041312 Chicago Maroon by The Chicago Maroon

FRIDAY • APRIL 13, 2012

Fired Hillel director clashed with JUF over autonomy Sarah Miller News Staff Details emerged last night about the deteriorating relationship between the Newberger Hillel’s recently fired executive director, Dan Libenson, and the organization that terminated him, the Jewish United Fund of Chicago (JUF), at an open discussion with two of the higher-ups involved. In the second open meeting this week over the hotly debated firing, Libenson’s successor, Interim Director Paul Saiger (A.B. ’68), and John Lowenstein, the JUF official overseeing all Illinois Hillels, fielded pointed questions from Jewish students about why Libenson’s pink slip

As the University and the Hyde Park community continue to communicate about Woodlawn Avenue developments, Preservation Chicago, a historic building advocacy group, declared houses on the 5700 block of Woodlawn among 2012’s most endangered properties. The “Chicago Seven” lists

Dozens arrested at mental health clinic protest

was necessary. “What we’ve learned from the student group here is you guys want complete transparency, and we’re going to give you that to the best of our ability,” Lowenstein said. Tensions have long been known to exist between the JUF and Libenson, whose organizational philosophy stressed greater freedom from the JUF, the owner of the Hillel building, endowment, and name. However, Lowenstein explained, corporate autonomy for the Hillel was never a viable option, due to resistance from donors who gave money on the condition of JUF oversight. HILLEL continued on page 4

Preservationists list Woodlawn block among city’s vulnerable Ankit Jain News Staff

ISSUE 37 • VOLUME 123

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

CHICAGOMAROON.COM

several historic areas at risk of being significantly altered and is put out annually by Preservation Chicago to mobilize public support for the preservation of those buildings. Along with listing the 5700 block of Woodlawn Avenue, Preservation Chicago stated that “recent purchases by the University of Chicago, coupled with zoning change requests by the University to convert from CHiCAGO continued on page 2

Community members and students protest outside the Woodlawn Mental Health Clinic on East 63rd Street and South Woodlawn Avenue, in response to the announced closure of six mental health clinics in the city. Demonstrators barricaded themselves inside the building last night. NICHOLAS RUIZ | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Linda Qiu Associate News Editor More than 100 activists assembled yesterday to occupy a Woodlawn mental health clinic scheduled for closure by the end of the month, and roughly two dozen patients and supporters who holed themselves up inside the building were arrested early this morning. Around 4:30 p.m. yesterday, activists who had entered the building under the

pretense of attending a farewell ceremony barred themselves inside the Woodlawn Mental Health Center on East 63rd Street and South Woodlawn Avenue with a month’s supply of food and water, while community members and students set up tents outside. The Chicago Police Department (CPD) arrived in force after protesters locked clinic doors with a chain and a bicycle lock. Officers attempted to enter several

Van Jones talks tyranny and justice Environmentalist joined by slam poet at I-House discussion

Van Jones, the Obama administration’s former Special Advisor for Green Jobs, describes his time in Washington during a speech at the International House Tuesday night. JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

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times through the building’s three entrances, but were blocked by a literal human wall. Eventually, they gained access, but remained impeded by makeshift barricades constructed from vending machines and chairs. Police finally managed to break through and began making arrests in the early morning hours. Activists stationed outside were rounded up and forced to

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Hispanic RSO revives culture show after three-year absence

Tiantian Zhang News Staff

Marina Fang News Staff

Van Jones, former “green jobs” adviser to the Obama administration, joined New Yorkbased slam poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph in leading a discussion on race and economics in the U.S. on Tuesday night in International House. “America is not broke,” Jones said. “America is the richest country throughout history. What is broken is the social contract that wealthy people should pay America back. We have wealthy people now trying to buy congressmen and not pay America back.” Pointing to what he sees as a widening gulf between rich and

The Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS) is putting on its first cultural show in years, after debt and controversy from its last show knocked the annual tradition out of the limelight. This will be OLAS’s first cultural show since spring of 2009. According to the event’s organizers, its relaunch was motivated by the desire to raise awareness about OLAS and the enthusiasm of the RSO’s members. “We’ve worked to bring it back because we think it’s important for people at UChicago to learn more about Latino identity and about OLAS as an RSO,” said third-year Darcy Zaretsky, the show’s co-chair. According to fourth-year and co-

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leave, but were not arrested. The action initially was disguised as a celebration to honor the clinic’s 30 years of service and to lament its closure. Soon, however, organizers announced that they would be occupying the building until Mayor Rahm Emanuel met their demands. “We’ve tried every single official, legal channel. So yes, [occupation] is the last resort. We’re here, not be-

chair Marco Villanueva, problems from the previous production led to the show’s recent absence. The 2009 show put the organization in debt, and in 2008 OLAS drew criticism when it was seen to promote offensive Latin American stereotypes. Over the last three years, OLAS has held smaller events in place of the cultural show in an attempt to recruit more members. According to Zaretsky, these events have included “Baila con OLAS,” a quarterly event featuring food, music, and dance, as well as movie screenings and discussion groups. Last May, OLAS put on what was essentially a smaller version of the cultural show, “OLAS en Concierto.” “I think when we saw that we OLAS continued on page 5

IN SPORTS

IN ARTS

Rewriting the rulebook: Sports Clubs » Page 15

CIMMFest rebels against established spheres of media » Page 9

Maroons head into the Twilight » Page 13

Fiction on tap: New lit series debuts at Jimmy’s » Page 11

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | April 13, 2012

University: “Chicago 7” designation overlooks effort to collaborate with community CHICAGO continued from front

residential to institutional zoning have put the future of these properties [on Woodlawn Avenue] and the historic integrity of the entire neighborhood in doubt.” The University reacted to the designation with alarm, saying that the listing ignored the effort they put in to work with the community on their proposed development. “The Preservation Chicago publicity effort does a disservice to the important and effective work of the alderman, community members, and the University in ensuring the future integrity of the 5700 block of South Woodlawn Avenue,” University spokesperson Steve Kloehn said. He continued: “The Woodlawn Avenue Plan, and the commitments by the University contained in that plan, provide an unusual level of protection for this block. The community should take pride in the process that led to that plan.” Preservation Chicago’s executive

The homes on the 5700 block of Woodlawn were amongst Preservation Chicago’s annual list of endangered historic buildings. JOHNNY HUNG | THE CHICAGO MAROON

$2 mil gift will send budding human rights lawyers abroad Jennifer Standish News Staff A $2 million donation from the Charles and Cerise Jacobs Charitable Foundation will fund a second round of Law School students to pursue an education in human rights through fieldwork with governments and international NGOs. The fund provides a five to six thousand dollar stipend to Law School students, likely between their first and second years, to work with either a NGO or other type of human rights agency, according to Dean of the Law School Michael Schill. The donation, made in memory of College and Law School graduate Charles M. Jacobs (A.B. ’53, J.D. ’56) by his widow Cerise Jacobs, established the Charles M. Jacobs fund for Human Rights and Social Engagement. Before receiving the gift, the number of students whom the Law School could fund for international human rights work was limited, Schill said. “This allows us to expand [international grants] and make it a permanent program.” The students must apply for funding and, if chosen, are matched with an organization of their choice or with the connection of Law School faculty who have relationships with NGOs in other countries. Second-year law student Catherine Matloub used the fund to work in New Delhi with the Lawyers Collective Women’s Rights Initiative. Without the aid of the Jacobs fellowship, Matloub would not have been able to participate in the program. “The Jacobs fellowship made

my goal of working in for an international human rights association not only a possibility, but a reality,” she said. Second-year law student Jennifer Chemel worked over the summer at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs under former UN ambassador to Israel, Dori Gold. “I feel very fortunate to have received the fellowship,” said Chemel. “Knowing that I have a fellowship for human rights work was empowering.” Schill feels that these summer experiences will enhance the education of students at the Law School: “It will give them firsthand experiences with respect to the deprivations of human rights as well as the legal solutions to vindicate those rights. I think that it will all feed back into the experience here in classes.” The gift, which is the Law School’s first for a human rights program, came at an optimal time. “There’s a huge interest among our students in doing human rights work,” Schill said. “We’re hoping to expand the law school’s commitment to human rights, and there’s lots of different ways in which philanthropy can do that.” According to Associate Dean Michael R. Jones, the fund has also allowed four College students to engage in their own human rights work: fourth-years Jonathan Rodriguez, Libby Bova, Amy Woodruff, and Dami Obaro. Three of the students worked at Chicago-based South Chicago Art Center, Kovler Center for the Treatment of Survivors of Torture, and the Illinois Commission for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

director Jonathan Fine, however, said that the designation was not meant as an attack on the University’s conduct in its negotiationsoverPlannedDevelopment 43, or PD-43. It was, rather, meant to encourage the University to continue its dialogue with the neighborhood over any future construction plans. The conversation over PD-43, Fine said, “was a good effort, a productive effort, and a welcome effort. But that’s not to say that the dialogue ends today... The discussion of historic preservation, of how both the University and the community are going to manage the historic resources in the coming decade, that’s a discussion that needs to continue.” Preservation Chicago Vice President and area resident Jack Spicer echoed Fine’s statements, although he said that he regrets the wording accompanying the listing, calling it a “misstatement.” “I think [the University] took this wrongly,” he said. “This really wasn’t a threat to them. This really is about what can we all do together.”

Calling Asian stereotypes, history professor blows whistle on “Linsanity” Colin Yu News Contributor When New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin captivated basketball fans around the country last month with his breakout performance off the bench, the national media was quick to note both his skills and his status as potentially the league’s first AsianAmerican superstar. “Linsanity,” they called it. But according to U of C history professor Matthew Briones, who led a heated discussion Wednesday night over the phenomenon that Lin has become among basketball’s Asian fanbase, the Harvard graduate’s nascent stardom is cause for alarm. The event, titled “I Hate the Knicks, But I like Jeremy Lin,” opened with Briones showing a recent Saturday Night Live skit, which focused on the puns of the star guard’s last name and emphasized the stereotypes and double standards apparent in sport culture. The Knicks’ front office has taken considerable heat for promotional gaffes, including one incident in which Madison Square Garden employees distributed fortune cookies before a game. In addition, Briones noted that the public image of Jeremy Lin is one that may not even be true. After reading articles published by the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg that dealt with his portrayal, he observed that not a single quote from Lin was included in any of them. “We’re ventriloquizing Jeremy Lin. We’re trying to put anything

Matthew M. Briones, an assistant American History professor, moderates a discussion about race and Asian American masculinity entitled, “I Hate the Knicks, But I like Jeremy Lin” at OMSA Wednesday night. VARSHA SUNDAR | THE CHICAGO MAROON

that we attribute to his image to Jeremy Lin, even if he’s not. We’re reading on to him what we want to see. You can write something on the board in the morning, and later on erase it, and put something else on instead.” Finally, he expressed fatigue over the persistence of racism, despite how long Asians have had a place in American society. “I’m tired in the sense that I’m not going to teach those people on the spot. These were the same people who discriminated against my

parents, me, my brothers.” Afterwards, a member of Lambda Phi Epsilon who declined to give his name, spoke of the importance of raising racial and gender issues at the university. “I think it’s important for everyone to recognize racial stereotypes even when they’re not malicious,” he said. “As part of an Asian-American interest fraternity on campus, it’s our mission to promote broader understanding about Asian culture and how it interacts with American culture.”

