022114 Chicago Maroon

FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 21, 2014

CHICAGOMAROON.COM

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

ISSUE 29 • VOLUME 125

Reddit founder talks successes and failures Alice Xiao Maroon Contributor

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian speaks at Booth on Wednesday about how to turn ideas into innovation.

PETER TANG | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian urged students to embrace criticism and failure during a talk at the Booth School of Business on Wednesday. The talk was part of a promotional tour for his newly published memoir, Without Their Permission.

Self-titled the “front page of the Internet,” Reddit was founded in 2005. Ohanian recounted the website’s beginnings and encouraged students to use the Internet to create powerful change.

“The World Wide Web is the world’s largest stage and library combined.... You have to know how to use that super powerful

tool to your advantage,” Ohanian said. “Millenials have this technological fluency that the older generation didn’t have, and the younger generation adopting the Internet can’t fully utilize.”

The process of creating Reddit began with Ohanian doodling what would eventually become the Reddit mascot in his marketing class during his fourth year of college at the University of Virginia. The idea for the website was fleshed out further as he sat in his neighborhood waffle house, Ohanian said.

Ohanian has always been interested in coding and creating websites—the power of the Internet to reach broad audiences fascinated him at a young REDDIT continued on page 2

Health and Counseling admins Faculty committee releases recommendations on protest address student concerns Carissa Eclarin Maroon Contributor In another installment of its Leadership Conversation series, Student Government hosted an open forum with the Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS) team Wednesday evening in the McCormick Tribune Lounge.

Alex Lickerman (M.D. ’92), assistant vice president of SHCS, led the event with a presentation detailing the services and events offered by the SHCS departments: Student Health Service (SHS), Student Counseling Service (SCS), and Health Promotion and Wellness.

The presentation also emphasized the volume of students that SHCS serves. For the 2012–2013 school year, the SHS had a total of 21,296 visits.

SCS visits totaled 13,177, with daytime emergencies at 1,358 and evening and weekend emergen-

cies at 248—both have also been found to be on the rise, according to Lickerman.

Lickerman said that at least 90 percent of respondents answered positively to each question asked in a survey given to patients. Out of those given the survey, 146 students chose to submit their responses.

Prior to the event, students submitted questions via a Google Moderator page, and the panelists answered the top five highest voted questions.

One student, through Google Moderator, asked about the concerns faced by some students covered by the University Student Health Insurance Plan (U-SHIP) who are opposed to paying for a plan that covers the costs of abortion services.

“The truth is [that] there’s no insurance plan that [does] not provide abortion services…you don’t get to choose insurance services. So there’s no SHS continued on page 2

Univ. clarifies aid policy after possible violation of federal law William Rhee News Staff The University was among 111 schools redflagged by the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform earlier this month for allegedly violating parts of the Higher Education Act. In response, the Office of College Admissions has clarified the financial aid application policies listed on its website.

According to Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the Committee’s ranking member, the Higher Education Act prohibits the use of forms

other than the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) when determining eligibility for federal aid. The University of Chicago, along with many other institutions, utilizes the CSS Profile form, which requires additional information and an application fee.

“Schools may be contravening the requirements of the Higher Education Act by explicitly requiring applicants to submit forms other than the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or by failing to make clear that only the FAFSA is required to be considered for federal student aid,” Cummings said in his letter to Secretary of EducaCSS continued on page 2

Last winter, protesters questioned the University’s spending on the Center for Care and Discovery and called for the opening of a trauma center in Hyde Park.

FRANK YAN | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Sara Cao News Staff A committee created in response to last year’s trauma center demonstrations released a report of its findings on Tuesday, identifying problems in three key areas related to the University’s policies on dissent. The committee also recommended that the University improve students’ awareness of the policies and clarify procedures regarding disciplinary action.

Provost Thomas Rosenbaum established the seven-person Ad Hoc Committee on Protest & Dissent in winter 2013 after the controversy surrounding the University’s handling of two demonstrations protesting the lack of an adult level-1 trauma center at the University of Chicago Medical Center’s (UCMC) $700 million Center for Care and Dis-

covery, which opened in February 2013.

The January 27, 2013 demonstration resulted in four protester arrests and allegations of misconduct against the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD). The infiltration of an undercover UCPD detective at a second protest on February 23, 2013 led to an independent external investigation of the UCPD’s conduct.

The Provost charged the Committee with examining current University policies and developing recommendations to improve the handling of future protests and demonstrations.

In its review of the University’s existing policies on dissent and protest, the Committee applauded the flexibility for which the general standards allow.

According to the Committee, that the policies are less specific than those of peer institutions allows for AD HOC continued on page 2

IN VIEWPOINTS

IN ARTS

IN SPORTS

Divest from divestment » Page 3

Union Station à la Moda: Group celebrates 10 years » Page 8

No. 8 Maroons aim for hat trick of wins in Kalamazoo » Back Page

SoChic: Not all that glitters is gold (sometimes it’s sequins) » Page 9

Chicago to face off against Carnegie, Case

Letter: Daugherty overstates transparency » Page 4

» Page 11

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | February 21, 2014

2

UChicago is one of 111 schools that allegedly violated Act by appearing to require CSS Profile for federal aid CSS continued from front

tion Arne Duncan.

In an e-mail, University spokesperson Jeremy Manier clarified that “the University of Chicago does not require students seeking only federal financial aid to submit the CSS Profile; it is the FAFSA that is used in that context.”

The College Admissions financial aid page was updated in the past week to explicitly state that the FAFSA is the only required form for federal financial aid. It also now clarifies that students who want to apply for both federal and need-based financial aid need to complete both the CSS Profile and the FAFSA. Manier confirmed that the page

had been recently updated.

The Federal Pell Grant, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Act, Federal Perkins Loan, Federal Stafford Loan, and Federal PLUS Loan for Parents all fall under the category of federal financial aid, according to the Office of College Admissions’ financial aid page.

“Of the University’s approximately $100 million aid budget, about 3 percent comes from federal grants and 75 percent is funded by the University of Chicago, with the rest coming from other sources,” Manier said. “In addition to awarding federal aid, the University of Chicago provides extensive institutional aid to students to reduce their

overall cost of education. Only students applying for this institutional aid, as distinct from federal aid, are required to submit the CSS Profile.”

Students were asked whether they had known that the FAFSA was the only requirement for federal aid consideration.

“I did the CSS and the FAFSA, but I didn’t know the FAFSA was only required for federal student aid,” first-year Mariyam Siddique said.

Second-year Ana Martinez said that she completed both the CSS Profile and FAFSA on her own.

“If the University is going to grant aid to students, they have a right to ask for sufficient infor-

mation. I assumed they needed the CSS and FAFSA because we were required to submit both,” Martinez said.

The Higher Education Act is a federal law that “prohibit[s] higher education institutions from using any forms other than the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to determine eligibility for federal financial aid.” In his letter, Cummings requested a meeting with Duncan to discuss the best ways to ensure that colleges and universities are in “full compliance with the Higher Education Act and are not creating improper and unnecessary barriers” to federal assistance for students.

Committee focuses recs on improving communication Panelists answer top questions voted on by students SHS continued from front

alternative,” Lickerman said.

The panelists were also asked if they have plans to offer weekend hours, as students tend to be less available on weekdays, when SCS is open. SHS began offering Saturday walk-in hours this fall.

“This is a resource question…. I’m not aware yet of how to help solve that,” said SCS Director David Albert.

The panelists answered a question about how SCHS and the University as a whole feel they are approaching the issue of students’ stress.

“We have a responsibility to educate students about stress,” Lickerman said. “We have to approach the problem at both ends which is [that] the faculty needs to be aware of the atmosphere

Weekly Crime Report Feb. 12 Feb. 18

16

2

Arrest (except traffic violation)

0

0

Assault (multiple types)

0

0

Attempted burglary

2

0

Attempted robbery

6

0

Battery (multiple types)

4

0

Burglary

0

0

Criminal trespass to vehicle

14

1

Damage to property (including vehicle)

85

9

Other Report

7

1

Robbery (multiple types)

0

0

Traffic violation

32

8

Theft (including from motor vehicle)

2

1

Trespass to property (including residence)

55th

Blackstone

53rd

» February 17, 1101 East 58th Street (Rosenwald Hall)—Between 8:00 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. an unknown person stole a 6’ x 4’ University of Chicago flag from the building exterior.

Source: UCPD Incident Reports Assault Battery Criminal tresspass to vehicle Damage to property

57th Other Report

59th

The February 18 article “Post-Reboot, Career Advancement Is In A JAM” misstated where the UCIJ grants were still mentioned. It was on the website. It also misstated the wait time for a meeting with Waltzer. It has been three weeks for some students.

» February 16, 1156 East Hyde Park Boulevard, 10:28 p.m.—UCPD officers arrested a male subject for unlawful possession of a handgun.

S. Lake Shore

51st

—Harini Jaganathan

CORRECTIONS

» February 14, 6010 South Dorchester Avenue—Between 7:45 a.m. and 4:10 p.m. an unknown person took the battery out of a Chevrolet Cavalier parked on the public way.

47th

60th

University

The UChicago Crime Lab announced on Thursday that it has received a $1 million award from the MacArthur Foundation. The Lab is one of seven nonprofit organizations to receive the prestigious grant this year, called the “MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.”

The Crime Lab, founded in 2008, uses scientific research methods to develop policies targeting crime and violence. It also informs policymakers on the effectiveness of their policies in reducing crime and partners with institutions such as the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department.

