Volume XLVI, Issue 20 February 20, 2015

the

Case Western Reserve University volume xlvi, issue 20 friday, 2/20/2015

Observer Feeling underrepresented, student diversity groups hope to

Break Away

Cultural groups want split from USG into own SEC board; some groups wary

In

Julia Bianco News Editor

20 years, junior Brit-

tany Chung and senior Precious Amoako want to be able to come back to Case Western Reserve University and say that they improved the campus. Their project: creating a new board on the Student Executive Council (SEC) for cultural groups, who are currently lumped under the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) along with academic, athletic, performance, social service and special interest groups.

News

“Our main goal is to have more representation for the cultural groups on campus,” said Amoako.

Although USG does have a diversity and inclusion ad hoc committee, both Amoako and Chung wanted something more permanent and influential representing the underrepresented on campus.

Amoako and Chung proposed a new SEC board, called the Undergraduate Diversity Collective, for cultural, religious and cultural performance groups, in a letter to the editor published in the last issue of The Observer.

The SEC, which is made up of the umbrella organizations on campus, includes the president and finance chairs of USG, the University Programming Board, the University Media Board (UMB), the Class Officer Collective (COC), the Interfraternity Congress and Panhellenic Congress (IFC/PHC) and the Residence Hall Association (RHA), as well as representatives from offthe-tops Springfest, Senior Week and

Thwing Study Over (TSO).

The SEC manages the division of the Student Activities Fee (SAF), an approximately $156 per semester that each student pays on top of tuition. The money is divided between all of the organizations except for RHA, which is funded through other means.

Chung and Amoako’s letter outlined their reasoning behind the proposal: USG doesn’t have a “good grasp” on the needs of diversity groups, leaving them underfunded and unable to run the high-quality and high-quantity events.

It’s a problem which even USG recognizes.

“USG is not satisfied with the way we fund cultural groups,” said the organization’s Vice President of Finance Chippy Kennedy. Mass funding, he said, which puts all student groups in the same category and allocates funding equally, often glosses over the needs of different kinds of student groups.

“Putting all the groups in the same

box leads to them not getting enough money or not getting funding for the things that are their priorities, but for what we perceive as their priorities,” said Kennedy. “Although USG has the funding to help these groups be more successful, the way the system works now doesn’t effectively get that funding to them.”

Kennedy is currently working on reforming the mass funding system to better allocate to all of the different kinds of student groups, an effort which both Chung and Amoako appreciate.

“I am fully grateful that Chippy is trying to make those changes that are necessary,” said Chung. “But the problem is that after his finance committee leaves, what happens then? It’s not always going to be the goal of USG’s finance committee to give cultural organizations equal footing. If we have a diversity board, it is a goal.”

A&E

Opinion

Sports

pg. 13 Proposed SEC diversity board

pg. 19 Division III mascot fun

pg. 4 pg. 11 Students struggle Dhamakapella’s as tuition rises new album

to Break Away | 3

news Housing costs to increase in the upcoming year Sarah Jawhari Contributing Reporter Both upperclassmen and underclassmen will be inf luenced by a housing rate increase proposed by Case Western Reserve University for the upcoming school year. The 3.75 percent room-rate increase will be applied to all undergraduate housing, with the exception of the newly constructed residence hall on East 115th St. If approved by the Board of Trustees on Friday, the room rate increase will take effect with the start of the academic year.

With housing application deadlines just around the corner, this increase is especially pertinent to students who plan to live on campus. At CWRU 80 percent of undergraduate students live in college-owned, operated or affiliated housing.

According to Dick Jamieson, vice president of Campus Services, the proposed housing rate increase will help offset increasing utility costs and additional debt service related to construction of the new residence hall.

“3.75 percent is a 0.25 percent lower increase than last year and almost 0.4 percent lower than the overall average rate of increase for the previous five years, 4.11 percent,” said Jamieson.

In the past, the Board of Trustees 12000 would meet to finalize and approve housing rates in December. This meet10000 ing now takes place in February, which gives students less time to weigh their 8000 housing options.

Still, living off campus is not a viable option for many, and 6000 first- and second-year students do not have access to this alternative. Off campus locations, 4000 such as Little Italy, Coventry, Cleveland Heights and East Cleveland, may 2000 or may not be less expensive than living on campus for upperclassmen.

“Just as housing costs vary 0 on campus, so, too, do they differ widely in surrounding neighborhoods,” said Jamieson. “Some off-campus options would cost considerably more than on-campus offerings, and some much less.”

Even when off-campus apartments cost less, it can be difficult for students to make the switch.

“For juniors and seniors, off campus is likely cheaper, but does not have many of the amenities or benefits of living on campus,” said Victoria Robinson, executive president of the Residence Hall Association (RHA).

“RHA is here to advocate for the residents and make the resident experience the best possible,” she said. “If residents are having to worry about how much they pay for housing and have to take on extra jobs or loans, that is not providing them with the best resident experience. While RHA cannot change

these rates directly, we can try and we will try.”

Try, they did. RHA scheduled a meeting on Feb. 17 with members of CWRU’s Campus Services to express student concerns and address questions related to the housing rate increase.

RHA came with questions drawn straight from the student body. Earlier this year, the group sent an email to current residents asking them to participate in the forum and advertised it on Facebook. They received a high number of responses, which allowed them to take students’ feedback straight to the top.

For example, some students questioned why the new residence hall on 115th St. is priced similarly to older residence halls. The new hall is built with smaller rooms and has fewer amenities—no dishwashers, for example.

Apparently, the high price offsets the cost of construction and utilities. Also, students will be paying for a newer living environment, a higher value than older spaces.

While student concerns varied across the board, RHA was primarily interested in why the housing rate continues to 12000 increase year to year, often correlating with an increase in tuition.

According to Jamieson, 10000 the breakdown of costs for housing-related expenses for the 2014 to 2015 academic 8000 year were as follows: 34 percent for debt service, 21 percent for staffing costs, 6000 operational 19 percent for non-salary costs, 10 percent for capital maintenance and repair projects, 4000nine percent for utilities, six percent for University support and one percent for reserve 2000of expenses funds. This distribution will change in the upcoming year with the addition of the new hall.

0 Currently the university does not have a student feedback system to gauge concerns and evaluate student responses. At its meeting this week, RHA proposed that the university put together focus groups and surveys for the students they impact, to better assess how these prices inf luence those who will be picking up the tab. These focus groups and forums would be set up by the university in the future, in conjunction with RHA. Robinson believes this sort of open, honest communication between Campus Services and students will benefit all of those involved. The university will have access to students’ attitudes and ideas, and students will have an effective method of interaction with the administration.

“We are hoping it will make a difference,” said Robinson. “Students will have an opportunity to have their voices heard. If anything, even if an increase continues to occur, students will know why it’s occurring.”

Where your money goes Breakdown of costs for housing-related expenses for the 2014-2015 academic year:

1% 9% 6%

Univ

University support Univ

34%

10%

Reserve

Reserve funds Reserve

Utili

Utilities Utili

Capital maintenance

Cap & repair projectsCap

19%

Non-salary

Op operational costs Op

21%

Staffing costs Staff Staff Debt Debt service

Debt

Housing rates compared with peer universities: First Year Housing

12000

2014-2015

Upperclassmen Housing

2015-2016

2014-2015

2015-2016

U

$10,000 10000

E

$8,000 8000

C

$6,000 6000

C

$4,000 4000

U

$0 0

E

UC15U

$2,000 2000

N/A

C

Case Western UC15U Reserve University

Emory University CM15U

C

Carnegie Mellon EM15U University

University of CWRU15U Chicago

U

CM15U

UC14U

E

N/A

EM15U

CWRU15U EM14U Property Management UC14U CM14U Apartments no longer EM14U CWRU14U on-campus housing option CM14U UC15 Julia Bianco CWRU14U News Editor UC15 hall opening for With the new residence the upcoming academic year, the Property EM15 (PMAs) will no Management Apartments longer be available as on-campus housing for undergraduatesCm15 and graduates.

The PMAs were meant to provide overflow student housing for upperclassmen and graduate students. They include the Twin Gables, the 1719 Building, the Noble Building, the 1727 Building, the 1680 Building and houses on Fairchild and Glenwood.

“While owned by the university, these apartments more resemble off-campus housing with regard to the programs and services that students in residence halls and the Village at 115 experience,” said Director of Real Estate Kevin Slesh in a statement.

The PMAs provided a slightly cheaper

on-campus housing option for upperclassEM15 men. Apartments in the Village at 115 ran from $10,090-$11,410 per year in the 20142015 academicCm15 year, depending on how many rooms there are. The property management apartments range from $9,390$10,930 per year, depending on location.

Student reaction is mixed regarding the loss of the apartments as a housing option.

“It is unfortunate that Case Western Reserve University is replacing the property management apartments with a new expensive residence hall,” said Angie Korpusik, who has lived in the PMAs for two years. “The property management apartments provide the only cheap on-campus housing for juniors and seniors, and I think it is important for students to be able to choose that option.”

The PMAs will return to their original status as off-campus housing, although they will still be owned by CWRU.

C

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observer.case.edu

from Break Away | front Chung and Amoako want a new board to sit on SEC, taking away a piece of the SAF pie from the other organizations who currently split the funds. The groups would be represented by four elected officials: a president and vice president, who would both serve as SEC chairs, a treasurer and a secretary. These positions would be unbiased and would represent all groups equally, not just their own.

The SAF money would be allocated through a roundtable of the presidents of all of the different cultural organizations on campus; the money could be divided more equitably and efficiently to make sure that everyone is properly represented.

“Right now there is the issue that if one group is represented more on campus, they get more funding,” said Amoako. “It’s important to equalize the playing field.”

Chung added that a new cultural board would allow them to cycle through organizations more easily—for example, if one group gets extra money to bring in a speaker one semester, the next semester that money could go to a different group instead. This isn’t something that USG has the resources to keep track of.

Although just about everyone agrees that there needs to be some sort of change, some of the other groups on SEC are worried that creating a new board may not be the best solution.

“I personally think there are more effective ways to solve the issue that would happen more quickly and be more collaborative,” said Taylor Gladys, president of USG and co-chair of SEC. “This year at SEC is really great, and people are getting along. In years past, SEC has been on the tougher side. I don’t know if bringing in a new board would be able to as effectively achieve the goals that they want out of this.”

Gladys suggested working further within USG to better allocate funding, although she still supported pursuing the idea of forming a new board.

“Most of the SEC groups also have an issue with buy-in,” said Ethan Pickering, president of IFC. “We’re wondering whether or not the SAF and SEC are the right places, when we think of this as maybe something the university should be funding.”

However, supporters of the proposal say that, while there are currently university-funded events relating to diversity, they often don’t include student groups.

“Many of the cultural organizations feel misrepresented, as the university does not seek our opinions or guidance prior [to these events],” said Nicholas Fung, president of the Taiwanese American Students Association. “In essence we are left in the dark on how the university represents the diversity on campus, despite being organizations solely dedicated to handling this very matter.”

Other SEC members worried about how well the board would be organized, especially coming in as a new group to a very detail-oriented organization.

“When we look at other group’s budgets, it’s important to everyone that you know exactly where you’re going to spend the money,” said Ellie Elston, president of PHC. “There are a million logistical questions that need to be fleshed out before we can invite another group to SEC.” “The nature of SEC is that we look at budgets,” added Pickering. “For a new group to move in, that affects everyone’s budgets. We spend the entire semester figuring out everyone else’s budgets, so it would be a monumental change to bring

in a completely new group that will take a certain percentage and restructure the groups inside. It would affect a lot of different things.”

This isn’t the first time a group has split from USG to form its own SEC board. In March 2007, the COC made its move to form its own organization, saying that its class-oriented structure required a more complex budgeting than USG’s system allowed. Initially, they functioned as an off-the-top organization, like Springfest, TSO and Senior Week. However, after a campuswide referendum passed in April of 2007, they joined as a full member board.

“In the past, when groups of organizations have found that USG has been no longer able to fulfill their needs and those of the community, they have had the opportunity to leave and form their own SEC Boards,” said Ryan Cleary, treasurer of UMB. “COC successfully did so, and it found wild success. It is now time for us to afford diversity groups the same chance.”

If the cultural groups decide to move forward with their proposal, they will have to present a petition to the student body. If at least two-thirds majority of the undergraduate student body votes yes on the referendum, the proposal will move to the Board of Trustees, who will vote on whether or not to reinstate the new board. In an ideal world, Chung and Amoako hope to have the board instituted by the end of the semester, although many on SEC think that that timeline may be too fast.

“It’s a great idea, but the move to get it in would have to be very large, and it would take a lot of time,” said Pickering.

Still, many of the SEC members are eager to hear more.

“I think their idea has a lot of great potential, and I’m excited to hear the thoughts they have regarding its implementation,” said Colin Worden, president of COC. Administration also supports the idea, which fits with the university’s core values of diversity and inclusion.

“From my perspective, its a very positive thing, since it would give more people a seat at the table and would work towards [the university’s] diversity goals,” said Vice President for Student Affairs and SEC’s Faculty Adviser Lou Stark.

Stark did note though that he needs to hear more.

One of the big things that the new board could accomplish, besides better funding equity, would be providing a better forum for discussions about diversity on campus.

“From Tamir Rice to crude Yik Yak comments, it has become clear that this campus needs to have this dialogue,” said Fung. “However, in the current system, cultural and religious groups are often unable to afford and thus create events that will result in lasting changes to the campus’ overall impression of diversity issues.”

“We have many passionate and dedicated people who love this type of work, and it seems silly to not give these people ways to impact campus,” he added. “In my opinion, until we see an organization on SEC dedicated to diversity issues, we cannot really say we, as a university, are working on improving diversity and inclusion issues.”

Chung, Amoako, Fung and others will present at the SEC meeting on Feb. 19 and will continue to flesh out their ideas over the next few weeks.

“My main goal with this is to secure the future of our diverse population on campus,” said Chung.

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USG pushes for diversity with new oath of inclusion Julia Bianco News Editor Following the #webelonghere movement and last semester’s push for diversity initiatives on campus, the Undergraduate Student Government is creating an oath of inclusion, a student-generated document that would help to educate new students on Case Western Reserve University’s values.

“It’s a very tangible thing that represents our values and really speaks to what should be important to us, not only through our undergraduate careers but throughout our entire lives,” said Jacob Ma, USG vice president of student life and chair of USG’s diversity and inclusion ad hoc committee, who, along with his committee co-chair, Hiram Cortez, first proposed creating an oath.