New York City-based poet evoked the story of Sudanese refugees VAN JONES continued from front

poor in this country, Jones spoke to two different sorts of liberty. “We learned in the last century that if we only care about justice and nothing about individual rights, we will have totalitarianism, an excessive concentration of political power in the government,” Jones said.

He continued: “This century teaches us an opposite lesson. If we only care about economical liberty of individuals and nothing about justice, we get a different form of tyranny–corporate tyranny. Now the government is trying to take over the economy, but the corporations are trying to take over the government.” Switching gears, the discussion turned

to issues of race and identity, propelled by Joseph’s lyric verse. Joseph delivered a poem depicting the life of a Sudanese refugee who immigrates to America fleeing the Second Sudanese Civil War: “Think of this mother ground/Now see this mother ground/You see how dark it turns to when he buries the son/Me and the sitting man/The mourning man/The

mourning man/Black Sudan.” Joseph incorporated song and dance into the reading of his poem. He then invited the audience to join him, singing: “I’ve got a peace like a river/Peace like a river in my soul.” The event was co-sponsored by Chicagobased art group Portoluz as part of its series “WPA 2.0: a Brand New Deal.”

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | April 13, 2012

Extended shuttle service will replace SafeRide Sam Levine Senior Editor In response to a high volume of complaints about excessive wait times, administrators have decided that they will suspend SafeRide this fall, replacing the late-night shuttle program with expanded service on existing evening routes. Students will no longer be able to call a SafeRide dispatcher to request doorto-door service. Instead, evening shuttle routes will begin an hour earlier—at 5 p.m.—and will continue until 4 a.m. for most of the week. On Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, shuttles will run even later, until 6 a.m. The five vehicles currently used for SafeRide will serve as evening shuttles, but Director of Parking and Transportation Theresa Brown declined to say if there would be a new route or if the area covered by the evening routes would be expanded. Brown said that certain specifics of the program will rely on feedback she and her colleagues will solicit from students during a pilot for the changes, which will run from fall until next spring. “We are proposing a lot of different things,” she said. “We will be utilizing the [SG] Transportation and Security Advisory Board (TSAB), SG, student consulting groups, and students to tell us where shuttles should operate.” The Department of Parking and

Transportation decided on the changes after students complained about waiting for SafeRide sometimes for as long as an hour. The average wait time for SafeRide is 55 minutes, according to SG President Youssef Kalad. “The vast majority of students want something that’s consistent and reliable, even if you can’t be picked up right where you are,” Kalad said. “If the wait time is 50 minutes, it’s not safe,” he said. Talks about the pilot between administrators and students on the TSAB began in February, Brown said in an email, and further details in the program will be discussed at the board’s meeting next week. Kalad conceded that there were “downsides” to the new system, which, he said, could make it more difficult for students in secluded parts of campus to get shuttle service. Moreover, Kalad said he has heard from students who feel secure using SafeRide, despite its longer wait times. Brown also said that, under the new system, students may have to transfer shuttle routes to reach their final destination. Ultimately, however, Kalad said that the reliability of shuttles on a set schedule and route will make students safer. All shuttles will be trackable using the popular TransLoc online app, a function SafeRide currently lacks, Brown said. Fourth-year Evan Weingarten said that, one time, he waited 40 minutes for

The East Route is one of several evening shuttles that will replace SafeRide’s service. Administrators opted to cut the late-night shuttle program after complaints about wait-times. JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

SafeRide before deciding to walk to his destination instead. He said that students who have a legitimate need for SafeRide often wind up waiting for a long time because others misuse the service. “SafeRide devolves into a party van for people, which is unfortunate,” Weingarten said. “People use it as a way to avoid the cold and minimize the time between the party and their door.” First-year Nicholas Parker said he was recommended during O-Week to take

SafeRide if he ever felt uncomfortable and that it was often used by students too drunk to walk home. Still, the few times that Parker has tried to call SafeRide, he has wound up walking because the shuttle took too long to arrive. Parker said that he thought the proposed shuttle service could make evening travel more efficient. “It might streamline the process,” Parker said. Weingarten added that the East eve-

ning shuttle route chronically falls behind schedule and that additional shuttles could help improve timeliness. Last year, more than 500 people signed a Facebook petition circulated by four graduate students complaining about SafeRide. In response, SG hosted an open forum with thenDirector of Transportation Rodney Morris. Despite the support that it gained online, only four students attended the meeting.

College has lowest admit rate ever Anthony Gokianluy News Staff The University admitted the lowest percentage of applicants in the College’s history this year. Thirteen percent of applicants to the College for the Class of 2016 were admitted, the lowest rate ever: 3,344 students were admitted from 25,277 applicants, after the College saw a 16.1 percent increase in applications from last year’s admissions cycle. “In general, this year’s [application] increase follows a longstanding trend of growing interest in the College among students of high ability from around the world,” said University spokesperson Jeremy Manier. Meanwhile, plans are in place to construct more dormitories, Manier said, explaining that one long-term goal of the University’s is to accommodate 70 percent of College undergraduates in campus housing, up from about 53 percent. Manier suspected that the increase in internship and job opportunities from the Career Advising and Placement Services (CAPS), including roughly 450 Metcalf fellowships, prompted more students to apply. Over the last three years, the number of first-years scheduling appointments with CAPS counselors has grown fivefold. The University’s popularity among international student applicants has also grown, possibly as a result of the growing profile of international alumni. Justin Yifu Lin (Ph.D. ’86), the Chief Economist at the World Bank, spoke at the International House in January, which China’s Xinhua news service covered. Manier expects awareness of the College among international students to grow alongside the University’s international programs, such as those in Beijing. Representatives from China, the UK, Sweden, and other countries also attended Mitt Romney’s Illinois Primary

speech at the Harris School of Public Policy last month. Since James Nondorf assumed the position of Dean of Admissions and Financial aid in 2009, the number of College applicants has increased 85.8 percent. Fourth-years, the last College class to have been admitted on the Uncommon Application, were pleased with the University’s surging popularity. “The increased selectivity maintains the type of intellectual atmosphere UChicago wants because of the increase in the quality of applications,” Richmond Chua, a fourth-year in the college, said. Students from the recently admitted Class of 2016 have expressed their desire to join the ranks of UChicago intellectuals. “Above anything else that I hope to be someday, educated or disciplined or successful, I want to be a thinker,” said prospective student Aurna Hasnie. “I can’t wait.”

Hoodies for Trayvon Students at the U of C Charter School’s Woodlawn Campus don hoodies Wednesday morning in remembrance of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was killed wearing similar garb in February in Sanford, FL by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman. Zimmerman was charged with murder Wednesday. SYDNEY COMBS | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Official says Libenson’s intentions forced JUF’s hand in dismissal HILLEL continued from front

What’s more, according to Saiger’s account, corporate independence would also have run against an agreement dating back more than 10 years between the Hillel, the JUF, and Newberger family. In the early 1990s, the Newberger family funded a chapel inside the Hillel on campus, Saiger said after the meeting. By 1999, the building had fallen into disrepair, and the Newbergers donated an additional $375,000 for repairs. Their only condition was that the building would become JUF property; the executive board promptly transferred ownership. In 2005, beset with financial problems, the Hillel signed the rest of its assets— including its endowment and name— over to the JUF. However, Saiger said, the assets were to remain for the “eternal

use” of U of C students. The relationship with the JUF would grow to be a source of dismay, until in a March 28 letter to JUF President Steven Nasatir and Chair Skip Schrayer, Hillel board member Ruth O’Brien decried the Hillel’s lack of corporate independence. The letter concluded with Libenson’s and the board’s plans to resign and form a separate Jewish organization elsewhere under a different name. Harvey Barnett, an attorney representing Schrayer and Nasatir, shot back two days later: “Your utter refusal to engage in any constructive discussion of fiscal responsibility, coupled with Dan Libenson’s totally inappropriate actions as an employee leave us no choice,” Barnett wrote. “We are compelled to accept the resignation of all the members

of the advisory committee, effective immediately, and in the absence of such resignations, to terminate forthwith any further service on your part.” Libenson’s firing, and the dismissal of his board, became inevitable once their intentionstoformaseparateorganization became apparent, Lowenstein said after the meeting. With Hillel and JUF still joined at the hip, Libenson is continuing his plans. In a conversation last night, he said he will run his new organization, JUChicago, just as he led Hillel for the past six years, hoping to serve Jewish undergraduates and graduate students on campus. “At this point, I’m just focused on the future, and carrying on the great work Hillel has done in the past six years serving the community,” he said. Although the organization hasn’t secured

a space, Libenson hopes to have done so by this fall. Saiger has worked within the national Hillel organization since 1974. He will continue in his position, stabilizing the Hillel’s finances and putting together a new executive board, until next summer at the latest, he said. He will also lead the search for a new director. Since the town hall meeting on Monday, students have formed the Jewish Student Working Group and are planning to form a student board that will liaise between Hillel and JUF employees and the rest of the student body. “Dan was the driving force behind this program, and I have a great amount of respect for his work,” Saiger said. “The real tragedy of this situation is that students have been impacted in a painful way.”

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | April 13, 2012

Illusionist rolls up his sleeves and channels the paranormal at Ida Noyes Lina Li News Staff

Weekly Crime Report

This is a series the Maroon publishes 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 East 39th to 64th Streets and South Cottage Grove to Lake Shore Drive.

Here are this weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s notables :

Since Jan. 1

Âť Saturday, between 8:30 and 11:15 p.m., 5700 S. Woodlawn Avenueâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Two female students had purses stolen by a male, later found by posting pictures of himself to the Internet via their phones.

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is on the trajectory of cutting vital services to its people,â&#x20AC;? Kortchmar said. Every clinic in the city was represented at the occupation. Patients and advocates spoke on the importance of the clinics during the celebration and occupation. Margaret Sullivan, a patient at Beverly Morgan Park Clinic on West 111th Street near South Racine Avenue, was one of the speakers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was saved by the Beverly Morgan Park Clinic,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wanted to kill myself, and now that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s being closed, oddly enough, I want to stay alive and be a thorn in the side of the mayor.â&#x20AC;? STOP and its affiliates have sent thousands of letters to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, reached out to most of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 50 aldermen, held press conferences and rallies, and organized a 10-hour sit-in at City Hall, according to movement spokesperson and clinic patient Nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Dana Carter. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of solidarity and a lot of people from across the city are here,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a critical moment for us.â&#x20AC;?

