The Observer, Volume L, Issue 21, 3/1/19

the

Case Western Reserve University volume L, issue 21 friday, 3/1/2019

Observer

Engineering Challenges Carnival kicks off E-Week Jordan Reif Staff Reporter

Hundreds of students aged 2-18 years-old from the greater Cleveland area gathered at the Thwing Center last Saturday for the Engineering Challenges Carnival. Kicking off the week-long celebration of engineers, or “E-Week,” the annual carnival is Case Western Reserve University’s largest science, technology, engineering and math outreach event.

Me’lani Joseph, the director of engineering for the Leonard Gelfand STEM Center, has been the coordinator for the event, responsible for building, managing and implementing it for seven years.

This year marks the second year of using the entire Thwing Center building to host booths related to STEM. Booths were organized by over 200 different student volunteers and approximately 18 organizations on campus.

Hosted by Women in Science and Engineering Roundtable (WISER), the American Society of Civil Engineers, Case Amateur Radioclub and many other campus groups, the stands exposed kids to the wonders of STEM and the powers of their imagination.

Amanda Lindamood, a fourth-year student studying dance, psychology and cognitive science volunteering at the event, was amazed by how many young kids were in attendance. There

Ryan Yoo/Observer Student volunteers stack boxes as part of the Engineering Carnival, the official kickoff the Engineers Week.

were over 400 children counted within the first hour of the event. The emphasis on introducing children of all ages, especially younger kids, to STEM opportunities was a theme among organizers, volunteers and attendees.

“It is awesome to see that parents are bringing their toddlers in today, I think

exposure is a huge part in child development,” she said.

Kate Kutnick, a mother from Solon, Ohio, brought her three-year-old daughter to the carnival to support her daughter’s interests. “STEM events allow kids [to] lead on their own based on what they’re interested in,” she said. Kutnick

added that the CWRU students volunteering at the event did a good job of making the different stations and tools understandable for all different ages and comprehension levels.

TO CARNIVAL | 3

Panelists address Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ effects on Africa Abbey Wells To commemorate the United Nations’ World Day of Social Justice on Feb. 20, the Inamori International Center for Ethics and the Social Justice Institute sponsored a panel in which they examined human rights in Africa. These institutions host events annually to address human rights issues throughout the world.

In 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which states that every person in the world is entitled to human rights. The panelists addressed how the document affects Africa.

Felix Kumah-Abiwu, Ph.D., and assistant professor of Pan-African studies at Kent State University, talked about the effect of the UDHR on voting rights in his native country, Ghana. He questioned whether Africa is reflected in the document as most of the continent was still under colonial rule when it was created.

Despite his reservations, Kumah-Abiwu acknowledged that the UDHR has significantly shifted the framework of the

political and legal systems in Ghana. For example, the country’s 1992 constitution includes a provision which protects and promotes the human rights of Ghanaians.

Kumah-Abiwu credited the UDHR with influencing many political developments in his home country, such as prisoners recently gaining the right to vote.

“This is not the case in the United States, but I would suggest that one of the other positive impacts was just last December, thousands of prisoners were allowed to vote in Ghana,” said Kumah-Abiwu.

“That’s another step forward.”

While encouraged by the promising developments, Kumah-Abiwu admitted that Ghana still faces voting challenges, like election violence. “Before the election, during the election and post-election violence is a major problem in Ghana,” said Kumah-Abiwu.

Another panelist, George S. Kamanda, a human rights scholar and student at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, addressed women’s rights in Sierra Leone, where he was born and raised.

Through his experience as a human rights advocate, Kamanda discovered that

a key problem was that people in Sierra Leone did not know about the rights guaranteed to them by the UDHR. “If they’re given the opportunity to know about these rights, then they’ll be aware,” said Kamanda. “They’ll know how to defend themselves, and they will also know how to participate in social change and also their own governance.”

Kamanda believes that the UDHR has had a major impact on women in Sierra Leone. While women do not have equal say in Sierra Leone, they are gradually receiving more opportunities to participate in government. In 2008, Umu Hawa Tejan-Jalloh became the first female Chief Justice of the country.

However, Kamanda warned that a few select women in government do not equal inclusive change.

“Selecting a few prominent women doesn’t mean women empowerment for all,” said Kamanda.

While Kamanda is proud and happy about the developments in his home country, he remains wary.

“I’m cautiously optimistic about whatever we do because we need to sustain this

change,” he said.

A third panelist, Sara Thiam, Ph.D., visiting assistant professor of anthropology at Case Western Reserve University, examined children’s rights in Senegal and Mali. She has done extensive research on the “taalibes” who are children whose educations consist of memorizing the Quran.

They are considered to be victims of human trafficking because they spend much of their time begging in the streets to support their studies.

“The scale of which students are begging today in the streets of Senegal is massive, up to 30,000 children. Some estimates go up to 100,000 children throughout Senegal,” said Thiam.

The enormity of the issue has led to many humanitarian and children’s rights efforts targeting this group of children.

While the UDHR has led to many promising advances throughout Africa, the panelists all agreed that there are still steps to be taken. However, Kamanda said that not every African country is at the same level of development, so the international community should not view the continent as a “one size fits all” situation.

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Staff Reporter

news Truss-worthy civil engineering professor wins teaching award Yvonne Pan Arts & Entertainment Editor As an undergraduate student at Case Western Reserve University, Katie Wheaton tried to find a path for herself.

Now as the professor of Civil Engineering 160, Surveying and Computer Graphics, Wheaton is often the first face to welcome civil engineering students into the department, following these bewildered students throughout their undergraduate years by teaching upper-level courses as well. As thanks, students are honoring her with the Srinivasa P. Gutti Memorial Teaching Award.

Wheaton enjoys teaching surveying because it is the first course in the civil engineering curriculum. She takes this chance to engage students in the community, providing a tour of the American Society of Civil Engineers Lounge, her office and the labs within the first week of classes.

When I meet these students [in the fall of their sophomore year], they are already acclimated to Case Western Reserve University, but their success depends on their connection to the department through professors, advisors and peers,” said Wheaton.

The nature of surveying also helps foster a relationship among students and between her and students. The course is

tactile, and surveying labs necessitate teamwork and create a collaborative environment similar to fieldwork in industry.

“Professor Wheaton is very passionate about the material she teaches and her caring and engaging nature makes her class very informative,” said secondyear civil engineering student Brian Lin. Surveying and Computer Graphics and Civil Engineering 323, Structural Design II, bookend the department curriculum and by the spring of their last year, Wheaton has already developed a personal connection with students.

Structural design is also her specialty because she worked in industry at both Thornton-Tomasetti-Cutts and Osborn Engineering. Her last project at Osborn was designing a natatorium and gymnasium for Gilmour Academy, a high school her cousins now attend. The steel project had an architectural focus and Wheaton ended up working with architects to design a triangular truss structure to ensure beauty as well as functionality.

Wheaton admits she never pictured herself as a professor.

“I consulted for Osborn for a while after my eldest daughter was born because I wanted some part-time work,” she said. “But it was feast or famine, with a lot of work one week, and nothing the next.” She sought advice from a professor over lunch, explaining her desire for

a fulfilling engineering career and time with family. The civil engineering department just happened to be short an adjunct professor, and she soon found herself teaching at her alma mater.

These days, rather than working a 9-to-5 job at a design firm, Wheaton spends her time improving curriculums so students can absorb material better and avoid cramming. She tries to structure class for maximum retention and asks students to do course evaluations to see what worked and what didn’t.

In addition to civil engineering students at CWRU, Wheaton also influences students miles away, as an instructor in the EP program at Johns Hopkins University, teaching online classes to working professionals since 2015.

When asked if she had regrets about leaving the industry, Wheaton confidently answers she did not.

“We all have professional and personal aspirations and teaching is the best match for both,” she said. “I want to help students visualize life after school.”

After earning her undergraduate degree, Wheaton worked in Washington D.C. before getting her master’s at Lehigh University and encourages students to do the same.

“There just isn’t enough time in undergrad to fully engage in material,”

she said.

Reflecting on her time at CWRU, Wheaton thinks CWRU had been more graduate school-oriented and is happy that the university is paying more attention to engaging undergraduate students and improving their experiences.

“There was no Uptown then,” she said.

“The campus now is a destination for everything: extracurriculars, leisure and academics.”

She praises the university’s consideration of a program designed to introduce first-year students to all engineering disciplines, projected to come into effect in 2020. A pilot program is already underway and students collaborate on projects such as building a water filter.

When asked about discrimination in the field, Wheaton asserts she has had only positive experiences with peers and mentors, both male and female. This positivity is mirrored in interactions students have with her.

“Professor Wheaton was very good at keeping an 8:25 a.m. class attentive and interesting,” second-year civil engineering student Max Hewit said. “The labs in her class were fundamental in helping me secure a civil engineering internship.”

Other students share this sentiment, and Wheaton was honored with the teaching award this year. She accepted the award at this year’s Engineer’s Week Reception on Feb. 28.

Yemen Accountability Project aims to document war crimes Nathan Lesch Staff Reporter Case Western Reserve University law students are working with the Henry T. King, Jr. War Crimes Research Office to initiate the first comprehensive mapping of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Yemeni Civil War. This initiative, called the Yemen Accountability Project, has drawn over 70 student volunteers, and funding for the project was provided by Timothy Geisse and the John F. and Mary A. Geisse Foundation.

Crimes against humanity are outlined in Article 7 of the Rome Statute, and include, but are not limited to murder, extermination, enslavement, forcible transfer of population, imprisonment, torture and rape “when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.” The Geneva Conventions prohibit inhumane treatment of individuals captured by the enemy. Murder, mutilation, torture, hostage taking and degrading treatment are all war crimes under the Geneva Conventions.

The Yemeni Civil War began in 2015 as a part of the Arab Spring, a period of civil unrest that spread across the Middle East starting in 2010, and has become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Although an estimated 6,800 civilians have been killed

and another 10,000 injured in the conflict, the collapse of the food system, the widespread outbreak of disease and disruption of daily life as a result of the conflict have been worse for civilians.

Volunteers to the Yemen Accountability Project will work in teams, each of which contributes to documenting war crimes and crimes against humanity. The investigative team researches reports of crimes in Yemen to determine if they meet the criteria required of war crimes. After determining that a crime was, in fact, a war crime, the analysis team analyzes the crimes within the context of the Yemeni penal code, the Rome Statute and the Geneva Conventions. Lastly, the registrar team reports on the conflict and archives the evidence uncovered by the other groups.

“The aim [of the project] is to methodically and meticulously document war crimes so that future prosecutors will be able to use the work we’ve done to subpoena and eventually try war criminals,” said Laura Graham, the executive director of the project.

Graham’s interests in peace processes, justice and a desire to make a difference drew her to the project.

“I have always had an interest in international conflicts and bringing war criminals to justice, so the project’s goals of documenting war crimes was appealing to me. It’s a project where I feel like the work we do will make a difference,” she said.

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Latest Think Big discussion focuses on humanities Maryam Iqbal Staff Reporter On Monday, Feb. 25, there was another discussion led by Case Western Reserve University Provost Ben Vinson as part of the university’s “Think Big” initiative, aiming to involve the entire campus in the strategic planning for the future.