“A lot of other schools around the country had something similar,” said Ma. “I thought it would be a really great idea for our institution that really emphasizes our core values of diversity and inclusion.”

USG President Taylor Gladys sent out an email looking for people who were interested in helping to create the oath to the student body on Feb. 13, the same day that members of some of the cultural groups on campus came forward in a letter to the editor, saying that they wanted to split from USG into their own Student Executive Council board.

Ma wants the oath to be formed based on student input. Gladys’ email contained a Google Form where interested students

could sign up to participate in the oath’s creation. It has yielded over 100 responses in less than a week.

“I’m really glad to see a lot of interest in this,” said Ma. He plans on reaching out to all involved, as well as leaders of student groups and other campus organizations, to work together on the oath’s creation.

“I think that this will be more meaningful to everyone if they feel like they were part of this process,” he said.

Right now Ma is gathering initial interest and feedback. Then, he will set up a meeting to create a preliminary proposal, which will be presented to administration.

Afterward, taking their feedback into account, the students will revise the document before bringing it back as a final draft. Ma hopes to have the oath implemented by the end of the semester.

Ma envisions the finished product as a document containing “we” and “I” statements about diversity and inclusion on campus. Students would then take the oath during orientation or at the beginning of the year.

“I don’t want it to just be a piece of paper that people forget about,” he said. “I want it to be widespread across campus.”

Ma hopes to get the oath placed on plaques across campus. He said that other universities, that have something similar, sometimes have it in every building.

“I think it’s really important to take advantage of the momentum that we’ve been gaining in trying to make these improvements,” he said.

Courtesy Feminist Collective

Bake sale’s unequal prices highlight unequal pay gap The Feminist Collective held a bake sale this week where they charged women less than men for the same baked goods, designed to illustrate the U.S. Census statistic that, on average, women are paid 77 cents to every dollar that a man makes for doing the same job.

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news

Campus insider

LGBT Center interim director talks programming, trainings Miriam Ridge Staff Reporter This week we sat down with Shemariah Arki, the Interim Director for the Case Western Reserve University Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Center. For working purposes, LGBT is inclusive for all identities including asexual, gender queer, questioning and any gender nonconforming identity.

Work It Out Feb. 17 was the third Work It Out at CWRU. Work It Out is a professional networking session open to undergraduate and, starting this year, graduate students. It is a forum for students who are curious about what it means to be an LGBT person or an ally in the workplace. Students are also given the opportunity to show their résumé to potential employers. The event was open to all students, not just LGBT students.

Lavender Graduation On April 29 starting at 6 p.m., the third annual Lavender Graduation will take place.

The Lavender Graduation is an event for LGBT seniors at CWRU. It is in partnership with the Alumni house. Awards will be given out: the Pride award for students and the Prism award for campus entities. The event allows for friends, family, faculty, staff and alumni to support and celebrate the graduates as important contributing members of the CWRU campus community.

Student Discussion Groups The LGBT center at CWRU holds semi-weekly student discussion groups for LGBT-identifying students and anyone who wants to learn about the LGBT community. The groups “Girls Like Us”, “Guys Like Us”, “Am I Asexual?”, “Gender Resistance” and “Relatable” allow for confidential group discussions on prevalent issues in the LGBT community. No reservations are required, and it is open to all students regardless of identity or relationship statuses. For dates and times, see either the LGBT center website or Facebook page.

Diversity 360 The Diversity 360 initiative is a campus-wide training intended to build cross-cultural conversation and further student engagement and leadership. It was formed in response to the #webelonghere movement. It is sponsored by the LGBT Center at CWRU, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, and the Office of Inclusion, Diversity & Equal Opportunity.

This past week marked the launch of several pilot and training programs.

Safe Zone The Safe Zone program aims to create a safe environment for LGBT students and staff on campus. Safe Zone workshops that are open to all CWRU community members are held regularly each semester to educate CWRU students and staff about prevalent issues in the LGBT community and how to be an effective ally. Stickers and magnets are given out upon completion of the workshop to show others that a person is working toward creating a safe and inclusive environment for LGBT people.

“The overarching goal of the LGBT Center is to work towards full equality for faculty, staff, students and administration on campus,” said Arki.

2/20/15

Editor’s choice

Tuition hikes frustrate, confuse students Suneil Kamath Staff Reporter As college tuition climbs across the country, some students are struggling to keep up.

According to The College Board, tuition rates at United States universities have more than tripled over the past three decades, causing student debt to increase exponentially. A recent survey by the National Survey of Student Engagement found that the financial burden of paying for school and performing well puts academic stress on students.

Sophomore Beth Hodges has experienced this stress first hand.

“When you spend your summers working, negotiating loans with the financial aid office and the school year balancing jobs while taking enough credits to finish your degree in four years, it can wear you down,” Hodges. “It’s a constant juggling act of trying to enjoy your college experience and making sure you can continue to have one.”

Sophomore Lauren Auster shared a similar sentiment.

“I wouldn’t say that I’m stressed trying to balance the two [working and academics], but I have definitely made sacrifices to be able to afford coming here,” Auster said. “For example, I became a resident assistant to help cover the costs of living here. Although I love being a RA, there are definitely times when I wish I had more time to focus on my studies rather than my responsibilities as an RA.” The rising tuition cost not only affect students’ finance worries during school, but post-graduation as well. Sophomore Lacie Parham, a psychology major, is worried about how she will pay for graduate school.

“I am a psychology major, and I know I have to go to graduate school after undergrad,” noted Parham. “I will already be approximately $36,000 in debt, so I always worry how I will pay for graduate school.

In addition, it’s not like I am majoring in engineering, so I’m not sure if I will have the funds to climb out of debt.”

Parham believe CWRU should place a greater emphasis on providing more substantial merit scholarships and financial aid for students, rather than embarking on new building projects. “[CWRU] spent approximately $50 million on the Tinkham Veale University Center, and it’s practically falling apart already,” said Parham. “They definitely could have spent more money helping me with scholarships.”

Compared to other similar schools, though, CWRU does provide substantially more grants or scholarship aid for students. In 2012, 86 percent of new CWRU undergraduates received some type of scholarship or grant aid, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Comparably, students at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis received 54 percent, 63 percent and 48 percent, respectively.

Some agree that CWRU needs a stronger infrastructure, but they wonder where exactly their tuition money is going.

“CWRU needs to continue to update its infrastructure, but I feel like many of the updates don’t impact me directly enough to justify three percent plus annual tuition increases,” said Hodges. “It’s almost 200 hours at Ohio’s minimum wage of $7.25, more after taxes.”

“I definitely think some of the dorms

Stat snapshot

$33,343 $32,200 Average debt per Average debt per

student at private, non-profit colleges

student at CWRU

Undergraduate tuition will increase by 3.25% to $44,160 Residence Hall room rates will increase by

3.75%

Residence Hall board rates will increase by

3.26%

need to be updated, especially the freshmen dorms,” added Auster, saying that they have cockroaches in Cutler Hall. “I think compared to most private schools, CWRU does a great job offering scholarships and aid. However, we lack big time in the housing department, and our dorms seem to be just as expensive. I wouldn’t complain so much about the high housing or tuition costs if I lived in a dorm bigger than a box and one without bugs.”

At Inc. Magazine’s recent GrowCo conference, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban explained why colleges raise tuition frequently.

“It’s easy for the colleges to ask for more, because then the potential students just take out bigger loans,” said Cuban.

“Rising tuition costs have resulted in more than $1 trillion in student loan debt.”

“Tuition is just easy money, and easy money goes to a college administrators’ head just as much as anybody else,” he added in an interview with CNBC. His sentiment was reflected in many student’s complaints about CWRU’s lack of transparency regarding where tuition money goes.

It seems, though, that many CWRU students are upset at President Barbara Snyder’s administration for not being transparent in providing a clear breakdown of tuition costs.

In an “Update on University Initiatives and Discussion of Tuition, Room and Board Rates for 2015-2016,” published on the CWRU website, Provost William A. “Bud” Baeslack III says that the tuition increase will help pay for “strategic initiatives, selective new hires, salary and benefits cost increases, operating costs of new student facilities and other ongoing cost increases, including support of larger undergraduate student population.” However, some CWRU students are confused as to what that truly means.

CWRU has about 5,000 undergraduate students, meaning that increasing tuition by $1,400 equates to an extra $7 million.

“I have no idea why tuition is going up,” said Auster. “[The administration] gave those vague reasons, but I don’t know exactly where my money is going.”

“I just don’t feel like these tuition increases reflect any benefit on me as a student,” she added. “I want CWRU to show me where this money is going, how it’s going to benefit me and prove to me why I need to pay this extra amount. I’m pretty sure nobody is happy with tuition hikes and hope CWRU will listen, or at least compromise. Raise aid or scholarships if you’re going to raise tuition. Or guarantee set tuition rates for four years so that students don’t have to burden increases every year.”

CWRU, however, is not the only school increasing tuition costs. Harvard College, Yale University, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Chicago are increasing their tuition rates by 3.9 percent, 4.1 percent, 3.6 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively. Comparatively, CWRU’s tuition increase of 3.25 percent is lower.

In addition, CWRU has several new projects that serve to benefit its students, including the Milton and Tamar Maltz Performing Arts Center at The Temple-Tifereth Israel and think[box], both opening in the Fall of 2015.

Rising tuition costs and worries about paying for school can put a damper on a student’s entire college experience.

“I love attending CWRU. It was my first choice school after I felt at home my first time on campus,” said Hodges. “I love the community of like-minded people who are passionate about all they do and the opportunity to live in University Circle and discover Cleveland. Sometimes I have to wonder, though, if it was really the most financially sound decision.”

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Corruption as a last resort Political science professor writes book on bribes in former Soviet Union Adithi Iyengar Copy Editor

Andrew Hodowanec/Observer Assistant professor Kelly McMann’s book was inspired by her time living with families in the former Soviet Union.

Corruption, according to Associate Professor of Political Science Kelly McMann, is driven by desperation. McMann, who is also the director of the International Studies Program, recently published a book, “Corruption as a Last Resort: Adapting to the Market in Central Asia,” which looks at the ways in which citizens of the former Soviet Union managed the fall economically.

She conducted in-depth interviews and observational studies in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as mass surveys in those countries and Uzbekistan. She also found evidence from statistical surveys in 92 countries.

McMann’s research was inspired while she was conducting another study, living with former families of the Soviet Union.

At their kitchen tables, people explained to her that, while they loved the freedoms they had since the Soviet Union collapsed, they missed the economic benefits, such as guaranteed employment.

“I decided to study economic coping mechanisms for my next project,” said McMann. “I found that people use bribes, connections and promises of political support to obtain goods and services from government officials.”

“Corruption is a last resort for people, so if there are alternatives to corruption, they will not engage in it,” she added. If employment and credit are available from market and societal institutions, including banks, businesses and charities, corruption will decrease.

McMann also found that people who are relatively wealthy resort to corruption much less, because their connections provide them with jobs and other opportunities.

Although her study was focused in central Asia, McMann found that people resort to corruption regardless of where they live whenever organizations do not meet the requirements of the people in that region.

CWRU graduate student named finalist for prestigious fellowship Julia Bianco News Editor Anisha Rastogi, a CWRU medical and doctoral student, has been named a finalist for the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

The fellowship gives immigrants and children of immigrants who are attending graduate school up to $90,000 in scholarships for tuition and living expenses over two academic years.

Rastogi, the daughter of two doctors who immigrated from India, is studying biomedical engineering.

She studies brain-computer interfaces, which use neural signals to help paralyzed people control objects. When she graduates, she wants to do a medical residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Rastogi completed her undergraduate degree at the Washington University in St. Louis, and graduated with a 4.0 GPA. Thirty students will be selected for the fellowship, with the final announcement of winners coming in April. Rastogi is one of 77 finalists, selected from a total of almost 1,200 applicants.

She will have to participate in two

Ki Oh/Observer Rastogi hopes to have a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation.

30-minute interviews in either Los Angeles or New York City before the fellowship committee makes their final selection.

The fellowship looks for students who have “demonstrated creativity, originality and initiative in one or more aspects of his/her life,” according to the website.

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Cleveland catch-up Julia Bianco News Editor We boil down what happened in Cleveland this week.

Record cold stuns city Tuesday morning saw the third day in a row for Cleveland, with record temperatures falling to eight degrees.

Sunday’s five below zero and Monday’s negative 12 below zero also set records for the city.

The weekend saw several accidents, with Valentine’s Day travellers hit with snowy and icy road conditions. The weather also resulted in numerous snow emergency parking bans, road closures, f light delays and the temporary closure of the Greater Cleveland RTA’s green line between certain stops.

Meanwhile, Lake Erie is freezing, with 93.5 percent of the lake covered in ice as of Feb. 15. This is the highest out of any of the Great Lakes.

Still, this isn’t the coldest year on record. For the month of February, this year currently ranks as the fourth coldest in Cleveland’s history, after 1979, 1978 and 2007. For the year so far, it’s the eighth coldest.

Anti-abortion bill makes reappearance in Ohio House Two Ohio Republicans are leading the charge to outlaw abortions once the fetus’ heartbeat can be detected. House Bill 69, also known as the “heartbeat bill,” is similar to a previous bill which failed to pass through the Ohio House in mid-December.

Representatives Christina Hagan of Alliance and Ron Hood of Ashville introduced the bill, which would make abortions illegal as early as six weeks into pregnancy. The only exceptions are to prevent death or serious harm to the mother.

“We’ve come a long way in protecting the unborn; we should always continue to do that,” Hagan told the House in December, according to the Northeast Ohio Media Group. “It should remain central to our mission and our focus.”

The law would also create a committee to promote adoption as an alternate option.

“Politicians do not know or understand a woman’s specific situation,” said Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio President and CEO Stephanie Kight in protest of the bill. “They shouldn’t be allowed to make personal decisions on her behalf. Women, their families and physicians should be trusted and respected to make the health care decision that is best for their family.”

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2/20/15

New think[box] ITS to open new center receives one million dollar grant help center in KSL Julia Bianco News Editor Think[box] is one step closer to being built, with a new one million dollar grant from the Burton D. Morgan Foundation.

The new $35 million, seven-story think[box] building, located behind the Veale Center, has been in the works for almost a year, with the first four floors scheduled to open in the fall. The rest of the building should open by fall of 2016.

