FRIDAY • JANUARY 17, 2014
CHICAGOMAROON.COM
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
ISSUE 20 • VOLUME 125
MA governor invokes MLK’s call to serve Bomb scare at 53rd St. station stalls Metra Marina Fang News Editor
Governor of Massachuesetts Deval Patrick speaks at Rockefeller Chapel during the Martin Luther King Celebration Wednesday night. FRANK YAN | THE CHICAGO MAROON
Jeevna Sheth Maroon Contributor Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick called for a widespread commitment to public service during his keynote address
at UChicago’s 24th annual Martin Luther King Commemoration Celebration at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel on Wednesday night. The event began with David Axelrod (A.B. ’76),
director of the Institute of Politics, introducing what he called Patrick’s “improbable life.” A native Chicagoan, Patrick grew up in the Robert Taylor Homes housing project on the
After eight months, a lawsuit, and countless community battles, Japanese restaurant Yusho is finally in the clear to open its doors in summer 2014. The lawsuit filed by Hyde Park residents against the restaurant was dismissed on January 2.
The restaurant has become a proxy for an ongoing snare between the University of Chicago Commercial Real Estate Office (CREO) and some members of the residential community who take issue with the University’s recent development plans in Hyde Park. The East 53rd Street and South Kimbark Avenue
NEWS IN BRIEF Open Produce robbed Open Produce, a late-night grocery store in East Hyde Park, was robbed at gunpoint on Tuesday night. A Chicago Police Department (CPD) investigation is underway. Around $400 was stolen, according to Becci Behlen, the store’s manager. Behlen was assaulted by one of the four assailants as they were fleeing the scene. “I confronted them for some reason. One of them hit me in the face. They told me to run, and I left,” she said. Three men entered the premises around
MLK continued on page 2
Through the looking Glass
Yusho lawsuit dropped Preston Thomas News Staff
South Side during the height of the civil rights movement. His childhood, Patrick reflected, shaped his understanding of the value of service. “There was a lot we didn’t
A suspicious package at the 53rd Street Metra Station halted Metra service for about an hour Thursday morning and created residual delays for trains along the Metra Electric line. The Chicago Police Department (CPD) received word of the package at 11:30 a.m., after which the bomb squad was called in to investigate, according to Officer Janel Sedevic of the CPD Office of News Affairs. “The threat was determined to be negative,” she said. No explosives were found, and police gave the all-clear at 12:40 p.m. According to Metra spokeswoman Meg Reile, all Metra Electric trains were halted, and no one was allowed into the station during the investigation. Metra service was restored following the all-clear, though trains along the Metra Electric line experienced residual delays until about 2 p.m., according to service advisories posted
on Metra’s Twitter feed. Second-year Sophia Lin was returning to campus on an inbound train coming from the far South Side when it was stopped due to the bomb scare. “I was coming back from a clinic I work at on 95th Street, and the Metra stopped at around 63rd [Street]. We were just sitting there for a few minutes, and we didn’t know why,” she said. “After about 15 minutes, they had announced over the loudspeaker that there was a stoppage of the train due to police activity, and when I asked the conductor what was going on, he said there was a mysterious package on the railing at the 53rd [Street] Metra Station.” Lin estimated that the train was stopped for about 40 minutes and that she arrived about 25 minutes late to her destination. Neither CPD nor Metra officials could confirm who called in the threat. Students and staff were sent a UChicago Alert at 12:05 p.m. notifying them of the situation and one at 12:43 p.m. announcing the all-clear.
property slated to host Yusho is located at the corner of an alcohol-free or “dry” precinct. Across the street from the building is Kimbark Beverage Shoppe, a liquor store that falls just outside of the precinct boundaries. For a business to gain a liquor license in the dry precinct, local law requires YUSHO continued on page 2
10:30 p.m. and demanded an employee open the cash register and hand over the change box. The fourth assailant waited in a vehicle outside the store. One customer and a staff member were in the store at the time of the robbery, and Behlen was in the basement office. Behlen stressed that she was grateful for the supportive community response. “A bunch of folks came by the store, to make sure everything is OK, and to report whatever they had seen,” she said. “Largely, it’s just been a show of support here in East Hyde Park. They are really concerned about their neighborhood.” —Joy Crane
Sean Pierre Maroon Contributor For Dr. Anil Shah, Google Glass brings clarity to the surgeon’s table. Shah, a facial plastic surgeon who works at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC), in addition to owning a private practice, used Google Glass to perform a surgery in December. Shah is the first practitioner in Chicago to use the eyeglass technolog y— which enables hands-free computing—during an operation. Google Glass allows the user, through voice and sensor activation, to interact with a visual computer interface created by looking into a wearable glass pane. It is not yet for sale. Shah had acquired Google Glass as part of Google’s Glass Explorer
Program, through which individuals can apply to test out the new technolog y. “When I had heard of Google Glass, I thought that the medical applications could be significant. I wanted to work with the product and see where its strengths and weaknesses were,” he said. After acquiring the glasses, Shah did some test runs of the product in a mock-up surgical setting before using them in a real surgery. After reviewing a patient with a broken nose and breathing complications, Shah deemed this “the perfect case” for him to test the product during a live surgery. “I have an image of what the nose looks like, and what I want it to look like. Instead of having to look up and turn my head at the wall, I can keep my eyes on the patient, look up in the
right-hand corner, and see this image overlap,” Shah said. Following the procedure, the patient no longer experienced any of her original nasal afflictions. Though he stressed that it was in no way necessary for him to use Google Glass to complete the surgery, Shah believes that there are many prospective uses for the technolog y in teaching medical students. “I think that it is probably going to be a game changer,” he said. “One of the challenges [for medical students] is to see what the surgeon is doing and trying to learn that perspective. So having [Google Glass] changes your perspective, and hopefully it makes the learning curve less steep.” Google has not confirmed a release date for the eyewear, though new versions could be released later this year.
