051112 Chicago Maroon

FRIDAY • MAY 11, 2012

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

CHICAGOMAROON.COM

ISSUE 45 • VOLUME 123

Pierce’s fate uncertain as admins weigh options Demolition on table, as is new dormitory Ankit Jain News Staff

And so it begins...

Members of Scav team Sisyphus and the Rolling Stones, representing South Campus Residence Hall, jerryrig a contraption to retrieve this year’s list in Ida Noyes Hall shortly after midnight Thursday morning.

JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Pierce Tower may be on its last legs.

A planning committee of senior administrators are investigating the possibility of demolishing the 52-year-old residence hall and building a new one in its place. A proposal will be submitted to the Board of Trustees within the coming months, possibly as soon as the end of the quarter.

Pierce will remain open for the 2012-2013 school year, according to University spokesperson Steve Kloehn.

Otherwise, a precise picture of the building’s fate—in-

cluding any demolition and construction projects—remains under consideration.

“We hope to have more detailed information about the future of Pierce either by the end of this academic year or the beginning of the fall quarter,” Kloehn said in an e-mail.

However, Dean of the College John Boyer, who is not a member of the planning committee but is head of faculty, has led the charge for an expansion of the housing system and hopes that the University closes Pierce soon.

“The University needs to initiate planning such that we’re able to close Pierce by PIERCE continued on page 2

South facilities renamed after $17 mil gift Law School hosts Kennedy for energy talk Isabella McKinley-Corbo News Contributor Several familiar spots on campus will be renamed, following a $17 million pledge from alum Arley Cathey, Jr. (Ph.B ’50).

Cathey’s donation, made in honor of his father, will provide funding for complete renovations in the Harper Reading Room and Stuart North Reading Room, which will become the Arley Cathey Learning Center. South Campus Dining Commons also will be renamed the Arley Cathey Dining Commons, while Chautauqua House in South Campus residence hall will become Cathey House.

“The plan is to use the gift to complete the renovation of the study spaces. Many changes will be invisible, such as air conditioning improvements, but some will be more visible, such as making the configuration of the Stuart cubicles more attractive,” said Associate Dean of the

College Michael Jones.

Cathey, who hails from El Dorado, AR, entered the College at age 16. During his time here, Cathey lived in BurtonJudson Courts, adjacent to the dining commons that will boast his family name.

“The University plays a good role in shaping a person’s beliefs for life. It did mine,” he said in a press release.

The dedication of the Arley D. Cathey Learning Center will take place on June 1 in Harper Memorial Library, as part of an alumni weekend reception, Jones said. Cathey will attend the ceremony, but his further involvement in the Learning Center will be contingent upon his health, according to Jones.

Third-year Luciana Steinert, a resident of Cathey House since her first year, said the new name may have a hard time catching on.

“I don’t know how it’s pronounced—it’s sort of oddly spelled,” she said of the house’s

new moniker. Moreover, the house began a tradition last year, its “Chautauqua House Chautauqua,” where students shared music and food. Somehow, “Cathey House Chautauqua” may lack the same ring.

“We might still call it that,” she said, referring to the original name.

Dean of the College John Boyer sent an e-mail to house residents May 8 assuring them that their bonds would remain strong.

“I recognize that this change in the identity of your community is significant. I also understand that the community in your House is strong, and I am certain that spirit and its budding traditions will continue and grow as your House name changes,” said Boyer.

Jones praised Cathey’s generosity and said he hopes that his gift will encourage more alumni to contribute. “We always hope that one alum’s generosity will inspire other alumni,” he said.

Bertram Cohler, Sosc prof of 40 years, dies at 73 Sam Levine Senior Editor Bertram Cohler (A.B. ’61), who helped guide students through Marx, Durkheim, and Freud for nearly half a century and dedicated himself to teaching in the

College, died on Wednesday.

He was 73.

Cohler, the William Rainey Harper Professor in Comparative Human Development and the College, taught the Self, Culture, and Society social sciences sequence every year since 1972, in addition

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to five to seven other courses.

During his 40-year tenure in higher education, Cohler was awarded the Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1972 and 1999 and the Norman Maclean Faculty Award for COHLER continued on page 3

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president of the Waterkeeper Alliance and an environmental lawyer, argues that cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels need not be put in opposition against economic interests at a talk on Thursday at the Law School.

PETER TANG | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Sean Graf News Contributor Robert Kennedy, Jr. addressed what he called the “biggest crisis we face as a civilization today”—the country’s reliance on fossil fuels—during a talk at the Law School on Thursday, stressing that environmental protection is necessary for, rather than at odds with, economic growth.

Kennedy, an environmental law attorney and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, said that free-market capitalism has been overtaken by special

interests, preventing America from disposing of oil and coal in favor of cleaner-burning forms of power such as solar and wind.

He went on to blame high-polluting energ y interests, Fox News, and talk radio for the false presentation of the issue as one pitting the environment against the economy.

Rather, he said, the two are complementary.

Kennedy estimated that energ y lobbyists have influenced policy to provide $1.3 trillion annually in subsidies to the oil and coal industries and to reduce

regulations, leading to an American addiction to fossil-fuels and “an attack on America’s economy and on America’s wealth.”

Kennedy also said that the notion of “clean coal” is misleading, as coal-burning power plants emit the most mercury into the environment, endangering the food supply.

Combined with the harmful health effects associated with coal emissions, like respiratory and cardiac problems, such environmental dangers cost $345 billion each year in healthKENNEDY continued on page 4

IN SPORTS

IN ARTS

‘Cats in the bag: Maroons defeat D1 Northwestern » Page 16

Lauded author Michael Ondaatje equally adept at poetry and prose » Page 9

Penultimate push: Individuals chase NCAA qualification » Page 15

Canon Fodder | High art comes down to The Wire » Page 10

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | May 11, 2012

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Dean Boyer: Pierce should be closed by June of 2013; new dorm open “not later than fall of 2017” PIERCE continued from front

June of 2013, clear the site, and then begin construction on a new, very modern residence hall, like the one we have on South Campus.

Hopefully it would open as soon as possible, but not later than the fall of 2017,” Boyer said in an interview.

He imagines the new dorm on the current site of Pierce, along with the parking lot to the west of it.

Administrators on the committee, including Executive Vice President David Greene, Associate Vice President for Campus Life Karen Warren Coleman, and Assistant Dean in the College Katie CallowWright, did not respond to e-mails seeking comment.

“I think I’m speaking on behalf of the faculty,” Boyer said.

If the committee and the Board decide to use Pierce’s location for the new dorm (instead of building a replacement dorm elsewhere), the University will need to find temporary housing for the 250 students who live there now. Boyer suggested International House or the New Graduate residence hall as candidates.

Although Boyer envisions a dorm similar to South Campus, the planning committee may have other ideas.

First-year David Goldfeld attended a meeting last month between the planning committee and the Pierce Resident Working Group,

of which he is a member. He said that the committee may be leaning toward a design unlike that of other dorms. “[The administration] has thrown out lots of ideas. Whether it could be potentially like a taller [BurtonJudson], made out of stone, kind of Gothic. They said they don’t want it to be like South necessarily, with all the glass and steel,” said Goldfeld, who lives in Shorey House.

Regardless of the new dorm’s architecture, the administration wants to maintain the Pierce identity, according to Goldfeld. “They want to keep the good qualities of Pierce, especially the close communities and the small houses. So they want that to be incorporated into the new design,” he said.

Administrators will continue to solicit student feedback as they develop their proposal.

“The work [of the planning committee] continues to be informed by the Pierce Resident Work Group, the Pierce Tower Council, resident staff and other voices,” Kloehn said.

While Boyer could not give a projection of the costs, the last dorm the University built— South Campus—was a $100 million project.

“New residence halls are very expensive. You don’t just decide to do them casually,” Boyer said.

The committee’s decision will come at the end of a long year for

Urban Health Initiative snags grant for South Side Rx database Stephanie Xiao News Staff The U of C Medical Center (UCMC)’s Urban Health Initiative (UHI) was awarded a $5.9 million federal grant on Tuesday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as part of a contest soliciting proposals for improving public health.

