022412 Chicago Maroon

FRIDAY • FEBRUARY 24, 2012

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

CHICAGOMAROON.COM

ISSUE 30 • VOLUME 123

South of Wacker, Zimmer talks financial aid at open forum an urban canvas like no other

Hyde Park pols target Rahm ahead of G8

Ben Pokross Senior News Staff

Jennifer Standish & Madhu Srikantha News Staff

Department of Visual Arts Chair Jessica Stockholder has, in the name of art, bedecked Madrid’s Crystal Palace with plumes of pigmented wool, arranged the skeletal remains of old bathtubs into 49-foot-long arrays, and dumped blue paint on armchairs perched high in the air.

This June, she’ll have a new space for her bold installation art: State Street.

In her latest project, dubbed “Color Jam,” Stockholder will almost literally be painting the town red, covering an undetermined stretch of State Street between West Wacker Drive and West Congress Parkway with a multitude of colored textiles that she says will make the cityscape look something akin to an animated movie.

The installation is part of Art Loop, an ongoing series that was started two years ago by the Chicago Loop Alliance, an organization partially funded by businesses along State Street that aims to raise the profile of the area through installations like these. Local businesses pay an extra fee in return for city services and art projects to help attract visitors to the street.

Stockholder plans to fill the intersection with color, covering the street, sidewalk, and sides of the buildings with fabrics such as vinyl.

The University is also making aggressive efforts to recruit new faculty, Zimmer said.

“With the evolution of academic programs, we try to retain and recruit faculty and momentum,” he said. “We’ve tried to bring in a first cadre faculty for the new Institute for Molecular Engineering.”

First-year Aidan Milliff came to the forum to relay concerns voiced by the

Chicago is still months away from hosting May’s NATO and G8 summits, but that hasn’t stopped Hyde Park politicians from raising alarms about the city’s preparations for the events.

The annual NATO and G8 summits will turn the spotlight of international fiscal and military policy onto Chicago for one week starting May 15, once representatives of each country pour into the South Loop’s McCormick Place convention center, located in the fourth ward.

Fourth Ward Alderman Will Burns and Fifth Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston both voted against a city ordinance that expanded Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s ability to award security and construction contracts in preparation for the summits.

In a 41–5 vote in January, the City Council voted to grant Emanuel the power to award contracts without explicit approval from the City Council, or even the process of competitive bidding.

Hairston joined Burns and three other councilmen in voting against the move, which she calls “a blank check.”

Hairston fears that the vote could result in an increasingly unilateral relationship with local authorities, or even

ZIMMER continued on page 3

SUMMIT continued on page 4

President Robert Zimmer fields questions from students at the Coffee and Donuts forum Thursday afternoon at the McCormick Tribune Lounge.

DARREN LEOW | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Lina Li News Staff

ART continued on page 3

President Robert Zimmer, VicePresident for Campus Life Kimberly Goff-Crews, and Associate Vice President for Campus Life Karen Warren-Coleman addressed student concerns regarding financial aid, faculty recruitment, and campus housing at an open forum yesterday afternoon.

Zimmer emphasized the University’s efforts to supplement current financial aid offerings.

“We understand that the past four years have been economically tumultuous, we’ve faced increased need, and we want to continue to enhance our financial program, generally,” he said. When pressed about resources for increased aid, Zimmer identified alumni contributions as the primary source for prospective fundraising.

Accomplished music director aims to bring U of C Presents into Hyde Park and beyond Ash Mayo News Contributor Amy Iwano, who has almost two decades of diverse music and administrative experience in Chicago, was appointed executive director of University of Chicago Presents (UCP) last week, ending a national search for a program head who will help raise the presence of the arts on campus.

Iwano, who will officially assume her duties on April 2, will oversee the program that has brought internationally renowned musicians to campus to participate in music festivals and series for over a century. For the last 18 years, Iwano has served as the executive director of the Chicago Chamber Musicians.

“The University of Chicago is an inspiring place to be,” Iwano said, adding that President Robert Zimmer had made it a “University mandate to support art,”

a feeling she said was reinforced by the near-completion of the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. The Center, which will be a new hub for arts on campus, will open next month.

Iwano speculated that many of the renowned artists that UCP brought to campus in the past might have escaped the notice of the University community. As UCP’s executive director, Iwano plans to get more members of the University community talking about the performances it hosts by better utilizing social media and videos. Iwano also wants to extend UCP’s reputation outside of Hyde Park, and hopes that the performances will draw more people into the community.

“I want to create more understanding and bring people closer to the arts,” Iwano said.

Martha Feldman, chair of the University’s music department, said that Iwano was selected to

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lead UCP from a national applicant pool because she would foster collaboration between different University arts programs.

“Ms. Iwano comes with inspiring programmatic vision and intellectual curiosity. She has imaginative ideas for how to cross-pollinate the academic and artistic initiatives at the University and how to bring music to a wide community, tremendous leadership skills, and a wealth of experience,” Feldman said in an e-mail.

Iwano said that she would try to make the arts on campus a more integral part of the experience students have at the U of C. “I’d love for people, when they think of the arts, not to think of them as things saved for a special occasion, but for people— students—to make them a part of their everyday lives,” she said.

—Additional reporting by Allie Garfinkle

Amy Iwano, who has been named the executive director of The University of Chicago Presents, oversaw the Chicago Chamber Musicians for 18 years.

COURTESY OF JASON SMITH

IN ARTS

IN SPORTS

Brotherly love takes a tumble in True West » Page 7

One last Bear-fight in season finale

For your consideration: Oscar predictions » Page 7

Wash U, revenge, and a perfect record

» Page 12 » Page 12

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | February 24, 2012

2

Teacher sues Board of Ed over suspension

Trailblazer for Chicago women dies at 87

Tiantian Zhang News Staff

Celia Bever News Staff

A social science teacher at an elementary school just blocks from the University is filing a suit against the Chicago Board of Education, claiming that the school was wrong when it suspended him for using a racial slur during a class discussion about offensive language.

Lincoln Brown, a 48-yearold teacher at Murray Language Academy on East 54th Street near South Kenwood Avenue, was suspended for five days without pay last October after an

incident in which he used the n-word.

On October 4, Brown intercepted a note passed by one of his male students to a female student with rap lyrics that included the slur, the Chicago Tribune reported. He says, however, that he seized the moment as an opportunity to teach his class a lesson about derogatory language.

Brown is now suing the Board of Education for violating his civil rights, claiming that he was merely attempting “to teach his class a lesson in vocabulary, civility, and race relations,” Brown said in a phone interview.

“I used the word, but I didn’t address it to the students. I was having an important discussion on the problems of racism,” he said.

Brown also claims that the school’s principal, Gregory Mason, was present in the classroom during the lesson and did not protest to the structure of the lesson, according to the Tribune.

Two weeks later, Brown was charged with violating CPS policy, which prohibits using the slur in books, movies, or classroom discussions. Mason could not be reached for comment.

TEACHER continued on page 3

Students rally for fleeing North Korean defectors Linda Qiu Associate News Editor A contingent of U of C students picketed downtown with members of Chicago’s Korean-American community outside China’s Consulate General yesterday morning, in protest of that country’s decision to force the repatriation of approximately 30 North Korean refugees.

For two-and-a-half hours, protesters held signs with slogans such as “Life over Politics,” “Silence is Death,” and “Free North Koreans,” and chanted “Hu Jintao and Kim Jong-un, Side By Side in Genocide.”

Andrew Hong (A.B. ’11), president of advocacy group Emancipate North Korea (ENoK), which organized

the rally, dropped off a letter to the Chinese Consulate before the protest calling for China to grant the prisoners refugee status. The letter was accompanied by a petition with about 1,000 signatures from University students and Korean community members around Chicago.

“We were there to be the voice that the North Korean refugees had lost. We have to break the silence so that no more people will be sent back to die,” said Hong, speaking alongside three U of C undergraduates. “If they go back, they will be in danger of being executed. We have to keep fighting.”

On Tuesday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said that China should treat the refugees according to

“international norms,” and South Korea has said that it will seek international support for the refugees at an upcoming United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, according to a New York Times article published earlier this week. China has declined to treat the detainees as refugees because it claims that they entered the country illegally, the Times reported.

Hong hopes major media attention will raise awareness of the refugees’ plight in time for the Human Rights Council meeting. The demonstrators also approached two Consulate workers, directing their attention to the letters, Hong said, while six police officers patrolled by the protest without incident.

KOREA continued on page 4

Jean Allard (J.D. ’53), the University’s first female vice president, died January 29 after a long period of illness. She was 87.

Allard served as the University’s vice president for business and finance from 1972 to 1976. A former managing editor of The University of Chicago Law Review, she and her first husband served as resident heads at Burton-Judson Courts. She graduated as one of only two women in her class at the Law School.

“She was a woman who did many firsts,” said Allard’s niece, Patricia John (A.B. ’81, M.B.A. ’89). Allard was among the first female members of multiple business clubs and company boards, and founded the Chicago Network, an organization for female business leaders. Allard was also the first female chair of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association, and was the namesake for its Jean Allard Glass Cutter Award, an annual prize given to top female business lawyers.

Regarding multiplicity of her involvement, Allard “never felt like she was fighting for a cause,” John said. “She was just leading her life the way she wanted.”

Donald Lubin, partner and former chairman of law firm Sonnenschein, Carlin, Nath & Rosenthal, where Allard was the first female partner, told the Chicago Tribune that Allard was able to transcend barriers.

“There was a very definite

Panelists look at inequalities in marijuana arrests

Jean Allard (J.D. ’53), the first female vice president at the University of Chicago, died at age 87 on Sunday, January 29.

COURTESY OF NEWS OFFICE

glass ceiling that existed, and Jean was able to break through, not only for herself, but to open the opportunity for many other women,” Lubin said.

Allard mentored a number of people in her lifetime, including Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Obama and former trustee of the University of Chicago Medical Center, and Mary Ann Hynes, the first female general counsel to a Fortune 500 company. While Allard mentored several women, John said that she enjoyed mentoring all people.

“She really loved young people,” John said.

In 1987, the Tribune selected Allard as one of Chicago’s 10 most powerful women.

The next year, Today’s Chicago Women named her Woman of the Year.

