012412 Chicago Maroon

TUESDAY • JANUARY 24, 2012

ISSUE 22 • VOLUME 123

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

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The double life of a barroom carpenter

Admin agree to cap Woodlawn building height

In Ida Noyes’ Pub, “draftsman” takes on two meanings

Doctor’s abrupt exit has Primary Care scrambling

Madhu Srikantha News Staff

Ben Pokross Senior News Staff

The University has reached an accord with Fifth Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston over planned development on its 12 properties on South Woodlawn Avenue, making concessions on zoning and construction at a community meeting last Thursday.

The U of C will create its own zoning division for the 12 buildings named “Sub-Area O” in a pending amendment to Planned Development 43 (PD43), an agreement with the city of Chicago that has specified University land use in Hyde Park since 1966.

In addition, future buildings and redevelopments will be subject to a new height limit of 65 feet.

During the community meeting, Director of Civic Engagement Ellen Sahli distributed a 45-page document titled “Woodlawn Avenue Plan” that specified the University’s intentions for each of its properties on the 5700 block of South Woodlawn Avenue, all of which are part of the new Sub-Area O. Since the University announced its plans to rezone areas slated for further development in early October, neighbors and activists have been concerned about how the

time expressing what they want at the beginning of the process.

“They just don’t know they know what they want,” he said.

At the Pub, he knows the flavor and feel of the 24 beers available, and can narrow down what someone would like based on a few beers they’ve liked in the past.

“I look at how they live and

The unexpected departure of a single physician at the University’s Primary Care Service (PCS) has hindered the health provider’s ability to see patients on short notice.

Now short of full-time physicians, PCS can no longer promise that appointments can be made within 24 hours, according to Alex Lickerman, Assistant Vice President for Student Health and Counseling Services. The physician, whose name Lickerman declined to say, resigned at the end of December without giving PCS enough advance notice, leaving it with a 30-hour shortfall every week.

Lickerman would not indicate how much longer in advance appointments would have to be made. “It is a week-by-week state of affairs,” he said. PCS has also curbed its hours slightly, closing on Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. instead of 6 p.m.

He added that emergency cases will always be accommodated.

“Emergencies are always a top priority. If someone comes in with an emergency, we’ll be able to cover them,” he said.

BARTENDER continued on page 3

CARE continued on page 3

PD43 continued on page 2

Jay Hayward, a bartender at the Pub, gets gritty with a power sander in his basement studio.

When he isn’t serving Fat Tires to U of C students, he runs his own custom furniture business.

DARREN LEOW | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Kelsey Reid News Staff If one tries to picture what an artist in a bar should look like, images of someone poring over a sketchpad with a half-pint in hand may come to mind.

At The Pub, however, in the basement of Ida Noyes Hall, the artist is not at the counter so

much as behind it. He is a bartender named Jay Hayward, and his work is the paneling that lines the bar’s walls.

Hayward, an architect by day and bartender by night, has a precise process for helping someone to choose a beer, which he likens to the way in which he guides his clients in architecture and furniture design, who sometimes have a hard

Years from opening, the Shoreland awaits a return to Jazz Age glory Patrick Fitz News Staff Formerly a campus landmark and a thriving dormitory, the Shoreland now stands vacant on the coast of Lake Michigan, as if washed up.

The seemingly abandoned property is strewn with old building permits from previous years, with advertising on the fencing promising luxury apartments and a return of the complex to its former glory. A sign reads: “Restoring a Classic from a Grand Past to a Luxurious Future.”

Dumpsters inside the fencing are filled with the refuse of interior demolition, the only indicators of renovation on the site.

Those unfamiliar with the Shoreland, formerly Shoreland Hall of the Uni-

versity housing system, might see it only as another lakeside high-rise. Having cut ties with the property in 2004—and preparing to bid farewell this spring to the last class of Maroons to have lived there—the University no longer bears its mark on the 1920s relic.

Now in its fourth year of development under Antheus Capital, parent company of MAC Property Management, the Shoreland’s revival is tentative: A representative from the MAC office on East 53 rd Street could only say that it would be “at least two years” before the Shoreland opens its doors again.

Built in 1926 as a hotel, the Shoreland once was among the poshest haunts in all of Chicago. Frequented by politicians, movie stars, and bootleggers, the

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Shoreland attracted the likes of Al Capone, Elvis Presley, and Jimmy Hoffa.

However, financial difficulties led to the building’s foreclosure in the 1970’s, at which point the University swept in and bought it for $750,000.

Over the next three decades, thousands of students and faculty would call the Shoreland home.

At the height of its use as a dormitory, the building had an occupancy of 600.

Though over a mile from campus and the quads, the dormitory was beloved for its large rooms, personal bathrooms and kitchens, scenic views of the lake and downtown, and the charm of a Jazz Age hotel.

However, some were quick to note the deteriorating physical condition of the building. Speaking

to the Maroon in 2006, former Shoreland Resident Master Lawrence Rothfield said that the building “looks like the set of A Nightmare Before Christmas.” Toward the end of its University

days, the building suffered from broken elevators, crumbling plaster, and general maintenance concerns.

The final straw was a series of changes to the Chicago building code in

1999, which led the University to begin seeking a buyer for the property; in 2001, a facilities audit of the site found that nearly $50 million in renovations DORM continued on page 2

The Shoreland, a former University of Chicago residence hall, is currently under renovation and will be for some time.

JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

IN ARTS

IN SPORTS

Court shines light on Invisible Man » Page 7

Johnson ties school record in losing effort » Page 12

Esteemed professors get silly in Quad Club Revels » Page 7

After two medals at Mexican nationals, Olympic goals within reach » Page 12

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | January 24, 2012

2

Zoning amendment would bundle University properties in “sub-area,” awaits City Council approval

Old South Woodlawn Avenue and East 58th Street. Community activists have rallied against University developments that they say threaten the historic character of the neighborhood.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ARCHIVE

PD43 continued from front

PD43 amendment would affect their homes and the neighborhood’s historic character.

Proposed building height limits

changed from 120 feet in the first version of PD43 to 80 feet in the second. Community activist Roger Huff said that the University’s claims to maintain the historic

Last class of Shoreland residents to graduate this spring DORM continued from front

would be needed to bring the Shoreland up to code.

The University sold the building for $5.7 million in 2004 to Kenard Developers, who laid out initial plans for 260 residential units and a six-story parking garage but sold the building two years later to R.D. Horner and Associates for $10 million.

Horner permitted the University to continue leasing the building for dormitory space and planned to open up the Shoreland for residential use in 2009. In 2008, however, Antheus bought the building for a reported $16 million, nearly three times what Kenard purchased the Shoreland for just four years earlier.

Today, Antheus holds the deed to the Shoreland, and MAC manages the development of the property.

The building permit for interior demolition is underwritten by an limited liability company in Englewood, NJ, also the location of Antheus’s headquarters.

Recently, concerns over parking, the building’s historic architecture, and its significance to the Hyde Park community have dogged plans for the Shore-

land and stymied more aggressive development. The city and neighborhood have extensively reviewed building plans, eyeing the availability of parking spaces and the flow of traffic off Lake Shore Drive.

The U of C no longer has any formal relationship with the Shoreland, according to University spokesperson Steven Kloehn; ties were officially cut with the building upon the opening of the South Campus Residence Hall in 2009.

Once the current fourthyears who lived in the Shoreland three years ago graduate, the Shoreland will disappear from campus memory. Many younger students don’t know of the student murals in the hallways or the mile-long walks to campus in the rough of the Chicago winter, the drunken painting parties or the camaraderie the Shoreland engendered in its hundreds of student residents.

Until MAC finishes construction and opens the doors of the Shoreland to a new generation of inhabitants, the building stands as a monolithic reminder of the University’s history and the changing dynamic of Hyde Park.

GOT NEWS? Visit www.chicagomaroon.com for more coverage.

character of the block, which includes the 38-foot-tall Robie House and 60-foot-tall Meadeville Lombard Seminary, were incompatible with the prospect of a

13-story building.

“The University has certainly listened to the neighborhood and has changed its proposition over time,” said Adam Kingsly, an attorney for the Woodlawn Homeowners Association. “Again, before we got the changes, the neighbors didn’t think that the changes, as they’d been on paper, represented the promises the University had made in previous meetings.”

University spokesperson Steve Kloehn said that the University made its commitment to the character of the Woodlawn neighborhood clear, referring to support for the preservation of the Robie House and its investment in Rockefeller Chapel.

“On Woodlawn Avenue we have spent $43 million on existing buildings and we have an ambitious goal —we plan to spend significantly more in the next four or five years,” said Alicia Muraski, the University’s Planning and Design Executive Director. “[It shows] a strong commitment both to the character as well as the maintenance of these buildings.”

According to Kloehn, the new proposal sought to preserve the history of the block, as well as important additions to the University’s facilities, including a child care center on South Drexel Avenue, the relocation of the Seminary Co-Op bookstore, and the construction of the William Eckhardt Research Center.

“While on one hand we want to do everything we can to answer every question possible, we also don’t want to create delays that ultimately are delaying the creation of jobs and other things that I think are also important to members of the community,” Kloehn said.

While PD43 is not officially on the agenda for the Chicago Plan Commission’s upcoming meeting on February 16, the document should undergo a formal approval process shortly after being reviewed by the Chicago City Council staff.

“The real action is at the Plan Commission. If it gets approved by the Plan Commission, it’s likely to get approved by the committee and by the city itself,” Kingsley said.