From a pool of over 3,000 proposals for new models and improvements to health care, the UHI was selected as one of 26 winners of the Health Care Innovation Challenge that received from $1 million to $30 million.

The prizes went to organizations which sought to bridge the gap between private and public insurance providers, in order to improve access to health care for publicly insured patients.

Founded in 2005, the UHI will use its grant to establish the Community Rx, an electronic database system that will link approximately 200,000 South Side residents to nearby doctors and services.

The grant will allow the UHI to coordinate information about health care resources across the South Side with electronic health records, in order to streamline follow-up health care with “eprescriptions,” according to Karen Lee, a project manager for the UCMC’s South Side Health and Vitality Studies.

Lee explained that, often, doctors recommend remedies for their patients’ ailments without providing the resources needed to carry out the treatment. By

prescribing through the Community Rx database, after a diagnosis, a patient at the UCMC will have an online resource providing information on how and where to go next.

Lee is hopeful that the Community Rx system will both improve health in communities and expand the availability health care resources across the South Side.

“By providing this information to people about places in their community where they can go to stay healthy and manage their disease, we anticipate that this will improve people’s overall health,” Lee said.

She continued: “At the same time, with this local approach in getting people to use resources in their community, it will also help drive community vitality, hopefully bringing more programming to the community that will meet the health needs of the people living there.”

The grant, according to Lee, will bring together a diverse cohort of institutions and organizations, including Northwestern University, Alliance of Chicago Community Health Services, and numerous local clinics, that will work to “help people on the South Side of Chicago stay healthy.”

The UHI functions as a link between the UCMC and community health providers.

Earlier this year, the UHI donated $50,000 to the Community Health Englewood Clinic at West 63rd Street and South Halsted Parkway.

A committee of senior administrators are drafting proposals for the Board of Trustees regarding the future (and possible destruction) of Pierce Tower, home to 250 students in four houses.

GRIFFIN DENNIS | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Pierce, whose residents experienced structural and maintenance issues, followed by multiple renovations and internal improvements. Asked whether the debate should have be-

gun sooner, Boyer was ambivalent.

“It’s interesting,” he said. “The University has a tremendous opportunity, with the quality of our students, with the quality of our

education. If we could just get the residential resources up to a state that’s worthy of our students and our faculty, I think that would be a great thing.”

Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve, discusses America’s great white divide Jon Catlin News Staff Conservative pundit Charles Murray, author of 1994’s The Bell Curve, took on the issue of class divisions within the nation’s white population, arguing that a new economic elite is growing increasingly detached from the experience of ordinary Americans, at a lecture in Kent Hall Wednesday night.

The hook for the lecture was Murray’s recent book, Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010, which traces the development of social classes in white America since 1960, drawing upon census data from the past 50 years to illustrate broad demographic trends.

“In 1960, white America used to have a common civic culture, as the older people in the audience should remember. But young people have only ever seen white America divided, though it hasn’t always been that way,” Murray said.

Using quintessential American towns as models, Murray showed the divide between “Belmonts” (upper middle class towns) and “Fishtowns” (working class towns) that has taken place over the past few decades.

“While the Belmonts have held onto the core American values of industriousness, honesty, marital morality, and religiosity, the Fishtowns have not, and the results have been devastating,” he said.

Major social problems like unemployment, divorce, and obesity disproportionately affect white America’s lower class, according to Murray, while there has been little social deterioration in the upper middle class.

Murray blames the rise of what he calls

Political scientist, author, columnist, and pundit Charles Murray discusses class divisions at a talk in Kent Wednesday evening.

JULIA REINITZ | THE CHICAGO MAROON

the “new upper class,” an emergent social class of disproportionately wealthy elites which has grown since the 1960’s.

Citing U of C’s campus as an example of a “new upper class” pocket, Murray explained the consequences of this trend.

“The reality is that the new upper class has no idea how mainstream America works,” he said. “They live in exclusive parts of the country, have their own cultural currency, and don’t interact with their fellow Americans. There’s a complete disconnect, and it’s leading to social decline.”

“How thick is your bubble?” Murray asked the audience, drawing this question from the title of a quiz in his book. The quiz measures one’s own distance from mainstream, working

class America with questions like: “Have you ever held a job that caused something to hurt at the end of the day?” and “Have you ever purchased domestic mass-market beer to stock your own fridge?”

Murray is W. H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, and the author of many best-selling books. He drew criticism from liberals when he published The Bell Curve, which points to IQ as the best indicator of social class, income, and success rather than commonly cited factors such as race, gender, and social disadvantage.

Counterpoint, a conservative campus publication, and the University Republicans sponsored the talk.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | May 11, 2012

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Cohler encouraged students to find meaning in texts; “He would bend over backwards,” says student COHLER continued from front

Bertram Cohler (A.B. ’61), who was a practicing psychoanalyst aside from teaching in the Core, passed away on Wednesday. Cohler taught Self, Culture, and Society at the University for 40 years, in addition to his classes in the Comparative Human Development department.

CHRIS SALATA | THE CHICAGO MAROON

anxiety so they can really focus on the text.”

First-year Colette Robicheaux, a student in Cohler’s Self section this year until winter quarter, when he stopped teaching due to illness, said that he wanted students to find meaning in the texts they studied.

“He was a very unique professor in that he really cared

about us feeling connected to the class and feeling like the work we were doing is our own,” Robicheaux said.

“He would bend over backwards so that you would get what you wanted to get out of the material.”

Cohler’s research in human development examined families and illuminated issues in the rehabilitation of

Once an alien, still illegal, reporter shares story Stephanie Xiao News Staff

were distinguished scholars but who also had a profound love of teaching,” Boyer wrote in an e-mail. “Bert himself was such a scholar-teacher, and his impact on our history will be enduring.”

In 2009, Cohler said that the College should challenge students to reconcile the contemporary culture with their classical studies.

“You can’t just listen to classical opera, you’ve got to listen to Philip Glass, and participate in culture as it is and kind of make sense of it all. Each of us then kind of finds our own path to the College,” he said. “Then you have the rest of your life to put it all together again.”

—Additional reporting by Jennifer Standish

By Rebecca Guterman

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 week’s notables : » Saturday, 61st Street and Greenwood Avenue, 12:25 a.m.—UCPD confirmed that a gun was discharged after an Allied Barton security officer reported hearing two shots fired. No one was injured, but two witnesses were able to give UCPD descriptions.

VARGAS continued on page 4

» Tuesday, Woodlawn Avenue between 61st and 62nd, 1:50 p.m.—Unidentified male shot a victim in the leg as he was walking on the sidewalk. The motive is unknown.

0

Robbery

2

0

Attempted robbery

7

1

Battery

7

1

Burglary

1

0

Criminal trespass to vehicle

29

1

Damage to property

172

17

Other report

3

0

Simple assault

199

10

Theft

4

1

Trespass to property

47th

S. Hyde Park

53rd

55th

S. Lake Shore

51st

59th 60th

62nd

Cornell

57th

Stony Island

Source: UCPD Incident Reports

14

Type of Crime

Blackstone

» Wednesday, SSA, 8:54 a.m.—An unknown male took a laptop from a chair on the lower level, but dropped the backpack with the laptop in it after being chased by witnesses.

May 3 May 9

University

in Illinois, undocumented people paid over $499 million in state and local taxes alone in 2010,” Vargas said. “Sixtythree percent of undocumented people like me have been in this country for more than 10 years, which means we didn’t just jump the border yesterday and end up outside a Home Depot.”

When asked by an audience member why more focus was not given to the economic costs and benefits of immigration over pure emotional appeal, Vargas underscored the importance of remembering the individual and collective “humanity” that permeates the immigration issue despite

Since Jan. 1

Ellis

videos explaining how they define “American” (“How do I define American? I look in the mirror,” Colbert asserted smugly), Vargas insists that the importance of the project relies mainly on the contributions of students and everyday allies from all social backgrounds.

