010915 Chicago Maroon

FRIDAY • JANUARY 9, 2015

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ISSUE 18 • VOLUME 126

Univ. mobilizes to save Obama library bid University releases committee’s statement on free expression Isaac Stein Senior News Staff

UChicago’s bid to bring the Obama Presidential Library to Hyde Park faces challenges after the Obama Foundation expressed concerns about property rights on the proposed sites. Neither of the two prospective sites for the library are owned solely by the University.

COURTESY OF UCHICAGO NEWS OFFICE

Marina Fang & Ankit Jain Senior News Editor & Senior News Staff

After the Barack Obama Foundation expressed concern with UChicago’s Obama Library proposal, the University has mobilized the support of the mayor, several local aldermen, and numerous community groups to try to save its bid. The

University on Tuesday disclosed the location of its proposed sites for the first time in the start of a public process to secure the land it hopes to be the site of the library.

The University had proposed three different sites as potential locations for the library: Washington Park, Jackson Park, and an area close to the South Shore Cultural Center. Neither the

University nor the city of Chicago owns the land on any of these sites—a major concern of the Barack Obama Foundation, the organization charged with planning the logistics of the library, according to comments recently made public.

The South Shore Cultural Center is now off the table due to controversies over its lakeLIBRARY continued on page 3

On Tuesday, the Committee on Freedom of Expression (FOE) issued its report, which stated that it is imperative for the University to defend the expression of ideas, even at the fringes of unpopular or offensive opinions. The FOE is a seven-person faculty group organized in July to articulate the University of Chicago’s institutional values in a formal statement.

The report, which was distributed by President Robert J. Zimmer to the student body via e-mail, stated that the University must be an environment in which all “ideas and opinions” may be expressed, “however offensive or disagreeable those ideas may be to some members of our community.” The report was compiled by the FOE over a period of six months, and was

Katherine Vega News Staff The University announced a $13 million donation from the Neubauer Family Foundation to fund new programs for underrepresented and international students in late December. The donation is an expansion of No Barriers, the new financial aid policy announced

last fall.

The donation will go towardstarting or expanding four programs for undergraduates and prospective students. The Neubauer Family Foundation is a non profit run by University Trustee Joseph Neubauer, M.B.A. ’65.

The first program, Neubauer No Barriers Scholarships for International Students, will

provide more need-based scholarships for non-U.S. citizens, including undocumented students. The University guarantees that it will meet 100 percent of demonstrated need for all students. However, according to the admissions website, financial aid remains “needsensitive” for international students, meaning that their AID continued on page 3

FEMMES denied RSO status, twice Cairo Lewis News Staff A student group that supports women in STEM fields, Females Excelling More in Math, Engineering, and Science (FEMMES), has twice been denied RSO status. The group was first denied status on November 19, 2014 and after appealing was again denied on December 4, 2014.

After consideration with members from CORSO (Committee on Recognized

IN VIEWPOINTS

Land of the free? » Page 5 Strategic Satire » Page 6

Student Organizations) and the Center for Leadership and Involvement (CLI), CLI Director Sarah Cunningham made the final decision.

The group is still working alongside the University of Chicago’s Office of Special Programs and the computer science department to plan events for the year.

Fourth-year Sarah Li and third-years Megan Renshaw, Emilee Urbanek, and Alice Chang established FEMMES at the University in late

spring of 2014. According to FEMMES Marketing Director Morgane Richer La Flèche, the organization encourages young women to help bridge the gender gap in technology through mentorship and first hand experience at daylong FEMMES technology workshops.

“We want to get girls involved in computer science at a young age to encourage more women to pursue technology in college and beyond,” Richer FEMMES continued on page 3

affirmation of the University’s values, which can then be used as a reference by the Administration in evaluating cases involving questions of free expression.

“We were not attempting to create a statement of values that did not already exist as a part of our institutional culture. The points outlined in the document are a statement of principle. It’s not a manual for how the University should respond to particular cases, but rather a tool which it can apply when working out what to do in a difficult situation,” Woodward said.

The document does, however, leave an open-ended question of what, exactly, constitute “ideas” and “opinions,”—the two classifications of speech covered by the statement. According to Geoffrey Stone, chair of the FOE and a professor of law at the University, to define those terms is outside the intend scope

French Club mourns Paris shooting Sarah Manhardt News Editor

$13 million to expand No Barriers

released in the wake of several recent controversies related to on-campus race relations.

While the statement did indicate that the University would stand behind expressions of unpopular opinions, it also acknowledged that certain forms of speech exist that go against the University’s mission as an institution.

“The University may restrict expression that violates the law, that falsely defames a specific individual, that constitutes a genuine threat or harassment, that unjustifiably invades substantial privacy or confidentiality interests, or that is otherwise directly incompatible with the functioning of the University,” the statement read.

According to Amanda Woodward, a member of the FOE and a professor of psychology at the University, the purpose of the report was to issue an

In the wake of the recent terrorist attack on a French satirical newspaper, the University’s French Club responded by hosting two events in Chicago, including holding a moment of silence for the victims.

On January 7, gunmen killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo, known for its provocative cartoons that have parodied Islam, as well as many other religions and political groups. The gunmen appear to have some affiliation with Al Qaeda, reported The New York Times.

“The goal [of this attack] was to destroy this newspaper, and to try and kill the newspaper. [It] gave birth to and united people who would have otherwise been divided over the content of the newspaper—it united people in defending what allows the paper to exist in the first place,” French Club president and fourth-year Eve Zuckerman said in between the two events.

Zuckerman organized an event at the Alliance Française cultural center in Chi-

people.”

Thomas Pavel, a French professor at the University, said French society has a tradition of more provocative humor than in America.

“This is their kind of humor: rude, coarse, but hitting some important truths. Because the French need this kind of joke, it is a way of making fun of everything,” he wrote in an email.

French professor Desan Philippe said he thinks French society has become more tame, which Charlie Hebdo combatted.

“There’s a sentiment that there is a tradition in France, I would not say of insults, but of strong debates, where words are really important, probably more twenty or thirty years ago than today,” he said.

“Today I think we’re more polite, more Americanized, insults are not flying around anymore, it’s not as accepted, and people feel there’s a limit; and [Charlie Hebdo] push[ed] back, there’s a philosophy behind the magazine that says, ‘No, we do not believe this has ended, that is why we’ve continued to do the work.’”

IN SPORTS

IN ARTS

Spektral Quartet

cago within hours of the shooting on Wednesday.

Over 200 people gathered in solidarity, and the Consul General of France in Chicago Vincent Floreani made a speech.

The French Club also hosted a moment of silence on Wednesday on campus that was originally planned as the French Club’s celebration with galette des rois cake. Over forty students attended, as well as Floreani. Both Zuckerman and the president of the Muslim Students Association, third-year Salman Sayeed Islam, also spoke at the event.

“According to what sources tell us and our understanding of the event, the people who decided to senselessly murder 12 innocent individuals at a satirical magazine did it in the name of the prophet Muhammad,” he said. “Now I want to be clear that to the understanding of every Muslim scholar who actually claims to have a true understanding of the religion, these actions are contradictory to the teachings that Muhammad imparted to his

» Page 9

The Sketch » Page 8

Wrestling: Squad finishes 2–1 at first meet back » Back page Swimming and Diving: Maroons look to make waves at Chicago Invitational » Page 11

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | January 9, 2015

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UCMC proposes $36 million for new adult emergency department Sarah Manhardt News Editor The University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) announced plans to build a new $36 million adult emergency department late last month. It will be on the first floor of a parking garage currently under construction, and is part of the UCMC’s modernization of its facilities.

The UCMC must receive permission from state regulators, the Illinois Health Facilities, and Services Review Board for the project. The

Board is scheduled to vote on the plans March 31, 2015. Emergency departments are colloquially referred to as emergency rooms (ER).

The new ER will have almost double the square footage of the current ER, which is located in the Bernard Mitchell Hospital. It will have 42 beds—six more than the current one—and an additional entrance. It will be connected to the new Center for Care and Discovery (CCD), the site of many of the UCMC’s services, by a tunnel and a bridge.

The UCMC cited overcrowding, long wait times, and a currently inef-

ficient location as needs for the new facility. The ER sees around 52,000 patients per year, with the number of patients rising over 5 percent annually since 2009. Approximately 6,000 patients, or 16 per day, leave before receiving treatment.

Patients who are ultimately discharged without admittance to the hospital spend on average six and a half hours in the UCMC ER, according to the UCMC’s application. The nationwide average is about 3.3 hours, according to a study done by the Emergency Department Benchmarking Alliance.