“Our work is motivated by the idea that it is not a

» February 12, East 55th Street and South Dorchester Avenue, 9:05 a.m.—Two males snatched an iPhone from the hand of a victim, who was standing on the public way off the University campus. The robbery is now a CPD case.

S. Hyde Park

Crime Lab wins $1 mil grant

lack of innovation, good ideas, or hard work that has hindered long-term progress on urban crime and violence and the related problem of school dropout, but rather it is a lack of rigorous scientific evidence about what works, for whom, and why,” Crime Lab Co-Director Jens Ludwig said in a University press release.

According to the release, the Crime Lab will use the grant to establish an “innovation fund” for the creation of new projects.

Other recipients of the grant this year include NatureServe, a conservation group based in Virginia, Women’s Rights and Protection Alternative, a Nigerian human rights organization, and ProPublica, an investigative journalism nonprofit.

Type of Crime

Theft

Cornell

NEWS IN BRIEF

Cottage Grove

age. He began exploring his talent by creating personal websites and websites for nonprofit organizations.

He explained, however, that before Reddit, he created other, less successful websites. Earlier versions of Reddit were not immediately as popular as the website is today.

“There was this constant wall of negative reinforcement—haters gonna hate. It’s scientifically proven. You just have to use criticism as encourage-

ment to do better,” Ohanian said. The reality is that first versions of everything are “janky,” and there will always be competitors, he said.

The trials of his failed launches, rather than Reddit itself, were where Ohanian advised students to take heed.

“Life is full of failure and everyone starts out on the road to success by sucking,” Ohanian said.

“Don’t be afraid to start. If you remember nothing else from this chat, remember to just go forth and suck!”

Here are a few of this week’s incidents:

Since Jan. 1

“Life is full of failure,” Ohanian says REDDIT continued from front

they are creating, and students need to be aware and responsible for managing the stress.”

Another question posted on Google Moderator asked: “Everyone pays the Student Life Fee. SCS is subsidized by those who don’t use the service for those who do. Often SCS cannot meet the longterm needs of its patients, and they must pay out of pocket elsewhere. Who, then, is SCS aimed at?”

In response, Albert said, “We’re a robust counseling service, but like any counseling service, our resources are not limitless…. Our services are meant for any students who really need to be seen tomorrow. It’s true that we can’t provide open-ended continuous service. So what we do is cultivate a referral network in Hyde Park. We work hard to maintain relationships with providers.”

By Alex Hays

Stony Island

notice of these limits.

According to an additional report that specifically addressed the recommendations, the UCPD added additional positions last summer to oversee officers and implemented an order to strictly prohibit undercover operations. In August 2013, Campus and Student Life (CSL) also provided training on protest and dissent to all commissioned UCPD personnel.

The Board of Trustees is reviewing proposed changes to Statute 21 to better define what constitutes a disruptive act. CSL also convened a working group to examine communication of University policies on protest and dissent, which concluded that these policies should be discussed at RSO training, and is currently developing a workshop on free expression that will explain resources available to University members.

According to University spokesman Steve Kloehn, in selecting the Committee, Rosenbaum sought the expertise of “different academic disciplines and personal backgrounds.” In addition, the Committee received feedback from CSL, the UCPD, the UCMC, Patricia Brown Holmes, who headed the external investigation of the UCPD’s conduct during the protests, and students and community members who attended the Committee’s open meeting held last spring.

Ellis

AD HOC continued from front

the exercise of discretion in response to various situations.

When forming the Committee, Rosenbaum raised three key areas for investigation, and in its findings, the Committee concluded that each needed clarification. It wrote that the University should consider whether protests at “especially sensitive University facilities,” such as health and research facilities, should be treated differently than those in instructional or administrative buildings. It also highlighted the need to devise guidelines for protests and demonstrations that include both University affiliates and those unaffiliated and the need to clarify communications between protesters, University police, and University staff.

The Committee also provided six specific recommendations regarding the policies. These suggestions were mostly focused on improving channels of communication, providing students with a more explicit understanding of the policies, and clarifying University procedures regarding disciplinary action.

It also recommended ways to avoid tension and violence by advising minimum police involvement in protest-related activity while still maintaining the University’s right to enforce strict limits on protest activity that threatens the community, with the requirement that the University give protesters clear

62nd *Locations of reports approximate

Traffic violation Trespass to property Burglary Attempted Robbery Robbery Arrest Attempted Burglary

VIEWPOINTS

Editorial & Op-Ed FEBRUARY 21, 2014

Uncommon Fund endorsements: hacks and housing Our favorites of this year’s finalists range from bathroom stall installations to insect tastings 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

This week, the Uncommon Fund announced which student-led projects are finalists to receive a portion of the $70,000 it will allocate this year. While there are many projects that deserve funding, here are six that we felt were feasible and filled gaps in student life:

MATTHEW SCHAEFER Senior Editor EMMA THURBER STONE Senior Editor THOMAS CHOI News 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 ALAN HASSLER Head Copy Editor SHERRY HE Head Copy Editor KATARINAMENTZELOPOULOSHeadCopyEditor

We have written about the lack of practical computer programming and coding classes on campus.

Currently in its pilot stage, Booth Hacks is an informal eight-week coding class, open to all UChicago students, that fills this niche. Because basic coding skills are increasingly important for many fields, this project would affect a significant part of the student body. Because of its wide appeal, Booth Hacks could also become a space for graduate and undergraduate students to interact and learn together.

Open Stall would place a nonfunctional bathroom stall in Logan

Café, complete with toilet, and allow passersby to graffiti it as they wish. The project is an homage to and an expansion of the famed Harper bathroom graffiti, without the threat of erasure. It would allow students to celebrate and further a facet of school culture that is a breeding ground for artistic interaction and emotional support, and an embodiment of the kind of intellectual uniqueness that makes our University great.

Edible Invertebrates: Intersection with Insects plans to bring a variety of bug-based dishes, including grasshopper tostadas and ant egg omelets catered from Chicago restaurants, to campus and potentially Summer Breeze to showcase the deliciousness of this alternative protein. The booth would be a great way for students to try something new, get free food, and learn about how to be environmentally friendly,

since the breeding of insects exhausts fewer resources than that of typical protein sources. To ensure attendance, we would want the booth in a prominent location on campus and encourage its presence at Summer Breeze.

ATrader is a new website that would consolidate and organize information about apartments in Hyde Park, making it easier for students to find a place to sublet for a quarter or two, or live for the year.

This site would allow students to create profiles that would enable them to find a compatible roommate and quickly compare different apartment listings. If implemented, students would not have to rely as much on Marketplace, which can be disorganized, or word of mouth to find off-campus housing.

Uncommon Fireside Chats would bring the formerly homeless, as well as representatives from the

Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, to speak to College houses.

The project hopes to integrate local community service into UChicago student culture in a meaningful, accessible way.

Suit Up! aims to buy men’s and women’s suits in every size and make them available to rent for only the price of dry cleaning. This would fill students’ need to look professional for interviews or other events without breaking the bank.

We support this project for relieving financial burdens but feel the details of implementation need to be ironed out.

Today is the last day to vote for Uncommon Fund projects. Vote at uncommonfund.uchicago.edu.

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

BEN ZIGTERMAN Head Copy Editor SYDNEY COMBS Photo Editor JULIA REINITZ Photo Editor PETER TANG Photo Editor FRANK YAN Photo Editor COLIN BRADLEY Grey City Editor

Divest from divestment Where do we go from here?

Argument for divestment at odds with the facts

Misperceptions surround Barnes’s death

JOY CRANE Grey City Editor

Katie O’Shea Viewpoints Contributor

SINDHUGNANASAMBANDAN Assoc.NewsEditor 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 ANNIE ZHU Director of External Marketing VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator ANNIE CANTARA Designer CARINA BAKER Designer CARISSA ECLARIN Desginer AURNA HASNIE Designer JANE JUN Designer JONAH RABB Designer NICHOLAS ROUSE Designer MOLLY SEVCIK Designer KRYSTEN BRAY Copy Editor SOPHIE DOWNES Copy Editor JOE JOSEPH Copy Editor CHELSEA LEU Copy Editor KATIE LEU Copy Editor JOHN LOTUS Copy Editor VICTORIA RAEL Copy Editor HANNAH RAUSCH Copy Editor CHRISTINE SCHMIDT Copy Editor OLIVIA STOVICEK Copy Editor ANDY TYBOUT Copy Editor

The Chicago Maroon is published twice weekly during autumn, winter, and spring quarters Circulation: 5,500.

The opinions expressed in the Viewpoints section are not necessarily those of the Maroon. © 2014 The Chicago Maroon, Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 Editor-in-Chief Phone: 773.834.1611 Newsroom Phone: 773.702.1403 Business Phone: 773.702.9555 Fax: 773.702.3032 CONTACT News: News@ChicagoMaroon.com Viewpoints: Viewpoints@ChicagoMaroon.com Arts: Arts@ChicagoMaroon.com Sports: Sports@ChicagoMaroon.com Photography: Photo@ChicagoMaroon.com Design: Design@ChicagoMaroon.com Copy: CopyEditors@ChicagoMaroon.com Advertising: Ads@ChicagoMaroon.com

Patrick Reilly

The Silver Bullet Every Wednesday at 6 p.m., the UChicago Climate Action Network (UCAN) gets together in Harper 145. As Maroon readers learned on Tuesday, these environmentalists have been busy lately. According to Sam Zacher’s excellent op-ed (“Divestment Is Not Only Necessary, But Feasible,” 2/18/14), an affiliated group called Stop Funding Climate Change (SFCC) is preparing to issue a Divestment Report that urges UChicago to sell off its investments in the fossil fuel industry. “Imagine a world,” he wrote, “in which universities divest (without losing any money), and oil and gas companies are socially stigmatized and influenced to shift their focus to renewable energ y…. This is the fast track to renewable energ y that our planet needs.”