The discussion featured two speakers on the panel. The first was William Adams, a senior fellow at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Having served as president of both Colby College and Bucknell University, his work centers on the humanities and engagement programs. The second speaker was Earl Lewis, director of the Center of Social Solutions at the University of Michigan (UM).

He served as provost at Emory University and teaches African-American studies and history at UM. Lewis has done work on establishing social collaboration online between institutions.

The talk centered on discussing external trends rather than just focusing on CWRU. Lewis started with rethinking the humanities as perhaps the most important courses one could take in college since part of living in a broader world means contextualizing the world with supplementary knowledge one could only learn in the humanities. A proposed way to kickstart this plan is to start professional alignment classes in junior year of college and in the first two years work through interdisciplinary courses in the liberal arts.

He believes this is the only way to prepare students for a 21st century education.

To talk about his idea in terms of actual implementation, Lewis related his experience talking to an Emory graduate while serving as provost. The student mentioned that his art history class was the most important he had taken while at college.

This was surprising because the graduate worked in finance, but being able to relate to his European clients was important, and small talk between his firm and clients would often start with the question,

FROM CARNIVAL | 1 Piper, six-year old daughter of Jaime Onk, and her 10-year old sister were both excited about the event; Piper had a cast on her arm that she had made at one of the booths hosted by the Humanitarian Design Corps.

Lillian Velez, a first-year student studying civil engineering who helped staff the Humanitarian Design Corps table, explained that their booth taught kids how to use different craft tools to craft something similar to the design of ankle and wrist braces. Velez hoped the station would help teach children problem-solving skills.

Ebony, an eighth grade science teacher, brought her three children, ages two, four and 13-years-old, to the event. Proudly wearing a NASA shirt, she praised the event, reiterating that her children felt the same way. The event helps them “learn to explore and [shows them] that science is more than just lab coats and goggles,” she said. “[They] are able to use whatever they want and their imagination to build something.”

One of the stations provided kids

“What do you think about Monet?” Based on the anecdote above, there were questions about whether humanities would take a more supplementary or mainstream role in the 21st century.

To answer these questions, Williams discussed the need for more interdisciplinary courses and learning collaborations. A practical example of this at CWRU is the many medical humanities classes such as medical anthropology that show the importance of liberal arts in applied zones.

Other examples discussed involved the integrated studies of ethics and biomedical engineering in the field of gene editing.

According to Williams, a lot of questions raised by science often aren’t technical problems but rather human problems needing to be solved by the humanities.

“According to Williams, a lot of questions raised by science often aren’t technical problems but rather human problems needing to be solved by the humanities.”

- Maryam Iqbal on the humanitiesfocused Think Big iniative To encourage this view toward disciplines, both panelists stressed the need to have students involved in this process with interests in the humanities. Both agreed this was an effort to preserve the dignity of labor in the automated world of the future.

Vinson explained that this effort was to make CWRU a force of strategic planning for the future, and hence it is crucial for science, business, humanities and art to function hand in hand. Future Think Big Initiatives will focus on how CWRU can integrate the humanities, ethics, science, mathematics and professional education.

the opportunity to build giant structures out of gears. The booth was operated by fourth-year chemical engineering student Sarah Ahmad, who has volunteered at the carnival for the last four years. She emphasized the success of the event in introducing youth who may not have comparable opportunities at their high schools to “anything related to STEM.” In a similar vein, Lily Harwood, a third-year biology student and E-Week coordinator for WISER, stressed the importance of community interactions, both for the younger kids and for CWRU volunteers.

“We are often very isolated on this campus, and the people outside [can be] isolated in their own towns, homes and communities, but interacting these two styles … and different levels of education, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds gives people the opportunity to not only talk about science, but about … life.” said Harwood.

All of the volunteers, coordinators and parents hoped the carnival would give kids the opportunity to have fun, learn and be encouraged to pursue any of their STEM aspi-

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Lecture focuses on racial disparities in treatment of autism Lev Pearlman Contributing Reporter On Feb. 26 Dr. David Mandell, the Kenneth E. Appel Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, delivered the third annual KesslerFreedeim Lecture.

The event was sponsored by the Schubert Center for Child Studies and co-sponsored by the International Center for Autism Research and Education.

Speaking before a large crowd of medical professionals, students and professors, Mandell discussed disparities in the diagnosis and care of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Mandell defined disparities as “racial or ethnic differences in the quality of healthcare that are not due to access-related factors or clinical needs, preferences and appropriateness of intervention.”

There are three main disparities between ethnic and racial groups: the diagnosis of autism, access to treatment for autism and the quality of the treatment.

In the diagnosis of autism, he outlined the inconsistencies in the identification of ASD and how that can prevent a diagnosis. He reported that across three Education Attainment levels of the mother, low (some high school), medium (high school and possibly college) and high (college degree and beyond), there was a correlation between low levels of symptom reporting and mothers in the low education group.

Mandell discussed why studies that compare ethnic groups with the age at which a child is diagnosed are problematic; they do not take into account those who are not diagnosed, thus completely ignoring the issue of low reporting and its effects on the diagnosis rate.

Another disparity comes in the form of perceived health care needs.

Unlike other disparities outlined in the presentation, inequalities in perceived health care needs were relatively similar. However, when looking at the de-

livery of these services and medication there is a divergence. Data from the National Survey of Children’s Health shows that African-Americans and Hispanics had more problems receiving phone advice and far more problems receiving acute care.

The last of the disparities outlined was how parents of children with ASD endorsed the symptoms. Where African-American and white parents were far more likely to endorse speech symptoms at the same rate, AfricanAmerican parents were far less likely to endorse social and Restrictive and Repetitive Behavior (RRB). This can be a large contributor to whether families get an ASD diagnosis or an Intellectual Disability diagnosis because speech symptoms may be the same for the two disorders, but they are differentiated by social and RRB symptoms.

After his talk, Mandell was joined

by Melissa Armstrong-Brine of MetroHealth, Ph.D., Nicole Cruz of Milestones Autism Research and Cynthia Johnson, Ph.D., the director for Cleveland Clinics Children’s Center for Autism. The panel took turns responding to Mandell’s talk, then took questions from the audience.

Cruz outlined systemic changes to the way that first responders are trained to deal with those diagnosed with ASD, increases in workshops and training for parents in safe settings and vastly increasing the access that parents have to educational and medical services.

Mandell outlined ways that CWRU students can help reduce these disparities. He suggested that student organizations could partner with Milestones, Cruz’s organization in Cleveland working to reduce these disparities every day through education and workshops.

Armstrong-Brine spoke about integrating autism education directly into college campus orientations. After considering the lack of a requirement on reading a common reading book and learning about CWRU Diversity 360 training, she suggested the implementation of a Neurodiversity 360 program.

Stuck truck

Allie Faccenda/Observer A tractor trailer was stuck under a bridge on Mayfield Road on Monday, Feb. 25. Two CWRU Alerts were sent out related to increased traffic in the area.

rations. Sebastian, a seven-year old wearing an “I love Science” graphic t-shirt, said he was very excited about attending because his mom had told him it would be an entire

event dedicated to science. Saying that he has been interested in STEM since kindergarten, Sebastian hopes to continue pursuing and learning about science as he grows up.

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Academic Integrity Board hosts Eaton executive Katharine Toledo Staff Reporter On Friday, Feb. 22, the Case Western Academic Integrity Board (CWRU AIB) hosted its concluding event of I-Week, a keynote address from guest speaker Mark Lekan of the Eaton Corporation.

Lekan serves as the Director of Ethics and Compliance, Americas, for the Eaton Corporation, a global power management company that helps its customers “effectively manage electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power more efficiently, safely and sustainably.” With a focus on protecting the environment through power management technology, the Eaton Corporation has

99,000 employees and customers in more than 175 countries.

Lekan oversees the development of strategy and the ethics and compliance program for the Americas.

Before joining the Eaton Corporation, he worked as an attorney with Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan and Aronoff LLP. Lekan also clerked for a U.S. District Judge, leadership consulting, executive coaching and organization development.

Lekan described his unconventional pathway to his current role.

“I had a long and winding road in terms of careers,” he said after discussing his previous careers as a dining hall employee at Miami University, a human resources employee, a middle school English teacher and the proprietor of a small land-

scaping business.

In Lekan’s words, “those [careers] are all experiences that made me into the man I am today,” and he joked to the audience that he has “quit just as many careers as jobs.”

This year’s I-Week theme was “Integrity Beyond CWRU” and focused on how academic integrity displayed within CWRU can be valuable even after graduation. Lekan touched on the fact that decisions that violate one’s personal code of ethics are often made under stressful conditions.

In the case of academic dishonesty, Lekan stressed that often students who act dishonestly do so because of the immense pressure placed upon them by the deadlines and demands of university life and eventually, workplace life as well.

Throughout the lecture, Lekan emphasized the importance of ethical leadership. He described companies that had struggled with ethical questions within their leadership, focusing on well-known examples like BMW officials who were dishonest about their emissions and Wells Fargo employees who created false accounts to inflate the company’s success numbers.

Lekan concluded by re-emphasizing the importance of integrity: “[Having a culture of integrity starts with having credible leadership that means what it says and acts consistently with his words. It’s a culture that enables people to speak up.

[Cultures like this] are not just on a campus like this one. They’re everywhere. Find yours.”

Long-shot Democratic nomination candidate Andrew Yang visits Cleveland library Grace Howard News Editor On Feb. 24, Andrew Yang, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, spoke to a packed room at the Mayfield Branch of Cuyahoga County Library about his 2020 presidential campaign and platform.

Yang has been flying under the mainstream media’s radar for the most part, with Fox News arguing he has been “overshadowed by an already-crowded field of senators and other famous politicians.”

However, Yang and his team embrace this claim, proclaiming that they are polling at one percent nationally, yet no one knows who they are.

Yang is most notable for his Universal Basic Income plan called the Freedom Dividend, which will allocate $1,000 a month to every adult citizen with no strings attached. The purpose of this plan is to channel more money into local economies of cities like Cleveland or Detroit. The ultimate plan is to create a more human-centered form of capitalism that focuses on topics like childhood success rates, quality-adjusted life expectancy, mental health and freedom from sub-

stance abuse.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is another focus of his campaign. He sees the potential that AI has for eliminating thousands of blue collar jobs, such as trucking.

Truck driving is the most common job in 29 states, including Ohio, but in Silicon Valley there are engineers working on creating “robot trucks” that can drive nonstop and outcompete drivers, rendering them obsolete. Yang stated that once truckers leave the workforce there is a low chance of them returning, and government funded worker retraining programs have a 0-15 percent success rate. Yang shared that when he took these concerns to Washington, the response was that they could not talk about it.

Yang argues that the huge Silicon Valley tech companies that are eating up blue collar jobs are not sustainable, and the American government has to create a better system that gives the American people a shred of the profits that tech companies are seeing. Yang believes that “the dynamics of our economy have been corrupted to a degree that we do not realize.”