The UCMC emphasized the community’s need for these services in its application, noting that 82 percent of adult ER patients live in the immediate area and 52 percent are on Medicaid or are indigent.

The adult department sustained a $23 million operating loss last fiscal year.

“This [p]roject demonstrates our enduring commitment to lowincome and other vulnerable populations, and our Adult [ER] is an anchor for the South Side communities,” UCMC President Sharon O’Keefe wrote in the proposal.

The Emergency Medical Services in the City of Chicago (Region XI) submitted a letter in support of the UCMC’s proposal, citing its proposed easily accessible entrance and safety measures and the ability to reduce overcrowding in Chicago ERs. Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP), part of the Trauma Center Coalition advocating for a Level-I adult trauma center at the UCMC, requested a public hearing on the proposal.

If approved, the project is anticipated to be completed by March 2020.

Mayoral hopeful talks Chicago city finances, policing Christine Schmidt News Editor As the Chicago mayoral race gets underway, North Side alderman Bob Fioretti brought the campaign trail to the Institute of Politics on Monday evening.

Fioretti, a native Chicagoan who has been an outspoken critic of previous Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley and incumbent Rahm Emanuel, has represented the 2nd Ward of Chicago—which includes parts of Wicker Park, Old Town, and Lincoln Park—since 2007. He ran for mayor against Emanuel in 2011 before dropping out of the race to battle tonsil cancer. After being declared cancer-free last October, Fioretti is once again a candidate.

“This city [is] headed in the wrong direction,” he said, explaining his motivations to run. “On all counts, I said we can do better.”

Fioretti began by describing his South Side roots, coming from a home with an Italian immigrant father and a mother who spoke seven languages, translating letters for their neighbors. He eventually be-

came a lawyer, working to overturn wrongful convictions in Chicago before joining the City Council.

“I learned that politics in Chicago is not a spectator sport—everybody gets involved and engaged,” he said.

Chicago’s fiscal issues are one of the three main problems in the city today, he said, in addition to crime and education reform. He said a property tax increase, which has been used in the past to financially support the Chicago Public Schools, is “off the table”—but suggested that the city should ask the state of Illinois, which is also strapped for cash, to help fund the CPS system.

Fioretti explained how the city is also severely challenged by the lack of opportunities in certain neighborhoods. “We cannot divorce poverty from violence, from a lack of education, from a lack of hope,” he said. He wants the city to become more business-friendly, encouraging investment in lower-income neighborhoods through tax-free zones.

At the same time, Fioretti advocates for increasing taxes on corporations and closing loopholes that

cost the city millions of dollars.

He described how the airport commissioner told him that the reason Chicago funds part of the Gary/ Chicago International Airport in northwest Indiana is because that partnership allows Boeing, a corporation the city lured to Chicago several years ago, to store some of their corporate jets there.

Fioretti also noted his plan to introduce a commuter tax, adding a 1% increase to the federal tax rate on the paychecks of people who work in Chicago but live outside the city. “If they don’t like it, they can move here,” he said.

To address recent events regarding racial profiling and tension between police departments and residents across the country, Fioretti touched on the importance of hiring police officers from communities across Chicago, so they understand the intricacies of the issues facing the areas in which they work.

He did acknowledge the challenges of working as a police officer anywhere in Chicago: “It’s hard to be a police officer in this day and age,” he said. “Police officers

NEWS IN BRIEF Zimmer’s payment ranked 11th largest in 2012 Previously known as the highest-paid college president in the United States, University President Robert J. Zimmer is now ranked as the administrator with the 11th-largest compensation, according to a survey recently released by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The results published relied on data from 2012 salary figures, so the statistics do not reflect Zimmer’s current pay.

Zimmer’s ranking reflects a drop from the Chronicle’s 2011 ranking of Zimmer as the highest-paid university president in the U.S. There is a $1.5 million difference in pay between the 2011 and 2012 figures—Zimmer’s pay totaled $2,903,923 in 2011 and dropped to $1,369,856 in 2012. Most of the payment in 2011 was the result of a lump sum of wages Zimmer deferred in earlier years. Figures for 2013 are not currently published.

“The compensation of University officers is consistent with leaders of institutions of similar scale and caliber,” University spokesperson Steve Kloehn wrote

in an e-mail to the Maroon in November.

Kloehn said executive compensation was decided by the Board of Trustees with guidance from

an outside consultant and a recommendation from the President.

—Shelby Lohr

President/Institution

Total Compensation

Shirley Ann Jackson

$7,143,312

John L. Lahey

$3,759,076

Lee C. Bollinger

Columbia University

$3,389,917

Amy Gutmann

$2,473,952

Charles R. Middleton

$1,762,956

Susan Hockfield

$1,679,097

David W. Leebron

$1,522,502

John E. Sexton

$1,404,484

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Quinnipiac University

University of Pennsylvania Roosevelt University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rice University

New York University

Marc Tessier-Lavigne

$1,381,341

Richard C. Levin

$1,375,365

Robert J. Zimmer

$1,369,856

Rockefeller University Yale University

University of Chicago

Bob Fioretti, a mayoral candidate orginally from the South Side of Chicago, spoke on Monday at the Institute of Politics as part of his campaign. Fioretti discussed his views on recent issues involving fiscal matters, racial profiling, and education reform.

LIANA SONONCLAR | THE CHICAGO MAROON

can make mistakes.” One way to confront this issue, he added, is to encourage kids’ interest in the Chicago Police Department and public service through summer mentoring programs.

The alderman is running against

two other well-known Democrats in the February 2015 election— Emanuel and Cook County Commissioner Jesús “Chuy” Garcíåa, who has been endorsed by several unions including the powerful Chicago Teachers’ Union, already.

Official forum in February will follow Committee on Free Expression’s statement for students and faculty LIBRARY continued from front

of the statement.

“We actually played the game of imagining lots of hypotheticals [of cases involving freedom of expression] and trying to figure out how we would resolve those issues, but that’s not what we were asked to do,” Stone said.

However, Stone acknowledged that a gray area clearly exists in the hypothetical cases that the FOE broached.

“There might be some situations in which I might think an action in question fits within the concept of an idea that someone else does not think fits within the concept of an idea, so there will be cases where interpretations or applications are necessary. The word ‘idea,’ to me, at the margins, is ambiguous,” he said.

Students responded to the FOE statement with suggestions as to what the “offensive or disagreeable” ideas mentioned in the statement might manifest as in terms of on-campus issues. Fourth-year Rachel Katz said in an e-mail that the foremost concerns would be incidents in which issues of individual conceptions of “identity” are called into question.

“Persons of this generation seem to

be particularly concerned with “identity”... not only particular descriptions of ‘identity groups,’ especially as understood traditionally, but perhaps, more substantially, claims that suggest reduced stock be placed in the protection of ‘identity’ as such. So, challenges to the emotional orientation underlying ‘identity politics’ might constitute ideas ‘unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive’ to members of the University community,” Katz said.

Third-year Ken Armstrong agreed with Katz, and cited an incident which took place last May at the Institute of Politics (IOP) in which some students alleged that Dan Savage, a guest speaker and columnist who focuses on LGBT issues, had used language that was derogatory toward transsexuals.

“The University does a service of bringing guys [like Savage] to campus, so we as students can determine what is valid, and what is bullshit. We’re mature enough,” Armstrong said.

In the e-mail in which he sent the report to the student body, Zimmer said that the University will hold an official forum in February for students and faculty to discuss their thoughts on the FOE report.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | January 9, 2015

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Following concerns from Obama Library Foundation , University releases site proposals LIBRARY continued from front

front location. Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced on Monday that he would begin the process of transferring control of the two other sites from the Chicago Park District to the City of Chicago.

The Chicago Park District is a special jurisdictional district with its own institutional powers and authority, separate from the city’s authority. To transfer the property to the city, the Chicago Park District will vote to hand over control of the land, and the City Council will have to approve the transfer.

A spokesperson for the Chicago Park District declined a request for comment. The Park District will be holding two community meetings next week to solicit community feedback.

University spokesperson Jeremy Manier said that the University could not use land it currently owns in Hyde Park and Washington Park because

none of it is large enough to accommodate a presidential library.

“If you look at the last three presidential libraries, the total land is 50 acres on average,” he said. “The conclusion we came to after a long process of talking to people in the community, the city, city agencies, and the Foundation gave feedback in various ways throughout the process, was that parks offered—in these areas, in this part of the South Side—the best chance of having a site that was right for the library and would benefit these neighborhoods.”