Abandoned project an ugly menace, 47th Street residents say

Construction of an arts space on 47th Street and Greenwood Avenue is dead in the water, after a combination of budgeting miscalculations and legislative changes left the project without funding.

NICHOLAS SHATAN | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Ankit Jain News Staff Unfinished development from 2005 on East 47th Street has drawn the ire of some residents, who say that, despite its intentions to increase commerce, the project is a stain on the local landscape and presents a danger for pedestrians.

Delayed construction of a theater has resulted in the prolonged removal of the sidewalks at the corner of East 47th Street and South Greenwood Avenue. While a barrier on the road protects pedestrians on East 47th Street, some have called the construction a safety hazard.

“It’s dangerous to not have a sidewalk on that part of Greenwood. On

the Greenwood side there’s no sidewalk, no place for pedestrians to walk,” resident Gail Garcia said.

Muntu Dance Theater of Chicago, an African dancetheater group, purchased the lot for the theater in 2000 with hopes of building a new community arts center, which they hoped would also support local businesses. However, the project ground to a halt after initial miscalculations about construction costs, and was abandoned in 2008 after the local bank that provided the loan collapsed.

The nail in the coffin for the development was the loss of a $1.75 million grant from the Empowerment Zone Program, a federal initiative under the Department of Housing

and Urban Development that aimed to revitalize distressed neighborhoods and expired in 2009, according to Muntu president Joan Gray. The Empowerment Zone grant expired “just as we were preparing to mobilize,” she said.

The construction has also garnered more aesthetic complaints.

“It’s an eyesore,” Garcia said.

But the abandonment of the project hasn’t just been a source of inconvenience and frustration for residents. Business owners like Djibrilou Ba, whose Senegalese boutique “Goree Shop” is next-door to the construction, had high hopes for the theater that was never built.

“The reason I opened this shop right here is because

they were supposed to open the Muntu Dance,” Ba said.

“If they open it I’m for sure going to have more customers. Everything I sell here is about African clothes, African stuff, you know.

And what they planned to open over there was for African dance.”

Muntu will come to a resolution on the development at an upcoming meeting with city officials and then make a public announcement regarding the project’s future, according to Gray.

Gray said she understands the frustrations of residents of the neighborhood. “The organization did its best efforts to bring this project to completion—it just wasn’t able to happen.”

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | January 24, 2012

Hayward: “Sometimes I feel like a psycho-analyzer�

BARTENDER continued from front

take them to look at different styles and places. From there, we narrow it down and see what they would be comfortable living in. We have to start with what they need from the space,� he said.

Identifying how strangers live and what they need from their home, however, requires precise and intensive observation.

Hayward tries to recognize how and why clients use different rooms and features of their home. “Sometimes I feel like a psycho-analyzer.

A large part of product design is observing and behavioral analysis, all the way down to ergonomics,� he said.

Hayward’s work peppers the entire University campus. He built the gazebo in the courtyard of the Lab Schools, along with cabinets and furniture for the school.

He has designed the interiors of several Hyde Park homes, including the basement of his friend and economics professor Steven Levitt.

While his design process is exhaustive, Hayward said it’s necessary in order to ensure the final project is functional and beautiful in addition to artful. “All art should be evocative in some way, and it can be a variety of emotions.

But I think all art must have some aspect of beauty, in some way be done beautifully,� he said. “And if I’ve done my research with the people, I can get a grasp on how they might want to live. It has to make them feel comfortable.� “It’s their life. I can’t just impose my vision.�

Hayward decided he wanted to be an architect at seven years old when he saw

a housing development being built. When his mother said that architects were the planners and thinkers behind the project, his passion for design was born.

He went on to study architecture at University of Illinois, UrbanaChampaign. He was still looking for work when Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill, one of the largest firms in the country, laid off thousands of employees. Feeling that he couldn’t compete with the flood of experienced architects, Hayward turned to furniture.

His carpentry skills unexpectedly led to a bartending job, when the owner of a restaurant he was building couldn’t pay his fee. Needing a job, he stayed on as the restaurant’s pastry chef, eventually working behind the bar.

He arrived at the Pub for Tuesday Trivia Night five years ago, and landed his current job when his sister, then the manager, asked for an extra hand.

Bartending is only secondary to Hayward, but he keeps with it because he appreciates the chance to interact with people—something his solitary workdays in his basement studio don’t offer him. “We get some regulars here. Some people will come and say goodbye when they leave, and they’ve gotten to know me,� he said.

The Pub, where he designed the wall paneling, is also one of the few places where he gets to see his work after it’s completed. But he says he doesn’t care much for appraising his craftsmanship after-the-fact. “You have to let it go once you’re done,� he said.

3

Primary Care Service struggled with staffing from the beginning, Lickerman says CARE continued from front

The staff shortage poses questions about the resources of the fledgling agency, which was created in fall quarter during a consolidation and reorganization of the University’s Student Health and Counseling Services.

Throughout fall quarter, PCS promised that it could take appointments just 24 hours in advance, but even then the service was understaffed, Lickerman said. “I don’t have a deep enough bench,� he said. “I’m limited in hiring them because of the space. The service’s facilities in Wyler Pavilion, on 58th Street and Maryland Avenue, have too few examination rooms,� he said.

A new space that would house all branches of the Student Health and Counseling Services including PCS, Health Promotion and Wellness, and Student Counseling Services,would be ideal, he said. Even renovations of the existing Wyler Pavilion would fall short of PCS’s needs. “Even if I’m able to add one exam room,

I will not be able to add enough staff to cover the needs of this campus,� he said.

Lickerman said that he is looking into two immediate solutions for the shortfall in available physicians. One is to transfer the University’s “primary care group� doctors, who usually practice out of the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC), to PCS. PCS has already managed to recoup some of its losses using UCMC physicians, Lickerman said, but is still far short of covering the 32 hours of care-giving necessary for restoring the 24hour standard.

Another solution is to hire a locum tenens physician, who would work on a temporary basis. However, the University’s vetting process for physicians would prevent anyone from taking the position before February 15.

The search has already begun for a fulltime replacement, but the earliest that a physician could begin work would be the end of February, according to Lickerman.

CORRECTIONS Âť Due to an editing error, the January 20 article “Where Atoms Once Raced, History Is Lostâ€? misattributed a quotation describing the three-dimensional experience of architecture. The speaker was Grahm Balkany. Âť The January 13 article “New Management Ruffles Feathers At Flamingo Apartmentsâ€? misstated the position of the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing; the group may be able to represent tenants in legal action against management. The article also misstated the number of door attendants. Seven attendants were replaced.

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VIEWPOINTS

Editorial & Op-Ed JANUARY 24, 2012

Sick of waiting Students in need should never have to wait more than 24 hours to see a physician on campus The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 ADAM JANOFSKY Editor-in-Chief CAMILLE VAN HORNE Managing Editor MAHMOUD BAHRANI Senior Editor JONATHAN LAI News Editor HARUNOBU CORYNE News Editor SAM LEVINE News Editor PETER IANAKIEV Viewpoints Editor EMILY WANG Viewpoints Editor CHARNA ALBERT Arts Editor DANIEL LEWIS Sports Editor VICENTE FERNANDEZ Sports Editor DOUGLAS EVERSON, JR Head Designer KEVIN WANG Web Editor ALICE BLACKWOOD Head Copy Editor DON HO Head Copy Editor GABE VALLEY Head Copy Editor DARREN LEOW Photo Editor JAMIE MANLEY Photo Editor REBECCA GUTERMAN Assoc. News Editor LINDA QIU Assoc. News Editor CRYSTAL TSOI Assoc. News Editor GIOVANNI WROBEL Assoc. News Editor AJAY BATRA Assoc. Viewpoints Editor

Along with the cold temperatures, snow-covered sidewalks, and less sunlight, Chicago is entering the throes of flu season. But if you wake up sick one morning and need to make an appointment with the Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS), forget about seeing a physician within the next 24 hours. As reported in the Maroon today, the wave of progress for student health services on campus has come to an abrupt halt recently, and the SHCS is slowly backpedaling on promises it made last year for improved care. For the welfare of students, the University should assess ways to maintain 24-hour appointments and find temporary backups in case the SHCS cannot meet demand in the future.

Exorbitantly long waits are nothing new at the Student Care Center: Two years ago, students could expect to wait a week or longer for an appointment. But last winter when the University ap-

pointed a new administrator and revamped the SHCS, it looked like the problem was finally being addressed and that students could, for the time being, count on the University for timely health service. However, 24-hour appointments have been “compromised,” wrote Assistant Vice President for SHCS Alex Lickerman, because one physician has recently left the University. The fact that one doctor leaving the SHCS could triple the wait time for students is concerning, especially because such a center should expect to have fairly frequent staff turnovers compared to a hospital or private practice.

Complicating the matter is the fact that University bureaucracy practically guarantees several weeks before a replacement is made.

Whether it’s finding a temporary patch for this problem (like hiring doctors or nurses from the Medical Center) or a permanent fix (Lickerman has been stressing that the SHCS needs a larg-

er space), one thing is for sure: There needs to be a solution. The case for timely appointments is obvious. Most students don’t have primary care doctors in Hyde Park and rely on Universityprovided services when they get sick; if a student becomes ill and can only get an SHCS appointment a week later, it’s a threat to her health and schoolwork. Furthermore, someone who is highly contagious or has a serious illness could be pressured to “wait it out” or self-medicate because the only viable alternative is going to the emergency room.