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cause we want to break the law, but because the process for citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; public consensus is not working,â&#x20AC;? fourth-year protester Sophia Kortchmar said. Kortchmar, who is involved with organizing group Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP), has been following the movement advocating against the closure of mental health clinics since last fall, when the city announced that it would close down six of its 12 public clinics to reduce costs. The proposed privatization of the clinics was projected to save the city $20 million annually, according to a memo released by the mayor in August. However, protestors say that the proposed clinic cuts will decrease the availability of care and increase patient loads to impossible levels, while privatized care would not be affordable enough. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When you live in a city, you believe that the function of that city is to take care of its people. Right now, the city of Chicago

| THE CHICAGO MAROON

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Activists occupy Woodlawn clinic in protest of city-wide clinic closures

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could pull off these smaller events successfully, we thought we might as well take the plunge and bring the cultural show back,â&#x20AC;? Villanueva said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;OLAS is a cultural RSO, so something was clearly missing.â&#x20AC;? This year, OLAS aims to avoid social commentary and concentrate instead on the performances themselves. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The theme for this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s show is a cruise around Latin America. We have strayed from plays or gimmicks and decided to focus more on cultural presentations through dance,â&#x20AC;? Villanueva said. Zaretsky added: â&#x20AC;&#x153;In each place that we land, we see a dance or another performance from that country. We wanted to focus more on the culture and the dance and the design rather than a storyline,â&#x20AC;?

Zaretsky said. Zaretsky also attributes the cultural showâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s return to stronger organization within OLAS with focused leadership which has â&#x20AC;&#x153;really set a good tone for the groupâ&#x20AC;? bolstered by enthusiastic involvement in the show by 60 dancers and 40 to 50 volunteers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a small show by any means, which I am really happy about,â&#x20AC;? she added. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s show is particularly significant to the graduating fourth-years, who had just entered the University when the last OLAS Cultural Show was held. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I feel like a lot of the graduating seniors felt like this was important to them, so we wanted to bring it back now,â&#x20AC;? Zaretsky said. Villanueva, who will be graduating this year, expressed a similar enthusiasm for the show. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are hoping to go out with a bang.â&#x20AC;?

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OLAS continued from front

By Rebecca Guterman

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OLAS show this year will avoid social commentary

Award-winning entertainer and â&#x20AC;&#x153;extraordinistâ&#x20AC;? Craig Karges read minds, lifted tables, and wooed the audience at an ORSCA sponsored event on Tuesday evening in Ida Noyes. Karges opened his act by saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not a psychic, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just an entertainer, but the things I do are related to ESP.â&#x20AC;? Karges, while blindfolded, asked a randomly selected audience-volunteer to pick a studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s UCID and another to borrow a dollar bill from an audience member. He was able to guess the name of the student whose UCID had been selected, and the serial number of the bill that had been selected. In another illusion, Karges had the audience write their name, a number with some personal relationship to themselvesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;like a phone number or a birthday, and a random thought, on pieces of paper circulating through the audience. He was then able to guess the names, numbers, and random thoughts that several audience members had written. Karges encouraged the audience to rethink their mental potential, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We only use about 10%-20% of our brainsâ&#x20AC;Śeven though some of the things I do are supplemented with illusions.â&#x20AC;? First-year Jacqueline Friduss went to the show because she had heard of all the awards Karges had won. She thought Kargesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s acts

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Levitation was just one of the many powers â&#x20AC;&#x153;extraordinistâ&#x20AC;? Craig Karges displayed at his show Tuesday night in Ida Noyes. TIFFANY TAN | THE CHICAGO MAROON

â&#x20AC;&#x153;seemed legitimate.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think of any tricks that he could have used, though some of my friends thought he was just really good at reading body language, or had implanted certain thoughts into audience members,â&#x20AC;? she said. Campus Activities Advisor Kathleen Przybysz said that ORSCA hosted the show to engage students in activities outside of academia. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Craigâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s show was just one of the many shows we organize and put on for students to take a moment out of their hectic days,â&#x20AC;? she said. Karges leaned a wooden block against a book, and was able to â&#x20AC;&#x153;moveâ&#x20AC;? the block to fall over, seemingly without any other force than his mind. Karges was also able to lift a relatively heavy table, with the only contact between himself and the table being the palms of his 2 hands. Karges asked four volunteers to describe a car. The car described was a blue, $83,566 Chevy Camaro with the license plate MH3125. He then produced, from his pocket, a piece of paper with those four pieces of information written on it. He followed with a series of short and amusing acts. Karges has made over 4,000 appearances in 17 countries on four continents and in all fifty states. He has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Larry King Live, Fox, CNN, E!, and has been named Entertainer of the Year six times by the National Association for Campus Activities.

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VIEWPOINTS

Editorial & Op-Ed APRIL 13, 2012

Safety speed bump Plans to axe SafeRide, change shuttle system will not sufficiently address student safety concerns The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 JORDAN LARSON Editor-in-Chief SHARAN SHETTY Editor-in-Chief COLIN BRADLEY Managing Editor MAHMOUD BAHRANI Senior Editor DOUGLAS EVERSON, JR Senior Editor SAM LEVINE Senior Editor HARUNOBU CORYNE News Editor REBECCA GUTERMAN News Editor GIOVANNI WROBEL News Editor EMILY WANG Viewpoints Editor AJAY BATRA Viewpoints Editor CHARNA ALBERT Arts Editor HANNAH GOLD Arts Editor TOMI OBARO Arts Editor DANIEL LEWIS Sports Editor VICENTE FERNANDEZ Sports Editor BELLA WU Head Designer KEVIN WANG Web Editor ALICE BLACKWOOD Head Copy Editor DON HO Head Copy Editor JEN XIA Head Copy Editor DARREN LEOW Photo Editor JAMIE MANLEY Photo Editor BEN POKROSS Assoc. News Editor

The Maroon reported today that the Department of Safety and Security will be ending the SafeRide Program, shutting down an operation that was constantly criticized by students as slow and inefficient. Instead, the existing shuttle route service will expand its hours during nights and weekends. The change was reportedly due to the large number of complaints about SafeRide’s wait time, which averages 55 minutes. Although it’s commendable that the Administration is addressing transportation issues, this restructuring alone won’t properly ensure the safety that SafeRide was designed to provide students. While it has not yet been decided if new shuttle routes will be created, some places in Hyde Park will almost inevitably be left outside their paths, requiring students to walk to a street on the newly designated route. In a situation of true need, this is not a safe or plausible practice. According to the SafeRide Program Web page, “[SafeRide] provides the campus community with safe, on-demand transportation during late-night hours.” While the

current state of the program doesn’t match this description, neither do the proposed changes. Safety depends upon an individual’s ability to get out of a situation quickly, and merely knowing that help will come eventually and in another location doesn’t mean help will come when needed. The proposed changes address how SafeRide has come to be used, as something to shorten walking time or avoid the cold, rather than how it was intended to be used, as a safety precaution in uncomfortable and potentially dangerous situations. Granted, students are to blame for this misuse of the Program, but implementing a more effective alternative would make SafeRide a plausible option for safety concerns. Rather than entirely replace SafeRide with the shuttle service, the original program should be improved, as it serves a unique function that extends beyond mere late-night transportation. The goal shouldn’t be to eliminate complaints, but rather to adhere to the original intent of the Program—to keep students safe during

unsafe times in unsafe places. Changes under consideration, including the extension of shuttle times until 4 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday and until 6 a.m. on the weekend, improve the convenience of Hyde Park transportation but fail to appease safety concerns. The funds required to make such changes could instead be applied to improve the original SafeRide Program. Adding more SafeRide shuttles, even if they’re smaller, would require less planning and be more effective than revamping the entire system. This being said, if a restructuring of the two programs is the only option, the shuttle system itself needs to be radically altered. Currently, it’s a satisfactory mode of daily transportation around campus and its outer fringes. There have been frequent complaints, however, about the timeliness, reliability, and general efficiency of the route system. An expansion of routes and extension of service hours would be useless if these problems continued, and would do nothing to help students who need instant transport. There’s also the fact that shuttles have

no designated stops outside campus, and students need to guess when they will pass and then flag them down. If the mission of the SafeRide program is to be incorporated into the shuttle system, there need to be set stops along all the routes, so that students know exactly where to go to expect latenight transportation. There should also be an East–West shuttle route, since current ones do not facilitate quick trips from one end of Hyde Park to the other. Ultimately, Administration is justified in its attempts to renovate the SafeRide system. Its long wait times and inefficiencies have become a joke on campus, and it needs drastic improvement. However, this doesn’t mean that its intent—ensuring the safety of students—should be dismissed when making changes. If the University wants to truly address student concerns, it should make sure that any alterations focus on both speed and security.

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

LINDA QIU Assoc. News Editor CRYSTAL TSOI Assoc. News Editor DAVID KANER Assoc. Viewpoints Editor EMMA BRODER Assoc. Arts Editor ALICE BUCKNELL Assoc. Arts Editor SCOTTY CAMPBELL Assoc. Arts Editor

Opportunity cost Unpaid internships offer valuable experience, but only for those who can afford it

DANIEL RIVERA Assoc. Arts Editor SARAH LANGS Assoc. Sports Editor MATTHEW SCHAEFER Assoc. Sports Editor DEREK TSANG, Assoc. Sports Editor JAKE WALERIUS, Assoc. Sports Editor TIFFANY TAN Assoc. Photo Editor TYRONALD JORDAN Business Manager VIVIAN HUA Undergraduate Business Executive VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator SONIA DHAWAN Designer ANDREW GREEN Designer

By Dillon Cory Viewpoints Columnist

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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