Allard lived in Hyde Park from the time she came to the University until 10 years before her death, when she moved into a nursing home on the North Side. “She was truly a Hyde Parker,” John said. “It was impossible for her to live anywhere else.”

CORRECTIONS »The February 21 article “Hospital officials weigh in on city’s racial divide” misstated the hospital affiliation of David Ansell. He is the Chief Medical Officer of Rush University Medical Center. »The February 21 article “Faster course registration catches some off guard” misstated the position of Interim Director of Web Services Lynn Barnett. Due to an editing error, the article also misstated the name of the website. The website is www.classes. uchicago.edu.

The University of Chicago Law School presents The Dewey Lecture in Law and Philosophy

Tom Paine and the Ironies of Social Democracy Mick Dumke (left) and Ben Joravsky, both writers at the Chicago Reader, speak on marijuana policy in Chicago and the broader United States.

JULIA REINITZ | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Celia Bever News Staff The arg uments for decriminalizing marijuana are hazier than they might seem.

Journalists and public policy experts touched on the racial discrepancies and high costs in Chicago’s drug enforcement regimen as reasons for legalization, while explaining how history and bureaucracy prove to be stubborn barriers to progress on the issue,

at a talk hosted by Students for Correctional Reform Now (SCORN) yesterday evening.

In a series of articles in the Chicago Reader, reporters Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke found that the majority of people arrested for possession of marijuana are black, even though the drug is likely used at similar levels among all racial groups.

“On the practical level, it’s really only illegal for black people,” Joravsky said. “At the very

least we should have consistent enforcement.”

Dumke and Joravsky also cited the estimated cost of enforcement at $78 million per year, not including the time officers spend prosecuting each case.

The panelists listed several barriers blocking legalization from occurring now.

Part of the problem, Public Policy Studies Director Jim Leitzel said, is that marijuana MARIJUANA continued on page 4

Elizabeth Anderson Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and John Rawls Collegiate Professor of Philosophy and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan

Wednesday, February 29, 2012 – 4:00 p.m.

Weymouth Kirkland Courtroom University of Chicago Law School 1111 East 60th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 Reception Following This event is free and open to the public.

For special assistance or needs, please contact Rebecca Klaff at 773.834.4326.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | February 24, 2012

Econ Nobel Laureate reaches out to undergrads

University prof “arguably most famous artist in the city�

ART continued from front

“My aim is that the street corner is what it always is—and have it be radically transformed,� she said.

The experience for viewers, she said, would be similar to watching a black -and-white film turn into color.

Stockholder, who has exhibited work at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, said that creating new work was an essential part of her job when she was a professor here. “I’m of value at the University because I work,� she said. “It’s the primary part of what I bring to the table.�

Prior to her appointment last summer at the University of Chicago, she taught sculpture at Yale University.

Raghav Verma News Staff

Ty Tabing, director of the Chicago Loop Alliance, lauded Stockholder as one of the city’s marquee artists. “She’s a relatively new arrival to Chicago, and she’s arguably the most famous artist in the city,� he said.

Over the last two years, the Alliance has invited artists to exhibit their work on nine blocks of State Street.

Two years ago artist Tony Tassert created a 30-foot tall fiberglass eye, while last year Kay Rosen challenged people to do good through her “GO DO GOOD� poster series.

Tabing said the “Color Jam� installation will also serve as the springboard for other interactive artistic “jams� that will take place over the summer.

Brown’s appeal to board was denied TEACHER continued from page 2

“If we can’t discuss these issues, we’ll never be able to resolve them,� Brown said, according to legal documents.

His appeal to the Board was denied in December.

First-year Zori Paul, a member of the Organization of Black Students (OBS) and Black Campus Ministry, felt that Brown should have found “a better way to present it in front of elementary students.�

Still, “I think we should know the history of the word because it’s a way to learn from past mistakes,� she said, suggesting that Brown should have discussed a lesson plan about the word with other teachers or school administrators beforehand.

3

Being a teacher for more than 25 years in schools where the majority of students are African-American, Brown said he carefully followed the advice of the Southern Poverty Law Center to formulate his discussions with students.

Jason Lopez, associate director of the University Laboratory Schools’ educational program, said that if a similar incident happened at the Lab Schools, it would result in a sit-down with administrators before any disciplinary action. “However, teachers should have good judgment of a teachable moment: whether it is age appropriate, developmental appropriate, and social appropriate,� Lopez said.

Nobel Laureate James Heckman spoke about his influential work in economics and encouraged undergraduates to pursue their hunches in the inaugural lecture of the Friedman Forum College Speaker Series. The speaker series is the first ever hosted for undergraduates by the Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics.

Heckman, the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and the College, began by explaining his Nobel Prize-winning work. To account for selection bias in econometric data, Heckman developed a solution known as the “Heckman correction.�

Heckman discussed how selection bias may be inherent in the methods that economists and other researchers use to collect data and make conclusions. Heckman extended the ideas of

economic modeling to other realms of research—for example, the study of epigenetics, which looks at external mechanisms that alter gene expression.

He said that there are analytical techniques in economics that can be used to model genetic data from multiple species.

Fourth-year economics majors Maryclare Griffin, Kuan Chen, and Jin Soo Han organized and led the discussion in order to show undergraduates that they don’t have to be isolated from the Institute’s research. “Professor Heckman has some distance. Undergrads fear him for his fame and accomplishments, but we wanted to let young students know that he is open and interested to talk, work, and even research with them,� Han said.

After the lecture, Heckman added that economics should be important even to students with little background in the subject, because of its multipur-

pose applications. “We live in a world of scarcity, inevitably a world of scarce resources,� he said. “Understanding the consequences of scarcity and making choices in scarce situations is going to always be worth it.�

First-year Jason Gold said that he enjoyed the lecture despite having little background in economics. “He was great at simplifying his ideas and research so that any of us could follow along. It was definitely interesting even without an econ background,�

Gold said.

Heckman concluded the lecture by telling aspiring researchers not to fear failure, because even the smallest answers can help advance knowledge and give one a sense of internal satisfaction. “You shouldn’t run the risk of being told you’re an idiot,� Heckman said. “When something grabs you, you should probably follow it.�

Administrators will evaluate flexibility of dining, housing plans ZIMMER continued from front

Inter-House Council. Milliff relayed concerns about inflexible meal plans and potential complications posed by the recent increases in the size of incoming classes.

Responding to Milliff ’s concerns, Warren-Coleman promised “a reevaluation of housing based on student needs.� Warren-Coleman said that this re-evaluation could include modification of meal plans and construction of more apartment- and suite-style living accommodations, options that students have expressed significant interest in.

tive bureaucracy,� she said. “Seeing someone face-to-face was satisfying.

Kim even offered to put me in touch with the College’s Chief Investment Officer, Mark Schmid.�

Students also raised questions regarding Harper Court development, student body social compartmentalization and self-segregation, the new Logan Arts Center, more accessible employment and internship opportunities for international students, security measures, and the search for a replacement for GoffCrews, who is set to leave her post at the end of the academic year.

SG Vice President for Student Affairs Meher Kairon demanded improved transportation infrastructure, and Goff-Crews promised to “tweak and expand the budget for shuttle systems and SafeRide.�

Second-year Liz Denhup came to the forum to express concern for antiunion politics in Hyde Park development companies. She said that she felt the forum was productive, and offered an opportunity to directly put concerns to administrators. “Even though administrators have been largely responsive, it can be difficult to navigate administra-

By Rebecca Guterman

Weekly Crime Report This is a weekly series summarizing instances of campus crime. Each week details a few notable crimes, in addition to keeping a running count from January 1. The focus is on crimes within the UCPD patrol area, which runs from 39th to 64th Streets and Cottage Grove to Lake Shore Drive.

Since Jan. 1

 February 16, Bookstore, 3:10 to 3:24 p.m.— Male offender arrested for stealing merchandise from the bookstore, including a backpack and whatever he could fit in it. The offender matched the description of previous thefts from the bookstore, though UCPD Executive Director of Management Operations Diane Ziarno said the investigations are still pending.

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Sunday, various locations, 7:09 and 8:17 p.m.—UCPD made two arrests, one of multiple people in a stolen vehicle and one on an outstanding warrant from Country Club Hills, IL, UCPD incident reports said.  Green line between 47th and 51st Streets—robberies of CTA customers, involving multiple offenders holding the victim while asking for his or her valuables, then pushing them onto the train platform. One victim was 17 and another was 23. The two to three suspects are thought to be African-American males around 16–21 years old, according to CBS Chicago.

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 Saturday, South Campus Dining Hall, 1:26 p.m.—Female threw chili at male after a verbal argument, which was classified as a noncriminal incident, according to UCPD incident reports.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | February 24, 2012

4

Criminality of pot a boon for city

Chicago protest first in United States to demand action from China KOREA continued from page 2

MARIJUANA continued from page 2

and other drugs have now been illegal for so long that no one remembers a model for legalization. He contrasted it with the short-lived Prohibition in the 1920s, when people still remembered what it was like before alcohol was illegal.

Additionally, politicians are reluctant to position themselves in favor of legalization when they have little to gain.

“It’s not a make-or-break issue for most people,” Dumke said.

There are also incentives for police officers to continue the current policy, because they can find suspects with relative ease and get paid overtime for waiting in court for the case to be heard. The money spent on arrests supports jobs for clerks, bailiffs, security guards, and other courthouse workers.

Fourth-year Eamon Hartnett said that, although he felt that he learned from the lecture, “It was a bunch of people… coming together to talk about how much they agree. Nothing productive necessarily comes from that.”

At the end of the talk, Joravsky asked members of the audience to raise their hands if they opposed legalization. Nobody did.

Fourth-year Yoonah Kim appeals to students to take action against the forced repatriation of North Korean citizens who crossed the border to China during a protest in front of the Chinese Consulate Thursday morning.

COURTESY OF ELISA LI

First-year protester Elisa Li was among the demonstrators.

“The event was something to call out to people,” she said. “[It] was the perfect time to do something to change [the situation.]”

However, third-year participant Guy Caland said that, while the Consulate “definitely noticed our presence, it would have been nice to actually talk with them.”

Protesters were proud that the movement is focused on human rights, rather than national loyalties.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re Chinese, Korean, or Caucasian. Ethnicity doesn’t matter in humanitarianism,” Li said.

