide free snacks and hold other events on different nights at KSL. However, these plans are not final and Hirshon encourages students to provide the library with feedback on what

Harsha Chandupatla/Observer Two CWRU undergraduates play with Lego building blocks on Kelvin Smith Library’s second floor. The colorful, plastic building blocks have been a hit among students, with several students already requesting the library to add more. type of event or services should happen.

This semester, KSL also opened up a new Service Center space that is intended to centralize a lot of student resources such as reserves, equipment checkout and OhioLINK item pickup in a one-stop shop.

Over the last few weeks, KSL introduced a 3D printer and a 3D scanner, monitor and haptic arm to control 3D images before they print in the Freedman Center. On top of that, there are two other Freedman Center changes under development that will hopefully be unveiled before or by next semester.

These changes would be a collaborative work and consultations space with a large screen monitor and the installation of a small video studio in which students can record interviews and other similar

projects for their classes.

In addition, KSL has been working with the Cleveland Public Library (CPL) to improve the “CPL@Case-KSL” leisure reading outpost on the first floor. Students are able to get a CPL library card that can be created for them at the KSL Service Center.

Some changes made to the “CPL@ Case-KSL” outpost is a new Overdrive station to check out e-books, children’s books, an update to the fiction and nonfiction adult reading selection and magazines, a video display with CPL sponsored lectures, concerts and services, new furniture on the second floor (that encourages student feedback) and three new installations of artist Julian Stanczak’s work for the art gallery before the end of the year.

The last new change is the formation of a new KSL Student Advisory Board that will meet for the first time on Nov. 22. The group will probably meet at least three or four more times during this academic year.

“The purpose of the Board is for the senior administration of the library to hear directly from undergraduate and graduate students about what they do or may not like about the library, and what we can do to ensure that we are providing the best possible services and facilities to meet their needs,” said Hirshon.

More information about KSL’s changes can be found on the KSL Annual report, “A Year of Creating Value,” available on the KSL website.

New director of Office of Multicultural Affairs named Talia Gragg Staff Reporter

Charlotte Palmer/Observer A student, right, in Clarke Tower looks on as a pumpkin flies past her. The gourds were dropped from the 11th floor of Clarke Tower at the Residence Hall Association Magnolia Community Council’s Jack Bash event last Friday.

Case Western Reserve University has recently welcomed Naomi Sigg as the new director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Sigg graduated from Miami University in Ohio with a bachelor of arts in political science and a masters degree in college student personnel.

Staying in the midwest, she then went to Washington University in St. Louis to serve as student involvement coordinator of multicultural affairs. Eventually she was promoted to the position of Assistant Director of Student Involvement and Leadership.

Sigg has stressed diversity and inclusion throughout her career. At Washington University, she chaired a forum on diversity and inclusion, as well as chairing their social justice center and advising diversity groups.

So far, Sigg has felt a warm welcome from CWRU. She says that it’s been wonderful, and that she’s very grateful for the warm and welcoming students and staff.

Everyone has been quick to help, which she says is indicative of the community here. So far she’s been getting her bearings, familiarizing herself with the various departments and offices at CWRU. Her plans for the Office of Multicultural Affairs include being as collaborative as possible. She wants to get out and get to know as many people as possible, while everyone is sharing information and helping students. She noted that “We all support the same students” and believes that the staff should work together in its goals.

Sigg wants to emphasize that she has an open-door policy, and welcomes any student to come see her, whether it’s to talk about multicultural affairs, social justice or diversity.

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observer.case.edu

Deadline for mass funding from USG approaches Rolling funding coffers “scraping bottom of the barrel” Arielle Soffer Staff Reporter The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) is the main provider of both preallocated and unplanned funding for Case Western Reserve University’s many student organizations, and although USG has managed to get clubs and activities to use the money available, its initial supply of funds has not necessarily been able to keep up with the later demand for money requested for unexpected expenses.

Student organizations may apply for two types of funding, which each serve different purposes. The first, mass funding, is money allocated to organizations by USG each semester. This pool of money is usually put towards major events, or given to organizations which have a projected budget for the entire semester. Organizations may submit a request for mass funding for the upcoming spring 2014 semester from Nov. 11 until Nov. 22.

The second type of funding is rolling funding. This pool of money is relatively smaller than the pool of money allocated for mass funding and is given to organizations as supplemental funding or as backup for unforeseen or emergency expenditures. The Finance Committee, which is primarily responsible for dispensing all USG funding, employs a “dynamic” system for rolling funding, meaning that all money allocated to organizations that is unused because of a cancelled event or otherwise, must be recycled back into the pool for rolling funding. The Finance Committee is accepting requests for rolling funding until Monday, Dec. 2.

After a financial request of any sort is submitted, the Finance Committee, which conducts weekly open meetings on Thursdays at 7 p.m., breaks up into subcommittees of two to three people to do preliminary reviews of these requests side-by-side with the Student Organization Handbook and the USG Funding Bylaws. The subcommittees will then reconvene and present their reviews, and the Finance Committee as a whole will vote on allocations, which can be in full or in part, according to what the Finance Committee deems worthy of funding.

The review process was changed in the

spring 2013 semester in an effort to expedite the funding process and provide organizations with allocation decisions more efficiently. Previously, decisions had to be written up as a bill by the Finance Committee and presented to the General Assembly for a final vote. Now, the Finance Committee is able to make the final decision on all financial requests made to USG. Recently, the amount of available money for rolling funding has been approaching a low for the semester. As of Oct. 24, the rolling funding account had a balance of $415.20, and the Finance Committee agreed to accept requests over the amount available left in the account, but would not guarantee the entire amount to be granted. In the minutes from the most recent meeting of the Finance Committee held on Oct. 31, it was understood that USG is no longer able to fund large requests from the pool of money dedicated to rolling funding.

“Because rolling funding requests are reviewed in the order they are received and are allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis, they tend to pile up this far into the semester,” said Justin Beckman, the vice president of USG. “We have been scraping the bottom of the barrel of the pool for rolling funding each week.”

The Finance Committee will accept requests until the there are no longer rolling funds available.

Mass funding reviews are done with a more holistic approach, allowing the Finance Committee to take every organization’s financial request for the semester into account before making final decisions. This ensures that every organization receives the portion of money it deserves. Reviews for mass funding will occur on Nov. 23, the day after the deadline for submitting requests.

If an organization is dissatisfied with the decision made for a financial request, the organization may submit an appeal. The Executive Committee is then responsible for reviewing appeals, and may choose to deny the appeal, accept it or subtract money from the initial allocation of funds granted by the Finance Committee, upon reevaluation. Dates for submitting appeals are in the process of being solidified, and will be sent out to students in the next email from USG.

Granddaughter of Kelvin Smith, CWRU grad join University Board of Trustees Julia Bianco Staff Reporter Earlier this month, the Case Western Reserve University Board of Trustees elected Ellen Stirn Mavec and Don Richards to join the other 47 current members.

“Both have years of commitment to CWRU through other membership in committees and personal involvement,” noted Janice Obman, director of Trustee Programs.

“Since all trustees volunteer their time and experience, the board looks for people who have demonstrated that commitment to their community and to CWRU.” Below is a brief look of what each trustee brings to CWRU. Ellen Stirn Mavec University involvement: Mavec is the granddaughter of Kelvin and Eleanor Smith, and is the president of the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, which has donated money to numerous university projects, including the Kelvin Smith Library and the new Tinkham Veale University Center.

Cleveland involvement: Mavec has also been a trustee of the Cleveland Museum of Art since 1991. She is on the board of directors for The Cleveland State University Foundation, and is a Life Trustee of the Great Lakes Theater Festival. She is a founding

member of In Counsel with Women, a group of women executives in northeast Ohio. In 2003, Mavec was one of YWCA’s Cleveland Women of Achievement. She was also awarded Northern Ohio Live Magazine’s Rainmaker Award in 2004, and was presented with the medal of Excellence from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2008.

Don Richards University involvement: Richards earned his Bachelor of Science in Engineering from CWRU in 1979 and his MBA in Operations Management and Supervision in 1981. Now, he co-chairs CWRU’s Corporate Visiting Committee, which gives university leaders a chance to discuss plans for the school with local business leaders. In 2008, he funded the Richards Fellows program, for students with engineering and business interests in the Masters of Engineering and Management program. Richards also recently gave $1 million to the President’s Strategic Initiatives Fund.

Cleveland involvement: Richards worked at Accenture, a Cleveland-based consulting firm, for 30 years before retiring in 2010.

He serves on the Board of Advisors for Cate Street Capital, a company devoted to green innovations, as well as Business Volunteers Unlimited and the Cleveland Vicon Company. He is also the secretary for the Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy Board of Trustees.

Courtesy Lindsey Fitzharris Medical history scholar Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris poses with a skull. Fitzharris is an expert in the history of human medical specimens.

Medical historian films documentary about human specimens Ellie Rambo Staff Reporter Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris does not fit the stereotype of someone fascinated by death: Her friendly smile and welcoming manner do not betray any hints of morbidity. But to the medical history scholar who spoke on campus on Halloween, the history of early surgery isn’t macabre. She’s interested in medical specimens not just as artifacts from medicine’s past, but as the remains of individuals and their stories.

“I consider myself a storyteller above all else,” Fitzharris says.

And the stories she tells are fascinating ones. The one that first attracted her interest to the medical history field was the story of an 18th century coachman: He had developed an aneurysm behind his knee that if left untreated would kill him. However, he could not have his leg amputated because his livelihood depended on his ability to drive a coach. The coachman went to John Hunter, a famous anatomist and surgeon, who performed a risky procedure that involved cutting off the blood supply to the aneurysm. The procedure was successful, and the coachman was so grateful to Hunter that he donated his body to the surgeon after his death. Hunter preserved the coachman’s leg, which is now part of the Hunterian Museum at The Royal College of Surgeons.

Unlike many of the stories Fitzharris tells, the story of the coachman has a happy ending. Many of the specimens at Barts Pathology Museum, one of the collections where Fitzharris does her research, are the remains of deformed people and others who were exploited by the medical community. Many of the remains are con-

troversial, and some people argue that they should not be on display.

Fitzharris disagrees. She thinks medical specimens should be accessible to the public because they make the past more visceral and real.

“Interacting with these fascinating collections really drives home the fact that the people I read about in books were real, living beings whose lives were sometimes filled with unimaginable pain and suffering,” she says.

She believes it is important to remember these people’s lives because “medicine is built on the hard lessons learned from failure.”

To help educate the public about medicine’s history, Fitzharris is filming a documentary that will explain the origins of medical specimen collections. “Medicine’s Dark Secrets” was funded through an online crowd-funding site, and filming has already begun. The documentary asks the questions: “Who ends up on the dissection table in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, and how do they end up there?” To answer these questions, “Medicine’s Dark Secrets” will focus on specimens that emphasize the humanity of medical subjects.

“You can’t help but look at hands and wonder who they belong to,” says Fitzharris, whose first experience with death in a clinical setting involved a cadaver with “red fiery nail polish.”

According to Fitzharris, it is important to recognize the contributions of people who became specimens, because their medical contributions still affect us today.

“The truth is that medicine owes a great debt to the people who ended up floating in these jars,” she notes. “It’s through their deaths that many, many lives have been— and continue to be—saved.”

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Spotlight on Research

Research looking to minimize damage caused by placing electrodes into brain Kushagra Gupta Contributing Reporter Humans are unique animals. Our brains control our bodies well, but one day, brains may be able to control machines just as effectively. Senior researcher Shruti Sudhakar has been working on a project with the goal of reducing the damage electrodes do to the brain and allowing them to be used for longer periods of time.

Electrodes that can pick up and translate brain functions into actions have been around for some time.

“Your brain is just a circuit and the idea was that if you could tap into that circuit, you can actually use the brain as a computer to control things,” explained Sudhakar.

However, planting electrodes into your brain over an extended period of time results in an immune system response, which can lead to inflammation in the brain. This reduces the amount of electrical activity the electrodes can pick up.

The damage is caused by the fact that the electrodes, in order to get to the brain, go through layers of tissue in the skull. It’s residue from this movement that triggers a response.

“You have tissue trauma, that’s what activates the response,” Sudhakar said.

For over a year, Sudhakar’s research has been trying to figure out how to re-

duce this inflammatory response. Specifically, she has been looking at the TLR-2 and TLR-4 receptors on microglia cells, which are the first cells to react in a brain immune response.

“They basically recognize blood serum, protein, necrotic tissue and bacteria,” she said.

The electrodes themselves aren’t harmful, but rather the body’s own immune system continual reaction creates a toxic environment for the brain. This is because microglia cells release a large amount of toxic factors as part of their response against pathogens, but the system doesn’t stop until the electrodes are removed.

Other researchers in the same lab as Sadhakar, which is run by Dr. Jeffrey Capadona, have attempted various methods to reduce the response. For example, drug therapy might be a viable option. The goal of this method would be to reduce the toxicity of the immune response on the brain.