What makes matters even worse is the University’s lack of communication to students about these vital changes. Yesterday, Vice President for Student Life Kimberly Goff-Crews sent out a “Winter Quarter Update” to students that could have addressed the SHCS development. Instead, the update only vaguely states that the Office of Campus and Student Life

has “streamlined [its] services in support of students during emergencies.” The only notice that the University has given of the changes, a brief memo from Lickerman posted on the University’s health care site, suggests that support of students during emergencies is actually in a worse state than before.

Along with timely updates on the SHCS to students, the University should make it a priority to establish a system that ensures 24-hour or 48-hour appointments, especially if there are staffing changes taking place.

This may even involve temporarily hiring doctors or nurses from the Medical Center. If the SHCS is being supported through student fees, the University should provide services that students can feel good about.

The Editorial Board consists of the Editor-in-Chief, Viewpoints Editors, and an additional Editorial Board member.

TOMI OBARO Assoc. Arts Editor MATTHEW SCHAEFER Assoc. Sports Editor TYRONALD JORDAN Business Manager VIVIAN HUA Undergraduate Business Executive VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator

Don’t judge a building by its façade Look beyond the exteriors to see the true beauty of campus buildings

HAYLEY LAMBERSON Ed. Board Member HYEONG-SUN CHO Designer SONIA DHAWAN Designer ALYSSA LAWTHER Designer SARAH LI Designer AUTUMN NI Designer AMITA PRABHU Designer BELLA WU Designer KELSIE ANDERSON Copy Editor CATIE ARBONA Copy Editor AMISHI BAJAJ Copy Editor JANE BARTMAN Copy Editor

By Ajay Batra Associate Viewpoints Editor

MARTIA BRADLEY Copy Editor ELIZABETH BYNUM Copy Editor NISHANTH IYENGAR Copy Editor MICHELLE LEE Copy Editor KATIE MOCK Copy Editor LANE SMITH Copy Editor JEN XIA Copy Editor ESTHER YU Copy Editor BEN ZIGTERMAN Copy Editor

For every intimidating, gray, castle-type building on the University of Chicago’s campus—there are more than a few—there always seems to be something well-placed and relatively new that adds a splash of not-Vlad’s-castle to the often dour Hyde Park landscape. Only wintry whiteness and steel gray

skies can allow me to truly appreciate the colors of Max P, Ratner’s sailboat look, and the great foresight of whoever made Mansueto resemble an igloo skeleton. Even the most fervent lovers of Gothic architecture (there are bound to be some around here) must admit that the only things standing between every one of us and insanity in the depths of winter are those buildings that buck the trend at least every couple of blocks.

The ever-diversifying palette of architecture at the U of C will be rejuvenated yet again in 2015, when the new William Eckhardt Research Center is set to be completed. Frequenters of the science quad are in for a treat; computer renderings of the building make

it look like everything a modern hub of scientific research should be. Straight lines, metal, and glass are well represented, while symmetry abounds. The massive building—right across the street from the equally shiny Mansueto—will accommodate research in a variety of fields and is reportedly being designed with cooperation and the interdisciplinary approach in mind.

So the Center is undoubtedly going to be a hit; everything about it makes sense. It will not only house but also draw together some of the most brilliant minds in a variety of fields, all of them striving together to take on the scientific unknown in a building whose hugely majestic, yet ordered, façade is itself

a metaphor for the universe. My gross over-romanticizing aside, although the Eckhardt Center’s construction is expected to interfere somewhat with research efforts in the short-term, it is set to take scientific inquiry to a new level here upon its completion.

These benefits are not without cost, however. (When are they ever?) The Maroon reported last week that, in order to make way for the new Center, the University is set to demolish the Enrico Fermi Institute in February. The Institute—named after one of the great luminaries and pioneers of modern physics—opened soon after World War II in 1945 largely to carry on the research first brought about by BUILDINGS continued on page 6

The bane of capital Newt Gingrich’s primary victory reflects societal ambivalence about the morality of capitalism

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. © 2012 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: Douglas@ChicagoMaroon.com Copy: CopyEditors@ChicagoMaroon.com Advertising: Ads@ChicagoMaroon.com

By Ajay Ravichandran Viewpoints Columnist Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s upset victory in Saturday’s South Carolina primary has led many political commentators to despair at the attitudes of Republican primary voters. The success of Gingrich’s campaign, which relied heavily on mediabaiting and insults directed at

President Obama, is widely seen as a sign that the GOP base merely wants to express its resentments rather than choose a competent presidential nominee. While there is obviously much truth in this criticism, at least one of the strategies Gingrich employed actually provides grounds for optimism.

The former speaker’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s record as an executive at the private equity firm Bain Capital were appealing to voters; this appeal highlights the fact that a widespread belief regarding the free market’s negative effects on moral character is overstated.

This type of criticism centers around a style of thinking which will likely seem familiar to anyone who’s ever taken an econom-

ics class and can be seen especially clearly in debates over regulation.

These arguments tend to pit conservatives, who admit that a certain industry’s practices contribute to some social problems, but hold that the inefficiencies generated by regulation would be even worse, against liberals who think that an effective regulatory approach is possible. However, no one raises the question of whether, say, the managers of manufacturing plants which pollute nearby rivers should be blamed for acting immorally. As long as the behavior in question is not illegal, both sides assume that economic agents will inevitably pursue their own interests—even if this means doing harm to others and focusing on adjusting rewards

and penalties to ensure that citizens’ interests do not conflict.

Many opponents of capitalism (plausibly) contend that this troubling attitude flows from the system’s emphasis on competition, which encourages people to focus solely on material gain in order to avoid losing out to more ruthless competitors. They hold that the prevalence of such arguments in public discourse both reflects and contributes to a widespread selfishness that is constrained only by laws which make vice pay less than virtue. Thoughts like this often lie behind the frequently expressed view that capitalism undermines community.

Gingrich’s attacks on Romney BAIN continued on page 5

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | January 24, 2012

5

Speaking truth to power

Disgraceful discourse

Interrupting Rahm Emanuel is an appropriate response to recent measures limiting protest in Chicago

Disrupting speakers who visit campus goes against the fundamental principles governing the University of Chicago

Christopher Ivan Viewpoints Contributor

Hunter Owens Viewpoints Contributor

Members of UChicago Occupy interrupted Rahm Emanuel during his visit to the University of Chicago last Thursday afternoon. It is important to note that not all the members of UChicago Occupy were in favor of the protest, and that the views represented here are solely those of the author.

When Emanuel first began to respond to a question about sex, student members of the group took the moment to register their outrage at the ongoing war on the public being waged by Chicago’s mayor.

Last Wednesday, Emanuel and his City Council approved a set of ordinances that will permanently restrict protest in Chicago. Emanuel’s opposition to our constitutional right to stand up and speak out, when all levels of government are currently incapable of standing up and speaking on behalf of the 99%, effectively deprives us of the only remaining avenue of expression we have.

His ordinances, which were only slightly amended after rapid mobilization by the ever-vigilant Occupy Chicago, CANG8, and numerous neighborhood organizations and occupations, passed by a huge margin. The pressure activists brought to bear caused Emanuel to raise the maximum fine for even passive resistance (“going limp”) to $200, rather than his planned $1,000. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Emanuel, however, now enjoys no-vote spending powers to install surveillance equipment in Chicago, empower outside police to interpret and enforce the restrictions on free speech, and hire at-will security forces through no-bid contracting. This virtually guarantees that taxpayers will be forced to cover the lawsuits that will likely occur as an army of security forces (federal, state, and private) descends on Chicago with the distinct possibility of violating protesters’ rights, intimidating those bold enough to speak out, and arresting and fining many with impunity.

As Chicago Indymedia reports, Emanuel has empowered himself to hire “anyone he wants, be they rent-a-cops, Blackwater goons on domestic duty, or whatever. For a city that has great problems keeping its directly sworn officers in check, this looser authority is an even greater license for abuse.”

Permanent additions require permit applicants to supply a “parade marshal” for every 100 protesters, and to take out $1 million insurance policies; given the spontaneous and open nature of political protest, these are impossible requirements that ensure violations every step of the way.

A host of other seemingly trivial permanent ordinances will have the practical effect of guaranteeing all future protests will in some way be breaking laws, despite the peaceful examples repeatedly set by Occupy Chicago. The ordinances outlaw spontaneous sidewalk picketing favored by teachers and unions, require registration and permission for all “attention getting devices,” and therefore deliberately undermine spontaneous public expressions of political outrage well beyond NATO/G8-related restrictions. It is telling that Emanuel pushed these ordinances through in a rapid and secretive process, demonstrated by his holding a closed door meeting last Tuesday, a day before the ordinances passed.

As Professor Bernard Harcourt of the U of C points out, there is great hypocrisy in arresting Occupiers and expanding restrictions, “especially when you consider the disparate treatment that political expression receives in Chicago. Recall, for instance, how different things were in Grant Park on election night 2008. Huge tents were pitched, commercial sound systems pounded rhythms and political discourse, enormous TVs streamed political imagery.

More than 150,000 people blocked the streets and ‘occupied’ Grant Park–congregating, celebrating, debating and discussing politics.”

Emanuel’s loyalty to the wealthiest 1% has been reaffirmed through this silencing of the diverse voices of opposition, and by his willingness to slash and burn his way through public spending, while rewarding the malfeasance of financial institutions with tax breaks.