IN VIEWPOINTS
IN ARTS
IN SPORTS
Putting it into practice » Page 3
Artist Schultz builds Ren’s nest in Cobb rafters » Page 5
Conference foes visit for Neon Night tradition » Back Page
Creative Cloisters » Page 6
Postseason preparation continues in Kenosha, WI » Page 7
Obama library is a compromise not worth making » Page 4
THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | January 17, 2014
2
Residents seek to revive lawsuit against University petition YUSHO continued from front
that a petition be circulated and that at least two-thirds of the residents vote in favor of the proposal. The University circulated the petition to local residents on Yusho’s behalf. “We had the number [of signatures] that was needed, but there was a contention of local residents who opposed it, so what happens is…they countersued saying that the signatures were not valid,” said Yusho Head Chef and Owner Matthew Merges. Merges is also head chef of A10, which opened in Hyde Park this fall. Robin Kaufman (A.B. ’65), a resident of the 5300 South Kimbark block, was instrumental in launching the suit against Yusho, which claimed that four signatories of the petition wished to revoke their signatures, falling short of the two-thirds majority necessary for Yusho to attain a liquor license. The Circuit Court of Cook County judge did not allow them to revoke, according to Kaufman, and the lawsuit was dismissed on December 17. Kaufman criticized the University for gathering the petition signatures in a manner that she described as coercive. She stressed that many residents within the precinct lived in one of two buildings, one owned by the University and the other by Mac Property Management. “The tenants [in the University-owned] building were called by their management repeatedly and asked to go to a lawyer to sign the petitions,” Kaufman said. “They were given very little information about what it really involved…Some people were afraid that their lease might not be renewed if they didn’t sign. It felt to them like a threat.” Although the liquor license lawsuit was dismissed, some residents seek to appeal the case. But Merges looks to the restaurant’s future. “We’ve gotten really great reception from the residents for A10. We’re just excited to give them another offering of what we do,” he said. By Alex Hays
Weekly Crime Report Here are this week’s notables: » January 8, 5709 South Ellis Avenue (Snell)— Between 3:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. an unknown person entered dorm rooms and took four laptop computers. » January 10, 5836 South Greenwood Avenue (Haskell Hall), 7:05 p.m.—An individual became ill after consuming alcoholic drinks and was transported to the hospital by Chicago Fire Department EMS. » January 11, 1307 East 60th Street (New Graduate Residence Hall), 12:30 p.m.—A resident noticed an electrical fire in the kitchen range hood and extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher. » January 12, 5700 South Maryland Avenue, 5 p.m.—An unknown male forcibly took a cell phone from a woman who was walking on the sidewalk and then fled on foot. » January 12, University Avenue between 53rd Street and 54th Street, 11:10 p.m.—An unknown male implied he had a weapon and took a wallet from a man who was walking on the sidewalk off campus. The report was delayed and is now a CPD case. Source: UCPD Incident Reports
MLK speaker cites experience with youth service in Massachusetts MLK continued from front
have,” he said. “But one thing we did have was a very strong sense of community.” The Harvard Law School graduate went on to work for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and later served as U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Patrick focused his speech around one of King’s most acclaimed teachings: an ingrained sense of service to one another. “Dr. King taught us that service is power. Transformative power. We need hearts filled with grace, and souls carried by love. One thing I try to do is to elevate this value, to draw attention to the power of service,” he said. Patrick also outlined his own attempts to instill this sense of service in young people, citing Project 351, an initiative aimed at celebrating Massachusetts’s youth service leaders. “I gathered together an eighth grader from every one of the 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth who were themselves service leaders. I figured the athletes and scholars and artists had channels to flourish and be recognized
for it, but not always the service leaders,” he said. Especially in addressing national issues such as income inequality and the endangered “American Dream,” Patrick said that finding lasting solutions would
require some heart. “Making opportunity real requires action. You can reason your way to practical solutions, but without love, you cannot fully appreciate why addressing them is a matter of real urgency,” he said.
CLASSIFIEDS Classified advertising in The Chicago Maroon is $3 for each line. Lines are 45 characters long including spaces and punctuation. Special headings are 20-character lines at $4 per line. Submit all ads in person, by e-mail, or by mail to The Chicago Maroon, Ida Noyes Hall, Lower Level Rm 026, 1212 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL 60637. The Chicago Maroon accepts Mastercard & Visa. Call (773) 702-9555. FOR RENT Spacious studio located at 57th & Dorchester Ave., recently remodeled, garage parking. Call Julie at (773) 742-8812.
YOUR AD HERE advertise in the MAROON ADS@CHICAGOMAROON.COM
Become a
RESIDENT HEAD in the College Houses
Resident Heads live in the College Houses to provide guidance, advice and direction to members of the undergraduate House communities. Advanced graduate students are encouraged to apply. Single, domestic-partnered, or married persons who are at least 25 years of age can apply. Applicants with children are welcome to apply. Compensation is valued at approximately $18,000 for a single person. For married persons, the value is increased by the meals and health benefits provided for spouses and children and has been estimated to be as high as $32,000. Compensation consists of a cash stipend, furnished apartment for 12 months of the year, meals when the College is in session, and University student medical insurance for full-time registered students and their dependents.
Application materials and additional information are available on the College Housing website at: http://housing.uchicago.edu Remaining Information Sessions Information Sessions about this position and the selection process will be held on: Monday, January 13, at 7:00pm – Burton-Judson Library (1005 E. 60th St.) Saturday, January 18, at 10:00am – Fairfax (1369 E. Hyde Park Blvd.) Thursday, January 23, at 7:00pm – Upper Burton Lounge (1005 E. 60th St.)
Attendance at one of these sessions is required for all applicants. APPLICATION DEADLINE: JANUARY 27, 2014
VIEWPOINTS
Editorial & Op-Ed JANUARY 17, 2014
The snow goes on Thank you to all University staff who worked through the snow storm and cold snap The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 REBECCA GUTERMAN Editor-in-Chief SAM LEVINE Editor-in-Chief EMILY WANG Managing Editor AJAY BATRA Senior Editor DANIEL LEWIS Senior Editor MATTHEW SCHAEFER Senior Editor EMMA THURBER STONE Senior Editor MARINA FANG News Editor ELEANOR HYUN Viewpoints Editor LIAM LEDDY Viewpoints Editor KRISTIN LIN Viewpoints Editor EMMA BRODER Arts Editor ALICE BUCKNELL Arts Editor WILL DART Arts Editor LAUREN GURLEY Arts Editor DANIEL RIVERA Arts Editor SARAH LANGS Sports Editor SONIA DHAWAN Head Designer KEVIN WANG Online Editor MARA MCCOLLOM Social Media Editor CONNOR CUNNINGHAM Head Copy Editor ALAN HASSLER Head Copy Editor SHERRY HE Head Copy Editor
When class was cancelled Monday of first week, students were encouraged to stay in their dorm rooms and apartments. But even without us populating the quads, campus had to continue operating. On that cold, cold day, there were many who made it happen and deserve praise. Without the employees of Facilities Services, UChicago Dining, Residential Services, College Housing, and the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD), who not only came to work on January 5–6 (and earlier) but also went above and beyond the call of duty, UChicago’s “snow day” would have been very different. Allow us to explain: It’s about 9 a.m. on Monday when you miraculously make it onto campus, having navigated the inevitable flight delays and cancellations. Stepping out of the
taxi, you notice just in time the snowdrift that probably would’ve gone up to your knees, instead diverting your footfall just a little further to the sidewalk which is— thankfully—shoveled. Over the course of this young winter, the pavement has already been cleared of almost 37 inches of snow by Facilities Services. That includes their carpenters, painters, and engineers working in what felt like −40 degrees Fahrenheit to clean up the mess of Sunday’s snowstorms, for as many hands as possible were needed. It is thanks to them that you can get the door to your dorm building open and feel that blast of warm air that thaws your face, which is somehow frozen despite you being outside for not much longer than a minute. Of course, there’s much more to settling back into your dorm than getting through the door.