As spring quarter gets underway, I am upbeat. The weather is getting warmer, I can feel summer break coming, and most of all, I’m relieved to be done with an arduous internship search. Many students are all-toofamiliar with the long process of requesting recommendation letters, writing application essays, and perfecting cover letters to secure that dream internship. Unfortunately, the deadlines for most of these internships came in the bleak weeks of winter quarter, when the last thing I wanted to do was waste on applications precious hours that I could have used to tackle my mountain of work. But after an exhausting search, I have finally obtained my own dream gig on Capitol Hill and am excited to get a feel for the fast-paced culture of Washington. Despite my enthusiasm for the position, I felt mixed emotions when I was extended the offer. Like many internships on the Hill, mine will be unpaid. For me and many of my peers, taking an unpaid

internship can be a difficult decision with the cost of an education weighing heavily on all our shoulders. The issue of unpaid internships is a contentious topic across the country as legions of desperate students descend upon relatively few positions in the hopes of finding an inroad into their future career. The greatest problem that arises from unpaid internships is the barrier they place in front of economically disadvantaged students who simply can’t afford to take them. With many of the most coveted internships in pricey locations like New York City and D.C., many students can’t afford the high costs of living associated with these cities. Unpaid internships give an implicit advantage to wealthier students who can afford to go spend a summer doing unpaid work and not worry about tuition bills or living expenses. While the selfselecting nature of unpaid internships

is undeniable, it is wrong to fault firms and institutions for not offering paid opportunities. If interns were required to be paid, it is likely that companies would scale back their internship programs or eliminate them entirely because of the strain that these temporary workers would place on the bottom line. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor attempted to investigate and clamp down on companies that were suspected of violating minimum wage laws and other parts of the Fair Labor Standards Act in their hiring of interns, but to little effect; unpaid internships continue to dominate summer offerings in popular industries. There are also accusations that unpaid internships lead to exploitation of interns and are simply an economical way for companies to replace entr y-

level work with free labor. These issues have come to a head in the past several months as several interns from Harper’s Bazaar, Charlie Rose, and other organizations have claimed that they were unjustly used to do work that otherwise would have been done by full-time paid employees and have initiated lawsuits against their former “employers.” From an employer’s point of view, it admittedly makes economical sense to use interns in place of paid employees, a reality that won’t comfort a debt-laden college student looking for her break into a given industry. But are these interns really being exploited? Since they’re not on anyone’s payroll, they are free to turn down offers and quit their jobs at any time if they feel they are being used. While not every internship will meet expectations, it is an intern’s responsibility to know what she’s getting into when she accepts an offer and to weigh the benefits and costs accordingly. Employers would argue that the value of their internships lies in the fact INTERNSHIP continued on page 8

ALICE BUCKNELL

| CHICAGO MAROON

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | April 13, 2012

Losing a spiritual center

Questioning faith

With recent firings, campus Jewish community has lost its vital nucleus

Mitt Romney has so far benefited from a double standard surrounding questions of religion

Taylor Schwimmer Viewpoints Contributor This week, Jews at the University of Chicago celebrate Passover, a festival that marks the beginning of the most profound challenge to ever face the Jewish people. At the same time, Jewish students on campus are facing another challenge: the complete upheaval of the University’s Hillel and its Jewish community at large. The chaos has resulted from the decision of the Jewish United Fund of Chicago ( JUF) to dismiss Hillel’s Board of Directors and fire Director Dan Libenson. I believe the JUF’s moves were serious mistakes for three major reasons. Perhaps the most obvious risk this shakeup poses is that of fracture. Libenson and the Board have already stated their intention to start a new Jewish organization. The Maroon reported that JewSA, an RSO with ORCSA funding, has been asked for future financial support by other student groups. This suggests that at least a few organizations are considering a split from Hillel, and it is not a stretch to imagine that others will follow suit. Hillel enjoyed the unique position of serving as a nexus for a great variety of other Jewish organizations, and this upheaval has undoubtedly upset it from that position. The schism has a number of negative implications. Organizational research suggests that intra-organizational cooperation is much easier than inter-organizational cooperation, so we can likely expect a decrease in cooperation among Jewish groups on campus. Another consideration is that new Jewish students will face a much more complex and confusing landscape when they arrive. Regardless of the

eventual outcome, it is clear that the JUF’s abrupt decision will leave the UChicago Jewish community more scattered than it currently is. I don’t believe anyone in the University community wants to see that happen. The JUF’s decision also hurts the Jewish community by depriving it of a strong advocate. Dan Libenson consistently worked to provide engaging and fulfilling programs to Jewish students and the campus as a whole. He oversaw the JewChicago initiative, which was a collection of events and programs designed to appeal to Jews of all levels of religious commitment. Many of these events, like Mega Shabbat, were well-known and well-attended, even among non-Jews. Because Mr. Libenson consistently planned engaging events and attracted top quality speakers, Hillel became a real asset to this campus. With his yearly address at the Latke-Hamantash Debate, he promoted a sense of Jewish pride and showed his considerable literary and oratorical talent. I only met Mr. Libenson once or twice, but he made a major impression on me. As a prospective student wandering into Hillel house with my parents, Mr. Libenson immediately approached us, looking to be helpful. He gave us a tour of the house and entertained us in his office for over an hour, sharing anecdotes about UChicago and answering our questions. On that day, Dan really demonstrated what it meant to be a passionate and conscientious administrator. By removing him from the executive director position, the JUF has deprived our campus of a powerful and capable Jewish advocate. Finally and perhaps most importantly, the decision to remove Libenson and the Board ignores the will of the very students Hillel HILLEL continued on page 8

Michael Daus Viewpoints Contributor With the long-inevitable demise of Rick Santorum now behind us, it is clear that Mitt Romney will become the Republican candidate for president of the United States. Thus, for the first time in U.S. history, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) will appear on the presidential ticket of a major political party. This realization has been approached with a general sense of disinterest by the pundits and press. Politicians, as well, have been reluctant to broach the subject: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, recently stated that Mitt Romney’s Mormonism was “off limits” for Democrats this campaign season. Mitt Romney himself only reluctantly speaks of his faith and, when questioned, typically explains that he is not a spokesman for his church. It is curious that politicians would shy away from commenting on Mormonism when the Mormon Church has already shown itself to be intensely political. While the Church claims neutrality in politics, California’s Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex marriage in the state, was passed with the help of 8.4 million dollars in LDS donations and the personal backing of LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson. More noteworthy, however, is the absurd double-standard that exists regarding faith in the American political discourse. While Mitt Romney seems to get a free pass, President Obama has had to refute countless criticisms and attacks regarding his re-

ligion. On top of erroneously being called a Muslim and atheist by pundits and politicians, Barack Obama was held accountable for inflammatory statements made by his longtime pastor Jeremiah Wright. In a speech following this accusation, Barack Obama condemned the remarks outright. In May 2008, he ended his membership with the church, explaining that he was outraged by the minister. As long as President Obama is open to scrutiny on this subject, so is this year’s Republican contender. Mitt Romney, too, must face difficult questions regarding his own faith. For instance, the Mormon Church did not allow African Americans to become ordained in its priesthood until 1978. At that point in time, Mitt Romney was over 30 years old; he had been a freethinking adult for well over a decade. He volunteered his time, and tithed 10 percent of his income, to promote his church’s teachings abroad and in the United States, while the LDS church actively discriminated against African Americans. Why did he remain a member of a discriminatory institution well into his adulthood? What actions did he personally take to try to change church policy? Both would be reasonable inquiries. I suppose in an ideal world American politicians would be able to rise above these discussions to tackle the big issues our nation faces. But as long as there is Karl Rove–style campaigning from the right Democrats should not feel obligated to take the moral high ground. Michael Daus is a third-year in the College majoring in political science.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | April 13, 2012

Colleges should provide all the support they can to students pursuing unpaid internships INTERNSHIP continued from page 6 that they are learning experiences that provide interns an opportunity to see if they are a good â&#x20AC;&#x153;fitâ&#x20AC;? for an industry. Despite concerns about exploitation and financial hardship, I have still decided to accept an unpaid internship. In accepting this offer, I deliberated long and hard about the benefits of spending my summer on Capitol Hill, and determined in the end that the benefits far outweighed the costs. Taking this internship will give me priceless experience in Washington and allow me to determine if this is the career path I want to pursue once I leave the bubble of higher academia. As I come to understand the culture of a vastly different part of the country, new networking opportunities will emerge. While I will be sustaining a hit financially to take this opportunity, I am a firm believer that a large part of my education during my college years will be found outside the classroom. As a political science major, I can discuss political theory all I want, but if I truly want to see politics in action, there is no better option for me than to pursue opportunities in those places that will best expose me to real-world applications of my interests. My personal situation aside, I know

that taking an unpaid internship is out of the question for many college students across America. To overcome the naturally occurring bias that unpaid internships have towards the wealthy, it is important for colleges to provide support for students who desire to take such positions but are held back by financial considerations. I applaud the University of Chicago for funding programs like Metcalf Internships and Summer Action Grants which give its students the opportunity to explore great options that might otherwise be unrealistic. All colleges should join the U of C in focusing more resources toward helping students take unpaid positions that better prepare them for the real world, give them valuable experience to gain an edge in an increasingly competitive job market, and fall short only of offering pay. Only then will unpaid internships become a viable option for todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disadvantaged students who currently donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the resources to take every opportunity available to them. Equal access to opportunity is, after all, the foundation of upward socioeconomic mobilityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;of, in essence, the American Dream. Dillon Cory is a second-year in the College majoring in political science.

Holding an open forum for students to voice concerns would place Hillel back on the right path HILLEL continued from page 7 is meant to support and serve. Because of the unique nature of Hillel in the state of Illinois, the JUF ultimately is responsible for making decisions about how Hillel is run. In other words, the JUF can do whatever it wants with its own money. However, I believe itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s uncontroversial to say that the primary goal of Hillel at UChicago is to provide religious and cultural resources to Jewish students. In fact, the official mission of Hillel, taken from its Web site, is to â&#x20AC;&#x153;enrich the lives of Jewish undergraduate and graduate students.â&#x20AC;? We can logically conclude that the JUF should deal swiftly with administrators who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t meet that goal. Yet all evidence points to the decision to remove Libenson as a primarily economic and administrative one. The Jewish Daily Forward reported this past Tuesday that JUF officials say the former Hillel leadership was guilty of financial mismanagement. They quote a JUF official as saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re good fiscal stewards.â&#x20AC;? The article goes on to suggest that the firing may have been a response to calls for independence by the board. While these are important considerations, they can only be successfully resolved by negotiation between

Hillel and the JUF. Yes, firing Libenson and the board may allow the JUF to change the financial situation to suit their preference, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s done at the cost of disrupting the core mission of the organization. At the end of the day, the JUF needs to realize that settling an administrative dispute is far, far less important than continuing to provide a robust center for Jewish life. I am confident that the JUF believes the same, but has not come to that conclusion yet. After escaping Egypt, the Israelites wandered in the Sinai desert for 40 years. It is my sincere hope that the Jewish community here at UChicago is not set adrift for that long. In order to avoid permanent damage, the JUF needs to restore Libenson and the board immediately. To resolve the budgeting issues, JUF leadership, Libenson, and the board should hold an open forum that would allow students to give their input. Students should have a say in what services and programs are most important. To maintain the status quo as it stands now, however, would have strong negative repercussions for years to come.