Another idea is to look at the material the electrodes are made out of.

“If you reduce the stiffness of the material, you should have less trauma and less of a response,” Sudhakar explained.

Sudhakar is simply interested in preventing the response from happening in the first place. The way she measures the immune system response is by cutting experimental rats’ brains into thin slices.

Mary Kate Macedonia/Observer The balcony of Strosacker Auditorium will have its carpeting replaced over winter break. Nord and Sears are set to see flooring upgrades this summer.

Facilities Services to replace carpeting in Strosacker, Nord, Sears Julia Bianco Staff Reporter Over winter break, Strosacker’s balcony is going to get a makeover. The balcony’s carpet flooring, which is currently worn out and ripping, will be removed and replaced.

“The carpet is a tripping hazard, and it has become a liability for the school,” noted Eugene Matthews, director of facilities services.

Facilities Services plans on replacing the current flooring with newer carpeting.

Furniture will be replaced after the project is finished.

Facilities Services does frequent examinations of spaces on campus to determine whether flooring or paint needs to be replaced. Over the summer, they will also replace the carpeting in the fourth floor of Nord and Sears.

“We typically only clean carpets twice a

year,” said Matthews. “We want to replace the carpeting with a product that meets the needs of the students and allows the custodians to clean it on a nightly basis.”

Food spills and stains have made the carpeting in Nord and Sears dirtier than most, making it a priority for the university to replace.

“In some areas of campus, where students gather to study and eat, we’re trying to find alternatives to make the spaces available for use but still easy to clean,” added Tom Bondra, project manager of the facilities services department.

In Nord and Sears, the carpeting will be replaced with soft linoleum tiling.

Acoustic panels will be put on the walls to minimize noise.

Because the project will likely be done over the summer, it shouldn’t interfere with student use of the space. The chairs and couches will remain in place.

Arianna Wage/Observer Senior Shruti Sudhakar is currently working on a project to lessen tissue damage caused by the implantation of electrodes into the brain.

She then stains for specific cells. “[The method] basically uses antibodies, which are cell specific, to target receptors, proteins and cells,” she said.

She then compares the amount of microglia on the side of the brain with the electrode to the same location on the other hemisphere.

As for long-term goals, Sudhakar hopes her project will help create a future for brain-machine interfaces by getting to the clinical trial phase. So far, she has only

been able to use rats for testing. Eventually, brain-machine interfaces would be used for therapeutic purposes.

When she’s not doing research, Sudhakar keeps herself busy with many other activities. She’s part of Case Emergency Medical Services, and has a shift from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m every Thursday. She’s been an emergency medical technician since she was seventeen. She is a biomedical engineering major and plans on going to into medicine after graduating.

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observer.case.edu from Suglio | 1 Suglio sought to make a documentary film of the fatal shooting that occurred at the Peter B. Lewis Building on May 9, 2003. The Office of the General Counsel blocked his request.

He decided to do an experiential learning fellowship in film instead. The Support of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE) Office denied him.

The university drew a hard line in favor of “natural” sciences. They forced the aspirational movie buff to color outside of the lines. And that’s exactly what he did.

Suglio began taking film classes at the Cleveland Foundation in order to steer his pursuits with professional guidance. The training eventually helped him secure a SOURCE grant, as well as an experiential learning fellowship.

The resulting creation was an awardwinning documentary, “The Struggle for Existence.” The film examined two museums, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Creation Museum in Cincinnati, and documented how investigative methods influence outcomes. It received top honors at Brown University’s Ivy Film Festival, yet it gave validation to Mike Suglio’s most important life choice.

He began writing scripts, directing screenplays and editing the resulting fiction films. “The more you’re exposed to stuff, the more you learn it,” he says.

“When you’re in a position to have to do it, you teach yourself.”

He accepted a job in the Division of Student Affairs at Case Western Reserve,

where he proceeded to serve as the test accommodations manager for Educational Services for Students (ESS). Meanwhile, he started pursuing his master’s degree in business administration at the Weatherhead School of Management.

But film was never far from mind.

In 2012, he hosted a film festival at The Market Garden Brewery and Distillery in Ohio City, where he employed a simple business model: Filmmakers should show the films of other filmmakers. “You see a need for something and you do it,” Suglio says. “We took a risk and now we’re one of the biggest film festivals in the area.”

It’s a remarkable accomplishment for someone who first fell in love with film as a suburban movie theater employee. *** For 10 years Mike Suglio worked part-time at Atlas Cinemas in Mentor. He watched a lot of movies during that decade, all the while reporting to General Manager Cyprian Piroch.

So when Piroch asked Suglio to accompany him on a trip to the Philippines, where the duo could film a documentary about the developing nation and its people, the decision was simple.

Suglio graduated with his MBA, and agreed to accompany Piroch on this oncein-a-lifetime venture. He quit his job at CWRU and boarded a flight for Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, at the end of September.

According to Suglio, he wasn’t making a sacrifice. He was making the right decision.

“The thing you immediately notice is hospitality,” he says, as he describes his

first encounter with a Filipino. The taxicab driver considered himself a national ambassador who was responsible for providing Westerners with their first positive impression of the country.

“We were in the most densely populated city in the world, which I learned from trivia night at the Jolly Scholar,” he says as a familiar smile stretches across his face.

Suglio and Piroch soon left the touristy capital of the Philippines and proceeded to the more rural island of Negros Oriental, where they met Clarita, a local female shaman. They filmed the 94-yearold native, who sat in the corner of a local market with little bottles, herbs and crucifixes. According to Suglio, she claimed she could fix any ailments better than a Western doctor.

The pair also reunited with a Filipino massage worker, who Piroch had promised to return to film many years earlier.

“He was blind by age 18,” Suglio says of the national. “His family suggested he get into massage therapy because there aren’t that many opportunities there for people who are visually impaired.”

The encounter especially moved Suglio, who had worked with visually impaired students throughout his employment at the university.

But the paramount moment of Suglio’s trip didn’t originate above from above the ground; it came from beneath the earth. Passionate about World War II artifacts, Suglio yearned to experience some historic pieces while in the Philippines. But he did not expect to discover an impromptu museum.

The two filmmakers consulted with locals and discovered an amateur, yet

robust, display compiled by Filipino Felix Constantino. The old man’s uncle died in a Japanese POW camp during the war, which spurred Constantino to begin searching for pieces of history at the age of 5.

With only a shovel to assist him, the man dug deep into the soil and collected numerous artifacts, ranging from Japanese Kamikaze swords to a MacArthur Jeep. Ultimately he filled a modest garage from floor to ceiling with exhibit-worthy relics. He only stopped digging when his aging body could no longer endure it. Along the way he has unearthed the bodies of 28 Japanese soldiers. He knows where at least seven more are buried.

“That became our main documentary,” Suglio says as his eyes glisten with vindication. “I’m starting to edit it right now.”

from Lawsuit | 1

as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, amounting to a pay cut. The suit also alleges the Mitchell was about to fire Ku before his resignation, a termination that was approved by Baeslack.

The amended suit, assigned to Judge Peter J. Corrigan, also contains details about a staff member, referred to as Administrative Staff Member 3, who attempted to report Mitchell’s harassment and was subsequently terminated after “less than six months” of employment. Staff Member Number 3 allegedly assisted Mitchell in his intimidation of Ku before attempting to report Mitchell’s wrongdoing. The suit alleges that Staff Member 3 was reassigned to Vice President for Human Resources Carolyn Gregory’s office and subsequently fired on financial pretenses. Along with stating that this is common practice for quieting those who report misconduct, the suit alleges that Gregory and Senior Vice President for Administration John Wheeler encouraged Staff Member 3 to sign a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for a severance package, which he refused.

Ku’s lawyers released the following statement in regards to the amended complaint.

“The amended complaint contains new allegations that the university’s central administration was aware that Dean Mitchell inappropriately propositioned members of the law-school community and that a staffer had admitted to the administration that the staffer was complicit with Dean Mitchell in a campaign of retaliation against Associate Dean Ku. This underscores the question about how any dean could continue to enjoy university backing under such circumstances,” said attorney Subodh Chandra, who is representing Ku. CWRU did not released a statement regarding the amended allegations, but the university did note that Mitchell “did the right thing” by taking a leave of absence.

Its statement on Mitchell’s announcement continues, “His decision allows the school community to focus on continuing its recent progress, including a dynamic new curriculum and strong fundraising.”

in loss of pay, emotional damages and breach of contract. Ku, a well-respected member of the Law School faculty both inside and outside the university, was serving as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the time, second to Mitchell.

The suit alleges that Mitchell engaged in a pattern of sexual misconduct at both CWRU and George Washington Law School, his previous employer, including marrying a student, subsequently divorcing her and re-marrying a fellow law faculty member. Ku’s suit alleges that, while at CWRU, six professors experienced sexually inappropriate harassment from Mitchell, along with four members of the administrative staff and a law student. Several of these individuals allegedly stated to Ku that they feared for their jobs if they reported Mitchell’s misconduct. These staff members remained unnamed in the court document, as Ku is attempting to protect their identities.

According to the suit, Mitchell attempted to report Mitchell’s misconduct on several occasions, including meetings with Baeslack, who sent him to take the matter up with his immediate supervisor, Mitchell, in defiance of university policy.

After the matter remained unresolved, the suit alleges, Mitchell launched a campaign of retaliation against Ku, who subsequently attempted to report Mitchell’s alleged wrongdoing to the Office of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity. The suit details meetings with Marilyn Mobley, vice president of the office of inclusion, diversity and equal opportunity, and John Clochesy, the faculty diversity officer at the time. According to the documents, Mobley reported Ku’s allegations to Snyder. Additionally, Clochesy allegedly told Ku that Baeslack “didn’t get it” in matters of sexual harassment, citing a previous issue in which an instance of sexual harassment’s significance had to be explained to him. Clochesy departed the university shortly after the incident.

When the matter went unresolved, the suit alleges, Mitchell and the administration forced the resignation of his position

*** Back in Cleveland, Suglio freelances and works odd jobs to make ends meet.

By night he patrons the city’s best taverns and breweries, where attentive audiences on both sides of the bar pause to hear his story.

Suglio aspires to film tomorrow’s best movies from the studios of Los Angeles, Cali. He doesn’t know how long it will take, and he frankly doesn’t care. After all, if he’s learned one thing along the way, it’s how to approach life one patient—yet measured—step at a time.

Like a long plane ride back home.

Like a newly cut film waiting to be viewed.

Like a freshly poured beer waiting to be sipped.

This is a developing story. For ongoing coverage, visit observer.case.edu.

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Outside the Circle A look at news outside of Case Western Reserve

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International

1. Over a billion dollars worth of stolen art discovered In a Munich home, billions of dollars worth of stolen art were recently discovered. In the past, the art was taken by the Nazis and classified as un-German or degenerate, allowing opportunity for men such as Hildebrand Gurlitt to take them for private collections.

Gurlitt’s son, Cornelius Gurlitt, was being investigated for tax evasion when the paintings were found in a back room of his apartment in March of last year.

Though they were dirty, the paintings all appeared to be of high-quality condition.

The collection includes the works of both known and unknown artists, including paintings by Pablo Picasso and Henri de Troulouse-Lavec. Ownership of each piece is still being determined.

The art was found during March of last year, leading to questions about why the German government kept the discovery a secret until recently. Officials say it would have been “counterproductive” to their investigations to release the news earlier.

—Anastazia Vanisko

2. India sends spacecraft to Mars On Tuesday, India launched a spacecraft to Mars. This will make India’s space agency the fourth agency to reach Mars if the mission is successful. According to the head of India’s space agency, the mission and the experiments involved will show India’s technological capability.

While on Mars, scientific measurements will be taken in new areas of study. One such area is searching for a methane signature, which would indicate the possibility of a biosphere deep beneath the planet’s

crust. The spacecraft will also measure the rate of atmospheric gas loss to outer space, hopefully leading to a better understanding of the planet’s history.

Critics of the mission ask if this is an appropriate way for the country to spend its money when there are other domestic concerns, like poverty. However, the hope is that India will be able to reduce poverty and improve the country as a result of the benefits that this space mission may bring to the nation.

—A.V.

National

3. LGBT anti-discrimination bill advances in Senate The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that would prohibit discrimination in the workplace due to sexual orientation or gender identity, passed in the Senate with 61 votes, only one more than the required 60, and will later move to a full floor vote. The bill had the full support of the Democrats in the Senate, as well as those of a few Republicans. The final vote that pushed the total of senators in favor to 61 was that of Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

Pushing ENDA forward in the House, however, will be a different matter. A

spokesman for Speaker John Boehner confirmed that he will not support the bill, and currently only five Republicans openly support ENDA in the House. In a blog item for the Huffington Post, President Barack Obama demonstrated his support by saying “who you are and who you love should never be a fireable offense,” as well as saying that ENDA “ought to be the law of the land.”