Is it? Despite Zacher’s inspiring battle cry, a closer look at the facts suggests that SFCC’s energies could be better spent elsewhere.

For starters, UChicago’s investment portfolio has proven difficult to crack. Students here tried and failed during the first divestment campaigns of the 1980s, even as other elite universities shunned companies connected with South Africa’s apartheid regime. During the Darfur crisis of the mid-2000s, the administration resisted a similar campaign to divest from Sudan.

Even divestment’s supporters are quick to admit that they face an uphill battle. “It’s difficult with a big school like UChicago,” said second-year UCAN mem-

ber George Abitante. “Fossil fuel investments are usually tied up with other funds.”

Despite these challenges, firstyear UCAN leader Johnny Guy makes the case that with a crisis as grave as climate change, students are right to pursue such an ambitious goal. More modest campus sustainability campaigns, he argued, have fallen woefully short.

“We’ve tried for the past decade to make UChicago greener,” he said. “But those solar panels on Logan, for instance, only provide six percent of the building’s electricity.” Rather than make piecemeal improvements, he continued, divestment aims to shift public opinion. If an institution as large and prestigious as UChicago can be persuaded to divest, others will presumably follow, leaving big coal and big oil with little support.

Backers of this public-shaming strateg y claim to have history on their side. “Thirty years ago, students helped expose South African apartheid by demanding University divestment from companies operating there,” fourth-year Paul Kim wrote in the Maroon last May. They may have fallen short at UChicago, but “international scrutiny made apartheid increasingly costly for South Africa and contributed to its fall.”

That’s an inspiring legacy, but does it really make an accurate comparison? Historians continue to debate divestment’s role in forcing the South African government to its knees, but at least one fact OIL continued on page 5

To become acquainted with a fellow student through the eulogies dedicated to him is something infinitely devastating. Even as these words express to us all the extent of the loss we have suffered in Nicholas Barnes, the outpouring of such love and support from so many places is also a reminder of all that is good in our community.

Yet while there has been such love shown, there has also been some blame thrown around.

The instinctive reaction to place blame on someone for something so tragic is not unusual, but it is disappointing. It’s an ugly blight upon what ought to be a time of mourning and remembrance.

Thankfully, we can at least say that most of those doing the blaming are those who do not have a sense of the nature of our community.

For us, the tragedy is primarily the fact that a fellow student, full of life and promise, who meant so much to his friends and family, passed away so suddenly, so illogically, so heartbreakingly. For outsiders, the tragedy is chiefly related not to the fact that he died, but instead to the fact that he was not found for so long. They incorrectly assume that the circumstances mean that he was without friends, and that somehow his peers have failed him. Part of their ignorance is based simply on lack of information from those closest to him—they assume that just because friends’ attempts to contact him were not reported in the articles, no contact was actually attempted, which is, from what I have heard, false.

Some may also be operating

under the assumption that our college experience is exactly like what they experienced—theirs is a vision of college in which people are constantly going in and out of other people’s dorm rooms, having parties, hanging out in one common space.

As many have pointed out in an attempt to correct these misunderstandings, the fact that Barnes lived in a single in I-House, unusually organized as it is, and the fact that we were in the midst of midterms all contributed to the situation. Beyond that, our school is, for better or worse, different—we start off in the housing system, often making friends within our houses who may or may not live next door or on the same floor; sometimes we, for one reason or another, move off campus or into another house, and we may or may not establish new connections with neighbors. Finally, and most crucially, we live in a community that especially prioritizes academic rigor.

As a result of these differences, especially that last one, we don’t find it strange not to hear from one another for some time, or not to see each other in the hallway after a long day of classes. Sometimes we spend hours, or whole nights and days, at the Reg or Harper, making it almost impossible for friends to be each others’ keepers.

One of the quotes used in the news articles on Barnes’s death was from a student who questioned why “the people who were responsible for his well-being could have not seen that he has been gone for a week.” I think the troubling realization that we are all coming to terms with is that we are all responsible for BARNES continued on page 5

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | February 21, 2014

4

Girl power gone sour Letter: Daugherty overstates transparency International Women’s Day events fail to think critically

Emma Thurber Stone

Sticks and Stones I learned this past week that the University’s Office of International Affairs (OIA) exists. I also learned that it is hosting a week-long celebration for International Women’s Day (IWD) in March, a tradition revived last year after a long absence. And after a long look through information on the program, despite being the sort of person who generally appreciates this sort of thing, I’m definitely not hopeful.

The materials used to advertise the program could not be more apolitical if they tried. There is an all-women’s Capture the Flag game on the quads on Wednesday.

Why? Because “we encourage women to be active and fierce competitors, and to have a lot of fun while doing it!” The blurb for Thursday’s Gender Equality Matters parade (from the center of the quads to Ida Noyes), in an awkward flirtation with activism, blandly encourages participants to “wear [their] ‘statement’ T-shirts.”

It all seems to me like a

lot of generic “girl power” and not a lot of critical reflection, which strikes me as odd for an institution famed for its merciless critical thinking. But, you might say, IWD shouldn’t be about “negativity.” It should be a celebration of accomplishments and progress.

But positivity, especially when the privileged are the ones preaching it, can be— and often is—exclusionary and reductive, spotlighting the ways that a few have been able to leverage success out of an unjust world, rather than asking what can be done to make that world less unjust. And there is clearly a sensibility among organizers of these events that celebrating women’s accomplishments necessarily skirts deeper, harder questions about how women fail to become notable, or noticed at all. Indeed, the preface to the list of “Notable UChicago Women” on the IWD UChicago site admits that “the very premise of such [a IWD continued on page 6

My name is Michaeljit Sandhu, and I graduated from the College in June 2013. I was a Summer Links participant in 2010 after my first year and a program coordinator this past summer.

I also worked as the volunteer referral student staff at the University Community Service Center (UCSC) during the 2012–2013 academic year. I am writing to respond to a number of points made by Elly Daugherty in her February 14 letter to the editor. A number of people have already written eloquently here in the Maroon and elsewhere about the problems with the dramatic changes that are happening at the UCSC, so I will confine my comments to points brought up in Daugherty’s letter.

Daugherty begins her letter by writing, “Open communication is central to successful programming and is a hallmark of the University Community Service Center.” The latter half of this statement is patently false.

Almost no students, community members, alumni, or faculty were given a say in the changes to Summer Links or the other shifts that have happened at the UCSC

time, she never attended or made an effort to meet with our group. The process by which the “thoughtful changes” to Summer Links were decided upon (though, to be clear, Daugherty never actually details that process) ostensibly came through the Summer Links Review Committee, initiated by Daugherty and composed almost entirely of administrators unfamiliar with the Summer Links program.

The materials that the Review Committee used to evaluate Summer Links were created by Trudi Langendorf—who ran Summer Links for seven years before she was restructured out of the UCSC—and the three program coordinators for this past summer, myself included. But none of us were informed that the program was to be dramatically changed, and Daugherty never asked to meet with the program coordinators or other alumni of Summer Links to discuss our thoughts on the program or to solicit suggestions for how it could be improved.

Additionally, Daugherty scheduled the Review Committee sessions for September, when most students

were off campus and after Trudi was already gone from the UCSC. It is hard to see how one could characterize this as an example of “constructive dialogue.”

But the examples of Daugherty failing to exemplify her ideal of “constructive dialogue” don’t stop there. Daugherty and Chan did not even announce the changes to former Summer Links participants. Many of us found out about them through word of mouth from program applicants.

Even after more than 1,000 people urged Daugherty to restore many of the most important aspects of Summer Links, she refused to directly respond. Although she writes that she believes “in the passion and dedication demonstrated by the alumni of Summer Links,” she has never shown that she actually cares about what participants in the program think. Instead, it seems that Daugherty wants to stop “confrontation” and “build greater understanding” only once she has already had a chance to implement the changes she wants.

—Michaeljit Sandhu, Class of 2013

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Welcome all Students and Faculty

First Impressions are everything....

The University of Chicago Law School presents T HE DEWEY LECTURE IN L AW A N D PHI LOSOPHY

The Moral Side of Non-Negligence

? e l i m s r u

o y s i ow

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during the past year. I worked at the UCSC for the entire 2012–2013 academic year and the following summer, and I didn’t hear a single word about the changes before UCSC Director Amy Chan sent a mass e-mail to inform students, faculty, and community partners of predetermined changes. Daugherty offers no evidence to suggest that my experience was unique. Is this really an example of the “open communication” that Daugherty praises?

Later in her letter, Daugherty writes that “the UCSC continues to be responsive to influences both within our student body and in the communities that surround UChicago.”

Daugherty doesn’t offer any examples of how the UCSC has been responsive, so I will focus on how unresponsive Daugherty has been during her push to enforce changes to Summer Links. Although Daugherty touts a “mutual commitment to Summer Links” in her letter, she has done very little to show her commitment. Last spring, I personally invited Daugherty to attend any Friday training during our summer. Despite this ample lead

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | February 21, 2014

5

Results may vary Upperclassmen can advise underclassmen without damaging self-confidence

Jane Huang

The Ionic Column A while ago, I decided to look over my old college application materials to reflect on the past few years. This was not quite the trip down memory lane I had hoped for.