We have not forgotten Emanuel’s years of service to Goldman Sachs, his hostility toward Palestine, or his war on Chicago’s most vulnerable populations. Emanuel is presiding over the closing of dozens of schools, the laying-off of thousands of teachers, and the closing of half the city’s public mental health clinics, disproportionately located within low-income communities. And all the while, he continues on his path of making Chicago “attractive” to big business by raiding the public treasury through sponsoring state tax breaks and local amenities, while ignoring infrastructure issues.

Emanuel claims his Chicago is a victim of the recession. Yet one of his first acts in office was to solicit the NATO/G8 summit, which will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. He then insisted on costly measures aimed at beating down protests critical of his expenditures and cuts, and hypocritically demanded unlimited spending rights on security for his pet-project.

For all these reasons and more—and there are many more—we briefly appropriated the panel’s discussion space, knowing full well how we might be received by the University community: As obstructionists of open, respectful, and critical discussion. Leaving aside the ribald, frat-boy discourse that took place amongst the panelists, what is meant by “discussion” here is only the privilege enjoyed by the elites of a private institution, one which aims to churn out as many statesmen as it possibly can; “respectful” channels acceptable to mainstream (read: elite) opinion do not allow for structural change or generative critique any more than they allow for truly divergent views to diffuse from the periphery.

Emanuel may think he can get away with the creation of a police state by pointing to overblown coverage of minor episodes of vandalism during previous summits, but these permanent ordinances will not be tolerated. After he has wasted hundreds of millions of our precious public dollars in repressing us, we will still be here, standing proud and seeking a more balanced and open system of expression.

Christopher Ivan is a graduate student in the MAPSS program.

Most of the U of C student body did not attend the recent announcement that there will soon be a new Institute for Politics.

Those of us who did heard David Axelrod, quite possibly one of the toughest political operatives of his generation, wax poetic about the discourse that occurs at this University. This echoed remarks by the always entertaining Dean Boyer, who spoke of the University’s long and storied commitment to public service. Fittingly, we were also told that the Harris School was founded in order to introduce an academic model to the world of public policy.

Following the announcement, the panelists—Alex Castellanos, David Brooks, Rachel Maddow, Rahm Emanuel, and moderator George Stephanopoulos—assembled on stage for what Axelrod, the future director of the Institute for Politics, described as a preview of what the Institute would be doing come 2013.

After Castellanos fielded the first question, Stephanopoulos gestured to the Mayor, who got about half a syllable out of his mouth before three Occupy activists stood and began shouting “Mic Check.”

These three activists were directly in front and to the left of me in the front far-left of the balcony. Within 20 seconds, they were asked, respectfully, to sit down by staff. They continued for over two minutes, with at least 10 requests to stop by I-House staff. Once they stopped, they left the event.

I have never been as embarrassed to call myself a U of C student as I was in those two or so minutes. (This does not even account for the fact I was at that point getting glares from several of the most eminent political figures in the country from 100 yards out.)

The University is founded on the idea of scholarly disagreement, on the notion that I may hate everything you stand for and think you are wrong in every way possible, but will nonetheless respect your right to your opinion and will engage in debate with you. In fact, Dean Boyer and the other speakers touched on this idea during the introduction, and Axelrod answered a question about it in the press Q&A. The Occupy movement’s trend of interrupting or causing the cancellation of events (see: the Rice-Paulson fiasco of last quarter) is directly opposed to the University’s mission.

Occupy: Instead of interrupting Rahm, how about asking him a tough question during the event? Or writing letters and getting op-eds published in this paper, the Tribune, and the Sun-Times? How about calling the Mayor’s office every day? How about getting in touch with your alderman’s office and seeing what he or she can do?

Any of these actions would effect change

far more than the outburst at the panel.

Even if the Occupy movement insisted on demonstrating today, its members should not have interrupted the panel; they could have instead organized somewhere near IHouse. The Occupy movement should be protesting in order to encourage constructive discourse, not to shut it down.

For the new Institute, and in fact the entire University, to be successful, we must all be able to at least listen to those whose ideas or policies we disagree with. These disruptive protest tactics are remarkably useless in further debate; in fact, they stand to discourage it.

Will the Institute for Politics be able to attract such august speakers as the ones for

Instead of interrupting Rahm, how about asking him a tough question during the event?

its inaugural panel if invitees can only expect to be interrupted by protesters? Will the University have to take to screening the guest lists for these events in order to prevent such outbursts? Who knows? But if this trend continues, it does not bode well for anyone. A lack of respect for argument itself stands to destroy what makes this university great.

By no means am I suggesting that Occupy has no right to protest. In fact, its focus on income inequality was one of the more promising political developments of 2011.

Its members undoubtedly have the complete right to protest. However, I have never seen Occupy try to engage those it opposes on a scholarly level. I have only seen attempts to disrupt their opponents’ events and speeches. Occupy should be more actively trying to change things, perhaps by getting in touch with elected officials or organizing a caucus. Simply being disruptive (as well as rude and disrespectful, in my opinion) without providing any substantive additions to discourse is, frankly, unproductive, and as I stated earlier, contrary to the University’s aims.

However, the Occupy movement isn’t alone in being guilty of these indecencies.

Is there a single one of us who has never been too quick to judgment or dismissed an argument simply because we did not care for the person making it? I think not. The ideals of respectful discourse the University embodies would do well to be spread far and wide.

In order to carry on the University’s reputation of excellence, we must make it a place where argument flourishes. Those who attempt to shut down discourse do untold harm to our University.

Hunter Owens is a first-year in the College.

Mainstream policy debates leave out ethical considerations regarding economics BAIN continued from page 4 for destroying jobs while at Bain were obviously not designed to produce some sort of moral revival, but the details of those attacks suggest that ordinary Americans are still quite willing to blame those who respond to the pressures of market competition by acting unethically. It is difficult to explain why the former Speaker would have expected his criticisms to stick unless one assumes that there are moral constraints on the pursuit of economic interests. After all, nothing Romney did was illegal, and Gingrich was obviously not calling for new regulations on private equity firms. The attacks

were likely designed in part to show that the former Massachusetts governor was dishonest (he had previously cited his private-sector record of job creation as a qualification), but the emphasis that a campaign ad placed on the suffering of workers laid off at companies taken over by Bain indicates that this was not the only purpose of these invectives.

Therefore, Gingrich must have made the criticisms because he thought that his audience would see the callousness he accused Romney of as a moral fault, even though it was a rational response to economic incentives. His unexpected success in South Carolina suggests that his expectation was

at least somewhat justified.

Even if Gingrich does owe some of his success to a desirable attitude, this fact does not imply that the candidate himself deserves praise; his attacks were almost certainly motivated by crass political opportunism, and it is far from clear whether his factual claims about Romney’s record were correct. However, his audience’s willingness to make moral judgments about economic behavior should alert us to such judgments that remain a part of ordinary moral life, even though they conflict with the general attitude embodied in most mainstream public discussion about economics and

public policy. Of course, even if capitalism does not undermine our moral sensibility to the extent that is sometimes claimed, the obstacles to a society which enjoys the prosperity that only markets can provide, while still holding people ethically accountable for their economic choices, remain formidable. Still, those of us who find the idea of such a society attractive should take some comfort from episodes like this one, which show that at least some of our fellow citizens share our aspirations.

Ajay Ravichandran is a fourth-year in the College majoring in philosophy.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | January 24, 2012

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The real value of Fermi Institute comes from the knowledge discovered there BUILDINGS continued from page 4 the Manhattan Project. For nearly 70 years, it has been at the forefront of research in nuclear physics and a variety of allied fields.

It is sad to even conceive of the Fermi Institute, which has played host to so many great discoveries over the decades, being destroyed. The University’s association with Fermi runs deep. He did much of his most important work while a member of the U of C faculty. The famed first-ever self-sustaining nuclear reaction carried out in Chicago Pile-1 beneath the present-day Regenstein Library was his doing. To demolish his namesake Institute and replace it with a building named after a benefactor seems something of a slap in the face to Fermi’s legacy.

Sadness at this news is therefore justifiable; it was my first reaction. Eventually, though, I began to think not about the fact that so much scientific ground was broken at the Fermi Institute, but about those discoveries themselves. None of the important scientific knowledge acquired at the Institute will be lost as a result of its demolition.

While it is a shame to think that the hallowed walls that housed so much discovery will be brought down, the important point is that the fruits of the Fermi Institute’s existence live on every day in the minds of many. The Eckhardt Center will surely play host to much of the same, both literally and figuratively on the foundations of the Fermi Institute.

Notice that I have yet to mention the aesthetic quality of the Fermi Institute. To be honest, considering all the good that has come out of it, I don’t particularly care. The attachment of Fermi’s name to the building already predisposes me to wax lyrical about what it saw accomplished; the fact that it’s due to be demolished merely brings that out of me. Why, then, can’t the same be true for me of any other building on campus? The work done at the Fermi Institute is by no means the only good thing to come out of this place, and hopefully it has yet to be eclipsed.

So, the next time you’re gloomily trudging across our snowy campus between shades of gray, look at the impenetrable stony buildings with X-ray vision. Don’t focus on the greyness; instead, allow the greatness each building once contained to color it. Maybe then the winter doldrums won’t be so bad. Though the Eckhardt Center will certainly be easy on the eyes, and that’s always more than welcome, the true value of the various and sundry buildings dotted across our campus—Gothic or not—lies inside them, consisting in the ideas and people that make the buildings and this university so great. A few hundred years from now, when it comes time to replace the Eckhardt Center with a new, even more awe-inspiring structure as yet inconceivable to us, I can only hope people will come to the same conclusions I have.