If passed, ENDA would expand on existing laws that offer protection from discrimination.

—A.V.

Police Blotter Oct. 28 to Nov. 4 Oct. 30 — Motor vehicle theft- Parked car stolen overnight, Ford/Bellflower Roads.

Oct. 31— Petty theft- Package taken from office, Peter B Lewis building.

Oct. 31 — Criminal damage- Vehicle window smashed, 1587 E.118th Street Nov. 1 — Criminal damage- Car damaged by thrown pumpkin, Hessler Road.

On the Beat can be contacted at policecolumn@case.edu.

Senior hopes for water meter company funding through Kickstarter Gabrielle Buffington Contributing Reporter Senior CJ Valle hopes to be the latest Kickstarter success story. The engineering major, along with co-founders Craig Lewis and Andrew Schad, currently have their project, Sprav Water, listed on the popular crowd-funding website.

Sprav Water was created with the intent of helping the environment by means of technology. It is a meter that, through a smartphone application, tracks how much water a person is using while they shower.

“Sprav was born out of a university engineering project which encouraged us to examine energy usage in the home,” Valle said.

Sprav is customizable and the device’s properties and applications can be tweaked by any engineer.

“We decided to make Sprav opensourced to make it easier for developers to make custom applications to do whatever they wanted,” Valle continued. “The possibilities are limitless. I’m personally hoping to see a shower-controlled coffee maker in the near future.”

Another project that came from the hands of a Case Western Reserve University alumnus and the mind of a Canadian engineer was the Pebble watch. It is a customizable smartwatch with just about as many benefits as any iPhone or Android; it set a record on Kickstarter.com, raising over $10 million in only 37 days.

Andrew Witte, 2009 graduate, served as the lead engineer for Pebble Technology and made the decision alongside founder Eric Migicovsky to take the product to Kickstarter after failing to recruit enough private investors. The watch is currently being sold on its website and in Best Buy stores for $150, with over 250,000 watches sold as of today.

CWRU on kickstarter An overview of several university related projects Project Name: Sprav (Turn your shower into a smart shower) Year: 2013 By: Sprav Water (co-founders Craig Lewis, CJ Valle, Andrew Schad) What product does: The Sprav water meter clips to your showerhead to measure how much water you use during a shower. Sprav works in conjunction with a smartphone application to save the data of each shower. You can tailor your preferred amount of time for showering on this application so that the next time you use Sprav, it can respond to you. It has an LED light that changes colors: going from green, to yellow, to red in correspondence with how much time you have left to shower (according to your settings).

Raised vs. Required: $25,045 (as of press time) - $80,000 (Oct. 17, 2013 – Nov. 16, 2013) Project Name: Pebble (E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android) Year: 2012 By: Pebble Technology (Eric Migicovsky, Andrew Witte from CWRU ‘09 (lead engineer, second employee)) What product does: Through Bluetooth technology, the Pebble wirelessly syncs to an iPhone or Android, then connects with apps; alerts users of incoming calls, emails and messages; and tells time on a waterproof, programmable e-paper face.

Raised vs. Required: $10,266,845 - $100,000 (April 11, 2012 – May 18, 2012)

On the Beat

Issues of consent People choose to go to college for a variety of reasons: solving the world’s problems, obtaining credentials to qualify for useful employment and getting out of your parents’ basement are usually high on the list. Meeting other people, often from different backgrounds, is another reason (this is much easier to do at a university than in your mother’s basement). There is definitely a social aspect to the university experience, even if reality is somewhat different than the Animal House movies.

Some of these new contacts may develop into sexual relationships. Normally this is not something the police department worries about (we honestly have other things to do), unless we receive a report of sexual assault, which means things have crossed the line from private business into police business.

So where is the line? In the state of Ohio, as in many states, the legal line is defined by the c-word: consent. Consent means both parties have agreed, either verbally or nonverbally, to what is going on. If consent is not given, then it becomes a sexual assault situation. Consent cannot be given by people under threat,

Have an event happening on campus you would like to see in the paper?

Hear something interesting going on in University Circle?

Submit your ideas to observer-tip@case.edu for possible inclusion in next week’s new standing feature:

Inside the Circle

people under a certain age, people with certain mental conditions or by people whose judgment has been impaired by a drug, intoxicant or controlled substance.

Alcohol would fall into the intoxicant category. Which is another way of saying “we were both really drunk” doesn’t cut much ice in legal circles.

These are not hypothetical issues— Case Western Reserve University Police Department receives a number of sexual assault reports every academic year. They almost never involve assaults between complete strangers; they almost always involve issues of alcohol and consent. Many of them are situations that could have been avoided with the use of better judgment.

So enjoy your university experience, and enjoy making and discovering new relationships—just keep the c-word in mind should it ever seem relevant.

On the Beat is a weekly safety column written by Sergeant Jeffrey Daberko & Officer Mark (The Crossing Guard) Chavis of CWRU PD. Send feedback to this or other columns at policecolumn@case.edu.

See this week’s web exclusive at observer@case.edu CWRU to honor veterans at Monday’s commemoration and roll call event

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observer.case.edu

fun page | 7

fun

Crossword Puzzle Across 1. Gloomy atmosphere 5. Muscle contraction 10. Bristle 14. Type of sword 15. Hindu social division 16. All excited 17. Designation 19. Old stories 20. Big fuss 21. Fragrant oil 22. Despises 23. Tediously protracted 25. Lacquer ingredient 27. Consumed food 28. Oaths 31. Commode 34. A group of soldiers 35. Faucet 36. Makes a mistake 37. Quaked 38. Brand of credit card 39. Orange pekoe 40. A part of the small intestine 41. Treaties 42. Musical vocalist 44. Greek god of flocks

and meadows 45. Hotel offering 46. A vehicle that races 50. Bodies of ships 52. Practical 54. Card with one symbol 55. A Freudian stage 56. Punctuation mark 58. Be worthy of 59. Tempter 60. Require 61. A song for 2 62. Vestibule 63. Countercurrent Down 1. Prison-related 2. Any animal with no feet 3. A tart fruit 4. Floral necklace 5. Anagram of “Chaste” 6. Small pie or pasty 7. Largest continent 8. Pantry 9. Adult males 10. Highly seasoned fatty sausage 11. Vain 12. Ripped

COM ICS

13. How old we are 18. Dapper 22. Rope fiber 24. Handguns 26. Search 28. Arrogant 29. Where the sun rises 30. Resorts 31. Animal companions 32. Chocolate cookie 33. Interpret 34. Immediately after that 37. Narrow opening 38. Windmill blade 40. Nile bird 41. Harness racer 43. Esophagus 44. Meager 46. Part of a stair 47. Batman= The __ Crusader 48. Hurt 49. Slender 50. Not soft 51. Two-toed sloth 53. Horn sound 56. Reverence 57. In song, the loneliest number

You know that ‘sweep the pieces off the board and see it in your mind’ thing?

Doesn’t work.

Clock Tower

I don’t know what’s worse — that there exists broken-hard-drive-sound techno, or that it’s not half bad.

by Kevin Yong

8 | fun page

11/8/13

Philosofish

Kate Hart Ray Krajci

Horoscopes

Our findings show that we can harvest 2 kW of energy, on average, from the energy in your natural walk by using nothing but a backpack full of springs and weights.

Aries

Are there any questions?

Your patience is a virtue, but really what others are looking for is persistence and umph.

Stop waiting around and go get ‘em, tiger.

How big will the box be?

Taurus

You’re beginning to smell like old books, energy drinks and pop tarts. You’re spending too much time in your secret study spot.

Um...

I think Dave wrote that down here somewhere....

Gemini

And, it‛s, uh...

Although we all appreciate your new effort to dress more appropriately for your age, that doesn’t mean that you can only dress in a grandmother’s donated closet.

... ten cubic meters.

Cancer

Headlines this week might hit home for you. There’s a lot of crazy weather happening out there.

...and that‛s how we managed And that's we managed get a D on our to get a Dhow on our midtermto presentation. senior project midterm presentation.

You should have just pretended you didn't know.

Leo

Despite your complete lack of attention to what’s happening at home, you still manage to know that your parents’ neighbors had a big party and didn’t invite you.

PhilosofishComics@gmail.com

xkcd

Virgo

This week, the powers that be have another plan for you.

Roll with it until you lack all control.

Libra

You have a habit of doubting your abilities to overcome certain challenges. At least now you know that hopping fences at 3 a.m. is one of them.

Scorpio

If androids someday DO dream of electric sheep, don’t forget to declare sheepCount as a long int.

You don’t exactly handle every situation with poise. In fact, most find it completely inappropriate when you spasm and spit slurs to get your point across.

ability abuse amazon assault breach charity comma date deadly faith fiddle force goodness infraction maiden malignancy merits

moral nearly pansy potential raging rancor ravish rent seat shrew skill snake stormy venom vixen weed

Wordsearch

Sagittarius

The people you’re meeting this week actually have seen you around campus but have been too afraid to approach you. It’s not that you’re intimidating, but your “Obama is a Nazi” shirt doesn’t help your cause.

Capricorn

You know, you have been on top of your game recently.

Keep it going.

Aquarius

Listen to what your grandmother is telling you this week, although you may be surprised by how many prunes she eats.

Pisces

Don’t you feel badly about leaving the love of your life behind? It’s difficult, but it’s healthy to step away from your computer every once in a while.

arts & entertainment

00 9

Editor’s Choice

These Are Not Still Waters

Courtesy Brad Petot Dancers convey emotion and change in Associate Professor Shannon Sterne’s piece “Inundation,” performed as part of Mather Dance Center’s “Au Courant.”

Jamie Van Doren Contributing Reporter Eleven women in black dresses are on the stage. Slowly, carefully, they help one another up onto the line of chairs that flow across the stage. The dancers walk, crawl and stretch in languid, yet carefully controlled, movement of limbs and bodies. A chair tips. A dancer begins to step onto the overturned chair and it trembles and wobbles unbalanced. Her weight shifts forward precariously. The chair begins to lift from its side and tip at a dangerous angle before she can reach the next chair.

“Inundation” is the fourth section of Shannon Sterne’s same-titled piece. The modern dance premiered as part of “Au Courant” at the Mather Dance Center on the CWRU campus, Nov. 1, 2013. Campus and community members will have another chance to experience this powerful display of emotion and movement on Nov. 8 and 9 at 8 p.m.

In 1924, the river Seine in Paris, France flooded its banks. The black and

white photograph by Henri Manuel of people traversing a line of chairs to avoid the rising flood waters was the original inspiration for Sterne’s piece. But in dance, as in life, things are rarely static.

“It changed a lot, from the original idea, which was inspired by this photograph.”

Sterne said. “As I began to work on it, it began to come together as a narrative.”

“Inundation” opens with a moving melodrama that anyone who has been in a relationship, or has loved someone who doesn’t quite love them back, can relate to. The dance begins flirtatiously. It’s provocative at times. Yet, it has depths which are explored as the dancers move through its five parts to the ultimate conclusion.

Sterne advises that it isn’t really about a relationship.

“The failing relationship is really framing what is happening and what the dance is about. But the dance is really about the different stages of being overwhelmed and the different facets of that change,” Sterne explained.

The emotions that Sterne and Ryan Andrew Dick bring to the table as the lead dancers of the piece are crystal clear.

“[The duets] are very theatrical, and there were demands on us as actors as well as dancers. Which is part of the reason why I brought in Ryan, who I danced with at Dancing Wheels. He is more seasoned, with a lot of professional experience to be able to pull off the emotional qualities,” said Sterne. “Next weekend Richard [Oaxaca] is going to be performing it. Richard has a lot of performance experience. I think he’s going to do really well with it. But his background is very different than Ryan’s, and his body type is very different than Ryan’s, and his movement style is very different, so it’s going to be a whole ‘nother [sic] piece next week.”

“Inundation” isn’t Sterne’s first performance, either, or her first choreographed piece. Sterne received her Masters degree in contemporary dance and nutrition, both from CWRU. She’s performed internationally with the San Diego Ballet, nationally with the Dancing Wheels Company and danced throughout southern California and Ohio as a freelance artist.

Her experiences have brought her back to CWRU and she’s been an assistant pro-

fessor in the Department of Dance as of 2013. She teaches ballet, modern dance, kinesiology and dance history. But for her choreography, she’s been drawn to the freedom of modern dance.

“There is more acceptance of a broader range of movement styles and body types. And the emphasis is not always on trying to look like someone else.” Sterne said. “And the reality is, a lot of people can’t and never will achieve that ‘ideal,’ but are beautiful dancers with a lot to contribute artistically, nonetheless—and modern dance is that venue.”

