012814 Chicago Maroon

FRIDAY • JANUARY 28, 2014

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THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

ISSUE 22 • VOLUME 125

SOUL students to attend national conference Christine Schmidt News Staff

Braving windchill temperatures below –20 degrees, members of Students for Health Equity (SHE) gather outside of the Levi Hall building to commemorate the one year annivarsary of graduate student Toussaint Losier’s arrest during a protest at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

SYDNEY COMBS | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Year after arrest of four protestors, trauma center activists hold vigil Sarah Manhardt News Staff Marking the one-year anniversary of the sit-in at the Center for Care and Discovery (CCD) where four people were arrested by the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD), members of Students for Health Equity (SHE), along with other community organizations in the Trauma Center Coalition, held a vigil in front of Levi Hall to protest the lack of a level-one adult

trauma center at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC).

Approximately 40 people, most affiliated with SHE, stood for about 20 minutes in belowzero temperatures, holding signs that gave a timeline of SHE’s progress over the last three years.

The event was meant to be a candlelight vigil, but the candles would not stay lit due to high wind.

The treatment of the students arrested last year, particularly ninth-year history Ph.D. student

Toussaint Losier, drew criticism and sparked dialogue within the University community about the UCPD and the trauma center.

The Trauma Center Coalition includes SHE, Fearless Leading by the Youth (FLY), Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP), Reclaiming Inner-City Streets and Elevating Chicago (RISE Chicago), and other groups. Since the CCD protest a year ago, they have held two protests, held a flower vigil in front of President Robert TRAUMA continued on page 2

Hyde Parkers protect cats from the cold Preston Thomas News Staff A volunteer organization called Cat Helpers posted an urgent call on Marketplace for volunteers in preparation for yesterday’s wind chill of –40 degrees Fahrenheit.

The message was directed at potential cat fosterers and adopters in Hyde Park, as well as anyone interested in building shelters, giving cats food and water, or helping deliver them to the organization PAWS for medical care.

The dangerously low temperatures are particularly hostile for Hyde Park’s felines, so volunteers dedicated to finding shelters and permanent homes for stray cats are working with a particular sense of urgency.

Fourth-year Stephanie Grach and her roommates volunteer for Hyde Park Cats, which, like Cat Helpers, seeks to match cats with fosterers and adopters.

“We wanted to help out with the cats that are around the neighborhood here, because there are quite a few,” Grach said. “[The goal is] to find all of the cats that are not feral—ones that want to be in a home—and place them, at the very least, in foster homes. That can be fairly temporary… It’s a really great situation for people that are at the University only temporarily.”

The pet store Parker’s, at East 55th Street and South Kenwood Avenue, occasionally assists in fostering efforts and also accepts donations on behalf of Hyde Park

Cats.

“For people that can’t foster, they can donate through Parker’s…or directly through Hyde Park Cats. In the case of feral cats, they actually have volunteers who go and feed the colonies,” Grach said.

Cat Helpers is operated by a woman who goes by “Cathelper” on Marketplace, who has posted numerous listings on Marketplace seeking individuals interested in fostering or adopting cats.

The woman declined to comment for this article, but Grach confirmed that “Cathelper” is not a student but rather a permanent resident of Hyde Park who sometimes works in tandem with CATS continued on page 2

In an effort to energize a campaign met with inaction

by University administrators, the RSO Students Organizing United with Labor (SOUL) is fully funding six members to attend the February 7–8 national conference of its parent organization at the University of Texas in Austin. “[The conference] is kind of an investment, but I think it’ll be worth it,” said third-year SOUL member Miriam Shestack.

The conference is being

organized by United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), and SOUL is covering the $30 registration fee and the cost of a plane ticket for each participant.

According to Shestack, it has never subsidized a trip like this or attended a similar conference, although some members participated in a smaller training session for Midwest chapters held in Chicago last October.

Shestack said that the conference will focus on the End Death Traps campaign, a movement begun after a Bangladeshi garment factory SOUL continued on page 2

Students, faculty survey South Side homeless Jonah Rabb News Staff Thirty-two UChicago students and staff met in the bitter cold to join forces with the City of Chicago in the Point-In-Time Homeless Count last Wednesday. The annual event, which spans the entire city, assures that Chicago can receive proportional federal homeless funding from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development by reporting statistics about homeless people in Chicago neighborhoods.

Volunteers were recruited through the University Community Service Center (UCSC) and the Chicago Studies Program to canvass neighborhoods, mostly on the South Side.

The volunteers began the night with a webinar that taught volunteers the procedure for counting. Afterward, they were split up into groups of three or four, each

group with at least one experienced volunteer from Featherfist, a local organization that assisted with the count.

From approximately 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., groups administered surveys, principally to glean information about the kinds of services that homeless people access. In addition, the surveys asked broad demographic questions to assess communities vulnerable to chronic homelessness, such as LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.

First-year Daphne McKee, who also participated in UCSC’s Chicago Bound program, was motivated to participate to “experience the Chicago in a new way,” she said. “It seemed like a very easy way to do something a little outside of usual routine, and you’re learning more about where you live.”

McKee, whose group covered Englewood, said her group visited CENSUS continued on page 2

SG pilots program to help disabled students Sarah Manhardt News Staff Student Government (SG) has launched an RSO Disabilities Accessibility Pilot Program to train RSO leaders in making SGfunded events more accessible.

According to SG President and fourth-year Michael McCown, the program will likely become

required for all RSOs seeking SG funding next year.

RSO leaders will learn about using resources available through Student Disabilities Services (SDS) on campus to make events more accessible, hosting events in physically accessible spaces, and advertising accessibility.

SG will sponsor the program in DISABILITY continued on page 2

IN VIEWPOINTS

IN ARTS

IN SPORTS

First (aid) response » Page 3

Quiet as a Maus: Silence speaks volumes for Art Spiegelman» Page 5

Maroon waves crash down on competition at Senior Day » Back Page

Oscar nom finds love and loss in Fellini’s eternal city » Page 6

In the Chatter’s Box: Francesca Tomasi » Page 7

Language and the human » Page 4

2

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | January 28, 2014

Conference to help SOUL respond to inaction SOUL continued from front

collapsed last April, killing more than 1,100 people. The campaign involves raising awareness of the poor working conditions in these kinds of factories and getting universities to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, which requires brands that produce apparel with the school’s logo to maintain reasonable working conditions.

Last quarter, members of SOUL delivered a letter to University administrators asking them to adopt the Accord, to little avail.

“The response [was] basically, ‘We’re going to think about it,’” Shestack said. “It was very noncommittal.”

SOUL is scheduled to meet with Dean of Students in the University Michele Rasmussen on Friday.

“Assuming the response is not an emphatic ‘yes,’ I’m really looking forward to seeing what people at other schools are doing about this issue [at the conference],” Shestack said.

She noted that previous SOUL campaigns were met with similar administrative inaction—for instance, in their push to end University contracts with Adidas, SOUL members were shunted from meeting to meeting without a clear answer for three months.

“It would be good for us to learn from people who have been doing this for a while and maybe have had some success [and can tell us] how to prevent getting into that meeting-after-meeting trap. We know how we feel about this, but we want to get better at being persuasive about it,” she said.