The University, city officials, and community members also wanted to ensure that any library site would not displace South Side residents, making park land a viable option.

Louise McCurry, president of the Jackson Park Advisory Council, said she supports the University’s proposed sites due to their accessibility and rela-

tively minimal impact on the community.

“You don’t want to move people off their land,” she said. “And [park land] is where all the major museums in Chicago are located. DuSable, Field: They’re all located in places that are accessible to the public, and this park land is accessible to the public.”

The Washington Park site sits on the western edge of the park. The 22 acres of parkland would be combined with 10 acres of land on King Drive already owned by the University. The Jackson Park site covers about 21 acres.

A source involved with the University’s bid said the University was aware that the use of parkland might draw community anger. He cited in particular a track in Jackson Park gifted by the Chicago Bears that might have to be removed.

“They were saying that if we did this

parkland we would have to remove this track, which might be a problem—the [site] in Jackson Park. Or if they did the [site] in Washington Park there was a lot of trees in the area that they would have to clear that would make people angry.”

According to Manier, the University was aware that the use of parkland would draw community backlash but expected that its commitment to creating as much as or more parkland than the library would use would assuage opposition.

Manier reiterated that the library bid has the backing of the community.

“The community members that we’ve worked with are overwhelmingly supportive of bringing the library to the South Side, and they continue to be,” he said. “There has been a competitive process, and there have been a lot of ideas that came through that. We had a lot of

different sites that we looked at, at the beginning, and narrowed that in light of feedback. We think these are the best sites. A lot of folks on the South Side agree, and we see overwhelming support, still, for bringing the library here.”

On Thursday, all four aldermen representing the land covered by the two sites signed a letter in support of the University’s South Side bid, in which they emphasized the importance of “establishing appropriate governance over the land.”

In addition, nearly 40 community leaders, including members of the University’s Obama library community advisory board, penned a separate letter expressing similar support and pointing out the potential economic impact of the library. An economic study commissioned by the University found that the library would create 1,900 permanent jobs.

Donation will fund four programs, one of which is targeted toward international students AID continued from front

financial situation and the amount of aid they might need is taken into consideration during the admissions process. The additional funding will create more scholarship opportunities for lower- and middle-income international students who would not otherwise be able to afford full tuition.

The second, the Neubauer College Scholars program, will provide full tuition support for four years for students from Latino communities or

students honored in the National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP).

The NHRP recognizes Latino students who score highly on the PSAT exams taken during junior year of high school. The College Scholars program will also offer career enhancement and summer opportunities.

The third and fourth programs funded the Neubauer Family Foundation will benefit prospective students.

The Neubauer Summer Scholars program will fund summer college prepa-

ratory courses at the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies for high school students from Latino communities. Finally, the donation will provide additional funding for Admissions Academy, a series of workshops that help college counselors and parents navigate the application process. These new funds will help launch bilingual programming.

Fourth-year Daniel RamirezRaftree, community relations chair of the Organization of Latin American

Students (OLAS), said that it should be a priority to increase the number of underrepresented students at the University.

“Incorporating a diverse array of students into the university body makes for richer opportunities to discuss, engage and be challenged,” he said.

“Additionally, though greater diversity will be good for the University as a whole, having more Latino students on campus is also good for other Latino students who may come to UChi-

cago and feel like they've lost a sense of home by coming here.”

Last fall, the University announced No Barriers, which aims to increase socioeconomic diversity by removing loans and application fees based on student need. Before the Neubauer donation, the other No Barriers initiatives were expected to approximately $12.5 million dollars a year, University President Robert Zimmer said in an interview with the Maroon last quarter.

University cites other options for funding, but denies FEMMES offical RSO status FEMMES continued from front

La Flèche said.

FEMMES’ capstone event’s budget sits at $5,000, which will be used to provide supplies, technology, and food for workshops. They currently receive funding from eSpark Learning, Stroz Friedberg, Orbitz, and Jane Street. CORSO and the CLI decided that the group does not need status to organize its events and that the budget would be too expensive to fund.

CORSO, the CLI, and a Student Government (SG) committee provide input on groups that would like to receive RSO status. Third-year SG representative and former CORSO member Mark Sands declined to comment about FEMMES’ denial of status, but said that numerous factors are taken into account when determining which groups are eligible for status.

“Some of them include whether the group seems like it would be viable in the long term—including realistic financial expectations and ideas for recruiting more students into the

organization—and whether there are currently similar RSOs, and liability concerns,” Sands wrote in an e-mail.

Cunningham also declined to comment about her decision to deny FEMMES status, but said the University offers other ways of supporting student-led organizations.

“UChicago is unique in that students have a variety of resources they can tap into to support program or lecture ideas on campus. Becoming an RSO is just one resource, as are funds such as the Deans Fund for Student Life, the Uncommon Fund and the Campus Dialogue Fund. The ideal new RSO is one that proposes a sustainable model for success over time, rather than being organized around a one-time program. Single events or programs may be best supported by the funds or other alternative resources,” Cunningham said.

All budding RSOs must first submit an application through Blueprint to be reviewed by CORSO. Each group must give a short presentation and answer questions about its mission and funding. CORSO,

Members of the student group FEMMES held a meeting to discuss options after RSO status was denied.

XUEQI ZHANG | THE CHICAGO MAROON

which consists of four students and a chair, then votes on a recommendation that is given to Cunningham.

Cunningham takes this recommendation and opinions from SG into account, but ultimately determines alone whether if the group obtains RSO status, and makes the final decisions on any appeals.

If the group obtains RSO status, the Student Government Finance Committee (SFGC) and Annual Allocation funds its events, with the exception of sports clubs and com-

munity service RSOs. SFGC funds events that are organized throughout the quarter and annual allocation is used for yearly events.

Richer La Flèche says that FEMMES would still like to have RSO status. “We value RSO status because it gives us access to University advising and space. As an official student organization, it would be easier for us to sustain future workshops and reach a wider audience. As we have shown through our fundraising efforts, we always believed that it

was important for us to be self-sustaining,” Richer La Flèche said.

In the meantime, FEMMES plans on hosting quarterly events.

Their first event is the UChicago FEMMES Code Camp, which will be held on February 28. More than 150 middle school girls have been invited to attend the event, which features a keynote address by Chicago Regional Program Manager for code.org Jenna Suarez, followed by a full day of computer science workshops.

Student Government expands restaurant discount program Anne Nazzaro News Staff Students can take advantage of discounts at local stores ranging from the Promontory restaurant to Radio Shack through Student Government’s (SG) expanded student discount program this quarter, which includes new “Maroon Monday” deals.

New businesses on the expand-

ed list include Cornell Cleaners, Radio Shack, Promontory, Bonne Santé Health Foods, Greenline Coffee, and more. Students can receive a 10–15 percent discount, depending on the business, by presenting a UCID and requesting the discount.

Maroon Monday discounts offer similar deals with often higher discounts, but are offered exclusively on Mondays, and the stu-

dent must be wearing maroon at the time.

According to Kenzo Esquivel, SG’s community and government liaison and a second-year student, the discounts are meant to benefit both UChicago students and local businesses. “[We’re] trying to get students to try things that just aren’t your typical options that are right here on campus, and also to really help out, perhaps getting

more student and UChicago traffic into some of the local businesses,” Esquivel said.

SG recruited the Promontory, Bergstein’s Deli, and Greenline Coffee to the program and worked with the Office of Civic Engagement’s UChicago Local campaign for the second round of persuading businesses to join, according to Esquivel. UChicago Local is an initiative by the University to ac-

tively support local residents and businesses through the creation of job opportunities, business showcases, and partnerships like this discount program.

“Their main issue was publicizing that they’d made these discounts available to students, and our issue was that [the businesses] weren’t talking to us,” he said.

“And we just kind of helped with the advertising portion.”

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | January 9, 2015

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Editorial & Op-Ed JANUARY 9, 2015

Land of the free?

In order to truly champion open discourse, the University must spell out what it means by hate speech On January 6, the Committee on Free Expression released a report addressing the issue of freedom of expression on campus. The committee consists of seven professors at the University who were appointed in July to draft a statement that articulates the University’s “commitment to free, robust, and uninhibited debate and deliberation among all members of the community.” The statement itself says that the role of the University in fostering freedom of expression should be to help members of the community debate “in an effective and responsible manner.” We agree with this central idea—that the University must protect open discourse. However, this report lacks clarity on what constitutes “effective and responsible” discourse. The University needs to clearly differentiate hate speech and offensive speech. Hate speech

is defined as “speech that offends, threatens, or insults groups, based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or other traits,” according to the American Bar Association.