Sterne was able to craft particular pieces of the dance, especially “Agitation,” to the specific strengths and abilities of her dancers. During “Agitation,” the inner turmoil of Sterne and Dick are represented by 11 different dancers. Except for Sterne and two guest artists, the dancers are all graduate students, with either majors or minors in dance.

With so many dancers, Sterne was

to Still Waters | 10

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Sex guru to speak at CWRU Anne Nickoloff Staff Reporter Dan Savage brings a lot to the table.

His rise to fame sprang from a sex advice column titled “Savage Love.” He currently holds the editorial director position of popular Seattle alternative weekly newspaper The Stranger. He fights against bullying through an award-winning program he founded, the “It Gets Better” project.

Savage is well-known internationally for his vocal LGBT rights activism. Additionally, Savage earned an impressive array of awards, including the American Humanist Association’s 2013 Humanist of the Year and the PEN West Award for Creative Nonfiction in 2000 for his book “The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant.”

It’s no surprise that Case Western Reserve University, with its high ranking as one of the top 25 LGBT-friendly schools in the U.S., would find a way to bring such an avid member of the LGBT rights movement to campus for a speaker event.

“Because we are working closely with the LGBT Center, this event will affirm positive views about the LGBT community already held by a majority of our campus,” said Daniel Mason, co-chair of UPB’s Arts and Entertainment Committee. “[Savage] is an informative and interesting speaker about LGBT issues, but this event is meant to be Courtesy sfgmc.org Savage, above, will speak in Strosacker Auditorium on Nov. 13 about LGBT issues.

from Still Waters | 9 challenged to create essentially 11 different solos. Sterne pulled together the timing and complexity of the dance in only eight weeks from auditions to the first show. It wasn’t easy.

“What was very challenging was that, in the two group sections, every movement is dependent on what happened before it. With all the manipulation of the chairs being moved around in space, everything was very precise.” said Sterne.

“We always had to go through it from the top every single time, because things needed to be moved into the right places at precisely the right times.”

It was a complicated process. It also meant that if one person was missing from rehearsal, there was a major obstacle. If each dancer was on stage and needed to move props while simultaneously responding to the moving of those props, what could be done?

“The dancers got really smart about saying ‘Okay, so and so’s not here and she needs to move that chair to that space.’ And then they’d kind of fill in and get the chairs into the right places, even if the person, the body, wasn’t there,” said Sterne.

It could have all been too overwhelming. But not for Sterne. For her, it’s all about the creation and the performance.

It’s about watching a dance, and the dancers, grow and evolve; watching everything change into something new.

Change isn’t a new theme for Sterne.

For her, dance itself is about change and about experience. It’s a relationship.

“When you view live dance, you’re experiencing something that is being created and is unfolding right in front of you,” said Sterne. “It’s very different than seeing it pre-recorded or reading it

in a book. It’s a shared experience between the audience and performers.”

Live dance is unpredictable. It’s impossible to know what will happen, and, if something unexpected does occur, it’s difficult to predict how the performers (and the audience) will cope.

The chair continues to teeter, while the dancer shifts her weight. The audience holds its breath, waiting for the inevitable fall. Another dancer reaches out.

They grasp forearms. The dancers provide support for one another as they navigate the maze of chairs, upright and fallen. They could be friends, sisters, lovers or different pieces of the same mind, all coming together from the tumult of overwhelming experience, navigating the floodwaters of emotion. Passing through.

And perhaps, just perhaps, they find, if not love, then acceptance and surrender on the other side.

“Inundation” is one of many pieces in “Au Courant,” which presents a menu of what the Modern Dance program at CWRU offers. While “Inundation” showcases the narrative skills of Sterne and stretches the dancers physically and theatrically, other dances offer different experiences. Karen Potter’s “Veiled Tears” is reminiscent of the Greek tragedy, complete with a chorus. “Remote Encounters” is Gary Galbraith’s psychedelic digital dance, which the techno savvy will appreciate. Finally, Mark Morris’ “Canonic 3/4 Studies,” which leaves the audience laughing at times, is significantly more puckish and playful than the name implies.

For those interested in experiencing the performances in “Au Courant,” general admission tickets are available to the public. The final performances are Nov. 8 and 9 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5 for CWRU students and $7 for the public and the CWRU community.

entertaining and engaging above all else.”

When debating on which individual to choose to speak at this event, the UPB Arts and Entertainment Committee also considered Tony Hawk and Bill Nye (“the Science Guy”), but Savage’s controversial background and opinions were more intriguing than other options.

“I believe that the event will draw a lot of CWRU students, because many of Case’s students are familiar with the It Gets Better Project, and Dan Savage has a well-known advice column about sex and love that can appeal to all kinds of people. We are trying to draw more than just LGBT people to this event, as it is an event that can entertain everyone and make them think,” said Mason.

Past talks have included a variety of speakers with different backgrounds. These speakers include Sue Johanson, sex educator and talk show host, animal expert Jack Hannah and Frank Warren, creator of PostSecret.

Savage will be a welcomed addition to this collection of UPB’s speakers. His show at CWRU, “Savage Love Live!” will talk about sex, LGBT issues and other items of Savage’s fancy. Mason made sure to note that “bringing Dan Savage to campus does not mean that CWRU or UPB agrees with every one of his views.”

“Savage Love Live!” will take place in Strosacker Auditorium on Nov. 13 at 7:00 p.m. The event is free to CWRU students.

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observer.case.edu

Your words, alive on the page: Week 1 Students take on National Novel Writing Month

Anne Nickoloff Staff Reporter National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is upon us, and even at Case Western Reserve University, a few students have taken up the challenge. The goal is simple: write a novel in the span of 31 days that is at least 50,000 words long.

Simple, but not easy.

Nanowrimo.org, the website that started the challenge 15 years ago, tracks daily word counts and offers words of encouragement for people who encounter writer’s block and other problems. This year, the website tracks the word counts of over 275,000 novelists as they type away.

This includes four members of CWRU’s Writers Writing Words (WWW) club, who meet on a weekly basis to work together on their endeavors. ***** Ann Elise Campo, vice president of WWW, previously attempted NaNoWriMo while she was in high school. Now, she’s trying the challenge again.

Her novel: “It’s kind of odd… There are two

armies fighting in space, and neither one is really the good guy, but also there are these pirates that show up and make everything miserable for everyone. But the function of the book is not just people going about and having adventures. It focuses on one character and how he doesn’t know what side he’s on or where he’s going. We’re all, at least in my experience at school here; we’re confused, and have no idea about what direction we’re going in life, and [some people] don’t necessarily understand that that’s okay. Which is, I think, the most amazing thing to think—that it’s okay to have no idea where you’re going.”

Word count at the end of Day One: 300 words Tips for novel-writers: “It’s good to have a support system… also, the general cup of coffee.” ***** Heather Pantell is a CWRU freshman, and this is her first shot at NaNoWriMo. While she has friends that have done it in the past, she just made an account on nanowrimo.org to track her progress.

Her novel:

“It’s about phoenixes, but they could also turn into people so that they can talk to the other characters. There’s going to be other fantasy creatures in it. I have a mermaid character and a fairy.”

Word count at the end of Day One: 7,000 words Tips for novel-writers: “Listen to music. It helps [you] concentrate.” ***** WWW Marketing Chair Sue Westrell has attempted to do NaNoWriMo in the past. Over the summer, she participated in Camp NaNoWriMo (a version of NaNoWriMo during months other than November), where she got a head start on the novel she is currently writing.

Her novel: “It’s children who want to be super villains slash world dictators. I have a surprisingly detailed plan, which is terrifying.”

Word count at the end of Day One: 3,000 words Tips for novel-writers: “Think beforehand, and don’t completely overload yourself with things to do!” *****

Tasha Smith is the president, treasurer and founder of WWW. She’s never reached 50,000 words in past years, and currently participates with a smaller goal while leading support meetings throughout the month.

Her novel: “I’m writing a short story series about a couple of magicians in space. It follows the pivotal times in their lives as they come to terms with who they are, what they are and what they stand for. It’s nice because one day I could be writing about an eight-year-old boy, the next day I’ll do a short story about the same character at age 80. There are shape-shifters and psychics and angsty wannabe superheroes, the characters are ceaselessly attacked by diabolical moon fairies and things are constantly exploding in the background.”

Word count at the end of Day One: 1,011 words Tips for novel-writers: “NaNo isn’t like other months for novel-writing: Don’t even think about revising or refining your work yet. Allow yourself to write stupidly. Just get the story on paper.”

Drake’s and Pusha T’s albums drop: Add them to the “best of 2013” shelf Jason Walsh Staff Reporter Artists: Drake / Pusha T Albums: Nothing Was The Same / My Name Is My Name Ratings: 4/5 / 4/5 Here we have two of the most anticipated hip-hop albums of 2013. Besides “Yeezus” and “Magna Carta Holy Grail,” I don’t think any albums this year have been so hyped and looked forward to.

“Nothing Was The Same,” Drake’s follow-up to 2011’s great “Take Care,” has been seen as something like a turning point: Where will Drake take his sound from here?

“My Name Is My Name,” on the other hand, is Pusha T’s long-awaited and longdelayed debut solo album, anticipated since his years with Clipse and his time doing features on Getting Out Our Dreams (G.O.O.D.) Music tracks.

“Nothing Was The Same” and “My Name Is My Name” both live up to the hype, and both of them see their artists trying to push hip-hop in pretty much opposite directions.

These albums are some of the most aptly-titled records to come out in a while.

Whatever Drake haters might want to say, he has a pretty good claim to saying that “Nothing Was The Same” since he broke out. With his three studio albums, Drake has pushed mainstream hip-hop in some

The Observer’s Playlist of the Week 11/8/13 Jason Walsh Staff Reporter Drake - “Come Thru (James Blake Version)” There is a story floating around the internet that the only decoration on the walls of Drake’s studio is a vinyl copy of James Blake’s debut album. I don’t know if that’s true, but the two are certainly

unforeseen directions I mean, who could imagine someone crooning “How beautiful our kids would be, girl, I don’t need convincing” on a mainstream rap song if it wasn’t Drake on “Connect”? For the past several years, Drake has been one of the few remaining counter-points to the dominance of trap in mainstream hip-hop.

“My Name Is My Name” wholly embraces that trap aesthetic from the start.

Opening track “King Push” declares “I’m King Push, this king push / I rap n**** about trap n****s / I don’t sing hooks.” What does Drake do except sing hooks? Later on we get Pusha spitting that “they name dropping bout caine copping / but never been a foot soldier.” Drake up and admits he’s not from the streets on “Wu-Tang Forever,” but does that really matter as much as it does for Pusha?

Pusha T may have updated his sound a little bit since his Clipse days (now he’s produced by Kanye rather than The Neptunes), but his subject hasn’t changed at all.

“My Name Is My Name” is an album as chock-full of coke rap as the seven year old Clipse masterpiece “Hell Hath No Fury.”

Regardless of the vastly different hip hop styles they represent, what makes “Nothing Was The Same” and “My Name Is My Name” two of the best rap albums of this year is the production on both records.

“Nothing Was The Same” was handled almost entirely by Drake’s in-house producer Noah “40” Shebib, who also handled

most of “Thank Me Later” and “Take Care.”

Much has been written about Drake and 40’s friendship and working relationship, and for good reason. It’s hard to imagine Drake rapping and singing over anything but a 40 beat, and it’s hard to imagine anybody except Drake on a 40 beat.

With “Nothing Was The Same,” 40 continues to create cohesive albums that sound like unified pieces of work. Maybe Drake puts it best when he says on opening track “Tuscan Leather” that “Life is soundin’ crazy, 40 on Martin Scorsese.”

Most of “My Name Is My Name” was handled by, naturally, Kanye. I don’t think I really need to write about what a good producer Kanye is. “My Name Is My Name” sees Kanye channeling his recent “Yeezus”sound on stand-out tracks like “Numbers On the Boards” or the fantastic “Nosetalgia,” which features Kendrick Lamar.

Kanye also contributes the beat for “Hold On,” which sounds like it could be an outtake from the “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” sessions: it’s all warbled autotune, dramatic piano samples and hand claps (plus Rick Ross shows up for a verse, making it feel even more like MBDTF).

Despite Kanye’s presence, “My Name Is My Name” falters a little bit by attempting to do too much, or at least by being poorly sequenced. “Let Me Love You,” featuring Kelly Rowland and produced by The-Dream, is a great song but feels very much out of place in between trap anthems “No Regrets” (featuring

Jeezy) and “Who I Am” (featuring 2 Chainz & Big Sean).

“40 Acres,” produced by and featuring The-Dream, and “Sweet Serenade,” featuring Chris Brown, are both slower-paced songs with more emphasis on synth-based production rather than trap’s snare drums and cymbals. These songs are all good, but they’re placed seemingly at random: “Sweet Serenade” is number three, “40 Acres” is six and “Let Me Love You” is eight, all stuck in between more aggressive trap songs.