Trauma center activists urged to disperse during vigil TRAUMA continued from front

Zimmer’s office, and met publicly with Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs Kenneth Polonsky.

“Some things take a long time. It took two and a half years for the hospital to talk to us. It took 15 minutes for Toussaint to be hauled off the concrete where he’d been left when we watched him. It took [a] comparatively long time for us to be kicked out of the administration building this time around. And it’s taken years, over 20 of them, for U of C to face up to the question of the trauma center,” said eighth-year anthropolog y Ph.D. student Duff Morton.

Speakers from several groups affiliated with the Trauma Center Coalition spoke to the group, including members of SHE, the Coalition for Equitable Policing, Graduate Students United, and FLY. “Even if we don’t have a response from Dean Polonsky or President Zimmer, we

don’t have to measure our progress by what the people who are up against us say to us.

We can measure our progress, and we can see how far the organizations have come in the past year,” said fourth-year and SHE member Patrick Dexter.

Several UCPD officers were stationed inside Levi Hall, and Assistant Director of Student Emergency Systems Lynda Daher shooed the group out of the building and constantly urged them to move to allow pedestrians through the quad. Daher told the group that they needed a permit to protest on the main quadrangle, but Dexter said he believed the policy was that a permit was unnecessary after 5 p.m.

The University’s Protests & Demonstrations Policy says that “a request to hold a…demonstration should be submitted no later than 48 hours before the start of the event and must be approved

by ORCSA and/or [a group’s] appropriate RSO Advisor.”

Students talk culture clash Himani Manglik Maroon Contributor A panel of immigrant students highlighted their first-hand experiences in a discussion on immigration at an event sponsored by the AfricanCaribbean Students Association (ACSA) and M.E.Ch.A (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán) at UChicago, held in McCormick Tribune Lounge Thursday evening.

The event, moderated by second-year and ACSA member Ben Lusamba, began with a lecture by history professor Rachel Jean-Baptiste, who specializes in the social, cultural, and political history of central Africa and Francophone Africa. Originally from Haiti, Jean-Baptiste came to the U.S. when she was 10 years old.

Jean-Baptiste stressed the need to look at immigration from a different perspective, one that goes beyond what she perceives as the societal tendency to relate it only to its political and economic implications. “[It’s important to] use a different epistemological and methodological form of knowledge,” she said.

Volunteers across Chicago unite to see city in new light CENSUS continued from front

places such as police stations and St. Bernard’s Hospital to look for homeless people. “You know it’s a problem in Chicago, and it was important to meet the people firsthand.”

Chris Skrable, associate director for community-based research and experiential learning at the UCSC, visited areas surrounding Midway Airport but did not find any homeless people on that particular night.

According to Skrable, the program provided a unique opportunity for students to interact with the city in a new way. “You have

RSO leaders to be trained in making events accessible DISABILITY continued from front

partnership with SDS and the Office of the Reynolds Club and Student Activities (ORCSA). SDS will run the training of the RSO leaders.

“The training will allow RSOs to consider accessibility in conceptualizing and planning events. When accessibility is factored into RSO events, we send a message to students with disabilities that they, too, are included; that their presence is welcomed, and their full participation is wanted. The University of Chicago values diversity and the presence of students with disabilities at various events will enrich these experiences for all attendees,” Gregory Moorehead, director of SDS, wrote in an e-mail.

Class of 2016 Representative Holly Rapp and Class of 2015 Representative Aseal Tineh are heading SG’s efforts to begin the pilot program. According to Tineh, this year’s program will consist of 20 RSOs that will participate and give feedback. As of January 23, four RSOs have committed to participating. Though SG has funds for the pilot program, it has

not yet identified a permanent source of funding.

Moorehead said there are approximately 250 students registered with SDS, but not all students with disabilities are registered.

“I think, to a certain extent, there’s an attitude that it’s stigmatizing to reveal certain disabilities and therefore some students would just prefer not doing that, particularly if the response will not be the kind of support they need, which is another issue,” said Professor Morris Fred, who has taught the course Anthropolog y of Disability for a decade.

Sixth-year Ph.D candidate Margaret Fink, one of the co-coordinators of the Organization of Students with Disabilities, an advocacy group for students with disabilities, is supportive of the program.

“Michael McCown came to some of our events last year when he was running , and we’ve been in touch with him periodically. And it’s been really nice to have him have disability on the agenda in terms of Student Government,” she said.

She suggested that it is more beneficial for us to listen to and learn from the “human stories” of immigrants.

Additionally, Jean-Baptiste noted that changing demographics and the growth of the immigrant population have impacted the educational environment at the University of Chicago, citing the greater importance that the University places on demographics in the admissions process.

After the lecture, a panel of six immigrant students from Africa, Latin America, and Asia discussed their personal experiences, touching on clashes with their parents, differences with their non-immigrant peers, and stories of adapting to American popular culture.

Despite differences in background, all of the panelists experienced similar culture clashes.

Torn between the native cultures impressed upon them in their homes and the American culture that surrounded them, they cited language, music, and gender roles as some of the dividing factors.

In concluding the event, Lusamba said that he hoped this conversation on immigration would continue long after the evening’s discussion.

all of these non-profits and volunteers coming from neighborhoods and institutions like the University of Chicago. It was an amazing collaboration between the private and public sector.”

He was further inspired by the cooperation between different sectors of the community involved in the Count.

“Often when we talk about social problems we go between, ‘Well, the government should be solving it,’ but the Homeless Count is a neat example of all people working to holistically solve a problem,” he said.

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CATS continued from front

VIEWPOINTS

Editorial & Op-Ed JANUARY 28, 2014

Waiting on the rules to change The administration’s swift reaction to the trauma center protests needs to regain momentum The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 REBECCA GUTERMAN Editor-in-Chief SAM LEVINE Editor-in-Chief EMILY WANG Managing Editor AJAY BATRA Senior Editor DANIEL LEWIS Senior Editor MATTHEW SCHAEFER Senior Editor EMMA THURBER STONE Senior Editor MARINA FANG News Editor HARINI JAGANATHAN News Editor ELEANOR HYUN Viewpoints Editor LIAM LEDDY Viewpoints Editor KRISTIN LIN Viewpoints Editor EMMA BRODER Arts Editor ALICE BUCKNELL Arts Editor WILL DART Arts Editor LAUREN GURLEY Arts Editor DANIEL RIVERA Arts Editor SARAH LANGS Sports Editor SONIA DHAWAN Head Designer KEVIN WANG Online Editor MARA MCCOLLOM Social Media Editor

A year ago January 27, four people, including a current student and an alum, were arrested while protesting at the Center for Care and Discovery (CCD). Two days later, more than 1,000 students had signed a petition demanding an explanation from the University for how the protesters were treated. The CCD was only open for a private tour that day, and the protesters staging a sit-in at the hospital were perceived as a safety threat. As the protesters told the Maroon, the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) officers mistreated the protesters and did not immediately contact the Dean on Call when the demonstrators asked.

Although charges against the protesters were eventually dropped, tensions continued to run high between students and the UCPD. When the maroon broke the story of an undercover officer’s presence at a subsequent Febru-

ary protest, the situation only escalated.