Housing has been open since the day before, ensuring that students have somewhere to return to after making the stressful journey back. It also means that, at this point, workers have braved both the ridiculous cold and the blinding snow so that you can check in and settle in—into the comforter on top of your bed, which may or may not be made depending on how disastrous finals week was for you last quarter. But eventually the warm comforts of your room give way to an increasingly pressing need: the need for sustenance. At this point, you have a couple options. Once again, College Housing has your back—Resident Masters and Heads have restocked the kitchens in case you get hungry before Dining is scheduled to deliver hot meals straight to your door. If you’re of the more adventurous ilk, though, both major dining
BEN ZIGTERMAN Head Copy Editor SYDNEY COMBS Photo Editor JULIA REINITZ Photo Editor PETER TANG Photo Editor FRANK YAN Photo Editor COLIN BRADLEY Grey City Editor JOY CRANE Grey City Editor
halls are open during their usual hours thanks to the dedication of dining hall workers, who prepared food throughout the weekend and continue to work through the weather warnings. Unlike during the February 2011 blizzard which shut down classes for two days, the shuttles are running and will get you there and back again. While at the dining hall of your choice, you might see members of the UCPD and security officers taking the opportunity to warm up for a short bit before returning to their chilling patrol. Who knows: If you’re even more adventurous, you might run into them again when you’re stranded on campus, either in a car or on your feet. And thankfully they’ll be there to save you.
The Editorial Board consists of the Editors-in-Chief and the Viewpoints Editors.
World of tradecraft
Putting it into practice
Working on non-academic projects can pay off
Strive to align actions with social justice ideals
THOMAS CHOI Assoc. News Editor ALEX HAYS Assoc. News Editor HARINI JAGANATHAN Assoc. News Editor STEPHANIE XIAO Assoc. News Editor TATIANA FIELDS Assoc. Sports Editor SAM ZACHER Assoc. Sports Editor
TYRONALD JORDAN Business Manager TAMER BARSBAY Director of Business Research SHAWN CHEN Director of Internal Marketing ANNIE ZHU Director of External Marketing VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator ANNIE CANTARA Designer CARINA BAKER Designer AURNA HASNIE Designer JANE JUN Designer JONAH RABB Designer NICHOLAS ROUSE Designer KRYSTEN BRAY Copy Editor SOPHIE DOWNES Copy Editor MICHELLE LEE Copy Editor CHELSEA LEU Copy Editor KATIE LEU Copy Editor JOHN LOTUS Copy Editor KATARINA MENTZELOPOULOS Copy Editor CHRISTINE SCHMIDT Copy Editor OLIVIA STOVICEK Copy Editor ANDY TYBOUT Copy Editor LAN WANG Copy Editor RUNNAN YANG Copy Editor
The Chicago Maroon is published twice weekly during autumn, winter, and spring quarters Circulation: 5,500. The opinions expressed in the Viewpoints section are not necessarily those of the Maroon. © 2014 The Chicago Maroon, Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 Editor-in-Chief Phone: 773.834.1611 Newsroom Phone: 773.702.1403 Business Phone: 773.702.9555 Fax: 773.702.3032 CONTACT News: News@ChicagoMaroon.com Viewpoints: Viewpoints@ChicagoMaroon.com Arts: Arts@ChicagoMaroon.com Sports: Sports@ChicagoMaroon.com Photography: Photo@ChicagoMaroon.com Design: Design@ChicagoMaroon.com Copy: CopyEditors@ChicagoMaroon.com Advertising: Ads@ChicagoMaroon.com
By Patrick Reilly Viewpoints Columnist After 36 years at The Washington Post, Bob Levey (A.B. ’66) had plenty of tips for making it in journalism: Start your career in smaller, local papers; streamline your phone interview skills; spend less time blogging and more time playing bridge on the third floor of Ida Noyes. Toward the end of his 60 minutes in the Maroon’s basement office, the venerable columnist leaned back in his chair and gave some advice with a slightly broader appeal. “Always have a project you’re working on,” he urged us. “Practice your tradecraft.” Easier said than done. After five days juggling Hum readings and calc problem sets, it’s difficult to muster the energy to go downtown or jog along the lake, let alone explore a non-academic interest. Yet Levey was in our shoes 50 years ago, and despite the timeless pressures of life at UChicago, he made time for his burgeoning interest in journalism. Not everyone gets a rush from cranking out last-minute Viewpoints columns, but his advice to “practice your tradecraft” could apply just as well to judo as to journalism. Amid the rigors of academic life, though, when to get started? I chose winter break. In the “tradecraft” of journalism, opportunities to practice abound, and I spent a decent chunk of December researching the firestorm of controversy surrounding fracking in
Illinois. In three weeks of phone calls, e-mails, and article revisions, I learned more than I ever planned to know about the widening gulf between the Sierra Club and Frack Free Illinois, and about the minutiae of Johnson County politics. As those facts coalesced into an upcoming series for The Gate, my brain couldn’t store it all; a few things had to go. At some point in the process, I forgot that I had slipped below straight As for the first time since middle school. I forgot that I still struggled to follow the obscure literary references that my classmates casually dropped into conversations. I forgot the pangs of bitter disillusionment that had struck while studying for my calc final. Why dwell on them? I had a project of my own to focus on. Never mind that this particular project focused, reductively, on bubbles of hydrocarbons a mile beneath an obscure corner of southern Illinois. It hadn’t begun with the most manageable Hum essay prompt or the need to crank out a Sosc reaction paper; it had begun with a story my co-author and I wanted to tell, and could tell to the depth we wanted in the style we wanted. Our little series met Malcolm Gladwell’s explanation in Outliers that “autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying.” That’s a far cry from my high school days, shaped by what my dad calls “the achievement industry”: essay contests, Model U.N. meets, All-State Band auditions, and the common conviction that accomplishment requires a medal for one and sore feelings for many. Don’t get me TRADECRAFT continued on page 4
Zelda Mayer Viewpoints Staff I am a self-declared “people person.” Empathy is my buzzword. I am a feminist, an activist, and a frequent visitor to the University Community Service Center. I have always felt that social justice work is my passion, my calling. When I changed my major from linguistics to public policy, nobody was surprised. Yet when a homeless person approaches me on the street, I often keep walking. When presented with this small yet tangible opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life, I quite literally pass it by without much thought. In my public policy classes, we often debate how to “fix the system.” But is it enough to sit in our ivy-covered ivory towers of academia and pontificate? Are structured settings such as the University or nonprofits an adequate avenue for me to contribute to social change, or a way to avoid personally confronting the harsh realities of this hyper-segregated urban environment? As a woman who often walks around Chicago alone, not stopping in the middle of an urban area when a stranger addresses me might just be an instinctual act of self-preservation. But it is still concerning to me that what I preach and what I practice do not always align. For example, I avidly promote the CTA, especially the Green Line. When my peers suggest that the 63rd/Cottage Grove stop is unsafe or “sketchy,” I immediately take it upon myself to convince them otherwise. I often get frustrated at others’ negative assumptions and unwillingness to venture into Woodlawn. But over winter break, I was riding the Green Line with my friends, and a woman approached us. She wore an oversized, stained trench coat and dragged a giant black trash bag behind her. She asked for money. We told