“My Name Is My Name” can be a little jarring at times as it shifts between sounds like this without much flow. The album as a whole could be sequenced much better and doesn’t reach the level of cohesiveness that “Nothing Was The Same” does. But Pusha T’s charisma and skill as a rapper, plus the fact that the subject matter never strays far from trapping, keeps the album from feeling disjointed.

“Nothing Was The Same” and “My Name Is My Name” see their respective artists developing each of their trademark sounds further. Drake croons about relationships. Pusha raps about coke like he’s been doing for over a decade. They’re both taking hip-hop in very different directions, and that seems like a great thing to me.

“Nothing Was The Same” is a welcome relief from the current omnipresence of trap, and “My Name Is My Name” represents about the best that can be done with the trap sound.

kindred musical spirits. This James Blake remix of “Nothing Was The Same” bonus track “Come Thru” takes Drake’s crooning hip-hop thing and filters it through Blake’s crooning post-dubstep thing.

Andrew Bird - “Pulaski at Night” “Pulaski at Night” is the first single from an upcoming EP, “I Want to See Pulaski at Night,” that Andrew Bird is set to release on Nov. 12. After two very solid albums last year (“Break It Yourself” and “Hands of Glory”), Bird looks like he is going to continue his impressive run.

since I sat down and listened to all of “Hot Fuss,” but I kind of like their new single “Just Another Girl.” I almost turned it off halfway through, but I stuck with it until the end and I’m glad I did. It’s a pretty solid little piece of Springsteen-channeling heartland arena rock.

FIDLAR - “Whatever (Folk Song in C)” (Elliot Smith Cover) FIDLAR’s self-titled debut album of two minute skate-punk songs is one of my favorite records of 2013. It is also one of the last bands I would expect to see doing an Elliot Smith cover, but this version of “Whatever” is surprisingly excellent and shows a soft acoustic side of FIDLAR I had no idea existed.

The Killers - “Just Another Girl” The Killers’ debut album “Hot Fuss” is one of the first albums I remember getting really into way back when. I can’t say that I’ve really stayed a Killers’ fan since then, and who knows how many years it’s been

Frightened Rabbit - “Holy” “Holy” isn’t a new song, it’s off of Frightened Rabbit’s album “Pedestrian Verse” from earlier this year, but a video was just released for it and I’ve got a soft spot for Frightened Rabbit. That Scottish brogue could sing anything and I’d love it.

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a&e

11/8/13

UK’s “Misfits” approaches superpowers differently than American television shows Lily Korte Staff Reporter Due to their shared language, if not exactly a shared culture, television programs have frequently been imported and exported between the United States and the United Kingdom for almost as long as television has been a cultural force. However, there have always been limits to this; a lack of perceived audience in one nation might result in a show never getting picked up by an overseas network for broadcast, or a show might have “adult content” that would run afoul of censors in another country. The latter point in particular makes a good many British shows essentially unbroadcastable in the U.S. outside of late-night cable, due to pervasive strong language, graphic sexual content or both. Unsurprisingly, this is where internet-based content providers really shine, and Hulu in particular has landed some very high-profile British shows that Americans can now watch legally for the first time. Last autumn, American audiences could stream new episodes of the fourth and final season of the infamously foul-mouthed comedy “The Thick Of It” as they aired, and this fall Americans can do the same for the fifth and final season of “Misfits.”

Trying to explain the main concept of “Misfits” makes it sound like a very different show from what it actually is. A freak ice storm struck part of London and resulted in all those exposed to it developing various superpowers, but to call them “superpowers” is a bit misleading—this is no superhero show,

and not just because the main characters are far from heroic, seeing as they are all wayward teenagers doing community service for a variety of minor crimes. While stereotypical powers like invisibility or telepathy manifest themselves in some people, others are stuck with abilities that are either useless, dangerous or come with severe drawbacks. The most interesting thing is the way in which the show treats the characters’ discovery of their powers and limitations, and the revelation that all sorts of people were affected beyond the young offenders the show primarily follows. From old women who can tell the future through knitting, to nine-month-old babies who can brainwash men into wanting to be their father, all manner of ordinary people begin discovering their strange new gifts and learning how best to utilize them. In other words, it is a show with otherworldly elements that isn’t overwhelmed by them.

It vaguely resembles the original U.K. version of “Skins” in that it functions as an ensemble drama with comedic elements, following a group of troubled British youths. It’s frequently raunchy and rude, and can also be quite violent, but there are genuinely heartwarming or depressing moments too. It also resembles “Skins” in that, from season to season, the core cast varies dramatically, with old characters being replaced by new ones as the young actors leave the show and move on to other projects. As of the beginning of the fifth and final season, no cast members remain from the first season. The transition is more graceful in “Misfits,” at least, as the turnover is gradual, and the show at least has the benefit of an established universe to help

Courtesy blogs.independent.co.uk maintain more of a sense of internal continuity. Barring that, community service sentencing is only temporary anyway, so the shifting cast from year to year feels perfectly natural.

For a show that sits in such a seeming no-man’s-land between genres, it actually makes for rather compelling television. It’s not strictly a comedy, but has more than its fair share of very darkly hilarious moments.

Nor is it strictly a drama, but there’s plenty of emotionally affecting stuff in it as well.

The credit can surely go to the excellent cast, but must also go to the show creator Howard Overman, who wrote all of the episodes in

Bingo!

the first two seasons, and continues to write the vast majority of the episodes by himself. In lesser hands, the show’s precarious mix could easily tip too far in one direction.

Fortunately for the viewer though, “Misfits” adeptly juggles its rotating cast and shifting genres, leaving one saddened to learn that its first season to debut simultaneously in the U.S. and U.K. is also its last.

New episodes are available online every Thursday from now until Dec. 11, and all of the previous seasons (including interstitial web-only features) are also available to watch free of cost.

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13

Editorial

Thwing: Left to waste?

On the way to class across the Mather quad, it is extremely hard not to notice that the new Tinkham Veale University Center has recently taken the shape of a real, functional building. This is probably most exciting to different student groups, currently residing in Thwing Center, who will receive completely new spaces in the state-of-the-art building.

As the university adds the finishing touches to the new center, however, the question of Thwing Center’s future remains unanswered.

As we go to print, the planning process has not started yet. So far, a steering committee has been formed to weigh different alternatives. There have been talks about repurposing Thwing Center to senior administration, but this plan is far from being finalized and is only being looked into at this point. But when the planning actually does kick off, the parties involved should reconsider where the heart of campus lies. Right now, there is no such thing. The university center will supposedly be the heart of the university, but it will not necessarily be the heart of campus. Perhaps Thwing Center could fill this role; maybe it should be turned into a student academic center, a one-stop shop for students to access academic resources. That way, Case Western Reserve University would ensure that the university center would not entirely steal the spotlight from Thwing Center.

We are optimistic to see how many parties are involved in the planning process: There are representatives from Thwing Center administration, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of Student Activities and Leadership and Auxiliary Services. While reaching the final plan may take longer with such a big and diverse group of decision makers, it is highly advantageous to include a wide variety of viewpoints and input in the repurposing project. However, no student representatives are listed among the involved parties in the plans. It goes without saying that turning Thwing Center into a functional student center would require dedicated planning that also takes student input into consideration. As it turns out, the students of CWRU certainly do have a few things to say about how they imagine the future of Thwing center.

In their most recent newsletter, the Undergraduate Student Government asked for the opinions of students on how they would like to see Thwing Center used after the opening of the new student center. The responses were overwhelmingly consistent.

Most students expressed hopes for Thwing center to be first and foremost a meeting space for students. Some even suggested employing some of the spaces as classrooms.

Others talked about giving the ever-growing Greek community the facilities they currently do not have. These are all reasonable ideas, but it is not definite whether they will significantly affect the planning process. Sure, students can contact all the different groups involved in the planning process to give feedback, but again, no student representation is included in the project.

While it is admirable that the university is trying very hard to not make Thwing Center redundant, there is always a possibility that the pull of the Tinkham Veale University Center will be too strong to allow Thwing Center to flourish as a hub for the student body.

The new student center will include all of the facilities Thwing Center currently offers— and they will be significantly improved versions. On top of that, over 160 student groups will migrate to the new student center—some of them, like the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women, from Thwing Center itself. The new center will even be the home for dining services, which will certainly not positively affect the traffic in Thwing center’s Bag-It. While the Tinkham Veale University Center will surely provide a much-needed improvement to the current facilities at CWRU, the university will, at the same time, have to make sure that Thwing Center does not become a gloomy skeleton of a building that is the home for only a few remaining student groups and formal sorority recruitment events.

Perhaps the university could consider relocating Access Services to Thwing Center so that the service would actually live up to its name and be more accessible for students. It would be remarkable if Thwing Center was turned into a full-on student academic center with collaboration areas, study rooms and ready access to academic-centered offices like ESS, Counseling Services, Undergraduate Studies and SAGES writing resources.

At the moment, these services are scattered, making access difficult. Combining these academic-centric services would be a boon to student productivity, with help from the university’s considerable resources just a step away.

These are all potential repurposing options, but whatever the university decides to do, the functionality of Thwing Center will only be proven with time. Hopefully, with student perspectives and savvy planning, it won’t be forgotten in the wake of its monolithic neighbor.

The Observer is the weekly undergraduate student newspaper of Case Western Reserve University. Established in 1969, The Observer exists to report news affecting and/or involving students and to provide an editorial forum for the university community. Unsigned editorials are the majority opinion of the senior editorial staff. For advertising information, contact The Observer at (216) 368-2914 or e-mail observerads@case.edu.

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opinion State Your Case Are you satisfied with the current state of first-year advising at CWRU?

36.36% 63.64%

No; I did not feel as if my advisor took genuine concern over me.

Yes; I always got all the help I needed.

To cast your vote visit Observer.case.edu The editorial opinion takes a stand on a select campus issue that The Observer’s board of directors, the executive committee of the editorial board, considers relevant and consequently should be brought to the attention of the Case Western Reserve University community. The board consists of the executive editor and publisher, director of design, director of web and multimedia, director of print, director of business and marketing, and opinion editor. A member of the board meets with students, staff, faculty or any other persons who the board considers to be a subject matter expert. The board will then decide what stance to take on the issue, or if there are disagreements among the members, communicate them in the editorial. The meetings with interviewees occur off the record; no person will be directly quoted or referred to by their name. The editorial opinion does not in any way influence the work of the editors, reporters and staff of The Observer, nor does it represent the opinions of those interviewed for it.

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established in 1969 by the undergradute students of case western reserve university executive editor & publisher TYLER HOFFMAN director of design MEREDITH DYKEHOUSE director of web & multimedia KYLE PATTERSON director of print & managing editor SHEEHAN HANNAN director of business & marketing PETER CHOI assistant director of business & marketing COLE MORRIS account manager ERIC HAUFLER ad manager CELIA TORRES news layout MEILYN SYLVESTRE a&e layout AMBER ALBERGOTTIE sports layout HEATHER HARGROW opinion layout EDWIN LO distributors SAGE SCHAFF DANIEL DOHERTY

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14 opinion

11/8/13

How to fix a despair-ridden campus community The meaning of Spartan life Jacob Martin As my fingers punch the letters on the keyboard of my laptop to create the words you are now reading, I feel like a shipwrecked sailor, marooned on an island with waves crashing onto the shore with fury and rage. I am fighting a battle against senselessness that I feel I may lose.

I’ve realized I love Case Western Reserve University, but I can’t say exactly why.

I grew up in various parts of Cleveland.

I can remember living predominantly on the east side, going to my aunt’s house on the west side, to my church downtown and all over the more eclectic neighborhoods like Coventry, Larchmere, Shaker Square and Tremont, with my father. Perhaps I have a stronger affinity to this city than others, but I know that home is not necessarily a tangible thing defined by a spatial location.

In fact, I do not feel I have a home in any conventional sense. To me, a home is a place wherever comfort is felt—wherever the outstretched hand of kindness presents itself.

Right now, I feel no comfort and see no outstretched hands at CWRU. Last week’s Observer was a sad testament to the confused animosity that plagues our realities. I feel obliged to admit that I am becoming jaded with my own promo-

tion of community and dialogue, diversity and collegiality. I am on the scenic route to cynicism—a road riddled with potholes and endless detours that wind through a forest of black.

A law professor is suing the dean of the law school, Cleveland cultural institutions are without leaders, there are 120 gun deaths in Cuyahoga County since Sandy Hook and advising and university satisfaction ratings drop. Opinion columnists talk about the flourishing arrogance and (lack of) intelligence on campus, and the notion that CWRU will always be “that school” deprived of community because of mismanagement and the idea that money solves all problems. These were all features.

I know these things shouldn’t overshadow the treasures our campus has. From a first-year student’s thriving haunted house business to an upcoming late night performance showcase at Harkness Chapel, there are plenty of good things happening in University Circle. But for some reason, I tend to focus on the bad.