That discovery prompted an external review of the UCPD and the firing of one officer, as well as the formation of an ad hoc Committee on Dissent and Protest. So a year later, has anything actually changed?

The progress of the Committee, which is meant to provide policy clarity, seems to be lagging. The Committee on Dissent and Protest convened shortly after the two demonstrations.

However, at its open meeting in May, only two members of the committee showed up. One of them, Law School professor and Committee Chair David Strauss, said that the committee’s report to the Provost would focus not on UCPD-specific policies, but on broad issues such as how, where, and when protest is allowed. They met with students, solicited input throughout last quarter, and planned to submit recom-

mendations to the Provost in December.

Since then, the Committee has made no public announcements about its intentions or progress. Because the protests, their aftermath, and the possibility of future demonstrations—especially concerning the trauma center— will not vanish anytime soon, this loss of administration momentum after less than a year is unacceptable. As a university dedicated to the free flow of ideas, workable and understandable protest guidelines are paramount to the vitality of the University’s interaction with its students and with the community at large. The Committee has a responsibility to keep the campus updated as to its progress, and students in return have a responsibility to hold the Committee accountable by discussing and challenging its report, which we hope will be released soon. Regardless of

the trauma center issue, the ability to safely protest is key to free speech and exchange of ideas on campus.

In addition, after the external review of the UCPD, the administration also pledged to clarify a number of UCPD policies and the Dean-on-Call procedure. In the wake of the protests, that aspiration made much sense, but if any clarifications have been made, they have not been widely publicized. And in order to turn any clarifications into on-the-ground awareness, they must be discussed between administrators and the student body throughout campus.

The administration needs to take advantage of this momentum while it still exists and follow through on its promises to solidify protest policies.

The Editorial Board consists of the Editors-in-Chief and the Viewpoints Editors.

CONNOR CUNNINGHAM Head Copy Editor ALAN HASSLER Head Copy Editor SHERRY HE Head Copy Editor BEN ZIGTERMAN Head Copy Editor SYDNEY COMBS Photo Editor JULIA REINITZ Photo Editor PETER TANG Photo Editor

First (aid) response The University’s lack of a trauma center is a problem. So is its lack of first-aid kits.

FRANK YAN Photo Editor COLIN BRADLEY Grey City Editor JOY CRANE Grey City Editor THOMAS CHOI Assoc. News Editor ALEX HAYS Assoc. News Editor STEPHANIE XIAO Assoc. News Editor TATIANA FIELDS Assoc. Sports Editor SAM ZACHER Assoc. Sports Editor

TYRONALD JORDAN Business Manager TAMER BARSBAY Director of Business Research SHAWN CHEN Director of Internal Marketing

By Patrick Reilly Viewpoints Columnist

ANNIE ZHU Director of External Marketing VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator ANNIE CANTARA Designer CARINA BAKER Designer AURNA HASNIE Designer JANE JUN Designer JONAH RABB Designer NICHOLAS ROUSE Designer KRYSTEN BRAY Copy Editor SOPHIE DOWNES Copy Editor MICHELLE LEE Copy Editor CHELSEA LEU Copy Editor KATIE LEU Copy Editor JOHN LOTUS Copy Editor KATARINA MENTZELOPOULOS Copy Editor CHRISTINE SCHMIDT Copy Editor OLIVIA STOVICEK Copy Editor ANDY TYBOUT Copy Editor LAN WANG Copy Editor RUNNAN YANG Copy Editor

The Chicago Maroon is published twice weekly during autumn, winter, and spring quarters

“Is my jaw broken?” I wondered frantically as I picked myself up off the black ice on 59th Street. Gingerly pressing my chin left a reddish stain on my glove. “Is this going to need stitches!?”

After I tumbled from my bike one recent Sunday morning, the only nearby soul to answer these questions was a UCPD officer. “I’m not an expert,” he mumbled apologetically, taking a look. “Maybe go to the emergency room if you got time, but it looks like you’ve just got a scrape.”

That description sounded like something a dining hall first aid kit could handle, but I quickly learned otherwise.

“We don’t have any spray,” the Aramark employee said, rummaging through Cathey’s first-aid kit. They did, however, have a pair of bright blue band-aids for my chin.

Within walking distance of Chi-

cago’s premier research hospital, I carefully pedaled back to my dorm, where I had my own tube of Neosporin.

Some of the University’s medical shortcomings are old news to readers of the Maroon. Back in November, Students for Health Equity (SHE) made headlines when it delivered a pair of coffins to the University of Chicago Medical Center’s front door—the latest in what the group’s Facebook page calls “a combination of educational events and direct-action protests to encourage the University of Chicago Medical Center to open an adult level-one trauma center.” A worthy goal, but also the only goal mentioned on SHE’s website, despite the group’s stated mission to “address health disparities on the South Side.” As I learned during my misadventure last Sunday, “health disparities” don’t only affect life-ordeath emergencies.

The vast majority of the students who march with SHE—or the residents they march for—will never fly through a windshield or suffer multiple gunshot wounds. They will, however, have plenty of slips and scrapes like mine on Hyde Park’s icy streets.

The University of Chicago Police Department’s (UCPD) officers are a familiar presence on many of those streets, but as I learned the hard way last Sunday, they can’t provide

so much as a band-aid. The UCPD might not save any lives by installing first aid kits in its squad cars. It will, however, be able to treat the cuts and bruises of students and South Side residents alike. It might also begin to heal years of sore feelings between the South Side and the UCPD. What about social justice? Doesn’t UChicago have an obligation to bring trauma care to a violent part of one of America’s most violent cities?

In fixating on that argument, SHE seems to have overlooked other, more mundane inequities. During my unplanned investigative-reporting trip to the dining hall, I learned that the men and women who spend hours each day among sharp knives and open flames don’t have access to antiseptic spray. Nor do they have the luxury, as I did, of going off-site to properly treat a cut. Bringing dining halls’ first-aid kits up to OSHA standards won’t make for a dramatic photo op. It will, however, save time and dexterity lost to infections and minimize the chance that blood or pus will find its way into your scrambled eggs. Who knows? It may also boost Aramark’s chances of actually passing its health inspections next year.

None of these goals have the same panache as building a multimilliondollar facility and alleviating a gross health-care inequality in America’s

third-largest city. Even so, might SHE accept them as smaller, more pragmatic steps for its namesake mission? First-year SHE member Daphne McKee voiced cautious support.

“The members of SHE individually would most likely all be supportive of any other smaller efforts to improve health equity in the region,” she explained. “If there were smaller and more short-term campaigns that could improve health care in the region, and could get us visibility for the trauma center campaign, and that we could undertake at the same time as the trauma center campaign, we would probably be up for it” (emphasis hers).

Would a few afternoons’ worth of fundraising be “short-term” enough?

Buying 100 of Quake Care’s OSHAcompliant first-aid kits—for installation in UCPD cars, dining halls, and elsewhere around campus—would cost $2,495. Contrast that amount with the UCMC’s current $737-million debt, and the nearly $6 million in today’s dollars that it lost while running a trauma center from 1986 to 1988.