The first floor will be a community floor, with space for club activities and public exhibitions. The second floor will have space for collaboration and programming, while the third will be a prototyping floor containing similar items to the current think[box], located in the basement

of the Glennan Building. The fourth floor will be for fabrication and will contain welding and heavier equipment.

The fifth f loor will have space for student group projects, with the sixth reserved for student start-ups, including Blackstone LaunchPad and representatives from the business and law school. The seventh f loor will be an incubator f loor, which will help students take their businesses from ideas to reality. It is designed so that students start on the first f loor and then move further up as they go through the process of creating their product.

The grant will be used to create offices on the sixth floor, which will provide space for mentoring, resources and advice to the students using the space.

On the beat

Bearing arms The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution enshrines citizens’ right to bear arms. There has always been debate over what exactly this means.

Some people see it as an unassailable right and a guarantee against tyranny, while others see it as a relic of a time when people lived in cabins and worried about bear attacks and the British army, needing some revising to reflect 21st century realities.

At Case Western Reserve University, this debate comes up when people question whether they should be allowed to carry firearms on campus. People who complete the background check and training course offered by the County Sheriff can obtain a concealed carry permit, which allows them to carry a weapon on their person in this county, subject to some restrictions. One of those restrictions prohibits carrying guns into areas labelled as educational zones, like CWRU. It is also currently against university policy to carry a firearm on campus, and doing so can get you fired or expelled.

Some would argue that weapons are needed for self-defense when travelling across campus, or that in Ohio, people are allowed to use weapons in defense of their homes under something called a castle doctrine. Why couldn’t a residence hall be considered a castle while you’re living in it?

The counter is that weapons bring their own risks. Would disputes escalate into shooting matches, especially in circumstances involving alcohol? There are robberies involving CWRU students and staff every year, but none have resulted in life-threatening injuries to victims, at least in recent memory. Would that change

if firearms were involved on both sides?

Would any of these incidents have been prevented by someone carrying a gun?

There are also more mundane concerns, like storage of weapons and weapon safety. Accidental discharges are always possible when you are dealing with loaded weapons. Would you feel more or less safe if you knew the person sitting next to you in class or the person in the suite next door had a gun? How do you think it affects police personnel and policing in general in a society as heavily armed as ours? Food for thought as we consider CWRU taking on this national issue.

On the Beat is a weekly safety column written by Sergeant Jeffrey Daberko and Officer Mark (The Crossing Guard) Chavis of CWRU PD. We welcome questions, suggestions and gripes/groans/moans/ complaints about campus life at policecolumn@case.edu.

CWRU Police Blotter

Feb. 11 to Feb. 18 Feb. 11: Petty thefts— two lockers pried open and items taken, Oneto-One Fitness Center.

Feb. 12: Assault— diner employee struck by known party during dispute, Denny’s All-Nighter.

Feb. 13: Felony theft— coat and contents taken off chair, Jolly Scholar.

Do you want your event to be covered in The Observer?

Submit story ideas on our website observer.case.edu

Julia Bianco News Editor Information Technology Services (ITS) will be opening a new computer help center at the Kelvin Smith Library (KSL) on March 9. The center will be a more central hub for ITS’ operations and joins ITS’ two other Customer Assistance, Resource and Education (CARE) Centers, located on Bellflower Road and in the Sears Building.

“We wanted a central location to focus on just in time support,” said Dave Uhrin, the enterprise support lead for ITS. With the new center, students can sit down with a technician to see if their problem can be fixed on site. They can also send a device to a repair facility if necessary.

“Say that you’re having an error issue in your operating system or your software malfunctions,” said Uhrin. “You can sit down with someone and work through those issues without leaving your machine behind.”

Tyler Hoffman, ITS associate for marketing and communications, says that the service will also be helpful for mobile devices, especially for setting up CWRU email accounts.

“It’s an opportunity to be more forward facing with our support, have direct contact with our user base and help with issues,” said Uhrin.

The new center will be located on the ground floor of KSL. In addition to technicians, there will also be information available about ITS’ other services, including Case Wireless, anti-virus

protection and other resources that are available to students, such as the software center and Linda.com.

“We envision the space being a place where the rest of our division can bring information forward to the campus community about our different services,” said Uhrin.

“This also fits with KSL’s mission to make the library a hub for a variety of campus services,” added Hoffman.

In the future, ITS may also add a self-help terminal, which would allow students quicker resolution to simple problems, like password issues, that they usually have to resolve over the phone.

ITS currently processes around 4,000 tickets per month, 90 percent of which are resolved on the first call with their 24/7 service desk. Seventy-five percent of their customers are students. Faculty and staff, who have desk site support, will continue to have this option, although they will also be able to utilize the new KSL facility.

Although students will still be able to receive help and drop off devices at the Sears 356 and Bellflower locations, devices must be picked up at KSL. The center will open at the beginning of spring break to allow for a slow transition into the space.

“This was always really the spirit of what we wanted to do,” said Uhrin.

“We’ve tried over the last several years to continue to mature the services we provide. We’ve made small incremental changes… Now we’re at the point where it’s some large changes that will most benefit the campus.”

fun

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fun page | 7

C OM IC S Ivory Tower

by Kevin Yong

You can just see his dejection as he realizes he’s the lead guitar in ‘Hedgeclipper.’ By xkcd

Crossword Puzzle Across 1. Monster 5. Lava 10. Agile 14. Welt 15. Expect 16. Urgent request 17. Matchless 19. Jump 20. Zero 21. Medical professional 22. Looks after 23. Motion of hands 25. Mixture of rain and snow 27. Hasten 28. Forever 31. A nine-piece musical group 34. Tiara 35. Enemy 36. Alright 37. Noise 38. A city in western Russia 39. Attempt 40. 1/16th of a pound 41. Tugs 42. Right of way

44. Top part of an apron 45. Mountain crest 46. Sea cow 50. A synthetic silklike fabric 52. Top of a wave 54. Embrace 55. Utilized 56. Letterhead 58. Bog 59. Classical Greek 60. At the peak of 61. Overtake 62. One who is excessively proper 63. Long ago Down 1. Unpaid 2. Wish granter 3. Train tracks 4. Shade tree 5. Ripe 6. Cognizant 7. Gossips 8. A significant event 9. Consumed food 10. A large dark-red oval organ 11. Bountiful

12. Absorb written material 13. Blabs 18. Eskimo 22. Small slender gull 24. Not we 26. Bawdy 28. Spew 29. Fee 30. Not nays 31. Memo 32. Gumbo 33. Obstructionists 34. Patch cord 37. Cooking fat 38. Brass instrument 40. Portent 41. Kind of bean 43. Wears away 44. Fundamentals 46. Anagram of “Smite” 47. 8th Greek letter 48. European currency 49. Country of the Nile 50. Backside 51. Largest continent 53. Hindu princess 56. Take in slowly 57. Short sleep

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2/20/15

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arts & entertainment Wednesday night dance party RJD2, PSTRCHLD take TVUC stage for hyped concert

Harsha Chandupatla/Observer RJD2’s Wednesday concert attracted a small crowd of students, but was still a night well spent.

Anne Nickoloff Arts & Entertainment Editor At the end of the RJD2 concert last Wednesday, Feb. 11, RJD2 (aka Ramble Jon Krohn) stepped down from the stage, slapping hands and thanking his loyal Case Western Reserve University audience.

Sweat trickled down his face. The room started to clear, guests walking out with glow sticks wrapped around their wrists.

Krohn smiled for a few photos and answered questions to a couple of girls leaning over the pit barrier.

He seemed a lot shorter down here than he did onstage; when he started the performance as alter ego “Commissioner Crotch Buttons,” his outrageous confidence made him the biggest person in the Tinkham Veale University Center ballroom. The

Commissioner’s outfit was completed with his sequin-covered jumpsuit, a spinning remote belt buckle and a large welding mask, which was fitted with a voice distorter.

The distortions were a little too thick.

During the intro, the only words I could discern were, “get on that ass” and “nut sack,” punctuated with a few aggressive pelvic thrusts. Commissioner Crotch Buttons soon stripped out of the frayed outfit and revealed the RJD2 stage presence, wearing a simple black t-shirt. He launched into “Her Majesty’s Socialist Request” and other tunes, maintaining his signature laidback, mashed-up fashion.

The concert was a success in terms of the performance. RJD2 was slick with each record scratch, transition and last-minute improv. The light show was on point, expressing the moods of each song and keep-

ing up the energy behind the bustling DJ. But the concert didn’t reach its full potential for one major reason, and it had nothing to do with the performance itself: It was because of—you guessed it—hump day.

An ill-fated Wednesday night is never the best time for CWRU students to join in on an all-out dance party. The ballroom was sparsely filled with students, loosely joined together in a blob near the stage.

I entered just after PSTRCHLD’s performance, as people stood around in small cliques waiting for the headliner.

When the show started, University Program Board (UPB) and WRUW members danced throughout the crowd, randomly throwing fistfuls of glow sticks at groups of friends and shimmying past rows of wallflowers.

Their efforts got a few people moving and three people to sit on others’ shoulders, bobbing up and down over the crowd.

Overall, the room stayed at a mesmerized, low-level groove. It was hard to dance too crazily, when Krohn’s precise stage work kept everyone in a trance state.

Working at least three different turntables, Krohn flicked different switches and scratched records in synchronicity. At one point, he threw a vinyl onto the record player like a Frisbee, landing perfectly in place for the next bit of the song. He pulled his forearm over his face, wiping away the quickly-collecting sweat, before scratching a steady rhythm on an old, fuzzy record.

RJD2 killed it, scratching out solos in popular tunes like “Ghostwriter,” “A Beautiful Mine” and “1976.” When the audience whooped and cheered him on, his lips turned up in a tiny smile, above his work on the records.

For a Wednesday night concert, RJD2 had a solid, mesmerizing set. But to have a good dancing concert, you need people to dance. I don’t blame UPB or WRUW for the weak-ish Wednesday turnout, but the show would’ve been more of what was expected with a packed ballroom, not one that was only a third of the way filled.

I’m not complaining about the show though; dancing is nice, but it’s not all there is to a concert. I commend UPB and WRUW’s efforts at creating a rave in the TVUC ballroom, but it ended up being more of a hang-out kind of show.

Still, RJD2 on a Wednesday was just as good as RJD2 on any other day.

Concert: WRUW and UPB Present RJD2 and PSTRCHLD Location: Tinkham Veale University Center ballroom Date: Feb. 11, 2015 Rating:

A conversation with Grammy-winning CIM professor Jason Vieaux Zsolt Bognár Contributing Reporter On the night stars from every genre accepted one of the greatest honors available to musicians, Cleveland took home two of them.

Feb. 8 netted the city two Grammy awards.

One of them went to Cleveland Institute of Music Professor Jason Vieaux, who took home the award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for his album, “Play.”

I had the opportunity to speak to Vieaux about his recent win, his childhood start in music and creating a career in Cleveland. *** Zsolt Bognár: Tell us about the album for which you just won the Grammy.

Jason Vieaux: “Play” is my 12th CD release. This album, rather than being complete works of one composer—what I was used to recording—is more of a potpourri album than previous ones. The title has several meanings; of course playing the guitar, but also a more playful set that I use for encores. It’s also celebrating my 20th year of making professional recordings.

ZB: You’ve recorded over 10 CDs. How do you decide when pieces are ready to record?

JV: In this case, about half of this record is made up of pieces I have performed for years, and of course I am also fond of arrangements, which I love to showcase in concerts. I speak with my recording team, Bruce Egre and Alan Bise and immediately after recording a CD, we plan the next several in advance.

ZB: You started in Buffalo around the age of eight—is that unusual?

JV: Not these days. Back then, maybe less of my heroes did start young, but my start centered around listening to my parents’ record collection—I listened all day. It was jazz, soul, R&B and rock. From three years old, I would sit there until dinner. When I was five, they bought me a guitar, not realizing it was a classical guitar. Two years later, the Buffalo Guitar Quartet came to my school. My mother was a secretary there and asked Jeremy Sparks if he would come to the house for lessons. I had classical training right from the start. I loved the music and the process of practicing. My parents never really had to tell me to practice.

ZB: At what point did you realize this was going to be your life?

JV: It was a long series of events. After my first full-length recital at age 12, I realized

the feeling of enjoyment, the feeling of being in the moment, and playing for an audience.

It was really fun! I wanted to do it again immediately. I played for David Russell in a few masterclasses, and David and other international artists were telling my parents that I was playing at a high level for my age.

I decided that I was better at classical guitar than I was at soccer. So, I started to put more of my energy and efforts into it.

ZB: What brought you to studies at CIM? JV: The Cleveland Institute was close by; I didn’t have a car or money, so my parents offered to drive me back and forth from Cleveland if I got accepted. I really liked the school and the feel of the place; I felt instantly comfortable. I heard all this incredible playing, and that actually made me relax. I had a sample lesson at my audition with John Holmquist, and I was hooked. When CIM put me on the faculty here in 1997, John was part of that transition.

Cleveland is a great city with a long tradition for funding the arts, so it became a good base for my initial forays into professional touring.

Cleveland is lucky to have Erik Mann, who heads the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society that is helping Cleveland to become an American center of classical guitar.

ZB: You won an important competition early on. Did you set out to enter many competitions?

JV: I didn’t enter a lot of competitions—I didn’t find them all that pleasant. I entered the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA) Competition several times before winning. At that age, I had a lot of facility, but there was a lot I still wanted to work on; competitions were not my priority. I actually made a deal with John Holmquist that I would enter the end of my senior year. As it turned out, my mother saw that the GFA would be in New Orleans, and she really dreamt of seeing it. This was during the fall semester of my junior year, but John thought, “Why not?” so I entered and ended up winning at 19. It was the start of my professional career.

ZB: Are you surprised at how much success a classical guitarist can achieve today?

JV: Not at all; the level today across the world is so much higher than it was. There are more really good guitarists now than there ever were. It creates a wider culture and its own critical mass, and even some superstars, some of whom raise an awareness and level that brings all of us up.

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American TV with Pakistani flair

Sanjana Singh Staff Reporter

This Saturday Case Western Reserve University’s Pakistani Student Association (PSA) will have its biggest event of the year: a cultural show called Pakflix. This annual event involves skits and dances from other student organizations, food from a local restaurant called Jaipur Junction and homemade trailers made by the association’s members. These trailers put a twist on common TV shows, such as “How I Met Your Mother” and “Friends,” by creating a Pakistani version of the trailers. Previous inspirations for these trailers included “Batman” and “Paranormal Activity.”