her we didn’t have any. She mumbled something under her breath, coughed in our faces, and asked for money again. We averted our gazes, trying not to engage. The woman then proceeded to drop her pants and pee in the middle of the train, staring at us as she did so. As she swung the trash bag over her shoulders, I watched urine drip onto her jacket. She spat, coughed, and got off the train. At the next stop, my friends and I changed cars. This experience was scary and uncomfortable, and I didn’t like it one bit. Although I was never put in any real danger, I was shaken by the interaction. Intellectually, I know that this woman is a struggling human being who deserves my respect and that structural inequalities have brought her to this place. But in the moment, she was just getting in my face. My internal debate extends beyond whether or not I should give money to a homeless person. It is very easy to contextualize principles based on setting. I volunteer my time to nonprofits, performing my ideals in a defined, comfortable space. There, I often interact with people whose backgrounds and experiences are completely different from mine. In this situation, there is an established protocol, an unspoken set of agreements and rules between the volunteer and the client. In daily life, however, there are no clearly defined roles. While a few hours of volunteering may fill the “quota” that proves my virtue, everyday interactions provide me with opportunities to truly uphold my ideals. It is up to me to determine the right behavior. With such a strong set of beliefs, I feel hypocritical when I am unable or unwilling to act on them. And every time I ignore a homeless man on the street in favor of preserving my own personal comfort, I am living my life with two different DISCOMFORT continued on page 4
4
THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | January 17, 2014
Obama library is a compro- Letter to the editor: Rebuttal to mise not worth making Prof. Stone on Snowden University’s committment to objectivity must be upheld Andrew Young Viewpoints Staff The George W. Bush Presidential Library sits on a 23-acre stretch of land on the east side of Southern Methodist University’s campus. For a building with the title of “presidential library,” a lot about this president and his presidency is missing. Missing is the Presidential Daily Briefing delivered to President Bush on August 6, 2001 entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US”; missing is the infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner from May 1, 2003; missing is any reference to Bush’s push for a Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The recent talk of locating Barack Obama’s presidential library at the University of Chicago has raised concerns over the consequences of bringing what has historically been an inherently partisan and revisionist institution to a university that prides itself on objective inquiry. At the center of these concerns is the question of whether the obvious scholarly and practical benefits of having a presidential library on campus would outweigh the potential compromises that such an institution would impose, and whether those compromises can coexist with the University’s broader atmosphere of free and open discourse. Each aspect of the University of Chicago should embody its unifying ideal: that Socratic discussion is vital to furthering knowledge and maintaining intellectual honesty. More abstractly, the goal of academia should be to rigorously test and analyze an array of ideas and opinions. Bringing a presidential library to the University would represent a drastic departure from these academic principles. Granted, the wealth of historical documents that would be available to the University would serve as an extension of our “Life of the Mind”; indeed, presidential libraries contain an abundance of information with respect to the office of the presidency, the person who occupies that office, and our nation during an important time in its history. Those historical documents, however, are carefully chosen and presented from the perspective of what the President and his political allies want us to understand as the truth. One cannot exercise scholarly, objective inquiry if the available information is confined to a specific viewpoint. In a library like the Regenstein, students have access to a variety of viewpoints; in a presidential
library, that diversity is lacking. As such, our principles of free inquiry and critical analysis are compromised. Former President Bill Clinton addressed this concern best when speaking to the crowd at the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library in 2013: “[The Bush Presidential Library] was the latest, grandest example of the eternal struggle of former presidents to rewrite history.” We have no reason to believe that President Obama’s library would prove to be substantively different than previous presidential libraries, regardless of any efforts by the University to align the institution with its values. Given the Obama administration’s reputation for insularity and aggressive image protection—marked by a reticent cabinet and a sometimes antagonistic relationship with the press, among other things— it would not be surprising if the information that is available through the library is rigorously filtered and framed so as to project a particular image. That is what presidential libraries are made for— they are actively partisan, ideological institutions dedicated to bolstering the legacy of the President and his administration. In response to criticism of the Clinton Presidential Library for allegedly glossing over the political nature of important but unflattering periods of the Clinton administration, the designers of the library acknowledged this very fact, asserting that “[t]his is the way the president wanted to see his legacy defined.” Susan Sher, senior adviser to President Zimmer, spoke of how “[t]he City of Chicago and the South Side in particular could benefit greatly from the cultural opportunities and economic development that a presidential library could bring.” This is true, but these benefits are not exclusive to affiliating the presidential library with our University, nor does my case in opposition to such an affiliation preclude locating it in the greater Hyde Park area. The University of Chicago would undoubtedly enjoy the prestige and public relations benefits associated with housing the Obama presidential library, but at what cost? For over a century, the University of Chicago has made an effort to engender an atmosphere of free, open inquiry; as stewards of this University, how can we justify supporting an institution that is largely antithetical to these very principles? We can’t. Andrew Young is a first-year in the College.
Challenge actions so they live up to standards DISCOMFORT continued from page 3 mindsets: one in which I am actively “making the world a better place,” and another in which I am just going about my own business. Although it bothers me, I am not saying it is necessarily shameful to walk past a homeless person on the street or to sometimes feel tense in urban spaces. Discomfort is a natural and automatic reaction to something that breaks away from the context of our usual routine. But I do believe that our lives are the culmination of our choices: When added up, these small moments of inaction or indifference become very significant. I don’t have answers to any of these internal debates, and they continue to trouble me. I
realize that I am coming from a place of privilege; the fact that this is even an issue in my life shows how lucky I am. But with the blessings of a strong education and a stable home, it seems even more critical that I am conscious of my actions and their effects on others. At this university, we have a great amount of both individual and collective power. It is important to recognize when we feel uncomfortable and to constantly challenge our reactions to those feelings. If we do not question our actions and address our discomforts, we risk preventing ourselves from living up to our own standards.