Which leaves me with a question for SHE’s econ majors: In the near term, which do you think is more likely to get a check?

Patrick Reilly is a first-year in the College.

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The opinions expressed in the Viewpoints section are not necessarily those of the Maroon. © 2014 The Chicago Maroon, Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 Editor-in-Chief Phone: 773.834.1611 Newsroom Phone: 773.702.1403 Business Phone: 773.702.9555 Fax: 773.702.3032

Don’t just do it The pressure to seize every opportunity can leave us with few real lessons Andrew Young Viewpoints Staff

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Suddenly the room is enveloped with laughter. “What was so funny?” I ask the person sitting next to me. Apparently the moderator at the Institute of Politics (IOP) event had just made a joke about Todd Akin’s failed Senate campaign. I had

been thinking about how to tackle this week’s Hum readings.

We are told many times throughout our academic careers that much of our learning takes place outside the classroom. We are told that the resources at this institution are unparalleled, about the vast number of books in our libraries on obscure but nevertheless interesting

topics. To a degree, this has instilled within me a sense of anxiety—that the true value of this University will be lost on me if I do not fully engage with the school and its surrounding community. So in response I have made an effort to soften my edges, to become involved in a variety of different activities, and to attend events outside of the classroom that

promise to make me a more “wellrounded” individual.

Yet too often I have found my mind drifting while in the middle of a seminar or a meeting. Whether I am wondering why I chose to attend this specific seminar or whether or not I can afford to continue with that fourth class, the EXPERIENCES continued on page 4

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | January 28, 2014

Well-rounded college experience comes at a cost EXPERIENCES continued from page 3 desire to enrich myself to the greatest extent possible can have a regressive effect. The question at hand—a question we all should ask ourselves—is not what we choose to do with our time, but why we choose to do these things. Because many times after I have left an afternoon IOP seminar, its value to me is forgotten by dinner. The opportunity to form meaningful, lasting connections between the policy prescriptions spoken of at the IOP and my most recent Econ 198 class, for example, are quickly brushed aside in the rush to ensure that my internal ideal of a productive and fully engaged-individual is satisfied.

I often find myself in an internal debate about the tradeoffs of things like a lighter course load in exchange for a more robust extracurricular experience. Yet the activities I engage in often feel like they occur in a vacuum. They become mental junk food, a quick rush of excitement at the amount of new information I am being exposed to and a sense of satisfaction at having taken advantage of an opportunity that was not available to everyone. But this “sugar high” leaves me with no lasting benefits. The real value in attending an event or taking an extra class is largely found in the period following its occurrence.

If we don’t spend enough of our own time linking together the themes of the things we do and synthesizing new information from them—that is, if we spend too much time hearing about ideas rather than reflecting on them—then we lack a proper balance. This imbalance undermines not only our goals, but also the reason why many of us chose to come to this University.

When we are striving to exploit every resource at our University, whether that means taking four classes instead of three,

joining another RSO, or attending that extra seminar, we may find ourselves left without enduring lessons afterward; indeed, in our struggle to seize every opportunity and utilize every resource in our four short years here, we risk absorbing very little. Should we realize that our daily lives leave us with little room to live in the moment, much less the time necessary to reflect on our experiences, then we know we need to proceed more deliberately and evaluate the way we are going about doing things.

We’re in a relationship with this school; it’s good to take things slow.

Andrew Young is a first-year in the College.

SUBMISSIONS

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

Op-ed submissions, 800 words.

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Language and the human Inclusion, not exclusion, is at the root of shared language Ellen Wiese Viewpoints Staff Growing up as a missionary’s kid in Japan, my dad learned two languages without the exhaustive, decades-long process that most of us associate with acquiring fluency. He comprehends and easily navigates both cultures, and even though he’s lived in the U.S. for the last 20 years, he remains fluent in both languages.

Though his siblings have all since moved to the U.S., family holidays are full of bilingual puns, references, and sundry vocabulary.

From a psychological standpoint, language clearly influences the way we see our world— for instance, the use of feminine and masculine words for “bridge” in different languages yielded different descriptions of the structure in a 2003 Stanford study. My father’s family therefore has access to an entirely different framework of understanding, one interpreted by two languages instead of just one. When we travel to Japan, my father’s manner shifts—his gestures become subtler, his voice quieter, and his bearing more compact. While this is in part a recognition of the culture itself, it is also a reflection of the language he is using.

While spending time with the bilingual side of my family when I was younger was both fascinating and fun, I suffered from a muted sense of jealous exclusion. The adventures my aunts and uncles recalled about growing up as a family of seven in Japan seemed to me far more interesting than anything I had experienced, or ever would. The vocabulary I acquired through casual use gave me a certain pride, but each phrase tossed back and forth reminded me that it was a world of which I could never quite be a part. I remember looking toward the long years it would take me to learn Japanese with a sulkiness exacerbated by the recognition that I would probably never be as fluent as a native speaker. I intended— and still intend—to take the language as far as I can, but the language my father speaks is a world apart from my own.

Language does play a role in the way we conceptualize our society and communicate within it by setting up certain partitions. Languages

inevitably exclude non-speakers from both conversation and true understanding of culture. In the media, they’re frequently cited as forces that separate a society into its composite and irrevocable parts—controversy over the role of the English language in citizenship status is rooted in a conception of language as integral to cultural belonging. Even in dialogues praising multiculturalism, there is a tendency to focus on the purity of cultural separation and the autonomous richness each culture provides; the outsider is encouraged to appreciate but never truly immerse herself in it.

But language, by its very nature, is not a blockade, but is rather as fluid and adaptable as the process of learning it. For five summers, I attended a Japanese language camp in rural Minnesota—a place where students cobbled Japanese and English together with reckless abandon, where language wasn’t necessarily a sacred communal entity, but rather a multifaceted medium for jokes, learning, and connection. When I returned home, I could understand more of what my dad’s family was throwing back and forth, but I had also gained my own way of understanding language. The community I had formed was based on a linguistic hodgepodge, and lost nothing from this disorganization. As I stepped back from the perceived sanctity of impeccable fluency and into the messy communication of learning, I gained my own way of understanding, separate from any specific linguistic lens.

I still believe that the world my dad and his family see is illuminated differently from my own. Their language proficiency opens their experiences and highlights different elements in their eyes. But, as I now realize, this is a testament to the efficacy of communication rather than to Japanese or English as their own spheres of thought. No language has one defined way of seeing the world, but rather many fluid perceptions grounded in communication. We can expand our understanding through greater acquired knowledge, but ultimately language is a subsidiary function of the connections between people.

Ellen Wiese is a first-year in the College.

ARTS

Heartlandia JANUARY 28, 2014

Quiet as a Maus: Silence speaks volumes for Art Spiegelman

Art Spiegelman presented his multimedia project Wordless! at the Logan Center on Sunday; on-screen are panels from early graphic novels. Now known as a “comics advocate,” Spiegelman said that he had “studied Mad the way some kids studied the Talmud.”