Ajay Batra is a first-year in the College.

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REVELS 2012 “Farewell, My Bittersweet” Or “99% % Noir” Thursday January 26 $10 Dress Rehearsal

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ARTS

Trivial Pursuits JANUARY 24, 2012

Court shines light on Invisible Man Anna Hill Arts Contributor A glowing mass of light, hundreds of bulbs strong, hangs ghostly in the air above the stage at Court Theatre. The cloud cuts to black, and from the close darkness, a haunting voice reverberates: “I am an invisible man.”

INVISIBLE MAN Court Theatre Through February 19

The stage production of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man made its world premiere on Saturday here in Chicago, where adaptor Oren Jacoby and director Christopher McElroen have tackled the significant challenge of translating this giant of an American classic to the stage. The production explores, with gritty and intimate honesty, the tensions surrounding race, identity, and power that Ellison emphasizes in his depictions of the turbulence of the American 1930s.

I’ll admit, as I sat in the audience and readied myself for the three-hour presentation, I was a bit skeptical—the story passes through so many locations and times and states of mind that I had no idea how they were going to pull it off. Cross-country trav-

Teagle F. Bougere demands to be seen in Court Theatre’s Invisible Man. PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL BROSILOW

el? Explosions? Flashbacks? This was going to be interesting.

But my apprehensions were soon quelled as the nameless protagonist (played by Teagle F. Bougere), full-voiced and expressive, gripped my attention with an energetic sincerity that was both humorous and

deeply distressing. The audience travels with him from the Deep South to Harlem as he discovers, through failures, sabotages, and mishaps, from colleges to paint factories to hospitals to brotherhoods, his role in society—namely, that he has none. Bougere’s perfor-

Echo & the Bunnymen play past midnight in Paris

mance, nothing short of extraordinary, offers a rich glimpse into the young man’s acceptance of his own invisibility. I felt drawn to the story by the depth of his emotional scope (I mean, quite literally, drawn—more than once I found myself on the physical edge

Esteemed professors get silly in Quad Club Revels Angela Qian Arts Staff “Farewell, my Bittersweet, or 99% Noir,” will be making its world debut at the Quadrangle Club on Thursday January 26, as part of Hyde Park’s annual Quad Club Revels. Since 1904, faculty and staff members have been parodying university life in this annual event.

Past musicals have featured performances from Illinois representatives, future Supreme Court Justices and President Robert Zimmer himself. This year, for the first time ever, there will be a cheaper option for students who want to watch esteemed professors, like renowned Shakespeare expert Professor David Bevington, clown around.

Echo & the Bunnymen’s frontman Ian McCulloch, during a possibly more sober performance.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RYAN MILTON

Hannah Gold & Colin Bradley Maroon Staff Ian McCulloch gets around Paris, but not by speaking French.

Not by speaking any recognizable form of English either, though the Echo & the Bunnymen frontman hails from Liverpool, England. “Parlez-vous anglais?” garbled the 52- year- old to a crowd

QUAD CLUB REVELS Quadrangle Club January 26, 27, 28

of slightly-graying fans. After 30 years of touring the world as a post-punk idol, McCulloch clearly did not learn French, but he still speaks rock star. “I’ve got a lot of memories,” slurred a barely articulate McCulloch, “but the best was from last night.” He then lit a cigarette and weakly kicked over his mic stand.

McCulloch just had one more question to ask the audience be-

fore launching into songs off the Bunnymen’s debut album Crocodiles (1980): “Where is the fucking ladies?” He had a point; the number of madams paled in comparison to that of the messieurs, most of whom have probably snorted coke off their original Heaven up Here record as many times as they listened to it. These angsty hipsters of the ECHO continued on page 9

of my seat, leaning forward into my neighbor’s view).

Throughout his travels, the young protagonist encounters a range of memorable characters, including Brother Jack (Lance Stuart Baker), the leader of a mulINVISIBLE continued on page 9

Professors Ted Cohen and David Bevington, old veterans of this annual event, discussed the history of the event and what would be presented this year. Cohen is the annual moderator of the Latke-Hamantash debate, and Bevington is part of the Court Theatre board. They explained that the Quad Club Revels have been going on for

decades, though initially it was only for faculty and Quad Club members—no students were allowed. The event was revived around ten years ago, and since then both professors have participated in a myriad of performances, each with different themes. This year’s “Farewell, my Bittersweet” is a detective-themed musical; Professor Cohen hints at a “complicated plot involving the Internet and a Hyde Park private detective and Eastern European gangsters.”

Professor Bevington says that the “lyrics tend to be quite witty” and adds that he will be playing the role of—accurately enough—a professor. Part of the performance will be commemorating the Seminary Co-op, which will be moving to a different location later this year and thus will not be the same old beloved Co-op anymore. Both professors add that the Quad Revels is a welcome event to cheer up the community in the otherwise dreary Chicago winter.

The actors that make up the cast are, though not professional, still involved with other productions. Professor Cohen said that much of the cast is involved in the local Gilbert and Sullivan productions. Both professors welcome students to attend the event. The allure of entering a building most students haven’t entered makes the event worth checking out. The writers and performers promise a show that is, according to Professor Bevington, “goofy...it’s a revel!”

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | January 24, 2012

8

Motley crew of objects can an exhibit make Alice Bucknell Arts Staff What’s the difference between a painting and a pile of junk? Nothing, suggests Glasgow-based artist Cathy Wilkes, whose installation I Give You All My Money is currently on view at the Renaissance Society. Featuring a variety of objects ranging from paint-smeared mannequins to suspended frying pans, the exhibition is a miscellaneous assemblage of items that bear little unity to each other. But this total disassociation from its viewers gives Wilkes’s art its true momentum. As seemingly mundane, disparate objects take on extraneous meaning, they become something akin to icons, adopting a religious connotation that serves as the foundation of the exhibit.

Walk into the gallery, and the sheer quantity of negative space quickly becomes apparent. The walls themselves bear no artwork, stripping the installation of the conventional artistic standards that most viewers take for granted.

Wilkes’s piece is positioned slightly left of the entrance, occupying a modest percentage of the room’s available area. Though bits and bobs of material, including strewn flower petals, almost empty bowls of food, and pieces of lint, fabric, and shards of pottery stray from the core of the exhibit, the installation maintains a sense of autonomy leaning toward total exclusion of the viewer.

Wilkes’s work appears oddly distanced from the onlooker’s gaze; it resists revealing its true significance.

The exhibit shrouds itself in detailed mystery, and though there is a recur-

rence of certain motifs, namely the color white, consumed baby food, and smashed children’s toys, the exhibit’s meaning isn’t made obvious to the viewer. “I’m not concerned with being objective‌it’s the most unimportant thing about art,â€? Wilkes said at a talk given on January 22. “I was living on unemployment benefits for about a year and during that time, all I did was read books written by other people. I began to think like them. But what’s the point of thinking just what other people are thinking? There is no reason for me to think about what someone else might think of my art while I’m working.â€?

I GIVE YOU ALL MY MONEY Renaissance Society Through March 4

Though unsure of the coherence among the objects that make up the installation, the eerie nature of individual items forces the viewer to confront them.

Two mannequins placed among a pair of super market checkout counters serve as the focal point of the exhibit. One is sprawled out upon the conveyer belt, its head caught in a bird cage, while smashed porcelain dolls, tattered cloth, and bundles of hair rest upon the floor under its delicately poised feet. The other mannequin sports a white nurse’s cap, dirt draped over its forearms and shoulders as it unabashedly crouches on a toilet. A wire tightly wraps around its eyes and from its skull hangs another random assortment of items: a teacup, wood chips, brass bells, and a frying pan.

Amidst the mangled children’s toys, empty pots and pans, and two naked female mannequins, weighed down by physical objects tied to their bodies, a common theme finally emerges: the burden of motherhood. And perhaps upon a second glance at the installation, the erudite viewer may notice a subtle but unquestionable borrowing from Catholic images: Two stacks of flat clay tiles present modest etchings of crosses on their sides, a motif that also appears on the nurse hat of the mannequin. The pristine white ladder causes the viewer’s eye to travel upward to a suggested heaven that exists somewhere outside of the installation itself, which is plagued by all too earthly needs: a never-ending cycle of purchasing, consuming, reproducing, and sacrifice.

And all at once, it clicks: Wilkes has taken the mundane, and by shrouding it in an intended, relative obscurity, has made icons of the mess of human life and suffering. Using the sacrifice of motherhood as a theme through which the sacrifice of Christ is symbolized, Wilkes has turned base objects such as empty bowls and smashed dolls into powerful representations of Christianity that transcend the squalid setting through which they are presented.

But there is something still deeply perturbing about I Give You All My Money that cannot ever be fully articulated, as the work is, like all of Wilkes’s creations, a highly personal affair. Something dark lies within the paint-smeared mannequins, whose bodies are exposed so blatantly underneath the muck that weighs them down; there is something disconcerting about the mess of empty jars

University of Chicago Arts Council STUDENT GRANT & FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES UChicago Arts Grants Awards: $1,500 to $7,500 Winter Quarter Deadline: Friday, January 27, 2012 Spring Quarter Deadline: Friday, April 27, 2012 Student Fine Art Fund Awards: Up to $1,500 Winter Quarter Deadline: Friday, January 27, 2012 Spring Quarter Deadline: Friday, April 22, 2012

Wilkes uses old mannequins, among other objects, in her work.