Drawing on economic as well as historical examples comparing the current state of American immigrants to those inspected and registered at Ellis Island a century earlier, Vargas highlighted the extent to which undocumented immigrants have been integrated into American society.

“I have paid so many taxes I should be a Republican. Here

Cottage Grove

Pulitzer-winning reporter Jose Antonio Vargas.

JOHNNY HUNG | THE CHICAGO MAROON

» Saturday, Bartlett Commons, 9:30 a.m.—UCPD arrested a man for public indecency and trespassing.

| THE CHICAGO MAROON

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas reflected on his experiences growing up as and coming to terms with being an undocumented immigrant at the International House Wednesday night.

Vargas has published over 700 stories, from his 2007 work on The Washington Post’s pulitzer-winning coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre to reporting on the 2008 presidential campaign to profiling Mark Zuckerberg for The New Yorker in 2010.

However, it was not until his 2011 essay for The New York Times, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant,” that Vargas finally revealed his immigration status and founded DefineAmerican, a social media campaign centered around sharing the stories of undocumented “dreamers” across the country.

“It’s not just about the successful journalists; it’s about everyone who has had to deal with this broken immigration system,” Vargas said. “That’s what I’m trying to do with this. Tell the full story of immigration.”

While famous figures like Stephen Colbert and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have participated in DefineAmerican, uploading

individuals afflicted with mental illness.

Dean of the College John Boyer lauded Cohler’s longtime commitment to and passion for teaching and the College.

“Bert often insisted that the College’s ideal should be to recruit scholar-teachers for its faculty, by whom he meant faculty members who

BELLA WU

enriching student life in 2006.

In his classes, Cohler tried to link each text to the lives of his students. In 2009, Cohler brought his Self class to a live streaming of President Barack Obama’s inauguration, and connected the moment to the theories of Émile Durkheim, which his class was reading at the time.

“The inauguration is a perfect example of what Durkheim is talking about,” Cohler said during the event. “We’re connecting social theory to the reality of social life. Race, class, ethnicity in American life, all of these are brought together in one week.”

Cohler earned a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1967 before returning to the University as Director of the Orthogenic School in 1969. A graduate of the Institute for Psychoanalysis in Chicago, Cohler said that his psychoanalytic background helped him better understand the mindset of his students.

“I wear another hat as a psychoanalyst, and I’m sure that my psychoanalysis informs my teaching. I’m very much concerned about the climate of the classroom and students’ lives, because they have lives outside the classroom, and you can’t learn if you’re anxious,” Cohler said in a 2009 interview with the Maroon. “I try to reduce

*Locations of reports approximate

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | May 11, 2012

4

Vargas like “any other undocumented” person

In the walls of beehives, study finds a tool against cancer Jennifer Standish Associate News Editor

VARGAS continued from page 3

the availability of objective factual evidence.

Fourth-year Jonathan Rodrigues, who cofounded the University of Chicago Coalition for Immigrant Rights (UCCIR), also acknowledged the effectiveness of storytelling in promoting immigrant rights.

“We invited him because he already has a story to tell, a story that is much like any other undocumented immigrant. He is lucky, and he recognizes that, and UCCIR wanted to spotlight his story as one that should be repeated every day in America and in our campus,” Rodrigues said.

Over 20 RSOs and on-campus organizations, including Office of Multicultural Student Affairs and the Office of LGBTQ Student Life, sponsored the event. As part of the Minority Men Policy Series, the talk was presented as a celebration of Asian American Heritage Month, as well as the one-year anniversary of the Illinois Dream Act, which established a private scholarship fund for children of undocumented immigrants seeking higher education opportunities.

Perception that fossil fuels are cheaper is an “illusion,” Kennedy claims KENNEDY continued from front

care costs and have exacted a toll on local economies.

“There is no way that the economy can be regenerated,” he said, referring to areas of the country most affected by the extraction and burning of coal.

In the large influence of the coal industry in Congress, Kennedy saw the uprooting of civil liberties as well.

“Wherever you see the large-scale destruction of the environment, you see the destruction of democracy,” he said.

Kennedy also scoffed at the notion that fossil fuels are cheaper than their alternatives—a perception reinforced by oil and coal subsidies.

“There is an illusion that coal provides cheaper energ y,” he said.

In reality, he said, solar energ y is cheaper than coal in 23 states. “If we had true free market capitalism, with no subsidies, coal and oil would die overnight,” he said, explaining that America must build a national grid system to streamline the flow of wind or solar energ y around the country. “[The U.S.] can attract and utilize energ y in a way that does not diminish our quality of life and get us into wars and diminish our leadership throughout the world,” he said.

CORRECTIONS » The May 8 article “In Yo-Yo Ma, Woodlawn Finds Its Master of Ceremonies” misstated the name of the UChicago Charter School Woodlawn Campus, not U of C Charter School Woodlawn Campus.

The article also misspelled fine arts Director Ahava Silkey’s name. The article also incorrectly stated one of the pieces Ma played. It was the Prelude from the Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major by Johann Sebastian Bach. » The May 4 article “Zoning Change Could Be Retail Boon for 53rd Street” misstated Alderman Will Burns’s position. He is alderman for the Fourth Ward. It also misstated the date of the next meeting, which is scheduled for May 21st.

A six-week study on mice has led U of C researchers to believe that there may be potential anti-cancer qualities in the compound bees use to maintain their hives.

The compound, caffeic acid phenethyl ester, or “CAPE,” inhibits cancer cell proliferation by hindering the cells’ ability to sense nutrition necessary for tumor growth.

Unlike most healthy cells, cancer cells use all of the nutrition available to them, even when traditional cues would say they do not need it.

“CAPE seems to shut off the cells’ proliferative response to nutrition and cells enter a senescent state and are just hanging out,” said Richard Jones, assistant professor at the Ben May Department for Cancer Research and senior author of the study. “ This is kind of a trick to make them think that there is no nutrition available so that they stop proliferating.”

Herbal remedies to cancer, such as

CAPE, are becoming increasingly attractive as safer and more holistic replacements to radiation and chemotherapy.

“Our hope is that these natural kinds of products might be different than a standard pharmaceutical treatment because we’re not targeting a specific molecule,” Jones said.

Assistant professor of surgery at the U of C Medical Center Scott Eggener authored a study that took a different approach at investigating potential ways to decrease the financial and health costs of traditional prostate cancer treatment.

Eggener and his colleagues found a lack of adherence to a 2005 U.S. Preventive Ser vices Task Force recommendation against screening men aged 75 or older. The task force strived to avoid treatment that does little to prevent death.

Because of unnecessary screenings, “there’s an incredible downstream financial impact of screening , diagnosing , and screening prostate cancer,” Eggener said.

The study found that despite the USPSTF’s recommendations, physicians and patients felt that the benefits of screening

outweigh risk of superfluous treatment and, consequently, the amount of men screened has not decreased.

“We were able to show that a lot of older, sicker men are being screened for prostate cancer inappropriately. And paradoxically, younger, healthy men who probably have the most to benefit from screening are being screened at a much lower rate,” Eggener said.

If herbal remedies such as CAPE had no side effects and were proven effective, Eggener would recommend screening all men at a young age. However, prostate cancer research seldom leads to actual clinical availability.

In order to determine if CAPE is the exception, Jones and his group of researchers are looking “to prove to a National Institutes of Health grant study section that we have sufficient information in animals to warrant them to provide us funding for humans.”

The research was made possible by Jones’s unique “micro-western array” technolog y, an innovative method of protein analysis that allows researchers to look at hundreds of proteins at once.

VIEWPOINTS

Editorial & Op-Ed MAY 11, 2012

Much ado about hunting Students wary of Scav should reexamine assumptions about the annual tradition The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 JORDAN LARSON Editor-in-Chief SHARAN SHETTY Editor-in-Chief COLIN BRADLEY Managing 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 MATTHEW SCHAEFER Sports Editor BELLA WU Head Designer KEVIN WANG Online Editor ALICE BLACKWOOD Head Copy Editor DON HO Head Copy Editor

As the clock struck midnight on Wednesday, hundreds of students in Ida Noyes cheered as the list for the 2012 Scavenger Hunt was released. The document contains 351 elaborate items, and in the next three days Scavvies will scamper around campus checking off as many as they can. And, just like every other year, many students will shake their heads, sigh, and avoid all signs of Scav at any cost.