Kurt Vonnegut wrote in his novel “Deadeye Dick,” “I concluded that the best thing for me and for those around me was to want nothing, to be enthusiastic about nothing, to be as unmotivated as possible, in fact, so that I would never again hurt anyone.” This should be CWRU’s motto because we are one of the most apathetic and dispirited places: We readily give into irrational fears and

I guess it’s SAD Family matters Kyle Patterson This week, I’d like to take a step outside of traditional social issues to discuss something that I feel is particularly relevant to us as the seasons change. Depression is something none of us want to think about, let alone talk about, but it’s around this time of year that we experience it most.

Just after the Halloween adventures and before the holiday season officially begins; as the clocks and daylight shift to their winter states; as the days grow crisper, colder and bleaker; as the work hours grow longer and the class materials more difficult. This is when a significant number of us suffer what’s known as seasonal depression.

Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD (as the clever people who come up with these terms like to say), falls under the category of major depressive disorder with a seasonal pattern. Known to hit year-round, it most often accosts our mental frontiers in the harsher months of November through January, though is not unheard of in spring and summer months. Symptoms vary from person to person, but the average individual experiencing the fall and winter edition of the disorder can expect difficulty waking up, the need for carbs, lack of energy, inability to complete tasks, social withdrawal, pessimism, hopelessness and lack of pleasure or interest.

That’s not to say that a week of feeling blue is cause to run to the nearest therapist for help, or reason to avoid your professors for two weeks. SAD is not actually being sad, it’s a mild to major depression that tends to last weeks at minimum. It also has to be significantly recurring, with periods of stability and possibly periods of mania between each recurrence. Most professionals agree that the pattern must repeat for at least two years.

The most dangerous trait of SAD is its victims. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) classifies SAD as a specifier, a specific pattern in patients who ex-

perience major depressive episodes. These patients most often have major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder or dysthymia (a longer-term, less severe depression). These individuals, already struggling with day-today activities, can find their existing illness agitated by—and in many cases, increased by—seasonal depression.

This next paragraph may be difficult for some of you to read, but if you feel like you’re in a comfortable space to do so then I encourage you to continue; otherwise, skip to the next paragraph. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, please seek help. Confiding in yourself is the first step; admit that there is a problem, whether it’s what’s causing the thoughts or the thoughts themselves.

Talking to a trusted confidant is the next step. Whether that confidant is a parent, your big, your best friend in California or a professional therapist or counselor, it’s important that you move your problems outside of your head.

Luckily for many of us, the effects of seasonal depression are easier to combat than clinical depression. Something as simple as changing your light bulbs to a bright white can help on those gloomy days. Take a break just after lunch to get a walk in what winter sunlight we Clevelanders do get. Eat some extra veggies (I find carrots and ranch to be particularly helpful on my crap days), and—if you can work up the motivation— take a jog down to Starbucks. Even if none of that happens, but you still made it out of bed and to your fridge, give yourself a pat on the back before you go back to your blankets and Netflix. Above all, I’ve found the most helpful advice comes immortalized in the words of Donna Meagle and Tom Haverford: “Treat yo self!”

Kyle Patterson wishes everyone luck on their second round of exams. Battling depression for several years, he understands the difficulties that those with mental illness face daily, and encourages anyone in need of support to contact him at kip10@case.edu or visit University Counseling Services.

operate in a constant state of apprehension.

We assume lackluster routines that are cheerlessly mundane, finding solace only on weekends spent trying to escape reality while worrying about the impending week. We do not focus on what’s in front of us, nor do we acknowledge all the splendors and opportunities that present themselves to us daily. We walk around like vagrants, merely drifting from one building to the next, completely unaware of the life outside our heads.

As I write these words, I can feel myself slip further into the abyss of disappointment because I know the individuals that make up our university are anything but dispirited. I have met some of the most passionate people on this campus, but that passion quickly disappears from their everyday existences—the excitement for learning and fire of curiosity that accompanied our arrival in August have died.

Last Friday, I heard the Cleveland Orchestra perform a night of Beethoven, culminating with his powerful and famous Fifth Symphony. However, before the second piece—Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge—began, Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra, Franz Welser-Möst, paused, and in an extremely rare gesture, addressed the audience.

“I am asked all the time, what does the [Grosse] Fuge mean?” Welser-Möst began.

He explained the technical difficulty and history of the piece, as well as the mass confusion it has been met with. He reminded those

in attendance that Beethoven was already completely deaf when it was written before offering a divinely uplifting interpretation.

Welser-Möst called the piece “philosophical and introspective,” then broke it down by section, highlighting an overarching dichotomy. “The first part is Beethoven’s introduction of the theme and question of fate… The second part is his answer of hope.” He stated that the Grosse Fuge’s key, B-flat major, is the musical key of hope, concluding his remarks with, “Beethoven is telling us that we can overcome fate with hope and the spirit of man.”

I made a promise some weeks ago in this column that I would continue to vociferate the message of strong community, productive dialogue and thoughtful diversity, and I will uphold that promise. For I believe in CWRU, and I refuse to let the nails of frustration and loneliness and anger and despair seal us into the coffin of senselessness and disillusion.

As I coped with my own struggles that night, the electricity flowing through WelserMöst’s compelling words and Beethoven’s forcefully harrowing notes animated and inspired me to have faith in the spirit of man and once again trust and believe in the power of hope.

“Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” — Dylan Thomas.

The little things A fresh perspective Stephen Kolison The tagline to Case Western Reserve, “Think Beyond the Possible,” should come with an asterisk at the end of it. The asterisk would mean, “In order to start thinking, you need to shack up with complete strangers and hope for the best.”

The dorm life is an odd experience. High school was full of personalities that were completely opposite of our own.

However, Emily from fourth period AP Chemistry didn’t have to follow you home and live in the room right next to yours.

Move-in day seems like an eon ago. We were all smiles and couldn’t wait to get to know everyone on the floor. The smiles remained as wide as the doors we kept open. Wanting to make friends and not seem so lonely on campus became a priority. Now here we are, a half semester in, and some of us choose to not smile as if we are hiding the seventh grade disaster called braces. And our doors act as if they are working on an “Open” and “Closed” schedule.

I quite enjoy the conversations I have with my roommate; he’s respectful and laughs at my terrible jokes. Who wouldn’t want that?

I could have been in a much worse rooming situation to be honest. But you know how your parents say, “It’s the little things that matter.” Well, they lied. The little things now drive you up a wall, around the room and eventually the police have to pull you over for driving so recklessly. Down to the audible chewing, the too-loud typing or even the random noises a roommate makes in their sleep, the little things can start to take a toll.

Don’t get me wrong, my roommate could write his dissertation on the crazy things that I do. We all have little quirks that were not so apparent when we first arrived. A reason we let these oddities out now is most likely because we are recreating a little bit of the routine we had at home. Let’s be real. When a sibling did something annoying at home, you were not afraid to be honest just to get your point across or make them stop.

Once we got to university, we stopped being real for a minute to make friends. Now it is time to let parts of our personalities come through. It’s a double-edged sword once we try. When you need a roommate to be quiet or want someone to leave your room, you’re too cautious of sounding mean and becoming the designated floor douchebag. The line between being absurd in a request and being legitimately justified looks blurred to us. The only situations in which I’ve had to act the most like an adult dealing with members on my floor.

I remember my resident assistant saying to us during our first floor meeting, “Don’t worry. Soon enough you all will know everything about each other.” Call it freshman arrogance, but I refused to believe that we all would know each others’ business. Once again, the freshman arrogance was proven wrong. Living in such close proximity leads to awkward situations. Whether it is by accident or on purpose, we end up finding out a little too much about the boy in the quad nearby or the girl across the hall. We see a lot more than we ever intended. Opening the multiple lines of communication when school first started sometimes worked out of our favor. You realize that your personalities do not match well and it becomes a situation similar to breaking up with someone that was in that same AP chemistry class. You see them every day and you both know you used to be friends, but you still live together.

Dealing with people face-to-face is a skill that unfortunately needs to be developed.

No matter how much we disagree with our neighbor, being at least friendly to them is important. Floors are still communities that need to be built and maintained. Yes, there is gossip and exclusiveness, but there are still laughs and smiles that can be shared every once in a while. Dorm life can be difficult.

However, I think that it adds to the unique experience that is college.

Stephen Kolison is a first-year biology student and member of IMPROVment. While confining himself to his dorm, he enjoys knitting while watching Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones.

opinion 15

observer.case.edu

A lesson learned on handling personal finances What CWRU is really teaching Abby Armato I have never been good with money.

Ever. Even worse, I am awful at remembering passwords to see how much I have spent. Two brief examples: 1) I locked myself out of my computer when I moved to college and, because IT was being difficult during orientation week, did not get it fixed for several days and thus could not access my credit card account, and 2) once I got on my computer to check, I could not for the life of me remember my password to access my account. To fix this second problem, I called my bank’s services to have them reset the password. Unfortunately, I had set a password for accessing my account via phone which I had also forgotten.

You can imagine how well that played out. I have since reset my passwords and written them down in code on post-its I stick around my desk because, to summarize, I struggle with memory.

And my issues remembering became quite a conundrum the first month of school. Let me set this up for you: In the beginning, there was $150 of CaseCash on my account. This money made me feel very powerful, like I could buy most of East Cleveland. The first 30-some days of school, I used this money to buy food. I was very intent on reaching my “freshman 15” as quickly as possible. My food adventures ranged from pick-me-up-trips to Starbucks, the Ghirardelli hot chocolate at The Coffee House and the necessary raw cookie dough from Constantino’s market to emotionally prepare myself for the first trip back home.

However, as mentioned above, I am quite awful with money, which, in this case, means I kept no record of how much I was spending. It was not until I had a random craving for Mitchell’s ice cream where the receipt told me just how much I had spent. The original $150 of CaseCash had been squandered to a mere $12. That was barely enough for two naked chicken burritos at Qdoba. I had spent 99.92 percent of my original balance in a matter of four weeks. This realization was both impressive and terrifying.

Impressive because I never imagined I could spend so much so quickly. Terrifying because all that money had vanished into my stomach.

This was the moment I had been waiting for. The gravity of my situation hit me in one sudden and vicious swoop, and my weeks of spending all added up to this one realization, this wake-up call, if you will. And the call said this: “Abby, you need more money.” The logical next step was to phone home. In the interest of keeping this article as factual as possible, I will not attempt to transcribe the entire conversation. But I will

give a brief summary of the dialogue.

Me: “Hi, Dad, I miss you and love you and need money.”

Dad: “How much CaseCash do you have left?”

Me: “Uh, like $12.”

Dad: “Abby…”

Me: “Dad?” Dad: “We need to talk.”

Me: “No, I just need money.”

Dad: “This is an intervention.”

So I was stuck talking to my dad for a good two hours about money and how it works. Of course, it started with asking if I had kept a register of my purchases, which I had not. The follow-up question was if I kept the receipts from all of my adventures, which I had not. The follow-up to the follow-up was if I asked anyone for help yet, which I had not.

Not that I did not know how to keep a register or save receipts or ask for help, but I had stopped keeping track of these monetary matters as school became more intense. All of the systems were in place. I had the Excel spreadsheet.

I had the tin with old receipts. And I had plenty of people who were willing to help out. I had just grown lazy and overly confident.

When my dad suggested I start with these basics, I cringed. I am a little too proud to admit that I am not completely independent. I like to pretend I am already an adult, a 35-year-old stuck in a 19-year-old’s body, and can do anything by myself. But this money problem proved to me I was not quite there yet.

I was humbled by my phone call. As my dad pointed out, I am well on my way to being fully independent, but that does not mean I should not ask for help when I need it. If anything, knowing I need help shows more independence than pretending I can do it alone. It meant I was being active. Taking control of my life. Owning my ignorance and correcting my ways.

It also meant I started keeping better track of my money. Promising to do a better job, my dad gave me a second chance to prove myself. My first major changes included spending less on food and treating myself to the occasional Einstein Brothers bagel instead of being a daily customer. When they ask if I would like a receipt, I say yes and keep it with me until I can update my spreadsheet.

I will always need to use post-its to remember things like passwords. I will probably always need to use Excel to remember where I spent my money. I will be dependent on these things. But that’s okay. I am well on my way to independence, and it is okay to need some help.

Abby Armato is a first-year student currently majoring in English and anthropology. When she is not freaking out about impending adulthood, she enjoys various strokes of creativity, determination and passion.

@CWRUObserver observer.case.edu f cwruobserver

Optimism & Shakespeare The elephant in the room Andrew Breland Last weekend I had the opportunity to escape from the monotony of studying and reading to attend a performance of “Richard III” down at Playhouse Square.