Letter: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Money Mattersâ&#x20AC;? makes an incorrect assumption I agree with much of what Anastasia Golovashkina wrote in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Money Matters.â&#x20AC;? Economic ignorance is indefensible. In fact, for anyone who would really like to see changes in our society, concrete economic knowledge is a precondition for being able to imagine and articulate those changes. Lord knows I could brush up on my economics (what exactly is uncertainty, anyway?). Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure, though, if that sort of ignorance is the biggest problem around here. This article begins with anecdotes and an assumption. Too many students believe that â&#x20AC;&#x153;money doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matterâ&#x20AC;?; they need to reexamine that view. There are definitely students who would share that belief, oftentimes out of ignorance or unexamined privilege. But is it especially characteristic of our generation? According to a 2007 Pew poll, 81 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds claimed that getting rich was either the most or the second most significant aim in their lives. Meanwhile, data collected by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program reveal that modern college students have radically reevaluated their goals. In 1966, over 80 percent of freshmen claimed that to â&#x20AC;&#x153;develop a meaningful philosophy of lifeâ&#x20AC;? was either â&#x20AC;&#x153;essentialâ&#x20AC;? or â&#x20AC;&#x153;very importantâ&#x20AC;? to their education, while less than 45 percent thought that â&#x20AC;&#x153;to be well off financiallyâ&#x20AC;? was similarly significant. By the late â&#x20AC;&#x2122;90s, the two had switched. Roughly 74 percent of students now believed that making bank was essential or very important, while only 42 percent were comparably enthusiastic about the â&#x20AC;&#x153;life of the mind.â&#x20AC;? In the 2011 CIRP survey, â&#x20AC;&#x153;to be able to get a better jobâ&#x20AC;? was the most popular reason for attending college. On our own campus, economics is a perennially popular major, chosen by roughly a quarter of each graduating class. These changes are presumably complex, but it does seem clear that

plenty of people our age are itchinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 4 da papes. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to dismiss â&#x20AC;&#x153;Money Mattersâ&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D;again, I genuinely agree with most of what it states. Unlike the author, though, I worry less about true economic naĂŻvetĂŠ and more about the sort of unswerving economic rationality that this school takes pains to nurture. I worry about that contingent of very smart, very motivated economic sophisticates for whom poverty is less an imponderable than the mildly puzzling consequence of personal failure. Ignorance can be corrected through instruction. That may well be the mission of college, at least if you enter it for the life of the mind. For us, though, genuine ignorance is less problematic than the intellectually selfconsistent curtailment of empathy. Nathan Worcester is a third-year in the College majoring in ISHum.

SUBMISSIONS The Chicago Maroon welcomes opinions and responses from its readers. Send op-ed submissions and letters to: The Chicago Maroon attn: Viewpoints 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 E-mail: Viewpoints@ ChicagoMaroon.com The editors reserve the right to edit materials for clarity and space. Letters to the editor should be limited to 400 words. Op-ed submissions, 800 words.

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ARTS

Trivial Pursuits

APRIL 13, 2012

CIMMFest rebels against established spheres of media

Left: Punk in Africa, Right: I want my name back, two films that are playing at CIMMFest. courtesy of beth silverman

Eliana Polimeni Arts Staff Film and music collide in an innovative melange at the Chicago International Movies and Music Festival, or CIMMFest (April 12–15). Founded by musician Josh Chicoine and film editor Ilko Davidov four years ago, the festival is designed to showcase the longstanding relationship between film and music. According to festival organizers, thousands of people attend each year. Taking place in various

venues in Wicker Park and Logan Square, live musical performances typically accompany film screenings. At CIMMFest last year, for example, the indie band Joan of Arc played a live set during a screening of the 1928 French silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc. That’s exactly the kind of tongue-in-cheek pairing of modern indie music with a cinematic classic that’s emblematic of the festival. This year’s festival kicked off yesterday with a screening of Queens of Country, an absurdist comedy about a line dancer

who falls in love with the owner of an iPod she finds. Caustic indie favorite Lizzy Caplan (Party Down, Mean Girls) stars and was in town for the Chicago premiere yesterday. One of the most anticipated film screening and live music mashups happens tonight at the Wicker Park Arts Center. I Want My Name Back, a documentary chronicling the hip-hop group The Sugarhill Gang’s journey through the rise and fall of stardom, will be screened. After the showing, Wonder Mike and Master Gee,

two founding members of The Sugarhill Gang , will perform at Wicker Park’s Double Door venue. Another much anticipated event this year is Sunday’s feature on country rocker Bobby Bare Jr. entitled Don’t Follow Me (I’m Lost). The documentary, which depicts his daily struggles attempting to balance his music career with his family life, will be followed by a live performance from Bobby Bare Jr. himself. If you don’t identify with either hip-hop or rock music, don’t fret. “There’s

no one typical patron,” said Michael W. Phillips Jr., CIMMFest’s programming director. “People who are interested in hip-hop go see the hip-hop shows; people who are interested in punk go see the punk shows. But even if you’re not a punk fan you could still get something out of the films like Punk in Africa. Indeed, the music selections over the years have been quite diverse, ranging from acts you’d find at Lollapalooza to the woman who plays the violin at the Washington stop on the Blue Line.”

With that in mind, there is no set theme for each year’s festival. Each year, a theme emerges from the materials the festival organizers choose to showcase. Punk is the unofficial theme of this year’s festival, with many punk films being screened, but there will still be performances and films from other musical genres. Without a regimented theme, the film staff crafts the line-up according to what they find interesting. The music staff then searches for performers FEST continued on page 11

Little-known surrealist finally gets a room of his own Alexandra McInnis Arts Staff Tucked away in the lower level of the Art Institute and secluded from the museum’s general bustle is Surrealism under Pressure, a retrospective of the work of Czech Surrealist artist Jindřich Heisler, which opened on March 31. The first solo exhibition ever devoted to Heisler, it seeks to showcase his prolific yet rarely known work as an artist, photographer, poet, and sculptor, created under the threat of persecution.

SURREALISM UNDER PRESSURE The Art Institute Through July 1

As both a Jew and an avantgarde artist during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, Heisler was forced into hiding during the majority of his career. The subsequent air of defiance in his work is apparent in certain pieces, such as his Néon collages composed of parts of a

revolutionary Surrealist postwar periodical for which Heisler himself served as an editor. For the most part, however, Heisler rebels against the conventional art of his time; his photographic portraits, distorted by his signature handcoloring gelatin method into macabre silhouettes against black backgrounds, exude human poise but are nevertheless haunting. Other photographs and collages of disconcerting dolls and body parts all bravely challenge the preferred aesthetic at the time of the Nazi occupation. Spread throughout three gallery rooms, the exhibition leads one through an underground world of ghostly figures and bizarre images. The exhibition does not seek to dramatize the elements of strangeness or dangerous resistance of Heisler’s work, but instead presents his work in an organized, minimalist fashion. His pieces, which are nearly all untitled, are neatly grouped by visual similarities but do not betray any sense of artistic progression. Even the placards provided by the Art Institute are fairly cryptic and devoted generally to the process of Heisler’s work rather than any background information.

Once one gets past the general gloominess and myster y enshrouding the exhibition and examines Heisler’s individual pieces, his technical skill across different media becomes clear. His collages are remarkably cohesive and lack the mismatched messiness common to the medium, and his gelatin prints of bare-branched trees possess a beautiful, gentle quality. Much of Heisler’s work also contains the whimsy and juxtapositions that conventionally characterize the Surrealist art movement. One of his more popular pieces is a photograph of the bare back of a young woman, with a cutout in her back exposing a candelabra with a bird and branches. Several of his pieces, such as a photograph and collage combination of a giant hip bone floating in the air, have an innocent eeriness reminiscent of the betterknown works of Edward Gorey. There is no doubt that Surrealism under Pressure is a meticulously curated retrospective, particularly for an artist such as Jindřich Heisler who has little recognition in the mainstream art SURREALISM continued on page 11

One of Jindřich Heisler’s more famous pieces (untitled, 1944). courtesy of art institute of chicago

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ADVERTISEMENT | April 13, 2012

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | April 13, 2012

Temple rerun at the Oriental Institute Anna Hill Arts Staff Upon entering the Special Exhibitions gallery of the Oriental Institute, one might expect that the new exhibit, Picturing the Past: Imaging and Imagining the Ancient Middle East simply adds volume to the impressive collection of artistic, historical, and archaeological objects already on display in the handsome museum. However, progress a bit further into the compact space, and it becomes apparent that this exhibit presents the ancient Middle East in a noticeably different (and refreshingly multi-faceted) light. Rather than merely displaying artifacts, Picturing the Past focuses on the selective and highly interpretive nature of methods of recording, documenting , and recreating aspects of the ancient world,

forcing viewers to question their own understandings of the past. As the presence of art on campus grows (most obviously in the opening of the new Logan Arts Center), curators Emily Teeter, Jack Green, and John Larson have chosen to emphasize the more artistic aspects of archaeological study in their creation of the exhibit. “We began to realize that we have some really, really beautiful artwork from the excavations,” Teeter said, continuing, “It raised questions: Who did these? Who were they for?” The smartly-organized space guides visitors through the process of “historicizing” the past, beginning with a detailed description of recording methods (presented alongside notebooks and sketches by Henry Breasted, Eg yptologist and founder of the Oriental Institute),

and progressing through a striking collection of paintings, satellite images, and digital reconstructions.

PICTURING THE PAST Oriental Institute through September 2

Picturing the Past celebrates the ingenuity of such techniques. Extremely detailed and accurate drawings and blueprints of temple artwork demand respect, and paintings such as “View of Babylon” by Maurice Bardin demonstrate an almost awe-inspiring creativity and imagination. Also, interspersed throughout the gallery, interactive stations allow visitors to explore innovative computer-generated layouts of ancient temples and

festivals, view spy satellite images of archaeological sites, and flip through stereo-opticon cards (the 1950s version of today’s 3-D technolog y, sans red-and-green glasses). The collection artfully applauds the innovation of new methods that allow researchers to delve much deeper into the past world than previously possible. However, it also acknowledges the limits of such methods. The individual pieces, though remarkable by themselves, truly gain significance when presented together. As a coherent unit, they acknowledge the limitations of archaeological study and artistic reproduction, question the effects of historical embellishment, and expose and challenge our modernday societal notions of the past. Beneath the lovely images presented in the collection hums a certain skepticism, a realization that the reconstructions and

renderings might have confused our perceptions of the past as much as they helped to create them. “There are a lot of ways you can portray the past,” Teeter reminds. Picturing the Past offers an unexpected glimpse into the process of documenting the ancient Middle East, and leads to questions regarding the overwhelming subjectivity of “history” in general. Though the exhibit notes that artistic rendering and digital imaging certainly have their limits in terms of accuracy, it declares (quite beautifully) the importance of attempting such recreations. In picturing the past—in painting it, photographing it, digitizing it—researchers strive to form an authentic view of the world as it existed long ago; as a picture itself, this exhibit makes an admirable step in the right direction.