At age 17, I had been reasonably satisfied with what I had written, but four years later, I now find the essays cringe-inducing. While I had avoided writing anything mawkish, my first thought upon rereading my essays was, “Boy, I was a That Kid before I even knew That Kid was a thing.” Yet while my essays were hardly works of art, they accomplished what I had intended them to do: get me into college. A little more self-consciousness and the application process might have turned out quite differently.

College, though, seems to be a place where self-conscious-

ness proliferates. I’ve heard many people describe college as a self-confidence-sapping experience. In certain respects, this might be good insofar as it has helped me resist surrendering to my inner That Kid. However, a lack of confidence may also deter people from pursuing challenging but beneficial opportunities available in college, whether those are through on-campus research, courses in subjects they’ve never heard of before, or supercompetitive internships.

While frequently cited reasons for this loss of confidence include a heavy workload or tough grading scales, I also think we need to examine the significant effect that students’ attitudes have on each other. Many conversations at the beginning of each quarter touch upon what classes

one is taking or what majors one is considering. While this might seem to be a neutral topic of discussion, peoples’ reactions reveal that assumption to be far from the truth.

When I remarked at the start of first year that I was taking physics, I got many speeches about how terribly it was going to go for me. Pre-meds and prospective economics majors probably have it the worst, though, when it comes to dealing with unsolicited opinions. Upperclassmen will often take the opportunity to make predictions about failure and then detail all the people they know who “washed out.”

There’s no question that not everybody will achieve the goals they’ve laid out for themselves at the outset of college. Given that many people struggle through some of their first few college courses, it would definitely be helpful for students to have a good sense of what is manageable.

However, giving dire warn-

Uncommon courtesy The kinder side of campus

Jenny Lee

Road to Joy I have a lot of reasons to hate using crutches. One, it absolutely destroys your arms, armpits, wrists, and your perspiration control.

Two, it literally takes you 20 minutes to get from one end of the quad to the other. And three, if it’s wintertime in Chicago, you’ll most likely not be able to use your death contraptions at all, leaving you with two choices: You can either be stranded in your dorm, which sounds awesome (’cause Netflix), but comes with the risk of hurting your grades (mandatory attendance classes, ew); or you can painfully hobble to class with an ankle the size of John Travolta’s head.

Though I do have a couple reasons I loved using crutches. One, I’m pretty sure I have an almost-sixpack from all of the required balancing, and two, I saw a genuinely thoughtful and kind side of the UChicago community.

As somebody who is often cynical and prides herself on perfected eye-rolls and resting bitch-face, this realization does not come easily. I, for more than a year and a half, have lumped UChicago students into a category labeled “Those who do not know how to hold open doors, turn off lights, wait in line, say please or thank you, etc.” I, for more than a year and a half, have general-

ized my peers as rude, inconsiderate, and opposite-ofsouthern-ladies/gentlemen.

I, for more than a year and half, have been wrong—kind of.

During my two-week crusade of ankle-induced appreciation, I felt more loved than I had since elementary school Valentine’s Days.

Friends—even randos— would approach me on campus to ask about what had happened and if I needed anything. You know those Greenpeace people who stand by the Reg and accost you if you’re carrying around a plastic water bottle? Yeah, I usually hate them too, but one of the guys literally asked me if I wanted a back massage. I’m pretty sure it was because I had a reusable water bottle in my backpack, and he was probably trying to coerce me into filling out his survey, but still.

Also, in a shocking turn of events, people held doors open for me! Instead of pulling the door open half an inch and slithering inside, people in front of me actually kept the door open.

They also started walking on the correct side of the sidewalks! Amazingly, all it takes is a pair of crutches to get first-years to stop walking nine-abreast on those tiny pathways on the quad. They actually got into a single-file line! I’m not exaggerating

when I tell you that I felt like Moses—my crutches, lovingly nicknamed Jesus and Jesus (one is pronounced the Spanish way, obviously), could part the seas of student traffic, leading them to salvation, a.k.a. proper sidewalk etiquette.

Oh, and let’s not forget all of the blessed souls who helped me carry my plates of food, assisted me to my seat in class, and offered me priority standing in the elevators. I imagine this is what first-class pampering feels like, and as the (slightly altered) phrase goes, “Once you go one percent, you never go back.”

But, alas, I am off of my crutches, and my ankle has returned to a normal Kate Mara size (can we PLEASE talk about that episode of House of Cards, OH MY GOD?!?). As much as I’d like to believe that all of the thoughtfulness that was showered upon me was because people are great and I’m that perfect combination of approachable and mysteriously cute, it appears that it was just Jesus and Jesus. I have returned to the days of people letting doors close in my face, running over me on sidewalks, and not doing everything I tell them to do.

On the bright side, the bruises on my armpits are fading, and I can finally put on deodorant again.

Jenny Lee is a second-year in the College majoring in political science and psychology.

ings of failure without knowing anything about a person’s background or motivation is not the proper means to accomplish this. As a first-year, something along the lines of, “Here are some effective ways that other people have found to handle a challenging class…” would have served me much better than a sardonic wish of good luck.

While I believe that people for the most part are looking out for the best interests of the people they’re advising, one of my major concerns about the way older students counsel underclassmen is whether unwarranted assumptions are being made about people’s abilities based on whether they conform to our notions of what a smart person should be like. Would they tell a guy who looked like Mark Zuckerberg that he should be prepared to get his ass kicked in his computer science class? I’ve wondered for a long time why some people’s descriptions of their tough

course loads are received with hushed respect while others earn eye rolling or snickering.

Anecdotally speaking, I’ve heard some of my classmates mention dealing with insultingly low expectations due to race, gender, or even the college organizations they’re involved with, such as Greek life or athletics. The issue may be that even though the University’s population has changed significantly in the last few decades, we’re still stuck in our conception of an archetypal UChicago student.

As upperclassmen, we ought to use our accumulated knowledge responsibly. Keeping in mind the old disclaimer that “individual results may vary,” the approach I take when asked for my perspective on college classes is to stick to the facts as closely as possible: Most people spend about X number of hours on this class, students are expected to be familiar with concepts A, B, and C before enrolling, etc. I try to steer

clear of predictions about how someone I’ve just met will perform academically, given that I am no Oracle of Delphi and can’t even predict what I’ll be eating for lunch tomorrow.

People can get a lot out of college by being willing to speak up during class and taking notoriously difficult courses, but they will be less likely to engage in those endeavors if we keep trying to convince them that they’ll fail.

This negativity creates a major mood whiplash when we recruit students by telling them that they can be challenged in new and interesting ways, and then inform them that they probably won’t be up for said challenges when they actually get here. It would be a shame if the impression we gave the new students was that the life of the mind is accessible only to a select few.

Jane Huang is a fourth-year in the College majoring in chemistry.

Big oil needs to be redirected, not restricted OIL continued from page 3 is clear: The campaigns of the 1980s targeted a brutal, isolated regime that could easily be singled out and kicked out. In seeking to divest from fossil fuels, today’s students are targeting a trillion-dollar, public-private industrial system that connects and supports every individual on the planet.

The numbers speak for themselves. The New York Times reported last year that 831 U.S. colleges— about 300 of which currently have divestment campaigns—have a combined endowment of just over $400 billion. That’s a hefty sum, but by activists’ own estimate, colleges only invest about three percent of their cash in fossil fuels, making for a total potential divestment of about $12 billion. If you think $12

billion can sway Big Oil, think again; ExxonMobil alone has a market capitalization of $411 billion.

It also has something even more valuable than investors: customers. I suspect that Exxon’s executives, sitting around a conference table in Irving, Texas, are smugly watching our divestment campaign unfold. However it turns out, UChicago will still need Exxon’s oil to fuel its shuttles, heat its buildings, and cook the food over which you may be reading this column. Exxon and its ilk may be “socially stigmatized,” but they’ll still get paid.

If we’re truly going to “stop funding climate change,” we need to pay these companies for a different energy source. Don’t take my word for it: After former Secretary of Energy

Steven Chu finished his talk at the IOP on February 13, I raised my hand and asked if he thought divestment was a viable strategy to combat climate change.

“No,” he answered. “I’m trying to not paint oil and gas into a bad-guy corner. If you do, you set the battleground, and I’m trying to give them ideas. If there’s a chance to bring them on board, let’s do it.”

UCAN and SFCC can give oil and gas “ideas” by demanding fundamental change in energy policy at all levels—campus, city, state, and federal. The risks of climate change are real; the notion that a symbolic public relations campaign can resolve them is not.

Patrick Reilly is a first-year in the College majoring in history.

“We cannot...pick out a scapegoat” BARNES continued from page 3 each other’s well-being, to an extent. Like it or not, there is not always a central authority to make sure that everyone is present and accounted for, and it’s not always easy to reach out to everyone, especially in the midst of midterms, when we have a lot on our plates.

Maybe we need to become a community where we all reach out to our friends not only to ask how they’re doing, but also to tell them how we’re doing, to build support systems on good, regular communication, so that it will feel

strange to not have seen someone for a few days, and we won’t just assume that it was a side-effect of midterms. This is not to say that, had this been more widely practiced in the first place, Barnes would have been discovered sooner, or that this is a perfect formula for preventing future tragedy, but rather that it is the only real solution.