COURTESY OF UCHICAGO ARTS

Jon Catlin Arts Staff Maus author Art Spiegelman presented his new and highly creative multimedia project Wordless! in two showings at the Logan Performance Hall on Saturday. Hailed today as the “father of the graphic novel” (Will Eisner being the grandfather), Spiegelman stood before the Chicago audience “demanding a blood test.” The aim of the project was something like a revisionist history designed to extend the long tradition of graphic novels back further than traditionally understood to often-forgotten wordless novels from the early twentieth century. Once considered primarily a cartoonist, Spiegelman’s Wikipedia page now additionally calls him a “comics advocate,” a good term for his role in Wordless! Not quite boring enough to be a scholar but too creatively involved to be a moderator, Spiegelman took the

audience inside the forgotten world of early graphic novels, brought to life by original musical accompaniment.

Spiegelman made history with his two-volume Maus, the highly original graphic novel that grapples with his Polish-Jewish parents’ imprisonment at Auschwitz by depicting Jews as mice and Nazi Germans as cats. Maus became the first graphic novel to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1992. Born to two Holocaust refugees in Stockholm in 1948, Spiegelman was raised in Queens, New York, where he discovered comic books such as Mad and soon began creating them himself. “I studied Mad the way some kids studied the Talmud,” he quipped. “The Grand Theft Auto of their day,” Spiegelman said of comics in his 1950s childhood, comics were feared as a genre that would corrupt children and even prompted public comic burnings across the country. But before this, comics offered serious social

commentary and were targeted largely to adult readers.

In the style of your typical “fast-talking New Yorker,” Spiegelman provided commentary to half a dozen wordless graphic novels with original musical accompaniment composed by the critically acclaimed Phillip Johnston and performed by a six-part jazz ensemble, including Johnston himself on soprano saxophone. The band adapted to the settings of the various graphic narratives. For the humorous works of the early British cartoonist H.M. Bateman, shrieks from a cup-muted trombone pierced the room with a hearty cackling, and cacophonous riffs transported the audience into a bustling city street in the 1930s. Jazz melodies accompanied the epic storylines of works by Lynd Ward and Otto Nückel; offbeat tunes reminiscent of Eastern-European-Jewish klezmer music brought the audience into the old-world cityscapes depicted

by Frans Masereel; and eerie piano chords brought to life the suffering of Si Lewen’s graphic narrative of his time as a prisoner in Buchenwald.

In his commentary, Spiegelman distilled the history of the graphic novel and his own engagement with the genre to a series of questions about time and space, two aspects that differentiate comics from visual art and literature.

Spiegelman drew from the German philosopher Gotthold Lessing’s influential essay “Laocoon: An Essay on the Limits of Painting and Poetry,” which Spiegelman said “condemned comics as a vulgar abomination before they were even invented.” Against a long tradition of aesthetics going back to Horace and Aristotle that drew connections between poetry and visual art, Lessing argued that each has its own character and should be considered on different grounds. Poetry is experienced linearly, in time, and thus allows for the compil-

ing of multiple nuanced descriptions; visual art on the other hand, strikes one all at once but has the added dimension of space.

By blurring time and space, Spiegelman defended graphic narratives as a “no-man’s land” between the two that generates an aesthetic experience of its own. Spiegelman illustrated this with an original work entitled “Shaping Thought!” in which words in speech bubbles from various comics are replaced with shapes that stand in for thoughts and become their own language. He remarked that this work illustrates for him that “wordless novels do have words, they just take place in your head,” taking as an example the expletive %$#! widely used in comics.

Wordless! enacts in real time the mental “battle between words and pictures” that takes place in reading all graphic narratives and in so doing “smashes at the hyphen between high and low Art,” Spiegelman said.

Spiegelman’s last major appearance at the University was at the May 2012 conference What the %$#! Happened to Comics?, which brought together scholars and cartoonists from across the country, including Robert Crumb and Françoise Mouly, the art editor of The New Yorker and Spiegelman’s wife.

Both of Spiegelman’s appearances are connected to the work of English professor Hillary Chute, who specializes in graphic narratives. She organized the conference and edited MetaMaus, a volume that recounts archival materials from the making of Maus and won the National Jewish Book Award for best biography, autobiography, or memoir in 2011.

Spiegelman and Johnston’s Wordless! was originally commissioned by the Sydney Opera House and premiered in the U.S. one week prior at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Lorde, Kendrick, Daft Punk rock out at 56th Grammys Tori Borengasser Arts Staff This year’s Grammys were less about the awards and more about the performances and theatrics—82 awards were given out, but only a fraction of those actually made it to the broadcast. Here are our top five best performances on music’s biggest night.

5. Lorde—The anti-excess pop princess won song of the year and best pop solo performance for her track “Royals” last night and gave a haunting rendition of her strippeddown song. Images of ghostly angel statues appeared onscreen behind the 17-year-old singer, who was dressed in black and white with her fingertips covered in black ink.

Compared to most of the other Grammy performers, her production was minimalist, but Lorde managed to accomplish a lot by using so little in this spooky version of her hit single.

4. Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons—This unlikely pairing seems laughable, but Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons ended

up delivering one of the most stunning shows of the night. Lamar interspersed verses from his song “m.A.A.d. city” with the rock group’s “Radioactive” for a percussion-heavy performance. Clad in all white and thrashing in unison, the musicians looked like they really were leading a revolution into “the new age” when Lamar and singer Dan Reynolds were finally covered in red paint by cannon fire. Leave it up to the ingenious Kendrick Lamar to breathe new life into a song you were getting sick of hearing on the radio so often.

3. Daft Punk, Pharrell, Nile Rodgers, and Stevie Wonder— Daft Punk’s infectious track “Get Lucky” dominated the music charts last year and fittingly won Grammys for record of the year and best pop duo/group performance.

The irresistible track got the starstudded audience on their feet while also working in past songs

by Daft Punk, Stevie Wonder, and Chic’s “Le Freak.” The French duo’s performance with Pharrell also raised many questions for fashion critics.

Where did Pharrell get that gigantic brown hat? Are Canadian Mounties in this season? Is it a throwback to

Smokey the Bear? Or is he the new spokesperson for Arby’s? The world may never know.

2. Beyoncé & Jay Z—America’s favorite power couple opened the show with “Drunk In Love,” the second single from Beyoncé’s selftitled album that made a surprise release in December. Bey turned up the heat with a chair dance shrouded in smoke and her flawless, sultry vocals. When Jay finally came out on stage to join her while rapping his verse, the couple walked downstage hand in hand, reminding us that they are the coolest parents the world will probably ever see.

1. Queens of the Stone Age, Nine Inch Nails, Dave Grohl, and Lindsey Buckingham—The evening closed with an incredible performance by some of the best names in rock music, past and present.

Nine Inch Nails played “Copy of A” as the band’s eerie shadows loomed behind them, which fit quite nicely with singer Trent Reznor’s sinister crooning. The dark shadows soon transitioned into blinding lights with Queens of the Stone Age’s powerful song “My God Is The Sun.” Foo

ALICE XIAO | THE CHICAGO MAROON At the Grammys on Sunday, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (“Same Love”) stood by as Queen Latifah married 33 same-sex couples.

Fighter’s Dave Grohl and Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham also joined the two bands onstage.