The report’s failure to clearly define hate speech implies that all speech short of unlawful harassment is acceptable, no matter how vile or cruel. While it is important for students to challenge each other’s opinions, this should not come at the expense of students’ mental well-being or safety.

The report specifies that the University can still regulate speech that is unlawful, libelous, or threatening, calling these categories “narrow exceptions” to a policy of general free expression.

However, labeling these types of speech “narrow exceptions” minimizes the seriousness and harmfulness of this kind of speech. What

is more concerning are the University’s apparent inconsistencies on this issue. In an e-mail sent on November 24 in response to the false hacking incident, Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Karen Warren Coleman reiterated the University’s “commitment to a diverse campus free from harassment and discrimination.” Given the University’s stated commitment to eradicating hateful speech on campus in the past, it is disappointing that it has failed to maintain this strong stance in its most recent report.

Condemning hate speech would not have detracted from a strong defense of free speech—it would have simply clarified it.

On December 12, President Zimmer and Provost Eric Isaacs detailed new steps the University will be taking to address issues of diversity and inclusion, includ-

ing the establishment of two new campus climate surveys focused on gainging insight on issues pertaining to cases of sexual misconduct and underrepresented groups on campus. Given the fearful climate that many students have cited in the past few months, the University must take the issues of diversity and inclusion into account when writing about the importance of free speech. It is not enough for the University to simply reiterate its commitment to free speech; it must also discuss its nuances and where the lines between acceptable and unacceptable speech fall.

Freedom of expression is essential to a productive and creative learning environment. This means students must be prepared to listen to opinions that differ from their own. Speech that challenges commonly held assumptions can

be beneficial. Hate speech benefits no one because it seeks only to tear down, not to build up. The University needs to directly address hate speech for the good of productive discourse.

In their January 6 e-mail, Zimmer and Isaacs said that this report would be a part of an ongoing discussion about the role of free expression at the University.

In order to forge an inclusive campus climate, the University must maintain a consistent commitment to eradicating hate speech and harassment in campus discussion. Free expression and a campus climate of inclusivity are not mutually exclusive. Rather, fostering a culture of inclusivity will serve to increase the quality and diversity of discourse on campus.

ized to the industrial participants of the oil industry. The net environmental impact is also, in the grand scheme of things, drops in a barrel.

Estimated to add between 1.3 and 27.4 million tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere (or in human terms between 250,000 and 5.5 million cars on the road), the pipeline will not significantly add to the 36 billion tons the human race already produces. Moreover, even if you hold the defendable position that we are at a tipping point when it comes to global warming and every marginal emission could still make the situation catastrophically worse, the reality of the situation is that the 2.1 million daily barrels of oil produced

by Canada’s tar sands will probably make their way to their final destination anyway by rail or alternative pipeline—leading the State Department to conclude that the pipeline would not have a significant impact on emissions.

The wrench in the analysis is that the pipeline will only leave oil production unaffected if prices are high enough. If the cost of oil is less than its market value, regardless of means of transportation, then granted global warming concerns are irrelevant, but if prices are in that sweet spot between $65 and $75 a barrel, where it’s profitable to ship it via Keystone but too expensive to use rail or one of the less direct and less efficient

pipeline routes, emission levels will indeed be significantly increased as a result of Keystone XL’s construction. With prices having recently fluctuated between $50 and $100 a barrel, oil sand projects are those most affected because they represent the most expensive sources of oil.

According to Vice President for Research at CERI Dinara Millington, “anything not under construction [is] at risk of being delayed or canceled altogether.” Despite the massive drop in oil prices, futures markets are still pointing to a longer-term price of $85 to $90 a barrel, so the Keystone Pipeline is still expected to be profitable and would be built if given the opportunity, especially since the short-term drop in prices is not actually affecting the profits of Alberta’s tar sands. TransCanada, the company in charge of the potential project, has long-term contracts in place from customers with prices already set—as an industry-common hedging practice—which represent fixed demand and fixed prices during these times of oil-economy uncertainty. The economic conditions are such that oil from Alberta’s tar sands will probably be either extracted, or not—the scenario where it will only be economical to deliver to market if Keystone XL reduces shipping costs is worth considering if climate change is your main concern, but it PIPELINE continued on page 6

—The Maroon Editorial Board

Keystone unlocks potential A breakdown of the contentious Keystone Pipeline project

David Grossman

Factcheck This!

After the sweeping 2010 Republican victories in the House and the failure of a major climate bill in the Senate, environmentalists recognized the difficulties associated with passing legislation and reallocated their attention toward the Keystone XL Pipeline, whose construction is stalled until it is approved by the State Department. The proposed

pipeline would stretch from Hardisty in Alberta (western Canada) to Nebraska. From there, it would use existing pipelines to reach refineries in Illinois and Texas. The importance of the Keystone Pipeline is that it is a massive, state-of-the-art project, capable of transporting more than 800,000 barrels of oil a day and significantly reducing transportation

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costs — both in terms of dollars and energy (gasoline). Although the environmental lobby was the first to draw attention to the pipeline, what was meant initially to be a quiet project has turned into the focal point of debates about jobs, safety, eminent domain, oil independence, and climate change. If nothing else, Keystone XL has been net beneficial for the nation as a result of the educational benefits the debate about it has brought about. However, the Keystone project could also be beneficial for the U.S. for many other reasons.

The heart of the issue of whether or not the U.S. government should authorize the construction of the Keystone Pipeline is the trade-off between jobs and carbon dioxide emissions. Estimated by the State Department to create 42,000 jobs over its two-year construction and contribute $3.4 billion to the economy, the project is expected to have significant impact—maybe not on a national level (0.02 percent boost to GDP), but certainly for the local communities directly involved in the project. The “problem” is that these jobs are those specifically necessary to build the pipeline. The number of permanent jobs after its construction? Thirty- five. This isn’t to argue that the pipeline isn’t economically beneficial, but only to point out that its long-term benefits will be local-

SUBMISSIONS The Chicago Maroon welcomes opinions and responses from its readers. Send op-ed submissions and letters to: The Chicago Maroon attn: Viewpoints 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 E-mail: Viewpoints@ChicagoMaroon.com The editors reserve the right to edit materials for clarity and space. Letters to the editor should be limited to 400 words. Op-ed submissions, 800 words

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | January 9, 2015

Strategic Satire The Interview forces us to have a real discussion about Kim Jong-un through its accessible comedic medium

Anastasia Golovashkina

The Left Write On Christmas Day, I saw The Interview.

In all, I found the film thoughtful and funny. Though there is obviously a strong element of fantastical fiction to the film, it gets the facts that matter right while still being funny—very funny. Though there are the not-so-subtle sex jokes that come with any Seth Rogen feature, its political humor is sharp and to the point, rivaling that of even The Daily Show’s best bits. Then there’s the beautiful cinematography, well-crafted set, and costume design, and modern yet fitting soundtrack. In concert, these elements—artistry, research, humor—help create the unexpectedly compelling, subversive satire that makes the film so great.

The opening scene captures this approach perfectly. In it, a beautiful young North Korean girl is shown against the backdrop of Pyongyang’s Monument to the Workers’ Party. “Our beloved leader is wise,” she sings to a crowd of government officials. “He is good, kind, and strong. We wish him joy. We wish him peace. We wish him love.”

Nothing we wouldn’t expect.

Then she continues in that same, cheerful voice, “And the one thing in our time, we wish more than this is for the United States to explode into a ball of fiery hell!.... May they drown in their own blood and feces!”

Far cry from reality? Far from it. In North Korea, kindergarten school posters regularly promote such activities as “playing military games

knocking down the American bastards” alongside images of bloody U.S. soldiers.

By using the premise of a satirical film, The Interview cleverly points out that some of the elements that might seem the strangest or most inconceivable are often of the most true. North Korea isn’t even the only country The Interview pokes fun at—though Kim’s Korea is certainly the main act, Rogen and Franco’s characters are nothing if not compelling satires of our own selfie- and celebrity-obsessed homeland.

That said, Rogen and company could have easily played it safe by, for instance, setting the film in a fake country, or by not making its current ruler’s assassination the centerpiece of their plot. Sacha Baron Cohen set his film The Dictator in the made-up Republic of Wadiya. The West Wing’s terrorism subplots center around the nonexistent state of Qumar. DC and Marvel don’t even think about letting their series use a real country for plotlines hinting at leadership assassination.