First, I want to encourage everyone reading this to take advantage of the Great Lakes Theater Company at the Hanna Theater downtown. They are all locally based and are an extremely talented and enthusiastic group of actors. We are blessed to have them here in Cleveland. And students can get tickets for $13.

However, I’m not here to be an advertisement for Great Lakes. For as good as they are, they don’t pay me to do that. I will, however, use their performance here.

Near the end of the play, before the final battle, Richard claims that “Conscience is but a word that cowards use devised at first to keep the strong in awe.” This statement in context leads Richard to take up arms against the French despite an obvious disadvantage, both in physical numbers and moral quality. And in delivery, this line is always glossed over in the lead-up to war.

However, during the performance last weekend, I stopped listening after this line.

I was stuck.

On its face, this line seems to suggest that morality is not important. It seems to say that strong, powerful people live and succeed without morals. Conscience only gets in the way. I don’t think that is what Shakespeare meant here.

While to Richard that interpretation might be true, one has to remember that Richard is the antihero whom audiences love to hate in this play. Instead, might Shakespeare be saying that conscience, morals or whatever you call them are abandoned by those in power? Might he mean that losing one’s moral compass leads to catastrophe and conflict in your kingdom?

Might this quote have something to say about our daily lives?

I think the answer to each of those questions is yes. To explain perhaps a bit further, “Richard III” was Shakespeare’s first play after the invasion of the Spanish Armada and revolts in Ireland. In both of these cases, foreign, arguably dictatorial leaders (the Spanish monarch or Irish revolution leaders) tried to impinge on the English peoples’ freedoms and livelihoods. They tried to take out Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare, in response, develops his “Richard III” around these individuals. He models Richard’s motivations, actions and character off the evils committed. And that is all fine. However, this line questions the veracity of those actions. That the strong can ignore morals, conscience and character, leads most to want a change—if not a full revolt.

For the non-English majors who continue to read this piece long after most would have given up, I thank you. This is where it gets good. How does this relate to you?

Here at CWRU, and any college for that matter, we’re always told to get involved in

leadership. Leadership, we’re instructed, is the pathway to future success and security.

While the veracity of that statement is dubious at best, let’s assume for a minute that there is truth in this ideal. If that’s the case, then each of us is affected by this quandary between morals and leadership and we all have to balance ourselves accordingly.

Over the past couple weeks though, I can’t say we’ve seen the best examples of that sort of behavior. On a national scale, the country is divided like it has never been before and our leaders in Congress fail to reach a compromise or solutions to most problems. The president, formerly a wellliked figure, has fallen to a 40 percent approval rating due in part to “lies” told about the Affordable Care Act and electronic surveillance. Closer to home, the Cleveland mayoral race pitted two Democrats against one another, with one campaigning simply on the “he’s wrong” platform. And finally here on campus, a lawsuit has been filed against the dean of the law school alleging sexual harassment and retaliation, possibly the most immoral of the acts committed by leaders cataloged here.

So there’s obviously something to be learned from the sins of the past, as they still affect all of us. Maybe worse though is the realization that we all have a little bit of Richard in us. Whether it’s the off-handed comment about race, a joke made in a perhaps bad light or the string of vulgarity you used to express your team’s latest loss, no one is perfect. We are all at risk of being like Richard, and letting the moral get replaced

by So how do we balance the need to be right and good, with the desire to be strong and “leader-like”? This is an especially important question since we are constantly bombarded with information on how to be a “strong leader.” The answer, provided by another thinker, is to be fair. To not let your values change your conclusion or your analysis—thank you, Raymond Aron.

To figure out what exactly professor Aron meant by his philosophy is a struggle, and is worthy of attention. I’ll recommend this, in the spirit of Aron. Make a conscious effort, when bombarded with being a strong leader, to remain independent of what other people say. You were chosen to lead by election, appointment, hiring or some other method.

Live up to it. Don’t emulate the failures, but seek the positives. Don’t look up to someone just because they did great things, but consider the cost. Remove yourself from the decision and do what is best for the future.

Richard lives in all of us. Acknowledge it, harness it and change something.

This column wasn’t typical for me, and I probably won’t write another one like it all year. But with the changes coming on campus, both in things and people, with the added enjoyment of the season’s change, with the ability to improve for next semester, I decided that is was worth it.

Andrew Breland is a double major in political science and English, planning on getting a master’s degree in political science before attending law school. He is the vice president of the Phi Alpha Delta prelaw fraternity and the treasurer of CWRU’s

Have an opinion on this week’s editiorial?

Let us know.

16 opinion

11/8/13

IN A CLASS OF 78 STUDENTS 41 ARE TAKING FRENCH, 22 ARE TAKING GERMAN. OF THE STUDENTS TAKING FRENCH OR GERMAN, 9 ARE TAKING BOTH COURSES. HOW MANY STUDENTS ARE NOT ENROLLED IN EITHER COURSE? A

6

B

15

C

24

D

33

E

54

If you have an answer for this, we may have a scholarship for you.

The MSM Finance program is offering substantial scholarships to CWRU undergraduates. In less than one year, you can prepare yourself for rewarding careers in banking, private equity, corporation finance, risk management, investment management, and consulting. In many cases, financial firms are hiring top-performing STEM graduates at much higher salaries than those offered by STEM employers.* Starting salaries range from $60,000 to $90,000. No work experience is required.

The Master of Science in Management-Finance (MSM-Finance) program is led by the same world-class faculty who teach in our undergraduate finance program, which was ranked #1 by Businessweek 2 out of 4 years. To find out more, contact Karla Crucke at 216.368.3254 or KLC70@case.edu. Or visit: weatherhead.case.edu/finance *Kauffman Foundation Research Series

observer.case.edu

sports | 17

Cross country team lags behind in UAA Championship Katie Wieser Sports Editor The Case Western cross country teams went up against the tough University Athletics Association field last weekend, competing in the conference championships in Pittsburgh. Both teams ran strong races, but fell short of expectations among this challenging group of nationally-ranked colleges and universities on a difficult and unfamiliar course.

The men’s team went into the weekend ranked 35th nationally on the U.S. Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Poll, fifth on this list among fellow UAA schools. The team was led by senior David Dixon who finished in 26th place with a time of 26:19.6, barely more than a minute behind the top runner in the field. The next Spartans to cross the finish line were Timothy Travitz and Wyatt Hoch with the 31st and 32nd place times, respectively. Ben Davis was the fourth finisher in 38th place and Galen Caldwell rounded out the top five scores in 46th with a time of 27:03.4.

The men did well to stick together in this tough race, but weren’t able to crack the top scoring and ended the race in seventh place out of eight teams, below their anticipated fifth-place finish. The teams placing just ahead of CWRU had most runners finishing within seconds of the Spartan squad, making this race’s result an especially bitter one for the team. As a result of this race, the men fell out of the national poll this week.

The women suffered a similar fate, finishing just twenty points out of the fourthplace spot. The team was ranked fourth in the national coaches poll heading into the

competition, leading competitors Rochester and Brandeis in the rankings. The team beat Rochester at the Oberlin competition earlier in the season and looked to edge them out again, but fell just short with the fastest Rochester runner claiming the top spot in the race.

The Spartans were led by Kelsey Aamoth, who placed fifth overall with a time of 22:15.7. Aamoth was followed by Kristen Ruckstuhl in 20th place, Lydia Greene in 22nd place, Erica Bauerbach in 26th place and Dana Jeter in 37th place with a time of 23:38.5. Greene, a great high-pressure performer for the team, logged her fastest time of the season as the third runner for the team. The women’s team placed fifth overall, falling in the national rankings to 25th, behind Brandeis.

Both teams will look to exceed expectations as they enter into NCAA regional competition on Nov. 16th. The men are currently ranked fifth in the Great Lakes region and the women are placed fourth.

Head coach Kathy Lanese is looking to finish on top and she has superstition on her side: The last time the team won the NCAA Regional championship was in 2006, when the women’s team took home the title. After the competition, the meet organizers gave Lanese the official event banner to commemorate the occasion. The memento has been hanging in her office for the past seven years until two weeks ago, when it mysteriously fell down from its place on the wall.

Lanese believes it’s a clear sign. “We’ll just have to go get a new one.”

The team will need to beat reigning champion Hope College to bring the program full circle heading into 2014.

OPEN AUDITIONS! Monday 11/18 and Tuesday 11/19 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. for the 2014 spring semester drama productions in Eldred Theater: The Bald Soprano

by Eugene Ionesco Feb. 14, 15, 21, 22 at 8 p.m.

Feb. 16 and 23 at 2:30 p.m.

Directed by Christopher Bohan

Measure for Measure

by William Shakespeare April 11, 12, 18, 19 at 8 p.m.

April 13 and 20 at 2:30 p.m.

Directed by Jerrold Scott

2nd floor theater in Eldred Hall - 2070 Adelbert Rd. (on Case quad behind Millis Science Center) • Open to all members of the CWRU community.

• Sign-up sheets are posted in Eldred's 1st floor Gallery. Please sign-up in advance for audition time.

• Theater majors: prepare monologue of your choice, not to exceed 2 minutes.

• Non-theater majors: monologue is not required; text will be provided.

• Visit theater.case.edu for more information.

Questions?

Call 216-368-6140

theater.case.edu

Spartan football braves the cold in final home game JP O’Hagan Staff Reporter A frigid and wet Saturday could not undermine Case Western football team’s senior day. In a strong win against the University of Chicago, the team goal of becoming UAA Champions came one step closer.

Following a ceremony in which the team’s 19 seniors were honored, the Spartans took advantage of the nasty Cleveland weather and overcame their first obstacle to becoming UAA Champions with an impressive 16-3 win over the visiting University of Chicago Maroons.

Case was unable to do anything on

the game’s opening possession and punted it away to Chicago. Chicago marched downfield and scored on a 21-yard field goal with 10:46 left in the first quarter. However, it would be Chicago’s only score of the game as the Spartans stepped up and had a commanding win with a little help from the weather. Just a few possessions after the Chicago field goal, the University of Chicago went to punt and the weather struck. The snap went high and slipped out of the hands of the Chicago punter. The Spartans’ special teams rushed for the loose ball, but were beat to it by the Chicago kicker. As he attempted to clear the ball to safety, the Case defenders swatted the ball down and recovered

it to get great field possession deep in the Chicago half. The Spartans punched the ball into the end zone on an eightyard pass from quarterback Erik Olson to George Darany, after just three plays.

The Spartans didn’t look back after that, going on to score twice more: a 22-yard field goal with 10 seconds left in the first half and a nine yard pass from Olson to Manny Sicre. The Spartans were led offensively by Olson and the entire Spartan backfield. Olson’s two touchdown passes and multiple 20yard rushing performances from the backfield carried the team to a comfortable win. However, it was the special teams and defense that went past playing excellent games, shutting down

the Chicago offense and providing sparks when needed. The defense recorded three interceptions and special teams returned the Chicago kicks for an impressive 80 yards.

The last home game for the Spartans was also their first against UAA opponents. They will look to finish the season strong with two wins against Washington University in St. Louis and archenemy Carnegie Mellon, both while on the road. The team has one goal in mind, UAA champions, and a continuation of the stellar play last weekend may lead them to their goal.

Case will face the next challenge when they play Washington University at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow.

18 | sports

11/8/13

Spartans end season with win Katie Wieser Sports Editor The Spartan volleyball team overcame obstacles to get back to .500 on the season going into the University Athletics Association championship this weekend. The team was riddled by injuries all season and struggled to overcome the youth and inexperience of the team to win against tough opponents. However, in a fitting end to the season, the Case Western team played well against Wooster College to end the regular season with an overall record of 15-15.

This final match was played at the Veale Center with a large crowd of family and friends showing up for the last home matchup. The teams were evenly matched in the first set, with similar scores up until the Spartans went on a run to end the set 25-20. The team saw a similar pattern in each of the following sets, winning narrow but definitive victories against a team that was playing very well. The Spartans won in straight sets with final scores of 17-25 and 25-22 for the last two sets of play.

Coach Karen Farrell was very pleased with the level of athleticism shown by the team during this match. “I thought we played very well. Wooster played a good match, but we still sewed it up in three sets,” Farrell said. “It was a good

way to end the season and hopefully add some confidence going forward.”

The Spartans showed a very consistent attack with multiple players tallying high numbers of kills, assists and digs.

Sophomore Carolyn Bogart led the team in kills with 12 on the match. Both Bogart and sophomore Katie Best posted 15 digs each, and sophomore Robyn Marks helped set the pace with 22 assists.

The team hopes they can post equally strong numbers during the UAA championship tournament, where they will face off against No. 3-ranked Emory University in the first Natalie round. The tournament is run in against a basic bracket style with the top teams facing off against the lower-ranked teams in the conference. Going in ranked sixth, the Spartans will have a difficult time cracking the higher tier of play.

Farrell is aware of the challenge ahead. “I think that on any day, we could beat any team if we’re playing our best.