Unfortunately, the performance was cut short by advertisements because the show was running overtime. The

early cut-off prompted Reznor to later tweet at the Grammys: “Music’s biggest night…to be disrespected. A heartfelt FUCK YOU guys.” It’s a shame this unbelievable performance didn’t get the full airtime it deserved.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | January 28, 2014

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Tap dancer Glover STePz in the Oscar nom finds love and right direction at Harris Theater loss in Fellini’s eternal city Evangeline Reid Maroon Contributor Savion Glover, a dancer considered by many to be the best tapper alive today, brought the stage at Harris Theater to life Friday with a one-night-only show-stopping performance of his newest project, STePz. Encompassing the serious, humorous, and joyful in one glorious two-hour journey over amplified floors and stairs, STePz was a magical, insightful experience and a lesson in the constantly evolving identity of art.

Directed and choreographed by Glover, the show featured him along with a tight ensemble of other talented dancers: Marshall Davis, Jr. and a group known as 3CW (3 Controversial Women), which includes Robyn Watson, Ayodele Casel, and Sarah Savelli. Glover is the Tony Award–winning choreographer of a Broadway production that he also starred in, Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk. He has also been involved in several films, perhaps most memorably to younger generations as the dancer behind the 2006 animated Warner Brothers film Happy Feet and its sequel.

The show opened with a statement: Glover’s impressive, lengthy, and dramatic opening sequence. He showed the audience a man possessed by his art form as he hovered above the stage, feet touching down in forceful but brief connections with a ground he didn’t quite belong to. His feet were moving so quickly and accurately beneath him that he almost seemed to stand still. The music was extraneous to his wild ability to fill a whole stage with merely his feet. This was the only way to be properly introduced to tap dancing through the eyes of Savion Glover.

From there the show progressed through more traditional styles and techniques of tap, African rhythm–infused numbers, 007-inspired duets of fearlessness on staircases, quieter bluesy dances, an acoustic number, and even a comedic parody of a ballet. The first act found a balance of group, duet, and solo

numbers. It transitioned smoothly through different moods of lighting and music and choreographed and improvised steps. And throughout it all, despite the dancer’s typically neutral expressions, there was an inexplicable yet wonderful sense of joy.

Glover’s choreography, much like his own dancing, found an incredible versatility in the sound, tone, and warmth of individual movements, creating intricate, unique rhythms. The variety of sounds turned the dancers into wild percussionists. This was especially notable in the aerobic duets between Glover and Davis as they leapt, slid, and stomped all over the stairs and floor alike—half the time seeming to communicate through their feet. The two men laughed together as they danced. They beamed and gleamed with sweat and never once paused to take a breath.

The second act of the show was, simply stated, beautiful. It was an exuberant celebration of dance, music, rhythms, and life. It was brought to a poignant climax as Sammy Davis, Jr.’s version of “Mr. Bojangles” filled the theater and Glover danced a slow and sentimental tribute. Sometimes he was the old man, made wise by life, who would “dance for you in worn-out shoes,” and sometimes he simply danced, joyful and grateful, for all of the great men who came before him, mentored him, and loved it too.

STePz was a wildly entertaining show that gave new life to the concepts of tap dancing and rhythm. It highlighted the versatility of a legendary dancer and choreographer who can switch from highly isolated, technical movements to intriguing spin-offs of Broadway-style tap. It was a jubilant celebration of life told through amazing human ability.

Without ever asking to be seen as profound, Glover’s show slowly but surely earned the right to settle into the audience’s mind and stick with it long after it rose in a standing ovation and long after it braved the windy streets outside. There was just something magnificent about watching a man so incredibly, impossibly lost in his art.

Ellen Rodnianski Arts Staff Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza), which was recently shortlisted for the 2014 Oscars in the category of best foreign language film, is a cinematographically beautiful and thematically deep movie. The story is set in Rome, and this is key, for the city itself plays an equally important role as the characters.

The Great Beauty begins with a stunning moving shot of the city. The shot starts at the Roma O Morte monument and moves on to several other recognizable locations.

This visually-stunning first scene is accompanied by the sound of a female choir singing “I Lie,” composed by David Lang. Besides the obviously striking visuals, the film has a very memorable soundtrack, which combines classical, contemporary classical, alternative, and modern dance music. These different musical choices help to illustrate the natural beauty of Rome and how it is juxtaposed with the apparent hollowness of its citizens.

The film centers around the life of Jep Gambardella, who is played by Toni Servillo, a favorite actor of Sorrentino’s. Gambardella is a prominent Roman journalist who is first introduced to the audience in the middle of his debauched 65th birthday celebration.

Surrounded by the heavily drinking, actively dancing, and quite promiscuous Roman elite, Jep considers himself king of the high life at the beginning of the movie. However, this self-perception is soon disrupted by the arrival of the husband of a former lover. The husband tells Gambardella of the lover’s death, but more importantly that, having

read his deceased wife’s diary, he found out that she regarded Gambardella as the love of her life.

From this moment on Gambardella’s view of his life changes, as he realizes that he lost something as beautiful as the love of his former lover. This revelation dramatically alters his opinion of his previously very satisfying Roman-elite lifestyle. In an attempt to find real beauty once more, Gambardella goes on

THE GREAT BEAUTY Paolo Sorrentino Music Box Theatre

a journey through his own city: rediscovering the Roman nightlife and eventually going out with a middle-aged stripper, attending a 12-year-old “action artists” show, visiting a Botox clinic whose clients include frequent plastic-surgery patients and nuns, observing an illusionist who makes a giraffe disappear, and finally, hosting a dinner party for a Holy Mother personage who is visiting Rome.

A film lover will find a lot of parallels between The Great Beauty and Federico Fellini’s film La Dolce Vita, the first striking similarity being the fact that the main characters of both films are journalists, and the more important similarity being a corresponding perception of the Roman elite’s morally empty lives. Sorrentino admits to making the movie as a sort of ode to Fellini.

The fact that it is being so well received is one of the greatest accolades an Italian (or any) film director can desire.

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Featuring live music from the Dirt Red Brass Band & FREE FOOD.

7

THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | January 28, 2014

Tee: “We need to build on this experience and use it as motivation to get better...”

TENNIS continued from back

turned out to not be nearly as intimidating as everyone expected,” Appel said.

Having a more relaxed atmosphere certainly seemed to help the duo surprise its opponents.

“Steph [Lee] and Jordan [Appel] always

look like they’re having fun when they play together. Their carefree spirit definitely helps them stay relaxed in the big moments.

They stared down two very tough Big Ten opponents and never blinked,” Tee said.

Though the Maroons lost to Illinois, the experience coupled with their hard work

over the past two weeks has fueled their expectations for the season.

“It was an absolutely incredible experience. We traveled to a Big Ten arena and took on the 44th-best team the country has to offer and we came away with not only a doubles victory, but also a new

outlook on the season. We need to build on this experience and use it as motivation to get better each and every practice,” Tee said.

On February 8, Chicago will travel to Granville and Gambier, OH to face Denison and Kenyon colleges, respectively.