But the creators of The Interview did all of this and more. They chose North Korea by name. They made a complete fool of its godlike leader Kim Jong-un, while eating away at the dangerously both one-dimensional images of perfection and characterless tyranny that media outlets in North Korea and United States have, respectively, cast him to out to be.

Then they killed Kim off, brutally, both as a physical

human being and, even more importantly, as a symbol—a figurehead. Both times to the tune of Katy Perry’s “Firework.”

By casting the powerful and feared Kim as a humanized caricature of a repressed young man with unresolved daddy issues, The Interview points out the leader’s inevitable complexity. Even if this complexity does not necessarily align with what is presented in the film, the mere suggestion that Kim is more than a cold robot with a bad haircut is at odds with virtually all popular representations of him today. In doing so, the film points out Kim’s inevitable humanity—a humanity that, like all human things, is flawed. The film drives home this point in its conclusion, which shows the success of a North Korean people’s revolution—a sort of proof that this, too, is human, fallible, and will too succumb to the reality of our shared human condition.

Through these and other strategic decisions, the filmmakers successfully challenge the very principles of the Kim dynasty’s horrifically corrupt and hypocritical reign.

By opting to communicate through the accessible humor of a Hollywood comedy, they moreover ensure that their message can reach as wide an audience as possible, engaging and staying with that audience.

This humor—and its indisputable reverberating sociopolitical impact worldwide—is a testament to the movie’s success, illustrating how comedy, especially satire, is perhaps the quickest conversation catalyst we have.

It’s certainly one of the

most underappreciated— without the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, few would have predicted the astounding success of shows like Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show, movies like Dr. Strangelove, publications like The Onion and Charlie Hebdo, and countless viral videos (and the like) at not only generating laughs, but also at very effectively communicating specific messages.

Time and time again, these and other productions have often made controversial social commentary not only more accessible (indeed, appealing) than in typical news sources—thereby reaching a much wider audience—but also more interesting, memorable, and ultimately provocative than in opinion pieces.

That’s precisely why The Interview inspired such a strong, aggressive reaction from the North Korean government— a feat millions of prior anti– North Korea media have failed to do.

In the weeks leading up to the film’s global release, the communist dynasty went so far as to hack and leak among Sony’s most sensitive employee data, including internal communications, private documents and passwords, salary records, social security numbers, and the like. The hack affected everyone from high-level chief executives and actors to low-level administrators and personnel.

It’s also why South Korean activists are dropping DVDs of the film into North Korean territory by balloon. In

border areas and major cities where such balloons are being dropped, leading North Korean scholar Andrei Lankov wrote of the country in 2013, “one out of every three or four families has a DVD player nowadays.”

Though reviews of the film have been mixed, it’s been remarkably successful in achieving its satirical purpose: forcing us to have a conversation.

Pushing us to pay attention.

Pushing everyone, global leaders and average audiences alike, to pay attention.

Kim Jung-un clearly got the joke. Do you?

Anastasia Golovashkina is a fourth-year in the College majoring in economics and public policy.

ALICE XIAO

| THE CHICAGO

MAROON

Rarely do so many topics—economy, eminent domain, climate change, energy independence— get raised while discussing a single issue.

PIPELINE continued from page 5 is relatively unlikely.

The economy and the environment aside, the pipeline is also deeply controversial because its construction requires the usage of eminent domain by a foreign corporation.

Eminent domain is the practice of, out of economic or national security necessity, the forced sale or use of private land at fair market prices.

Eminent domain has been delegated to U.S.–based corporations for many years for the purpose of building railroads, pipelines, and electric transmission because otherwise such works would never be built. Invariably, they stretch for hundreds of miles and pass through property that is owned by people who attach sentimental value to it and are unwilling to sell to a corporation at any price, period.

Without eminent domain there would be no such thing as a straight railroad—it would be as squiggly as the boundary of a newly redrawn district. In practice, eminent domainempowered corporations use that

privilege sparingly, opting to reach voluntary agreements to purchase the land rights, to in an overwhelming number of cases. In the case of the Keystone Pipeline, TransCanada reached voluntary agreements to secure 100 percent of the easements required for the pipeline in Montana and South Dakota and 76 percent in the case of Nebraska—overall, it exercised domain with only 2 percent of landowners. Of course, this number is arguably immaterial. The very threat of eminent domain might be a powerfully coercive bargaining chip. Interestingly, the House of Representatives actually passed a bill banning the use of eminent domain for private interests: The government can still exercise it for national parks, military bases, etc., but can’t give it out to corporations whose only objective is profit. However, they restricted the law so that it only applied to new projects (Keystone has already been “in the system” for a long time). Of course, writing legislation which can interrupt projects already in the system is highly de-

stabilizing and would be a terrible precedent, but many nevertheless see this as a loophole used by Republicans to specifically exempt the Keystone Pipeline. On a broader level, the debate over eminent domain essentially boils down to whether the benefits of railroads, pipelines, etc. outweigh the rights of landowners to keep their property despite being offered fair market value for it because the market does not price in the sentimental value of having generations of history tied to the family farm. It’s a tough question without an immediate answer, and one which every society must resolve for itself.

The final issue to consider is the “independence card.” All things being equal, we would prefer to import our oil from people who greet us with “feel free to break anything you like, we honestly don’t mind” (Canada) rather than “death to America” (Saudi Arabia). In the late 90s Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela were the largest exporters of oil to the United States with a near-identical share. Now, we import

more from Canada than we do either of the other two nations combined.

Combined with the massive rise of the fracking industry, the drop in oil prices has served to severely weaken OPEC’s potential influence over the U.S. economy. Greenlighting Keystone XL would serve to only continue that trend. While it should be noted, out of fairness, that the critics of the pipeline point out that once the oil is shipped from Canada to American refineries, it is often then shipped elsewhere for sale in the global market, what matters from a national security perspective is not where oil ends up but where it comes from, because where it ends up is what can be manipulated by OPEC. The last time OPEC cut off our oil supply, there was no way to relieve the shortages that crippled the economy. Now, if OPEC were to make a similar move, prices in the United States would indeed rise, but the oil it exports would be redirected by the market toward internal consumption to satiate ongoing demand without cutting off.

The Keystone Pipeline has received more than its fair share of attention because, from a perspective of political action, it is the last issue that is still truly on the table, and as such it’s arguably the only thing on the agenda worth caring about. On balance, it’s probably a good idea.

The pipeline will make some money, weakly improve our energy independence, and adhere to much higher safety standards than current transportation alternatives, all while having little to no impact on the actual quantity of oil consumed—unless prices stabilize in the $65–75 range, in which case all bets are off. Aside from the practical impacts of the pipeline, which as I’ve explained are quite debatable, is the very important reality that they are so debatable. Rarely do so many topics— economy, eminent domain, climate change, energy independence—get raised while discussing a single issue.

David Grossman is a secondyear in the College majoring in computer science.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ADVERTISEMENTS | January 9, 2015

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7

ARTS

What is art?

JANUARY 9, 2015

theSketch Arts, Briefly.

piece of theater from its inception until showtime all in under 24 hours. One does not have to be a University Theater aficionado to participate; the event is open, and encourages anyone and everyone to participate, irrespective of one's background in drama.

The only requirement is enthusiasm and willingness to spend 24 hours continuously “art-ing.” Past outcomes included pieces about muffins that grow on trees and another about mermen. This weekend six groups will come together for a weekend of original work and sleep deprivation to create similarly unique performances. The plays, which will only be staged once, will be performed this Saturday, January 10 in the Francis X. Kinahan Theater of the Reynolds Club. Entrance is $4. Be there for a once-in-a-lifetime theatrical experience if you choose to not participate but are curious to see the results.

Saturday, January 10, Francis X. Kinahan Theater (Reynolds Club), $4.

Don't get caught in the cold. Keep warm with these body -and-heart-warming activities around Hyde Park.

WEI YI OW

| THE CHICAGO MAROON

It might require a bit of legwork in the frigid temperatures, but the offerings on East 53rd Street for the First Weekend celebration are well worth even the most grueling bouts of Chicago weather.

On Friday and Saturday, from 6–11 PM, a number of stores and organizations will be offering exclusive discounts and special deals to University students. For starters, Harper Theater will be showing free midnight screenings of the classic comedy Caddyshack, along with a medium popcorn and soda for only $5.

Not every offer is explicitly arts-related, but we here at the Arts section like to see the potential for artistic enjoyment everywhere. You can talk about arts over food, as The Sitdown is offering a 15 percent discount on all food.