The executive members, including Minhal Gardezi, Sasha Ali, Hasaan Majeed, Farah Rahman and Faraaz Hussain, organize this event, but the whole organization pitches in to help with the skits, dances and general collaboration.

Hussain, the PSA’s public relations chair, explains that these trailers and the skits will incorporate Pakistani culture.

“Even if a person is not familiar with Pakistani daily life and culture, the skits are based on American shows as well, just adding a flair of Pakistani culture to

it,” said Hussain.

Pakflix not only involves funny trailers and delicious food, but the event raises money for a good cause. The organization will donate this money from the event to 141 schools in honor of the Peshawar school attacks.

“We always donate to support the mobile schools in Pakistan, but this year’s cause was in honor of the school attacks, because it was a tragic attack where a bunch of children were killed for literally no reason,” said Rahman, a PSA executive member.

The event will also involve a moment of silence and a speech about the Peshawar attacks.

The organization will finish selling their tickets at Nord today, Feb. 20, and will also sell them at the door for $5 for undergraduates and $7 for others. The event will start at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 21 and will be held in the Thwing Ballroom.

Event: Pakflix Location: Thwing Ballroom Date: Feb. 21, 6:30 p.m.

Price: $5 students, $7 others

CWRU Thoughts Maria Fazal Copy Editor The Case Western Reserve University community is known for thinking beyond the possible. Each week, this column aims to capture a slice of campus life.

Q: Who has been the most influential person in your life?

A: That’d be my mom, for sure.

There’s no other person in my life who comes close to doing what she’s done for me. She’s taken care of me for 18 years, she’s financed my college education and she’s pretty much tried to get me whatever I’ve wanted in life. I can’t thank her enough.

Stephanie Kim/Observer

Q: Do you have any specific memories of your mom being there for you?

A: She’s been there for me when I’ve lost best friends, and she has been understanding and helped calm me down in those times of need. Those have been some of the sweetest things she’s done.

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Editor’s choice

Singing their way to the top Dhamakapella places second at Sangeet Sagar competition, releasing second album Sanjana Krishnakumar Staff Reporter Album releases, music videos and competitions have Case Western Reserve University group Dhamakapella singing their hearts out for the world to hear.

Dhamakapella is a coed South Asian fusion acapella group that mixes contemporary Bollywood songs and popular Western music into new, creative pieces. However, singing in harmony is only a small part of this team’s chemistry; their strong bonds and friendships within the group have helped them grow as a team.

“We are a group of people that love getting together and having fun. We are basically family… and we also sing,” said Samir Shah.

The team recently placed second at the Sangeet Sagar A Cappella Competition at North Carolina State University. New member Bradley Schissel had a good experience at the competition.

“Once we got to North Carolina, we met up with the other competing teams at the mixer event,” said Schissel. “This was one of my favorite parts, because instead of competing against people you don’t know, you get a chance to speak to the other singers. It’s great because we all root for each other even though we are competing.”

At this specific competition, the team got

Courtesy Amar Photography The popular South Asian fusion acapella group’s latest music video has been a smash hit, attracting over 15,000 views. an opportunity to use sound systems by Liquid 5th Productions, a well-renowned company that creates high quality studio album and live sound equipment.

“Liquid 5th Productions produced Pentatonix’s album, so it was really exciting that we got a chance to perform with these systems,” said Shouvik Neogi, the co-music director. “It felt like we were singing at an actual concert.”

In addition to their competition successes,

Dhamakapella released their first ever music video last semester for “Radioactive/Dil Se (Imagine Dragons/AR Rahman Cover).”

Dhamakapella member Jeff Wexler put in countless hours developing, filming and editing the video. With the assistance of the theater department, the Cleveland community and CWRU students, the music video was a hit and has attracted over 15,000 views.

“Everything was done so professionally.

We had such a great time, because we all felt like we were at an actual music video set. I will never forget that experience,” said Schissel.

Dhamakapella will be releasing its second album entitled “Naya Zamana/ Welcome to the New Age” on Feb. 28. It will consist of their top 10 all-time favorite mashups.

The team will be performing songs from its album at the concert on Feb. 28, 2015 at 6:30 p.m. in Ford Auditorium. Tickets will be on sale in Nord the week of the performance. After the show, Dhamakapella and Jolly Scholar will present the album release. The album can be purchased through pre-order sales or digitally through Loudr or iTunes.

“We want to make a huge entrance with this album. We chose this title for our album because we are welcoming the audience to a new Dhamakapella,” said Molly Bhanja, Dhamakapella business manager. “We’ve grown so much as a group in the past 10 years. We are very proud, and we can’t wait for everyone to hear it.”

Event: Dhamakapella concert Location: Ford Auditorium Date: Feb. 28, 6:30 p.m.

Price: $5-$10

“Fifty Shades of Grey” not just porn Famed film adaption works past its controversy

Alex Clarke Staff Reporter While I came into the theater thinking I was just going to see a glorified softcore porn film, every aspect of “Fifty Shades of Grey” was better than what I thought it was going to be. For a movie that was hyped up just for the sex, “Fifty Shades” was allround a really good movie.

Aspects such as setting and soundtrack were excellent. Little in the film felt cliché to me, even when the “hot millionaire’s apartment” has been a setting in dozens of movies, and the soundtrack was quite fitting. (Having Beyoncé and The Weeknd appearances on the soundtrack was a perfect and obvious move, considering their song topics.) The one thing that did feel a little cliché was Anastasia Steele’s (Dakota Johnson) change in wardrobe from “innocent schoolgirl” to “sexy secretary.” It’s probably what really happens when you start having sex with a millionaire CEO, but still: overdone.

The acting was excellent; both Johnson and Jamie Dornan, who plays Christian Grey, depicted scenes that would not have been easy conditions under which to act.

For one, both characters had many complexities and two, acting out BDSM sex scenes has to be easier said than done.

And those sex scenes were pretty in depth. Obviously you don’t see any genitalia, but what you do see looks like porn.

Spoiler alert: You see thrusts. (In case you didn’t know, you probably wouldn’t want to watch this with your parents.) It’s not just vaginal intercourse scenes that are in depth either; Mr. Grey completes a variety of foreplay actions and “plays” in his special room. The BDSM scenes are for the viewer to personally judge, and I feel like everyone’s reactions will be different based on their personal preferences.

Going off the three-dimensional character development, Anastasia Steele was not some “Twilight” damsel-in-distress, letting the male lead push her around and change her life. With a movie that has glorified the sexiness of the male lead so much, Anastasia is the one that ends up calling the shots, wrapping the oh-so-unobtainable Mr. Grey around her finger.

And Mr. Grey was not some tortured soul that cries in the corner but wants to steal the ladies’ hearts. Mr. Grey said he doesn’t do romance, and sometimes his actions didn’t seem very attractive to me. It was refreshing to feel so conflicted about the male lead.

On one hand, Christian had a dark past that might excuse his behavior, but on the other, he’s really controlling and manipulative.

I loved the story because the characters

Courtesy IMDB Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan get steamy onscreen, but “Fifty Shades of Grey” has more to its plot than just sex. were real and interesting, and I’ll recommend the movie to anyone who can handle watching sex on screen.

Bottom line: “Fifty Shades” has more sex than you’ll probably see in any other (non-porn) movie, but it’s still a film with a good story.

Film: “Fifty Shades of Grey” Starring: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan Release Date: Feb. 13, 2015 Rating:

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Playlist of the Week Teddy Eisenberg Staff Reporter

“Where The Sky Hangs”— Passion Pit Hot off the heels of a collaboration with French producer Madeon, Passion Pit offers the familiar sounding “Where The Sky Hangs” as one of two new singles from its forthcoming third album, “Kindred.” Channeling the influences of disco, electronica and R&B into the group’s signature blend of sunny pop, “Where The Sky Hangs” is a delightfully memorable single. Look for it on “Kindred” come April 21.

“No Tellin’”—Drake Lots of questions surround Drake’s newest surprise LP: Is “If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late” just a collection of B-sides? Does this fulfill his contract with the quickly declining Cash Money Records? Whatever the answer, “No Tellin’” makes it clear that Drizzy has lots to get off his chest regardless of the circumstances. Spitting over a muted, minimalist backbeat, Drake declares, “Please do not speak to me like I’m that Drake from four years ago/ I’m at a higher place.” While this may not be his best work, Drake’s confidence on this track is contagious, making this some of 2015’s best rap so far.

“What Kind Of Man”—Florence + The Machine Florence + The Machine’s Florence Welch has recently been quite vocal about the chaos surrounding her group’s year-long hiatus following 2011’s “Ceremonials,” citing it as “a bit of a nervous breakdown.” However fans shouldn’t be concerned as any lingering doubt about Florence’s ability to deliver is completely erased after the first minute of “What Kind Of Man,” as Welch’s trademark wail summons a powerful wall of guitar and horns. “What Kind Of Man” is the first single off “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful,” available June 1.

“No Shade In The Shadow Of The Cross”—Sufjan Stevens On March 31, Sufjan Stevens will return with his first album in five years, “Carrie & Lowell,” available on Asthmatic Kitty Records. “No Shade In The Shadow Of The Cross” is a tantalizing first preview, blending Stevens’ angelic vocal harmonies with the soft percussive picking of an acoustic guitar. So gorgeous is this song, in fact, that repeat listening is highly recommended and indeed essential to fully grasp the tune’s nuances.

“New Haven”—Chadwick Stokes Feat. Lucius Famous as a member of the bands Dispatch and State Radio, Chadwick Stokes teams up with the five-piece indie rock band Lucius to deliver the gospel-tinged “New Haven.” Crescendoing in and out of a dizzying mix of guitar and vocals, this song is utterly inspired performance teaming with passion. Stokes’ latest solo release, “The Horse Comanche” is available Feb. 3 on Ruff Shod Records.

Retro Pick of the Week: “Where The Streets Have No Name”—U2 Long before it was known for forcing its albums onto iPhones, U2 crafted breathtakingly ethereal rock worthy of legend. “Where The Streets Have No Name” is one such musical suite; a galloping search for meaning in a confused world lead by Bono’s soaring vocals and The Edge’s endless guitar echo. No music collection is complete without this song or the existential angst of its accompanying album, “The Joshua Tree.”

Find all these tracks online with our weekly Spotify playlist at observer.case.edu Teddy Eisenberg is a third year programmer at WRUW-FM 91.1 Cleveland. He hosts The ’59 Sound, an exploration of rock music, every Thursday morning from 8-10 a.m.. and co-hosts the variety talk show Max and Teddy in the Morning at Night (Sometimes) on Mondays from 5-6 p.m. The crackle of vinyl warms him on cold Cleveland nights.

All photos courtesy cdn.stereogum.com, 91x.com, cdn.u2.com, consequenceofsound.net & amusicblogyea.com

The end is near “The Legend of Zelda” series’ latest game faces apocalyptic challenges

Brian Sherman Staff Reporter Following in the footsteps of “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D” and “The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD,” “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask”—originally released for the N64 back in 2000—has officially received a remake in the form of “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D.” The original “Majora’s Mask,” the somewhat lesser known sequel to “Ocarina of Time,” was dramatically overshadowed at its release. However, thanks to the internet and stories such as the famous “Ben Drowned” Creepypasta (a tale of one gamer’s haunted Nintendo 64 game), its popularity has spiked in recent years. Following the success of “Ocarina of Time 3D” and the vocal expression of demand over the past few years, it only made sense that Nintendo would eventually remake “Majora’s Mask.”

“Majora’s Mask” is a fantastic game that built upon the successes of “Ocarina of Time” and, in a number of ways, surpassed it. It’s an incredibly unique entry in Nintendo’s lauded “Legend of Zelda” series, albeit one that proved divisive with fans upon its original launch, as many of its aspects go against the socalled “Zelda formula” that most 3-D Zelda titles adhere to.

In this installment, there’s less of a focus on dungeon-crawling, no sign of a princess named Zelda nor a villain named Ganon, no mythical Master Sword and the setting is not even Hyrule, but a parallel land named Termina.

Now, the game places more of an emphasis on the wider game world and how Link and the player can influence and interact with the world and characters. In this installment, Link is not on a quest to rescue the princess, but instead must stop the mysterious Skull Kid wielding the titular Majora’s Mask.

Skull Kid attempts to force Termina’s moon to fall out of the sky, destroying the world and everyone in it in the course of three days, a cycle which can be repeated as many times as necessary until Link finds the correct sequence of events to save the world.

“Majora’s Mask” is a fantastic game that built upon the successes of “Ocarina of Time” and, in a number of ways, surpassed it.

This three-day repeating cycle may sound like a limitation of the game, but it actually works to its benefit. Because the three days are explicitly mapped out, seeing all the characters’ routines and how you can interact with them in various ways makes the game feel more alive than almost any other role-playi out there. Seeing the characters’ various reactions to their impending apocalypse is very moving, especially when you realize that they go through this emotional turmoil every time you reset the three-day cycle.

According to series producer Eiji Aonuma, “[‘Majora’s Mask’] was made for those who have played ‘Ocarina of Time,’ so I felt like there wasn’t a need

for step-by-step instructions.” To rectify this, in the remake, there are many more small hints than in the original. It’s not very intrusive or painfully obvious, but it’s enough that new players won’t ever feel unclear as to where they should go.

Other changes in the remake include two fishing holes that weren’t in the original, a change to the way you can jump ahead in time, an overhaul to the quest-tracking system and an overhaul to the save system. Previously, you could play the “Song of Double Time” to skip ahead to 6 p.m. of the current day, or 6 a.m. of the next day; whichever came first. Now, you can skip ahead to any hour in the three-day cycle, a feature that reduces the amount of time spent waiting for events to happen. In addition the quest-tracking Bomber’s Notebook -has a large overhaul, being much more explicit in the sequence of events and providing a way to keep track of various rumors provided to Link.

The save feature overhaul is a lot more debatable in its usefulness. Previously, you could only save the game when you reset the three-day cycle or by creating a temporary save at statues that forced you to quit and deleted the temporary save upon loading the save file.

Overall, though, “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D” is a magnificent remastering of one of the finest “Legend of Zelda” games to date.