It should be clear by now, however, that Scav is, by no means, a refuge for the weird and uncommon. In fact, it’s something every student should support.

This isn’t to say everyone should participate. There’s no doubt that Scav has a certain niche appeal, and not everyone can devote the weekend to zany projects and sleepless nights. Dr. Chris Straus (A.B. `88, M.D. `92), a former resident of Snitch-

cock and current Associate Professor of Radiolog y at the Medical School, founded Scav in 1987 and didn’t even expect it to last more than a couple of years. Now, in its 26th year, it is officially the world’s largest scavenger hunt and a nationally recognized tradition. But there are still a few assumptions about the hunt that mislead our student body.

One is that the items and event solely cater to the “that kids” and the antisocial nerds on campus.

These comments often come from students who have never taken a look at the list, which includes such a diversity of options that literally anyone, with any interest, can find something worth doing. This includes the artistic, the athletic, and the informally interested—past and current items include running a sub–four-minute mile (2011),

acquiring a Congressional Medal of Honor (2011), and making a Winnie the Pooh mosaic out of gummy bears (2012). It’s fair to say that most of the items are not completed by hardcore Scavvies, but by the more casual participants who wander into a dorm common room and pick up a project related to their interests.

Another misconception is that for all its organized chaos, Scav really doesn’t contribute much to the community beside intrusive obstacles on the quad and seemingly crazy people barging into class. But take, for example, today’s annual Scav Blood Drive.

Over 200 students donated blood last year, and it serves as the single largest intake of blood

by University hospitals for the entire year. Then there’s the fact that, for five days, students who have never previously spoken to

each other build, paint, Photoshop, set things afire, and work together just to have a good time.

In short, it’s difficult to comprehend what exactly so many people find offensive and despicable about Scav. Intimidating?

Perhaps. Strange? Granted. Like most other activities and RSOs (and yes, Scav is an RSO), it will appeal to some and alienate others. This being said, appreciate the fact that there is literally no other school in the world where you will see a breeder reactor on the main quadrangles, a Stradivarius violin brought onto campus, or a bartending piano. It might just be worth your while to follow B-J’s Scav mantra: “If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.”

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

JEN XIA Head Copy Editor JAMIE MANLEY Photo Editor LINDA QIU Deputy News Editor CELIA BEVER Assoc. News Editor MARINA FANG Assoc. News Editor BEN POKROSS Assoc. News Editor

Lifting the haze Lack of dialogue about smoking is damaging to the University and its students

MADHU SRIKANTHA Assoc. News Editor JENNIFER STANDISH Assoc. News Editor DAVID KANER Assoc. Viewpoints Editor EMMA BRODER Assoc. Arts Editor ALICE BUCKNELL Assoc. Arts Editor SCOTTY CAMPBELL Assoc. Arts Editor DANIEL RIVERA Assoc. Arts Editor SARAH LANGS Assoc. Sports Editor DEREK TSANG Assoc. Sports Editor JAKE WALERIUS Assoc. Sports Editor SYDNEY COMBS Assoc. Photo Editor TIFFANY TAN Assoc. Photo Editor TYRONALD JORDAN Business Manager VIVIAN HUA Undergraduate Business Executive TAMER BARSBAY Director of Business Research VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator HYEONG-SUN CHO Designer SONIA DHAWAN Designer ANDREW GREEN Designer ALYSSA LAWTHER Designer SARAH LI Designer AUTUMN NI Designer AMITA PRABHU Designer KELSIE ANDERSON Copy Editor AMISHI BAJAJ Copy Editor JANE BARTMAN Copy Editor

By Taylor Schwimmer Viewpoints Columnist A haze hangs over the University of Chicago. No, I am not talking about the encroaching specter of anti-intellectualism, the shady economic outlook for our generation, or even the moral hazard of managing an endowment. No, I am referring to the literal cloud of smoke that forms each day above the smokers outside of Cobb. As they leisurely chat and smoke between classes, so too do their emissions hang in the air. The languid smoke serves as a good metaphor for the prac-

tice of smoking at the University of Chicago as a whole: It is visible and acknowledged by almost everyone, but nobody ever does or says anything about it.

According to the American College Health Association, 16 percent of college students smoke.

Interestingly, I cannot find a comparable statistic for University of Chicago students anywhere online. Though the University may have this figure, it is not widely available. This is highly anomalous among our peer institutions; casual investigation easily yields that 10 percent of Harvard students and only 4 percent of Stanford students smoke. But a search for “uchicago smoking” yields only news articles about smoking cessation research.

The University’s official policy on smoking is decidedly terse. It states that “the University of Chicago is a smoke-free environment,

therefore smoking is prohibited in all buildings,” adding that “Smoking is permitted outside a building but not within fifteen feet of the entrance.” I applaud the University for having a clear and unambiguous policy. But, at the same time, I am rather perturbed by its brazenly lax enforcement. Any student who has been on campus more than a week can attest that this policy is flagrantly violated every day. I challenge the reader to observe the steps of the International House from 8 to 9 p.m. on a weekday. It is almost certain that she will see a group of smokers congregating no more than arm’s length from the door.

It is interesting to note that the University’s smoking policy is in compliance with the 2005 Chicago Clean Indoor Air Ordinance.

This ordinance states that individuals face a $100 fine for smoking within 15 feet of a building

entrance. Even more noteworthy, however, is the fact that the University itself can be held liable for not enforcing the ordinance.

Yet, even though the University has legal and financial liability regarding smoking, it maintains a decidedly complacent attitude toward this ordinance.

It is puzzling that this is the case. In comparison, the University regulates another common vice practically to death. The U of C’s official alcohol policy is almost 2,000 words long. It contains specific proscriptions regarding the serving and consumption of alcohol on campus. Every new student must complete the AlcoholEdu program, and most College houses have clear guidelines regarding “parties.” Ostensibly, this is to shield the University from liability and to promote health among students. If that is the case, it is SMOKING continued on page 7

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Leading questions Contemporary obsession with leadership has muddled the notion’s true meaning

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

By Anastasia Golovashkina Viewpoints Columnist Define leadership. How would you describe your leadership style? What does leadership mean to you? But please, save your practiced and perfected answer for your Metcalf interview next week. This week, let’s just talk about leadership in real terms. Let’s talk about what “leadership” is—and more impor-

tantly, what “leadership” means to us.

For one, it’s clear that leadership has become an obsession. Forget this weekend’s Scav Hunt; we all know that the biggest item on our list is a leadership role in at least five brand-name institutions. [500 points, plus 10 bonus points for club founders].

Leadership has also become a sort of last-ditch attempted answer to the “man in the gray flannel suit” epidemic that began by terrorizing corporate egos and has now trickled down to college and high school campuses across the country, transforming us all from conformist corporate slaves into egocentric but oh-so-important “leaders.”

Over the past couple of years, RSO Executive Boards have accordingly

ballooned to accommodate members’ growing managerial ambitions.

Though it’s difficult to imagine a club with ten members needing an Executive Board of five, that’s exactly what’s happening—every single person who does something realizes that she needs to have a title to account for it. Today, you can’t make monthly posters without being a “Director of Design,” or take twenty minutes to put them up without being an “Outreach Coordinator.” Today, it takes nothing less than a “Webmaster” to set up a Facebook event page; nothing less than a “Secretary” to send out two-sentence reminders about this week’s meeting.

The number of distinct RSOs has also surged. In addition to Student Gov-

ernment’s plethora of committees and the many groups still awaiting approval, ORCSA’s RSO database currently lists over 500 RSOs—each with its own set of founders, leaders, and executive members, each claiming to cater to a niche of student interests all its own. But it’s hard to see a genuine, pressing need for our campus to house at least three distinct consulting clubs, three debate teams, and twenty different dance troupes.