But it’s going to be tough to beat Emory,” Farrell said. All the teams ranked above Case have won the majority of their games. Emory is no different with a conference record of 5-2 and an overall

Arianna Wage/Observer Southard and Carolyn Bogart defend the net during final home match Wooster Nov. 2nd. record of 18-3.

The team will play a total of three matches, each determined by the preceding result. If the team beats Emory, they will be forced to face-off against an even higher-ranked opponent, as lower-ranked teams are delegated to the consolation bracket. However, they will secure at least a fourth-place finish in the tournament. If they lose to Emory, their best possible final ranking would be fifth, providing they could win the re-

mainder of their match-ups.

Regardless of the result, Farrell is anxious to see how the young team performs at this high level. “This is the time where everything’s peaking, so it’ll be good to see where we are against opponents we faced earlier in the season and now against some tougher competition.”

Here’s hoping that the high pressure brings out the competitive nature in the Spartan squad as they look to improve on their current ranking before the off-season.

Case Ice Hockey continues dominance Katie Wieser Sports Editor Case ice hockey wrapped up another busy weekend with a win versus Allegheny College at home and another loss on the road.

The team faced off against Allegheny for the second time already this season, pulling their overall record against this team to 2-0. The match got off to a promising start with the Spartans taking a 6-0 lead in the first two periods before the opposition got off the ground in the third.

Case used their home-rink advantage and struck early to meet their athome win record from last season in the second week of league play. Will Zacher, who would complete a three-goal hat trick in this match, scored the first goal just one minute and twenty seconds into the first period.

Additional scorers for the team were Anthony Perugini with two goals and Amit Sharma, Jonathan Greenberg and Will Brenn, each with one goal. Goaltender Cam Gutman saved 39 shots during the game in his first win this season with a final score of 8-2.

Club president Patrick Thomas was encouraged by the win. “It was a good win. The entire team contributed to the win. We have such a wide variety of talent so it is great to see everyone play,” Thomas said.

Traveling for the second weekend in a row, the Spartans were at a disadvantage against league front-runner University of Pittsburgh. Coming in with only eight players, the team worked

to challenge the Pittsburgh offense in the first period. However, the pace of play proved difficult for the Spartans to maintain as they fell to 6-0 before Jason Pickering scored on a power play ahead of the second period’s end.

The team was only able to score once more during a power play goal in the third period by Brenn, while the opposition scored six additional times to bring the final score to 12-2.

Despite the loss, the team feels confident moving forward. They have matched losses with victories at home and are hoping to add another this weekend versus Gannon University. The Spartans fell to Gannon in the first weekend of the season on the road.

They look to avenge the 7-2 loss with the home crowd and home-rink advantage on their side.

Thomas believes this match is critical to the success of the club this season. “The winner of our division will probably be determined by this game.

Gannon beat us once already. We want to show them the first game was a f luke.”

The club is always looking to gain depth for the team to help as the season progresses. They accept all skill and age levels from the CWRU community and are currently accepting new members. More information on the team schedule and membership procedures can be found on their club website.

Friday’s game will be held at the Cleveland Heights Recreation Center at 9:00 p.m. The team will be shuttling students to the event starting at 8:00 from Fribley Commons. The team hopes to see a motivating home crowd to support the team in this exciting matchup.

observer.case.edu

sports | 19

Women’s soccer remains winless in UAA action the Spartan women were unable to overcome an early Carnegie Mellon goal in the annual “Kicks for a Cause” game. The Tartans scored the only goal of the game early in the first half. A long shot by Tartans’ Alex Venegas in the ninth minute ended up being the only goal of the game. The Spartans battled back for the next the next 81 scoreless minutes, Charlotte Palmer/Observer but were unable to find room between Senior Rachel Bourque leads a charge in the annual Kicks for a Cause match versus the posts.

Carnegie Mellon.

Kiley Armstrong scores of 1-0 despite great play. Heading gave the Spartans their best chance to tie JP O’Hagan into the final game of the season, the Spar- the game on a prime opportunity in the Staff Reporter tans strong play has fallen just short. “Per- 34th minute. Carnegie Mellon’s goalie sonally, I wish the season had a few more was out of position and Armstrong sent Only two well-timed goals by two dif- weeks because I think we are playing our a strong shot toward the net. However, it ferent opponents leave the Case Western best soccer right now,” head coach Tiffa- was stopped at the last second by a perwomen’s soccer team one game under ny Crooks said. “I’m really really pleased fectly positioned defender. A very even match was highlighted by strong defensive .500 and standing at 8-9-1. The Spartans with everyone.” fell to both Carnegie Mellon and Emory by On a cold Friday evening at Case, play by both teams. Spartan keeper Abbey

Smith, a previous UAA player of the week, played another great game with four saves between the posts.

For the annual “Kicks for a Cause” game, the team raised money to support the Likoni Community Football League.

Based in Kenya, the L.C.F.L. is looking to create a women’s professional soccer team with the goal of empowering girls and young women in the community.

Another single goal stopped Case Western Reserve from a win and an upset of nationally-ranked number eight Emory University. Following 83 minutes of scoreless play, the Spartan’s hopes to score a single winning goal were dashed when Emory’s Kelly Costopoulos slid in to connect with a cross to beat Smith and find the back of the net. The Spartans were unable to find the back of the net in both games. “We created great scoring chances over the weekend, and just aren’t finishing them,” Crooks said. “Our group has continued to battle despite our unluckiness. We’re frustrated by it. We have players that are capable of scoring goals, and I’m trusting this weekend will finally be our time.”

The team will look to finish their season on a high note in the final game at home against Rochester University on Saturday evening.

Men’s soccer loses two straight despite strong play JP O’Hagan Staff Reporter The standings don’t truly relate the level of play of the Spartans men’s soccer team this past weekend. Despite strong play, Case Western lost to both Carnegie Mellon and Emory and fell to 6-6-4 on the season. “We’re in the most competitive soccer conference in the country, regardless of division, and we’re not far away,” head coach Brandon Bianco said. “We have the youngest and smallest roster in the league and we’re a play or two away in each game from getting the result we’re looking for.”

At halftime on Friday night the Spartans were within reaching distance of an upset of the number 12 nationally ranked Carnegie Mellon. Leading 2-1 at half, a second half swing in Carnegie Mellon’s favor lead to a 4-2 loss.

The final two minutes of the first half provided possibly the most exciting scoring display of the entire season for the Spartans. All three goals of the half were scored within the last 67 seconds of the half.

The Spartans broke through first following a throw-in as Jacob Grindel flicked in his fifth goal of the year at 43:53 via a double assist by midfielder Chris Cvecko and defender Bairdy Hansen. Just a few seconds later, Carnegie Mellon answered the Spartans’ late strike with a goal of their own: a strong header which found the back of the net.

Unfazed by the quick response from the Tartans, Case didn’t miss a beat and matched the goal with just two seconds left on the clock. Midfielder Slater Jameson found space between the posts himself when he fired a shot, following

a battle in front of the Carnegie Mellon net.

However, the lead didn’t last, and the Spartans saw the game swing away from their favor quickly in the second half. Carnegie Mellon scored three unanswered goals in the second 45 minutes of play. The visiting Tartans tied the game at the 46:55 mark, took the lead just four minutes later at the 50:37 mark and then added an insurance goal in the 71st minute. The Spartans had no response for Carnegie Mellon’s scoring f lurry and the game ended with a score of 4-2. “Second half was simply us having break- Freshman Jacob Grindel works against Emory at downs on restarts,” Bianco said. “All four Carnegie Mellon against Emory University. Case Western goals came from a restart and we didn’t dropped the match 1-0 at home on Sundo a good enough job to defend against day despite strong play. Emory’s, and the it. We limited them in the run of play game’s, only goal came when Emory’s and just got beat to the ball on restarts. Leo Ragazzo sent a long throw-in into Carnegie showed their experience in the Spartan’s box. Inexplicably the ball Friday’s game and is something we’ll went untouched and managed to fly into learn from.” back of the net.

One positive for the Spartans was the The Spartans were unable to capitalreturn of junior goalkeeper Jay Darby. ize on a few golden chances and take Darby had missed the previous 13 games back the game. Hansen volleyed a shot with an injury. He recorded three saves towards goal, but Emory’s keeper Abe in his 45 minutes of play in the first half. Hannigan impressively tipped the ball Frank Candau played the second half over the bar for the save in the first half. and took the loss.

Minutes later Grindel rocketed a free A bizarre goal in the 28th minute kick into the box that just barely flew was what kept the Spartans from a win high, hitting the crossbar. A bad bounce

Harsha Chandupatla/Observer Case Field on Nov. 3. kept midfielder Marco Patrie from finishing when he had a great chance, open inside the Emory box. “Emory is a team that is at the top of the league and we played them off the field, especially in the second half.” Bianco said, “We were fantastic Sunday—we kept the ball, got our backs into the attack, limited them to zero shots on goals. We just weren’t sharp enough in front of the goal but our mentality Sunday was big time.”

The Spartans will look to finish the season on a high note by winning the last game of the season at home on Saturday.

The match, which is also Senior Night, will be played against Rochester University at 5:00 p.m. on DiSanto Field.

20 | sports 20

11/8/13

sports

Editor’s Choice

Case Western Reserve ultimate club hosts successful North Coast tournament

Spartan swimming and diving makes a splash in first meet at home Katie Wieser Sports Editor

Courtesy Sophia Knowles A member of the CWRU Fighting Gobies goes for a pass at the North Coast tournament on Oct. 26.

Team heads to Pittsburgh this weekend for Steel City Showdown Katie Wieser Sports Editor The Case Western “Fighting Gobies” ultimate club hosted their tenth annual North Coast tournament on the weekend of Oct. 26 and 27. The event drew in high-level teams from Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky to vie for the title and win bragging rights for the season ahead. The CWRU men’s team swept the field, winning the top spot without a single loss. The women’s team also made a strong showing, appearing in the final prior to falling to top-ranked Ohio State University.

The men’s team was split into three squads after a last-minute withdrawal from the tournament. During the course of the competition, the “A” team won all six of their matches in the top pool by a decisive margin. The “B” and “Y”

teams also played competitively, keeping the event interesting for spectators and participants.

The women’s team won their first five matches, beating out a challenging Cleveland State University team in the second round. The team edged out Carnegie Mellon as well before facing off against Ohio State in the final.

There were a total of eight women’s teams and 10 men’s teams in the tournament. From the increased participation from last year, it’s clear to see that the CWRU-hosted weekend is growing in prestige among regional teams.

Both squads look to ride the momentum of a successful weekend to the Steel City Showdown hosted by Carnegie Mellon this weekend. This tournament is one of the highlights of the season with last year’s national champions in attendance. The women’s team

has grown in numbers since last year, meaning it can be more competitive in the collegiate level competitions. Both teams are looking to play well against fierce competition.

As a sport club in the college environment, most players participate for the love of the sport. Ultimate frisbee draws a varied and passionate crowd with most players participating in regular practices and competitions. The team competes with other colleges in the region in an effort to advance to a national tournament. Last year, the men’s team placed ninth in the region and the women placed fifth, showing that the Gobies are a force to be reckoned with in the Ohio valley.

The team looks to gain skill during the college series building up to the qualifying competitions later in the season.

The Spartan swimming and diving teams claimed the top spot in the first round of the Greater Cleveland Tournament last weekend at home.

They will face off against Oberlin College in the final round this Saturday at the Veale Natatorium.

The teams went up against area rivals John Carroll University and Notre Dame College during their home opening meet. The men and women both ended on top with individual champions in 16 of the 26 events. The Spartans won all four diving events with Daniel Jacobson claiming both men’s prizes and Riki Drout winning the events for the women. Sophomore Rebecca Pakradooni was the only other double event winner for the team, taking the top spot in both the 200yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterf ly races.

The Spartan 200-yard medley relay teams both took the top spot along with winners Sara Tillie for the 50-yard freestyle, Abby Glenn for the 500-yard freestyle, David Merriman in the 1,000-yard freestyle, Scott McHenry in the 200yard freestyle, Nick Clyde in the 200-yard individual medley, sophomore Aaron Tam in the 100-yard butterf ly, Eric Hauf ler in the 100yard freestyle and Drew Weibel in the 100-yard backstroke.

Coach Doug Milliken was very pleased with the team’s improvement from last week. “I was really happy with how the team did,” said Milliken. “We came in with a lot more energy and aggression, if you will. We came in ready to race.” Milliken attributes this to the home pool energy and an eagerness to prove themselves in the fresh season. “It created kind of a perfect storm of excitement.”

Both teams look to sweep the Cleveland City tournament with a win versus Oberlin this weekend at home. The meet will determine the Cleveland City champion, which comes with serious bragging rights for the upcoming season. Milliken is optimistic about the team’s chances.

“I think we can do better this week.

We just need to bring the energy again and swim fast.”