Kilwin's famous dessert shop

is offering special discounted prices on several items, including their renowned fudge.

And of course, any artistic experience can be augmented by certain beverages frequently consumed by college students.

Which is why Kimbark Beverage Shoppe will be serving free “Grownup” hot chocolate to any student over 21(must show photo ID). There’s way more than just these offers in store. For more information, go to the UChicago First Weekend Facebook page, and for a complete list of offers, go to firstweekend.splashthat. com.

Friday and Saturday, January 9—10, East 53rd Street, all offers require UCID. Every quarter student actors, directors, and writers unite to create an original

While the University of Chicago might be best known for the Hogwarts-ian buildings lining the main quad, a feature which has been a part of the campus aesthetic since its inception, in recent years there has been an explosion of new buildings popping up around campus diverging from the traditional neo-gothic style. The evolving architectural style of the university, ranging from the Mansueto Library to the currently under-construction Campus North, is the focus of a talk being hosted by the Renaissance Society this coming Sunday. Associate Curator of the Renaissance Society Hamza Walker and Architect Steve Wiesenthal will be leading a discussion on the history and growth of the architectural aesthetic of the university as well as the various adaptations that facilities have gone through over the years to meet changing needs and tastes.

Wiesenthal helped develop the University’s Office of Sustainability, which has been working to update many of the University buildings as well as push for the construction of more green buildings in the future. The new design for Campus North plans to meet the LEED Gold standard for sustainability. The talk is a companion piece to the current Renaissance Society exhibition by Mathias Poledna, which challenges how art is displayed in specific venues.

Sunday, January 11, Swift Hall Third Floor, free.

The struggle is real, but worthwhile for communal bonding, at Kuvia Sammie Spector Arts Staff They said misery loves company. They didn’t say just how many in the company or how much misery, though. My RA said, “It won’t kill you—actually the opposite—you’ll have so much fun.” I felt exactly the opposite of R. Kelly: my mind was saying yes, but my body was telling me NO. So there I was, at 5:45 a.m., putting on pants before I knew what was going on. ’Tis the season for Kuvia, and all of its misery, company, and frigid attraction.

The winter festival attracts more than 400 students to Henry Crown, where warm-up sun salutations start off the celebration. This number slowly dwindles by 100 or so by the end of the week. They say if you make it to Wednesday, you have to see the week through to it's end. Otherwise, it’ll have been a waste. What’s at the Friday finish line? The sweet taste of victory, house competition money, school pride, and a free t-shirt.

Emily Tixier, assistant chair of the Council on University Programming (COUP) board, can’t wait for the winter quarter tradition that she has participated in since her first year.

“I think [Kuvia] is the favorite event of many people on the board,” Tixler said. “I think the earliness of it makes it very fun to work as we’re all kind of delirious from a lack of sleep and collectively dealing with it together as we put this event on each morning. The board definitely becomes a lot closer during Kuvia. We just have to make sure that everyone wakes up (which might involve some phone calls)!”

This will be Kuvia’s 31st year, and was founded in 1983 by Don Levine, a former dean of the College. Kuvia’s namesake comes from Kuviasungnerk, which means the pursuit of happiness in Iniktitut. When my sleepy body is dragged out of the dorm and into the cold on Monday, happiness isn’t ex-

actly the first word that comes to mind. Many argue otherwise. Tixler advises people to treat the week like a challenge.

“Getting up every morning and learning something new is a great bonding experience,” Tixler said. “Mutual complaining brings people together!”

So, after my first day of refreshing sun salutations led by certain faculty members, and an amusing and uncoordinated dance workshop led by Indian folk dance RSO Raas, I felt good, just not good enough to play Groundhog’s Day on Tuesday. While our RAs gathered the Alper troops to head to Crown, I slept soundly. I heard rumors that some RAs woke up their houses by banging on pots and pans in the morning…I was grateful mine were more forgiving.

My RA, Molly, is a die-hard fan. “I’ve done Kuvia for three years,” she said. “I lived in Broadview my first two years, so now that I’m in Max it would be sad and embarrassing if I quit now.”

I only felt mildly pathetic for quitting after my first day, but as a native South Floridian and perpetual night owl, Kuvia goes against everything my body stands (and rolls out of bed) for.

The only thing that makes me feel guilty is that I’m missing some fantastic memories that a portion of the school gets to bond over. “My best memories of Kuvia are always attempting dance moves with friends that are far beyond the skill levels we could dream of achieving,” Molly said. “My worst memory was the one time I missed the Broadview shuttle.”

Kuvia typically remains the same from year to year, with a few alterations, such as the addition of a house banner competition and cancellation of fireside chats a few years ago.

The next steps will be to replace the knitting competition with a community service element, and opening up the festival to more groups and RSOs that would like to join. Ice skating was an older tradition that my

What better time ithan 5:45 a.m. is there for pushups?

COURTESY OF THE COUNCIL ON UNIVERSITY PROGRAMMING

R.A. hopes will be reinstated.

“And of course the polar bear run,” Molly said. “We always have to warn Harper administrators that there are going to be a bunch of naked people around that afternoon.”

For those planning on attempting more than one day like I did, Molly says you learn some tricks of the trade after a whiile. Her best kept secret:?

“Nobody knows how to use the #171 bus, and instead they take the shuttles; meanwhile I have been one of the first to grab my Kuvia shirt for three years now…”

I returned to Kuvia on its final day last year, and saw the joy, and frozen tears, of those receiving their well-earned free shirts, donning the phrase "Misery Loves Company." I felt disheartened by my lack of perseverance and considered trying again this year. Molly tells me that when her residents (like me) complain about waking up early, she reminds them that “a house that commiserates over morning calisthenics together, stays together” or gives us a reality check by reminding us that since kids from satellite dorms and apartments can do it, us Max P kids are in no position to play the "it’s too early and cold" card…

It’s obvious that you don’t get it until you see it, or feel it: more than the cold—the enthusiasm and communal pride. At least that’s what they told me. Molly summed it up as something you do, for whatever reason, because of this immense pride and maybe even a few of the warmest memories you’ll have from our winter.

“During [Kuvia], it’s easy to bite the bullet and go. Especially if you have people check you on it. After, you just spend a Friday night with carbs and Netflix and ponder why this all happened.” Evidently, the attending company loves misery, because of the camaraderie it produces, best described by one of Kuvia’s previous t-shirts: “Because UChicago isn’t intense enough.”

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | January 9, 2015

9

With dormmates snowed in, a guide to keep them cinematically engaged James MacKenzie Arts Editor It's cold; no one wants to leave the dorm. You think you're thickskinned enough, but you're just not.

This leaves two options: drinking or holding house movie viewings.

I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to write about the former (editor's note: he's not), so I will focus on the latter. If you have been put in charge of organizing house movie nights, then you have been given a sacred duty. You are literally the only thing between your housemates and potential alcohol-related disaster. As a failed house movie czar of years past, I'm here to give you some tips to keep people unproductively sitting in front of a large screen (as opposed to a small screen).

Have faith in your audience...just not that much faith Look, we all got into the University of Chicago. We are all smart, well cultured consumers and also generally have an open mind to entertain-

ment outside of the mainstream.

So you should absolutely not feel obliged to stick with conventional crowd pleasers; go for some cool, high-brow films. However, there are limits.

Maybe you're a film studies major or just a huge film buff. That's great. But no one shares your passion for 1920s German Expressionist cinema. I know this from experience.

Some films, though they lie outside the mainstream, still feature prominently in the zeitgeist of student film discourse. Identifying these films is essential.

Some examples: Quentin Tarantino is infinitely popular among people (particularly men) our age.

Stanley Kubrick might have had that 30 years ago, but I wouldn't count on it today. Showing almost any Hayao Miyazaki film will earn you the adoration of your housemates. Showing a film by French New Wave auteur Jean-Luc Godard may result in defenestration.

A good rule of thumb is that the

older a film is, the less likely it will fly. But the best thing you can do is listen and be attuned to your fellow students.

Have a friend who knows how to get films from questionable sources If you know how to do this yourself, then there’s really no problem. Those of you among the technologically impaired, however, may find that your ease of access to films is greatly diminished and fail to meet your housemates' requests.

Your fumbling attempts to navigate past ads for Asian singles and muscle supplements might pay off...or maybe you'll just get a virus and have to pray that the TECHB@R can actually fix it.