More striking, however, is the effect that our relationship with leadership is having on our notion of commitments in general. Rather than encouraging us to engage with one or two organizations where we may not earn any kind of managerial role until third or fourth year, LEAD continued on page 6

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THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | May 11, 2012

Staking our claim to the future Our nation’s youth must reject its political apathy and take collective action

By Dillon Cory Viewpoints Columnist As election season starts to heat up, with Romney and Obama each ramping up efforts to paint his opponent as a political boogeyman, I am uninspired. Uninspired, despite increased efforts by both campaigns to engage my generation in what will likely be a close race in November. President Obama officially kicked off his reelection campaign last Saturday at Ohio State University in a carefully selected location aimed at speaking to our generation. But now that Obama has a real record to defend, and not just the sky-high hopes that fueled his 2008 campaign, it is unlikely that he can make young people as enthusiastic about his campaign as they were in 2008.

Obama revealed the new campaign slogan for his 2012 effort, “Forward,” a clever political ploy that tries to reframe conventional po-

litical wisdom. Traditionally, candidates have asked whether voters were better off now than four years ago, but for many voters this time around the simple answer is “No,” a feeling fueled by economic uncertainty. Since this is the first presidential election that I will be able to vote in, I have a hard time evaluating how things have changed over Obama’s first term. I was only a junior in high school when Obama was elected, and, needless to say, at that point I had very little perspective on the important issues of the day.

Sadly, I don’t think much of my perspective has changed. College has been a bubble that has removed me from many prevailing political issues. When evaluating whom I’m going to vote for in November, my views are admittedly shortsighted. With all the other commitments I have with school, family, and work, it takes a concerted effort to fight political apathy.

And it’s not just me; this feeling is widespread among young voters. A recent Gallup poll found that Obama enjoys wide support among young voters, leading Romney by 35 percentage points in this demographic. But, Gallup notes, “The practical value of Obama’s broad support among young voters is lessened by the fact that only six in 10 of these voters say they are registered to vote, and that fewer than six

in 10 who are registered say they will definitely vote in November’s election.” I don’t like being part of a group that is undependable, especially when there’s so much at stake. We are in danger of letting our long-term interests be underrepresented in politics.

As young people, it is vital for us to be both politically aware and involved. Based on our future life-spans alone, we have so much to gain or lose from the policy decisions that are made today that we simply can’t afford not to have a say in the political process. Politicians go where the votes are, and I’m afraid to say that the votes are not with us. According to the Pew Research Center, beginning on January 1, 2011, 10,000 members of the Baby Boom generation reached the age of 65 and from that day on through the next 19 years, 10,000 baby boomers will reach retirement age per day. When I first heard these statistics, I was both shocked and dismayed. This demographic shift will put an increasing strain on social welfare programs and swell the ranks of a voting group that can already be counted on to make its voice heard reliably in the political process. For many baby boomers who don’t have stable retirement plans, social welfare programs will become of critical importance and a strong motivator for political participation. Essentially, our gen-

eration is competing with the interests of the generations before ours, who necessarily have very different goals when it comes to long-term prosperity versus short-term benefit. The implications of this struggle have the potential to destroy the foundation of the future.

Underneath all my concerns, I am calling for greater activism in politics from today’s youth.

No matter who you believe is the right candidate to represent your interests, just make sure your voice is heard. It’s only through your own individual participation that our generation can go from having low turnout (a.k.a, little influence) to being critical players in the political system that is, and will continue, determining our future. Through collective action, we can make our interests a national priority by shaking off our widespread political apathy and demanding reforms to programs and policies that are currently implemented without future generations in mind. We must refuse to let our political system be hijacked by those who would ignore the long-term health of our—yes, our— country and instead put forward new ideas and solutions that can make America a prosperous country for centuries to come.

Dillon Cory is a second-year in the College majoring in political science.

Time for a major overhaul The College catalog, which includes many overlapping courses of study, would benefit from some housekeeping Henry Ginna Viewpoints Contributor Newsweek’s recent articles on both the most “useful” and “useless” undergraduate majors likely went unobserved by most U of C students for a number of reasons; in the first place, the articles measured useful-/uselessness as a function of post-graduate employment, average income, etc.—metrics that would be disdainful to most die-hard proponents of the liberal arts, or, at least, those in Hyde Park.

Moreover—and this is sure to make U of C hardliners’ hearts swell with pride—a good portion of the majors listed by Newsweek, profitable or otherwise, are just not available as programs of study at the University of Chicago. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise, considering, after all, that majors like Nursing, Communications, and Engineering are strictly off-limits in the Grey City. On the other hand, the U of C isn’t exactly short on majors whose statuses as programs of study are worthy of reconsideration, and this is an issue that can end up affecting most undergrads whether they heed it or not.

The College currently offers 55 official programs of study, and while that might seem like a modest figure considering our lack of vocational majors (or the multitude of available programs of study at a place like Brown) this list of 55 is far lon-

ger than it needs to be. Consider, for example, the wealth of options confronting an undergraduate with an intellectual predilection for, say, religion.

There’s the New Collegiate Division’s Religious Studies program, which offers an interdisciplinary approach to religion and how it relates to and is affected by human cultures. There’s also Religion and the Humanities, a program that aims to imbue a greater understanding of religion and its relation to the human condition, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary methods. So what would the salient difference between these two majors be? Uh. From what the College catalog has to say, it looks like the only formal distinction between these programs is the fact that Religious Studies has a more rigorous series of requirements, culminating with a BA thesis as opposed to a simple senior project in Religion and the Humanities.

But let’s not stop there. If early Christian literature is your fancy, then fear not—there’s a program of study in Early Christian Lit just for you. Unfortunately, it has exactly zero courses listed under its name in the college catalogue. To compensate for this, Early Christian Literature majors can combine their major with that of Religion and the Humanities, which has a full three courses listed, two of those being seminars for the senior project. The other listed course is Introduction to Religious Stud-

ies, which coincidentally happens to be a required course for Religious Studies majors, who have a quite extensive course list to choose from, covering multiple religions across several different disciplines.

In other words, it looks as though Religious Studies undergrads could triple-major just by dropping an email to their adviser the week of graduation.

Perhaps more serious than catalog inflation, though, is the balkanization caused by such an exhaustive list of programs of study. Take the example of Gender and Sexuality Studies and sociology. Gender/queer theory is an important contribution to the field of sociology and has been expanded upon and enriched by decades of study and research; giving it its own major is not unlike creating a major for game or chaos theory separate from Econ (although a more exact analogy might be creating a separate Game or Chaos Theory major in which you can get credit for a course on Jurassic Park). By separating gender/queer theory from sociology and making it interdisciplinary-saturated, so to speak, both gender studies and sociology majors suffer: Gender studies students don’t get introduced to much of the methodology or statistical work required of the sociology program, and burgeoning sociologists can conceivably navigate through their undergraduate tenure without ever having to encounter gender or queer theory. Perhaps worse yet,

it creates undeniable stigma: Gender studies is too abstract, too theoretical—something that serious sociologists should stay away from.

All this is not to say that having a wide selection of majors or interdisciplinary programs is a bad thing; far from it. It’s quite probable that the reverse situation would be even more undesirable: Fewer than 10 programs of study, unwieldy departments and little or no opportunity to put disciplines in dialogue with one another, in a sort of bizarro-world reversal of the Core Curriculum. In fact, most undergraduates—the author of this article included—would argue that having a diverse selection of majors and the opportunity for some disciplinary cross-pollination is reassuring and even a little relieving at times. Ultimately, some balance is best, but in the meantime the current situation appears a little more comic than anything else.

The College catalog is wrought with some majors that are whimsically directed towards non-existent demographics and others that can leave one a jack of many academic trades and a master of none. At the very least, a little scrutiny might be in order in some administrative offices.

Henry Ginna is a third-year in the College majoring in Law, Letters, and Society.