To strengthen our bonds as a community is the best and bravest thing we can endeavor to do as we try to deal with the grief.

We cannot—and ought not to—pick out a scape-

goat. To concentrate blame on those who were close to him is to heap more sadness upon those who already feel the pain of his loss most acutely. Yes, Barnes’s death was tragic. Yes, it reminds us all of the importance of expressing love and support for others while we can, but it also reminds us that some things are out of anyone’s control. In the wake of death, we can only endeavor to live fully, to love more, and to always remember.

Katie O’Shea is a fourth-year in the College majoring in English.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | February 21, 2014

6

IWD evades politics, falls flat IWD continued from page 4 list] is problematic.”

But a discussion about women and the University of Chicago should not be satisfied with a nod to those who walked here and worked here and yet have no plaques to their name. Such a discussion should interrogate the conditions that prevent women from ever getting here. And ultimately that is what struck me when I combed the information about the week’s programming: There does not seem to be a platform from which participants can acknowledge the fact that—for most of us—part of our conditions of community and opportunity have been created by our access to immense wealth. It is true that women granted access to these spaces can do wonderful things, and that those things are admirable. But it is also true that our world is sexist in complicated and intersectional ways, and that that sexism involves the erasure of certain kinds of women from the view we have as we look out on the world from this campus.

This a celebration for International Women’s Day, and yet the only event that provides a space for dialogue is strictly to discuss “gender (in)equality at UChicago.”

There’s no problem with discussing University policies and politics.

But why is that all?

Lest you think I’m making too much of some poor web-editing choices, there is at least one good reason to believe that this attitude extends beyond marketing. On Valentine’s Day, the administrators

of the Facebook event page for the week’s programming posted a link to the One Billion Rising (OBR) campaign, a link that was also posted on other websites affiliated with the OIA’s programming for the week. One Billion Rising (led

by The Vagina Monologues’ Eve Ensler) is an extremely visible campaign against sexual and sexist violence, but it has a troubled history of dismissing minority activists— not to mention sensationalizing women’s complex relationship with violence as something that can be solved, or at least cheered up, by a massive, synchronized, worldwide dance. Particularly, in recent years, the Canadian branch of OBR has attracted a lot of attention for silencing indigenous women, an issue on which activist Lauren Chief Elk, founder of the Save Wiyabi Project, has written extensively. This year, OBR was massively protested and widely rejected, and all it takes to know this is a quick Google search for “one billion rising controversy.”

Why is this important? Because this is thoughtlessness, and because it suggests that UChicago’s celebration of International Women’s Day/ Week is more interested in being generic and inoffensive than in doing its critical homework. It doesn’t bode well. And it sure doesn’t put me in the mood for an all-women’s game of Capture the Flag.

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.

Emma Thurber Stone is a thirdyear in the College majoring in anthropology and gender and sexuality studies.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISA UNVER!!!

The Angel that presided O'er my birth Said, "Little creature, Formed of joy and mirth, Go love without the help of Any thing on earth."

LOVE YOU!!!

MAM

7

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ADVERTISEMENTS | February 21, 2014

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Union Station à la MODA: Group celebrates 10 years into the MODA fold, were deep in focus over their seams. The music was still playing.

For third-year MODA Board President Morgane Richer La Flèche, tomorrow’s 10th anniversary show, named “MODA in Bloom,” marks a season of new growth. “The idea is to project an almost jocular image of

MODA IN BLOOM Tickets on sale Friday, February 21 Student tickets: $12

A design from Alicia French’s collection, which draws inspiration from Regenstein, Harper, Crerar, and Mansueto libraries.

COURTESY OF ALICIA FRENCH

Emma Broder Arts Editor In the final hours before Logan’s costume shop closed on Thursday, third-year Harrison Yu paced from a sewing machine to a tall table, then back again, looking for a pincushion. Upbeat pop music was playing. Yu’s designs— dresses with long trains—will be the first to appear in Friday evening’s annual MODA fashion show at Union Station.

That his designs will open the show is a mark of Yu’s seniority within MODA, a group that often officially presents itself as a family. He certainly belongs: Now a board member, he began his first year by participating in the group’s Designer Boot Camp (DBC). At that time, there were three people in DBC, and it took place in a facility near East 50th Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue. DBC has since more than tripled in size, garnering

more than 50 applications this past fall. With the help of Logan costume shop employee Nathan Rohrer, Yu expanded the DBC curriculum, which used to consist simply of making “a tote bag, a skirt, and a blouse.”

Yu recounted that Rohrer, who on this Thursday afternoon was fashioning a pair of nude underpants for a modern dance performance with a tag that read “Skin” deftly sewn into the waistband, had come in on

weekends this fall to coach DBC. He is not paid to help with this project. The sewing machine purred beneath Rohrer’s fingers as he spoke with DBC students, soothing their pre-show stress.

Although Rohrer kept threatening to close the shop on time the night before the show, at 6:15 p.m., 15 minutes past official closing time, it was still full of activity. The younger designers, one of them fated to be Yu’s protégé and to be taken ever closer

spring, preferring the overgrown hothouse to the English garden,” Richer La Flèche said.

Some of the designers’ projects reflect this theme, though not all intentionally. Yu’s dresses are mostly pastels, a shift away from his previous black-and-white collections. Second-year Nabila Lotayef ’s designs all feature a red floral-print trim. Second-year Celia Yuen, inspired by traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean outfits, is working with Asian florals; Yu said she is the first designer in recent memory to release a non-Western collection.

“My idea of fashion is interesting shapes,” Yuen said.

The 12 DBC students’ designs will appear toward the middle of the runway show, in order of darkest to lightest color palette. There are nine other designers involved in the

show, including a professional hat maker who has been featured on the group’s website.

At odds with the floral camp is fourth-year Alicia French, who designed dresses for the show based off of various campus libraries, including the Reg, Crerar, Harper, and Mansueto.

Is MODA a family—or a family business? At a model call last week in Hutch Commons, 80 models’ heels clicked right by the Reynolds Club seal as they walked in circles. Pop music was playing (always). The models, now divided into two groups of 40 after their rehearsal outside, walked large loops around tables at opposite ends of the room, stopping to pose. Richer La Flèche, wearing a plaid dress, surveyed the scene.

At moments like these, it emerges that MODA is a large professional organization run by students. It strives to break even on the show every year. This year, as the group has transitioned to using the Logan Center Box Office as opposed to an independent contractor, ticket sales outside the University have plummeted. “Non-student ticket sales are down by 50 percent, although every factor other than the ticket sale platform has remained the same,” Richer La Flèche said in an e-mail. As MODA, 10 years in, brings together its component parts, Friday evening’s show will go on.

Take a break from work Fallon tames the Night with debut with more Work at OI Noah Weiland Arts Staff

Evangeline Reid Arts Staff Our Work: Moderns Jobs– Ancient Origins is a small but thought-provoking interdisciplinary project, organized and hosted as a special exhibit by the Oriental Institute Museum since August. The show explores the links between the past and present by connecting modern people with artifacts of their trade from the very beginnings of civilization through a series of portraits, interviews, and videos.

The show will be closing this Sunday, February 23, but anyone who has not seen it should find a few minutes before then to browse this truly remarkable collection.

What do we owe to the past? How much of the past lives on today? These are questions posed in the introduction to the exhibit, and in many ways are fundamental to what the Oriental Institute seeks to study. The Institute has been actively participating in the discovery and further analysis of the early Middle East since its founding in

1919. Before laws changed about the removal of artifacts from their homeland, archaeologists discovered many significant objects—both ones from everyday life and ones more specifically linked to the development of government and language, as well as

OUR WORK: MODERN JOBS, ANCIENT ORIGINS The Oriental Institute Through February 23

other key topics—that they were able to bring back to the University’s collections. The Institute studies the origin and early days of civilization through what is understood to be one of the most comprehensive collections of such antiquities in the world.

This special exhibit pursues these questions of the past in terms of the present in a particularly tangible and accessible way. Photographer Jason Reblando used tintype phoWORK continued on page 10

The deposed Tonight Show host Conan O’Brien, currently hosting his own eponymous late-night show on TBS, has a signature dance. Before he delivers his nightly monologue, all 76 inches of him perform The String Dance: an abrupt, jerky series of motions resembling a kind of giant animatronic carrot top. The dance is uncomfortable, endearing, and completely pointless. It’s this mixture of charm and frivolousness that’s made O’Brien an irresistible figure in late-night television for two decades now—he is someone with little popular appeal but a firm grip on the unorthodox. His quirkiness has inspired a whole category of Conan-type hosts who thrive on the wacky.

One of those is Jimmy Fallon, the new host of The Tonight Show, and a more palatable option than O’Brien in this spot.

O’Brien is the type of host you’d watch with your college friends, but he isn’t suited to your grandmother’s living room. Fallon is functional in both settings, particularly with your grandmother (“Don’t you just want to pinch Jimmy’s cheeks?”). He picks up on O’Brien’s ability to

be weird for the sake of it, but his chief concern is his own likeability. His Tonight Show concludes its first week today after welcoming Will Smith, Jerry Seinfeld, Michelle Obama, and Will Ferrell, among others. The debut has been shakier than expected: The normally unassuming Fallon has already stumbled through several selfcongratulatory and celebrityobsessed episodes. He seems to be learning a lesson even the most bashful must endure: The harder you try to expose your own gratefulness and humility, the more self-serving it looks.