In the remake, there are several more statues throughout the game, and each saves the game on the spot without requiring you to quit the game. While this does ease up on the difficulty and helps add to the “pick up and play” aspect of being on a portable console, some fans of the original may object to the easier save system, as this reduces the tension of needing to complete as much as possible in one cycle.

Overall, though, “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D” is a magnificent remastering of one of the finest “Legend of Zelda” games to date.

The visual overhaul, the streamlined features and other improvements make this version an even more enjoyable and accessible experience than the original N64 release. The changes are all mostly positive ones, although there are some that are a lot more welcome than others, particularly to fans of the original game. Nevertheless, the brilliance of its source material still shines through, and it’s this that makes “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D” a fantastic game that is a must-have for a 3DS owner.

Minor flaws seem insignificant, as the superb concoction of timeless game design truly shines: the unique gameplay ideas, the dark and haunting theme and a cleverly crafted game world enable this updated version to provide a near flawless experience.

Game: “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D” Release: Feb. 13, 2015 Console: Nintendo 3DS Rating:

opinion Editorial

New diversity board: Let’s take a SEC to think

In last week’s issue, we ran a letter to the editor from Brittany Chung and Precious Amoako arguing that Case Western Reserve University students need to add a new diversity board to the Student Executive Council (SEC). Their plan for this board is to take cultural and diversity-based student groups, including religious student organizations, out from under the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) umbrella by grouping them under a new diversity-specific SEC board member organization. This would put this new board on the same level as its former overseer in addition to the University Programming Board, University Media Board, Residence Hall Association, Class Officer Collective, Interfraternity Congress and Panhellenic Council.

The Observer staff can see the prob-

lems which the letter offers and agrees with their proposal. We believe, but not without much debate among our editorial staff, that the addition of such a board would strengthen the campus community.

CWRU’s cultural diversity climate has become a huge issue this year. We saw tensions boiling over to the point where students felt the need to protest, evidenced in the #webelonghere movement. A national debate has hit home this year. A problem is there, and the creation of a diversity-focused board would be part of a solution.

Let’s see a need and fix it. It takes a lot to rile up the usually passive CWRU undergraduate student, and diversity concerns have been that topic to do so.

There is no other group like the diversity board on SEC, so a new board would fill its own niche. Opponents to

the idea have thought that there would be too much overlap between the existing groups, but we don’t agree with that assertion. USG is not capable, with the myriad of other duties with which they are tasked and their current funding setup, to effectively represent these organizations. Diversity-based groups are different enough from other student organizations in the fact that their goals are to celebrate different cultures and give those students a home; just as Greek Life (which has SEC representation) is a community for much of campus, diversity groups play the same role.

This group would take over a corner of CWRU’s extracurricular life that currently has no specific representation.

While we do support the move, this support isn’t without some reservation.

To be effective, this board would need

to be set up correctly, and a funding structure unlike USG’s three-event system would need to be installed.

Additionally, many on our staff are concerned that trying to get the board created in time for next year may be too ambitious, that further time may be needed, since installing an umbrella organization, with its rules and regulations, is a difficult task. After all, funding for next year will have been discussed at this past Thursday’s SEC meeting. While amending objects aren’t a fatal obstacle, they are still an obstacle.

However, we do believe that the leaders for this new organization are up to the challenge. A change would allow diversity and cultural groups to play a much larger role on campus, a change which we surely need.

Cheers to 21, cheers to safe drinking Current adventure: Case Heather O’Keefe If you’re reading this, then I’m 21! Last night (Thursday the 19th) saw the celebration of the marked occasion. As of press time, I’m probably lying in bed choosing to skip my classes for the day, desperately dehydrated, and trying to recap the events of the night before. I recall hitting the 14 shot mark (two-thirds of the way there, so close yet so far), and the hospital band around my wrist would explain the vague visions of University Hospitals. Hmm, I better text some friends to remember how much fun the night was before it took a turn for the worse.

Except, that didn’t happen. Not at all.

With a test today, I choose to celebrate my legality buying a couple six packs (something from Miller, shout out to Wisconsin, and something with awesome packaging) and having a laugh with friends over a few brewskis.

Once I’ve taken my test with a crisp state of mind and fulfilled the week’s responsibilities, I will have a more ap-

propriate birthday celebration. The plan is to cruise the Healthline and check out nightlife in downtown 216. Maybe I will finally try a chocolate martini at the Chocolate Bar, go dancing or be a straight shooter and play some billiards.

Regardless of the evening’s main activity, I most certainly will order a drink or two. Instead of filling up a red cup from a Gatorade container or drinking from a water bottle filled with “water, I swear,” I will order from a bartender.

This bartender will have undergone some form of training, and if I personally do not see the mixologist in action, I plan to only step foot into trustworthy establishments whose business would severely suffer if god forbid a customer had a drink laced with a little something extra.

While I was in South Africa, friends would always ask me why Americans arrive to parties, bars and clubs wasted. My go-to explanation: Since most American university students are unable to legally drink, it is commonplace for students to heavily drink before they depart for the night. They very well may have to ride out the coattails of their pregame.

The Observer is the weekly undergraduate student newspaper of Case Western Reserve University. Established in 1969, The Observer exists to report news affecting and/or involving students and to provide an editorial forum for the university community. Unsigned editorials are the majority opinion of the senior editorial staff. However, Opinion columns reflect the views of their writers and not necessarily of The Observer staff. For advertising information, contact The Observer at (216) 302-4442 or e-mail observerads@case.edu.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR should be e-mailed to observer@case.edu or submitted on our website at observer.case.edu. Letters can be mailed to 10900 Euclid Avenue, Suite A09, Cleveland, OH 44106. For policy and guidelines related to the submission of Letters to the Editor, refer to observer.case.edu/submit-a-letter.

To a large degree, I can understand why the drinking age is 21: Alcohol can be dangerous, and safety should always be a concern. Besides the arbitrary age of 21 (the brain isn’t fully developed until the mid 20’s), the national drinking age has created a culture of underage binge drinking. Legally or illegally, most of our demographic will drink and binge at that.

Underage drinking is far from safe.

It leads to compensation, unwieldy exploration, grimaces after drinking from water bottles that easily lead to memory loss and sketchy jungle juice that is equal parts toxic and so sugary my teeth hurt just thinking of it. (I don’t think the Kool-Aid man ever wanted to be associated with sloppy drunk college kids.)

In the words of Forrest Gump, underage drinking is like a box of chocolates: You never know how much you will consume. But chances are you won’t stop at one and will forge ahead until your stomach hurts, you’re regretting ever looking at chocolate and you’ve got a table full of empty wrappers.

If my Forrest Gump analogy doesn’t convince you, take at look at last week’s

police blotter: Three of the nine “crimes” on campus were described as underage drinking, with the majority ending in hospital transport. Hopefully, these students have learned a bit about moderation, but I can’t help but think that a bartender at an established locale would have refused to serve the customer before the situation became dire.

College and drinking are like peanut butter and jelly. It’s going to happen, so rather than lobby for dry campuses, let’s flip the conversation on it’s head and encourage responsible, thoughtful, yet still fun drinking habits. Maybe that discussion involves changing the national drinking age. Maybe not. But how many more pumped stomachs (and other underage binge drinking maladies) have to occur before the conversation transitions from abstinence to responsibility?

Heather O’Keeffe is a junior studying biomedical engineering and minoring in sports medicine. She spent last Saturday night doing homework. Turn down for homework. #MatlabWasMyValentine #CaseKid #TheGrind #WhenIsGraduation?

the observer

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14 opinion

2/20/15

When we talk about the F-word Cleveland in color

Sarah Jawhari I could not bring myself to admit to a new friend that I am a feminist, and as a woman of color in a male-dominated field, you’d think I’d be the last person to harbor any aversion to the term. Though I disagreed with my friend’s ideologies (her belief, for example, that marriage is every woman’s “finish line”), I was ashamed of self-identifying as a feminist while correcting her. I could tell that the word scared her, though she obviously did not know what it meant.

It means so much more than whether or not a gal opts for the white dress and baby booties. I asked undergraduate women for their definitions of feminism to better delineate my own, but also to define it for students who possess skewed judgments about the “F-word” and the people it strives to represent.

“Feminism has such a negative connotation,” says Noura Azeem, a freshman pursuing a business degree at George Washington University. “But all it means

is someone who recognizes that women and men should have equal rights.” According to Azeem, this means “being a woman should never hold you back.”

Aviva Aguilar, a senior at Case Western Reserve University, agrees, acknowledging that “we all have mothers, family members and female friends who will be underpaid or underestimated for being a woman, that is just the surface of the inequalities women may face.” Aguilar recognizes sensitivity to the term, claiming, “I think some people assume feminists are a certain way or are crazy radicals, but not in my definition.”

According to Debbie Weidrick, a junior in printmaking at the Cleveland Institute of Art, negative perceptions are not so much the case in the artistic community. “Feminism is only a belief and not necessarily a way of living,” she says. “In my artist community, to recognize with feminism is seen as normal and rather positive, but it also creates an unavoidable stereotype among colleges.”

Some women feel that the feminist stereotype discriminates against women

SEC budgeting Pup peeves

Zak Khan Money is on nearly every student’s mind this week, as the usual tuition increases and budgets get underway.

The Student Executive Council (SEC) deliberations on the student activities fee money are a perfect example of all the shenanigans Case Western Reserve University students get up to when it’s not 3 a.m. the day before a test.

The fee, we are assured, is allocated so that we may enjoy all the opportunities available to us. Clearly SEC seems to miss one of the most entertaining events on campus: the game of getting cash from SEC itself. Ask any student leader or director of a campus organization, and they’ll probably have many tales of gross mismanagement of funds by one student group, massive budget padding by another and outright absenteeism by others.

But as entertaining as it is to watch student groups squabble over scraps, a serious problem exists in the way CWRU allocates its money supply to student groups. If we must put up with ever-increasing tuition, reduced in-house services and the like, then at least we should demand better for ourselves.

It’s no secret certain student groups are well-loved and well-funded. In the popularity contest that are budget meetings, often the groups with the most clout, loudest voice or merely the first chance to speak get a better chance at grabbing funds. And worse, if they do get funds and then do not follow through with the promised splashy event, they get rollovers to next semester’s budget. Why

is the money kept by an organization that did nothing with it?

If what the SEC says is true, that they want to “rely on previous year’s data”—then what does a rollover mean?

Groups assure us that rollovers are used the next semester for activities, but then those groups should be lower down the list of organizations that get to ask for money, because, after all, they already have it.

However beyond the worrying status of floating cash, what of all those last minute payouts for unknown fees, expenses and the like? While it’s certainly understandable that last-minute expenses can happen, often it seems like groups never read the contracts and documents they signed to rent buildings, equipment, performers and the like. Beyond looking at the money, SEC should look at group behavior as a marker of potential funding. Groups that fail to show up, show clear indications of ill-preparedness or other signs of mismanagement, should be knocked down the funding ladder.

While it’s promising the SEC is making the claims it is, none of it matters without student involvement.

SEC says that hardly any students attend its budget meetings. If students attend the events that are funded by these meetings, they should attend the meetings themselves. Otherwise, we’ll continue to squabble and grumble over the scraps.

Zak Khan doesn’t even go here anymore, but they have a lot of feelings and angry barking.

who are not commanding or aggressive.

Samiha Abusharekh, a senior biology major at CWRU, says that a feminist has been perceived traditionally as “a woman in a power suit as the CEO of a company, [but] it is up to each individual woman to decide for herself what she wants to do in her life, from her career choice to her outfit of the day.”

Azeem echoes the sentiment. “I do not think people want to be labeled as feminists,” she said, “because they think it is too harsh of a term to be painted with.”

“Most of the time, people with a negative view of feminism don’t actually know what feminism means. It’s not a man-hating, matriarchal movement,” clarifies Norah Zaza, a junior chemistry and Spanish major at CWRU. “Anyone who believes in equality is feminist.”

Demetra Frangos, an international studies major at CWRU, noted a gender difference when identifying with the term. “Lately I have been hearing men saying they are feminists and a lot of women saying they aren’t feminists,” she said. “The issue is that everyone should be a feminist.”

But this doesn’t ring true for all. “I am a woman who does not necessarily identify with the ideals of feminism,” Weidrick says. “Traditional gender roles and domestic placements have a legitimate place in our culture.”

All women interviewed agreed that equality and freedom are the core values of feminism, and recognizing this fact will help clear the smoke of negativity that seems to have stuck since bra-burning days. This article has only scratched the surface of the term and its multifaceted, contemporary definition. Feminism has had an ever-widening scope since the term was first coined in the 19th century.

Frangos identified as a feminist and summarized with some humor. “Feminism is very simply no boundaries,” she says, “I am not bound by my extra X chromosome, and I don’t need no Y to get to Z. But don’t get all cranky, because I love Y too.”

Sarah Jawhari is a student at the Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry.

Going green takes on a whole new meaning Across the CWRUniverse

Kassie Stewart If you have not noticed already, Facebook has turned green overnight.

All around the social media site within our community and beyond, there has been an overwhelming change of profile pictures, shares of the #CWRUcares event, and a number of hashtags and shoutouts, allowing the movement to spread like wildfire.

This social media campaign was initialized by the Students Meeting About Risk and Responsibility (SMARRT) leaders on our campus through the Greek Life Office. Led by their Programming committee, the entire campaign has taken our campus by storm. She says the campaign started to show those with a mental illness that there are help and allies out in the world. She notes that going to a psychologist is no different than going to a family doctor for strep throat and that it is a goal of SMARRT to show our campus community, and eventually the world, that there is help out there and this stigma needs to be depleted.

Like everything in the world, there has been some push back. Negative comments that a green photo will not change anything. But instead of many of the fast supporters of this campaign falling back, they have pushed forward and defended the intention of the social media campaign.

Those who have helped to organize this campaign have also have heard these comments and have pushed to help the campaign move forward and present

their idea of making it more than just a profile picture change. At their meeting on Monday, the SMARRT team took these comments seriously and have added many new dimensions to their campaign. They created a new Facebook page where those who are looking for resources can go to find what they need, such as counseling services and how to identify and have tough conversations, and this will continue to be updated as often as possible. In addition to this social media presence, SMARRT also plans on having an open table in the Tinkham Veale University Center that will allow a larger span to reach out and to push against the stigma against mental health. From Feb. 19-Feb. 26 members of SMARRT will provide indepth information on eating disorders, PTSD, depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, suicide and self-harm.