As the Maroon reports in “Snowden Broke the Law, Says Law Prof (1/14/14),” Professor Geoffrey Stone stated that “there are costs as well as benefits from what Snowden did.... Many of those costs damaged the United States in its relations with other nations. It may damage the infrastructure of the Internet, causing countries to put up more barriers to ordinary access. It made it more difficult for the nation to protect itself.” The statement makes me understand that one of the costs is other nations being upset at the U.S. because its programs are now public, and that the backlash of this data siphoning will lead to less “ordinary” access from the U.S. to other countries (although modern U.S. law treats classical wiretapping as an extraordinary judicial process). However, the underlying claim is that what upset these countries isn’t the action, but that the U.S. got caught, as if the issue was the new transparency of these programs. This may well be the case with collaborating governments, who are now in the awkward position of having their lackey attitude on full display. But for the rest of the world, the issue is that the leaks uncovered the extent to which national expectations of privacy (the truly ordinary modus vivendi, until now) were violated on an international plane. As with Bradley Manning, whose Cablegate first uncovered systematic (albeit personal) diplomatic spying in summits and within embassies, the Snowden leaks brought other allegations to surface: ones that tear at the delicate fabric of diplomatic relations and break not just with arguably diffuse international law, but with old customs, such as the inviolability of diplomatic communications. Furthermore, if the charge of economic spying
were imputed to, say, China, the U.S. would not pull back any punches in exercising consequences. But to lay all of these programs at the feet of Snowden, and say that it is his fault U.S. relations with the world have been hurt, misses the irony of the situation. He may have broken the law, but he didn’t create these programs. He merely transgressed his government’s right to privacy secrecy in transgressing your, Merkel’s, and Brazil’s own privacy. And now we’re all in the same boat. We’ll have to wait until later today to hear from the President on how much accountability gets spread around. - HAL P.S. In writing this opinion, I was asked to address why I wouldn’t want my real name to run next to it. One person looking over it thought including my name would be a good idea, since it could turn into a lively debate. The Chicago Maroon kindly respected my wish to remain anonymous given my sense of unease, which was partly informed by the tone that debates on leaks in this country have taken. Although freedom of expression is held as a guiding idea in principle, support of leakers’, journalists’, and skeptics’ dissent has waned. Partly, as I have tried to elaborate above, any ensuing debate should focus on U.S. policy, not just on Snowden, and putting my name on this might result in pressure to state my personal feelings on his actions under an un-nuanced, “with us or against us” framework. Finally, while this community is plural and open to debate, the nature of permanent, online publication escapes our intellectual culture, and this makes me feel at future risk. I hope you, like the editors, understand. Thanks for the space, and thanks for reading.
Persistence can lead to something beautiful TRADECRAFT continued from page 3 wrong : Long hours polishing an audition piece or revising the latest essay contest entry definitely entailed “practicing tradecraft,” but to what end? Another line on the Common App and the smug satisfaction of one-upmanship. Selfimprovement was a nice afterthought. I suspect that the achievement industry mind-set accompanies quite a few UChicago students (myself included) to Hyde Park. Once here, it evolves into this school’s famous anxiety. Along with topnotch grades and SAT scores, everyone here—by virtue of being here—had to meet formidable benchmarks of success. The achievement industry had conveniently set them out for us in high school—the medals, gavels, and scholarships that we eagerly snapped up and slapped on our résumé. Yet suddenly, those ready-made goals are fewer and farther between. Instead, we have a much steeper grading curve and a
gnawing anxiety about everyone who reads more books, speaks more languages, makes more insightful comments in Hum, or otherwise seems smarter than us. Intimidated by our peers, it’s easy to forget our own savvy with music, sports, computers, or whatever other unique “tradecraft” got us this far. If, two and a half weeks into 2014, you’re still looking for a New Year’s resolution, I recommend taking up Levey’s advice and “practicing” it. Compose a symphony, write a software program, or hone your bridge strateg y for the weekly games in Ida Noyes. When Friday or the next break rolls around, have a project ready that will help you transcend the week’s anxieties and give you a unique end product to share with the world. Just don’t write an article about fracking in Johnson County. That project’s taken. Patrick Reilly is a first-year in the College.
Zelda Mayer is a second-year in the College majoring in public policy.
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.
Make a Difference, See the World,
and Gain Skills with Peace Corps peacecorps.gov/openings Apply now for 2014-15 programs! 1.855.855.1961 | chicago@peacecorps.gov
ARTS
Heartlandia JANUARY 17, 2014
Artist Schultz builds Ren’s nest in Cobb rafters University grounds, particularly the Society’s storage room. “Process comes from a certain reality,” Schultz said at the artist’s talk on Sunday evening. Throughout the past few weeks, Stone recalled finding Schultz sitting on the floor of the gallery, listening to music and staring into space for hours, feeling it out. I too sat on the gallery’s floor just two weeks later, trying to unpack what Schultz had done to transform the place. Most of Schultz’s pieces are thin metal scraps and almost transparent netting that hang or stand vertical to the grid. Because her materials are often thin and painted white, light gray, or purple, the space gives the impression of lightness, fragility, and impermanence. It’s as if Schultz is commenting on the transient nature of exhibitions, or even of art itself, both in tailoring her show to its site Using materials exclusively from the Hyde Park area, artist Nora Schultz began her new exhibit in The Renaissance Society this week. COURTESY OF SYDNEY COMBS
Lauren Gurley Arts Editor The latest exhibition at The Renaissance Society, parrottree—building for bigger than real, is arguably one of its most difficult in recent history. Although there are 36 pieces in the show, my initial response upon entering the gallery at its crowded Sunday opening was: Where is the art? Perhaps that was because the majority of Berlin-based artist Nora Schultz’s works—made of steel, paper, mesh,
and rubber scraps—are white, like the gallery itself, and are suspended or attached to the permanent steel grid that divides the upper and lower halves of the gallery space. In most exhibitions at the Society, the grid is inconspicuous, but for Schultz, whose works often utilize the materials of the site of her exhibition, the grid figures prominently. “This space is so unique because of the grid,” said Yuri Stone, head of communications at the Society. “Most artists work above or below the grid.
Nora wanted to use the grid not as a divider. She wanted to play with the objects in the room.” In preparation for the opening, which was both Schultz’s first solo exhibition this side of the Atlantic and new Chief Curator and Executive Director Solveig Øvstebø’s first show at the Society, Schultz arrived on December 27 without a single finished or even started piece. In the intervening two weeks, Schultz transformed the gallery into her studio, and began a scavenger hunt for materials around
PARROTTREE—BUILDING FOR BIGGER THAN REAL The Renaissance Society Through February 23
and creating these fragile pieces, some of which recall ghostlike apparitions. What complicates the show is Schultz’s interest in the meaning of words and her use of text. Many of the pieces are painted, drawn with a Sharpie, or cut out, featuring phrases like “Am I am Ma?” “Machine Dreaming Mind,” and “Reconstructed cogni-
tive architecture that’s components could be arranged in a few simple steps.” On one wall, an annotated New York Times article about photography from January 2, 2014 seems out of place. Thus the connection between the text and the sculpture is tenuous, but perhaps the language is working to further destabilize the exhibition as a whole, and in the case of the already two-week-old Times article, points again to the show’s finitude. A further seemingly disjunct part of the show is “the parrot,” for which the show is named and whose manipulated song plays on repeat throughout the gallery. As the legend goes, a group of resilient monk parakeets have inhabited Hyde Park for nearly 50 years, despite arctic winters. When Schultz learned about this, she selected the South American parrot as a “collaborator” for her exhibition. Like Schultz, the parrots are visitors to Chicago and have adapted to the neighborhood, using the materials at hand to construct their nests. While the relationship between the various components of the show—the unobtrusive sculptures made from scrap, the text on these sculptures, the enigmatic parrot—feels weak, this weak connection seems to be the point. For the show, Schultz has assimilated to her environment, building in some sense her own parrot’s nest in the grid of the Renaissance Society. But the nebulous, fragile nature of her pieces reminds us that just as quickly as she made the gallery her home, Schultz will soon be rousted and will move on to her next project.