The protest was the first in the United States since February 15, when 10 North Korean defectors were arrested by the Chinese government. More than 100 demonstrators rallied outside the Chinese Embassy in Seoul last week.

Caland said that the movement is a perfect opportunity for students to act locally for a global issue.

“It’s nice to put eighth week at UChicago in perspective. We have midterms; they have lives at stake,” he said.

Hairston, Burns fear abuse of power in summit contracts SUMMIT continued from front

potential abuses of power, whether that means bypassing local approval for installation projects related to the summits or levying harsh, $1,000 fines for “passive resistance,” she said in a newsletter to constituents.

“There’s no way to know [how Emanuel spends the money] because the City Council gave away its authority to oversee anything he’s doing,” Hairston said in an interview.

Burns said that the City Council has not been debriefed on the summits’ total costs for security and contracting, although he is certain that federal funding will foot most of the bill, with little council oversight. CPD appropriations are the only expenditures that will involve city money.

“If he doesn’t spend over what’s been appropriated to the police department...

[Emanuel] has the ability to enter into contracts without going through traditional procurement process,” Burns said.

Other councilmen have expressed concern over the city’s executive powers during the summits.

The West Side’s 22nd ward alderman Ricardo Muñoz has proposed a city ordinance that would make it impossible for the CPD to block media communication, such as cell phones and social networking sites. Such measures drew outrage during the revolution in Egypt and the riots in London last year.

Debra Kirby, the CPD’s chief of international relations, reported to Fox News that at least 10,000 protesters and demonstrators are predicted to assemble in the South Loop and downtown during the summits.

According to CBS, Occupy Chicago has called for over 50,000 protesters.

The CPD recently responded to some public outcry following the Chicago Reader’s report that officers were inadequately prepared to handle large crowds.

Toby Chow, one of the main Occupyaffiliated organizers on campus, anticipates that he will be there come May. “I know some people spoke with their aldermen about not having a whole bunch of money spent on [the summits] and how blanket spending authority it really excessive,” he said. “I say, ‘Bravo,’ to all the aldermen who stood up to Mayor Emanuel.”

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VIEWPOINTS

Editorial & Op-Ed FEBRUARY 24, 2012

Coarse registration New course registration site addresses certain issues, but its poorly planned launch creates others The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 ADAM JANOFSKY Editor-in-Chief CAMILLE VAN HORNE Managing Editor MAHMOUD BAHRANI Senior Editor JONATHAN LAI News Editor HARUNOBU CORYNE News Editor SAM LEVINE News Editor EMILY WANG Viewpoints Editor CHARNA ALBERT Arts Editor DANIEL LEWIS Sports Editor VICENTE FERNANDEZ Sports Editor DOUGLAS EVERSON, JR Head Designer KEVIN WANG Web Editor ALICE BLACKWOOD Head Copy Editor DON HO Head Copy Editor GABE VALLEY Head Copy Editor DARREN LEOW Photo Editor JAMIE MANLEY Photo Editor

It’s eighth week, which means the biggest thing on undergrads’ minds is pre-registering for Spring Quarter classes. Though this process is old hat for fourth-years and already familiar to first-years, all students were greeted this time around by a redesigned course registration website. The site, which is in the beta phase of development, comes with a host of positive changes.

Unfortunately, however, the overhaul caught many off guard and has been the subject of complaints from surprised students and faculty alike. Releasing a site that’s a work in progress has many pitfalls, but most importantly it shows that the University has left the campus community unaware and unprepared at a crucial time.

Although students were notified by email last week that the new site would be available starting this Monday, the

notice consisted of a single sentence near the beginning of a lengthy email that contained many minor details about preregistration. Students were given no indication of the extent or nature of the impending changes. As a result, many are now fumbling through a foreign interface without the help of a tutorial at a time when they are under pressure to make important decisions quickly.

Students weren’t the only ones out of the loop. IT Services was asked to demonstrate the site’s new features to College advisers only after its launch, according to a Maroon article published Tuesday. This meant that advisers—whom students rely upon for their procedural knowledge of registration—were just as unfamiliar with the new site. The University not only slowed down the process of preregistration, but also undermined its

own infrastructure for dealing with such problems by not adequately preparing for the update.

Sadly, these missteps overshadow the changes themselves, which are largely laudable. The changes address a common criticism of the registration process by integrating all the services students need. For example, each course is accompanied by timeschedules. uchicago.edu information and links that lead to course and instructor evaluations. Additionally, course descriptions are slated to be on the site soon.

However, there is evidence that this effort to integrate registration tools is incomplete. Clicking on “Course Details” merely refers users to the online catalog and registering by discussion section isn’t even an option. To top it all off, the site is slow to process any

commands you make. All of these bugs raise the question of why the site was opened to the whole community so abruptly when it wasn’t fully ready.

Waiting until the end of Spring Quarter or the next academic year to debut the new site would have allowed the University to provide students with more comprehensive services and the opportunity to learn how to best utilize them. It would do well to put in place a plan to ensure that all students, faculty, and administrators are fully familiar with all the tools now at their disposal the next time pre-registration rolls around. If it does not, the University is sure to see more red faces next quarter.

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

REBECCA GUTERMAN Assoc. News Editor LINDA QIU Assoc. News Editor CRYSTAL TSOI Assoc. News Editor GIOVANNI WROBEL Assoc. News Editor AJAY BATRA Assoc. Viewpoints Editor DAVID KANER Assoc. Viewpoints Editor

Racial recognition Affirmative action gives the role race plays in applicants’ lives the recognition it warrants

TOMI OBARO Assoc. Arts Editor MATTHEW SCHAEFER Assoc. Sports Editor TIFFANY TAN Assoc. Photo Editor TYRONALD JORDAN Business Manager VIVIAN HUA Undergraduate Business Executive VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator HAYLEY LAMBERSON Ed. Board Member HYEONG-SUN CHO Designer SONIA DHAWAN Designer ALYSSA LAWTHER Designer SARAH LI Designer

By Jane Huang Viewpoints Columnist

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The news this past February has been filled with a lot of awkward discussions about race. Pete Hoekstra kicked things off with his ridiculously racist Super Bowl ad. Coverage of the “Amasian” Knicks player Jeremy Lin carried us through most of the month.

And we can look forward to more uncomfortable racial dialogue in the coming weeks now that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided that it will hear an appeal from a rejected

UT-Austin applicant challenging the university’s practice of taking race and ethnicity into account during the admissions process.

A suggestion that I hear fairly often is for race-based affirmative action to be replaced with a classbased system of preferences. But while colleges should be sensitive to the socioeconomic disadvantages faced by their applicants, I don’t see why those two systems can’t coexist. The classic example given to demonstrate why a class-based system is fairer than a race-based system is that a minority whose parents are both affluent doctors from the suburbs shouldn’t be admitted over a poor Caucasian from the inner city if both applicants have comparable qualifications. But how often does this actually happen? At any rate, I am wary of the implication that minorities who are not

economically disadvantaged can’t be disadvantaged in other ways.

This kind of thinking has long been used to dismiss the complaints of Asian Americans because their median income and education levels are higher than those of other Americans.

It may seem odd to use the experience of Asian Americans to speak in defense of affirmative action, since Asian Americans are rarely its direct beneficiaries.

Discrimination against Asian applicants is often cited as another reason that affirmative action is unfair. However, even if Asian Americans are discriminated against in the admissions process, I don’t think it would be productive to endorse policies that would put other minorities at a disadvantage as well. It’s also not immediately obvious that striking down affirmative action

would necessarily be helpful to Asians. Interestingly, the major Supreme Court cases challenging university affirmative action policies (Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, Grutter v.

Bollinger, Gratz v. Bollinger, and now the UT-Austin case) have all involved white applicants. Though the proportion of Asian students in the University of California system increased after Proposition 209 banned consideration of race in the admissions process, the system changed its standardized test policy a few years ago, ostensibly to increase the diversity of its student body. According to the university’s own predictions, the percentage of admitted black students would fall and the percentage of Latino and Native American students would increase only slightly. More significantly, though, the projected RACE continued on page 6

ESTHER YU Copy Editor BEN ZIGTERMAN Copy Editor

Crash course Couchsurfing can provide both guests and hosts with enriching, unexpected experiences

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

The opinions expressed in the Viewpoints section are not necessarily those of the Maroon. © 2012 The Chicago Maroon, Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 Editor-in-Chief Phone: 773.834.1611 Newsroom Phone: 773.702.1403 Business Phone: 773.702.9555 Fax: 773.702.3032 CONTACT News: News@ChicagoMaroon.com Viewpoints: Viewpoints@ChicagoMaroon.com Arts: Arts@ChicagoMaroon.com Sports: Sports@ChicagoMaroon.com Photography: Photo@ChicagoMaroon.com Design: Douglas@ChicagoMaroon.com Copy: CopyEditors@ChicagoMaroon.com Advertising: Ads@ChicagoMaroon.com

By David Kaner Viewpoints Columnist You arrive in a strange new city, perhaps in a foreign country with an unfamiliar language. You are short on cash and even shorter on local knowledge. You don’t even have a place to stay.

Then, to your surprise, a total stranger offers you a place to sleep for a night. It’s a risk, of course.

You meet a few of the stranger’s

friends, who vouch that he is a considerate and friendly host. He even produces a letter, purportedly from another traveler, thanking him for his hospitality. But neither of these things sets your mind at ease completely—the friends could be lying; the letter could be fake. Even so, you take a chance.

This, more or less, is the decision thousands of people make every year, agreeing to be welcomed into the homes of others they know only from their Couchsurfing.com profiles.

Thanks to the Internet, we are witnessing one of the more interesting and large-scale social experiments in trust ever conducted. In the last few months, I’ve noticed, an increasing number of those participants are UChicago students.

Couchsurfing is not without its faults. Safety is a constant concern.

There have been horrific incidents of people being assaulted or taken advantage of by their hosts. Not all guests treat the homes they stay in respectfully. The admins of the Web site have been criticized for turning the organization into a for-profit venture, which derives all its revenue from a voluntary identity verification process.

Yet, by and large, there is much to love about the Couchsurfing experience. More often than not, the profiles you see are brimming with hosts, guests, fellow travelers, and friends praising someone’s generosity, kindness and joie de vivre. And it is, without a doubt, the cheapest way to find accommodations. Nowhere else do you stand a better chance of finding someone to open their home to you and act as your expert guide in a new locale.