Real leadership is defined not by title, but by creativity and dedication LEAD continued from page 5 we’re pressured to quit while we’re at it and commit to something where we’re sure to be an Executive by next month. From my own experience, many of the people who express interest in working with the Undergraduate Law Review contact us about “possible editorial positions” or “leadership roles,” and not about simply contributing articles to the publication. But a publication needs more articles than it does editors; without content, there’s nothing to edit, let alone publish.

In addition to approving every RSO under the sun, save Occupy, our University promotes this kind of thinking through its ever-growing offering of “leadership” opportunities – the Student Leadership Institute that sought to “make leaders out of 25 students,” for example, or the International Leadership Council that aims to “connect the leaders of tomorrow.”

However, it’s clear that the problem lies not with the University, per se; our school is simply preparing

us for a real world—corporate, academic, or otherwise—that is obsessed with leadership.

Despite the appropriate interest that surrounded the vocal departure of Goldman Sachs’s Vice President Greg Smith, for example, many were equally quick to point out that, hey, Goldman actually has 5,412 employees at or above the level of a “Vice President.” Even though most of these “Vice Presidents” don’t actually wield that much power (some are even deemed entry-level roles), most companies continue to hire them in droves, leading to the addition of emphatic words like “Senior” or “Executive”—and for the really important people, even “Senior Executive”—to emphasize when someone actually does something. Microsoft has a President, an Executive Vice President, a Senior Vice President, and a Corporate Vice President.

Oracle has a CEO, two Presidents, and twentythree Executive Vice Presidents.

This obsession with leadership breeds organizations that ultimately consist of nothing but their

executive boards. It blurs lines of responsibility and feelings of accountability, producing groups of equally egoistic “leaders” who can’t actually get anything done. Though this paradigm lets everyone list “leadership role x” on her LinkedIn profile and answer that crucial question about leadership experience, the reality is that we can’t have our ego cake and eat it, too. At least, we need to bake it first.

Both on and off campus, greater value should be placed on achievements rather than appellations— on hard work, perseverance, and innovation, rather than the tenacious pursuit of a tough-sounding title. Employers are already trying to do this by asking prospective employees what they did in a role rather than what the role was called. Our University has also launched competitions like the Social Innovation Competition, which emphasize hard work, innovation, and creativity above meaningless titles. But these are not enough. Hard work and innovation should be esteemed at all levels —top, middle, and bottom.

Of course, it’ll take a major cultural shift to help make this happen. Until then, we—students, RSOs, the University—will have to keep fanning the flames of ever-inflating titles and the ever-growing emphasis on leadership roles.

It’s not that “everyone isn’t cut out to be a leader,” and it’s not that leadership isn’t important or isn’t hard work. It is, and rightfully should be. But that’s not the point; the point is that a leadership title is, in itself, a meaningless moniker. Even more difficult than holding a title is being successful, dedicated, and influential. It’s even harder to persevere in the face of a challenge or to express creativity on one’s own without the safety net of status.

We are always told not to judge a book by its cover, so why are we now being pushed to judge an opportunity by its title? Ingenuity doesn’t need a title; ingenuity is a title all of its own.

Anastasia Golovashkina is a first-year in the College majoring in economics.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | May 11, 2012

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The truth about trauma Health education programs are not a solution to the South Side’s structural disadvantages Michael McCown Viewpoints Contributor I’ve worked with Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP) and Fearless Leading by the Youth (FLY) on the trauma center campaign for nearly a year now, and read with frustrated familiarity Maya Fraser’s critiques of the movement.

She iterates quite perfectly the logic I’ve heard many other members of this institution use in order to justify complacency, a logic that, while perhaps valid, remains unsound, as its premises fail to grasp the fundamental point. While I found something objectionable in nearly every paragraph of the op-ed, I will attempt here to break it down into the most important points.

The first is one I’ve encountered the most, and is indeed the strongest point Fraser makes, which is that there are more pressing issues on the Southside than trauma care which require more immediate attention. More lives could be saved per dollar spent, to cite two of her examples, if we created programs to target the risky behaviors of smoking and lack of exercise. And indeed if it were a question of such simple calculus, I would put down my protest placards and bend before logic. But there are several reasons why it is not so simple.

Fraser tries to make the case that it is regrettable but necessary that in any healthcare system with limited resources a price must be put on lives to ensure that the most possible lives be saved; and, that within such a system some people will lose loved ones and they will feel that this loss is unjust. While this is reasonable, she then writes something I find very troubling :

“This feeling of injustice is strengthened by the fact that there are so many people whose fates are not determined by how much the medical establishment is willing to pay.” Now we must ask, is this a “feeling” of injustice, when we admit that our system does not put any effective price on many lives while triaging others on the basis of their wealth (or lack of wealth)— or is it simply injustice in the clearest and most concrete sense of the term?

It is pretty much beyond dispute that the reason the U of C closed its center in the eighties is because they were seeing a high volume of uninsured or underinsured patients. But this is the same reason it is difficult for Southsiders to get any kind of care, not just trauma care. Enacting an antismoking program, however helpful it may be, does not increase access to care or highlight that the root of the problem is structural. High smoking rates and other risky behaviors do not occur in a vacuum; what must be changed is the structural disadvantage the Southside is placed at. What Ms. Fraser is proposing is more like enlightened despotism, born of either despair or complacency towards addressing the roots of our healthcare inequities.

She writes, “Unfortunately, we are stuck within the bounds of an often unjust and dysfunctional system. There are not enough resources, and those resources are not allocated equally.” And concludes that, “Repairing the disorganized state of the American medical system is far in the future, if it is to happen at all.” But this is precisely what must be done, and in the meantime I see no reason to stop demanding a system that provides equal access to care and values each life

equally. That is the nature of this issue at its most fundamental.

Cynicism is not the mark of a sophisticated ethical stance; it is the mark of complacency and ethical laziness. Of course our healthcare system can change. We live in the world’s first revolutionary democratic state: What right have we to say that there is nothing to be done because we are “stuck” without putting forth the first effort at releasing ourselves?

Potentially because it is not “we” who are truly stuck—as Ms. Fraser points out, she herself has no difficulty receiving care.

Now, if we fought for more money for antismoking and exercise programs as Ms. Fraser suggests (while not believing it is possible to achieve success anyway), we would not be increasing access to care.

We would also not be addressing the high anxiety that contributes to young people beginning smoking in the first place, anxiety perhaps caused—among the other stressors of poverty—by the fact that the number one killer of black men ages 15 to 34 is homicide. The violence evident everywhere on Chicago’s Southside might also contribute to low rates of exercise, simply because people don’t want to be outside. I’ve heard one woman speak about how she brings her children to play in Hyde Park rather than her own neighborhood playground for safety, but her son doesn’t want to go anyway since he saw a member of his family shot in a park; all parks now terrify him. There seems something deeply condescending in asking people to change their “behavior” before providing more resources to address the root of those behaviors in the first place.

Certainly a trauma center won’t fix all the

issues surrounding violence on the Southside, but it could help, and this movement won’t stop there. The fundamental reason this is not about behavior is because behavior has nothing to do with political power.

This movement is about demanding equal access to care through building political power, not enacting “public policy” that alone will never solve the myriad problems the Southside faces, and that does not come from the people. The medical establishment no doubt has good intentions, but it will never do all that it can until it is in its interest to do so. If things remain as they are, it never will be; things must change.

Michael McCown is a second-year in the College majoring in philosophy.

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.

Gathering statistics, reevaluating policy on smoking should be University’s first steps SMOKING continued from page 5 mystifying that the University does not take similar steps regarding tobacco use.

As with alcohol drinkers, student smokers add to University healthcare costs and create a less healthy community. However, the University simply does not have the same risk mitigation protocol

in place for smoking.

The University also lags notably behind its peers in not attempting to minimize smoking’s harm. Columbia University offers its students free consultations with tobacco cessation specialists. The University of Michigan has banned smoking entirely on its campus of 28,000. UMich has been joined by other top schools like Emory and UC Berkeley and over 500 other campuses in the United States. Jarringly, in contrast, the University of Chicago has not taken any action beyond what is mandated by law.