His Freedom Dividend, a policy supported by historical figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Milton Friedman and Thomas Paine, as well as popular politi-

cian Bernie Sanders, will impose a tax on big tech companies that will harness the substantial gains from the growing industry and allow all American people to benefit from them. Yang believes that this $1,000 dividend will create incentives to push the economy forward, and eventually create a “trickle-up” system.

At Yang’s talk at the Cuyahoga County Library, concerns were raised over who exactly would profit from this dividend.

Yang responded that his plan would be “opt-in,” so everyone, from those making $50 thousand a year to those making millions of dollars would see the rewards of his plan. He stressed that particular people in the system should not be villainized, rather it is the system itself that is the enemy.

Yang believes that his biggest obstacles are being marginalized and ignored because of his status as an entrepreneur with no political background. He has expressed that there is no specific enemy, maintaining that the system is wrong, not the people in it. Yang is garnering support from both sides of the aisle, but he is still portrayed as an outsider trying to fix problems: “the opponent is [us] being pushed to the side.”

A large part of Yang’s policy is manag-

ing dysfunctional systems like healthcare, education and housing. He wants to take healthcare off of people’s backs and align incentives for healthcare providers in order to give quality and affordable care.

He would enact a Medicare for All policy, which would grow the program to cover all Americans and work towards reaching a single-payer solution.

Education is also one of the primary problems in America that Yang has identified. He would like to link college tax exemption and funding to the goal of reducing costs to students. In addition, he would create a 10x10 Student Loan Emancipation Plan: graduates who donate 10 percent of their salary for 10 years to repayment will have the remainder of their loan forgiven. When asked about the inflation epidemic driving up costs of higher education, Yang told The Observer that in general college is “overprescribed.” He argues that the government needs to increase investment in apprenticeships and vocational training instead.

As he continues toward the 2020 presidential election, Yang hopes that other candidates will adopt some of his policies and address the problems that emerge as workers have to adjust for an economy where AI absorbs many jobs.

Cleveland Eats festival canceled Anna Giubileo Staff Reporter A beloved Cleveland festival is no longer. The widely attended Cleveland Eats Tri-C Culinary Festival has been canceled after only two years. Michael Huff, the dean of the Hospitality Management Center at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C), helped launch the festival in 2017.

“Cleveland Eats began with two goals: to showcase the hospitality industry’s impact on the Northeast Ohio economy and Tri-C’s vital role in training the skilled workers needed to keep the momentum going,” he said.

Despite an impressive attendance of over 15,000 over the last two years, several factors influenced the decision to cancel the festival.

One of these factors was the decision to shift focus from the Cleveland Eats Tri-C Culinary Festival to the Small Bites, Big Dreams scholarship

fundraiser. This scholarship allows students to gain hands-on experience and networking opportunities with some of the city’s most famous culinary chefs.

Furthermore, Huff explained that the schedule of the festival was overly demanding.

“The timing of Cleveland Eats also played a critical role in our decision to cancel the festival,” he said. “Staging an event that large proved challenging to our faculty and students given that it took place just after fall semester classes began.”

Huff and the committee for the Cleveland Eats Tri-C Culinary Festival thank everyone who has helped to make the festival a success. The passion for culinary arts in the city allowed for the event to be a massive success and helped to solidify Cleveland’s status in the culinary world.

Huff added, “Cleveland is home to some of the top chefs and restaurants in the United States, and—judging

Courtesy of ClevelandEats Twitter A scene from the 2017 edition of the Cleveland Eats Festival. This past month, festival organizers announced it would no longer continue. from what I see in our classrooms— more are on the way. Make a reserva-

tion today and see what everyone is raving about.”

fun

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fun page | 5

Ken Ken

The aim of the puzzle is to fill the whole grid with numbers. The only numbers you are allowed to use are 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. No number may repeat in a column or a row. Each “cage” (or a shaded box) contains a target number and the arithmetic method needed to be used to obtain the target number.

Normal

Difficult

Horoscopes Horoscopes as terrible ways to spend spring break

Aries Staycation Taurus Applying to summer internships Gemini Babysitting for the neighbor Cancer Being stuck at the station/airport because of poor weather

Sudoku Normal

Leo In bed, not even moving for food Virgo Working on your SAGES portfolio Libra Planning out your dream vacation and realizing you’ll never have the time nor the money to go

Easy

Difficult

Scorpio Cleaning your room Sagittarius Sick Capricorn Trying to cook and setting off the fire alarm Aquarius Forcing yourself to go out and be social

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Pisces Being alone because all your friends left

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Comics

Weather

xkcd

March 1 March 2

Differentiation and Integration

Precip: 10%

March 3 March 4

20%

80%

20%

Bonus Sudoku

https://xkcd.com/2117/ “Symbolic integration” is when you theatrically go through the motions of finding integrals, but the actual result you get doesn’t matter because it’s purely symbolic.

Thesis Defense

https://xkcd.com/1403/ MY RESULTS ARE A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT ON THE STATE OF THE AAAAAAAAAAAART

Throwback Comic Squirrels Doing Real People Things By: Anne Nickoloff

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arts & entertainment Netflix’s gives a great “Sex Education”

Courtesy of IMDB “Sex Education” stars Asa Butterfield as a teenager giving sex advice to his peers

Henry Bendon

Staff Reporter Are you an undergraduate student at Case Western Reserve University?

No Yes

If you circled yes, please stop reading this right now, pull up your roommate’s friend’s Netflix account, and watch all eight episodes of the first season of “Sex Education.” It’s a fantastically written and acted show, delivering complicated

characters and packing some serious diversity in its on-screen characters. “Sex Education” also brings a compelling plot line that will leave you simultaneously rooting for the characters and hiding under your covers as the trauma of dating and sex in the context of high school plays out in front of you.

The show follows the plight of 16-yearold Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield), the son of Dr. Jean F. Milburn (Gillian Anderson), a divorced sex therapist whose insistence of openness and lack of boundaries are both hilarious and painful to watch.

Otis begins the show as a quiet kid with one best friend, a gay child born to religious African immigrants, named Eric Effiong (Ncuti Gatwa). The two exist mostly on the edges of their high school until Otis is convinced by Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey) to follow in his mother’s footsteps and become a sex therapist for the school. While the plot design for the show—awkward kid meets girl, does a new thing and becomes a different person—isn’t all that original, the show itself is a breath of fresh air.

“Sex Education” is a mix of a comedy and a drama, giving it the range to cover all sorts of sex and relationship issues, which the show tackles with intelligence, creativity and a lot of humor. If the idea of quality sex counseling being delivered out of the mouth of a 16-year-old boy sounds weird, that’s because it is.

But the show is designed around that concept. The oddness of an awkward teenage boy delivering healthy relationship advice doesn’t take away from the value of his words and, in that sense, Otis is a mouthpiece for the show’s writers to talk not just to other characters, but to the general audience. Otis is a believable character and the journey of self-discovery that he is contractually obligated to go on as a Netflix character is charming to watch unfold.

The show’s attempts to tackle hard issues doesn’t stop at teenage sexuality either. Both Eric and Maeve struggle with their family. Eric is a gay teen in a traditional household trying to reconcile his family’s faith with his life. Maeve is an incredibly smart girl trapped in a living situation in which intelligence is frowned upon and the possibility of an educational future is limited at best.

“Sex Education” has been streaming for roughly a month, and already Netflix reports that it has been streamed 40 million times. Just make sure that you really think about who you watch the show with—maybe stick to significant others and definitely avoid parents—and that you don’t start the show in a public space.

“Sex Education” is available for streaming on Netflix.

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“Roma” transcends film Lars Torres

Staff Reporter On Sunday, Feb. 24, the 91st Academy Awards celebrated the best films of 2018, although there were questionable choices for the lineup in certain categories. While the ceremony went, for some areas, smoothly, I respectfully disagree with the final decision to award “Green Book” Best Picture.

While the chemistry of the main characters in the film is exemplary, the filmmaking, especially the directing and story, were generic when compared to more radical and ambitious films in the Oscar lineup, such as “The Favourite” or “BlacKkKlansman.” However, what was truly snubbed after a mostly successful Oscar night was “Roma,” which I would argue was the most deserving nominee for Best Picture of 2018.

Expanding on a review I had written on the film, “Roma” is unlike any other film. The closest film comparable to it would be “Boyhood,” but even that is a beast of its own, to a lesser degree.

“Roma” comes from a special place in the heart of filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron, and while it is definitely his story, it is also the story of the invisible. The film follows the indigenous people of Mexico who suffer ridicule from even their own peers, but the story resonates with everyone. It is a story built on love and nostalgia, but it also expands on how mysterious, yet exhilarating the future can be as we see through the eyes of the main character Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) and the family she cares for.

Courtesy of IMDB “Roma,” from renowned director Alfonso Cuaron, is unlike any other film. It is a completely relatable experience.

The film is a slice of Cuaron’s life, celebrating the nature of family and everyday activities. Even significant others don’t carry the same weight that your close family does and this film perfectly encapsulates that. Your heritage also influences on your upbringing, but you can still persevere even when confronted with cultural problems, and Cleo truly does as she pushes herself out of the safety of a loving family.

The film is a wondrous look at what we all long for: love. It’s love through family and love through culture and a vivid understanding that even when family members pass away, our memories of

them will always be there, the family you still have will keep each other’s spirits up and the opportunity to have and create more family will always be available. All of this is evident in the film.

“Roma” transports you to a dreamlike state as you become engrossed in something that you think has no purpose—a film with no plot—but “Roma” does have a purpose, a motivation greater than any of the Oscar nominees of the best of 2018.

“Roma” wants you to understand that sometimes it is best to look behind you and ponder the brilliance of your childhood, of those years looking into the

unknown. Sometimes life is strenuous, but there is nothing to fear because family will always be together, both blood and chosen.

Times may change and life will sometimes find a way to strike the ominous chords, but family values will always triumph in the end, because nothing is unknown in the company of loved ones.

“Roma” is one of the greatest and most touching films ever made. It’s a film that transcends what a few voters from the The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences think, because it is more than a film. It is an emotional and relatable experience.

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You won’t run away Playlist of the Week when you hear this band

Jackson Rudoff Opinion Editor

Spring break is right around the corner, which means that instead of living on a constant homework grind, you’ll have time to live that idealized young adult life you always saw in movies. But one thing is still missing: the perfect mix to complement your shenanigans. How can you put this mix together without looking like all the other kids though? Well, what we’ve prepared will allow you to not only show off your alternative music taste but also infuse your partying with some nostalgia.

Undercover Martyn - Two Door Cinema Club

Let’s get one thing out of the way: yes, the first and second verses of this song are identical. Okay, and yes the chorus doesn’t have super high energy vocals. But what this song gets right is its fast-paced backing guitar riff and super catchy melody. It’s all about the repetitive nature of nights out and how they can blur together, which is very appropriate for a party-intensive spring break. The way it begins quietly, before exploding into the first verse is the perfect kickoff for a fun playlist filled with moments of you going, “Yo, have you heard this song before?”

Suitcase Runaway performing at the Brite Winter Festival.