COURTESY OF THE MODERN INSTITUTE

and smashed toys on the floor. Perhaps, caught between her strong Catholic upbringing and the confusion of a postfeminist that still struggles with the idea of motherhood, Wilkes uses her work as the outlet of some frustration. Perhaps it disturbs us simply because we will never be entirely sure of its meaning.

Either way, the reluctance that Wilkes has in revealing her own explanation of the installation allows for endless possibilities of individual interpretation. In a world where the artist’s voice often entirely blocks out the mind of its viewer, allowing the spectator to call some of the shots is refreshing.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | January 24, 2012

9

With only a handful of actors and dozens Expat Maroon editors preview band’s show of roles, versatile cast carries the show ahead of Chicago tour stop in March INVISIBLE continued from page 7 tiracial Brotherhood dedicated to social change. The group forces our young invisible man to further question his identity, as his role in the not-so-subtly communist Brotherhood is largely characterized by manipulation. The severity in Baker’s performance is both convincing and unsettling, and contributes to the growing sense of chaos that gains speed in the last part of the production and finally erupts in race-driven pandemonium that chases the protagonist to his underground lair, where we first encountered him—“the end is in the beginning.”

Against the backdrop of the flashing riots, hot-blooded Ras the Exhorter (Paul Oakley Stovall), an outspoken sensationalist who threatens the Brotherhood’s peaceful tactics, incites more violence.

Stovall produces several compelling performances as bit characters throughout the play (including a quick but lovely song during the funeral of one of the Brotherhood’s members), but he is most memorable as Ras, embodying the character with a true passion and fiery bursts that invigorate the story and keep its fast-paced action rolling.

Both A.C. Smith and Kenn E. Head demonstrate impressive range throughout the piece (I almost didn’t recognize Head as the humorous yam-seller after having seen his chilling performance as the protagonist’s

grandfather), and Christopher Boykin’s interpretation of Todd Clifton, the young member of the Brotherhood who is shot down while fleeing from a policeman, inspires honest compassion and ultimately, pity. The cast assembles and harmonizes with a subtle fluidity that lends a unique sense of color to the entire production.

Though the driving power of Invisible Man lies in the production’s skilled cast, Troy Hourie (Scenic Design), John Culbert (Lighting Design), and Josh Horvath (Sound Design) have created a truly thrilling world of spinning doors, sparking electricity, and blinding explosions. While Alex Koch’s projections lend a tangible sense of movement to the production, they are distracting at times—I often found myself confusedly staring at a screen at the back of the stage that depicted a Picasso-esque variation of morphing facial features, asking myself, “Where did that nose go? Why is Quasimodo on stage?” But overall, the scenic presentations generally infused the production with a powerful energy.

So, they won me over—they really won me over. The production was captivating , exhilarating , and profound. At the close, exhaling deeply beneath the once-again glowing cloud of light, the protagonist is anything but invisible—and for that, the audience is thankful.

ECHO continued from page 7 80s’ once shook their Morrisseyinspired mops to the beats of their art house angels. They have haircuts now, and have traded in their black turtlenecks for black ties, but they’ve yet to shed their thick-rimmed glasses and leather jackets.

That night the Bataclan on the rue Voltaire in the 11th arrondissement, in McCulloch’s second favorite city, experienced a British invasion. Actually, the energ y level was closer to high tea than the beaches of Normandy. However, there were plenty of gruff English accents in the crowd, ready with a loud “fuck yeah” every time McCulloch referenced home. His favorite city, of course, is Liverpool.

True to their reputation for producing cohesive albums rather than a patchwork of singles, McCulloch and the band kicked off the concert by playing through Crocodiles, an early classic of the post-punk era, and the equally acclaimed sophomore

effort Heaven up Here (1981).

They deviated from this line-up just once with a brief foray into The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” and David Bowie’s “Jean Genie.”

McCulloch’s commanding voice could climb to clear and easy highs then descend to raspy lows upon the band’s ladder of arpeggiated hooks and sinister bass lines. The performance reached a climax when the Bunnymen launched into the repetitive yet gripping “Rescue.” “Is this the blues I’m singing ?” belted McCulloch ad nauseum. The audience, of course, knew the answer.

The Bunnymen then played the hit “Lips Like Sugar,” or, as McCulloch called it, “the sexiest song ever written.” He pulled off this saccharine song with plenty of enthusiasm, but when the familiar riff of “The Killing Moon” queued up, his excitement dissipated somewhat. He spent most of the song far away from the mic, taking swigs from a mysterious container, muttering to himself, and killing some time with the

occasional smoke and a shimmy.

But it didn’t matter; the audience knew the words.

The light show in the Bataclan seemed specially designed to keep McCulloch’s face perpetually in the shadows. One could only see the aging rock star’s silhouette, back-lit by a soft blue glow, cut by a blinding white flash at the end of each song. The audience was left to imagine McCulloch in the skinny-tie, porcupine-hair image of his prime, but these days he really just looks like a drunk computer science teacher.

McCulloch then plugged his new album, dropping in March, calling it, “the best fucking thing I’ve ever done…by anyone.” To promote this highly-hyped album, McCulloch will be launching an American tour, stopping by Chicago at the end of March. There can hardly be many better ways to kick off spring quarter than to hear an aging Brit moan, “Show me your balls, you cheeky, cheeky boy,” as he did in his Paris performance. At least, that’s what it sounded like he said.

A TASTE FOR THE ARTS? VISIT WWW.CHICAGOMAROON.COM FOR MORE COVERAGE

University of Chicago Arts Council

FACULTY GRANT OPPORTUNITIES UChicago Arts Grants Awards: $1,500 to $7,500 Winter Quarter Deadline: Friday, January 27, 2012 Spring Quarter Deadline: Friday, April 27, 2012 Curricular Innovation Grants Awards: $1,000 to $3,500 Winter Quarter Deadline: Friday, January 27, 2012 Spring Quarter Deadline: Friday, April 27, 2012 Course Arts Resource Fund Awards: Small grants up to $500 Deadline: Proposals may be submitted anytime during academic quarters

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Miró Quartet with Anton Nel, piano FRIDAY / JANUARY 27 / 7:30 PM Acclaimed South African pianist joins top chamber group for a romantic evening of music Schubert: String Quartet in C minor, D. 703, “Quartettsatz” Brahms: String Quartet in C minor, op. 51 Elgar: Piano Quintet in A minor, op. 84 Buy your tickets today!

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | January 24, 2012

Maroons falter against D-I opponent Men’s Swimming & Diving Sarah Langs Sports Staff The men’s swimming & diving team (4–1) suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday against D-I opponent UW-Milwaukee.

The Maroons lost every event in which they competed en route to a 173–79 defeat.

“They are a very good D-I team and they swam well. We did not,” head coach Jason Weber said.

As a D-III team, Chicago typically needs an extra push from its swimmers and divers in order to compete at the same level as D-I schools. In terms of whether or not this was present on Saturday, Weber felt it was not.

“I was not enthused about our performance. I didn’t think we put forth the effort necessary to com-

pete with them,” Weber said.

UW-Milwaukee also featured a broader range of swimmers, another advantage of being a D-I team.

“Our rivals had a wider variety of swimmers who were specialized in single events,” first-year swimmer George Gvakharia said.

The fact that their first loss came against a higher-level opponent has kept Chicago from turning to despair, despite the new presence of a tally mark in the loss column.

“I don’t think this meet will affect our morale,” Gvakharia said.

“Apart from the fact that we were racing against a D-I team, we had a really tough week in terms of yardage and intensity.”

For Chicago, this meet typically comes immediately after one of the season’s more difficult stretches of practice.

“This is always a tough meet for us, not only because of the com-

Chicago suffers first loss to UW-Milwaukee petition, but because we just came off of our toughest week of training in the entire year,” Weber said.

Instead of dwelling in the past, though, the team is looking ahead to its next meet against DePauw University.

“As Coach Weber said, we should always look forward to what comes next and analyze our mistakes. We should now be more focused on beating DePauw next week and keeping up our hard work,” Gvakharia said.

Chicago will try to bounce back by returning to the hallmarks of their otherwise successful season—hard work and practice. “[We will rebound] by swimming fast and beating DePauw,” Weber said, “We’ll have a better week of training and be ready to go Saturday.”

The Maroons will take on DePauw at 1 p.m. this Saturday in the Myers-McLoraine Pool.

Women’s Swimming & Diving Liane Rousseau Sports Staff Women’s swimming and diving lost their first meet of the season on Saturday at the Myers-McLoraine pool against UW-Milwaukee, 151–105, leaving their record at 6–1 (4–1 in dual meets). Looking at the score, however, it is important to note that the Maroons are a D-III school, while the Panthers are D-I. UW-Milwaukee is by no means a pushover at their own level of play, either, having won six dual meets this year.

Because of these factors, the Maroons only had three individual event winners on the day—fourthyear Tara Levens in the 100-yard backstroke, second-year Vivian Yuen in the 200-yard backstroke, and first-year Bizzy Millen in the 500-yard freestyle.

While the end result was not what the Maroons desired, Levens believes that there were still some positive aspects to the meet.

“Certain team members showed that they were not afraid of a little tough competition,” Levens said.

“We had several people put up some great times and stay with, if not beat, D-I swimmers.”

Although there were some strong performances this weekend, one of the main problems for the Maroons

was out of the pool.

“Overall, the mental toughness of the team could have been a lot better,” Levens said. “I think the idea of swimming against a D-I team still intimidates a lot of people on our team, and that is something we will have to move past if we ever truly want to be competitive with [a team like] them.”