It’s getting hot in Her McConaughey stays gold on HBO Andrew McVea Maroon Contributor With new advances in voice activation software and smartphone applications like the iPhone’s Siri, the apparent gap between humans and machines has grown rapidly smaller. We’re at the point where we can even have conversations with our cell phones. Yet there are limits: When Siri is posed the question, “What is love?” its response is, “I can’t answer that.” As far as technology has come, our machines are still unable to process this aspect of the human condition. But what if they did have that ability? And if we loved them back? Her follows the story of Theodore Twombly ( Joaquin Phoenix), a man who writes personal notes and love letters for other people even as he himself is going through a painful divorce from his emotionally unstable wife Catherine (Rooney Mara). Set in the near future, his life is dominated by immersive video games, phone sex with strangers, and listening to the monotone drone of his phone as it reads him his e-mails and appointments. It’s a cripplingly lonely existence, and after seeing an advertisement in his building, Theodore decides to shake things up and purchase a new A.I. operating system, “Samantha” (Scarlett
Johansson), to replace his old, lifeless phone. What starts as a playful friendship between the two evolves into something more as Theodore becomes increasingly dependent on Samantha’s council and companionship as he deals with his divorce and dating in the real world. Their subsequent romance is the most provocative, divisive, and downright moving relationship in recent cinema. At the heart of the film is the question of whether Samantha and Theodore’s romance is valid, or if it is even ethical for human and machine to have a relationship. Despite having a real and evolving personality, Samantha is based off of the programmers who made her and exists only as a voice on a computer. Her processors make her infinitely intelligent and fast, yet she lacks a body and any real-world experiences or memories. The film’s strength rests in the ambiguity of the relationship between Samantha and Theodore. While one person might see the film as a stirring romance between lovers divided by their physical bodies, it could also easily be seen as a dystopian look at our society’s relationship with technology. “Are these feelings real?” Samantha sighs at one point, “Or is it just programming?” By the end of the film it’s not really clear. HER continued on page 6
James Mackenzie Arts Staff The last decade or so of TV drama has been defined by its love affair with dark, brooding men combatting their inner psychological torments. In True Detective, HBO turns this love affair into true monogamy, exploring the odd couple of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. The show follows Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Harrelson), two recently paired detectives investigating a possibly satanic serial killer in rural Louisiana. The show is presented in two modes: One follows the detectives during their investigation in 1995, while the second sees them being separately interviewed by other detectives in 2012 after the longclosed case mysteriously reopens. The show’s premiere introduces the series while unapologetically not advancing the plot: The detectives make few inroads into the case, and the drama is kept on a small scale. Instead, writer Nic Pizzolatto is far more interested in the inner characters of Cohle and Hart, as well as their interplay. McConaughey’s Cohle is solitary and philosophical to a fault. The show finds him recently transferred from Texas with no family or friends and barely a possession to his name. What he does bring to
the table is a bleak outlook and a meticulous approach to detective work that is seen as strange even by his colleagues. The recently hot McConaughey—“hot” in the sense of a hot streak, in addition to his visual appeal—comes from awardworthy outings such as Dallas Buyers Club and brings his full talents to bear in True Detective. His dead eyes speak of a man who cares for nothing but his work, and even that very impersonally. His body language and delivery make Pizzolatto’s spurts of philosophy-heavy dialogue sound like they actually come from a dark and broken man as opposed to a depressed high school pseudo-philosopher. Harrelson has some of his thunder stolen by McConaughey, but is more than capable of maintaining his own. Unlike Cohle, Hart is a family man and friendly with his peers. He is straightforward and practical in his detective work in contrast with Cohle’s conjecturing and analytical thought process. Yet Hart is consistently fascinated by the enigmatic Cohle, frequently trying to probe his partner whom he knows so little about. In fact, it is so far impossible to discuss Hart without discussing Cohle, but not the other way around. This robs Harrelson of a real chance to shine, but without him the show would be far less palatable in its descent into Pizzolatto’s random philo-
sophical musings. Together, McConaughey and Harrelson have chemistry and make for a good on-screen fit with the desolate Louisiana landscape. The show was filmed on location, and the creators have found all of the best empty grass fields, swamps, and cheap housing that’s fit to put on TV. As Cohle says in the premiere, the town resembles “someone’s fading memory of a town.” While both Hart and the viewer laugh it off initially as another of Cohle/Pizzolatto’s weird and meaningless statements, neither can help but be put off by the eeriness and emptiness of the setting. What the first episode lacks in action and suspense it makes up for in part with its characterization and atmosphere. Though not particularly compelling by itself, the premiere shows promise a good eight-episode run. That’s all the time Pizzolatto has to develop these detectives; True Detective is set to mimic the American Horror Story style, with each new season featuring a different plot and cast of characters. While Horror Story maintained most of its cast from season to season, McConaughey and Harrelson’s film commitments will likely send them packing after their first. So far they look to be making the best of the short time they have together.
THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | January 17, 2014
6
Her “looks too good to be true”
COURTESY OF BEGUM CITAL
COURTESY OF LIAM LEE
Untitled, fabric and fiberglass insulation, 2013. Project description: “An object placed in an unfamiliar environment, testing the line between friendly and foreign.”
Untitled, gelatin silver print, 2011. Shot with black and white film.
Begum Cital is a fourth-year in the College majoring in Economics.
Liam Lee is a third-year in the College majoring in English.
HER continued from page 5 Spike Jonze—who both wrote and directed the film—avoids making any definitive statements one way or the other, and even as you cheer for their romance to flourish, doubts linger in the back of your mind about how real their love is. This is emphasized by the film’s yellowish tint throughout, which gives the shots a warm, yet unreal, feeling. It’s almost as if it were filmed using an Instagram filter, and although the effect is bright and inviting, it sometimes looks too good to be true. A majority of the film is devoted to Samantha and Theodore working these issues out, filled with lengthy shots of Theodore alone in bed talking about love and life with Samantha in his ear. In these scenes Phoenix and Johansson truly shine. Phoenix carries the film as his character transitions between extreme doubt in his relationship and simple contentedness spending a day showing Samantha the carnival or the beach. While Phoenix is the physical figurehead of Her, Johansson is able to steal a few scenes with only her voice. She absolutely purrs and manages to capture the longing Samantha has for physical intimacy without ever physically appearing onscreen. Her has been nominated for five Oscars this year, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Whether you find it to be a moving romantic comedy or a cautionary tale of what is to come, Her is a truly enjoyable cinematic experience and a provocative work.