So the best thing to do is place all that risk on your friend. That's what friends are for, after all. That guy in your dorm will find a movie more quickly and in higher quality than you ever could. If you're lucky, they might even donate their own computer to the cause, saving you from

the virtually non-existent risk of penalty from the University for illegal downloads.

Scheduling: You can’t win, so stop trying Logic would dictate that if you are trying to run a movie night then you should create some regular schedule based on the times people seem to be mostly free. You put a poll on Facebook, find a day and a time that seem reasonable, and get to work. You get your first movie, get all set up, and... no one.

Now, every house is different,.

Some (especially smaller, more tightly knit houses) tend to really rally around things like a movie night, and you get a great turnout. Others need a little more prodding. You can pick the best movie, bring snacks, whatever. Sometimes, people are just not gonna be in the mood for a movie. I have found that spontaneity is the best cure for this particular problem. If you and three or four others want to watch a movie at a given time, put it on and announce it on

Facebook. People will flock to that, even if (especially if ) it's 11 p.m. on a Tuesday because people are weird.

Bad movies can be great, but only in moderation Everybody loves a good bad movie. It's something of a college staple to put on something like The Room or a latter-day M. Night Shyamalan movie and laugh together. It’s a great bonding experience. Controlled substances may or may not be a factor.

But like junk food and other forms of hedonism, bad movies are bad for the soul. There is ultimately a reason we label these movies as "bad" first and foremost even if we might call them "good-bad." Plot holes, bad acting, poor image and sound quality will wear on your brain after a while, killing brain cells and increasing your risk of early dementia. I have no scientific data to back this up (other than my GPA), but I do believe it is best to only deliberately watch bad movies every few weeks at most.

Spektral Quartet to warm listeners with upcoming winter performance

Spektral Quartet members Austin Wulliman, Doyle Armbrust, Clara Lyon, and Russell Rolen will be playing "Snowpocalypse Antidote" Saturday.

COURTESY OF SPEKTRAL QUARTET

Evangeline Reid Associate Arts Editor The same unapologetically lively group that presented a series of commissioned classical pieces based on ringtones last year, the Spektral Quartet—an ensemblein-residence at the University of Chicago—will be performing its upcoming winter concert, the playfully named Snowpocalypse Antidote. Given the current wintery weather and its exciting lineup, it seems only fitting.

Very rarely would a quartet agree to sing while it plays, but this group doesn’t seem to be afraid of a challenge. This Saturday’s concert will be the world premiere of a fivemovement work Spektral commissioned from a Chicago-based composer, David Reminick, called Ancestral Mousetrap that implements unique musical techniques, including singing.

Viola player Doyle Armbrust, laughed about it, saying, “I played the viola so I didn’t have to sing.”

But all jokes aside, he explained it’s

not so much the singing that’s difficult as the technical aspect of doing what he compared to rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time. Another strange technique to look out for has members holding a second string instrument between their legs which they alternate playing, but with only a bow—no fingers— creating unique percussive noises.

“We spend a lot of time putting together programs a year in advance or more, but it’s really only once we start running the program

that we get a true sense of it…. It’s a really high-octane show. It’s a lot of really fast, virtuosic, exciting playing,” Doyle explained.

Spektral Quartet only came onto the Chicago music scene in 2010, but it quickly partnered with the University and made a name for itself. It is known for its “sampler pack” concerts, which cover a large breadth of different genres and eras of music, typically with only a movement or two from larger pieces. The result is accessible and interesting concerts that keep even

an audience with a short attention span leaning forward in their seats.

This winter’s sampler pack includes well-loved movements from Dvořák, Haydn, and Beethoven as well as a newly arranged tango, a piece by Chris Fisher-Lochhead, and a piece that was composer Stephen Gorbos’s reaction to encountering Chicago and all its noises and sights for the first time.

Doyle said, “We want to do it all. Our concerts—this concert is a great example; it’s really jumping through the ages in a way that we find really inspiring. This concert is just really emblematic of us as a quartet in that regard, and also because Dave [Reminick] is a Chicago-based composer. That’s also a big part of our mission: really giving voice to composers here in our city because there’s so many great ones—a lot of them are even from the University of Chicago.”

They really do “do it all.” As an ensemble-in-residence, outside of their own rehearsals, they run chamber music programs, lead orchestra sectionals, set up performance opportunities for groups, lead workshops, and host open rehearsals. Looking forward, Spektral is continuing to stay busy.

In May it’ll be performing Steve Reich’s Different Trains Every Time, a lengthy and striking work interspersed with recordings of the composer’s family members describing trains before, during, and after World War II that has become a touchstone in modern composition. This summer it will be recording its third album, which will include Reminick’s work. But until that warmer weather arrives, go warm up with its fast-paced and unique antidote to the blustery weather.

January 10, Logan Center for the Arts, Performance Penthouse, 8 p.m., free with UCID

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | January 9, 2015

11

Maroons look to make waves at Chicago Invitational Swimming & Diving Katie Anderson Sports Staff The South Siders will host nine schools from across the Midwest at the Chicago Invitational today and tomorrow at the Myers-McLoraine pool.

Expectations are high as the men’s team is currently ranked No. 12 in the nation, while the women’s squad is ranked No. 10. However, with Wash U and Emory both ranked above the men’s and women’s teams and NYU also ranked above the men’s team, the UAA will

be as competitive as ever as for the championship which is about a month away.

The Maroons are ready to return to competition after a six-week hiatus since their strong performance in their most recent tilt, the Phoenix Fall Classic in November.

“Our last meet was the Phoenix Fall Classic and there were tons of new NCAA Bcuts, not to mention new pool and team records,” said firstyear swimmer Miriam Benjamin. “We are very excited to continue our success this

weekend.”

First-year swimmer Melissa Bischoff, for example, broke the school and pool records while also qualifying for the NCAA Championship in the 100-yard backstroke at the Phoenix Fall Classic. On the men’s side, fourth-year diver Matt Staab took home a firstplace win in the three-meter dive.

Despite a six-week break since their last competition, the men and women have been hard at work over winter break during their annual training

trip. This year, the trainig location was in Florida.

“I went into the trip expecting to be totally exhausted by the workouts, and although they were definitely tough, we had plenty of time in between to hang out in a hammock or go kayaking,” Benjamin said.

“I think we really did bond well as a team over the course of the week, and I know the hard work we put in will show in our results this weekend and at UAAs.” It helps that this meet is at home in Hyde Park, too.

“It’ll be nice to compete again,” Benjamin said. “There’s always lots of positive energy on deck at home meets, so I’m sure that’ll carry us through this weekend as well.”

That home-pool advantage could really prop the South Siders up, especially as players try to execute their best times for the UAA Championship in February. With a season that started in late October and will conclude at the end of March with the NCAA Championship, the Maroons are just hitting the halfway mark of their

long season.

“The Chicago Invitational is a great chance for us to both mentally and physically prepare for conference championships. It will teach us what we need to work to improve on for conference both as individuals and as an overall team,” fourth-year diver Sofia Gross said.

The Chicago Invitational will begin on Friday at 6 p.m. and continue through Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. at the Myers-McLoraine pool in Ratner Athletics Center.

84–31 win over IIT sends team rolling into conference play Men’s Basketball Mary MacLeod Sports Staff This weekend, the University of Chicago men’s basketball team finished out its preseason play with an 84–31 blowout win over the visiting Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). The victory brings the Maroon’s record to an impressive 8–3 heading into season play, while IIT dropped to 0–12.

The Scarlett Hawks came out with a 2–3 zone defense in the first half of the game, trying to slow down the Chicago offense. The ploy seemed to work, as the South

Siders missed their first six shots of the game until first-year guard Jake Fenlon hit a dagger from beyond the arc. Fenlon went on to score eight of the team’s first 13 points, jump-starting the offense and paving the way to a dominant win.

The Maroons were able to combine their sharpshooting with a dominating presence down low.

The home team outrebounded its opponents by a shocking margin of 50–15, resulting in a 41–10 advantage for points in the paint.

“We really practiced executing our offense the way we wanted to”, said first-year forward Collin Bar-

thel. “We did a good job handling the zone defense, and we knew we had a size advantage that we could use down low.”

In the second half, Chicago was able to extend its lead to 49–14.

However, what was most impressive about the 53-point win was that the bench for Chicago accounted for almost two-thirds of the team’s points. The ability of the whole team to score is something the Maroons will no doubt try and take with them into conference play.

“Overall we had a good preseason,” said second-year guard

Tyler Howard. “We won the eight games we were supposed to win, but lost three close games to very good teams. If we execute better during conference play, we should be able to win those close games.”