This is a conversation we need to be having in America, and it is starting right here within our community. As we have seen over the last few days, Case Western Reserve University really does care, and there are people, organizations and offices all over this campus that are willing to listen and help. So if you haven’t changed your picture or shared why you care, I encourage you to do so. This is the first step in helping our community and world. Be an ally and say “eff you” to the negative stigma of mental health. #CWRUcares #wecare Kassie Stewart is a junior political science major. Self-described as Amy Poehler and Joe Walsh’s love child, her mantra is “no day but today.” She enjoys napping, sarcasm and peanut butter.

And we have more great Opinion content online See observer.case.edu for “The social animal” by Chandler Holcomb and “50 shades of shitty writing” by Zak Khan.

opinion 15

observer.case.edu

Letters to the editor The death of affordable housing?

To the editor, On Jan. 22, 2015, a simple email was sent out to the student body outlining the housing options for next year. Within this email, university officials drew attention to the new residence hall. In the same email, they also quietly implemented a financially harmful policy. With no fanfare, they excluded the Property Management Apartments (PMAs) from the housing options.

The PMAs in their current form have been offered as undergraduate housing options since the 2007-2008 Academic Year. As offerings, they have on average been 17.03 percent less expensive than comparable non-PMA options. Put into real dollar terms, in the 2014-15 academic year, the average PMA was 17.735 percent less than a comparable non-PMA option in the Village at 115th or Triangle Apartments. This amounted to $1695 in student savings.

For many students, the PMAs were the only “affordable” housing option available. While some students move off campus to escape the high room costs, there is a significant number who are not able to do so. Under current university policy, any student receiving need-based financial aid may lose up to $11,820 of their aid by moving off campus.

Combined with the costs of renting an apartment, this means that these students

are left with the unenviable choice of suffering off-campus housing which costs them $17,820 (loss of Financial Aid and $500 per month yearly lease) or paying the high costs of university housing.

For these students, the PMAs offer the sole “affordable” housing option. Their removal will ultimately place an undue financial burden upon the 187 students who can afford it least.

The big question is: Why? After possessing and offering the PMAs to upperclassmen for at least the past eight years, why would university officials suddenly decide to do away with an option which so greatly benefits the student body?

On Nov. 10, 2014, the university provided what it claimed to be an answer to this question. While giving a presentation on the new Residence Hall, Loretta Sexton, assistant director for Residence Services, fielded a question about the fate of the PMAs. While her exact answer is not recorded, the RHA minutes summarize it as due to them being “old buildings, not very safe or secure.” The RHA general body accepted this response, and on its surface it seems quite valid.

However, during the recent Provost’s meeting, Provost William A. Baeslack III announced that the PMAs would be used as housing for graduate students. While graduate students certainly are robust, if there were actually such safety concerns as expressed to the RHA general body,

Tuition, etc. increase

Instead, they told the assembled students how the university wants to promote students living on campus, remain competitive with peer institutions and provide ample housing to offset the rising enrollment rates.

Yet it seems as though eliminating the PMAs is in direct opposition to these goals. Eliminating the most affordable housing hardly encourages students to remain on campus. Compared to Carnegie Mellon, their most expensive housing will be 16.6 percent cheaper than our average housing price next year. And with rising enrollment rates, does it really make sense to eliminate 187 housing units?

Instead, the university is choosing to ignore its own goals, ignore the inquiries of its constituents and pocket nearly $329,000 in new revenue by forcing students to live in other housing options.

Instead, the university has chosen to abruptly eliminate an eight-year practice for no discernable meaning, rather than slowly phasing out the PMAs and planning how to offset that nearly $2000 cost difference.

(At time of printing, a meeting has been scheduled with the provost to collect commentary and discuss the issues raised in this piece.)

Junior Ryan P. Cleary Treasurer, University Media Board

Je suis? Secular or religious— the debate continues

To the editor,

To the editor, This letter is in response to several articles contained in last week’s edition of The Observer.

The front page announced that Case Western Reserve University tuition will be rising again this year by 3.25 percent. In each of my three years here, CWRU has raised tuition prices by a similar amount, totaling about a $5,000 increase. The need for this increase is couched in terms of “additional strategic initiatives, operating costs and attractive salaries.” Each year, CWRU breaks its record for highest number of applicants and largest class size. Yet, despite a constant stream of students paying varying amounts for their education, CWRU finds the need to raise tuition year after year. What does this pay for? Ah, the “strategic initiatives,” also known as the Tinkham Veale University Center, pitched to the students as a campus hub, but in reality a glorified office building, aimed in truth at bumping up that number of applications and students in the Class of 2019 and beyond.

Also shown in that article is that room and board will both be increasing by around 3.5 percent. That means that CWRU will be adding about four grand to the big ticket price next year.

What does this pay for? Improvements to freshman and sophomore housing, still standing from the 1960s? Changes to the options offered by Bon Appétit?

No. Rather, it is paying for the construction of upperclassmen housing (to house the large upper classes that as soon as next year will be overcrowding the Village). The Observer touts its prices as “comparable to the Village,” except they aren’t, really, when comparable comes with the asterisk of “poorly equipped.” Cheapest housing in the new building, which I take to mean the maximum four-person sized apartments, comes in at $10,800, a whole $700 less

these apartments would not be safe for any students.

That the university would give such an inaccurate answer is troubling. But what is even more troubling is the response the university has given to inquiries about their reasoning and student concerns regarding the PMAs. During the course of writing this piece, this writer has been refused explanations or responses from the Office of Financial Aid, Office of Residence Life and Services, Property Management Office/Office of Real Estate, and even has been delayed in accessing records pertaining to these buildings by Media Relations. In effect, the university has chosen to remain silent about why they truly are eliminating these properties as options for undergrads.

Instead, at the provost meeting on Feb. 2, 2015 the focus was on programming, international students and other important but not financially relevant information.

The meetings sped through the two subjects of greatest financial interest, tuition and room and board costs, to instead focus on community issues. When questions about the absence of PMAs were raised, the provost and other university officials reluctantly acknowledged that they not only were removing them as an undergraduate housing option in favor of graduate students, but also had no plans in place to reduce the average 17.03 percent affordability these properties provided.

than a comparable village apartment.

And what do you get for that? No dishwashers, uniform room size (meaning small) and one laundry room for 290 people. For $700 more than the Village, you can live in the “townhouses” in this new complex, which I assume will be similarly equipped.

The kicker for me was reading the SEC breakdown and learning, to my incredulity, that Undergraduate Student Government receives $188,985.60 from our student activities fee every year. What does this pay for? The small blurb given in the article mentioned “the new Sparta Center resource room” and “Student Life Improvement Grants.” I doubt many on this campus have even heard of either of these things, and I wonder if this is what we as a community want to spend our money on.

And that is the problem, really, with all of this. Sure, the article mentions a meeting, where I assume I’ll be allowed a minute to bring up concerns and receive a weary smile and pat on the back before being sent on my way.

But CWRU doesn’t even grant any of us that. We are led to believe we are receiving a world-class education seldom afforded to many. When, however, you see that your president makes over a million dollars a year, that your school paid your money to buy the house of a dean disgraced by sexual harassment allegations (before giving him his job back), that your money is being used to fund $20,000 Wednesday concerts and “strategic initiatives” and “Student Life Improvement Grants” and that your hard-earned scholarships and financial aid dollars are routinely devalued year after year, you might start to question what you’re really getting out of Thinking Beyond the Possible.

Nicolas Poe, junior

On Jan. 23, The Observer published a story about the forum “Je Suis?” hosted

by Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Religious Studies. The title “Je Suis?” refers to the “Je Suis Charlie” or “I am Charlie” slogan that became a national rallying cry for French citizens following the mass shooting at the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris.

In contrast to the state support of the “Je Suis Charlie” demonstration, early U.S. protests against the use of lethal force in the police-related deaths of blacks were met by a show of police power. The “I am” chants in these demonstrations identify protesters from Ferguson, Missouri to New York City with those whom they consider most marginalized and vulnerable. In France, “Je Suis” is an assertion of national identity and an affirmation of western values.

Thus, “Je Suis?” appropriately challenges us to raise complex questions regarding freedom of speech, religion and violence both abroad and here in the United States. In the U.S., our understanding of a separation between the state and religion is based on a freedom of religion. As mentioned in The Observer, the French understanding of freedom of speech is based on the principle laïcité—a national secularism or what Professor Jonathan Tan refers to as a “freedom from religion.”

This idea of freedom from religion arises out of France’s historical rejection of a state church and its association with political and social power. Western notions of free speech and freedom of “the press” in the United States are rooted in the important role that media and the freedom to engage in public critique of institutions of power play in a healthy democracy. Forms of satire such as those published in Charlie Hebdo are considered part of that equation.

Satire and other forms of humor can push us beyond the religious, political and ideological boundaries that divide us.

To hold that institutions that wield power

and influence are above critique would be to suggest that they are also beyond public accountability. At the same time, dismissal of religious ideas wholesale in the name of secularism can also lead to the suppression of religious and cultural identity for the very members of society most in need of democratic protections.

In his Feb. 3 New York Times editorial “Building Better Secularists,” David Brooks describes the conflict between secular and religious worldviews as simply a difference in the ways freedom and autonomy are valued over and against a group ethic.

The problem here is the assumption that secularism is always a neutral purveyor of individual freedom and autonomy and religious persons and groups are pretty much mired in a collective “group-think.” What is often missing in these debates between secularism and religion is an honest look at the complex ways in which secularists and religionists apply the “tenets” of their “faith” to obscure the power relations at play or to wrestle with ethical beliefs and their implications. Thus, the debate regarding our identifications with secular and religious worldviews rages on.

Some of the questions we might ask ourselves in this ongoing debate are: 1) Is the critique or mocking of a religious idea or tradition in the name of secularism intended to expand freedom and inclusivity within a society, or does it serve to denigrate an ethnic or racial minority and demand social conformity or cultural assimilation? 2) Is there such a thing as equal opportunity mocking when the followers of the religion or group mocked are considered social outsiders? 3) Does the critique operate to balance power among societal institutions or perpetuate stereotypes and cultural fears that further exclude?

Joy R. Bostic, Associate Professor Department of Religious Studies

16

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2/20/15

The Jolly Scholar jolly.scholar

Percent

Wins

Losses

Percent

Emory

7

4

0.636

17

5

0.773

New York U.

7

4

0.636

16

6

0.727

Chicago

7

4

0.636

15

7

0.682

Washington

6

5

0.545

17

5

0.773

Case Western Reserve

6

5

0.545

15

7

0.682

Rochester

5

6

0.455

9

13

0.409

Carnegie Mellon

3

8

0.273

12

10

0.545

Brandeis

3

8

0.273

8

14

0.364

Conference

Women’s Basketball

All Losses

Percent

Chicago

10

1

0.909

16

6

0.727

New York U.

9

2

0.818

20

2

0.909

216.368.0090 mpv3@case.edu

Washington

9

2

0.818

20

2

0.909

Brandeis

5

6

0.455

13

9

0.591

Rochester

5

6

0.455

13

9

0.591

MTW RF Sat. Sun.

Carnegie Mellon

3

8

0.273

11

11

0.500

Emory

2

9

0.182

11

11

0.500

Case Western Reserve

1

10

0.091

7

15

0.318

11a – 12a 11a – 2a 12p – 2a 12p – 12a

We are happy to announce our new delivery system starts March 2.There are two shifts: 11:10 to 11:30 and 12:10 to 12:30. More details are on the Jolly Scholar Facebook page.

Calendar Trivia Night

Losses

Wins

Tapingo Deliveries to the Quad!

Karaoke Comedy & Grad Night Happy Hour

Wins

Percent

Call the Jolly Scholar for your next party. Any budget, any size, we will make it happen.

Thurs

All

Losses

Catering!

Wed

Conference

Men’s Basketball

Wins

@JollyScholar

Tues

Sports Standings

Conference

Men’s Tennis

All

Wins

Losses

Percent

Wins

Losses

Percent

Emory

0

0

0.000

2

0

1.000

Rochester

0

0

0.000

2

0

1.000

Washington

0

0

0.000

2

0

1.000

Brandeis

0

0

0.000

1

0

1.000

Case Western Reserve

0

0

0.000

3

1

0.750

Chicago

0

0

0.000

5

2

0.714

Carnegie Mellon

0

0

0.000

4

2

0.667

New York U.

0

0

0.000

0

0

0.000

Conference

Women’s Tennis

All

Wins

Losses

Percent

Wins

Losses

Percent

Washington

0

0

0.000

2

0

1.000

Carnegie Mellon

0

0

0.000

5

1

0.833

Case Western Reserve

0

0

0.000

4

1

0.800

Chicago

0

0

0.000

4

2

0.667

Emory

0

0

0.000

1

1

0.500

New York U.

0

0

0.000

0

0

0.000

Rochester

0

0

0.000

0

1

0.000

Brandeis

0

0

0.000

0

1

0.000

Calendar Varsity Sport

Friday 2/20

Saturday 2/21

Sunday 2/22

Men's Basketball

Home vs. Emory 8:00 PM

Home vs Rochester 12:00 PM

Women's Basketball

Home vs. Emory 6:00 PM

Home vs Rochester 2:00 PM

Swimming & Diving

Midwest Invitational @ Chicago 6:00 PM (CT)

Midwest Invitational @ Chicago 11:00 AM/5:00 PM (CT)

Track & Field

Greater CLE College Championship @ Baldwin Wallace 5:00 PM

Away @ All-Ohio Championship -Westerville, Ohio 12:00 PM

Fri

Sat

Sun

Wrestling

Home vs. Si. Ostrach 11:00 AM

40’s & Fridays

Charity Late Night

All You Can Eat Wings & Football

Women’s Tennis

@ Oberlin 9:00 AM

Men’s Tennis

ITA DIII National Team Indoor Championship @ St. Peter Minn.

ITA DIII National Team Indoor Championship @ St. Peter Minn.

17

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On the verge Andrew Hodowanec Contributing Reporter The Spartans split last weekend going 1-1, first seeing their losing streak the New York University (NYU) Violets 94-73. Despite four Spartans scoring double digits, including a standout 18-point performance by senior guard Julien Person, the men were unable to keep pace with the Violets’ onslaught.