ENDLESS BENEFITS AND INSTANT POPULARITY! Learn effective backrub and other stress reduction techniques Gain experience working on a high-profile health promotion initiative Have a great time, make friends and relax
Large Pizza up to 3 Toppings
Participate when and where you want
only
OUR NEXT TRAINING SESSION IS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22ND 5:30-8:30PM IN THE RATNER FILM ROOM (Dinner is provided)
Apply online at wellness.uchicago.edu/stressbusters
$10! Carry-out or Delivery Order online! www.papajohns.com
Hyde Park Location 1418 E. 53rd Street (773) 752-7272
Mention this coupon to receive offer
7
THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | January 17, 2014
UAA home Postseason preparation continues in Kenosha, WI weekend brings tough matchups Track & Field
Isaac Stern Sports Staff
Men’s Basketball Jenna Harris Maroon Contributor Bright. Loud. Strong. Neon. These are the Chicago Maroons. Friday marks the squad’s first UAA game at home. It will be celebrated with Neon Night, a Maroon tradition that allows the community to cheer loudly and proudly as their team continues the gauntlet through conference play. Despite coming off a tough loss against Wash U (10–2, 1–0 UAA), Chicago (7–5, 0–1) is fired up for its next crop of UAA games. The Maroons had higher three-point and free throw percentages than the Bears, and they know that they have the talent and the drive to be victorious in conference, as long as they play intelligently. With this attitude, the Maroons face two more conference games against NYU (11–1, 1–0) and Brandeis (8–4, 0–1) on Friday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at noon, respectively. Chicago knows every possession will count a little more than usual on Friday. “Executing our half court offense will be especially important on Friday against NYU because they like to play at a slower pace. Thus, there will be fewer possessions, making each one more important to the outcome of the game,” said fourth-year forward Sam Gage. Given NYU’s height advantage, the Maroons expect to be playing two very different games this weekend. “They’ll be looking to run time off of the shot clock and then give it to one of their big guys,” Gage said. Whatever the South Siders might lack in height against the Violets, they’ll make up for in quickness and agility. The Judges, on the other hand, are very similar to the Maroons in team makeup. “[Brandeis is] athletic on the perimeter, and four of their five starters can shoot it from three,” Gage said. “I expect Sunday’s game to be much faster paced with a much higher final score. When preparing for teams that play at different tempos, there definitely is a difference in mindset. Friday’s game will require a ‘grindit-out’ mentality, while Sunday may turn into more of a track meet.” Chicago is looking at an action-packed weekend, with the potential for two early victories in the UAA if it keeps up the hot shooting and tightens up defensively. Tip-off for Friday’s Neon Night game against NYU is scheduled for 8 p.m. at Ratner. There will be giveaways, including free candy, pizza, and prizes for the best dressed as part of the celebration. Sunday’s home game against Brandeis is scheduled for noon.
In the first week of the season, the South Siders have already claimed both UAA and national weekly honors. The Maroons plan to keep up the success this weekend in Kenosha, WI at the Private School Championships. “At the meet this weekend, we’d like to build on our positive momentum from our previous meet,” second-year Michael Frasco said. “Most of all, our goal is to bond as a complete team. We have over 120 athletes across the men’s and women’s team, so it’s important to get to know everyone.” Frasco started his season quite well, as he won the mile last weekend at the Phoenix Invitational. This will be the first time in recent history for the Maroons to compete in the Private School Championships. Even though victory is the goal this weekend, the main focus is preparing for UAAs. “We have a very talented track and field
team this season,” Frasco said. “The biggest challenge for our team is to make sure that all of our talent is able to perform at its highest level at the conference championships. Finding the balance between training hard enough to increase fitness and not training so hard that athletes break down is crucial to any season. Track and field is an interesting sport because the only day that matters all season is the conference championships. Everything we do is building toward that one weekend.” An example of one such issue for the Maroons would be injury. First-year pole-vaulter Michael Bennett, who was awarded both UAA conference athlete and USTFCA national athlete of the week, will not participate this weekend in hopes of preventing a stress fracture from forming. The Maroons will still field a competitive squad this weekend. Firstyear Michelle Dobbs, who was also named UAA athlete of the week, will likely run again in the 800-meter run. She ranks third in DIII. First-year Gareth Jones will also be interesting to watch as he adjusts
from cross country to track, a transition that has already earned him a first-place finish last meet. Other top athletes include second-years Rachel Jackson, Alison Pildner, and Brianna Hickey. Additionally, look for established athletes second-year Catt Young, fourth-year Dan Povitsky, and fourth-year Sarah Peluse to make big pushes this weekend to get into the national rankings. “We [want] to qualify as many individuals to the national championship meet [as we can],” Frasco said. Frasco will likely run the mile again with hopes of lowering his time and breaking into the national rankings himself. “I want to run faster than 4:15 for the mile,” Frasco said. “My fitness is fairly high after the cross country season, and I’ve been getting stronger through speed work on the track and time in the weight room.” Only time (and heights) will tell the results of this upcoming season for Maroon track and field. For now, Chicago will look to keep up a strong start in Kenosha, WI. The meet begins at 11 a.m.
TEVI TROY WHAT JEFFERSON READ, IKE WATCHED, & OBAMA TWEETED NANCY-ANN DEPARLE THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN HEALTHCARE BETH MYERS FORMER STRATEGIST TO MITT ROMNEY STEVE HILTON FORMER STRATEGIST TO UK PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON KASIM REED MAYOR OF ATLANTA REINCE PRIEBUS CHAIRMAN OF THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
Long: “the freshmen... are beginning to peak” WRESTLING continued from back
of the UAA conference, whose participants include Case, NYU, and Chicago. Last year, the South Siders went 1–1 and placed second among the three teams while NYU went 2–0, winning their overall dual results. Chicago has high hopes for the upcoming invitational as well as for the future of the team. “Traditionally, our team has done very well in this tournament, and I expect comparable results this year. We usually start to hit our stride around this time of year, and the freshman especially are beginning to peak,” Long said. The tournament will get underway at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning in Elmhurst, IL.