It should be clear by now that I am antismoking. But I would like to draw a distinction: I am not anti-smoker. Though I disagree with the action itself, there are a

number of logically compelling arguments for smoking. Perhaps most salient among those is the opinion that smoking fills a unique social role. A smoke break is a rare, socially acceptable way to temporarily excuse oneself from an engagement. (Last I checked, ducking outside to drink alcohol or shoot heroin

sity. Simply put, nobody here talks about smoking, a topic that deserves a spot at the top of our collective attention. To me, the silence about smoking runs contrary to the

very was genBENJAMIN LANGE | THE CHICAGO MAROON nature of our erally frowned school. Instead of upon.) Additionally, it acts as a social lubricant and promotes a probing the social, moral, and cultural resense of camaraderie among those who alities that have caused smoking—a fundasmoke. Some would say that smoking “so- mental modern health issue, and the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United cially” is a good thing.

I acknowledge the merit in these argu- States—to persist in our society, we are ments. What bothers me, though, is that currently content to let them smolder. In ideas like these are nowhere to be found light of this University’s robust academic in the greater discourse of the Univer- tradition, this just seems wrong.

I believe this can be easily remedied.

What the University needs to do is gather definitive statistics about the smoking habits of its students. It should not only come up with a percentage, but also examine the context and motivations of students who smoke. Without critical information like this, a productive dialogue is impossible.

The University must also make reexamining its policies a top priority, as the current

situation is suboptimal for all parties: Smokers are liable for a fine, the University is in contravention of a city ordinance, and non-smokers are exposed to secondhand smoke. The University must reformulate its policies based on balancing the needs and concerns of smokers and non-smokers alike. This includes taking actions like creating designated smoking zones, strategically positioning ashtrays and more prominently advertising smoking policy. So far, though, the University’s stance on the matter has been wispy and ephemeral, not unlike a plume of smoke.

Taylor Schwimmer is a second-year in the College majoring in public policy studies.

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Lauded author Michael Ondaatje equally adept at poetry and prose Emma Broder Associate Arts Editor “It’s lovely. I like the fog,” said Kate Soto, as she gazed out the eastward-facing window of the Logan Center.

Soto, the coordinator of the Committee on Creative Writing, had good reason to be content, regardless of the outside conditions. The audience for Kestenbaum Writer-in-Residence Michael Ondaatje, who spoke Monday afternoon in Logan Center,

Award-winning author and poet Michael Ondaatje reads excerpts of his work at the University’s new Logan Center for the Arts on Monday evening.

TIFFANY TAN | THE CHICAGO MAROON

had already filled the Performance Penthouse to capacity. Just before the event got underway, attendees were asked to move to the center of their rows to make room for latecomers, prompting a dull roar as musical chairs-like shuffling rippled through the crowded space.

The packed audience was par for the course. Ondaatje is something of a celebrity writer. Best known for his Booker prize-winning novel The English Patient, which was later adapted into a film that won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Ondaatje has also worked in memoir, poetry, and film, and has received a slew of awards for his projects in all media he’s tried his hand at. Introducing Ondaatje, faculty member Suzanne Buffam said, “He seems to fashion fiction from memory’s debris. He’s a model for my generation of writers.”

Ondaatje chose to first read several poems from Handwriting, one of his 13 collections of poetry. Though he is most widely celebrated for his fiction, Ondaatje has serious poetic chops, and put them on full display at the event. In “The Great Tree,” a poem about a Chinese calligrapher’s brush strokes, “language attacks the paper from the air.” “Step,” which conjured a “full moon in a forest monastery,” was deeply evocative. Amidst his elegant metaphors, Ondaatje’s poems were also personally revealing. In “The Great Tree,” he addresses the calligrapher, “So I have always held you in my heart,” and in “Step,” he mentions “a lazy lunch, then sleeping

together, then the disarray of grief.” In the conversation with literary critic Donna Seaman that followed, Ondaatje spoke about trying to pare his poetry down to the fewest possible words.

“How do your poetry and prose work together?” Seaman asked.

“When I was beginning as a writer, I wrote poetry,” Ondaatje said, in his calm, erudite tone, “but I wanted a larger landscape somehow. I mostly wrote shaggy dog stories at first. I still think poetry has an intimacy that prose doesn’t want to have, and a kind of suggestion. Two-thirds is usually enough for a poem.”

In his conversation with Seaman, Ondaatje stressed the importance of place and having a landscape in which to envision his work. “I can’t begin a book with an idea, or it peters out after about two pages,” he said. “Location is essential.

Once I know when and where it’s happening, it creates a situation for a story. It’s almost like a plot, a landscape.”

Interestingly, Ondaatje’s most recent novel, The Cat’s Table, from which he read several selections, takes place on a ship, a sort of island which functions independent of geographical surroundings.

Ondaatje chose passages from the beginning, middle, and end of the novel, since “the behavior gets worse [as the novel goes on], I’m afraid to say.”

Ondaatje’s prose was just as enchanting as his poetry, though more concretely descriptive. In one passage, the young proONDAATJE continued on page 12

At Reggie’s, half a hip hop crew make do Will Sims Arts Staff Go ahead and put your threes up—Black Hippy is killing it.

If that last sentence was gibberish, allow me to explain. Hip-hop-heads are a notoriously hard audience to please and no one has garnered more respect among the hip-hop community lately than Los Angeles foursome Black Hippy. Composed of Jay Rock, AbSoul, ScHoolboy Q, and Kendrick Lamar, Black Hippy is both collectively and individually signed to Top Dawg Entertainment, an imprint of Interscope and Aftermath. They are also all part of what they have termed the HiiiPower Movement—a social consciousness ideology that manifests itself in both the group’s lyrics (in Kendrick Lamar’s “HiiiPower”), and in their trademark three-finger salute, as seen at ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul’s

show at Reggie’s Music Joint last Tuesday.

The group’s members have each come to occupy different roles in the Black Hippy roster. Kendrick Lamar, the most famous member of the group, engages in introspective pondering about the troubles facing our generation, and is equal parts insecure youth and social critic. He is also most poised to claim celebrity status, having recently been crowned the “New King of the West Coast” by veterans Game, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre. ScHoolboy Q offers a hardened street-gangster persona, often rapping about his days dealing OxyContin before a criminal associate betrayed him. Ab-Soul is the dedicated stoner in a group full of potheads, offering clever, laid-back lines over beats that sound like he stole them from Souls of Mischief.

Jay Rock, featured on XXL’s 2010 Freshman list, is perhaps the most conventional rapper of the bunch—talking up his gangster

Los Angeles hip-hop group Black Hippy in its entirety.

COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

past like a young Game or less-insane DMX through an extensive mixtape discography.

In April, ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul announced their Groovy Tour. It occupies a strange place in the Black Hippy universe.

Label-mate Kendrick Lamar, having recently finished touring with Drake and Jay Rock, is accompanying Tech N9ne on his Lost Cities Tour, which leaves ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul to their own devices. For a group as tightly knit as Black Hippy, such a move is far from simple. The group has worked together so long that they can write duet verses without ever needing to be in the studio together.

They’re even known to show up on many of each other’s most popular songs as featured artists. Perhaps more importantly though, they see themselves as collectively creating a different paradigm from the rest of hiphop—able to understand today’s youth in a fundamentally different way from the gang-

ster rappers still talking about crack-dealing and gun-slinging.

Ab-Soul seems perfectly at home being overlooked, speaking frankly about his current status in the group on tracks such as “Top Dawg Under Dawg,” which he performed as part of his Tuesday set. His attitude is reminiscent of Fatlip from The Pharcyde, who has clearly influenced Soul’s everyman persona as well as lyrics and delivery. He came onstage with a goofy swagger, eyes concealed behind his omnipresent sunglasses, and immediately launched into his smooth hit “Turn Me Up.” When Kendrick Lamar’s verse rolled around, he simply let the track fade out and began engaging the crowd—simply excited to be sharing the music he made with an audience who loved it. The crowd responded well to his honest, easy-going attitude, even singing along to songs like “Black Lip Bastard,” HIPPY continued on page 12

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | May 11, 2012

10

High art comes down to The Wire Omar Little, The Wire’s bestloved and most well-known character, said it best: “When you come at the king, you best not miss.” He might as well have been talking about an unfortunate writer forced to critique his show.