Fiction on tap: New lit series debuts at Jimmy’s Emma Broder Associate Arts Editor A handful of Hyde Parkers gathered in a back room of Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap on Tuesday to hear the work of Adam Levin and Sarah Levine, two Chicago writers who teach in the Art Institute’s writing program. Levin’s Hot Pink, a short story collection, came out early last month, and Levine’s novel Treasure Island!!! was

released at the end of 2011. Levine—small, bespectacled, and clad in black—read for 10 or 15 minutes. Treasure Island!!! is about a young woman who, after reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s similarly-titled novel (no exclamation points), realizes that she needs to take control of her life. Though the protagonist is deeply engaged in Stevenson’s text, Levine explained, she’s also a faulty reader, and her misinterpretations of Treasure

Island cause her to further muddle her relationships. “If you talk to your mother every day, you’re not going to have any adventures,” Levine’s funny, neurotic protagonist muses. During the question and answer session that followed, she explained, “I like doing readings because sometimes you get to hear how it lands.” The event was the first in the Seminary Co-op’s “Doppelganger Series,” which it hopes to host monthly. (The similarity of Levin’s and Levine’s last names inspired the series title.) Next month’s Doppelganger reading will feature Dmitry Samarov and Jack Clark, both of whom are cabbieturned-writers. “Doppelgangers” was charming, but a definite work in progress. The reading started 30 minutes late, but Levin and Levine’s tardiness went over well with the audience, a group of loyal fans. Still, it’s tough to make 12 people feel like a crowd. “It’s hard for us to host non-academic events in our stores, so we thought getting into the neighborhood would be a good idea,” said Thomas Flynn, Sem Co-op’s events coordinator. “We’re trying to make it a cool event series, and we’re hoping to make it a monthly thing. If you buy a book, we’ll buy you a beer.”

Levin, also bespectacled, read several short stories from Hot Pink, all of which landed slightly off-center. The first, “Important Men,” began with an extended description of the narrator’s desire to wield a diamond-encrusted cane as a pretend pistol. The second, “Cred,” was a boyfriend’s meditation on his girlfriend’s muffin top—whether he should dump her because of it, or whether he was increasing his chances with future girlfriends because he continued to date the girl with a conspicuous muffin top. During the question and answer session, Levine commented that upon hearing “Cred,” “You might think this guy’s a dick!” Despite the small scale of the night, Levin and Levine seemed like good friends, which added to the familial mood in the room. Their work is also undeniably complementary. Both authors’ pieces feature unmistakably modern subjects and predicaments, and both write with an uncanny sense for humor and warmth. “Do you like to write?” one woman piped up, from a table of six. “I don’t like not to write,” Levin said. “There’s something really grounding about crafting sentences,” Levine added. “I really do love doing this.”

CIMMFest features exclusive films unseen anywhere else FEST continued from page 9 who would work in harmony with the movies selected. While Phillips admits that the music staff might view the process in the opposite way, music first, then movies, it is clear that one medium inspires the other—that movies and music work in tandem to create the festival. According to Phillips, the most poignant

and powerful aspect of the festival is its uniqueness and the exclusivity of the movies selected. “You can’t rent these films,” he said, “you can’t download them. They only do it live. It’s a once in a decade chance to see this experience. I’m really proud we can put that together. It gives the public something they can’t see anywhere else.”

Heisler’s thought-provoking work can be inaccessible to untrained eyes SURREALISM continued from page 9 world. What the exhibit fails to instill in the viewer, however, is a sense of connection with the featured artist. In this respect the exhibit is probably most fulfilling for dedicated enthusiasts of Surrealist art.

Lack of understanding of the man and his vision may mar other viewers’ appreciation of Heisler’s work. Rather, much like his portraits, he appears to us as a shadowy, grim figure, faceless and indistinguishable.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | April 13, 2012

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WITH HANNAH GOLD

Do What You’re Told

Friday | April 13 Who doesn’t love a premature tax return, especially when it includes crispy strips of pig fat? In celebration of the IRS tax-filing deadline (April 17, a joyous occasion), Oscar Meyer is handing out free samples of their beloved Butcher Thick Cut Bacon at two downtown locations. If you didn’t bring home the bacon yesterday or Wednesday, then today is your last chance! 300 South Wacker Drive. 11:30 a.m., free; 210 South Canal Street (at Jackson). 4:30 p.m., free. Celebrate the centennial of experimental American composer John Cage, famous for his avant-garde pieces like “4’33’’”—4 minutes and 33 seconds of solid gold silence, in which musicians take the stage and then just sit there. Catch the beginning of Aperiodic’s John Cage Festival, curated by Naomi Epstein, which runs through Sunday. The opening concert is comprised of several eccentric compositions, such as “59 1/2” for a String Player”, “In a Landscape”, and “Suite for Toy Piano”, and a lecture on The Cage Collection, given by D. J. Hoek. 210 South Michigan Avenue. 7:30 p.m., $8 with student ID. Saturday | April 14 Save the last dance for the undead at The Empty Bottle’s Zombie Prom. The exhumed event features performances from Get Up With The Get Downs and Wild Blue Angel who specialize in James Brown and Jimi Hendrix covers, respectively. All proceeds go to The Arts of Life, an organization that provides individuals with a comfortable, equalizing environment where everyone can realize their full artistic potential. Ticket also gets you into the “Windy City Soul Club” after party. 1035 North Western Avenue, 6–9 p.m., $15 for singles, $25 for couples, 21+.

If freeze-dried food can land on the moon, then tamales and schnitzel should be permitted to roll down the streets of Chicago. Head to the Chicago Mobile Food Symposium, brought to you by My Streets! My Eats! and the Institute for Justice, at the University of Chicago Law School to hear many more convincing arguments about why mobile chefs should be able to move about the Windy City unfettered. Well over a dozen food trucks, including Sweet Ride, Duck ‘n’ Roll and Lillie’s Q Meat Mobile, will be parked outside the Law School for lunch. Registration is now closed, and admission to the symposium will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis. Everyone is welcome to the moveable feast. 1111 East 60th Street. 8:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m., free. Sunday | April 15

CLASSIFIEDS Classified advertising in The Chicago Maroon is $3 for each line. Lines are 45 characters long including spaces and punctuation. Special headings are 20-character lines at $4 per line. Submit all ads in person, by e-mail, or by mail to The Chicago Maroon, Ida Noyes Hall, Lower Level Rm 026, 1212 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL 60637. The Chicago Maroon accepts Mastercard & Visa. Call (773) 702-9555. 5121 S KENWOOD

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5121 S. Kenwood, Garden Unit. Newly renovated two (2) bedroom, one (1) bath apartment in well maintained four (4) unit building featuring new cabinet kitchen with all new appliances, including dishwasher and microwave, on site laundry, storage, in great Hyde Park Location near University Shuttle. $875 plus heat. Call Jerry 312-608-1234, jettinger@hallmark-johnson.com.

2 Expansive, vintage condos with bright sunny formal living and dining rooms, large sun room, kitchen with butler pantry and all amenities, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, in-unit laundry, gas fireplace, deck, parking and professionally landscaped yard. Hardwood floors thruout, french doors in dining room/living room/hall. stainless steel appliances, large laundry room has full size washer/dryer as well. 2 full baths. Rent includes heat and water. Tenant pays electric. 6225 S Woodlawn, Unit 1N, Available June 1, 2012. 6227 S Woodlawn, Unit 3S, Available May 1, 2012

5114 S KIMBARK 5114 S. Kimbark, 1N. Very large studio apartment in well-maintained building featuring large eat-in kitchen, large closets, hardwood floors, good natural light, miniblinds, ceiling fans, on-site laundry. Great Hyde Park location. $685 includes heat. Call Jerry 312-608-1234, jettinger@hallmark-johnson. com. advertise in the maroon ADS@CHICAGOMAROON.COM

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Get off your couch and head to the Loop to hear a University of Chicago professor lecture about Freud. As part of the Graham School’s weekly Works of the Mind Lecture Series, Professor Bertram J. Cohler (departments of Comparative Human Development, Psycholog y, and Psychiatry) will hold a session on problems of the personal and public in The Interpretation of Dreams at the Chicago Cultural Center. Who knows, you might have a real breakthrough. 78 East Washington Street. 1 p.m., free. It seems that James Cameron’s Titanic franchise has reached its final frontier, (once you’ve seen Jack and Rose “never let go” in 3D, you’ve seen it all) and that it’s time now to return to the classics. To commemorate the sinking of that great transatlantic superliner, exactly 100 years ago to the day (makes you feel old, doesn’t it?), the Northwest Chicago Film Society will screen Roy Ward Baker’s A Night to Remember (1958). The film attempts to faithfully chronicle the events of that night as well as the true stories of select passengers. 4050 North Milwaukee Avenue. 7:30 p.m., $5.

A FREE PRE-RELEASE SCREENING PRESENTED BY THE FILM’S DIRECTOR LUCY WINER

TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012 4 PM THE LAW SCHOOL COURTROOM ALICE BUCKNELL | CHICAGO MAROON

1111 E. 60TH STREET CHICAGO, IL 60637

THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | April 13, 2012

Maroons head into the Twilight Track & Field Jake Walerius Sports Staff Track and field will head to the Wheaton College Twilight Meet this Saturday in their second to last meet before the conference championships. The Maroons will face off against North Central College, Illinois Wesleyan, Carthage College, UW– Parkside and Wheaton College as the countdown to the UAA championship continues. The results of the outdoor season have been mixed so far for the Maroons. After a solid secondplace finish for both the men’s and women’s teams in their opening meet of the season, the men’s side slipped to ninth at last weekend’s Chicagoland Championship as the women secured a sixth-place finish. On the men’s side, the distance runners have been the stars of the season so far, while the sprinters and jumpers have struggled with the transition outdoors, with second-year sprinters Theo Benjamin and Jackson Jenkins both having to exit mid-meet due to injury concerns last Saturday. “In the sprints and the jumps we’re limiting the events some of our kids our going to compete in this weekend just because we’re concerned about their health,” head coach Chris Hall said. “For our distance runners, for

a lot of them who ran in their primary event last weekend, they will be taking the weekend off or competing outside of their normal event area, because they had a really good weekend, and they just need to recover a little bit.” The women, on the other hand, have slightly more cause for optimism. A sixth-place finish at the Chicagolands against D-I and D-II opponents represented a much smoother transition to the outdoor season than was had by the men and will give the squad confidence that they can compete successfully against high-caliber opposition. Having said that, the women scored only 14 of their 60.50 points in sprinting events last Saturday, which suggests they have not been immune to the problems faced by their male counterparts. However, Hall—though he was disappointed with some of the performances last weekend— thinks part of the problem for the sprinters has been moving to the colder climate of outdoor track, and he doesn’t think Chicago’s conference rivals have coped with the problem much better. “I think a lot of the explosive athletes coming off of indoors and moving into outdoors [have struggled] with the cooler weather,” he said, “and I think the exception to the rule is Emory, who is sitting in a hot climate and