The first time I couchsurfed, last summer, it was out of desperation.

A fellow Maroon and I were on a bus to Copenhagen, scheduled to arrive late that night, with no place to stay. I put a plea on the social media site Reddit’s section for Denmark, asking if someone would put us up. I included our Couchsurfing profiles, hoping to prove we would be good guests.

We had no luck that night, but the next morning someone invited us to stay. We spent the next four days in an apartment in a hip, central neighborhood, eating hindbærsnitter, drinking Tuborg, and getting wonderful advice about what to see and do in a city neither of us had been to before.

Staying in a hotel or hostel would not have provided nearly the same level of immersion into Danish culture.

SURF continued on page 6

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | February 24, 2012

6

There’s no such thing as color-blind admissions

U of C students should give couchsurfing a chance

RACE continued from page 5 percentage point increase for admitted white students matched fairly well with the projected percentage point decrease for Asians (+2.3 versus -2.1). Thus, it is too simplistic to blame affirmative action for lowering the admission rates of Asian students when colleges can just move their goalposts as they see fit.

Race isn’t something that can simply be surgically excised from someone’s background.

I’ve heard some people suggest that colleges simply stop asking applicants to check the boxes for race. I am sure that will work. After all, other than my surname, my parents’ names, their colleges, my first language, and my appearance, admissions committees would have had no clues as to what my race is.

Even if it were feasible for colleges to compare letters of recommendation, extracurricular accomplishments, and academic records without any explicit indication of the applicants’ race or ethnicity, who’s to say that race didn’t influence any of those factors? In high school, it was interesting to note how quickly I was pigeonholed as a math and science person, even though few people from my middle school had ever been impressed with my skills in those areas. Although it’s possible that I just magically became kickass at math during the summer before freshman year, I can’t help feeling that the change in perception may have stemmed from the fact that my middle school classmates were predominantly of Asian descent and my high school was much more ethnically mixed.

While it’s not exactly a tragedy if people think you’re good at math, it can be frustrating for everything you do to be viewed through the lens of a single assumption.

Although I don’t always agree with the way that affirmative action is implemented, I do think that the underlying principle is sound.

Affirmative action’s opponents have argued that college admissions ought to be “colorblind.� This notion sounds great until one realizes it doesn’t really make sense. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously declared, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.� I fully support his vision, but it’s obvious that we don’t currently live in a nation where people are not judged by the color of their skin. Colleges ought to be aware of what role race has played in their applicants’ lives. For colleges to ignore race and ethnicity when the rest of society doesn’t would not be a progressive act—it would just be willfully ignorant.

SURF continued from page 5 Since arriving back in the States, I’ve been looking for ways to repay my karmic debt and pass on the hospitality. I finally got a chance this quarter, by hosting a medical student from Bombay, India. Do you know what it’s like to backpack in the Himalayas? Or about the dramatic landscape of Sikkim, one of India’s smallest and most beautiful states? In just a single morning of conversation, I learned so much about his stomping grounds half a world away and had the exciting chance to share a little about mine here in Chicago, too.

Whether surfing or hosting, what matters is that you come face to face with someone who has a different background, a new perspective—a unique and novel view of the world. Their experiences and knowledge no doubt cover places and people and skills you never even knew you wanted to know more about. At a minimum, you are just putting forth or taking up the offer of a place to sleep. But when approached with an open heart and mind, and with a little bit of luck, it may turn into an encounter much richer than that.

So, I am glad that in the past month I’ve been getting a number of Couchsurfing.com friend requests from other UChicagoans—though I stress it is the journey that matters, and not the Web site, for which there are substitutes.

We often complain that Hyde Park is an ivory tower, divorced from real-world experience.

Might I suggest letting the drawbridge down?

Give someone from across the state, or across the ocean, a place to crash.

The next time you travel, throw out what your parents taught you and talk to, even stay with, strangers. It’s a little bit scary; you have to keep safe. But lower your guard a little, and take the plunge. There’s a whole world out there waiting to make your acquaintance.

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel presents...

AS THE INCENSE

A midwinter meditation

Ac\ROg 4SP`cO`g $ %(! ^[ Featuring Thomas Tallis Lamentations and the iconic Spem in alium for forty voices Robert White and Alberto Ginastera Lamentations The Decani/Rockefeller Chapel Choir conducted by James Kallembach in the candlelit magnificence of Rockefeller Chapel Tickets at the door or online at `]QYSTSZZS` cQVWQOU] SRc $25 general seating/$5 student

*Limited number of free student tickets will be available

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David Kaner is a second-year in the College majoring in Law, Letters, and Society.

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ARTS

Trivial Pursuits FEBRUARY 24, 2012

Brotherly love takes a tumble in True West

Andrew Cutler and Connor Settlemire plot each other’s destruction in True West.

COURTESY OF AMANDA FINK

Eric Shoemaker Arts Staff A tale as old as time—the dysfunctional family drama—has gotten hold of Amanda Fink, director of University Theater’s production of True West. “I like very com-

plicated families,” she says with a laugh. “When [UT director] Heidi Coleman told me, ‘Now is the time to direct any show you’ve ever wanted to,’ I immediately said, ‘True West.’” This week, Sam Shepard’s classic work of brotherly love takes a turn for the claus-

trophobic through Fink’s vision.

Shepard’s masterwork is already full of subtle cues and intimacies, from the rhythm of the prose to the technical specifications. True West uses a classic plot: Two brothers, living under the same roof after years of separation, grow increasingly irritated with one another until they snap. Beside the beauty of Shepard’s writing, which in itself is plenty of reason to see the show, you have extremely compressed violence that explodes like fireworks in a small space and brilliant metatheatrical plot devices. There’s also the intriguing issue of reality in this play: The plot and the world of the play are real and imaginable, but Shepard creates an intense sense of surrealism. To quote The San Francisco Chronicle: “If that sounds contradictory, you’re on to one aspect of Shepard’s winning genius,” just as Fink is. “The realism is in the service of making the surreal ending work,” she says. And the ending—according to Fink—is love and loss.

Fink wants to find the love in this play- find the love and track it through the dysfunction to arrive at the real sense of loss that Shepard insinuates. She quotes her favorite line from the show— “This is the last time I try to live with people”—to prove that there really is more of a sense of loss between these brothers than there is of hatred. As in reality, fraternal strife can be violent and exacting, and it creates more problems for the individual than it solves. It also creates special

problems for the actors portraying these close siblings, especially for Connor Settlemire (playing Lee), who does not have a brother.

Andrew Cutler (playing Austin) has helped Settlemire by providing his own family experiences, but notes that because the cast members all know one another offstage, it’s easier to portray the complex onstage relationship. “It’s difficult to tap a shared history as an actor,” Cutler says. To add more difficulty, “we’re playing against type in this show”—Cutler normally plays the “bad” guy and Settlemire plays the “good,” as seen in previous UT productions (Cutler as Lenny in The Homecoming and Settlemire as Horatio in Hamlet.)

TRUE WEST First Floor Theater, The Reynolds Club Saturday 3pm, 8pm

Fink is confident about her casting , especially about the counter-type roles. “We called each of them back for both roles,” she says, “but I fully support the way we cast them.” The strain of this brotherly relationship is what holds up the plot for this small cast, and in the beginning of the process Fink was afraid of the size. The intimacy of the show is, of course, what draws one to it, but Fink “feels comfortable” with large casts, such as her Dean’s Men production

of Henry V last year. After going through True West, she is “glad she got her hands dirty with the acting” and is confident that the result will be wonderful.

The cast ran a scene as part of this interview. The subtle humor of the play is immediately evident and is handled delicately by the two actors, making the scene entertaining to watch and, underneath the surface, uneasily real. Every prop, every movement, is calculated, but remains entirely natural and integrated with the scene. Shepard’s rhythmic dialogue is also handled delicately. All in all, the scene was a fine mesh of composition, just as a Shepard play should be. Molly Fitzmaurice’s set design is also enticing—extremely intimate in this final UT show in the First Floor Theater of the Reynolds Club, and altogether believable. The audience entrance to the space is enclosed within the set, giving it, as Fink says, “a claustrophobia” that continues throughout the production.

“I want everything to be real,” Fink says—and real it is. When the play is done, the stage is a complete mess of real props and set dressings really thrown and really broken, including nine toasters, multiple television sets, and one large typewriter bashed in with a golf club. Real breaking happens, every designer’s nightmare, but here, the specific nightmare of TJ Heins, the intrepid props designer of the heart-heavy and paper-laden the Violet Hour last quarter. Fortunately, Fink says, “My props designer and I are still friends.”

For your consideration: Oscar Predictions Tomi Obaro Associate Arts Editor Well, the Super Bowl’s over and the Grammys were just broadcast, so it’s time for that other big, both important, and utterly facile TV ratings bonanza. You know— the Oscars, when the Hollywood cognoscenti come together to herald the year’s finest works as determined by a cabal of mostly old, mostly white men.

This Sunday at 7:30 p.m. CST in the theater once known as the Kodak, Old Faithful, otherwise known as Billy Crystal will, like a benevolent, Jewish Santa Claus, reign over Hollywood’s biggest night.

Actresses will squeeze themselves into model sample sizes.

Ryan Seacrest and Giuliana Rancic will ask pesky questions to other celebrities, all acting as if they don’t go to the same parties. George Clooney and Brad Pitt will playfully banter. Meryl Streep will inspire mock awe.

Producer Harvey Weinstein will stalk the grounds, unfilmed, quietly conjuring fear in the hearts of his employees. Octavia Spencer will gush about how happy she is just to be there. Lisbeth Salander will make an appearance, playing

the role of a rising Hollywood actress.

And oh yeah, awards will be doled out. Let me go ahead and ruin the suspense for you. Here are the winners: Best Picture: The Artist Pretty much a no-brainer here.

The Artist has been steadily gaining momentum in what was once an wideopen race. The Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, the Critics’ Choice Awards, it’s won them all.

Singin’ in the Rain sans Gene Kelly and catchy showtunes, the cutesy black-and-white picture about a fading leading actor and his new actress dame has wormed its little saccharine self into the Academy’s heart. So alas, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Midnight in Paris, Hugo, and Warhorse—you’re out of luck. Sucks to be you, The Help (as if you really had a chance), esoteric Tree of Life and crowd favorite Moneyball. There might be hope for you, The Descendants, just maybe.