It is important for Chicago to compete with D-I schools in order to improve their performance against D-III opponents. Although the loss this weekend still breaks the Maroons’ perfect season, there are benefits to last weekend’s meet.

“Losing to a D-I team hurts our record, unfortunately, but it’s nice to know that we are at least still undefeated in D-III,” Levens said.

This sort of tough competition should give the Maroons an edge come conference championships.

“I think it’s great that we had this meet because it gives us some muchneeded competition before we get to UAAs,” Levens explained. “What we faced last weekend is a more watereddown version of what we’ll see in Cleveland, and the only way to prepare for that is to swim against tough competition like Milwaukee.”

Looking ahead, Chicago will have to get through DePauw before the conference championships in Cleveland. This past weekend’s test against UW-Milwaukee just goes to show that the team still has work to do.

Gvakharia earns two medals in backstroke, adding to career total of 35 SWIMMING continued from back

The U of C men’s swim team competed against University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Saturday.

BENJAMIN TRNKA | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Eleventh-ranked squad extinguishes UIC in season opener Men’s Tennis Shayan Karbassi Sports Contributor The men’s tennis team began their season with a victory on Saturday. The 11th-ranked Maroons defeated the Flames of UIC on the road by a score of 5–2.

The Maroons excelled in singles, recording four victories and only two losses. Fourth-years Troy Brinker and Jan Stefanski, second-year Alex Golovin, and first-year Ankur Barghava each won his respective match-up.

Slotted first in the order, Brinker defeated UIC’s Alexander Raa 6–3, 6–4. Barghava defeated

UIC’s Maurizio Feoli 7–6 (7–3), 6–3, at the No. 2 spot.

As the Maroons’ No. 3, Golovin lost the first set, but came back and won in three: 4–6, 6–2, 6–1.

Second-year Zsolt Szabo lost to Nate Kirk 7–6 (7–5), 7–6 (7–4) at No. 4 singles, and first-year Deepak Sabada fell to Rahul Kamath in three sets as the team’s No. 5: 6–3, 3–6, 6–3. At No. 6 singles, Stefanski came out on top against Scott Shepardson in two sets, 7–5, 6–1.

Chicago also had the upper hand in doubles. They took the top two matchups and lost the third in a tiebreaker.

Brinker and Stefanski defeated Kirk and Shepardson 8–5, Barghava and Dabada defeated

Kamath and Raa 9–8 (7–5), and Ravella and Szabo fell to Feoli and Reifer 9–8 (7–5).

The Maroons start their season with a 1–0 record under interim head coach Taka Bertrand, while UIC drops to 0–3. Following last season’s ninth-place NCAA finish, the Maroons are optimistic.

“Last year, we had our best season in history, so this year we want to continue moving forward,” Ravella said. “We have a strong team and our ultimate goal is to make a deep run at the NCAA tournament in May.” The Maroons’ next match is February 2 against Chicago State.

The meet is located at Bally’s, and will begin at 6 p.m.

portunity to measure my relative progress compared to last year’s performances and let me see whether I had to make any adjustments for the second part of the season,” Gvakharia said.

Away he flew, down to Mexico to swim and recapture his childhood memories. Gvakharia was at the meet for about six days, prior to which he spent a week training with his old team.

In the meet, Gvakharia competed in the 50-meter and 100meter freestyle, as well as in the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke. “[I finished] second in the 200-meter backstroke and third in the 100-meter backstroke,” said Gvakharia of his accomplishments in Guadalajara. Those medals put his career total at 35.

As if two medals at a national meet were not impressive enough, the success becomes even more notable when considering the circumstances.

“I raced at an altitude of 9,000 feet, and my times were pretty close to the ones I got here in Chicago during the Phoenix Invitational a couple of months ago,” Gvakharia said.

In other words, not only did he come in second and third in two different races against swimmers from all across his country, but Gvakharia also managed to record times of essentially equal value to those he put up in Chicago, at an elevation of a mere 597 feet.

While these achievements might lead an average swimmer to rest on his watery laurels, Gvakharia is not of that breed.

“I can still get a lot faster. I’m still far from achieving my real potential,” said Gvakharia, indicating a desire to work harder during winter quarter with the Maroons.

In terms of his future, Gvakharia has at least one unique swimming prospect on the horizon.

“His best times are close to qualifying for the 2012 Olympics for Mexico and Georgia (George is a dual citizen),” Weber said.

“He did very well, but still needs to drop some time this year to have a shot at 2012.”

The potential for the Olympics is certainly exciting. It would require a lot of work and improvement over a relatively short period of time, though, as the Opening Ceremony of the Games is scheduled for Friday, July 27 this coming summer in London.

Gvakharia is aware of the need to work if he wants to see the Olympics this year. “I still have a long way to go in order to be able to achieve this goal,” he said.

By competing at the Mexican Short Course Nationals in Guadalajara over winter break, Gvakharia took a few initial steps on the path that he and his coach hope will lead him to England and beyond.

“It’s very exciting to have a swimmer of his caliber on our team, and he’s only going to get better,” Weber said.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | January 24, 2012

Inaugural I-55 Tri goes awry Men’s Track & Field Matthew Schaefer Associate Sports Editor Forget the score. On the surface, Saturday’s Illinois Wesleyan Triangular was a blowout: The Maroons were dominated. Wash U: 138, IWU: 118, Chicago: a mere 68. But at this point, it’s not all about winning, or even coming close. It’s about testing out different events, looking at varied lineups, and gaining experience.

“I think overall the team ran well this weekend,” fourth-year distance runner Robert Cooper said.

“At this point of the year our goal isn’t to win every meet but rather to build towards peaking at the end of the year.”

“The team ran very well at Illinois-Wesleyan,” Ben Nickerson, a first-year distance runner, said.

“The team really supported each other and cheered throughout each race.”

For the Maroons, it’s all about perspective.

“You go out there with training purposes in mind. The goal was not to cover every event or to put up significant points,” assistant coach Aaron Carley said. “Instead, we were looking at the best events for training purposes.”

There were some noteworthy performances at the meet in Bloomington, Illinois. The distance medley relay team of third-year Bill Whitmore, second-year Mike Roualet, first-year Renat Zalov, and third-year Avery Mainardi took first place. In the 3,000-meter, first-years Kevin Vollrath and Kevin On finished seventh and ninth, respectively. Zalov finished second in the 800 meters and fourth-year

Moe Bahrani took second in the mile. Fourth-years Dan Heck and Nick Rockwell secured third and fourth place finishes in weight throw.

“We haven’t been competing like these are championship meets, because they aren’t. For example, Bill Whitmore and Moe Bahrani, both outstanding long distance runners, ran shorter events this week,” Cooper said. “That said, everyone in the meet has still competed at a high level, and we’re improving quickly.”

Nickerson, based on event results and the team’s mindset, remains confident.

“It is certainly a challenge to start against Wash U and Oshkosh, two of the top teams in the nation, but we have all risen to the occasion and put together some great individual performances,” Nickerson said. “We are working as a group to support all athletes in all events and create a nice, competitive atmosphere. It has become apparent to me already how motivating it is to have teammates cheer you on during races.”

The men return to Henry Crown Field House this weekend for their first home meet of the season, the Chicago Duals. The meet begins Saturday at 11:30 a.m.

“The meet at Illinois Wesleyan was a step in the right direction as far as competing well goes,” Vollrath said, “so the meet this weekend should also be an improvement.”

“The atmosphere in Crown is just unparalleled by anything else. Something about it being our house gives us a sense of familiarity and confidence,” Cooper said, “and I can’t remember a home meet that didn’t have at least a few outstanding performances.”

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Injuries limit Maroons in loss to Wash U, Illinois Wesleyan Women’s Track & Field Jake Walerius Sports Staff Women’s track and field finished third in their triangular meet with Illinois Wesleyan and Wash U on Saturday. Results are often deceiving, however, and despite the loss, there was a lot for the Maroons to cheer about.

“Given we have such a young team, it was great for them to step up against a conference team and work on competing hard early in the season. We were being aggressive and taking risks in our races,” fourth-year Jaleesa Akuoko said.

The Maroons finished the meet with 77 points, behind Wash U and Illinois Wesleyan, who had 117 and 119 points, respectively. Once again the distance runners looked strong, with second-year Elise Wummer giving one of the team’s standout performances to finish second in the 3000meter (10:32.20).

It wasn’t so much the times the Maroons ran or the distances they jumped that were positive, but the team’s overall mindset.

Chicago showed exactly what they were missing two weekends ago against UW-Oshkosh, and exactly what head coach Chris Hall had called for leading into the meet: Some fight.

Late comeback falls short, disappoints season-best crowd on Beach Night M.BASKETBALL continued from back

in the game and the Maroons (9–7, 2–3 UAA) up 80–78, the Judges (9–7, 3–2) inbounded the ball from half court to guard Ben Bartoldus, who stood next to the basket. Being closely guarded by second-year guard Derrick Davis, Bartoldus’ shot hit the backboard and sailed over the rim.

Brandeis guard Tyrone Hughes followed the shot, however, and tipped it in as time expired to send the game to overtime.

“The tip-in was just dumb luck,” McGrath said. “[It was] dumb luck in terms of time management and us relaxing…”

The Judges outscored the Maroons 17–9 in overtime to give them the 97–89 win.

Chicago’s heartbreaking loss came after losing to NYU (15–1, 4–1) on Friday, 81–71. The two-game losing streak puts

the Maroons in a tie for fifth place in the UAA. Despite a raucous 925 fans in attendance for Beach Night, Friday’s game against NYU did not appear bright at the start.