Second-year Jackson Jenkins starts the 4x100m relay at a track meet last Saturday. NICHOLAS RUIZ | THE CHICAGO MAROON

probably has a great competition climate every time they go out and we just haven’t had that. “I’m assuming Carnegie hasn’t had that and Case Western and Brandeis and NYU, as well, and none of them have really had great performances either. So I feel like we’re in a similar boat as those teams, with the one exception of Emory.” Saturday’s meet will be the smallest Chicago has competed in all season and a little bit of

Chicago prepares for Case, Wash U Women’s Tennis Shayan Karbassi Sports Staff Coming off of a resounding victory against Wheaton College, the Maroons aim to continue their dominance in this weekend’s matches against Case Western and Wash U. The sixth-ranked South Siders ran away with an 8–1 win against Wheaton last Wednesday to seal their fifth consecutive victory. With that win, the Maroons improved their record to 14–4 overall and 12–1 over D-III opposition. Fourth-year Kendra Higgins got her team off to the perfect start, defeating Wheaton’s Elizabeth Worsowicz in two sets, 6–0, 6–0—the first of five straight sets that ended in Maroon victories on the day. Co-captain and fourth-year Jennifer Kung followed Higgins with a 6–2, 6–4 win before fourth-year Carmen Vaca Guzman (6–1, 6–0), thirdyear Linden Li (7–5, 6–2) and first-year Kelsey McGillis (6–0, 6–0) all won in two sets. The

South Siders only loss on the day came from first-year Megan Tang’s default. In doubles play, Vaca Guzman and Higgins served up another shut out (8–0) as Higgins finished the day without losing a single game and Vaca Guzman dropped only one. Li and Kung won their match 8–4, followed by a 9–2 McGillis-Tang victory. The Maroons will be hoping they can keep up their momentum heading into this weekend’s play, but Case Western (16–2) and Wash U (11–4) represent strong opposition. The 13thranked Wash U Bears are coming off of a 9–0 win against McKendree University, before which they upset 10th ranked DePauw. In fact, the only loss in the last six games for the Bears came at the hands of the Maroons, who shut them out 5–0 on April 7th. Case will also be hungry for an upset. The Spartans are 16–2 overall and are enjoying a 10game winning streak. Of their last five games, the Spartans

have had four perfect outings, in which their opponents failed to win a single match. Despite the competition, the Maroons will be confident heading into the weekend. Of their last nine games, the women have shut out their opponents six times. Their last loss came at the hands of D-I Coastal Carolina; otherwise Chicago has won eight of the last nine games. Having played the Bears a short while ago, the South Siders know full well the competition they will face. Case, however, will be more of an unknown quantity. They are unranked and have not faced a top-10 team this season. The Maroons’ games this weekend will be their last before the conference championship at the end of the month, and the pressure is on for them to extend their winning streak to seven games heading into the UAAs. Saturday’s match-up against Case begins at 2 p.m and the Wash U clash gets underway at 10 a.m. on Sunday.

For more South Siders sports coverage, visit HTTP ://CHICAGOMAROON . COM / CATEGORY / SPORTS

intimacy might be just what the doctor ordered for the Maroons. It’s easy to get caught up in the occasion when there are 18 teams on the track, but that will be no excuse tomorrow. “As we get further into the season, I think there are higher expectations and there are less excuses,” Hall said. “We’re not knocking the rust off or trying to get back into a competitive mindset. At this point our kids should be in a competitive

mindset, so they should feel a little extra pressure knowing the expectations are just a little bit higher. It’s a very good competition [this weekend], all the teams are very complete teams, but it’s not a meet the size of Chicagolands or the Ted Haydon Invite that we hosted earlier this year. It should go a little bit quicker and that sometimes makes it a little bit easier for athletes to focus.” The Wheaton College Twilight gets under way at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Lockhart hurls complete game, adds game-winning single BASEBALL continued from back

Maroons tacked on another run in the top of the third. Dominican answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning to maintain their lead. In the top of the fifth, down by a run, second-year first baseman Claude Lockhart’s RBI fielder’s choice tied the score at three runs apiece. The tie would stay fixed until the ninth. In the top of the ninth, a day after third-year outfielder and pitcher Jack Cinoman’s walk-off triple, the Maroons’ chances initially seemed bleak. Thirdyear outfielder Ben Bullock popped out to lead off the inning. Cinoman, the previous day’s hero, mustered no more than a groundout. With two down and the score tied, Dominican walked third-year infielder J.R. Lopez and Williams. Lockhart, who had tied the score earlier in the game, came to the plate with two aboard. He hit an RBI single to plate the Maroons’ only run of the inning. Lockhart, who has, at least temporarily, taken Cinoman’s place as the player who does it all, batted in the go-ahead run in the midst of twirling a complete game effort. He went back out for the bottom of the ninth and was able to work around one Maroon’s error to finish the game. “Once again we had a close game against Dominican and pulled out ahead in the last inning,” third-year infielder Steven Schwabe said. “Claude [Lockhart] came up with a big hit to solidify a terrific pitching effort.” “Our defense really clicked and we were able to make big plays to help

ourselves avoid big innings,” Huff said. Despite all of the positivity that must have been permeating the locker room after the stellar outing from Lockhart coupled with his clutch hit, the South Siders were not able to translate that energy into a win against Aurora the following day. The Maroons struck first again, plating four runs in the bottom of the third. Lopez hit an RBI single, Williams received a bases-loaded walk, Huff hit an RBI single, and second-year infielder William Katzka capped off the inning’s scoring with a sacrifice fly. Those four runs were all the squad would manage the entire afternoon. In the final six innings, they yielded nine runs to visiting Aurora, allowing the Spartans to beat them yet again. The Maroons will have a few days off to refuel before competing again. On Sunday, they will host a doubleheader against Monmouth. The Flying Scots head into the game with a record of 8–14. The Maroons will be looking to take advantage of playing a team with a significantly worse record than teams like Aurora, which have given them trouble. “I think we are excited to get back out there against Monmouth,” Huff said. “We have a nice few days to help rest our bodies before we get back into the swing of things. They are a good team, so it will be a nice opportunity for us to bounce back with two quality wins.” First pitch for the first game against Monmouth is scheduled for noon on Sunday at J. Kyle Anderson Field.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | April 13, 2012

Rewriting the rulebook: Sport Clubs

By Matthew Schaefer Associate Sports Editor “Sport Clubs will not be approved/recognized if the University of Chicago provides varsity (and, in some cases, intramural) athletic opportunities in the same area of the proposed club activity.”— Office of Intramural, Recreation and Sport Clubs I want a rational, legitimate defense of this policy. Not a speculative and unsubstantiated opinion. Not some superficial pontification about the “fairness” of the current code. It would be the height of ignorance to claim there isn’t a demand for serious athletics on this campus. If you’re interested in rigorous, above-intramural competition, but don’t have either the time or talent to devote to a varsity squad, and fail to receive sufficient funds from ORCSA/SG, well, you’re out of luck. It’s an effective, “Screw you.” Concerning this rule: I call bullshit. Consider this statement from Brian Bock, Director of the Office of Intramural, Recreation and Sport Clubs: “I understand there’s, you know, a need and a want, especially if people want to be competitive and travel—you know, money’s an issue for them,” said Bock, “but I also see the point where you have to draw the line somewhere. Now why that line was drawn in the sand, I couldn’t tell you.” Wait—rewind. He acknowledged there’s “a need and a want.” Now consider the Office’s official philosophy: “Sport Clubs have been established to foster positive and healthy experiences through participation in recreational and competitive activities.” I submit to you all: In what universe do soccer, tennis, baseball, and softball not “foster positive and healthy experience through participation in recreational and competitive activities”? If you answered, “Not this one”— bingo. If you didn’t: Grab Robert Maynard Hutchins’ hand, do some pushups, and, you know, maybe a few squats, and take a hike. Not a metaphorical hike. A real one. That’s not to claim there aren’t legitimate concerns with this issue; far from it. Bock fairly asserts: “We have a finite amount of

space; we have a finite amount of money.” No argument here. And he’s right: We have to “draw the line” somewhere. But where do we draw that line, exactly? First off, forgive me if I reject the notion that a “finite amount of space” justifies an exclusion of additional Sport Clubs. Not all activities require University facilities, and I contend that most people who frequent Ratner and Crown, like myself, would agree: There are certainly times where spaces are available. This “finite amount of space” comes across as little more than a poor excuse for an indefensible proposition. But what about available funds? For background, according to Bock, the Sport Club Finance Committee averages “about $100,000 in funding from ORCSA/SG each year”—80 percent distributed via their Annual Allocations process, 20 percent via their Quarterly Allocations process. This distribution of funds seems to be the critical issue of contention—the one perhaps most supportive of the current rule. But if you consider the current regulations, it’s one that can be dismissed with relative ease. Consider the protocol for the allocation of annual funds: –Organizational structure and fulfillment of responsibilities to the Department (and University) –Leadership in recruitment and retention of new and existing members –Organization in planning and development of club business –Proper use of funds provided the previous fiscal year –Financial commitment through generated revenue –Longevity and stability –Needs proportionate to demand –Service to the University community (students, faculty, staff, etc.) Note that not a single one of these conditions remotely justifies this discrimination against registered sports by the powers that be. The tennis club, currently a “social club,” has “raised $5,500 for traveling through Zipcar, and has applied for a grant through the United States Tennis Association’s (USTA) Tennis on Campus program,” according to Alexander Sotiropoulos’ April 10 Maroon article, “Tennis club restructures, looks for funding.” Is that not “financial commitment through generated revenue”? If “annual allocations are determined by” these factors, then what makes a potential tennis Sport Club or soccer Sport Club that has better organizational structure, leadership,

planning, and fundraising than another Club—say, Aikido Kokikai or Bocce Ball or Kendo—less deserving of funding? When Renato Amboss, a first-year in the College, tried out for and failed to make the varsity soccer team as a “preferred walk-on,” he gathered more than 20 friends and associates to form a soccer Sport Club. Becoming a Sport Club, rather than an RSO, would allow the club to receive more funding than would be offered by SG, allowing them to compete in more competitive tournaments. But his attempts were denied: Soccer is already a varsity sport. Amboss’ reaction? “I would be perfectly fine with not making the team as long as I get the chance to play at a competitive level somewhere else,” Amboss said. “IM is great for people who just want to go out and have fun, and varsity is fantastic for great recruited athletes who are at a high level of play, but there is little hope of being satisfied if there are people like me who are considered not good enough for varsity but not satisfied with the challenges of IM.” The fact of the matter is: When the tennis club, or that potential soccer club, better meets those eight conditions than current clubs, they deserve some of that funding. The other clubs necessarily deserve less. “Longevity and stability” is not enough to maintain a current organization’s funding; they have to continue to “foster positive and healthy experiences,” in line with the Sport Clubs philosophy. That’s what your Office’s rules dictate. And to exclude a certain group because there are other, insufficient opportunities on campus is to commit a grave injustice against those students. It is to border on hypocrisy and contradict the mission of the Sport Clubs itself. Surely Athletic Director Thomas Weingartner misses the mark and severely oversimplifies the wants and needs of students when he states, “You only kind of get one take at the apple...it’s either/or.” This is not an “either/or” situation. This is pure economics, and when there is a demand for a Sport Club, one that falls within the financial code outlined by the Office, they should get a chance to compete for funding. That is, of course, if you do care about “fairness.” I agree: It’s time to “draw the proverbial line in the sand.” But if we’re going to do that, we better make it straight. So come on: Give me a valid, substantive justification of the current system. One that makes sense. One that accommodates the wants and needs of our students and our community. Or repeal this stupid rule.