Nominees: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Midnight in Paris, The Help, The Descendants, Tree of Life, Hugo, Moneyball,

Warhorse Best Actor in a Leading Role: George Clooney Jean Dujardin is the favorite, but the Oscars like to throw in a little surprise every now and then.

Last year was so predictable, what with the dull King’s Speech sweeping all the majors, that maybe the Academy will rethink things and throw a bone to its reigning maestro. Alas, Mexican-born Demián Bichir, the only actor of color nominated this year, is out of luck, lauded though his performance was. Did you watch Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? No? Neither did most people in the Academy, so Gary Oldman, one of those criminally under-recognized prestige actors, will have to settle for the honor of being nominated.

As for Brad Pitt, the Newman to Clooney’s Redford (according to online magazine Slate, anyway)— tough luck, dude. Even with all the controversial Jennifer Aniston quotations from the summer, you just weren’t able to garner enough support.

Top: Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo in The Artist.

Nominees: Demián Bichir, George Clooney, OSCARS continued on page 9

COURTESY OF THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY

Bottom: George Clooney in The Descendants.

COURTESY OF FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | February 24, 2012

8

The Dog days have just begun Lily Gordon Arts Staff Last Friday, Dr. Dog invited me to the recording studio. While I was there, we danced, jammed, sang, and rocked. The six-member indie rock band played material from its latest album, Be The Void, and it was really good.

Well, they didn’t actually invite me personally. We were at The Vic Theatre, and there happened to be about 1,400 other fans present—but it felt like it was just the band members, the music, and me.

The stage had been elaborately transformed into Dr. Dog’s own cozy “recording studio,” with hanging psychedelic artwork, Persian rugs, and a fireplace with a fake stuffed lion head mounted over it. Lamps sat atop multicolored stained glass end tables, and the backdrop resembled an apartment wallpapered with various Dr. Dog posters. The combination of this homey, authentic décor and an organic, uncomplicated performance brought the audience into a recording session with the indie-rock standout band. Despite the wonderfully eccentric and slightly chaotic stage, the décor did not overwhelm the band’s intimate musical performance. An expert blend of professionalism and genuineness, the show was well worth the $22 cost of admission.

Because Dr. Dog and I share

the same hometown, I’ve seen the group in concert several times, and I’ve always enjoyed its music, presentation, and energ y. (The band often spends an extra night performing in Philly during its tours, showing appreciation for its city and original fan base.)

But this concert introduced me to a new Dr. Dog—one that is bigger and better than ever. The band’s passion was clearly evident, and the ensemble moved around the stage just enough to keep things interesting, without causing distraction. This concert was all about the music.

Dr. Dog started with “That Old Black Hole,” the second track on Be The Void, which was released on February 7 via the ANTI- record label. Scott McMicken’s unmistakable voice opened strong with this quintessential Dr. Dog tune. Featuring guitar, drums, keyboard, outer space-like sound effects, and a catchy hook, this song set the mood for the concert.

The flannel- and sweater-clad crew continued with some earlier, favored repertoire—“Stranger” from 2010’s Shame, Shame, and “The Breeze” and “The Ark” from 2008’s Fate kept the audience singing—until the band emerged with another gem from the new CD. “Lonesome,” the opening track on the new album, warranted head bangs, cheers, and claps from the audience. The twang y, bluesy tune, featuring

Lead guitarist Scott McMicken of the rock group Dr. Dog plays during a concert on Saturday night at The Vic Theatre.

COURTESY OF LILY GORDON

slide guitar, added a new layer to Dr. Dog’s music.

The audience jammed to more of the band’s most popular tracks, including “From” and “Worst Trip.” The four-song encore ended with—what else?—a raspy rendition of “Heart It Races” by singer and bassist Toby Leaman.

The band’s well-known cover of the Australian indie-pop band

Architecture in Helsinki’s tune, originally released in 2007, is a Dr. Dog concert staple.

The band’s recorded tracks and live performances of the songs from Be The Void were catchy, loose, and creative. In concert and on the new album, the band exhibits traces of inspiration from The Beatles, The Kinks, blues, and psychedelia—a ’60s throw-

back, British invasion sound with a contemporary indie twist. Best of all, Dr. Dog is an original and musically mature band. Listen to “These Days,” track three on Be The Void, which should be the next indie-rock hit.

After more than 12 years of writing, performing, and recording, it’s obvious that Dr. Dog is in its prime.

Rice’s latest novel has bark but no bite

Anne Rice’s new book, The Wolf Gift.

COURTESY OF KNOPF

Angela Qian Arts Staff Starry-eyed Reuben Golding (or “Sunshine Boy” to his fond but patronizing family), a young, pretty-faced journalist from San Francisco, feels constrained, underappreciated, and out of place—until he receives a gift

that helps him develop a backbone.

This gift leads to Reuben’s self-actualization in Anne Rice’s latest novel, The Wolf Gift, ultimately a lackluster spin on the werewolf story.

For Anne Rice, whose reputation and name are due in large part to the success of her vampire

novels, The Wolf Gift is a departure not only from the muchloved cohorts of the blood-sucking Lestat, but from the ancient settings of her previous novels.

The Wolf Gift is thoroughly modern, replete with iPhones and Wifi.

The Wolf Gift also comes after Rice underwent many major religious reversals, including her 1998 return to Roman Catholicism after decades of calling herself an atheist, and leaving the church— though not her faith—in 2010.

These life changes are reflected in her work, but in comparison to her original vampire novels, this werewolf one falls short of the mark.

The opening scene is rich with mystery and potential: A naïve young journalist is sent to write about the selling of a massive, romantic old house straight out of a poet’s dream.

The house is filled to the brim with mysterious cuneiform tablets, the journals of a man who went missing years ago, and an alluring older woman with a tragic family history. He immediately falls in love with both the house and the woman, Marchent Nideck. But things inevitably go wrong : The woman is murdered and a beast bites poor, idealistic Reuben Golding, giving him the ability to change into a werewolf.

Rice tries to make the werewolf story fresh and novel; instead of turning in a wolf for example, Reuben transforms into a hybrid

muscle-bound warrior with lots of fur and teeth. He can smell the “scent of evil” so he murders would-be criminals, rapists, and killers. He is ironically assigned to write articles on the very persona he nightly assumes; he regenerates from bullet wounds and also turns into a stunning specimen of masculine beauty.

He prefers to call himself “Man Wolf ” as opposed to “werewolf.”

But although Rice attempts to instill a sense of morality throughout the novel, with Reuben reflecting on his right to kill the evildoers whom he decapitates and bludgeons on a near-nightly basis, a priest’s protest against Reuben’s killings and Reuben’s own refusal to feel guilty are glossed over and ultimately left dangling. There is simply not enough mention of whether it is acceptable for him to take the lives of those he sniffs out in evil acts.

Instead, Rice fills the novel with Reuben’s romantic flings, including his short-lived but apparently very deep connection to Marchent and his quick, almost unthinking breakup with his long-time lawyer girlfriend.

He leaves her to pursue a relationship with a widowed woman named Laura whom he finds alone in the woods while in his Man Wolf form.

The relationship soon develops into an all-consuming love and passion (with considerable amounts of bestiality), and of course, she understands him and

accepts him unconditionally, murders and all.

Rice also devotes much of the novel to descriptions of Reuben on the hunt, the potency of his senses in his new form, and develops many questions which—for the most part— remain unanswered about “Morphenkind,” as the werewolves are dubbed.

The plot jumps around quickly ,and only superficially touches Reuben’s increased estrangement from his family, the anguish he has brought on to his older brother with his sacrosanct confessionals, and the eventual devolution into some kind of Russian mad-doctor villain scenario. By skimming over the relationships and emotional moments, The Wolf Gift ends up being far from compelling.

The plot does manage to keep from growing too stale with the well-timed introduction of new characters that offer tantalizing hints into the history of Morphenkind.

Rice does a good job of keeping the reader interested in what will happen next, setting up suspense and never allowing the unanswered questions to pile so high that the story becomes impossible to follow, though the end of the novel does become rather jam-packed with last-minute descriptions. Unfortunately, The Wolf Gift’s considerable 400-page length make it quite heavy for light reading, and it ultimately leaves no resounding question or fresh, novel perspective.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | February 24, 2012

H U N G E R

9

Oscars promise to be a predictable and outdated affair

S T R I K E

Now that’s what I call meat!

Iliya Gutin Arts Staff Publican Quality Meats, or PQM as it’s known by those in the know (OK, just me), is the kind of old-school butcher/specialty grocer/reluctant restaurant that you get after a night of intense lovemaking between a Polish meat market and an Italian deli. And to make it a true ménage à trois, a French bakery got in on some of the action.

Fortunately, PQM manages to encompass hundreds and hundreds of years of European meatmaking-magic (last meaty alliteration, I promise), without the hundreds and hundreds of years of European attitude. And who better than I to reap these benefits and eat these hot dog links? All it

Publican Quality Meats 837 West Fulton Market

took was some sharpening of that meat slicer to get me ready for far more than just a bit of the old ultra-sausage. Or should I say über-sausage? Yes, I should, because the charcuterie plate at PQM puts many of the similar yet overpriced monstrosities in this city to shame.

On this fine winter’s eve, the meats came from far and wide across the carnivorous spectrum; a PMQ greatest hits compilation, Now That’s What I Call Meat! Volume 1. And the playlist was spot -on. There was oil -poached pork loin with some kind of cabbage slaw, tender and succulent like a pork chop with a Michelin pedigree, though the un-rendered fat trimmings were a bit unappetizing, to say the least. And razor-thin salami was as vibrantly red as it was piquant, without having any of that greasy sheen or mouthfeel. The prosciutto was fantastic, as most prosciutto is, empirically speaking (trust me, I have personally subjected this hypothesis to vigorous testing). And a headcheeseish, pâté-esque assembly of fat morsels and porky goodness was like a thick mortadella sausage, not content to a fate of sandwich- filling and bologna

comparisons. Perhaps the only misfire in the bunch was some kind of braised beef with a plum/peach mostarda; the beef had the texture of an unraveling ball of yarn, while the mostarda was so overwhelmingly sweet (and not mustard-y) that you would be best served eating it for dessert. Then again, if I didn’t so ravenously devour everything in sight and had planned out my meat progression slightly better, a higher balance of flavors could easily have been achieved. Nonetheless, with the addition of some rye bread, a scattering of cornichons and pickled peppers, and a nice smear of whole-grain mustard, the charcuterie selection attained a level of perfection rivaled only by a Whitman’s sampler box sans the dreaded coconut and cherry cordial poison pills.