The Violets went on an 18–4 run in the first nine minutes of the game, capitalizing in transition, and on Chicago turnovers (19 points off of turnovers in the first half ). It was then that McGrath called a timeout. “[NYU] got to feeling good,” McGrath said. “If we don’t give them those transition opportunities by playing that poorly on the offensive end, then they don’t run up on us, and they don’t feel as good.”

Following the timeout, fourth-year forward Steve Stefanou scored Chicago’s next nine points en route to cutting the half-

time deficit to eight.

Coming off the break, NYU guard Kyle Stockmal sunk three shots from behind the arc in the first five minutes to give the Violets a 58–44 lead.

“I thought that if we had delivered a punch to start the second half, we would’ve put them on their heels a little bit,” McGrath said.

The Maroons cut the Violet lead to 9 with 29 seconds left. In the following possession, Derrick Davis stole the ball and appeared to be primed for an easy layup, but the referees called a foul on the second-year, and the game ended 21 seconds later.

The Maroons continue with UAA action on Friday night at the Ratner Center against Emory (15–1, 4–1). Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.

MATT JOHNSON: LETHAL SHOT Fourth-year Matt Johnson tied two scoring records in Sunday’s game against Brandeis at the Ratner Athletic Center Three-pointer

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The triangular was about preparation and finding the competitive edge the team will need if they are going to challenge at the conference meet later in the season. And if the Maroons needed any help finding that competitive edge, facing up to Wash U was excellent assistance.

“There was a bit more edge than usual,” Akuoko said. “Not to the full effect of the conference meet, but, as a whole, we were more aware of our teammates while they were competing and we were sure to increase the noise when Wash U was nearby.”

Wash U may have had the better of their matchup on Saturday, but the Maroons knew going into the meet that they wouldn’t be at their strongest.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries on the team lately and we didn’t bring the full roster [that we needed] to be competitive against the full teams of Wash U and Illinois Wesleyan,” fourth-year Madison Allen said.

“But, in the events we did compete in, we showed a big improvement over last week.”

So where does this leave the Maroons? At this stage in the season it’s still hard to tell, but these early-season meets are all preparation for the conference showdown in February, and it seems Chicago is beginning to find its feet. They’ll just be hoping that next time they face Wash U they’ll be applauding the score as well as the performance.

Stout defense rules Judges in Sunday’s rout of Brandeis W.BASKETBALL continued from back

Morgan Kendrew and Diana Cincotta.

“I thought [Kendrew] kind of got loose for a couple baskets early, not that it was anybody’s fault; she’s a really good player,” Head Coach Aaron Roussell said. “She’s a really good offensive player but I think [fourth-year forward] Meghan Herrick is a phenomenal defender and she really locked her down.”

“Kendrew is probably one of the best players in this conference,” Meghan Herrick said. “She can shoot from the outside, she can drive, and she’s actually smart, so if you try to stop her one way, she’ll counter and go another way.”

Chicago would quickly regain control with their typically suffocating defensive effort and some longrange sniping by fourth-year guard Joanna Torres, who hit three of her five three-point attempts on the night. Torres is far and away the best three-point shooter in the UAA at 54 percent, leading the rest of the league by nearly ten percentage points. As a team, Chicago struggled from behind the arc, only knocking down seven of their 23 attempts. Even with their difficulty scoring, Chicago was able to lock down the Brandeis offense, and quickly ran away with the game in the second half, winning 76–48. Every player on the Chicago bench saw the floor. Fourth-year Morgan Herrick led the Maroons in scoring with 16 points, despite being saddled with foul trouble throughout the game.

“Fortunately enough we were up by a significant amount so it wasn’t too detrimental to the game today, but our young players stepped up and did a really good job,” Morgan Herrick said.

Chicago plays two of the best teams in the UAA next weekend as it faces Emory and Rochester.

Rochester is undefeated and is one of the best teams in the country, while Emory features the most dynamic scoring threat in the conference in guard Hannah Lilly, who leads the UAA in scoring, averaging over 19 points per game.

“I look at it as a goal, I look at it as a challenge,” Meghan Herrick said of the challenge of guarding one the best scorers in the country. “Doesn’t scare me. She hasn’t maybe felt the presence of a great defender yet, so that’s my goal, to make her know that maybe you scored against some other teams, but you’re not going to score against us.”

SPORTS

IN QUOTES “Yo soy fiesta.”

—New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski on his celebratatory plans following Sunday’s AFC Championship game. The Patriots defeated the Baltimore Ravens 23–20.

Johnson ties school record in losing effort Men’s Basketball Alexander Sotiropoulos Senior Sports Staff He did it.

In Sunday’s game against Brandeis, fourth-year guard Matt Johnson racked up 44 points, tying Derek Reich’s record for most points scored in a single game by a Maroon. The record had been untouched since the 2002-2003 season.

“To score 44 points and [only] take 20 shots is amazing,” head coach Mike McGrath said.

The shots Johnson took to tie the record were impressive by themselves. Johnson went eight of 14 from behind the arc, tying another school record for the most three-pointers made in a game. It was Johnson’s second time this season hitting eight shots from downtown.

With a malfunctioning public address system before the game

and technical difficulties with the online broadcast, it seemed as if the only thing that was going right was the Maroons’ playing.

Chicago started off on a 9–0 run before Brandeis made a comeback. The Judges shot 46.9 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from behind the arc, resulting in a 42–42 tie at halftime.

The Maroons relied on Johnson for their scoring, as he was 6–9 from the field and 4–7 from behind the arc.

Johnson’s scoring helped the Maroons build a 67–55 lead with 7:17 left in the game.

Brandeis was able to come back in part due to Judges guard Vytas Kriskus’s 31-point shooting performance.

Unfortunately for Johnson, however, his scoring performance was overshadowed by Brandeis’s come-from-behind victory.

With 1.4 seconds remaining M.BASKETBALL continued on page 11

Fourth-year Michael Sustarsic advances against the opposition in a game earlier this season.

COURTESY OF DAVE HILBERT

After two medals at Mexican nationals, Chicago remains unbeaten after weekend sweep Olympic goals within reach Women’s Basketball Mahmoud Bahrani Senior Editor

First-year swimmer George Gvakharia placed second in the Mexican Short Course Nationals over winter break and may qualify for the Olympics.

JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Swimming Sarah Langs Sports Staff The average winter break for a student from the University of Chicago consists of little more than rest and relaxation. Those who are more academic may try to read that next chapter in their math textbooks or get ahead on Hum reading, but for the most part, winter break is code for excessive sleeping. For some varsity athletes, however, this was not the case. Many members of the swimming and diving team went to Florida for a training trip. One swimmer had a different idea all together.

George Gvakharia, a first-year from Huixquilucan, Mexico, competed in the Mexican Short

Course Nationals in Guadalajara over the break. He is still registered with his old team in the Mexican Swimming Federation, which means that he was automatically signed up for the meet.

That did not necessarily mean that he had to attend the event hosted at the Scotiabank PanAmerican Aquatics Center, however.

“The Mexican Swimming Federation paid for my entire trip as an additional incentive to race at Nationals,” Gvakharia said. Evidently, the incentive worked.

When it came to getting permission from head coach Jason Weber, Gvakharia had to inform rather than ask.

“Since the start of this season, Coach Weber had been considering sending me to Nationals, instead of going on the training

trip. He was very pleased with the idea,” Gvakharia said.

With his coach’s permission, there was nothing left to stop Gvakharia from taking advantage of this great competition.

“I couldn’t miss the opportunity to race in my home country,” Gvakharia said.

Gvakharia has competed at the Mexican Nationals since he was 11 years old. Still, this year was his last chance to participate as an age group swimmer, being under 19 years of age.

Though he had initially planned to join his teammates on their trip to Florida, the chance to test himself, combined with nostalgia for a meet he had participated in since his youth, persuaded him to return home.

“This meet presented the opSWIMMING continued on page 10

The undefeated Maroons (16–0, 5–0) extended their NCAA-best regular season winning streak to 34 games this weekend with wins over NYU (9–7, 1–4) and Brandeis (7–9, 0–5). Chicago is now one of six remaining unbeaten NCAA teams, along with Amherst, George Fox, Calvin, Rochester, and Mary Washington.

Chicago played NYU on Friday in a game featuring the highly anticipated meetingbetweenthird-yearguardMaggie Ely and her old team. NYU jumped out to a 7–5 lead early, but that would be the last lead the Violets would see all night.

An 8–2 run, sparked by newcomers Julie Muguira and Hannah Ballard put the game out of reach. Chicago held a 35–27

lead at the half. Recently, the Maroons have been unbeatable after fast starts; Chicago has won 45 consecutive games when leading at the half.

Chicago extended its lead in the second half and led by more than 20 points with 13 minutes left in the game.

The Maroons won comfortably with a score of 77–55.

Ely played well against her former team, earning seven trips to the freethrow line. She finished with seven points in 16 minutes, along with four assists. Pre-season All-American Taylor Simpson had another impressive night, pacing the Maroons with 18 points and eight rebounds, five of which came on the offensive end.

The game against Brandeis on Sunday had a similar flow, with the Judges taking an early 8–5 lead behind the strong shooting and creative play of guards W.BASKETBALL continued on page 11

Fourth-year Joann Torres drives the ball down the court against New York University on Friday at the Ratner Athletics Center.

JULIA REINITZ | THE CHICAGO MAROON