Buzzer-beater sinks Carnegie, Case proves tougher Men’s Basketball Mary MacLeod Sports Staff This weekend, the Maroons (10–6, 3–2 UAA) went on the road for their first stretch of back-to-back away games, looking to extend their winning streak to four games. However, after besting Carnegie Mellon (9–7, 2–3) in a close contest, the South Siders dropped the last game of the trip to Case Western (10–6, 2–3).

“Going into these games, we wanted to keep our momentum going from the previous weekend. We know the UAA is won on the road, so we felt we needed a 2–0 weekend,” said fourth-year guard Derrick Davis.

Indeed, the Maroons brought a lot of their energ y from last weekend into their first game, going on a 14–3 run in the first minutes of their contest against Carnegie.

The surge continued and was highlighted by a dunk by second-year forward Nate Brooks to give Chicago a 23–7 lead.

The Tartans fought back, going on a run at the end of the first half to bring the score to 37–35. However, even after halftime, Carnegie continued to pour on

the points, a charge that Chicago couldn’t seem to answer as it went scoreless for minutes at a time.

Third-year guard Royce Muskeyvalley explained the drought.

“As a team we started to play less aggressive in the second half. As a result we couldn’t get a lot of the easy transition points that were there in the first,” Muskeyvalley said.

Yet, it was Muskeyvalley who turned up the intensity at the end of the game to bring home the win, sinking a threepointer and a jump shot with 1.4 seconds left to give the Maroons a 65–64 lead.

Chicago then traveled to Cleveland to take on Case Western. The initial minutes of the game could not have been more different than those against Carnegie, as poor shooting by both teams kept the game close. In fact, the Maroons went 0–8 from the three-point line, a shot that they normally rely on to give themselves the edge over their opponents. Chicago entered halftime down 21–30.

The Spartans refused to let up and took advantage of Chicago’s offensive inconsistency, increasing their lead right off the bat by putting up nine the first

10 points after the break. From then on out, Chicago struggled to keep up, although the sharp shooting of secondyear forward Alex Voss was able to pull them within eight. However, the team’s efforts were not enough, and it dropped its second game in conference play by a score of 58–77.

Davis cited intensity as the biggest disparity when comparing his team’s performance against the Tartans and the Spartans.

“We started with much more intensity against Carnegie Mellon on Friday. When you come out slow in UAA games, you’re playing with fire. Obviously we burned ourselves Sunday afternoon against Case,” Davis said.

This problem affected every aspect of the Maroons’ game. After shooting 42 percent

In the Chatter’s Box with Sarah Langs Francesca Tomasi is a third-year on the track and field team from Chapel Hill, NC. We chatted with her to get some insider info on the life of a Maroon athlete. maintaining good running form and mechanics in order not to slow down.

The Lumen Chr isti Institute

and the Workshop for Late Antiquity & Byzantium present

CM: Do you watch professional track and field, either during the Olympics and/or other competitions?

North Africa’s Transition from Christianity to Islam: Some Reconsiderations

COURTESY OF JOHN BOOZ

Chicago Maroon: Did you play any other sports in high school? If so, how did you decide to focus on running?

Walter Kaegi (University of Chicago)

Who ‘lost’ Christian North Africa? Who won it and how?

While the Muslims forcefully and permanently turned Byzantine internal dynastic and religious problems and military unrest to their advantage, they brought their own strengths to a dynamic process that would take a long time to complete – the transformation of North Africa.

THURSDAY, JA NUA RY 30, 4:30PM Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture Hall

For more information on this lecture and other upcoming events visit www.lumenchristi.org or contact info@lumenchristi.org.

from the floor and 20 percent from behind the arc against the Tartans, Chicago struggled in both of these categories against the Spartans—shooting 31 and 16 percent, respectively. Additionally, they performed worse on the boards.

However, the team believes there are certain lessons they can take away from the weekend that will help them in the rest of UAA play.

“We’ve learned that we need to continue to push the tempo throughout an entire game and never get content with a lead,” Muskeyvalley said.

Chicago will have two chances to prove this new mindset this weekend, as it goes on the road again to take on Emory this Friday and Rochester this Sunday.

Tip-off against the Eagles is set for 7 p.m. in Atlanta.

Francesca Tomasi: I did ballet throughout my childhood and through most of high school, so I didn’t dabble too much in school sports. But I did play some tennis and it was fun, but the spirit and passion in the track and field community at my high school far surpassed that of any other sport. I excelled in that environment.

CM: What do you think about in the seconds it takes you to sprint?

FT: My main race is the 400 and the race goes like this: You start off the blocks with a forceful push, accelerating on the first curve and maintaining strong momentum through the rest of the first lap (it’s two laps on an indoor track). Then you hang on for dear life and do your absolute best to finish strong and in front. Basically, go out hard; finish harder. So during this minute-long ordeal I usually think about anything other than the race I’m running—things that make me happy, because if you’re thinking about how you feel during a 400 you’re going to be miserable. Though when I start to hit a wall of exhaustion, I do think about

FT: Whenever I’m browsing through channels on TV and track is on, I’ll definitely watch. And the Olympics are a given...

Outside of the professional track and field world, I found out a few years ago from my grandpa that his uncle, after fighting in World War I, was searching for something to do and joined a track club over in the Italian Alps. He ran 400 meters in exactly 50 seconds without having trained for it, and then proceeded to train for years, slowly shaving a couple more seconds off his time. I never met him, but knowing that I am related to someone who faced and conquered the same athletic challenge as myself (though replace 50 seconds in a 400 with 60 seconds) is pretty inspiring and motivating.

CM: Any advice to casual runners for taking the next step and becoming competitive in the sport?

FT: Don’t be afraid to push yourself. A lot of people who try to take the next step into competitive running get demoralized when they try a hard workout and either aren’t able to finish it the way they wanted to or feel like absolute crap at the end. It happens, but it shouldn’t slow you down. Obviously don’t try to kill yourself out there, but in [assistant coach Laurie McElroy’s] words, “You have to run fast to run fast.” Sounds obvious, but it’s true: If you always stay inside your comfort zone, that’s perfectly fine for a casual runner. But if you want to take the next step, you have to literally take that next step. It’s important to understand that there is a significant mental part to it. Keeping this in mind, though, my other piece of advice is to have fun. Running for the sake of running is so much more emotionally (and physically) rewarding than running purely for the sake of competition. It’s just like any other sport: If you’re passionate and positive about it, you’ll do well. You don’t have to be Usain Bolt caliber to succeed.

SPORTS

IN QUOTES

“Are you kidding? I’m Russian.”

—New York Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov, when asked about playing outdoors in five-degree weather

Maroon waves crash down on competition at Senior Day Swimming & Diving Charlotte Franklin Maroon Contributor For many athletes, Senior Day is an event that evokes bittersweet emotions. Fortunately for the Maroons, this Senior Day in particular was filled with plenty of excitement and victories.

Each of the four seniors— Eugenia Chen, Vivian Yuen, Evan Bernard, and team captain Eric Hallman—has left a lasting legacy in the Maroon athletic community. Last season, Chen and Bernard were accorded the honor of being inducted to the UAA All-Academic Team, and Yuen qualified for the AllAcademic and All-Conference Teams in the 200-yard backstroke. Hallman, in turn, was nominated for team co-captain for the 2013-2014 season. Collectively, their responsibility has been to establish a positive team dynamic for the younger athletes.