15 SOFTBALL UAA Standings Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6

School Emory Rochester Case Western Rochester Brandeis Chicago

Record 25–3 (6–2) 16-7 ( 14–8 (4–4) 3–10 (3–5) 5–16 (1–7) 8–5 (0–0)

Win % .893 .739 .636 .231 .238 .542

Batting Average Rank Player School 1 Brandon Rogalski Washington (MO) 2 Jack Cinoman Chicago 3 J.R. Lopez Chicago 4 5

Paul Pakan Case Western Andrew Goldstick Washington (MO)

AVG .449 .419 .415 .405 .384

Home Runs Rank 1 2 2 2 5

Player Paul Pakan Matt Keen Alex Caghan Sam Alexander J.R. Lopez

School Case Western Case Western Rochester Case Western Chicago

HR 3 2 2 2 1

Runs Batted In Rank Player School 1 Zach Kessinger Washington (MO) 2 Brandon Rogalski Washington (MO) 2 Jay Page Emory 4 Paul Pakan Case Western 4 Sam Alexander Case Western

RBI 21 19 19 17 17

BASEBALL UAA Standings Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6

School Emory

Record 19–9 (7–1)

Washington (MO) Case Western Rochester Brandeis Chicago

23–7 (5–3) 19–10–1 (4–4) 5–15 (3–5) 6–26 (1–7) 13–8 (0–0)

Win % .679 .767 .650 .250 .188 .619

Wins Rank Player 1 Jamie Hora 2 Connor Dillman 3 Jarrett Gish 3 Max Gordon 3 Stephen Bonser

School Case Western Emory Case Western Washington (MO) Washington (MO)

Wins 7 6 5 5 6

ERA Rank Player School 1 Mike Bitanga Emory 2 Edward Abramson Case Western 3 Stephen Bonser Washington (MO) 4 Corey King Rochester 5 Connor Dillman Emory

ERA 1.76 2.27 2.38 2.55 2.83

Strikeouts Rank Player 1 Paul Schwendel 2 Connor Dillman 3 Jarrett Gish 4 Jamie Hora 5 Stephen Bonser

School Emory Emory Case Western Case Western Washington (MO)

Ks 57 52 45 42 37

MEN’S TENNIS

Ravella: “We really have little room for error” TENNIS continued from back

Fourth-year Troy Brinker lunges for a return in his singles match against Citadel Military College of South Carolina last season. COURTESY OF DAVE HILBERT

Sabada will be at No. 2, and Szabo and Ravella at No. 3. With no likely changes to the doubles lineup from most of the season thus far, Ravella said it is important to get wins at doubles. “I think doubles will be important not only for the Wash U match but for the Case match as well,” he said. “The importance of coming out strong in doubles cannot be stressed enough because going into singles with momentum makes a very big difference.” Wins this weekend are important not only for seeding at the UAA tournament, but also for a chance at an at–large bid to the NCAA tournament. Chicago is currently ranked 30th nationally while Case is 22nd and Wash U is 17th. “We really have very little room for error, but to a certain extent, we control our own destiny,” Ravella said. “If we win our home matches this weekend and then have a solid outing at UAAs, I don’t see why we wouldn’t get an at-large bid to NCAAs.”

UAA Standings Rank School 1 Emory 2 Carnegie 3 Washington (MO) 4 Case Western 5 NYU

Record 14–0 (0–0) 10–5 (0–0) 10–5 (0–0) 11–6 (0–0) 3–3 (0–0)

Win%

.400

1.000

.667 .667 .647 .500

Chicago

2–3(0–0)

Brandeis

4–7 (0–0)

.364

Rochester

5–10 (0–0)

.333

WOMEN’S TENNIS UAA Standings Rank 1 2 3 4 5

School Case Western Chicago Brandeis Carnegie Emory

Record 16–2 (0–0) 7–1(0–0) 12–2 (0–0) 13–3 (0–0) 10–3 (0–0)

Win% .889 .875 .857 .812 .769

Washington (MO)

11–4 (0–0)

.733

Rochester

7–3 (0–0)

.700

NYU

0–5 (0–0)

.000

SPORTS

IN QUOTES

“I’m about to drop $10,000 on the lottery and cross my fingers. [It was] either that or blowing it in the clubs.” —Washington Wizards rookie Chris Singleton, on his decision to spend $10,000 on Mega Millions tickets.

Offense ignited in sweep of North Park Softball Derek Tsang Associate Sports Editor Going into their Tuesday doubleheader against North Park (17–7), the Maroons had plenty of reason to lack confidence: They had been shut out in their last two games, and were coming off of their first consecutive losses of the season. They showed no lack of confidence on Tuesday, though, getting a hit in their first at-bat and never looking back, en route to a 15–1 victory in the first game, and a 3–1 victory in the second. The issue, if anything, was easing up in game two following their torrent of runs in game one. “After scoring so many runs in the first game, I think we relaxed a little going into game two, then pressed when we realized we hadn’t scored yet, then re-focused and got back on track,” head coach Ruth Kmak said. Chicago (17–7) seemed intent on breaking their scoreless streak from the get-go. After second-year Kaitlyn Carpenter got on base, she quickly stole second before advancing to third on a single from fourth-year Julia Schneider. The next at-bat, North Park’s Courtney Lucht (9–2) hurled her pitch past the catcher, and Carpenter showed no hesitation in sprinting home.

Third-year Kim Cygan (9-2) picked up the win, allowing one run on two hits in four innings of work. The pressure was off after the second inning, though, as Chicago ran the score to 11–0. Carpenter, Schneider, and Cygan each managed three hits, and first-year Raechel Cloud scored three runs, reaching base on two hits and an error. The nightcap started off much the same as the first game, with Carpenter getting on base and stealing second to threaten immediately. Carpenter took third and then scored with two outs, but it was clear that the second game would be more heavily contested. “We had to adjust slightly to a different pitcher,” Kmak said. “Once we adjusted, we were able to score and take care of the game.” The Vikings managed their single run in the third inning off of fourth-year Sarah Neuhaus (6–4), who spaced seven hits over the full seven innings to pick up the win. With the game tied, Chicago seemed closer to breaking the game open, getting two hits in the fourth before their two-run fifth. Carpenter provided the crucial run, doubling with one out and scoring on Schneider’s two-out single. The Maroons’ defense seemed likely to hold, but the offense kept pushing, putting two runners on base in the sixth but failing to score.

Second-year Kaitlyn Carpenter slides into home base during a home game against North Park on Tuesday. viktor moros | the chicago maroon

“We’re not satisfied,” chanted Cloud as the Maroons came out to field in the sixth. The South Siders have one of their biggest challenges of the year up next, against ninth-ranked UWWhitewater (17–3). The Warhawks are coming off of a sweep of UW-Oshkosh, who swept the Maroons last weekend.

South Siders’ momentum stalled again Baseball Sarah Langs Associate Sports Editor Another week, another rollercoaster ride for the Maroons. Yet again, Chicago (13–8) won a game and then lost one, further demonstrating the team’s inability to keep their momentum. An exciting 4–3 victory over Dominican (12–12) on Tuesday in the top of the ninth was

overshadowed by a failure to exact revenge on Aurora (19–4), as the team lost 9–4 at home on Wednesday. Generating momentum isn’t a problem for this Maroons team. The issue lies in sustaining it. “We played great against Dominican, however I think we would have liked to take advantage of the large number of base runners we left on base,” second-year outfielder

and first baseman Brett Huff said. Chicago got on the board early against the Stars, taking advantage of a leadoff walk and passed ball to go ahead 1–0 on fourth-year catcher Stephen Williams’s sacrifice fly. They surrendered the lead in the bottom of the first inning, in an inning plagued by two Chicago errors. The game stayed close, though, as the

BASEBALL continued on page 13

First-year Andrew VanWazer pitches in Monday’s game against Hope College. darren leow | the chicago maroon

“Our pitchers will work hard to keep them off the bases and we’ll look for our defense to keep up our solid play of late…I think heading in that our best defense will be a run producing offense,” Kmak said. UW-Whitewater features pitcher Katie Boyle (8–1), who sports a 1.34 ERA on the season. On offense, the Warhawks have two starters—short-

stop Laura Elchenold and catcher Emily Epifanio—hitting above .400 on the season. Their biggest offensive threat, though, might be outfielder Amanda Mertes, who is hitting .392 and has 20 steals in 20 attempts so far this season. The Maroons will begin the doubleheader at 1 p.m. at Stagg Field on Saturday.

Next on the slate: two UAA rivals Men’s Tennis Alexander Sotiropoulos Senior Sports Staff The Maroons will begin their UAA matches at home this weekend against Case on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Wash U on Sunday at 2 p.m. Both matches will be held at the Stagg Field tennis courts. Although Case will play Wash U at the Stagg courts just a couple hours before it plays the Maroons, Chicago head coach Taka Bertrand said that the Spartans will not be fatigued. “I don’t think playing Case in the second leg of the doubleheader is a benefit to us because they are accustomed to playing multiple dual matches in a day,” she said. The players also acknowledge that Case has had a wealth of energ y, even when Chicago beat the Spartans 6–3 in last year’s matchup. “It obviously can’t hurt to have [the Spartans] play Wash U beforehand, but Case has a reputation for coming out firing no matter who, when, or where they play, so we can’t take any match for granted,” second–year No. 3 doubles player Krishna

Ravella said. The Maroons will have the added benefit of scouting both the Bears and the Spartans, as Bertrand is the site host for the match. Still, Chicago is at a disadvantage going into both matches. Second–year No. 4 singles player Alex Golovin will be out of town. He currently holds a 5–3 record at the No. 4 spot on the season and a 5–0 record in the No. 3 position. Because of his absence, it is likely that second-year Zsolt Szabo will move from No. 5 to No. 4 singles, first–year Deepak Sabada will play No. 5 singles instead of his original No. 6 singles spot, and third–year Harrison Abrams will play No. 6 singles. Bertrand said she could not reveal lineup changes before the matches. For the rest of the singles lineup, fourth–year Troy Brinker, fourth–year Jan Stefanski, and first–year Ankur Bhargava will likely hold the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 spots, respectively. It is likely that Brinker and Stefanski will hold the No. 1 doubles position, Bhargava and

TENNIS continued on page 15