Yvonne Pan

Tongue Tied - Grouplove

I don’t know about everyone else, but I couldn’t count the number of times that I heard this song in my indie-loving friend’s car during late night drives. It’s got pretty much everything you want from a highschool era night-life song: a repetitive hook, instantly recognizable lead melody and overproduction that compensates for its overall lack of musicality. This song is a classic, so if you’re alternative-inclined, you can’t pass this one up.

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa Vampire Weekend

We’re getting much more preppy with this one. Although it can’t be said for sure what Ezra Keonig is reminiscing about in this song, we do know that it describes numerous elements of the spring break an Ivy League kid would experience. But it also details how quickly the years go by from childhood to adulthood, which contrasts well with the cheery island drum-beat and guitar riff. It’s a song that masks the melancholy with a happy vibe, which is surprisingly appropriate for the spring break vibe.

She’s a Riot by The Jungle Giants

What these types of indie songs lack in trap beats, they make up for in killer guitar riffs. “She’s a Riot” has an awesome shred that goes into yet another repetitive but still catchy and fun melody. This Austrailian band hasn’t made very many hits outside of this one, but that could be because they peaked with this track. It isn’t overly complex, and it has a tone that serves its theme of a rough night out super well. It’s definitely pop-y, but that isn’t a bad thing when you’re just trying to get people excited.

Helena Beat - Foster the People

This song has been in movies, commercials, pretty much everywhere since its release in 2011. It has an addicting hook, supplemented by a bass-y synth lead that brings in the meat of the track after creating its skeleton of a basic drum beat. Foster the People’s first album was easily their best and giving it another listen takes you back to some of the better days of hanging out with your friends and when alt music wasn’t all bedroom pop. It’s a reminder of when you had more time for fun, which will be a great way to support the mood of your spring break adventures.

Find all these tracks online with our weekly Spotify playlist at observer.case.edu All photos courtesy pluspremiers.us, genius.com, directlyrics.com, and wikipedia.com

What started as a name for a fake band has transformed into a captivating alternative folk group. A friend of guitarist and lead vocalist Nick Davenport invented the band to deceive her carpool driver, a selfproclaimed music maven. Years later, Suitcase Runaway has performed in over half a dozen cities and captured the attention of listeners in 26 countries.

Suitcase Runaway’s most recent performance was on Feb. 23, at the Brite Winter Music & Arts Festival.

They played a variety of songs, including their newest song, “Maria.”

Band manager Kenzie Zauner calls it “her favorite” and that she “can’t get it out of [her] head.”

The band also passed out pins and “bootleg” versions of a last live performance in December at Mahall’s in Lakewood. “We wanted to make an artificial bootleg, so we burned CDs and put it in brown paper bags with our logo stamped on it,” drummer Luke Condrich said.

Their logo is a complex flower designed by Davenport. “I had a notebook of song lyrics, and I had doodled that on the cover,” Davenport said. “I simplified it a bit, and we usually put our band name around it.”

Davenport also designed merchandise sold at an earlier show. The rain boots design on the baseball cap is a nod to their song, “Rain Boots.”

Although Davenport has been writing lyrics for years, the band did not come together until 2016, with keyboardist Jared Muller joining last year.

The four attended St. Edward High School together, and their chemistry is evident in the flawless flow of their music. Shockingly, Muller admitted their last practice before last week had been close to two months earlier.

“We tried to set up a band meeting over FaceTime, but midnight to 2 a.m. was the only time everyone was free,” bass guitarist Geoff Webb said.

Busy schedules and distance attribute to this. Webb and Condrich

Courtesy of Kevin Ng

live in Columbus, Ohio, where Webb studies film at Capital University and helps produce television at Spectrum News. Condrich, who has played the drums since he was nine years old, studies finance at Ohio State University.

Muller and Davenport both live in Cleveland, where Muller is studying to be a studio engineer at Cuyahoga Community College and Davenport works at Woodshed Stage Art, a print shop that has worked with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Drake and Fall Out Boy, among others.

However, this distance does not deter the members from making the music Cleveland.com called “sunshine-injected folk-rock.”

Muller describes their sound as alternative folk music, with an emphasis on storytelling.

As the main songwriter, Davenport is responsible for this. He gleans information from his dreams, his memories and his imagination.

For example, the inspiration behind “Chinese New Year” was a setting he imagined, borrowing liberally from memories of a trip to San Francisco.

This storytelling attracted many spectators, including second-year student Claudia Jazowski. “The Flats’ industrial terrain and Brite Winter’s eclectic display of music and art are an accurate representation of Cleveland and its culture,” she continued.

The Flats is only the latest place at which Suitcase Runaway has performed. Their favorite venue is Mahall’s 20 Lanes, but have also played at other local venues like Big Room Bar, Grog Shop and Blank Slate Elyria. Other performances include live sessions at Ohio State University and Baldwin Wallace University.

Suitcase Runaway even organized a mini tour and road trip in May of last year, with performances in Brooklyn and Rochester, New York.

“We had a really good time with Winnie the Winnebago [the band van],” Condrich said. “Geoff even befriended a toad named Tim in the Adirondack Mountains.”

As for the future, members are optimistic. “We’re just making a run at it right now,” Muller said, “but I really think we could make it.”

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Battle of the Bands rocks Jolly Scholar Chris Heermann

Social Media Editor If you walked through the Thwing Center last Saturday night, you may have wondered why The Jolly Scholar was louder than your roommate’s alarm at 8 a.m. If you had peeked your head in, you would have seen acts competing in the annual Battle of the Bands. The prize? The opportunity to perform at this year’s Springfest.

Although Battle of the Bands has been around for more than five years, this was the second time it was held at Jolly Scholar; the first time occured in 2017.

“Jolly was a very accommodating venue,” said Kevin Grisser, a co-chair of the Springfest committee.

Starting at 7 p.m., a total of 12 bands performed at Jolly. As audience members flooded in, it became clear that this night would boast a much larger crowd than previous years. Attendance peaked around 9 p.m., and the energy of the house was electric.

“I thought our performance went really well. I heard people chanting ‘sticky, sticky’ even before we got on stage,” second-year student and bass

player for the band “sticky” Matt Pukansky said. “The crowd was absolutely phenomenal. Everyone matched our energy, and that just got us even more hyped to play.”

“Sticky” was the penultimate band to perform for the night. They are a newly formed band, and based on the crowd’s reaction to their performance, they decided to continue to stay together as a band regardless of the Springfest decision.

“I haven’t gotten to play live in several years, and it was absolutely amazing to get back onstage,” Pukansky said.

Each attendee of the competition was given a ballot, on which they were to rank their top three acts from the night. Bands were given points based on individual rankings, but the Springfest committee has the final decision.

This is because the committee “takes other factors into account,’’ Grisser said, “like bands that perform early in the night, when the crowd is much smaller.” The 21-person committee has other responsibilities and consists of two co-directors, a treasurer, an attractions chair, a concerts chair, a marketing chair and five-

Courtesy of sticky Facebook page Sticky performed at the Battle of the Bands for a chance to play at Springfest 2019.

person committees led by each of the chairs.

“I love the vibe on the actual day of Springfest,” says Grisser. “It’s a long planning process, and can be hectic with setup and teardown, but when you get to see such a huge percentage of

our community enjoying themselves, it makes all of the work worth it.”

Results from the competition will be announced early next week, and information about the headliner will also be coming soon via the CWRU Springfest Facebook page.

A trip into the Cult of the Monster Truck Michael Wu

Staff Reporter The first thing I learned about monster trucks is that they are loud.

They are the kind of loud that rips through your ear drums and leaves you temporarily deaf. They make you want to cover your ears and shut your eyes like a child because these monster trucks were so loud that frankly, they sort of scared me.

The best way to protect my ears from the thunderous roar of the trucks’ oversized engines was to spend money. When Monster Jam, the world-renowned touring monster truck revue, stopped by Quicken Loans Arena, people were selling bulky noise-cancelling headphones at the merchandise table for $20.

They were the kind worn by people who wave around orange sticks to guide planes on airport runways.

The special edition headphones that were shaped like tires and could light up cost $35.

Walking through the metal detectors to enter the arena, I noticed several attendees already had their own ear plugs dug deep in ear canals. They were the superfans, those who understood that each impossible jump from these trucks, each life-threatening stunt, came with a deafening rumble.

Seeing these massive trucks defy the laws of gravity and every expectation of safety made the momentary deafness worth it. I was knee deep in the Cult of the Monster Truck.

As I wandered around the winding hallways of the arena before the show began, I deeply considered buying a pair of headphones.

At the merchandise tables, these headphones and the relief they promised were stacked invitingly

next to gaudy t-shirts emblazoned with illustrations of the individual trucks and their invented personalities. In an arena that has hosted a number of music’s greatest stars as they stopped in Cleveland, a cabal of comically oversized cars were the rock stars of the night.

I decided to spend my money on a plastic platter of arena nachos and a Diet Coke instead.

The second thing I learned is that there is a God among monster trucks, and its name is Grave Digger. Fan favorites were not determined based on who displayed the greatest technical skill and agility in maneuvering these massive vehicles. Monster Jam’s biggest stars were decided simply by whoever was the most willing to die that night.

Grave Digger, a green truck stylized with purple accents and skull imagery, had flipped over every time it rolled onto the dirt track. Sometimes a ball of fire would erupt from its overturned underbelly. Sometimes the front of the car would fall off entirely. But, without fail, Grave Digger’s driver would emerge from the wreckage, turn to the audience and flash a grin and a thumbs up.

The crowd ate it up every single time.

During an intermission between the introduction and a section where the trucks competed to see who could do the best donuts, a commercial played on the jumbotrons advertising officially licensed Monster Jam toys. Over the country music blaring through the arena’s speakers, a shriek of delight exploded all around me. Aside from the parents, a good number of whom were already fast asleep, I was the oldest person in my section of the audience. Nobody there was old enough to drive.

Hardly anyone here was even born in this century.

The last thing I learned is that the monster truck industry might have a gender problem. After the intermission, it was time for the one-on-one races. These looked mostly staged.

Oftentimes, one truck would speed off immediately with the other remaining stationary for a good 10 seconds.

Soldier Fortune—a truck wrapped in camo pattern, one of only two that night driven by a woman, and an undeniable monster truck star—was set to face off against a truck named Blue Thunder. The two trucks were toe-to-toe for most of the race, but at the last bend, Soldier Fortune bumped Blue Thunder, causing it to tip over. The crowd cheered as Soldier Fortune crossed the finish line, and a team of people came out to push Blue Thunder upright again.

Then, a bombshell announcement rocked the arena: Soldier Fortune had been disqualified. Apparently, knocking another truck over during a one-on-one race was not allowed.

It was the second time she had been robbed of a win that night at the hands of a male driver, the first time was during the donut competition.

Blue Thunder’s driver stepped out of the car to overwhelming boos. He wanted the audience to know that he didn’t care if we didn’t like him, and that our derision was just going to motivate him to keep winning.

I was inexplicably irritated by his smugness, and wished Monster Jam would have allowed Soldier Fortune to emerge victorious.

“Sexist!” I heard someone behind me yell to no one in particular. Was this the hill Monster Jam was willing to die on?