On late-night TV, there are limits to being nice. David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel have carved out their own spaces using an almost menacing dry wit. Craig Ferguson has made a name on a kind of jovial bewilderment, and O’Brien on a keen sense of irony. Jimmy Fallon is there to be pleasant and playful. His agreeableness is likely what makes him so successful: the first week of Tonight Show tapings has made one of its objectives to display how many “friends” Fallon has—how many celebrities are willing to come on the show and be flattered, or sometimes happily embarrassed. Fallon is likely the only

late-night host capable of getting Scarlett Johansson to play a game of live charades against Drake. If only Fallon were this adventurous when it counted the most, like this week.

Monday’s debut featured a bizarre roster of tabloid stars, New Yorkers, and television colleagues congratulating Fallon for being Jimmy Fallon. There was Joan Rivers, Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, and Mike Tyson trotting out onstage, “stars” most famous now for their fame, or what little of it may be left.

That’s not to say Fallon isn’t conscious of the more forward-looking parts of his show business: He came to late-night TV from Saturday Night Live, an institution that consistently identifies talented young comedy writers and performers. In a moment of self-awareness on Tuesday’s episode, he rightly dismissed one of his own jokes as being on par with Yakov Smirnoff ’s humor.

Fallon has also been fascinated this week with the improbability of his success, something he could have figured out well before now, either as the host of the venerable Late Night or as a lead member of Saturday Night Live. The Tonight Show is still significant, but associating the image of the show with

so much prestige almost makes the viewer forget that the previous host—Jay Leno—spent decades perfecting the art of being good at being bad. There’s a reason Fallon was brought to the rescue. He would be better off ignoring the pressure and diving right into his coy style of humor, reinventing the appeal of a still-popular but less reputable destination for smart comedy.

Instead, he’s let everyone around him tell him how great he is, and how important The Tonight Show is. Will Smith, Monday’s first guest, took the cake for the best gloat when, after being asked for advice on how to be famous, he told Fallon, “It can definitely get scary…but you just keep loving people… The thing is to make sure that with your art—your art is a gift to people to help their lives be better. What happens a lot of times is when you see people fail in this business— they’re in it for their ego, and they start doing it for them. And it’s like, no, you’re trying to help people!” The irony was almost too obvious to spot.

A day later, after Jerry Seinfeld delivered 10 minutes of smug technology jokes, he sat down with Fallon to talk about— FALLON continued on page10

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | February 21, 2014

9

SoChic: Not all that glitters is gold (sometimes it’s sequins) out by an underwhelmingly clad Great Britain in the qualifiers—its style and grace need not ever die, since you can buy the pants online via LoudMouth.

My pair is currently in transit.

Silver: Mexico, men’s slalom

The Norwegian men’s curling team, pictured here in street clothes.

COURTESY OF CASSIE KOVACEVICH

Will Dart Arts Editor Gold: Norway, men’s curling Let’s be honest: Fashion-wise (and content-wise, actually) curling is basically bowling on ice without the sick mustaches. Dress pants, fitted collared shirts, maybe a stylish wrist brace now and again; nothing too over the top.

So when Team Norway unveiled its eye-scorching striped pants for this year’s games, it was really

no contest. This isn’t the peaceful nation’s first foray into daring color combinations on the curling pitch—it debuted a pair of deliciously garish redcheckered pants in Vancouver—but it’s truly outdone itself with this year’s showing. Zigzagged with the blue, red, and white of the Nordic nation’s flag, the team’s trousers have taken Sochi, and the world, by storm. Its Facebook page currently has more than 500,000 likes, which makes the team about 10 times more popular than the country of Norway.

And while this daring attempt at razzle-dazzle camouflage fooled no one—the team was knocked

He has participated in six Olympic games. He considered Andy Warhol a close personal friend.

He’s released a book of dubious photography and eight pop albums, almost none of which are available on Amazon. He is Prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe, the Most Interesting Man at Sochi.

Mexico’s only athlete and the Games’ oldest competitor, the 55-year-old son of German-Spanish royalty who “hasn’t skied in a while” may not have a snowball’s chance in Sochi of making the podium, but his mariachi-style slalom suit makes him the reigning champion of high-speed fashion at this year’s games. Formfitting, patriotic, and possibly racially insensitive, the black suit (designed by Kappa) is complete with a red cummerbund and bow tie, along with intricate silver trim along the shoulders and elbow. I would have liked to see a sombrero to complete the ensemble—wind resistance be damned—but overall I remain highly impressed with von Hohenlohe’s dedication to authenticity and his refusal to treat the Games of the XXII Winter Olympiad like the serious affair that they are. Look out for the elegantly dressed Prince of the Pyrenees as he elegantly glides—or tumbles, as seems more likely—down the course this Saturday.

Bronze: Canada, skeleton No single event has affected Olympic

fashion quite so much as the discovery of aerodynamics. Did you know that speed skaters used to wear scarves and fedoras?

They did. So it’s nice to see that some Olympians are working with what they have to make their aesthetic mark on the sporting world. The skeleton athletes have been an inspiration at this year’s Games, none more so than Team Canada. Grizzly bears, anatomically accurate brains, and baroque skulls have all adorned Canadian helmets this year, but my personal favorite is Sarah Reid’s delightfully macabre Dayof-the-Dead-meets-Maple-Leaf design.

Unfortunately the slick head protectors did not help Canada to skeleton gold this year, but they’re more than enough to earn it a spot on the podium of fashion champions.

Honorable Mention: Germany Say what you will about Germany. And say what you will about ice dancing, too. But put those two together, and you get one of the most singularly ridiculous and awesome displays of Olympic men’s fashion since Ryan Lochte’s infamous stars-and-stripes grill. As the “nerdy professor” to partner Nelli Zhiganshina’s glamorous socialite, the phenomenal Alexander Gazsi positively shined in burgundy velvet corduroys, a classic Grandma’s-attic sweater vest, and understated onyx Coke-bottle glasses.

Zhiganshina did what she could in a sequined V-neck tutu-ish number (the back of which looked like the drapery at an expensive hotel), but the ice belonged to Gazsi and his stunning take on public library–chic.

Feeding the masses en masse We’ve all been in that spot before.

You were in charge of the group reservation, and you forgot to make it.

Panic mode ensues as, call after call, your regular go-to restaurants slam the door in your face. What’s the point of living in a sea of restaurants if they’re all full?!

It’s a good question. In a foodie town like this, it’s always best to think ahead and make a reservation. But even on those absent-minded weekends, do we need to settle for another trip to Gino’s East or Chinatown?

Not unless that’s what you’re craving!

Here are a few off-the-radar options to make the best of a bad situation.

Ras Dashen: 5846 North Broadway Street Ethiopian food has surged in popularity in recent years, and the foodies of Chicago have embraced this. But for all the buzz surrounding Ethiopian food today, there were some restaurants around even before it was cool. Zenash Beyene opened the doors of Ras Dashen more than 13 years ago, and she’s been upstaging the Broadway scene ever since.

What truly sets Beyene apart is the consistency of her work. Each dish, vegetarian and meat plates alike, is laid out on a large silver plate covered in injera, and represents a unique degree of spice and heat that still works within the parameters of this savory cuisine. There is, after all, nothing quite like the aggressive and explosive flavors of zilzil tibs (beef strips sautéed with peppers and covered in a spicy berbere sauce) to soak in the

acidic flavors of injera. Make sure to order diversely: I recommend the doro alicha (a fragrant yet mild chicken dish) or the kitfo tere (a form of steak tartare).

The restaurant has several spaces that can accommodate groups, and usually has availability. Get ready to split up into more manageably sized tables, though. There are only so many people that can sit around one plate of injera.

Carnivale: 702 West Fulton Street If you’ve ever been on the Kennedy Expressway, then you’ve probably seen the façade of this building with its name plastered in colorful letters.

And although it’s not the wholesale clown store you thought it was, this Latin-fusion restaurant is one fun place to dine.

Carnivale is one of the city’s most high-energy establishments.

The main dining room is impressive—a two-tiered open warehouse meets a colorful Caribbean celebration—and can seat 600 diners at once. Large, roaring crowds pack in on the weekends to drink cocktails and enjoy the classicwith-a-twist dishes sent out of the kitchen.

A different country is featured on the menu each month, but certain dishes are staples. Ceviches are a huge hit here, as is the ropa vieja (shredded steak in tomato-based sauce), but the menu is always extensive enough that you can almost certainly ensure that everyone in your party will be happy.

When considering ceviche at Carnivale, ask youself: What looks like an oyster? This highly reflective spoon?

COURTESY OF EDWARD FOX PHOTOGRAPHY

Jake Melnick’s: 41 East Superior Street There is plenty of great food in River North and the Loop: The key is just to find it. For every one good choice, there are two lesser ones, and it’s the diner who has the nearly impossible task of finding the right one. But here’s a freebie for you: Jake Melnick’s.

Some of you already acquainted with the restaurant may be thinking: What? This is a wings place. It’s always packed. What are you talking about?

Jake Melnick’s may be ‘just a wings place’, but it is one of the wings places

in a city where getting your Buffalo hots is not the easiest quest. Its classic chicken wings are heavily breaded with various levels of spice that really do have a kick, but what’s probably more interesting is the other wing offerings. The Poncho is a mild wing that is always on the menu, but the meat is tender and juicy, better than almost any other chicken in the city.

As for the Wing of the Month, well, most of the times I don’t even get to try it. Because they’re already out. And it’s 8 p.m. on Friday.