The Violets came out of the gate strong shooting 11-for-14 and quickly accumulating a 24-8 lead. The Spartans appeared resurgent as they scored 10 unanswered and brought the game to within three with Despite the rally, NYU answered with seven points to make it 39-34 at the half.

A comeback seemed possible, as the Spartans surged out of the locker room with a three-pointer from senior forward 41-40. Unfortunately, the men could not hold onto the momentum and succumbed to 11-4 and 17-5 runs by the Violets.

Following the disappointing loss in New York, the Spartans traveled north and snapped their losing streak with a 71-55 win over Brandeis University, but

Originally scheduled to be played on Sunday, heavy snowfall in the area postponed the game until Monday. Despite the cold, the Spartans were hot, with senior center Connor Edel leading the team with 16 points, tying his career high. The Spartans began with a quick 12-4 run and were up 24-12 with 8:52 left to play in the half. Freshman forward Eric Black scored off a layup to give the Spartans a big 16-point lead before the half.

The Judges were unable to stop a dominant Spartan team as they returned

Andrew Hodowanec/Observer Jordan Dean guards a Washington University player in a lost at home. Last weekend, the team split their roadtrip at NYU and Brandeis.

a game-high 21 points. The men never looked back, maintaining at least an 11-point lead until the final buzzer. the Spartans, now 15-7 and 6-5 in the University Athletic Association, are in a tie for second place in the conference and one game behind a three-way tie for first. The Spartans will face one of those first place teams, No. 18 Emory University (Ga.), on Friday, Feb. 20 at 8 p.m. in Adelbert Gymnasium to kick off CWRU’s 10th Annual Throwback Weekend. The throwback weekend continues against the University of Rochester (N.Y.) on Sunday at noon in Adelbert Gymnasium.

Men’s Basketball

CWRU

71

Brandeis

55

CWRU

Brandeis

#

Player

PTS

AST

REB

BLK

TO

MIN

#

Player

PTS

AST

REB

BLK

TO

MIN

42

B. Klements

11

1

6

0

1

18

1

T. Reale

8

1

7

0

0

24

44

D. McLoughlin

14

0

5

1

1

34

10

J. Cooper

15

0

7

0

1

32

50

C. Edel

16

2

7

0

2

23

13

C. Arnold

0

7

5

0

1

31

2

J. Holman

2

7

1

0

1

29

2

C. Smith

7

4

1

0

0

30

10

J. Person

6

6

5

0

0

25

3

R. Vilmont

9

0

1

0

4

26

5

J. Dean

0

1

0

0

1

11

4

C. Haymon

7

1

0

0

0

17

11

M. Clark

4

1

2

0

1

15

11

KJ Baptiste

0

1

2

0

0

6

15

D. Black

5

0

6

0

1

14

15

S. Dowden

0

0

0

0

1

11

21

E. Black

11

3

4

0

2

24

23

J. DeSimone

0

0

0

0

0

2

24

S. Boyd

2

1

0

1

0

7

24

N. Meehan

9

0

2

0

0

21

Team Totals

71

22

36

2

10

55

14

25

0

7

Team Totals

Women’s basketball woes continue through snow against UAA rivals Evan Rose Staff Reporter The Spartans’ losing streak continued over the weekend, stretching to eight after away losses to New York University (NYU) and Brandeis University. They fell to 7-15 overall and 1-10 in the University Athletic Association.

The team lost to 11th-ranked NYU 69-52 on Friday at the Jerome S. Coles Sports Center in Brooklyn.

Senior and junior forwards Berit Ep-

pard and Laura Mummey were the scoring leaders for the game, both scoring 10. However, NYU’s Megan Dawe had an outstanding night, with a game-high 25 points.

Leading the game in rebounds was senior guard Brooke Orcutt with 10; Orcutt However, the Spartans were behind in the rebounding differential 32-41.

The NYU Bobcats dominated the game from the beginning, powering to a 47-30 lead at the half off of 44 percent shooting. They capitalized on CWRU

turnovers, a continuous problem for the Spartans, scoring 25 points off turnovers to the Spartans’ 11.

Although the Spartans rallied back with a 12-4 run in the middle of the second half, they were unable to take the lead, with NYU deciding the game in the last 10 minutes.

Auerbach Arena in Boston, to take on Brandeis University on Monday.

The game was scheduled to take place the day before but was delayed due to heavy snow and ice in the area.

The latest snowstorm in a string of major winter weather hitting Boston over the past few weeks left parts of the area with as much as 20 inches of new

Women’s Basketball

snow only days before the game.

Notwithstanding, the Brandeis Judges defeated the Spartans 77-68, despite Orcutt’s double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Sophomore guard Jessica McCoy was also a high scorer, contributing 15 points to the Spartans’ total 68.

Although CWRU maintained a lead early in the first half and led Brandeis both in points off turnovers and second chance points, the Judges bench dominated the Spartans, outscoring the women’s team 41-11.

By the end of the game, Brandeis had thoroughly secured the lead, with it reaching 17 before ending at nine at the final buzzer.

CWRU

68

Brandeis

77

CWRU Player

PTS

AST

REB

BLK

TO

MIN

#

Player

PTS

AST

REB

BLK

TO

MIN

12

L. Mummey

14

1

2

0

2

30

50

M. Jackson

5

1

6

0

0

27

26

13

F. Pinto

8

1

1

0

0

19

14

N. Laskaris

8

1

2

0

1

16

15

S. Sodine

0

2

0

0

2

15

32

H. Cain

15

2

3

0

1

25

4

N. Hodges

10

1

0

0

2

17

5

T. Dobson

0

0

1

0

2

3

12

C. McNamara

10

3

2

0

2

24

24

P. Hodges

7

1

3

0

2

22

35

B. Eppard

7

2

5

1

2

22

J. McCoy

15

3

1

0

0

26

24

A. Germer

0

3

4

0

4

28

41

Andrew Hodowanec/Observer Amanda Germer faces off against a Washington University defender.

Brandeis

#

B. Orcutt

21

3

10

0

6

36

2

K. Hageman

2

3

3

0

1

27

20

E. Reynolds

9

1

0

0

1

14

23

A. Roth

0

1

0

0

1

4

33

A. Smith

0

0

1

0

0

2

34

H. Cain

13

1

7

0

0

21

43

R. Beaty

0

0

0

0

0

7

44

O. Shaw

1

0

3

0

3

11

Team Totals

68

17

26

1

17

Team Totals

77

13

28

0

15

18

sports

2/20/15

Arko’s Cleveland Corner

Jason Giambi calls it a career

Joey Arko Staff Reporter Jason Giambi decided he had taken his last swing. On Monday Giambi called it quits after 20 Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons and playing for four different clubs, his last being the Cleveland Indians. A five-time All-Star, Giambi is 44 years old and leaves the game with the reputation of being a bigtime slugger at the plate.

With career numbers consisting of .277 batting average, 2010 hits, 440 home runs and 1,441 RBI, Giambi’s numbers alone justify at least some consideration for Cooperstown. However, his admitted steroid use earlier in his career will serve as a major blemish on his hall of fame resume, and voters will have to decide on whether or not his steroid stint was major enough to keep him out of the hall of fame.

Being able to continue his career and move forward past those times has not been taken lightly by Giambi. He has

said he is grateful that the MLB and fans alike were able to accept him after his admitted to mistakes involving steroid his retirement announcement: “I want to thank the fans for being a part of this incredible journey. I especially want to thank the fans that gave me a second chance to let me show you the human being I am today.”

However, it has been rumored that perhaps Giambi won’t be walking away from the game entirely just yet. Earlier in the year, the Cleveland Indians offered him work in a non-playing role in the event he retired. Although the 44-year-old couldn’t run the bases or play the field well in his later years, he could still swing the bat with tremendous power.

It wouldn’t be crazy to assume he could teach others to do so, as well.

His career offensive capabilities bode well for his potential to be a hitting coach or even a mentor for an MLB ball club, and perhaps this is what the

Indians had in mind when they offered him a non-playing position for the team.

Only time will tell what Giambi decides to do. However, he has a chance to remain around baseball beyond his professional playing career, and most likely with the Cleveland Indians. His teachings would undoubtedly be beneficial to a ball club that could use a few more big swings to send them into the playoffs.

Considering how well-liked he has been during his playing tenure with the Tribe, the fans certainly wouldn’t mind having him around for a bit longer, either.

Joey Arko is a current senior at Case Western Reserve University working towards his degree in English with a Marketing minor. Aside from The Observer he also writes for CavsNation, submitting articles pertaining to the analysis of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Born and raised in a suburb just outside the city, his love for Cleveland transcends beyond just it’s sports teams. He also really loves Cleveland bars.

Celebrate Throwback Weekend tonight and Sunday Julia Bianco News Editor This weekend the Case Western Reserve University men’s and women’s basketball teams are going to be hosting the 10th Annual Throwback Weekend in the Adelbert Gymnasium.

The women will play Emory University at 6 p.m. on Feb. 20, while the men will play Emory the same day at 8 p.m. Then, on Feb. 22, the men will play Rochester University at noon and the women will play them at 2 p.m.

The men wear the uniforms of the Western Reserve University Red Cats and the Case Institute of Technology Rough Riders, the two schools that joined together in 1967 to form CWRU, while the women wear the uniforms of the Flora Stone Mather College for Women.

The Throwback Weekend tradition began in 2006 and was held in the Adelbert Gymnasium until 2009. In 2010 it moved to Horsburgh Gymnasium. This original location.

Beginnings and endings David Hoffman Staff Reporter It was a long, strenuous journey for all involved, but the campus indoor hockey tournament has reached its conclusion. The league champion, as well as the consolation bracket champion, has been crowned. Let’s review the ending of the tournament.

In the semifinals, No Ra-Gretzkies topped SigEp by a final score of 5-3 to advance to the finals. Meanwhile, Dental Dynasty tripled up Zeta Psi by a 9-3 tally to set up the championship bout.

Ultimately, No Ra-Gretzkies took home the title in a decisive 5-1 triumph against Dental Dynasty. For No Ra-Gretzkies, it was a run that “The Great One” himself would have been proud of.

As for the consolation bracket, the ing. Snakes and Vests edged out Delta while BME SunDevils survived a slugfest against The Sports Fiesta, escaping with a prevailed against Snakes and Vests by a 9-4 score to claim the title of Consolation Bracket champions.

An incredible run for BME SunDevils certainly ended in glorious fashion.

With the floor hockey tournament in the rearview mirror, intramural basketball has taken a front seat on campus.

With five leagues’ worth of teams set

to go at it, the action promises to be intense. While a couple of the leagues tipped off the action already, the others are set to begin play later in the week.

The leagues include: the Co-Rec SelfOfficiated league, the Fraternity B No Refs league, the Fraternity No Refs league, the Open Paid Officials league and the Open Self-Officiated league. tipped off, with several games already in the books to begin the season. Basketball Team defeated No Casualties 37-29. M4evah prevailed against #TeamGetSwole Applebee’s got the better of #TeamGetSwole 32-20. K540 mauled MSA to the tune of 60-26. M4evah defeated Eastern Reserves (Green) 39-24. Bearsley and the Boys triumphed over Swim and Dive 5227. TiP TOE WiNG JAWWDiNZ(Purple) emerged victorious against House4, while Tippit Tipsy Turtles defeated Money Team. $ad boyz got the better of The Business Fraternity. Dream Runner edged out Ball is life 33-31.

Last Minute prevailed over Norton Hears a Who 43-26. Hemoglobin Trotters nearly doubled up ChemE Grad, winning 45-23. CIM survived a tight contest against Vinculum Juris by a 31-28 final. Half-Court Hook Shots took care of business against Runnin’ Gunners(Black) by a 43-30 score. BME SunDevils defeated ChemE Grad 36-28, while Hemoglobin Trotters were victorious over CIM 41-31. Vinculum Juris

decisively beat $ad boyz 49-32. Dream Runner prevailed over Half-Court Hook Shots 48-36.

Last Minute defeated The Business Fraternity 49-31, while Ball is Life was victorious against House4. Money Team eked out a 49-45 victory against Norton Hears a Who. Took ur Gma to Applebee’s beat TiP TOE WiNG JAWWDiNZ(Purple) 50-36. K540 defeated Tippit Tipsy Turtles 42-27, while No Casualties emerged victorious over Eastern Reserves(Green) in a 25-24 thriller. MSA prevailed over Swim and Dive 28-21. Finally, Basketball Team defeated Bearsley and the Boys 40-34.

The Co-Rec Self-Officiated League has also gotten underway. Fiji/APhi defeated Prashant’s backup Dancers, while Delt/Phi Mu mauled Beta/TriSigma 41-17. Theta prevailed against APO Volunteers(Dark Blue).

Last but not least, the Open Paid Officials League has tipped off as well.

The Smash Bros(Purple) eked out a 3432 victory over The Wolfpugs. Team Guenther defeated Veteran Presence 36-23. Monstars ran Flint Tropics out of the gym 54-33, while Tune Squad prevailed over THE All Night Samplers 3430. The Retractors beat Free Riders in a barn burner 36-35. Finally, You Know Why We’re Here ran roughshod over Dirty Dental Dump 44-20. the action begins to pick up across all leagues.

ples and giveaways from vendors including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Buffalo Wild Wings, the Residence Inn, 1-2-1 Fitness and The Jolly Scholar. The new student group, Blue CWRU, aiming to improve school spirit, will also have a table with face painting.

There will also be performances from the cheerleaders, the pep band and Spartan Bhangra. ball team, the Avon Lake Shoregals, and children from the Mary Bathune Elementary School will come for meet and greet sessions and autographs with the team.

Observer Archives Former Spartan dons the traditional Mather College uniform in previous Throwback Weekend.

19

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Editor’s choice

Spartans among Ohio’s best

Alter Egos: The Observer picks favorite rival mascots

Adithi Iyengar Copy Editor

Maria Fazal Copy Editor

The enduring icons of sports, especially at the collegiate level, are the team mascots. The Wolverines, the Buckeyes, the Bulldogs, the Tigers and dozens of other mascots all stand as iconic and historic members of sports history. But what about the more obscure mascots? Especially at the DIII level the mascots can venture from common, The Spartans play three different favorite mascots from around the area.