IGNITING A PASSION FOR POLITICS & PUBLIC SERVICE. SIGN UP FOR WINTER EVENTS AT POLITICS.UCHICAGO.EDU
SPORTS
IN QUOTES
“It’s like comparing Picasso and Michelangelo. It’s hard to compare the two.” —Denver Broncos receiver Wes Welker compares his current QB, Peyton Manning, to his former, Tom Brady
Conference foes visit for Neon Night tradition Women’s Basketball Adam Freymiller Sports Staff
First-year Britta Nordstrom maneuvers the ball past players from Illinois Wesleyan University. FRANK WANG | THE CHICAGO MAROON
Halftime is an extremely valuable time in basketball. Coaches and players alike see it as a moment to mentally and physically replenish, reflect on their performances in the first half, determine how to exploit their opponents’ weaknesses, and steel their resolves for another half of action to decide the game. Indubitably, head coach Carissa Sain Knoche, in her second year in this role, will be looking at the midpoint of the women’s basketball season as an opportunity to instill the stamina, drive, and consistency her players will need to compete at the highest level. The Maroons (6–6, UAA 0–1) began their season impressively with two wins against Rockford and Coe during their November home tip-off tournament, but then fell to No. 17 UW–Whitewater. Since then, they’ve had a number of close games against other top 25 teams, notably challenging No. 16 Wheaton and No. 24 Wisconsin– Stevens Point in close losses, but they will be gunning for a chance to upset a few teams in the upcoming weeks. With a tough but intrigu-
ing conference schedule coming up, they’ll get plenty of opportunities for such an upset. The Maroons were dealt a 72–87 road defeat at the hands of No. 4 Wash U (11–1, 1–0) last weekend, but they remain optimistic and eager to test their mettle in their upcoming home UAA games against formidable programs. They are slated to play No. 25 NYU (12–0, 1–0) tonight at 6 p.m. and Brandeis (6–6, 0–1) on Sunday at 3 p.m. “Against NYU and Brandeis, we will need to win the rebounding battle and get out in transition. It would be a huge boost to pick up two wins this weekend in order to get back on track for the rest of the conference season,” said third-year guard Morgan Donovan. “The most promising takeaway from this game is that with an improvement in consistency we will be able to beat any team on our schedule.” Friday’s game against NYU will pit fourth-year guard Maggie Ely against a few of her former teammates—she transferred to Chicago following her second-year season with the Violets. However, winning the game and getting herself and her teammates to play at the highest possible level appear to be her pri-
mary objectives. “I’m looking forward to getting back to our basic fundamentals; I think that this team works extremely hard, and I know that if we get back to connecting the little and controllable factors of our game, we’ll be a team who can make some noise throughout the UAA,” Ely said. One aspect that’s remained constant throughout the season has been Chicago’s stellar offensive output, as noted by Sain Knoche. However, the former Carnegie Mellon standout noted that improvements on both sides of the ball will be important throughout the remainder of the season. “We played tremendously hard, and while that’s an expectation in this program, it’s always great to see the fight in our kids. From an offensive standpoint, there were certainly some highlights for us: only 13 turnovers, 14 offensive rebounds, 82 percent from the FT line, taking 69 shots. We hope to improve on these statistics next week while cleaning up some the defensive statistics,” Sain Knoche said. The Maroons tip off tonight against NYU at 6 p.m. in Ratner. They take on Brandeis on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Elmhurst Invitational to showcase full Maroon squad Wrestling David Gao Sports Staff After winning all three of their matches at the Chicago Duals, Chicago will be heading to Elmhurst, IL to compete in the Elmhurst Invitational. This invitational, more traditionally known as the Al Hanke Tournament after long-time Elmhurst coach Hanke, typically features eight to nine schools and
dozens of wrestlers in every weight class. “The competition last year was pretty tough,” third-year Will Long said. “There are a lot of respectable teams there including Elmhurst, which is always ranked as one of the top teams in the country.” Out of the nine teams that participated in the tournament last year, the Maroons claimed third place with 111 points, winning three weight classes, while the host Bluejays
five for FRIDAY Perilous waters ahead for swimmers and divers W i th UAAs less than a month away, Chicago has only two remaining meets, which might be its toughest yet. This weekend the Maroons dive in against UW–Milwaukee at home. The Panthers, who beat the South Siders 163–130 in a head-to-head meet last season, will be Chicago’s only DI competition this season. The following weekend, DePauw (3–0) and IIT (3–2) come to town for the final regular season meet. DePauw is another foe that bested the Maroons last season, 187–110, so Chicago has its work cut out for the last few weeks before UAAs.
Women’s basketball looks to start second winning streak of season women’s The last time the Maroons won two games in a row was the first two contests of the season. This weekend, two solid teams—No. 25 NYU (12–0) and Brandeis (8–4)— come to Hyde Park, and Chicago will have the home crowd on its side (including extra support for Friday’s Neon Night) in its attempt to put together its first string of wins since November 16. The South Siders are at a disadvantage in scoring differential, as they only average scoring 0.4 more points than their opponents compared to NYU’s +28.6 and Brandeis’ +8.5. However, this shows Chicago has played in more tight games, which could work out to its advantage if these games come down to the wire.
won the team championship, garnering five weight classes and earning 127 points in the process. Alma College followed close behind with 126.5 points. “We’ve always been pretty competitive in this tournament,” head coach Leo Kocher (M.B.A. ’87) said. “We like to wrestle in the Al Hanke. It’s local, and we get to involve the entire team, and every member of the squad gets to wrestle.” Chicago wrestlers who had success
last year include second-year Steven Franke (third place, 174 pounds), third-year Mario Palmisano (first place, 197 pounds), Long (second place, 133 pounds), and fourth-years Sam Pennisi and Jeff Tyburski, who both placed third in their weight classes. “All of our guys have had a fantastic week of practice, so hopefully we can follow through and do very well this weekend. It serves as a great measuring stick to see how prepared
we are for UAAs and regionals at the end of the season,” Long said. The team has been practicing hard, and injured members are slowly recovering as the Maroons use these tournaments to determine their best possible duals lineup for the UAA Championships held less than a month from now. A series of duals will determine individual championships for each weight class and a team champion WRESTLING continued on page 7
taking a look at the week’s key storylines Wrestlers look to keep up winning ways Coming off of a win last weekend at the Chicago Duals by a decisive margin, the Maroons travel to Elmhurst, IL this weekend for the Elmhurst College Tournament. The meet comes with less than a month left before the UAA Championships on February 18 in New York City. This means competition from here on out will serve to make clear how the Maroons’ squad will shake out for the championships. Look out for first-year Charlie Banaszak, who is 15–4 this season, to continue his winning ways. Second on the team in wins is second-year Steven Franke at 8–7.
Increased support at Neon Night should fuel men’s basketball’s offense men’s
Chicago is far better at home this season, going 4–1 compared to a record of 3–4 on the road. The purpose of Neon Night this evening is to increase the fan support, which can only benefit the Maroons. Expect the offensiveminded South Siders to go on some big runs, fueled by consecutivelymade baskets combined with way more fans exploding in the stands. With 11–1 NYU coming to town, the Maroons will need all the help they can get, especially with the visiting Violets playing a slower, lower-scoring style. Chicago will have to pick up the pace in order to do what it does best: score.
UAAs fast approaching as track and field heads to Wisconsin Chicago opens up its indoor track and field season this weekend at home with the Phoenix Invitational. Seven teams will be coming from around Illinois and the Midwest, including Northwestern, Aurora University, and Milwaukee School of Engineering. Second-year Nkemdilim Nwaokolo will be a key returner for Chicago, as she was crowned UAA Champion in the shot and weight throw last season. Additionally, second-year Catt Young will surely make an impact this season since she recently finished ninth at the cross country NCAA DIII Championships. —the Sports Editors