And to those that say it’s crowded?

That’s true. Don’t just walk in with a

big group. But if you call the morning in advance, they’ll set something aside.

To anyone looking for last-minute group options in the city of Chicago: I wish you good luck. Living in a culinary capital means dealing with the fact that people want to eat the food in your town. Every weekend, students from UChicago are competing with locals who have been going to the same places for 20-plus years. Fortunately for us, we’re not in any rush. Take time to try some new places, and wait until next weekend to hit up that new dish Paul Kahan retweeted.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | February 21, 2014

There’s no room for blockheads in ancient labor as OI exhibit closes

“They didn’t have zero and yet they were still able to do it,” President Zimmer babbled.

COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO ORIENTAL INSTITUTE

WORK continued from page 8 tography, a technique developed in the 19th century, with the additional aid of strobe lights to speed the otherwise long exposure time, to create

another link between the past and present through his much shorter-lived field. He captured many levels of specialization within the workforce that seem familiar to us today

but perhaps don’t feel like they would belong in similar roles in ancient times: a justice next to the museum’s plaster cast of the Law Code of Hammurabi, a baker from the Medici with

You have books, but do you have a

a clay bread pan, a physician with a tablet of medical text, a poet with a tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh, and many more. The information provided about the artifacts, when linked with the insight of the participants, allows for conclusions about the inventiveness of humans and the fundamental common ground humanity shares despite the distance of space or time.

Robert Zimmer, president of the University and former chair of the Department of Mathematics, participated in the project, representing mathematicians beside a cylinder inscribed with mathematical tables. Although he was unable to comment on his experience in retrospect, in his interview for the project he reflected on the past of his field, saying, “Living without zero is difficult, but obviously, people were able to do a great deal without it, which is really kind of impressive. After all, I mean, this tool [the cylinder] was used at a time when people were making significant calculations, they were solving significant problems, they didn’t have zero and yet they were still able to do it.”

A more comprehensive look at this intriguing project is available as a catalog sold in the museum gift shop, but the striking visual presentation is worth experiencing in-person.

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Fallon’s Tonight “will work” FALLON continued from page 8 what else—Jimmy Fallon.

Fallon returned the favor, kissing the ring and praising an episode of Seinfeld’s online series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee in which Seinfeld and Jay Leno reminisce about how great they were as young comics, and how famous they are now. Latenight TV can be an exercise in marketing—promoting one’s new material or celebrating one’s place in American culture—but to give room to celebrities like Seinfeld to promote themselves doesn’t serve any purpose other than to highlight the goodwill bestowed on Fallon by his guests. In the long run, giving airtime to people like Seinfeld will be more of an albatross than a token of acceptance in the world of A-listers.

Surely Wednesday’s guest, the thoughtful Bradley Cooper, could save the day. Cooper may have been the most selfcongratulatory of any guest this week so far, using up the first few minutes telling Fallon how honored he was to be with him, which in turn prompted Fallon to point out how Cooper is an “old friend of ours,” and it was really he who should be honored. The interview devolved into green room banter, a public exhibition of the celebrity insiderness of talk shows: Fallon at one point excitedly and incoherently recapped his favorite scene from American Hustle, in the “Remember that one scene…”

th

style, letting Cooper soak in the adulation. With David O. Russell, the director of the film, in the crowd that night, Fallon made sure to tell Cooper that Russell is the “Martin Scorsese to your De Niro.” Cooper giggled and applauded. The studio audience sat mostly silent. The whole scene was reminiscent of a great Jimmy Fallon skit on Saturday Night Live.

Viewers of The Tonight Show aren’t looking for irony or shrewdness, alas, and Fallon knows that better than anyone.

He can be delightfully silly and ingenuous, and often the sketches and bits on his show featuring him and his writers are as daring as they are funny. His game of charades with Cooper, Emma Thompson, and Tim McGraw on Wednesday was more than amusing, and the “child inventors” sketch from that same show, in which he invited teenagers to display preposterous devices they constructed, was Fallon at his most amiable.

His good-heartedness lets even the stiffest guests be comfortable playing along. He’s aware that nothing on television at midnight should be challenging, especially not to the bigger, more diverse audience he has to play to now. He may not have a String Dance or a mind as adventurous as Conan’s, but he still has his smile. His version of Tonight will work, if only because it won’t not.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESENTS

SEASON

book collection? đ Do you love searching for books on a particular topic?

đ Are you interested in the physical features of books, such as illustrations or bindings? đ Are you passionate about owning books by a favorite author or on a specific topic?

If so, you may be eligible to win the…

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21 / 7:30 PM

T. Kimball Brooker Prize For Undergraduate Book Collecting Prizes awarded: $2,000 to a fourth-year student $750 to a second-year student Applications are due by 11:59 p.m., Wednesday, February 26,2014 to brookerprize@lib.uchicago.edu www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/alumnifriends/brooker

Third Coast Percussion Over 125 bells from around the world create an unprecedented ethereal sound in Resounding Earth.

Guo Wenjing: Parade John Cage: Third Construction Augusta Read Thomas: Resounding Earth Post-concert talk with Augusta Read Thomas, Kaley Mason, Seth Brodsky and Third Coast Percussion LOGAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS PERFORMANCE HALL, 915 E. 60th Street “(Thomas’s music) explodes with an extroverted boldness...It’s music that doesn’t sound like anybody else’s...” —The New York Times

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11

THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | February 21, 2014

Just because Flames are DI doesn’t mean it’s a power play for UIC Men’s Tennis Alexander Sotiropoulos Senior Sports Staff

First year Max Hawkins serves the ball during practice earlier this year.

COURTESY OF UCHICAGO ATHLETICS

In the Chicagoland area, University of Chicago students tremble at the question, “Which university do you attend?”

Unfortunately, some Chicagoans do not understand that UIC and the University of Chicago are two distinct institutions. That will all change this Saturday when the Maroons take on the DI Flames in Burr Ridge, Ill. “We want everyone to know that we’re not UIC,” head coach Jay Tee said.

“We’re U of C, and we’re any bit as good as any DI team in Chicago.”

Tee should know.

For 12 years prior to his current position, Tee played and then helped coach for Cleveland State University, a Horizon League rival of the Flames. “[UIC is] a team that never quits,” he said. “They battle all the time.”

Chicago defeated UIC before Tee arrived as head coach. In 2012, the Maroons boasted a 5–2 victory.

“We won’t catch them off guard this year,” Tee said. “I think a couple years ago they probably weren’t ready for us. This year, I’m sure they’ll be more than ready.”

While the Flames are 1–4 on the season, their most recent contest was a 7–0 shutout of Western Illinois.

Still, Chicago is up for the challenge.

“I think we have a very good chance of showing ev-

eryone that we are one of the best teams in Chicago, and there is no better way to do so than by beating a DI team,” first-year Sven Kranz said. “I think we have a very deep lineup that will compete extremely well this weekend.”

But the Maroons’ depth also brings about challenges.

Considering that Tee has an overwhelming number of DI-caliber players on his squad, decisions pertaining to the lineup on a match-tomatch basis are by no means easy.

“It’s probably the worst part of my job,” Tee said. “I put six guys out there, and there are still two, three, four guys who can play that spot as well as whomever I put in. That’s the challenge.”

Against UIC, Tee will pencil in Kranz with thirdyear Deepak Sabada at No. 1 doubles, third-year Ankur Bhargava with first-year Max Hawkins at No. 2, and fourth-year Zsolt Szabo with first-year Brian Sun at No. 3.

Hawkins, along with Szabo, held the No. 2 spot for three of the last four matches.

The No. 3 spot consistently changed.

Tee noted that not only do the skillsets of Bhargava and Szabo complement Hawkins’ and Sun’s, respectively, but their personalities do as well.

“Zsolt [Szabo] and Ankur [Bhargava] are very fiery, very competitive, and outspoken,” he said. “Their partners Max [Hawkins] and Brian [Sun] are a little

more subdued, a little more laid back, so I feel it’s a good combination of having one guy who can get the other guy pumped up, or if it’s not going well, having one guy who can keep things calm.”

Tee will keep Kranz at the top singles spot with Sabada right behind him. In spite of Sabada’s grasp on the No. 1 position for the entirety of last season, Tee said Sabada is “on-board” with the decision.

“It’s a little chance for [Sabada] to get a break,” Tee said. “I think he understands maybe it’s best for the team if he can pick up some wins at two and let Sven take that top spot for a little while…

He wants what’s best for the team.”

Sun is set to play at No. 3, Bhargava at No. 4, and Hawkins at No. 5. At the time Tee was interviewed, he was still deciding whether second-year Gordon Zhang or Szabo would round out the singles lineup.

“I haven’t gotten any sense from any of the players that anyone’s upset about any lineup move so far,” he said.

“They’re on board with putting the best six out there in the best spots.”

One thing is for certain, that everyone associated with Maroon tennis, especially Tee, is excited for Saturday.

“I can’t wait to play this match,” Tee said.

Doubles is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at Five Seasons Sports Club in Burr Ridge, Ill.

Chicago to face off against Carnegie, Case Individuals the focus at Invite Women’s Basketball Adam Freymiller Sports Staff The Maroons (14–8, 8–3 UAA) will put their five-game unbeaten run on the line with weekend conference games against Carnegie Mellon (11–11, 2–9) and Case Western (9–13, 3–8). Having played six of their previous eight games on the road, the South Siders will relish the opportunity to conclude their season with three games at home, with plenty left to play for in terms of postseason considerations. The team seems to be placing emphasis on each individual game, trusting that if they can do that, their fate will be in good hands.