Blue Thunder had won the tour-

nament, and there was nothing we could do about it. The remaining trucks were now driving out one by one for the freestyle competition.

The earlier outrage over Monster Jam’s gender disparity could not have not have disappeared any faster. The world of monster trucks may very well have a gender problem, but it was not going to be solved tonight.

The freestyle section was a last chance for each of the trucks to impress with their most show-stopping tricks. This is exactly what the audience wanted to see, and it was certainly more important than advocating for substantial female representation in the monster truck industry.

Still, the appeal of this monster truck spectacle was not lost on me.

These were mechanical gladiators going toe-to-toe in the modern-day Colosseum. These were Hot Wheels played with and tossed around carelessly by the gods. Monster Jam was a WWE Smackdown with deliciously high stakes.

Grave Digger was announced as the overall winner of the night after a freestyle run in which the driver managed to get the truck air bound, land on the back two tires and bounce several times. Soldier Fortune was second. Grave Digger’s driver stepped out of the car to the deafening cheers of the crowd, rousing most of the parents awake.

An announcer hustled a microphone over to him. He thanked the audience for coming and made one last request: He wanted everyone to cheer one last time, as loud as they possibly could.

For the first time that night, I could no longer hear the hum of the monster truck’s engine.

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Balancing between silliness, seriousness PTG covers complete works of Shakespeare in one show

Eddie Kerekes Executive Editor

As a high school student, perhaps the two worst words to hear from an English teacher are “William Shakespeare.” The name itself strikes dread and fear into the hearts of teenagers, leading to groans when it is time for an annual reading of one of the playwright’s many scripts.

Hearing that the Players’ Theatre Group will be presenting the complete works of the author in one play, one might want to do the Birdbox challenge instead of watching all 37 shows in a row.

Luckily, “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised],” showing tonight and tomorrow night in the Eldred Black Box Theater, does not last days or even hours; it is presented in a tight 97 minutes.

Director and third-year chemical engineering student Andy Ogrinc explained that he wanted the show to lessen the fear people have of reading and experiencing the Bard of Avon on stage.

“I hope people leave the show [thinking], ‘Shakespeare is actually very accessible or more accessible than I thought,’” he said. “I would love it if we got some new Shakespeare converts from the show.”

The high energy show attempts to summarize or depict all of the plays in one production with just three actors. Secondyear mathematics student Nathan Waniorek, second-year theater and marketing student Ashlen Trapalis and fourth-year chemical engineering student Alex Gordon (in his first scripted CWRU show) portray alternative versions of themselves trying to play as many different characters in Shakespeare’s plays as possible.

The fourth wall does not exist in the play, and the actors interact directly with the audience throughout the duration of the production. To start the show, Gordon brings his fellow actors on stage, introducing Trapalis as a “pre-eminent Shakespearean scholar” with a certificate from the internet and Waniorek as a clueless actor caught up in the program.

The production opens with Shakespeare’s most famous play, “Romeo and

Juliet,” and covers the basics of the plot.

The rest of the first act proceeds to cover all but two of Shakespeare’s plays, “Coriolanus” (which is skipped) and “Hamlet.”

The comedies are condensed into one short, convoluted plot—they all follow the same structure anyway—while plays like “Titus Andronicus” (cooking show) and “Othello” (“Hamilton”-style rap) are in unorthodox formats. Many of the histories are condensed into a football game, complete with play-by-play announcing and the theme music from “Sunday Night Football.”

With a production covering this many plays in a short amount of time, countless costume changes and props are needed to ensure the audience has some semblance of the current scene.

“This is something that has been a very predictable challenge, but a very large one, regardless,” third-year biomedical engineering student and props master Jess Dickson said. “Yes, we know what we’re getting into and then it was just a lot of work. People have been putting in that work really well.”

Of course with so many costume changes, a few won’t get executed to perfection. That fact, combined with a low production cost and a Black Box location, makes it hard not to get Monty Python vibes from the production.

However, the disorganization is part of the aesthetic. A Monty Python-style of humor is present in the show as well, with the troupe making pop culture and CWRU-specific references, complaining about certain aspects of the production to the audience and at times feigning that they have no idea what they are doing.

While all three actors portray this frantic energy throughout the performance, it can perhaps best be seen in Waniorek and Trapilas’s performances. Trapilas appears correctly frazzled by her character’s lack of Shakespeare knowledge, despite her “expert” status.

Waniorek uses his body language and line delivery to convey how reluctant of an actor his character is in this performance. The character is so believable that his second act redemption feels completely earned.

Andy Ogrinc/Players’ Theatre Group During a scene in the production, a ghost visits two characters, portrayed by second-year student Ashlen Trapalis and fourth-year student Alex Gordon.

Gordon shines more when he plays the straight man, doing his best work when reacting to the zaniness around him.

Even when he is off to the side, narrating a scene or not involved at all, his facial expressions to the audience cue them into the eccentricity of the situation at hand.

All three actors deserve credit for attempting to portray more characters than they have ever done before. Waniorek calculated that he plays more roles in this production than in all of his previous ones combined.

Of course, in reality, they are just playing one character (an approximate version of themselves) trying to play as many characters as possible. But technicalities like that don’t stop the production from listing all of the individual roles played by the troupe in the program.

“It’s really just me being all of those different characters,” said Gordon. “It’s a more concentrated version of [IMPROVment], which I really, really like.”

Overall, the production strikes a good

balance between lampooning the works of Shakespeare and still giving them reverence. While some of the gags come at a quick pace, it is easy to keep up, especially for those familiar with the Bard’s work. The production does spend time, particularly in the second act, celebrating the complexities of Shakespeare’s characters and showcasing the greatness of some of Shakespeare’s finer workings.

Ogrinc believes that audience members need no prior knowledge of Shakespeare to enjoy the show. There’s no need to download any SparkNotes and read No Fear Shakespeare before the show to get any of the jokes.

Instead, let the author’s name strike humor in your heart.

PTG presents “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised]” tonight and tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in the Eldred Black Box Theater.

Tickets are free but donations are welcome.

Andy Ogrinc/Players’ Theatre Group From left to right, second-year students Nathan Waniorek and Ashlen Trapalis and fourth-year student Alex Gordon recite lines from Shakespeare’s comedies.

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opinion Editorial

Changing off-campus housing policy a great decision for students It’s no secret that housing at urban colleges is expensive. Around the country, urban campuses everywhere struggle to provide decent housing for their students, especially those that wish to escape the confines of first-and second-year dorm living.

At Case Western Reserve University, this issue has been especially prevalent. It is relatively well-known around campus that need-based grants basically limit students to on-campus housing. Many students have emailed the Office of Financial Aid to ask how much they would lose living off campus only to find out that they would lose most, if not all, of their grant money.

But times appear to be changing.

Seemingly out of nowhere, President Barbara Snyder sent an email to the entire undergraduate student body detailing that housing grant allocation had been changed. Rather than reserving housing appropriations for upperclassmen who chose to live in campus-run living spaces, they would allow students to retain a much larger

portion of their grants if they chose to move off campus.

It’s quite simply one of the best policy changes CWRU has made in recent memory. It extends much more freedom of movement to upperclassmen, which will transform their experience as CWRU students.

Now, this is not meant to imply that upperclassmen housing options such as The Village at 115 or Stephanie Tubbs Jones Residence Hall (STJ) aren’t nice or well-developed. These are fantastic places to live, with an apartment-style setup that could be enjoyed by those that need to remain on campus. Their addition to campus was definitely a first step in the right direction.

However, it can still feel rather confining when the money enabling you to attend CWRU is contingent upon your occupancy of on-campus residences.

Especially in the case of the Village and STJ, having resident assistants, even if you don’t run into them often, can still make it feel less “adult.” Other accommodations can be expensive, such as car storage, which will necessitate the

purchase of a campus permit.

There also is something rather liberating about being able to extend the periphery of campus, into the areas like Cedar-Fairmount, Little Italy and Coventry. All of them are fun pockets of Cleveland, with entertainment and attractions that go beyond the usual reaches of Uptown and Wade Oval.

And while this is less of a practical consideration, it is always fun to have a memorable urban apartment to reflect upon later in life.

These experiences were out of reach for many on campus. We’ve talked often about the diversity on this campus, and socioeconomic diversity is certainly more prevalent than we may appreciate. When discussing these changes, there were many on the editorial staff who have grants tied to their housing. For all of us, the lottery for upperclassmen housing was a stressful mess as our housing options were both limited and nonguaranteed.

Now, we can weigh more options for living, both in terms of spaces and people we can live with. It was always

unfortunate when groups had to be divided along the lines of housing grants versus no housing grants, but now this is no longer as much of an issue.

If there is one problem with this announcement, it can be found in the timing. While it was a welcome surprise, many students are already locked into their housing groups for the on-campus pool. Additionally, off-campus housing options are likely more limited at this point in the semester. Leases are not easy to come by on short notice, but this shouldn’t be a debilitating issue.

Regardless, CWRU has made a decision that poses an overwhelming benefit to its students. Upperclassmen experiences will no longer be a cut and dry “can you afford to go off your grants” and will allow undergraduates to expand their housing horizons.

Living on this campus goes beyond the North and South Residential Villages, so it’s about time every student was able to experience all it has to offer.

Being realistic, demanding the impossible I Spit My Truth and It’s Brown Viral Mistry I am an incredibly opinionated and passionate individual. There’s a reason I write these columns, and my friends and loved ones just expect me to have a complicated and specific take for just about anything. One thing I’ve noticed recently, however, is how cynical and hopeless some of my friends are about the future. Multiple friends, roommates and family members have heard me wax poetic about the idea of a more egalitarian society, and the steps I believe we need to take to get there.

They all reply with some variation of “Viral, you’re a bold dreamer, but that’s never gonna happen.”

I always find this argument of “being realistic” to be interesting. I wouldn’t consider myself a pure idealist. In fact, I primarily focus my attention to making direct material changes in my community. But these actions are all part of a grander vision of a better world. I do not imagine, nor should I imagine, that my individual actions will single-handedly change everything for the better. Quite the opposite actually, which is why I spend a sizeable amount of time trying to energize others to get

involved and help me in my quest for justice for all.

But at an even more basic level, I push back against calls for “realism” because I’ve failed to see it work.

Historically, social movements have not succeeded by asking for piecemeal concessions. They succeed when they transform the consciousness of a society, laying bare injustices that cannot be simply tweaked but instead must be abandoned wholesale.

The abolitionists who took power after the American Civil War were not content with merely ending the expansion of slavery or with buying the freedom of all the slaves from the slaveowners. They demanded the immediate freedom of all the slaves.

The suffragettes weren’t content with women merely having a vote in local elections. They wanted universal suffrage.

Imagine if the brave teenagers of the Greensboro, North Carolina sitins had accepted a compromise of “half the lunch counter seats will be white, half will be black.” If Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid activists accepted being allowed to vote for some of the parliamentary seats, but not all.

Those sorts of concessions seem ludicrous to us, because as a society,

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we have not only conceded the moral strength of these movements’ claims, but we have shown that it is possible to fundamentally reorder society. We possess the ability to transform society.

What we lack is the imagination.