New York University (NYU): The BobCat/Violets While school color is still violet, the university mascot is no lonbody suit and had arms in the shape of green violet leaves. It also had a necklace made of purple petals and purple face with yellow hair. This mascot was instituted in 1983 only to be replaced in 1984 by the BobCat. this was based on a character that symbolized a new computer catalog in Bobst Library. It is said to create a link between academic Heidelberg University: The Student Prince According to legend, Edwin R. Butcher, alumni the Heidelberg mascot. Apparently, Butcher saw a theater billboard advertising Sigmund Romberg’s operetta, “The Student Prince,” which is about a German prince’s tutor, who was a graduate of the University of Heidelberg (Heidelberg’s German complement and Germany’s oldest university) and encouraged the prince to attend said university.

The prince followed his tutor’s advice and had a ball at the university, succeeding in academics, Greek Life and even love. Channeling the fairytale-like story’s success, Butcher began calling the university’s football team “The Student Princes,” and the name stuck, replacing previous mascot, the Cardinal.

Muskingum University: The Fighting Muskies As fans of all sports we truly apprepike family that are great to catch. However the college derives its name form the Muskingum River in eastern Muskingum is both unique and perfectly logical.

freshman Aidan DeSanto. Freshman Sam ter run and freshman Grant Mlack vaulted himself to fourth in the 60-meter hurdles.

Sports Editor The highest jumpers, fastest runners and strongest throwers in the state of Ohio came together last weekend in the AllOhio DIII Track and Field Championship.

Many of the Spartan athletes fell in this in the state, while the women’s squad placed eighth.

The Spartans pulled up 84 points between the two teams, 42 points each. The championship meet was swept by the Mount Union teams, who took home both the men’s and women’s team titles.

The men’s squad was boosted to their peting squads with their record breaking performances both the 4X200 and niors Jonathan Freeman and senior Josh Malone, along with sophomore Nathaniel Wahner and freshman Andrew Ibibo.

The Spartans posted an impressive time of 1:30.76. This time was more than two whole seconds faster than last weekend’s winning and record time of 1:33.23 for the Spartans, impressive improvement.

Wahner team up again, along with sophomore Nico Ericksen-Deris and junior Devon Belew, to beat the competition across

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU): The Tartans warrior, either from the Asian tundra or the Scottish highlands. However, Tartan is, in fact, just a twilled woolen fabric with a plaid pattern. It is of the tribute to the founder’s Scottish heritage, who was born in Dunfermline, Scotland.

The founder of the school, Andrew Carnegie, was one of the pioneer industrialists in the United States.The Tartan is now portrayed with a Scottish terrier which has now become the mascot of the Tartans as of spring, 2007.

Ohio Northern University (ONU): Klondike the Polar Bear ONU’s beloved and furry mascot has graced uniforms, logos, banners and the like since 1923. Klondike received a makeover fairly recently and has apparently been treating himself to ice cream while also maintaining a workout regimen that includes strength training. The polar bear doesn’t just attend sporting events, however. He is also a member and president of the Fur Club for Bears at ONU. As for life outside of work, Ohio’s only polar bear sometimes visits and does “bear stuff” with his Alaskan cousin, Kenai. Nevertheless, Klondike maintains, “When I’m not on the job, I tend to lie low —it adds to the whole mystique thing.”

Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU): The Battling Bishops In 1925, the OWU teams adopted their official nickname, The Battling Bishops. This was the same year that the grumpy-looking bishop became their mascot. The colors, crimson-red and black, date back all the way to 1885.

Bluffton University: The Beavers Having beavers as a school mascot seems rather arbitrary. However, in the 1920s, a longtime coach and athletics director suggested having the beaver as the mascot due to smaller size, endurance (since it does not tire easily) and its resourcefulness. A beaver can easily build a dam with its teammates with merely small twigs and branches.

Brandeis University (BU): The Judges BU’s mascot is named for Louis D. Brandeis, who was actually a lawyer and associate justice— not a judge—but that just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Nevertheless, Brandeis has been idealized by the university for his dedication to justice and education, along with his Judaic faith. BU is a nonsectarian Jewish institution.

Bobcat logo courtesy New York University Sports Information. Student Price logo courtesy Heidelberg University Sports Information. Tartan logo courtesy Carnegie Mellon Sports Information. Beaver Logo courtesy: Bluffton University Sports Information. Polar Bear logo courtesy Ohio Northern University. Judges logo courtesy Brandeis University Sports Information.

University record time of 3:26.74, the second CWRU record to fall that day. the Spartans placed second in the distance medley, which was run by Ibibo and Deris, along with sophomore Joe Ledger and

Kulinski followed up his record-setting meet last weekend with a third place 4.80-meter pole vault.

The women’s 42 points were good for an eighth place out of 19 teams at the AllOhio Championships, and while no Sparslew of strong places to claim the eighthplace spot.

Kelsey Aamoth, who ran that 3,000-meter In the following event, senior Kristen Ruckstuhl came in second as well, in the utes at a quick 12:42.94. Junior Lydia Greene also added points for the Spartans Aamoth teamed up with fellow junior Juliana Ross, freshman Danielle Kulpins and senior McKenzie Braun to put towith a time of 12:42.94.

10.95-meter triple jump, and senior Sophia Herzog cleared the 3.21-meter bar in the pole vault. Finally Temi Omilabu threw a 14.15-meter distance for an The Spartans return to competition tonight as they compete against all the cross-town rivals. The Spartans will travel to Baldwin Wallace University to compete in the Greater Cleveland College Championship. The action kicks off tonight at 5 p.m.

All-Ohio DIII Track and Field Championship Men Women Place

School

Points

Place

School

Points

1

Mount Union (UMU)

141

1

Mount Union (UMU)

127.5

2

Ohio Wesleyan (OW)

127

2

Ohio Wesleyan (OW)

111

3

John Carroll (JCU)

72

3

Otterbein (OU)

79

4

Ohio Northern (ON)

53

4

Baldwin Wallace (BW)

68.5

5

Otterbein (OU)

47

5

Ohio Northern (ON)

44

6

CWRU

42

6

Wittenberg (WU)

41

7

Baldwin Wallace (BW)

39

7

Denison (DU)

36

8

Wilmington (WC)

27

8

CWRU

33 30

9

Capital (CU)

23

9

Heidelberg (HU)

10

Defiance (DC)

23

10

Oberlin (OC)

24

11

Muskingum (MU)

21

11

Wooster (CoW)

22

12

Wittenberg (WU)

21

12

Wilmington (WC)

21

13

Bluffton (BU)

17

13

Kenyon (KC)

17 14

14

Heidelberg (HU)

13

14

John Carroll (JCU)

15

Kenyon (KC)

12

15

Marietta (MC)

12

16

Denison (DU)

10

16

Bluffton (BU)

10

17

Wooster (CoW)

10

17

Capital (CU)

6

18

Oberlin (OC)

2

18

Defiance (DC)

4

Men’s Track Events

Women’s Track Events

Event

Winning Time

Winner

School

Event

Winning Time

Winner

60 Meter Hurdles

8.32

A. Milhoan

UMU

60 Meter Hurdles

8.80

M. Winters

BW

60 Meter Dash

6.96

J. Chen

WC

60 Meter Dash

7.87

M. Winters

BW

School

1 Mile Run

4:22.14

N. Banks

JCU

1 Mile Run

5:12.39

A. Warth

OW

400 Meter Dash

49.39

T. Mettille

UMU

400 Meter Dash

58.54

C. Reese

UMU OW

800 Meter Run

1:55.12

M. Molinaro

ONU

800 Meter Run

2:17.13

K. Reid

200 Meter Dash

22.27

T. Mettille

UMU

200 Meter Dash

25.82

B. Medlock

WU

4 x 200 Meter Relay

1:29.56

Team A

OW

4 x 200 Meter Relay

4:13.28

Team A

UMU

4 x 400 Meter Relay

3:26.74

Team A

CWRU

4 x 400 Meter Relay

4:06.39

Team A

WU

Distance Medley

10:25.62

Team A

CM

Distance Medley

12:30.59

Team A

OU

5000 Meter Run

15:19.37

A. Wilson

UMU

5000 Meter Run

17:30.25

C.Campbell

UMU

3000 Meter Run

8:42.10

J. Sotos

OW

3000 Meter Run

10:15.62

S. Fowler

OW

Men’s Field Events Event

Winning Distance

Winner

Women’s Field Events School

Event

Winning Distance

Winner

School BW

High Jump

1.95 m

T. Everett

BU

High Jump

1.63m

M. Winters

Long Jump

7.18m

D. Spinks

DC

Long Jump

5.89m

M. Winters

BW

Shot Put

13.72 m

S. Donnelly

UMU

Shot Put

13.42m

M. Bolen

WC

Weight Throw

17.95m

T. Burdorff

BW

Weight Throw

16.07m

M. Haasz

HU

Triple Jump

14.04m

L. Allison

CU

Triple Jump

11.56m

A. Brennan

DU

Pole Vault

4.80m

T. Orewiler

UMU

Pole Vault

3.66 m

J. D'Errico

OU

sports Spartans future looks bright Sports Editor When freshman Drew Hamilton pulled himself from the pool and dried off for the last time in Atlanta, Georgia last weekend, his list of accomplishments had grown monumentally.

Hamilton led the swimming and diving squads at the University Athletic Association The host, Emory University, swept the meet, winning both the men’s and women’s team titles.

Spartans, the Case Western Reserve University squad still had a strong showing at the multi-day meet.

Hamilton had a meet for the ages, as he set four school records over a three-day period, placing him already near the top of the Spartan swimming history. Hamilton swam a 15:54.06 in the 1,650-yard freestyle that while good enough for fourth at the meet, was his third CWRU record of the weekend.

In addition to the 1,650 free record, Hamilton set records in the 500 free, with a time of 4:28.98, the 400 individual medley (IM) and the 1,000 free.

The showing earned Hamilton received one of the highest honors at the UAA conference level, the UAA Rookie of the Year Award.

However, Hamilton and the Spartans were not done, as Aaron Tam and Oliver Hudgins made their way to the podium with a school record for Hudgins in the 200 backstroke at a in the 1:51.56.

For the women, freshman Mary Katherine Miller broke two records herself, both in the IM. Miller broke last-year-graduate Sara Tillie’s CWRU records in both the 200 IM and 400 IM races at the UAA meet. Miller swam a 4:33.51 in the 400-meter race, while touching the wall at the 2:07.31 mark in the 200 meter . the 200-relay team, comprised of freshmen Jennifer Eurich, Ellie Wilson and Inez Moore, ing seventh out of many relay teams from each team. Moore, Parkadooni and Wilson were aided by freshman Cassandra Laios, as they again made the podium at the seventh spot.

While the Spartans were unable to climb into the upper levels of the UAA during the meet, the young talent of Miller and Hamilton—as well as many of their classmates—shows the great potential the CWRU swimming and diving program has in the coming years.

In the meantime, most of the Spartans

Courtesy Kike Afolabi-Brown/Emory Wheel

will travel to Chicago this weekend to compete in the Midwest Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 20 and Feb. 21. The action kicks off at 6 p.m. Central Time.

Courtesy Kike Afolabi-Brown/Emory Andrew Hodowanec/Observer Top: UAA Swimmers wait on the blocks before a race at the UAA Championship.

Bottom Left: Spartan swimmer in meet at Veale earlier in season. Bottom Right: UAA swimmer at championship.

UAA Swimming and Diving Championship Men Women Place

School

Points

Place

School

1

Emory (EU)

2076.5

1

Emory (EU)

1551

2

Washington (WU)

1347.5

2

Chicago (UC)

1408

3

Chicago (UC)

1184

3

New York (NYU)

1374

4

New York (NYU)

1129.5

4

Washington (WU)

1296

5

Carnegie Mellon (CMU)

1031

5

Carnegie Mellon (CMU)

1001

6

Rochester (RU)

806.5

6

CWRU

794

7

CWRU

594

7

Rochester (RU)

669

8

Brandeis (BU)

293

8

Brandeis (BU)

391

Men’s Swimming Events Event

Winning Time

Winner

Women’s Swimming Events School

Event

Winning Time

Winner

School

200 Yd. Medley Relay

1:34.89

Team A

WU

200 Yd. Medley Relay

1:44.73

Team A

EU

1650 Yd. Freestyle

10:17.96

D. Hamilton

CWRU

1650 Yd. Freestyle

17:28.71

M. Carnley

EU

800 Yd. Freestyle Relay

6:41.95

Team A

UC

800 Yd. Freestyle Relay

7:29.62

Team A

EU

100 Yd. Freestyle

45.13

J. Morrell

UC

100 Yd. Freestyle

50.83

N. Larson

EU EU

200 Yd. Backstroke

1:49.76

J. Scheuer

EU

200 Yd. Backstroke

2:01.77

C. Cheng

200 Yd. Breaststroke

2:00.20

A. Wilson

EU

200 Yd. Breaststroke

2:17.16

L. Aronoff

EU

100 Yd. Butterfly

55.33

R. Dalton

WU

50 Yd. Freestyle

23.75

N. Larson

EU

50 Yd. Freestyle

20.13

J. Crowley

NYU

100 Yd. Freestyle

56.53

J. Eurich

CWRU

100 Yd. Backstroke

49.74

C. Moody

NYU

100 Yd. Backstroke

55.27

E. Doerner

NYU

100 Yd. Breaststroke

55.02

A. Wilson

EU

100 Yd. Breaststroke

1:03.43

L. Aronoff

EU

500 Yd. Freestyle

4:28.98

D. Hamilton

CWRU

500 Yd. Freestyle

4:52.88

N. Schoenb

EU

200 Yd. IM

1:49.34

A. Wilson

EU

200 Yd. IM

2:04.46

A. Kowalsky

EU

400 Yd. IM

3:57.64

P. Kang

NYU

400 Yd. IM

4:24.71

M. Beach

EU

400 Yd. IM Relay

3:16.70

Team A

EU

400 Yd. IM Relay

3:47.33

Team A

EU

200 Freestyle Relay

1:25.82

Team A

WU

200 Freestyle Relay

1:34.98

Team A

EU

Men’s Diving Events

Courtesy Kike Afolabi-Brown/Emory Wheel An Emory swimmer dives off the blocks. Emory hosted the Championship and swept the team titles.

Points

Women’s Diving Events

Event

Winning Score

Winner

School

Event

Winning Score

Winner

School

1 Meter Dive

543.90

A. Blease

3 Meter Dive

536.45

A. Blease

NYU

1 Meter Dive

425.05

A. Campiteli

NYU

NYU

3 Meter Dive

433.85

A. Campiteli

NYU