“We can only control the controllables right now, and as long as we do that, things will take care of themselves. We have a group that is hungry to get back to the tournament so that’s been a motivator all season,” said head coach Carissa Sain Knoche, who is in her second year at the position.

Friday’s game against Carnegie will be a rematch of their game

SWIM+DIVE continued from back

on January 24, when the Maroons left Pittsburgh with a comfortable 88–69 victory. After starting the season 11–6, Carnegie Mellon has slumped to five consecutive defeats, but Chicago will be well aware of what its offense is capable of. In the January game, Carnegie first-year forward Lisa Murphy made an impressive double-double with 22 points and 14 rebounds while also blocking four shots, and third-year guard Gabrielle West added 21 points.

Whether the rest of the Tartans will be able to keep up with Chicago’s offensive dynamism depends largely on how well the supporting cast assists these two players, who lead the Tartans’ offense with 18.9 and 13.3 points per game, respectively.

On Sunday, Case will visit Ratner for a rematch of their earlier game at the Veale Center in Cleveland, where Chicago pulled out an 80–66 victory. While Case’s offense is only putting up 62.6 points per game, compared with Chicago’s 77.9, they will look to depend on fourth-year guard Julie Mooney and second-year forward Laura Mummey. This duo

has risen to the occasion against quality opponents, including scoring 37 combined points, securing 14 rebounds between them, and blocking eight shots in their earlier overtime loss against NYU. Case will certainly be the underdog heading into the game, but if these two can have a big day and find a way to limit Chicago’s perimeter shooting, look for it to be an interesting game.

With the end of the regular season in sight, Chicago can take pride on how much the program has progressed in the past few months, but they realize their work isn’t done quite yet.

“One of our goals from the start of the season was to make it to the tournament, so this possibility has been on all of our minds since October.… That being said, every game remaining is just as important as the next, and we know we can’t overlook a single opponent,” said third-year guard Ellie Greiner.

The game against Carnegie Mellon will tip off at 6 p.m. on Friday at Ratner, while the Case game will begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

other teams will be sending individuals to compete, as opposed to the entire rosters.”

Three Maroons will be swimming in hopes of qualifying for the national championships this weekend. Their competition from around the area, while perhaps not as high quality as at the UAA meet or previous events, all should be hovering around the time standards, so it should be a competitive and close meet.

However, the South Siders will be focusing more on the clock than on the other teams.

“We’re not thinking about the other competition at this meet,” Weber said. “It may help push us to swim faster but scoring points and winning this meet is not a factor. The teams that attend

this meet are here because of the same reasons we’re competing : opportunity for non-conference swimmers to compete and to get NCAA cuts.”

For those not competing in this meet, the focus is now on the DIII National Championships which will be from March 19–22.

On both the men’s and women’s team, over 20 athletes have already qualified for the event.

“The group of around 20 athletes who have already qualified for NCAAs are back to training hard, while the other groups are tapering and fine-tuning,” Hill said.

The Midwest Invitational will begin today with the 200 freestyle relay at 6:00 p.m. and will continue tomorrow for most of the day starting at 11:00 a.m.

GET IN THE GAME.

WRITE FOR SPORTS.

SPORTS

IN QUOTES “Student asked to watch the Olympic ice hockey game, I said no, he said ‘You’re a communist, communist, communist.’ Inappropriate speech.”

—A detention slip given by a teacher in MA when a student asked to watch the USA-Slovakia hockey game

No. 8 Maroons aim for hat trick of wins in Kalamazoo Women’s Tennis David Gao Sports Staff After winning both matches against Denison and Kenyon College, Chicago will travel this weekend to take on the Hornets in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

A month into their season, the Maroons are currently 2–1, losing their only match to the DI Fighting Illini at the University of Illinois. This Sunday, Chicago will play the Hornets, who had a 13–8 record last year and are currently 2–0 this year.

“Kalamazoo is a very scrappy and tough team. They won’t wow you with their power or talent, but they do a very good job of making you play a ton of balls from uncomfortable positions on the court,” head coach Jay Tee said. “Our challenge will be adjusting our aggressive games to their more passive style. They will try to make us hit winners to win every point, and we need to be patient enough to construct each point so we’re able to end the rally from a good position on the court.”

The South Siders have been training hard throughout the season, culminating in an improvement in technique and stamina.

“So far, we have been working very hard on being aggressive at the net, as well as getting our feet in the right position to end points. We will definitely send a message to our opponents during doubles that we are there to win on our own terms,” third-year Megan Tang said. “Also, we have been spending a lot of time in the

weight room as well as running sprints at practice, both of which have given us noticeable edges over our opponents in terms of fitness.”

A large contribution to the team’s success has been Chicago’s ability to remain focused during long games.

“The girls have done a great job of competing for every point.

While it sounds cliché, the effect it has on our opponents is unquestionable. If our opponents know they have to play a perfect point just to get one point, they will end up frustrated because they know they have to do it 40 or 50 more times during the match if they hope to win,” Tee said. “By forcing our opponents to execute perfectly, we put the pressure on them to come up with the goods.

It is easy to hit a winner at 2–2 in the first set; however, where we gain the advantage is at 4–4 in the second set when the nerves set it in.”

The Maroons have adapted successfully to the new training regime, especially when considering that five of the 10 current players with the Maroons are first-years.

“I think the team has been getting together very well so far.

Even though many of the girls are freshmen, they are willing to work hard and put in the extra time to improve. It has been fun to watch everyone improve so quickly during this first month and a half of the season,” Tang said.

The match is this Sunday, with the action beginning at 1 p.m.

EST.

Second year Sruthi Ramaswami serves the ball during a match against Wheaton last season.

COURTESY OF UCHICAGO ATHLETICS

South Siders hope to freeze win-loss pattern with two wins this weekend

Qualifying for NCAAs is the goal at last chance meet

Men’s Basketball

Swimming & Diving

Jenna Harris Maroon Contributor This has been a long, cold winter and a tough season for the Maroons. If the weather is any indication for Chicago men’s basketball, the sun coming out this week will lift the squad during the two conference games this weekend.

Both this and the next weekend represent the last three games the South Siders (13–9, 6–5 UAA) will play this season against Carnegie Mellon (11–11, 4–7), Case Western (13–9, 5–6), and Wash U (20–2, 11–0).

This past weekend saw the Maroons with a win and a loss, respectively, against NYU (15–7, 5–6) and Brandeis (12–10, 4–7) on the road.

The fight with the NYU Violets was a rough one, with the score going back and forth for the majority of the game until Chicago finally pulled out the win.

Fourth-year guard Derrick Davis

led the team in scoring with 17 points. The veteran has scored in the double digits six times over his past eight games.

However, the game against Brandeis two days later was more disappointing for Chicago.

Brandeis shot almost 50 percent from the field and gathered 45 rebounds to the Maroons’ 28, defeating Chicago.

Now, the South Siders prepare to face the Carnegie Mellon Tartans and Case Western Spartans for the second time here at Ratner. A few weeks ago, Chicago barely beat Carnegie and lost to Case.

Without the distraction of delayed flights and missed classes, the Maroons have had a chance to recover and prepare for the weekend. Many things have worked against the squad lately, including terrible travel conditions and fourth-year Charlie Hughes’ leave with injury.

“We should not be beating

Carnegie with a buzzer beater,” second-year Jordan Smith said.

“We need to play on Sunday how we do on Friday night.”

Smith averages 11.1 points per game on the season, shooting an impressive 43% from the threepoint range. Hughes, who leads the team in scoring with 12.5 points per game, will be a key addition when he returns this weekend.

Three out of the past four weekends, the Maroons have won their Friday night game but lost the Sunday midday matchup.

“Maybe it’s the morning game, but I know we are better,” Smith said.

On paper, Chicago is a better team than both Carnegie and Case. They need to have confidence in their abilities and bring it to the table this weekend.

Tip-off against the Tartans is Friday at 8 p.m., and Sunday’s game against the Spartans begins at noon.

Andrew McVea Maroon Contributor After a lengthy season, which saw Chicago go 4–1 in events at home, the Maroons will be competing in their final home meet this year. Today and tomorrow, the men’s and women’s teams will be competing in the Midwest Invitational held at the Ratner Athletics Center.

The South Siders are coming off of a strong showing at the UAA Championships last weekend, where the men placed second as a team and the women placed third, breaking 26 school records over the course of the weekend.

Both teams have already qualified a majority of their swimmers for the upcoming national championships next month in Indianapolis, and many swimmers will not be competing in the Midwest Invitational this weekend.

“Our main focus will be on the swimmers that did not com-

pete at UAAs as this will be their championships meet,” head coach Jason Weber said. “We will have others swimming, but it will either be for fun to get a best time in an off event or as a part of training for NCAAs.” The Midwest Invitational also serves as a last-chance meet for many athletes to qualify for the national championships. To qualify in an event, swimmers can get a guaranteed place in the national meet by being faster than the A time standard. There is also a B time standard, and if not enough people meet the A standard, spots in the meet will be filled with swimmers meeting the B standard.

“Ideally, we would like to see swimmers who are on the bubble for NCAA qualification to improve their times and qualify for the meet,” said third-year captain Jenny Hill. “Team point totals are less significant at this meet, since SWIM+DIVE continued on page 11