After the four seniors were recognized, the Maroons proceeded to dominate in the pool. The men’s squad handily defeated DePauw University 178–116 and overwhelmed Illinois Institute of Technology 251–41. Meanwhile, the women’s side also beat both DePauw 173–114 and IIT 241–14.

“I think we pulled off some

really great times and scores this weekend, and DePauw is always a really strong competitor in DIII,” said third-year diver Kevin Steffes.

Regardless of the intense competition, Chicago still prevailed. First-year swimmer Mantim Lee became a threetime winner in the 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle, and as part of the 400-yard freestyle relay. His 200-yard freestyle time of 1:41.38 earned him an NCAA B-cut score.

Other notable performances came from third-year Andrew Angeles (100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard breaststroke), whose 100-yard breaststroke time of 57.80 garnered an NCAA Bcut mark. Second-year swimmer Bryan Bunning (100-yard backstroke, 200-yard backstroke) and first-year Jonas Fowler (500-yard freestyle, 200-yard IM) also contributed to the men’s team wins.

All three of the divers on the men’s team, third-years Matt Staab, Steffes, and Tony Restaino, earned NCAA provisional scores on the three-meter dive with scores of 330.90, 297.75, and 326.15, respectively For the women, first-year Alison Wall helped carry the team by winning four events, the 100- and 200-yard backstroke, and as part of the 200-

yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay.

In addition, first-year Maya Scheidel, third-year team captain Jenny Hill, second-year Ciara Hu, and second-year Jen Law finished the day with multiple event wins. Scheidl led the 100-yard freestyle (52.69) and took part in the winning 200-yard medley relay team (1:49.65) with Hill. Hu was victorious in the 200-yard butterfly (2:12.14) and IM (2:12.90), as was Law in 100-yard butterfly (1:00.25) and 400-yard freestyle relay (3:36.76).

Third-year captain Sofia Gross came out on top in both the one- and three-meter dives with scores of 185.20 and 182.30, respectively.

The success from this weekend will provide necessary momentum for the next few weeks. As the season winds down to UAA Championships, the athletes’ level of focus and self-discipline will only increase.

“This [performance] is really great going into conference,” Steffes said. “The other teams will definitely be looking out for us in Atlanta.”

The Maroons will spend the next three weeks preparing for UAA Championships, which will be in Atlanta, Georgia from February 12–15.

University of Chicago swimmers compete in a freestyle race at the Phoenix Fall Classic last October.

FRANK WANG | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Offensive rhythm key in UAA victories Chicago gains meaningful experience against DI foe

Women’s Basketball Adam Freymiller Sports Staff

The Maroons (9–7, 3–2 UAA) appear to be finding their form this season, and the timing couldn’t be better. With victories over Carnegie Mellon (10–6, 1–4) and Case Western (7–9, 1–4), the Maroons extended their winning streak to three games and will be a formidable opponent for any of their conference nemeses.

The weekend’s games began on Friday night, as Chicago matched up against Carnegie Mellon on the road at the Skibo Gymnasium. Although both teams got off to slow starts, the Maroons began capitalizing on their offensive possessions, outscoring the Tartans 18–6 in a six-minute span, converting three three-pointers in the process to take a commanding 29–16 lead.

The Maroons would go on another 8–0 run to close out the final minute of the first half, at which point they had amassed a comfortable 47–29 lead.

Their performance didn’t drop off in the second half, as they continued to force Carnegie turnovers and drew a number of fouls to add to their lead. The team’s improvement in all phases of the game showed in the second half, as it converted 13 out of 14 free throws

and only committed seven turnovers to close out a dominant victory over the Tartans by the score of 88–69. Fourth-year guard Maggie Ely provided another stellar performance on Friday, contributing 19 points, while first-year forward Britta Nordstrom added 15 points to the cause.

After the game, Nordstrom noted that the Maroons’ lead was attributable to the significant quantity of second-chance points from offensive rebounds. “[The game’s turning point] definitely came from the number of offensive rebounds we won,” Nordstrom said. “We wanted to make that a huge focus in the game and it created a multitude of opportunities for us.”

The Maroons began preparing immediately for another game on Sunday, this time away at Case Western. They began well, scoring the game’s first six points in the first three minutes, but Case was determined to make a game out of it, as second-year Laura Mummey scored six straight points for the Spartans in the final two minutes to cut the Maroons’ lead to one point at halftime (34–33).

Chicago exploded coming out of the locker room, as thirdyear forward Ellie Greiner added eight points from two threes and

a layup to give the Maroons a 12-point lead with 16 minutes left. Greiner was top scorer for Chicago, adding 16 points and four rebounds, while third-year guard Claire Devaney dropped a double-double with 15 points and 14 boards on the day. Once again, the Maroons’ three-point shooting came in the clutch, as they drained seven in the second half to close out the 80–66 victory in impeccable style.

With its third consecutive conference victory in the bag, this outfit believes that it can play toeto-toe with any opponent.

“We feel like we can definitely run it up against any team in this league. That might sound cocky but I think we’re just confident in our personnel,” Nordstrom said after the Case Western game. Considering the Maroons have been averaging 84.4 points per game in conference matchups, it sounds right on the mark.

Ultimately, the rest of the season will serve as a test for how far this team has progressed over these past few months. Chicago will continue its road schedule with a game at Emory (14–2, 3–2) this Friday at 5 p.m. and another game against Rochester (7–9, 1–4) in New York on Sunday, February 2 at 1 p.m.

Women’s Tennis David Gao Senior Sports Staff In their first match of the season, the Maroons traveled to Urbana-Champaign this past weekend to take on the Fighting Illini.

Against its DI opponents, Chicago lost 7–0, dropping six singles matches and two of three doubles matches against Illinois.

“Playing Illinois was one of the most fun matches I’ve ever played.

There was no pressure because it was against a DI school, so we all went for our shots and played extremely well,” third-year Megan Tang said.

Although underdogs in their most recent matchup, the Maroons are coming off a stellar past season, going 18–6 last year and currently ranked as the No. 8 team in the country in DIII. The South Siders will be working hard this year to match last year’s success, after graduating four All-Americans and going to the NCAA quarterfinals.

Already, the team is committed to surpassing last season, as members have begun taking on more responsibility.

“I’m proud of the ownership and pride the girls have taken in the team. They are determined to leave the program in better shape than they found it and have worked very hard to do so. It’s been fun to watch the second- and third-years mature into leaders and caretakers of the program and teach the newcomers what it takes to be successful on the national stage,” head coach Jay Tee said.

“Also, we made a decision as a team after last year’s NCAA tournament that we would commit to getting bigger, faster, and stronger in order to compete with the top teams.”

The Maroons’ hard work certainly paid off against Illinois, as second-year Helen Sdvizhkov forced her opponent to three sets and the doubles tandem of first-year Jordan Appel and second-year Stephanie Lee won its doubles match.

“As my first official team match in my collegiate tennis career, it was intimidating competing against a Big Ten school, but at the same time, a nearly pressure-free situation because [the outcome seemed predetermined].

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