My great-great-grandfather was active in the Indian independence movement. While I can’t know for sure, it’s pretty likely that he faced detractors from his family and friends.

People almost certainly told him that though they agreed the British were terrible, nothing was going to change.

Why have hope?

I don’t know what he must of thought of his efforts when he neared the end of his life. He passed a few years before Partition, never living to see the free India he spent years fighting for. If he could see me now, I hope he would be proud of how far our people have come since the days of British rule. He could not have imagined how much the world would change, but he was committed to a movement that saw radical change as necessary.

I personally think a lot of people who get involved in electoral politics fall into the trap of thinking that because most of modern government is technocratic tinkering, that’s how everyday people understand the world.

I think this is the reason so many

pundits and mainstream media figures were unable to see Trump succeeding; they refused to believe that simple clear messaging could rally people.

I would not want to be mistaken for approving of his policies, as I very sincerely do not and am generally distrustful of all politicians. I do, however, have faith in working people coming together and demanding exactly what we need from the unjust system holding us all back.

When I look inside the belly of our nation’s collective beast, I see a nightmarish collection of horrors.

Generations of injustice, destruction and violence. I look ahead to the future and see our time is running out fast to halt the worst damages of climate change.

A past of violence and devastation, a future of catastrophe. I can’t help but think that if we wish to live in a moral and just society, perhaps being realistic will mean demanding the impossible.

Viral Mistry is a fourth-year biology and cognitive science double major who is also minoring in chemistry, history and philosophy. In his free time, he enjoys drinking good unionmade beer, reading academic nonfiction and watching Vine compilations on YouTube.

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12 opinion

3/1/19

Who still uses Asian-American slurs?

Zhu’s Clues Caroline Zhu

A self titled “speaking artist,” Alex Luu is a slam poet from Southern California who speaks out about his experience as an Asian-American.

Most recently, he made an appearance at the Taiwanese American Student Association’s Plum Blossom Banquet last weekend. Halfway through Luu’s evocative set on the singular breed of racism directed toward Asians in the United States, Luu brought up the often discussed issue of racial slurs, which is where a significant flaw in the Asian understanding of racism lies.

In one of his poems, Luu cites the hope that one day, his son may smile without being called “chink.”

However, the word has long since fallen out of the popular vocabulary, which begs the question of whether the issue of slurs against Asians is

still as relevant as it once was. This remark by Luu is the most recent in a long line of Asian-American creatives and intellectuals who have cited a shared struggle with other ethnic groups in the United States centered around racial slurs.

Often, in an attempt to find some common ground between marginalized groups in the U.S., we revert to slurs as a tangible way to relate to other groups and to understand what racism is. However, this issue is ultimately less relevant to Asian-Americans, particularly Chinese-Americans like Luu. Common words that are brought up in the Asian community include “chink” and “zipperhead,” both of which were more offensive and more effective in the past, but have far less power today than they did then.

Although the words have not completely lost their original significance and connotation, they are no longer as effective for one major reason: Asian-Americans are

perceived as the model minority, which has changed the image of the minority group enough for these slurs to fall out of use. However, these slurs often stay around in no small part due to the Asian-American community. By touting slurs as a major issue Asian-Americans face, we partially construct a struggle that we share little part in. Trying to hold these words up as justification for the struggle Asian-Americans face only belittles the real and present danger that racial slurs pose for other communities.

Slurs against the Asian-American community remain less used than racial slurs for other groups, which often still hold undeservedly strong negative connotations today. This is not to deny that Asian-Americans face racism in the U.S., but to note that it is a specific breed of prejudice that currently comes from the perception of the model minority and the clash in Eastern and Western cultures, rather than the more racially

charged conflicts of past decades.

We must acknowledge the weight that these slurs once had but also understand that the Asian-American community has the power to put these words to bed. In doing so, we can begin to tackle issues such as the facade of the model minority and support other groups facing a more present danger due to slurs used against them that still carry weight.

It is Luu who phrases this best by remarking on the structure of the Chinese language: “There’s an emphasis for the speaker to know when and where they are before they announce where they are going, a lesson on being grounded, on knowing your roots, on forgiving your history to allow space for the future.”

Caroline Zhu is a first-year computer science and economics major with a deep and abiding love for Shakespeare. She is currently asleep and cannot take any messages.

No Irish need apply Dastardly Liberal Schemes

Steve Kerby Simply Greek, a favorite eatery of Uptown residents and home of the $5 gyro, has a rather remarkable sign on its front door. The notice states in no uncertain terms that Simply Greek will not serve employees of Standard Parking, the behemoth parking authority with a near-monopoly around University Circle. I am curious about investigating the paradox of businesses arbitrarily refusing to serve certain customers. This issue sees both the left and the right take contradictory opinions and leads me to uncomfortable conclusions.

This past summer, The Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia refused to serve Sarah Huckabee Sanders because of her position in the Trump administration. Instantly, a feedback loop formed; the right called for boycotts of the offending restaurant and denounced the radical leftists who were too willing to argue in fits of vindictiveness. The left, on the other hand, defended the restaurant owner, pointing out the harmful and dangerous policies perpetrated by Sanders and the Trump administration. Democrats also noted that businesses can direct patrons to leave if needed.

This issue has been stirring controversy on the Supreme Court as well. Though the decision of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v.

Colorado Civil Rights Commission was limited in scope by thenJustice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion, it left open the possibility of individuals turning away potential customers due to religious convictions. A similar chorus echoed through the national media but with roles curiously reversed. The right cheered a businessman running his store and following his beliefs, while the left moaned about discrimination and prejudice against gay men.

The roles are switched as if with a mirror, left becoming right and right becoming left. For the life of me, I do not see any structural difference between the two arguments, and if the structure of the argument used to support the business in one case is valid, then it is valid in the other case as well. Unless there is some fundamental difference between being gay and being Republican, to praise a restaurant refusing a GOP official but become enraged over a gay couple being refused a wedding cake is as backwards as criticizing the restarant but celebrating the bakery.

In all these cases, a business owner decided to allow their personal opinions influence their business decisions.

Whether those opinions were political,

religious or purely personal, not recognizing the individual autonomy of the shopkeeper in these sorts of decisions is a dangerous balancing act. Making actions on personal opinion illegal could very well force entrepreneurs with strong convictions to leave private enterprise altogether.

Alternatively, releasing owners from any responsibility to serve all paying customers could open the door for nastier forms of discrimination that most of society rejects. We are not far removed as a culture from the days of “No Irish Need Apply” and “Whites Only” and allowing bakers to turn away gay couples uses the exact same reasoning as allowing restaurants to reject black patrons.

Not all cases of businesses picking and choosing their customers are flexible. No one decides their race and few people decide their religion, so opening the floodgates of personal choice in selling goods and services is an invitation to regress to shameful periods of our nation’s past. It is just as illiberal, though, to use the big stick of government to force decisions onto men and women peddling their wares and skills.

The solution to this dilemma will undoubtedly anger everyone, because most current political thought does not deal with overarching concerns about personal liberty and idealism, but rather with which groups are worthy

of compassion. An easy solution would be drawing some arbitrary line and allowing discrimination on one side of it. However, it does not seem tenable to allow businesses to reject customers on religious or political conviction but not on racial grounds when the arguments for each are practically identical.

Therefore, I tack to the radical alternative.

By entering public business, a mutual promise is made between society and businessperson. At its core, the business asks a price, and the public can decide to pay the price or go elsewhere. The trust of the public supports businesses in ways beyond the purely financial, and therefore businesses have a responsibility to be impartial. Anyone walking in, cash in hand, cannot be turned away; doing so would violate the compact that underlies American business.

So, Sarah Huckabee Sanders should not have been forced out of The Red Hen. Standard Parking should not be barred from Simply Greek, though I empathize, I really do. The nowinfamous baker should not have wiggled out of conducting business, waving a bible to excuse himself.

There, now everyone’s upset.

Steve Kerby is a 4th-year studying astronomy and physics. He thinks gyros are delicious.

Responding to Reif Letter to the Editor

Shmuel Berman Last Friday, The Observer ran an opinion column that was mainly a defense of statements made by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Mn.) which extended to a disappointingly one-sided analysis of the complex Middle East conflict. This column came after a week and a half of back-and-forth controversy over Omar’s statements.

One tweet, in particular, has drawn bipartisan criticism as anti-Semitic.

The fact that anybody is still willing to defend Omar’s words, even after she apologized and retracted her statement, is appalling to me for a

number of reasons.

The beginning of last week’s column recognizes that the tweet in question drew heavy criticism from all sides. “Congress members [from] across the political spectrum about Israeli-American relations,” came forward to call out the implicit antiSemitism in Omar’s tweet. In an increasingly divided country, such bipartisan agreement is rare. When Democrats and Republicans come together to condemn something troubling, it is a clear sign that what Omar said was wrong.

However, it doesn’t really matter if lawmakers came together against what was said or not. The fact is that neither Omar nor almost any

other politician is in a position to decide whether or not a particular statement is anti-Semitic. There is only one group who can decide that: the Jewish people.

It would be ridiculous and unacceptable for a cisgender straight male to tell a member of the LGBTQ community whether something is homophobic, transphobic or not.

Why then has it become acceptable for the progressive movement to dictate what is and isn’t antiSemitic? It certainly wasn’t the place of The Observer’s column to do so, especially considering its lack of nuance.

The column last week also contained a heavily slanted version

of recent history between Israel and the Palestinians. Only the facts that are intended to demonize Israel were presented. I would implore the reader to continue to research the reality of the situation in the Middle East, and I hope that they come to the same conclusion as I have: It’s complicated. Neither side is fully victim or perpetrator, and both have greatly wronged the other. This reality is drastically different from the picture presented in the column last week.

In my time reading The Observer, I have come to expect well-researched and thoughtful journalism, and last week’s column was a large step backward for that reputation.

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observer.case.edu

13

Otto-of-all-trades Otto Penicka has been doing it all for CWRU Athletics over 31 years

Kevin Hulsmann/CWRU Athletics In his 31 years on campus, Otto Penicka has proved himself both a versatile and valuable member of the athletic department. “The great thing about Otto is that he’s so versatile,” says Assistant Athletic Director, Jon Schwartz. “He does PA [public address]; he does scorekeeping for football; he does the book for basketball. It’s unbelievable.”

Eddie Kerkes

Executive Editor

You’re attending a basketball game, and the public address announcer just introduced the national anthem. You turn to face the flag and wait for the first chord to play. You wait a moment. Nothing. Another few seconds pass by. Still nothing.

Finally, you hear the same announcer start to sing, “O say can you see?” He invites the whole crowd to join in and eventually, the whole gym of a few hundred people completes a rousing edition of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” all because the recording didn’t work.

While that isn’t a typical day in the life of Otto Penicka, building manager of the Veale Athletic, Convocation and Recreation Center and public address announcer for most of the varsity sports on campus, it’s one example of his varied experience working at Case Western Reserve University.