But wait, there’s more! Turkey sandwiches, pork belly “gyros,” and muffuletta galore! PMQ stays true to its Italian delicatessen roots with a nice selection of high-concept sandwiches. Most prominently featured is the Albacore Tuna Muffuletta, sitting there on top of the counter in all its by-the-slice hubcapsized glory. The butcher recommended the Train to Tuscany—a proponent of alliteration myself, how could I resist? The ensuing presentation might have been less of a sandwich and more one of those appetizer -or tapas-style deals that you nibble on before an entrée. But the creamy, gooey ricotta, crisp radicchio, salami, and an underlying balsamic sweetness, all atop some gorgeous focaccia, exclaimed “All aboard! Next stop, Flavor Town!”

My other selection was the Lamb Meatball Sandwich, which, while not as excitingly titled as the previous choice, more than made up for the lack of creativity with a firebombing of flavor. The delicate little lamb meatballs were gently caressed in a pillowy, buttery lobster roll and lovingly tucked in with a blanket of slaw, mint, and Shepherd’s cheese.

This is the epitome of comfort food, delicious beyond any shadow of a doubt. If you don’t smile while chomping down on this sandwich, you’re probably one of those people that thought A Walk to Remember was a romantic comedy…you sick bastard. But I can’t lie: Sometimes it’s the simple touches, both in terms of ingredients and preparation, that make all the difference. In the case of the Train to Tuscany, the luscious ricotta makes you

wish that cheese were more socially acceptable as a condiment, while the sweet lobster roll accompanying the lamb meatballs should become the gold standard of sandwich breads. Even the chips and pickle that come with both sandwiches defy their customary role as an afterthought – an inedible edible garnish. The chips are good and thick, like if those artisan kettle chips manned up and grew a pair, while the crisp pickle has a surprisingly spicy finish, almost like a palate cleanser. Together, they actually serve a purpose and demonstrate that care and attention went into ALL of the elements in your meal. Kudos to Chef Kahan.

So does PMQ take the place of your friendly neighborhood grocer? Sure—much in the same Kobe beef is a good candidate for making jerky. For the most part the prices are more than reasonable, and not every item for sale is venison or squab. In its current iteration PMQ certainly comes close to rivaling its “pig bro,” at least when it comes to the quality of product and abiding respect for the hog; though if you have yet to enjoy a meal at the latter, it’s still like comparing ham hocks to tenderloins.

But may I suggest a modest proposal? Take one of those “mental health” days everyone talks about, put your dignity on the backburner, and shuttle back and forth between the two, enjoying the best of pork worlds.

The strange sounds emanating from the belly of the Reg Tuesday afternoon were not, for once, the groans of overworked students, but instead the music of composer, sound artist, and sculptor Howard Sandroff. The founder and current director of the University of Chicago’s Computer Music Studio was giving a performance to show off his latest untitled “sound sculpture,” an ungainly and somewhat unsightly work of art consisting of two sheets of hammered low-carbon steel, skewered through with metal spikes.

The performance, as unusual as the featured sculpture, was held in conjunction with the opening of an exhibit, The Music of Howard Sandroff and the Computer Music Studio at the University of Chicago, also located in the Reg. The exhibit, one year in the making, displays historical computer (electronic) music paraphernalia, including a theremin and an analog synthesizer. Sandroff invited former student and University of Chicago graduate Ben Sutherland, now a music professor at Columbia College Chicago, to perform a concert to kick off the exhibit’s premier.

Described by Sandroff as an “improvised” work (there was no score), the concert consisted of Sutherland hitting, poking, and pounding the metal sculpture, which was connected to a series of amplifiers. The sounds and frequen-

cies created were then digitally manipulated, in real-time, by Sandroff, using a laptop computer and a board of switches that looked like a sampling machine. Speakers located around the room transmitted the sounds; noises bounced from one side of the room to the other as Sandroff directed the flow of the music.

The music itself was decidedly unstructured; as is common with computer music, there was no discernable melody or meter. Instead, various motifs weaved throughout the haze of metallic sounds. A prominent early “theme,” created by stretching a contrabass bow around the circumference of the sculpture, was sampled

by Sandroff and repeatedly echoed, squeaks and squeals becoming low groans as the sounds were layered to oblivion. Clearly practiced in dealing with bizarre instruments, Sutherland made use of an odd array of tools, including the bow, several percussion mallets, and wire brushes, as he navigated the bumpy, unwieldy surface of the metal. The timbres he created, with help from Sandroff ’s computer, ranged from high-pitched screeches to gamelan-like tones, some unsettling, others lush.

At one point toward the middle of the piece, Sutherland eschewed his instruments and started plucking the tops of the spikes with his fingers. Despite the inherent strangeness of the scene and the alien qualities of the sounds produced, there was still an air of intimacy in the moment: The crowd of about 30–40 people could see the music as much as it could

COURTESY OF DREAMWORKS

OSCARS continued from page 7 Jean Dujardin, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt

4 out of 5 forks

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Viola Davis

“

This is the epitome of comfort food, delicious beyond any shadow of a doubt.

”

Artist uses computer sculpture to create music Scotty Campbell Arts Staff

Viola Davis in The Help.

hear it. Sandroff succeeded with his sculptural and musical creation: The concert was an intriguing glimpse into the strange world of computer music.

The Music of Howard Sandroff and the Computer Music Studio at the Universityof Chicago is located on the third floor of the Regenstein Library and runs through June 29.

Meryl Streep could swoop in to clench the Oscar from Viola’s grasp, but the Academy can’t resist the chance to look more progressive than it actually is. So rest assured, Viola Davis, looking fabulous no doubt, will take the stage and deliver a tear-inducing speech about how she grew up dirt -poor in Rhode Island, graduated from Juilliard, and worked steadily on the stage to finally win an Oscar for playing…a maid. A fitting end to a tragic Black History Month, if you ask me. Alas, Glenn Close, another one of those really-she’s-never-won-an-Oscar?!?? actors and Michelle Williams, who has quietly, consistently raked in stellar performances over the years. And Lisbeth Salander, I mean Rooney Mara, should just be happy she’s in such esteemed company.

Nominees: Glenn Close, Viola Davis, Rooney Mara, Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams >>For more Arts coverage, visit www.chicagomaroon.com.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | February 24, 2012

MEN’S BASKETBALL

In Midwest Invitational, individuals vie for Nationals

UAA Standings Rank School 1 Washington (MO) 2 Emory 3 NYU 4 Rochester 5 Chicago 6 Brandeis 7 Carnegie 8 Case Western

Record 18–6 (10–3) 19–5 (8–5) 19–5 (8–5) 16–8 (7–6) 14–10 (7–6) 13–11 (7–6) 8–16 (3–10) 10–14 (2–11)

Win % .750 .792 .792 .667 .583 .542 .333 .417

Points Rank Player 1 Matt Johnson 2 Jake Davis John DiBartolomeo 3 4 Austin Claunch 5 Dylan Richter

School Chicago Emory Rochester Emory Washington (MO)

PPG 20.6 15.9 13.0 13.0 12.5

Rebounds Rank Player 1 Tom Summers 2 Austin Fowler 3 David Thompson 4 Jake Davis 5 Youri Dascy

School Case Western Case Western Case Western Emory Brandeis

RPG 7.9 7.3 7.1 7.0 6.9

Assists Rank Player 1 Austin Claunch John DiBartolomeo 2 3 Tyrone Hughes 4 Ryan Tana 5 Dean Jordan

School Emory Rochester Brandeis NYU Case Western

APG 7.3 5.8 5.3 4.1 3.8

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL UAA Standings Rank School 1 Chicago 2 Washington (MO) 3 Rochester 4 Emory 5 Case Western 6 Carnegie 7 NYU 8 Brandeis

Record 24–0 (13–0) 20–4 (10–3) 19–5 (8–5) 17–7 (8–5) 14–10 (7–6) 9–15 (3–10) 10–14 (2–11) 8–16 (1–12)

Win % 1.000 .833 .792 .708 .583 .375 .417 .333

MEN’S TRACK & FIELD 5,000 Meter Run Rank 1 2 3 4 5

School Chicago Washington (MO) Washington (MO) Washington (MO) Washington (MO)

Athlete Billy Whitmore Kevin Sparks Ryan Senci David Hamm Elliott Petterson

Time 14:38.63 14:50.96 15:02.31 15:03.05 15:04.64

WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD 5,000 Meter Run Rank 1 2 3 4 5

School Brandeis Washington (MO) Washington (MO)

Carnegie NYU

Athlete Kate Warwick Lucy Cheadle Molly Wawrzyniak Emily Wobb Paige Zelinsky

Time 17:06.74 17:22.79 17:43.03 17:44.24 17:44.42

MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING 200 Freestyle Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

School Emory Emory Emory Chicago Emory Washington (MO) Washington (MO)

Swimmer Time Jacob Stephens 1:40.57 Sean Ransenberg 1:41.96 Jeffrey Simpson 1:42.21 Andrew Salomon 1:42.22 Andrew Dillinger 1:42.33 Christopher Valach 1:42.81 Mark Minowitz 1:42.94

WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING 200 Freestyle Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

School Emory Emory Emory Emory Emory Emory Carnegie

Swimmer Whitley Taylor Anne Culpepper Ann Wolber Jennifer Pak Courtney McDermott

Anne Dobben Soleil Phan

Time 1:50.99 1:51.21 1:51.79 1:52.48 1:52.90 1:52.94 1:53.94

WRESTLING UAA Results Rank 1 2 3

School NYU Chicago Case Western

Record 12–9 6–6 0–12

Win % .571 .500 .000

The women’s swimming team awaits the starting whistle at a swim meet earlier this season in the Ratner Athletics Center.

JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Women’s Swimming & Diving Lianne Rousseau Sports Staff As the weekend approaches, the Maroons are gearing up for their last home meet of the year: the Midwest Invitational. Chicago will host a variety of swimmers looking to improve their individual times in order to qualify for Nationals. The meet takes place at the Myers-McLoraine pool on Friday and Saturday.