The first game of the 2015 UAA season for the South Siders is against Wash U. The Bears are currently ranked No. 1 in the nation by the NCAA, coming into season play with an 11–0 record and 622 points. Wash U is also coming off an 88–78 road win against Coe College from December 20.

“The biggest obstacles against Washington University is not to

have mental lapses on defense because they are very disciplined and will take advantage of any mistakes we make,” Howard said.

The previous time the Maroons and the Bears met was in the last game of season play in the 2013– 14 season. Wash U defeated Chicago 86–73 through its sharpshooting and presence down low—two things the South Sider’s defense will try and take away this time around.

Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. this Saturday at Ratner Athletics Center.

Get in the game.

Write for sports. editor@ chicagomaroon.com

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SPORTS

IN QUOTES “They have no idea Im am double parked in a handicap spot out side this court house in a 450k car with a registered pistol. Who am I to judge.”

–Arizona Cardinal defensive end Darnell Dockett on his qualification to serve on jury duty

Squad finishes 2–1 at first meet back Wrestling Bronagh Daly Sports Staff

Second-year Britta Nordstrom runs the floor in transition at a game against Wesleyan last season.

FRANK WANG | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Chicago wrestling had a strong performance this past weekend at the Chicago Duals. Although their first match against No. 2 Wabash started off rocky, the Maroons held the home advantage and took home the matchup, winning the next two matches against Manchester University and Harper College.

“I was very proud of our performance this past weekend,” said fourth-year Mario Palmisano.

“We had a lot of guys really step up for us and win some important matches. Overall, I think we grew both as individuals and as a team.”

Palmisano had a successful showing, going 3–0 in the Chicago Duals along with second-year Paul Papoutsis.

First-year Nicholas DiNapoli, who was able to take home a win against Manchester University at 184 pounds, agreed that Palmisano and Papoutsis were two of the standouts of the day.

“Two other veterans I thought stood out were our 165-pounder

Paul Papoutsis and Mario Palmisano who both went undefeated on the day and beat their opponents pretty handily,” DiNapoli said. “In previous matches this year I feel we have not had the intensity we need to be successful, but at the Chicago Duals I feel we wrestled tough and each wrestler played an important role in securing two victories.”

The squad had several smaller victories throughout the Chicago Duals as well, for both newer and older team members. First-year Devan Richter brought home an offensive-filled 27–16 win at 125 pounds against Wabash. Similarly, fellow first-year Nick Ferraro managed back-to-back pins against Harper.

On the veterans’ side, thirdyear David Gremling pinned his Manchester opponent immediately at 197 pounds. Fourth-year Adam Wyeth took an 8–7 win at 133 pounds against Harper.

DiNapoli gave reason to such successes.

“Over the winter break the wrestling team was at the University practicing and I thought that was a crucial part for our

success at the Chicago Duals,” said DiNapoli. “We only got to go home the week of Christmas, and the rest of the time we were here practicing twice a day. During this time we made gains both on and off the mat.”

Palmisano is feeling optimistic.

“The team energ y was great this past weekend. Hopefully we can ride that momentum and go into next weekend feeling strong and enthusiastic,” Palmisano said.

A winning weekend helps, but the Maroons still have plenty of work left to do in the season.

“The team is preparing very hard for the upcoming Lakeland Duals,” DiNapoli said. “We had a great performance last week, but we know we still have a long season to go. The most important thing we can do this week is push each other to get better every practice, keep our weight under control, and stay healthy. I feel we have had two great practices already this week and plan on having two more hard workouts before we compete this weekend.”

The Lakeland College Duals will occur on Saturday, January 10 at noon in Sheboygan, WI.

Chicago back on track South Siders break in the with five straight wins new indoor track with Women’s Basketball Ahmad Allaw Sports Staff It appears the Maroons have reversed their early season woes.

Chicago (6–5, 0–0 UAA) crushed both of its opponents over the break. After decimating Illinois Tech (0–13), the Maroons were able to cruise past Oberlin (6–7).

The pair of victories gives the redhot South Siders five wins over the last six games.

Neither of the games was a close affair as neither outcome was ever in doubt.

Chicago jumped out in front early against Illinois Tech. By the end of the first half, all but one of Chicago’s players had scored. On the day, four different Chicago players—fourth-years Ali Shaw and Ellie Greiner, along with first-years Mary Grace Bilby and Katie Anderson—had racked up more than ten points a piece. All of this combined for a lopsided 76–30 rout against the inter-state foes.

The game against Oberlin didn’t start in quite the same decisive manner. Instead, Oberlin hung around for the first 13 minutes of play, trailing the Maroons by only three points toward the middle of the first half. But in the waning minutes of the opening half, the South Siders enlarged the lead to 14. From there on out, the Maroons added to their ad-

vantage, finishing the game with an 83–47 victory. Every Chicago player managed to get her name on the score sheet.

The recent success for the Maroons portrays a contrasting picture to their earlier season scores, when they dropped four of their opening five matchups.

“Our team has had a great couple weeks of practice and we have really focused on taking each game one at a time,” said fourthyear Claire Devaney.

As the season progresses, the UAA will become part of the picture. Illinois Tech and Oberlin were softer opponents—the UAA field is an entirely different beast.

Chicago shares the worst record in the conference with Case Western, but conference wins could help turn the season around.

Chicago faces No. 4 Wash U (11–0, 0–0 UAA) this Saturday.

The Bears have blown out nearly all of their opponents. Only one team was able to come close to stealing a victory, and the final point differential was 11 points.

“In order to beat Wash U, we have to have a great week of practice and come out ready to play right away on Saturday afternoon,” Devaney said.

The game tips off at 1 p.m. in Ratner Athletic Center.

Editor’s note: Katie Anderson, mentioned above, writes for the Maroon Sports section.

Phoenix Invitational

Track and Field Zachary Themer Associate Sports Editor This past Wednesday, the temperature at the University of Chicago was colder than the surface of Mars. Luckily, the men’s and women’s track and field teams will not have to worry about braving the extraterrestrial elements in their home meet this Saturday at Henry Crown Field House.

The Phoenix Invitational is the first meet of the indoor season, with indoor being the operative word.

Expectations are high for the Maroons, who have been practicing and training for the indoor season since last quarter. The outdoor season last spring ended with several Maroons competing in the national championships. However, the South Siders know that the indoor season is not just a continuation of the outdoor.

“Our training is designed that we have our peak performances during the outdoor season. Competing indoor allows us to have a controlled weather environment,” said thirdyear runner Henry Blood. “The indoor track[...]has more curves which slows runners down, inducing a smaller and more competitive setting.”

Regardless of the changes in set-

ting, conditions, or environment of competition, the Maroons will look to emerge as a competitor for the DIII National Championship.

Leading that charge from the distance running sector will be thirdyear All-American Michael Frasco and Blood, who narrowly missed out on being an All-American in the fall season. On the women’s side, the members of the women’s cross-country team will face high expectations, including third-years Catherine Young, Brianna Hickey, Maggie Cornelius, and first-year Megan-Verner Crist.

“For distance runners, crosscountry season was a great threeplus months or so of setting a base foundation for our mileage,” said third-year runner Yorkbell Jaramillo. “A good part of the team is using the weight room as well to get some more power.”

However, the Maroons’ indoor team is more than just distance runners.

One of the other leaders of the team will be third-year Michael Bennett, who won the national championship last indoor season in the pole vault with a height of 4.90 meters, which is also a school record. Bennett narrowly missed a second national championship in the outdoor track and field season, placing second in the pole vault.

On the women’s field side, thirdyear thrower Nkemdilim Nwaokolo will look to build off of a strong season last year which saw her attain UAA Champion status in both the shot put and weight throw.

She’s been UAA Champion in multiple events each year of her career.

In the high jump, fourth-year Semi Ajibola, who was the UAA Champion last season, will look to continue his success in his farewell season.

On the whole, the team is ready for the season. Despite the individual nature of some events, the players feel team above all else.

“We are truly a family here, through every up and down,” said second-year sprinter Charissa Newkirk. “I think that this team dynamic will translate into success on the track also.”

With such high hopes emerging for the Maroons, the keys to eventual success will come down to enduring the long season by staying in peak physical condition throughout practice, training, and conditioning. With all that in mind, the South Siders have set their sights on a national championship.

The Phoenix Invitational will start this Saturday at 11:30 a.m. in Henry Crown Field House. Additional times for specific events can be found at athletics.uchicago.edu.