The 65-year-old Willoughby, Ohio resident has been the jack-of-all-trades in the athletic department during his 31 years on campus. Whether it was retrieving soccer balls that left the grounds of the old stadium on E. 118th Street, shuttling tennis balls between two campuses for a tennis tournament or keeping score in the press box for a multitude of different varsity games, Penicka has been a constant presence at CWRU sporting events since 1988.

His most well-known and well-liked role is as the public address announcer for CWRU varsity soccer and softball and previously for football and basketball. He now contributes to basketball and football games as a scorekeeper and stringer, detailing the plays on paper as they happen.

Penicka’s love of sports of all kinds drives him back to campus every day.

“I like it, that’s really what keeps me coming back. They talk about job burn-

out; well I had that for my one job [as a driving instructor]. I was pretty much done when I left that one, but this one I never felt like that,” he said.

Because he has been at CWRU for long, Penicka has seen plenty of changes in the athletics department, including the construction of Veale, DiSanto Field, the Wyant Athletic and Wellness Center and the baseball and softball fields on E. 115th. He described the facilities now as “leaps and bounds better” than when he first started on campus. Despite that, he cited the expansion of staff as the best improvement to the department. As athletics grew, the department hired full-time assistant coaches, more trainers and more staff to help with facilities management.

“The one thing I do like is all the people that help each other,” he said, “and the friendships you make too.”

Penicka’s introduction to working in athletics started, of course, with a funny story. After working as the student manager for his high school’s baseball team during his sophomore year, the baseball coach—who also was the football coach— gave an interview to the city’s newspaper about the team. In that interview, the coach gave Penicka high praise and stated that he would be the football manager the following year. This caught the high schooler by surprise because he had not committed to the role, but he took the job so as to not make a liar out of the coach.

Jon Schwartz, an assistant athletic director and the department’s sports information director since 2015, works closely with Penicka at sporting events in the press box and on the sidelines.

“The great thing about Otto is that he’s so versatile,” he said. “He does PA [public address]; he does scorekeeping for football; he does the book for basketball. It’s unbelievable.”

In another example of Penicka’s willingness to help in any way possible, during college, he helped manage the lacrosse team at Ashland College, now Ashland

University, despite knowing nothing about the sport. It helped him solidify a reputation and mindset of always looking to contribute in any way he could.

As long as someone could teach him how to do the job, he was ready to help.

“I’m willing to help if you want me to,” he said. “If you need help, I’ll be there.”

Just as he didn’t expect to be managing the lacrosse or football teams, Penicka never expected to be working in sports for his entire life. A history major in college, he thought he was done working in athletics after he graduated. However, after helping a few teams locally, the late Hugh Marshall, a long time staff member at CWRU and Penicka’s friend, told him about the job opening at the university. Penicka’s been working in sports ever since. He even started working as an usher at minor league baseball games for the Class A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians in nearby Eastlake, a position he’s held since their move to the city in 2003.

Director of Athletics and Chair of Physical Education Amy Backus knows the magnitude of Penicka’s impact on the department.

“Otto is one of those figures that I feel like every athletic department across the country has,” she said. “When I was first introduced to Otto and Hugh … they were a tandem force on the staff.

Beloved, faithful, loyal workers that every new athletic director really values coming into a new department because they have a sense of the history, a sense of some of the traditions.”

Penicka’s impact extends far beyond his announcing and scorekeeping. In the lower level of Veale, he works with students at the issue desk, passing out equipment and towels, answering questions and doing plenty of laundry. Of course, he also shares his stories with the student workers, passing down knowledge about the university and

wisdom he’s gained from his experiences. He hopes to set an example for students, showing them that they can really work in jobs they like to do as opposed to pursuing careers for the money or prestige.

“I consider myself very fortunate. I’m 65, and I’m still working in athletics. I figured when I was 21, 22, I’d be done,” he said. “I always wanted to do this.”

He continues to spark joy in everyone who meets him, whether they are student-athletes picking up towels, student workers running the opening shift at 6:30 a.m., his fellow employees or even prospective students and visitors.

“One of the most wonderful things about Otto is his upbeat personality. He always has a smile, he always has an inflection in his voice that makes you feel good about your day,” said Backus. “If you see Otto, it makes you feel good about being here.”

His love of sports, joy for his work and experiences with all types of jobs on the field shine through in the press box.

Whenever Schwartz or Assistant Sports Information Director Kevin Hulsmann have a question about the historical nature of a performance they just witnessed, they can turn to Otto for some perspective.

“As long as Otto is around, you have this voice of experience, you have this voice of knowledge,” Schwartz said.

“It’s so comforting to have someone like that around for our games. It really is a true asset to the university.”

Backus added that hearing Otto’s voice booming over the loudspeakers gives spectators a real sense of the place.

Without hearing that voice, it’s harder to know that you are really at a Spartans’ game.

And, while you may never hear Penicka sing the anthem in his distinctive voice again, you will undoubtedly see the Spartans’ ultimate team player at their next home game.

14

sports

3/1/19

What the Browns need to do this offseason Andrew Ford Staff Reporter

After their best season in recent memory, the Cleveland Browns are getting ready for the 2019 season with the hope of winning their division, the AFC North, and earning an ever-elusive playoff berth.

The Browns finished the 2018 season with a 7-8-1 record. For the first time in eight years they did not find themselves at the bottom of the division. However, after a midseason firing of then Head Coach Hue Jackson, Cleveland began the offseason trying to find a new coach to lead their dynamic young core.

General Manager John Dorsey decided to not offer interim coach Gregg Williams the permanent position, opting instead for offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens as the new head coach for the Browns.

From Kitchens’ early interviews, he appears to be a great representative of the city: hard-nosed, no-nonsense and dedicated to the job. He’s not flashy; he’s productive. After he took over the offensive coordinator job in

week nine, quarterback Baker Mayfield’s numbers improved dramatically: his quarterback rating jumped from 36 to 70, and his completion percentage improved 10 percentage points to 68 percent. Those numbers are precisely the reason why Kitchens earned the job, and the organization hopes the team can continue to build a lethal offense.

The next step for the Browns is to attract more talent to the roster.

Offensively, they have a few cornerstones already. Mayfield is the franchise quarterback; he proved that last season. Wide receiver Jarvis Landry is one of the better pass catchers in the league and is a reliable target for Mayfield. Running back Nick Chubb demonstrated his abilities as an effective runner. Tight end David Njoku has the athleticism to be great but has struggled with drops in his short career. Additionally, the Browns made the controversial decision to sign running back Kareem Hunt who is currently under investigation after a video surfaced of him violently kicking a woman.

From a strictly football perspective, Hunt is as good as it gets and could

be a dynamic force in the backfield.

On defense, defensive end Myles Garrett is one of the best pass rushers in the league, while cornerback Denzel Ward showcased his amazing coverage abilities last year as a rookie. Defensive back Damarious Randall had a solid year as well. On both offense and defense, there are plenty of young players for the Browns to be excited about the future.

Now, heading into free agency and the NFL Draft, the question is: how do they improve from here?

One glaring area of improvement is in run defense. Cleveland surrendered the fifth-most rushing yards in the league last season and were top 10 in rushing yards given up per attempt. They’ll definitely need upgrades along the defensive line and improved linebackers to strengthen their defense against the run. The retirement of Joe Thomas two years ago has left a hole at the left tackle position that still needs to be addressed.

However, the top priority for the Browns is not on the defensive side of the ball, and it’s not even at left tackle. Yes, those are crucial posi-

tions that need attention. But it is clear that the strategy this offseason has been to build one of the best offenses in the league. They hired a new coach, who specializes in offense. They signed one of the best running backs in the league even with an inexcusable off the field issue. So, the Browns should look to add a dominant wide receiver to their already impressive offensive core.

Currently, Mayfield only has two capable options in Landry and Njoku, and Landry is the only one who can truly be trusted. If Mayfield can have an excellent season without high-end weapons on the outside, imagine what he could do next year if, for example, the Browns draft a wide receiver in the first round of this year’s draft. There are plenty of potential dominant receivers available that Cleveland should strongly consider adding even more weapons for their star quarterback.

If they do, Cleveland will have a top five offense in the NFL by this time next year, and would definitely be playing at least one more game than Browns fans are accustomed to.

Laios sweeps throwing events at UAA Championships

Claire Nordt

jump of 6.64 meters, and third-year thrower Brian Holden claimed fourth in the weight throw with a mark of 14.58 meters.

The Spartan track and field team On the second day of the event, competed at the University Athletic Laios led the Spartans with her first Association (UAA) Championship place finish in women’s shot put with over the weekend. The event was a mark of 13.66 meters, earning her hosted by Brandeis University. The the UAA Championship. This marks Spartan women finished fifth, scoring the second time Laios has swept the 66 points, and the Spartan men tied throwing events at the UAA Chamfor fifth, scoring 50 points. pionships, with her first achievement The Spartan women weight throw- coming in 2017. ers stood out on the first day. GraduLindemann also placed again, this ate student Cassandra Laios claimed time in the 3,000-meter run where the UAA Championship in the weight she finished in 10:08.54 to claim fifth throw with a mark of 17.92 meters on place. The 4x400-meter relay also her throw in the finals. Second-year placed fifth. The team was made up teammate Taylor Jackson and fourth- of second-year student Julie Hines, year Spartan Marina Yu also placed third-year students Vanessa Pasain the event. Jackson finished third dyn and Maria King and fourth-year with a mark of 14.46 meters, and teammate Olivia Newman. The team Yu claimed fourth with her mark of finished the event with a time of 13.89 meters.

4:10.00.

In the 5,000-meter run, third-year The men’s 4x400-meter relay also runner Madeline Lindemann finished finished fifth, with a time of 3:25.97, second, which earned her All-UAA with first-year runner Juan Perez, honors. She crossed the finish line first-year student Bryden Moxley with a time of 17:43.88. Additional and third-year teammates Michael highlights for the Spartan women on Hradesky and Jonathan Haling comthe first day of the competition in- posing the team. clude third-year Abbey Waltz, who The Spartan men had several placplaced fourth in the pole vault with ing finishes in individual events. a mark of 3.63 meters, setting a new Hradesky claimed sixth in the school record. The previous record 800-meter run with a time of 1:57.13. was set in 2016 by Christen Saccucci Second-year Spartan Luke Traverwith a mark of 3.50 meters. so took sixth in the pole vault with For the men, third-year runner a mark of 3.98 meters, and Oddo Trey Razanauskas also earned an All- claimed sixth in his event, the 60-meUAA honor on the first day with his ter hurdles. He finished with a time third place finish in the 5,000-meter of 8.76. run. Razanauskas finished with a time The track and field teams will reof 14:40.40, a new school record. The turn to action at the Ohio Northern previous record was set in 2006 by University Polar Bear Last Chance Aaron Johnston Peck with a time of Meet on March 1 and March 2. This 14:44.18. event is the final chance for qualificaAdditional top five finishes for tion for the 2019 NCAA Division III the Spartan men include third-year Indoor Track and Field ChampionSpartan Domonic Oddo, who fin- ships, which will take place on Friished fourth in the long jump with his day, March 8 and Saturday, March 9.

Sports Editor

Courtesy of Naji Saker Third-year Michael Hradesky competes in the men’s 4x400-meter relay, which placed fifth at the UAA Championships. Hradesky will compete in the 800-meter run this weekend at the ONU Polar Bear Final Qualifier.