“There are two main purposes for the Midwest Invite: to serve as a final meet for the swimmers who were unable to travel to conference and to be a last-chance meet for anyone trying to improve season times

and/or make national qualifying times,” third-year swimmer Kathleen Taylor said.

Training for the meet has been intense.

Not only are the athletes still looking to qualify for Nationals pushing themselves for their last shot to compete, but those who have already qualified are also using the meet as part of their preparation for Nationals. This training, combined with the pressure to qualify, contributes to this meet’s nickname: “the last chance meet.”

Although not all of the Maroon swimmers and divers will be participating, the entire team will be out in support.

“The entire team, regardless of whether they are swimming in the meet or not, will be there cheering on our teammates and trying to get them as psyched as possible

for their races,” Taylor said. “Having the support of the team while going into the start of a race really helps fight through the mental and physical pain that may be coming, so we hope that we can be there to support our fellow teammates.”

Riding on the support of their teammates and the high of finishing in second place at the UAA Conference Championships, the swimmers and divers participating in this weekend’s Midwest Invitational plan to take full advantage of their “last chance” to qualify.

To follow the action of the meet, stop by the Myers-McLoraine pool this Friday and Saturday during the day. You can also follow the progress online at athletics.uchicago.edu.

Improvement is goal at conference championship in New York Women’s Track Jake Walerius Sports Staff After eight weeks of training and competitive preparation, the UAA Championship is finally here for women’s track and field.

The Maroons have their sights set on a thirdplace finish in New York this weekend and hope to close the gap between themselves and conference front-runners Wash U and Emory.

“My expectations are that we do better on paper than the level we’ve come in at,” head coach Chris Hall said. “I don’t believe we’re going to be able to catch the top two teams, but we’d like to get closer.

It would be unrealistic for us to think we’ll make the jump to beat those teams, but it would be foolish to think we’re not going to make a jump at all.”

“I think we should be shooting for a close third behind Wash U and Emory,” third-year Julia Sizek said. “Emory tends to dominate the sprints and Wash U has a really well-rounded team, but it would be great to mix it up with them in individual events.”

Chicago isn’t the only team challenging for third place. Case Western and NYU also head into the weekend expectantly. The Maroons hold the edge over both teams in the conference honor rolls, but for the first time this season, those lists will mean relatively little. It’s all about who performs on the day.

“Case hasn’t competed in many meets this year, and they could take a big step forward this weekend,” Hall said. “We know what NYU has got, but

I think Case could make a leap forward. On paper, NYU is the next closest team to us, but in reality it might be Case.”

The Maroons have eight athletes currently in the top five of the conference honor rolls for their individual events. Compare that to 18 from Emory and 16 from Wash U and you begin to get an idea of the gap Chicago is trying to close, but every point counts, and the Maroons’ highly ranked athletes will be expected to lead the way.

Third-year Kayla McDonald is ranked second in the 800-meter, second-year Michaela Whitelaw sits fifth in the mile, first-year Dern is second in the weight throw and fourth in the shot put, and firstyear Kelly Wood is fourth in the weight throw.

It is in the jumps, however, that the Maroons appear to have the most strength in depth. Firstyear Pam Yu, fourth-year Madison Allen, and fourth-year Lauren Adler are ranked second, third, and fourth respectively in the triple jump, and Yu is ranked third in the long jump. Fourthyear Paige Peltzer, after only one competitive performance this season, is third in the conference in the high jump.

“I’m really excited to compete [with] Pam. We do really well against each other in competition because we push each other,” Allen said. “I’m also excited to compete with Lauren Adler because she’s been out for the past two weeks. We’ll all use each other as motivation, and I think we’ll make it hard for Emory and Wash U to score as many points as they want to in the jumps.”

But, as important as those athletes will be to Chicago’s success on the weekend, Hall is careful to put their contribution into perspective.

“We’re going to have some people vying for higher positions than others, but this is a team weekend,” he said. “For me, someone being seeded second and finishing second is a great accomplishment, but somebody else who’s seeded tenth and moves to sixth and scores a point—that’s what I want to see. Those performances are probably more important than the high finishers who match their seeds. I’m looking forward to see who improves.”

In a season that has been plagued by injury and illness, improvement is probably the best word to characterize the Maroons’ year so far. Several key athletes returning from injury will give the team another boost before competition gets underway this Saturday.

Along with Peltzer, fourth-year Jane Simpson, who has begun competing again in the last few weeks, and Adler, who has missed the last two, will be available this weekend. And even if these athletes are a little behind in terms of preparation, their experience and attitude can have a big influence.

“The best team we could put out there will be out there,” Hall said. “Even if some of them aren’t completely healthy, they’re going to go out there and compete. And that’s a great attitude. That tells me that our kids want to do well.”

“Our entire indoor season leads up to this meet,” Allen said. “We’ve been having fun, but in the past few weeks you can tell that everyone is bringing more focus to practice and making workouts count in an effort to perform well this weekend.”

The UAA Championship gets underway at 5 p.m. Saturday and continues through Sunday.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | February 24, 2012

Halfhill: “In the big scheme of things, it really means everything to our senior class” W.BBALL continued from back

the finality of it that we’ve had in other years.”

Chicago will be facing the task of defeating a Wash U team that is both efficient offensively and suffocating defensively. This is mostly credited to coach, Nancy Fahey, who is now in her 26th season with the team, and is unmatched in terms of credentials on the DIII level. Fahey’s teams have won five national titles, including the four straight that Wash U won during a stretch between 1998 and 2001.

In that stretch, Wash U posted the second-longest winning streak in NCAA women’s basketball history, at 81 games. Fahey ranks third among all active NCAA coaches, with a .849 winning percentage.

“She’s just a great coach,”Roussell said. “You know you have to be on your game, you know you have to have your team prepared, you know you have to coach well that game. I feel like I’ve learned a lot from her and I’ve enjoyed competing against her. I feel fortunate to have gone against someone like that.”

Although they have a balanced attack, Wash U guard Dani Hoover is the backbone of the offensive.

Hoover is a deadly shooter, both from the field and from beyond the arc. Don’t plan on fouling her late, either—Hoover shoots a robust 80 percent from the charity stripe. Wash U has also developed several weapons throughout the

Second-year Julie Muguira dribbles past the opposing defense in a game earlier this season.

JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

year, including first-year forward Melissa Gilkey, who is the only other double–digit scorer for the Bears, with 10.4 points per game.

“They just have a lot of kids that can score. I think that’s scary as an opposing coach,” Roussell said.

“It’s not just one or two people that you have to shut down...and that’s difficult to prepare for and difficult to defend.”

With a win, Chicago would

also cement an undefeated season, an unprecedented event in Maroon basketball history. Chicago players have deflected questions about an undefeated season all year, saying that it would simply be an extension of focusing and winning each game individually. This game, however, is a little different.

“We really aren’t concerned with having an undefeated sea-

son, we’re just focused on winning on Saturday and beating Wash U. We’re looking forward to the game,” said fourth-year guard Bryanne Halfhill. “Even if it doesn’t have anything to do with the tournament, in the big scheme of things, it really means everything to our senior class after last year.”

Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday at Ratner.

Chicago aims for increased representation at NCAAs

Men’s Tennis

Men’s Swimming and Diving

On Friday the Chicago men’s tennis team will be competing in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Championship tournament, hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. The eight-team tournament will feature some of the top talents in DIII tennis from around the nation.

Emory is placed at the top of the tournament lineup and comes into the first round ranked second in the country. Emory is followed by #3 Wash U, #6 UC Santa Cruz, #7 Kenyon, # 8 Pomona-Pitzer, #10 Trinity, the #11 Maroons, and Gustavus Adolphus. The host college is the only unranked team participating in the tournament.

Chicago is set to face off against Wash U in the first round in what is sure to be a heated and hardly contested round of matches. “The key to our success will be our doubles performance, since it’s always really tight against good teams. I am confident about our singles,” second-year Alex Golovin said.

The Wash U team features the Putterman brothers, Adam and Ross, both of whom are among the best in country. Adam is ranked

Maroons look to send off veterans with home win M.BBALL continued from back

ITA tournament brings together nation’s best Shayan Karbassi Sports Contributor

11

third nationally and first in the Central division, while his brother Ross is ranked 25th nationally and sixth in the Central division.

The competition will not be any lighter in doubles play. WashU has three ranked duos: Max Franklin and Kevin Chu, ranked 12th nationally and third in the division; the Puttermans, ranked fifth in the division; and Kareem Farah and Cameron Chiang, who are ranked 24th in the Central division.

“I expect Wash U to come out aggressive, but if we hold our ground we can win,” Golovin said.

The Wash U Bears may be impressive, but so are the 11th -ranked Maroons, who until last Sunday had been undefeated.

"I think this will be a good time for us to relax and play our best.

We've been a bit tense out there recently, and this will be a good time to bounce back from our loss against Whitewater last week," interim head coach Taka Bertrand said.

If the men defeat the Bears, they will then face off against the winner of the UC Santa Cruz and Trinity games. And likewise, if Chicago loses it will face the loser of the Santa Cruz and Trinity matchup.

The men will play today at 11:30 a.m. and, if the tournament goes as hoped, won’t be returning until Sunday.

For more Sports coverage, visit www.chicagomaroon.com.

Sarah Langs Sports Staff With the UAA Championship out of the way, the men’s swimming and diving team has one meet left on the season: the Midwest Invitational. Chicago will look to add depth heading into the NCAA Championship with a strong showing at home this weekend.

“A lot of schools will be attending the meet, but most will only be bringing a few swimmers. This meet is more of a last chance for swimmers to get some fast times and possibly qualify for NCAAs,” head coach Jason Weber said.

Given this purpose, the team’s preparation has been varied. Some swimmers

already qualified for NCAAs during the UAA Championship meet, while others did not but remain hopeful.

“Some [swimmers] are going up in work and yardage training for the NCAA Championship, and some are continuing their taper and rest to try and swim fast this weekend,” Weber said.

Being this close to the NCAA Championship and the end of the season, much of the team’s focus becomes individual.

“Already some of us have B times, but want to go faster because they might not be selected for the national meet,” firstyear swimmer Andrew Salomon said.

Weber echoed this mentality.