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observer.case.edu

15

Men’s basketball loses season finale in overtime

Sanjay Annigeri Staff Reporter

The Case Western Reserve University men’s basketball team ended their season with another close loss, 97-91, to University Athletic Association (UAA) rival Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) on Saturday, Feb. 23 at home.

The team battled hard throughout the game, forcing overtime on a buzzer-beating three pointer by third-year guard Monty Khela. Yet, they were unable to pull out the victory.

CWRU was down early in the first half, but a run by second-year guard Antonio Ionadi with 13 minutes left in the half started the Spartans’ offense.

Ionadi hit three straight three pointers, spurring a 14-2 run that was capped off by a three pointer by third-year guard Sam Hansen.

The team led 24-14 with just over 10 minutes left in the half.

However, CMU had a run of their own, taking a 41-36 lead into halftime.

In the second half, CMU never trailed. They took up to an 11 point lead with under five minutes remaining in the second half.

Khela scored 14 points in the final five minutes of the second half, part of his team-leading 22 points, all of which

were scored during the second half and overtime.

Khela hit a jumper with under two minutes left to bring the Spartans’ deficit to one. However, Spartan fouls gave CMU the opportunity to regain those points, and the lead was brought up to four. With 17 seconds left, Ionadi was fouled on a three point attempt. He made all his free throws to trim the Spartans back to a deficit of one, 78-77.

Both teams exchanged free throws with CMU ending up 82-79. With five seconds remaining in the game, CWRU dribbled the ball up the court, and third-year forward Michael Hollis found Khela at the top of the key, who drained a heavily contested three pointer to tie the game at 82 and sent it to overtime.

Despite the hot ending to the second half, the Spartans were unable to carry the momentum to overtime.

CMU started the overtime period with a 12-0 run, a margin which proved far too wide for CWRU to be able to overcome. The game ended in a loss for the Spartans.

The Spartans finished the season with an overall record of 9-16 and a UAA record of 2-12.

Now that the team’s season is over, Head Coach Todd McGuinness will direct his focus to the offseason.

Courtesy of CWRU Athletics Third-year guard Monty Khela forced overtime with a clutch three pointer with one second remaining in regulation. The Spartans were outscored 15-9 in overtime to end their final game with a loss, finishing the season with a 9-16 overall

“We need to have a big offseason.

All the close games we lost need to be fuel to drive us to get better,” he said.

“We need guys to add strength and change their bodies to look like other teams in the UAA.”

Spartan swimmers break two relay records Claire Nordt Sports Editor

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Over the weekend, a portion of the Spartan swim team traveled to the University of Chicago to compete at the Midwest Invitational. The women finished third after totaling 435.5 points, and the men earned 195 points to claim sixth.

The Spartan women broke two school records at the meet, both in relay events. The 200-yard freestyle relay team finished first with a time of 1:34.95, setting the new record.

The previous record was 1:35.37 and was set at the UAA Championships, which occurred between Wednesday, Feb. 13 and Saturday, Feb. 16. The team was composed of fourth-year swimmer Suhan Mestha, second-year student Caitlyn VonFeldt, first-year student Daniella Rupert and fourth-year teammate Renee Decker.

The 400-yard medley relay also claimed first and set a new record of 3:50.41. The team made up of Mestha, VonFeldt, fourth-year Spartan Alexa Simoneau and first-year teammate Anna Smith bested the previous record of 3:51.72 which was also set at the UAA Championships.

Additional first place finishes for the women came from the 200yard medley relay and the 800yard freestyle relay. The 200-yard medley consisted of Mestha, Von-

Feldt, Smith and fourth-year Alli Drohosky, and the team finished in 1:44.73. The 800-yard freestyle finished with a time of 8:18.64. The team was made up of third-year Spartans Aleah Hixenbaugh and Victoria Schoenig, second-year student Sophia Vaccaro and first-year teammate C.J. Hill.

Schoenig and Vaccaro teamed up with third-year swimmer Rhiannon Reese and first-year student Emili Toppari for the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team took third with a final time of 3:45.91.

The Spartan men placed in several relay events. Fourth-year swimmer Keith Erichsen, third-year student Eli Rose and first-year teammates Seth Brown and Mathias Hostetler finished the 400-yard medley relay in 3:51.99, which earned them third in the event. For the 200-yard medley relay, Erichsen and Brown teamed with second-year Spartans Nathan Callithen and Chris Lemley.

The team worked together to claim a fifth-place finish with a time of 1:40.17. Also finishing fifth was the 400-yard freestyle relay made up of Erichsen, Lemley, Hostetler and fourth-year teammate Vinicius Okada da Silva. The team finished in 3:21.82.

The Spartan swimmers will return to the pool at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. The divers will return to the water for the NCAA Diving Regionals which will take place on Friday, Mar. 1 and Saturday, Mar. 2.

He also added that building the incoming first-year class is still “ongoing” and that the team needs “a few pieces that can come in and help right away” in terms of athleticism to guard opposing teams.

sports Two women’s basketball legends celebrated on Senior Day

Jon Schwartz/CWRU Athletics

Fourth-year forward Hillary Hellmann completed the final game of her collegiate career on Saturday, Feb. 23 against CMU. Hellmann finished her collegiate career as the second all-time leading scorer in program history with 1593 career points.

David Chang Staff Reporter

The Case Western Reserve University women’s basketball team played their final game of the season on Saturday, Feb. 23, topping Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) 69-52. The game also served as the team’s Senior Day, where graduating students were recognized for their contributions to the team. Student assistant coaches Alexis Amburgey and Darby Kreienberg were honored as well. Both students played three seasons on the basketball team before their roles as student assistant coaches this season.

Both graduate student forward Kara Hageman and fourth-year forward Hillary Hellmann played well in their final game as Spartans, ending their collegiate careers on a high note. Hageman notched 22 points and 16 rebounds, shooting 3-for-3 from the three point line, and Hellmann recorded 15 points and 15 rebounds. Both players set career highs in rebounds in their final game.

To start the game, the Spartans steadily set up their offense in the first, utilizing good ball movement to find second-year forward Emma Cain for a jumper and third-year guard Alicia Marie Gonzales for the three to take an early lead, which the Spartans held for the entire game. CMU struggled with

their shots as a team, shooting 32 percent from the field, with their starters combining to shoot 5-for-29 from the field. The cold streak allowed the Spartans to play more zone defense and protect the paint more effectively.

“Going into the game we knew that they shot 29 percent from three … [we] protect the paint more, play the drive, [our zone defense] is better than it has been over the years,” Hageman said.

After a 30 second timeout in the middle of the third, the CMU Tartans started to heat up and made three threes and a layup to cut the lead to two. Cain responded with her first career three to end the quarter. In the fourth, the Spartans extended their lead with a barrage

of threes from Hageman, Hellmann and first-year guard Abbey Lawrence.

Hageman recounts the moment when Cain made the three saying, “[the shot] was so hyped, … we knew we were definitely going to win.”

Another moment that stood out to Hageman was when she checked out for the last time. “Everybody [on the bench] stood up to give hugs … all my family members flew in to surprise me [and watch the game]. ” Hellmann ended her career as the second all-time leading scorer in program history with 1,593 career points, while Hageman scored the third most career points in CWRU history with 1,425.

Following her performance in the game, Hageman was selected to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week for the second time in her career. Hageman is the first Spartan in program history to be a repeat winner of the award.

This is only the fourth time a Spartan has been named to the weekly honor.

On finishing her career with Hellmann, Hageman said, “I love her to death … [the] season was very fun, [we often] picked each other up [when the other was off].”

The Spartans finished the season with a 15-10 record. The team’s record for University Athletic Association (UAA) games was 7-7, placing the Spartans fourth in UAA standings.

This season marked the fifth time the team has won 15 or more games in a campaign in program history. The last time the team achieved this was during the 2012-13 season.

Hageman leaves with her final piece of advice for the team: “Enjoy the moment, every play, game … don’t take everything for granted.”

Tennis team faces ups and downs Claire Nordt Sports Editor

On Saturday, Feb. 23, the Case Western Reserve University women’s tennis team competed against Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Indiana) at the Cleveland Skating Club. The team walked away with a win, bringing their season record to 2-1.

To start the night, Indiana took an early lead with a win in second doubles where first-year students Sneha Karnam and Nidhi Jha fell 8-7. The Crimson Hawks beat out second-year Spartan Mira Amin and first-year teammate Shreyaa Mukund 8-4 in third doubles.

The Spartans claimed their first victory of the night in first doubles.

Second-year teammates Madeleine Paolucci and Nicole Cardwell defeated their opponents 8-4, bringing the overall score to 2-1.

Singles contests followed, and the

Spartans claimed victory after victory.

To start, Mukund claimed sixth singles.

Karnam and Cardwell were victorious in second and third singles, respectively. A win at first singles by Paolucci followed.

To finish up the singles play, Amin claimed fourth singles and Jha defeated her opponent at fifth singles. The successful singles play earned the Spartans the win for the day, 7-2.

The following day, the women headed to Medical Mutual Tennis Pavilion to take on Cleveland State (CSU). The Division I opponent proved a difficult challenge, and CWRU ultimately fell to CSU 7-0, bringing the team record to 2-2.

The women return to action on Saturday, March 2. The team will be taking on Division I DePaul University at the Cleveland Skating Club.

The Spartan men’s tennis team also saw action over the weekend, competing in the 2019 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Indoor National Championships. To start the weekend off, the Spartans competed against the

University of Chicago on Friday, Feb. 22. The day ended in a 6-3 loss for the Spartans, the first loss of the season for CWRU. The Spartans started with an early lead, winning two of their three doubles contests. Third-year Spartan Anthony Kanam and second-year teammate Jonathan Powell defeated 8-3 at first doubles, and third-year student Zach Hennessey and second-year student Matthew Chen also won their doubles contest, finishing 8-5 at second doubles.

In singles play, the Spartans struggled, winning just one of the six contests. The lone win came from fourthyear Spartan Rob Stroup.

The following day, the Spartans faced Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the consolation semifinals.

The 18th ranked Spartans defeated their 10th-ranked opponents 5-4.

The day started with doubles play, where the Spartans won all three contests to grab an early lead. Starting at second doubles, Hennessey and Chen

claimed an 8-5 win over their CMU opponents. First-year students Aaron Umen and Chaitanya Aduru teamed up to claim a win after going into a tiebreaker in third doubles. First doubles also went into a tiebreaker and Kanam and Powell were able to walk away with the victory.

In singles, Powell won at sixth singles after the Spartans lost the first three singles matches. Umen fell behind in third singles, but was able to come back and win in a tiebreaker. The final singles match, fourth singles, was played by first-year Spartan Max Vicario. The contest ended in a loss for Vicario, but the Spartans had already clinched the win over CMU. The final day of the ITA Nationals was Sunday, Feb. 24. The Spartans placed fifth after a loss to eighth-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College (GAC).

The end of the weekend brings the Spartans’ record to 5-2 for the season.

The men will return to action on Saturday, March 9 after two weeks off.