“If we go fast, then we might qualify for NCAAs and knock some other swimmers from other schools out. We won’t know who will qualify until the end of the week,” he said.

Unfortunately for the Maroons, there have been many fourth-years that have missed games due to injuries and other unexpected circumstances. Most notably, guard Chase Davis’s season, and therefore his Chicago career, came to a close when he collided knees with an opponent during a contest against Illinois Wesleyan on December 10. Guard Tommy Sotos and forwards Stephen Palmtag and Tom Williams have all recently returned.

With the efforts the fourth-years have put in these past four years, it is easy to understand why McGrath acknowledges the emotion that will be involved against Wash U. “There are a lot of close and good guys in this group, and we’ve had a lot of fun together,” he said.

Saturday will also be the last time the fans can come out and support the Maroons this season.

“Sending those guys off with a good feeling will be especially nice,” McGrath said.

Ultimately, this game is a chance for Chicago to prove that it is one of the nation’s best teams, even if its record might claim otherwise.

“It’s our last chance to go at it together,” McGrath said. “That’ll be hard, and hopefully that’ll be fun.”

The Maroons tip off at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Ratner Athletics Center.

The Midwest Invitational seems like a good way to finish off the season.

“The meet should have some exciting swims,” first-year swimmer Andrew Angeles said.

After the Invitational, the team hopes to have a number of swimmers still preparing for the NCAA Championship.

Though it is not yet time to reflect on the season as a whole, regardless of the number of swimmers who qualify for NCAAs, team members will feel satisfied with the way the season played out.

“This season was great. We bonded as a team, in addition to swimming very well,” Angeles said.

The first events of the Midwest Invitational will begin at 6 p.m. today in the Myers-McLoraine Pool.

The meet will continue at 10 a.m. on Saturday, February 25.

UAA meet to take place at historic track and field site, The Armory M.TRACK continued from back

end.”

In the postseason, statistics don’t matter. Records don’t matter. And others’ expectations, others’ predictions, others’ concerns don’t matter. It’s one important meet: a meet where the eight teams are in top form, a meet where present results, not past finishes, mean everything.

“I really think we have a good shot at scoring in a lot of events,” Mandato said. “In big meets, anything can happen, especially at this time of the season where ev-

eryone’s going to be peaking. So I think you can expect to see a lot of surprises not just from us, but from the other teams as well.

“I think that’s what the whole point of our training is: we’ve been preparing for this meet the entire year… We’re going to see a lot of PRs, we’re going to see a lot of big things happen.”

The grandeur of the host site isn’t lost on the team. Just two weeks ago, The Armory hosted the 105th Millrose Games, the most historic indoor track and field event in the world. And now

the members of the UAA have a chance to make their mark, and to cross their soles with those of legends.

“The Armory is the most famous indoor track in the United States. A lot of great distance runners have run there,” Whitmore said. “Just to be able to compete there would be great. It’s a very historic place, and when you go to a place like that, you’ve got to raise your performance.”

Saturday’s competition starts at 5 p.m.; Sunday’s, at 10 a.m.

Let the action begin.

SPORTS

IN QUOTES “Let’s be honest: Jeremy Lin did what LeBron James could not last year. He brought out the best in the Miami Heat.”

—FoxSports’s Bill Reiter on last night’s eight-turnover performance by New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin.

Wash U, revenge, One last Bear-fight in season finale and a perfect record Men’s Basketball

Women’s Basketball Mahmoud Bahrani Senior Editor On paper, the game between Wash U (20–4, 10–3) and Chicago (24–0, 13–0) tomorrow night means little. Chicago has already locked up the conference and an NCAA automatic bid, and barring a devastating blowout loss, Chicago probably won’t move from their #2 rank in the country and #1 rank in the Midwest.

But in the last few years, the Wash UChicago rivalry has escalated to an entirely different level. Last year, Wash U made a furious comeback in Chicago, but wound up losing the game as a result of a Morgan Herrick block that sent the Ratner Athletic Center crowd to its feet. In St. Louis, Chicago fought their way to another win, becoming part of an elite and exclusive group of teams that had beaten Wash U in their building. The two rivals met again in the postseason, with the winner advancing to the Final Four.

A battle-tested Wash U clamped down defensively and defeated Chicago by five points, Chicago’s first loss in nearly three months.

To say that the rivalry is anything but heated would be an understatement.

The Maroons, to head coach Aaron Roussell’s credit, have not strayed from the one-game-at-atime mentality that has been their motto all season.

“I want to go out and win every game, and this Satur-

day is no different,” Meghan Herrick said. Meghan Herrick struggled offensively in St. Louis, scoring only two points on 1–6 shooting from the field. However, the one shot she made came at a critical point in the contest, with Chicago up one with less than a minute left on the clock. Chicago went on to win 62–59.

“I mean, as always, it’s one game at a time,” said fourth-year guard Bryanne Halfhill. Halfhill came alive offensively against Wash U, scoring 19 points off 7 of 11 shooting from the field and 5–8 shooting from beyond the arc. “However, this still seems like in the back of my mind that it’s the game, even if it doesn’t mean much for the tournament.

It’s more about just winning on senior night and possibly our last home game. I think each of us seniors just wants to do it for the other.”

This Saturday will be Senior Night for Chicago, which ordinarily means that instead of the regular starting lineup, all the fourth-years are given an opportunity to start. This year, however, that just means the Maroons will be trotting out the same starting five they’ve had for two years straight: Meghan Herrick, Morgan Herrick, Taylor Simpson, Bryanne Halfill, and Joann Torres.

“We’ll allow ourselves to get sentimental, maybe after the game,”Roussell said.

“I think our kids are just so focused, and I don’t think it’s really hit any of us that the end is near. We’ll make sure we celebrate those guys, but there’s just not W.BBALL continued on page 11

C AL ENDAR Come support the Maroons at their last home game of the season against Wash U!

Friday

2/24

- Swimming & Diving hosts Midwest Invite, 6 p.m.

- Men’s Tennis @ ITA Championships vs.

Washington-St. Louis, 11:30 p.m.

2/24 1 p.m.

3 p.m.

- Swimming & Diving hosts Midwest Invite, 10 a.m.

- Track & Field @ UAA Championships 2 p.m.

- Women’s Tennis @ ITA Championships

Sunday

2/26

- Track & Field @ UAA

Saturday

2/25

- Wrestling @ Great Lakes Regional 9 a.m.

What has been an emphatic four years for seven fourth-years is about to come to a close on Saturday against Wash U (18–6, 10–3 UAA).

Perhaps it is fitting that the Maroons (14–10, 7–6) end their season against their archrival and the new UAA Champions.

“I know our [fourth-years] here on Senior Day are going to really want to leave here with a win.”

While every active fourthyear is expected to see playing time, head coach Mike McGrath said that he will not start five fourth-years.

“We don’t do that,” he said.

“I made that decision when I took over as head coach 13 years ago.”

One fourth-year that is expected to start, however, is guard Matt Johnson. Although the Maroon leads the UAA in points per game with

Championships, 10 a.m.

- Women’s Tennis @ ITA Championships, 9 a.m.

Head coach Mike McGrath strategizes with his team during a timeout in a game earlier this season.

JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

20.6, his abilities inside of the classroom have also landed him a prestigious honor. Johnson was named to the 2012 Capital One Academic AllAmerica NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Team.

Johnson’s on-court statistics

have been facilitated by his fourth-year teammates, specifically point guard Michael Sustarsic. Sustarsic’s unselfish role as a playmaker has amounted to 66 assists on the season.

The post has been fourthyear forward Steve Stefanou’s

territory. Standing at 6’8”, he is feared by opponents for his aggressive play down low.

Stefanou has 38 offensive rebounds, and defensively he has 13 blocks and 16 steals on the season.

M.BBALL continued on page 11

It’s all on the (finish) line at UAA Championship

The men’s track team competes at the Chicago Duals at the Henry Crown Field House earlier last month.

JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Men’s Track Matthew Schaefer Associate Sports Editor

VS. Friday - Women’s Basketball - Men’s Basketball

Alexander Sotiropoulos Senior Sports Staff

It’s here, fans. It’s time.

And it’s on.

Chicago travels to The Armory in New York for this weekend’s UAA conference championships. They will face their fiercest competitor—Wash U—along with Emory, Case Western, Carnegie, Rochester, NYU, and Brandeis.

“I hope the team performs above their expectations. This is conference, so I’m hoping some people will step up, because it is the championship part of

our season. This is what we train for,” third-year distance runner Billy Whitmore said. “Nationals— that’s later. This is the UAA Championship. This is for all the marbles.”

“I think what’s most important is just everyone staying focused and doing their job. I really think we can have a good showing and possibly win this thing,” first-year sprinter Andrew Mandato said. “That’s the main goal, and I think we have a chance to do that.”

It’s an exciting meet, taking place on Saturday and Sunday—the team’s first two-day battle of the season. The last time the

UAAs were held at The Armory, everything came down to the home stretch of the final relay. The first and third place teams were only three points apart in the final standings, with Emory claiming the victory.

But the Maroons aren’t at full health. For Chris Hall, the head coach of the Maroons, it’s essential that the team have realistic expectations. And that includes not winning.

“I still think our guys might be capable, if we come back to full strength, of placing as high as second in our conference. But we’re not going to contend, I don’t think, to win it. And that in

itself sometimes takes away a little bit of motivation from a group that is used to being in the hunt to win it,” Hall said. “It’s hard to refocus that goal—from going ‘we want to win it,’ to ‘hey, we want to be second.’That’s a big difference.”

“I think that some of those health issues have tempered what our goals might be right now. Realistically, I’m just not convinced that we’re in a position to fight for that conference title, and I think if we try to go after it, that people might start getting disappointed early. But I do think that we can still contend to be in the top two.”

Still, it’s a chance to defy expectations. It’s a chance to validate a season that’s been bruised by concussions, torn obliques, and fatigue.

“I’m looking forward to competing against the best in the UAA,” said Whitmore, who has the top 5,000-meter time in the conference. “I really want to compete. I’ve yet to win a UAA title, so it would be really nice to get one at this meet. And I feel like I’ve trained well, I’ve prepared well, and I just want to leave it all out there.

Whitmore added, “I really hope some people surprise us. I really want everyone to have a good race, and I’m looking forward to it.

It’s going to be a good weekM.TRACK continued on page 11