More than any other series, those who love The Wire are prone to overstating both its greatness and the qualitative disparity between it and other TV shows. In the eyes of diehard fans, The Wire is the greatest, most important TV show of all time. As a matter of fact, it’s not really a TV show (Wikipedia helpfully calls it a “visual novel”); instead, it’s capital-a Art, and one can count the number of programs that approach it in quality on one hand (The Sopranos, Mad Men, and…?).

The Wire’s degree of critical and popular acclaim brings up a few thorny questions. Is it that different from other T V shows? Does it transcend the limitations of the television medium? And if the answer to both of these questions is “no,” then why do people continue to believe otherwise?

The Wire is undoubtedly a deep, complicated show, but there are various aspects of it that are unmistakably “TV”: irrelevant and uninteresting romantic side-plots, a few flat, one-dimensional characters, and the cheesy,

Omar Little (Michael K. Williams): “When you come at the king, you best not miss,” (COURTESY OF HBO).

soundtracked end-of-season montages that show the predictably horrible fates of the show’s protagonists. There’s a basic tension at the core of The Wire that helps make it so fascinating : Is it a TV show or is it High Art? Can it be both?

It’s not altogether clear what it means for a TV series to be art

yet. Does it mean guaranteed longevity? Maybe, but consider The Sopranos, perhaps the one show with comparable critical cache and at one time an integral part of popular culture in a way that The Wire never was. And yet, I’m not sure any of my current TVloving friends, who were all too young to watch the show when

it first aired, have gone back and seen the first season. The importance, renown, and popularity that The Sopranos experienced at the turn of the century seem really strange now. It’s possible that TV as a medium is just not conducive to masterpieces. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that five seasons of a TV show,

with 10–13 hour-long episodes per season, add up to a fairly substantial time commitment— especially when there are other shows running now.

So, there are reasons to doubt that The Wire, or indeed any show, can be permanently canonized the way a great film or WIRE continued on page 12

English department casts verdict, doesn’t object to TV’s best Alexandra McInnis Arts Staff Once in a while most of us will put off our work and waste half the day watching episode after episode of our favorite cult TV shows. We might feel less guilty, however, if we knew that esteemed University professors were watching the same things.

“Guilty Pleasures,” a new lunchtime lecture series created by the English department, aims not only to discuss these cult TV shows, but to specifically explain why we can’t get enough of them.

After filling my plate with more than my fair share of catered smoked salmon and cucumber tea sandwiches in the beautiful, wood-paneled Rosenwald 405, I settled down to listen to department chair Elaine Hadley discuss the hit show Downton Abbey.

Hadley first addressed the aspects of the “pleasure” she gets from watching the Masterpiece Classic period drama. As a professor of Victorian literature, Hadley believes that the plot of Downton Abbey fits the model of a 19th-century melodrama well.

She finds the stark moral polarity of the pronounced good and bad characters on the show similar to much of literature of the show’s historical period, as well as the commitment to multi-plots and lack of emphasis on a single protagonist. Additionally, Hadley identified various themes in the

show that are common to the novels of famous writers of the time, such as Anthony Trollope, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens.

Hadley also praised the filming of the show. In Downton Abbey, the camera often focuses on the faces of the characters, betraying their emotions even though most of their feelings are left unsaid. “I feel that British productions are very involved in this kind of ‘silent expressiveness,’ which is a reflection of the way society operated at the time. It’s not what the characters say that’s important, but what they don’t say.”

Downton Abbey has many impressive features, but the show is not without flaws. On this note, Hadley transitioned into the “guilty” component of her lecture. Hadley remarked that the producer of the show, Julian Fellowes, succeeds in portraying history with a conservative lens, and a lack of international perspective; for instance, World War I, as seen in Season Two, is portrayed primarily as a British war instead of as a world war. She also criticized the show’s representation of budding social movements in the early 20th century: She sees feminism as reduced to the “teenage angst” of the youngest daughter Sybil, and socialism is embodied by her “adoring boyfriend,” an errant Irish chauffeur who can’t tear himself away from Sybil and actually promote the socialist cause.

Hadley’s theories pertaining to the success of Downton Abbey offered a particularly thoughtprovoking explanation for what she sees as unusually high American interest in a Masterpiece Classic. She attributes this to the American fascination with an aristocracy it never had, and to the fact that the show portrays a moment of economic disparity that many Americans now identify with. Furthermore, many viewers can certainly find relief from

the constant, sordid showing of reality TV shows, in a wellscripted show.

However, Hadley accepts that part of the show’s universal appeal is its masterful production.

She played a clip from the first episode of the first season, and pointed out the ways in which the opening scene is a clear indicator of the show’s trajectory.

The exquisite costumes, multiple vantage points, and sophisticated filming all promise that

our guilty television pleasure will be a rich escape. And just as Downton Abbey is a great diversion, the “Guilty Pleasures” series is a pleasant way to break up the monotony of a day. After the hour-long lecture and discussion I went straight to my next class with a sense of rejuvenation that only our favorite distractions can offer.

“Guilty Pleasures” will continue on Monday, May 21st with a discussion on Breaking Bad.

Downton Abbey is the first subject of a new English department series that analyses critically-acclaimed TV. COURTESY OF CARNIVAL FILMS

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | May 11, 2012

WITH HANNAH GOLD

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Fri | May 11 There will be mud and women aggressively writhing in it at Reggie’s Rock Club this evening. The Mud Queens of Chicago, who apparently coalesced after a particularly dirty summer night absinthe binge, hope to bring mud-slinging in all its slimy grimy goodness (and rock ’n roll; they do that, too) to the dangerously clean Chicago hipster scene. They also donate a portion of their proceeds to the Young Women’s Empowerment Project and the Chicago Women’s Health Center. And, if you miss them this weekend, they will, apparently, wrestle in your living room some other time. 2109 South State Street. Starts at 9 p.m., $12 at the door. 21+.

Instead of catching a shuttle home from the Reg this evening, take one to Pilsen for 2nd Friday. If you’re unfamiliar with the monthly event, it’s a smashing good time where 30 galleries around South Halsted open their doors to the public, free of charge, and offer art viewing, music, food, wine, and the chance to talk to artists from around Chicago. ArtShould is providing a shuttle to and from event for U of C students. Shuttle leaves at 6:30 from 57th and University, leaves Pilsen at 9:30 (2nd Fridays runs from 6–10 p.m.; $4 roundtrip on shuttle.

Sat | May 12

Don’t feel like dancing ?

You Have you ever saved can find someLatin? That’s what I thing better thought. It’s obvious then to do (sit and that you could benefit watch othfrom seeing Wes Anderer people son’s Rushmore (1998) for dance) at the first, second, or fortiR B I M ’s eth time on the big screen annual at the Music Box Theatre. spring Watch this heartwarmshowing, hilarious tale of love, case, expulsion, and revolution, and you’re bound “L eg endto discover your own ary,� featurRushmore. I’ll see you ing a dazzling BENJAMIN LANGE | THE CHICAGO MAROON at next year’s RSO fair. array of dance 3733 North Southport. Starts at mid- varieties including hip-hop, jazz, and flanight, $8-$10. menco. There will be an additional show at 6 p.m. on Sunday. 1131 East 57th Street.

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What exactly is Art Apocalypse anyway and why do I keep getting ominous and incredibly intriguing emails about it (the last one linked me to the “Use of T.S. Eliot’s Poetry in Apocalypse Now� Wikipedia entry)? All I know is that there will be 100 performers, in 90 minutes, at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. There will be sword fighting, fire spinning and Shakespeare. The rest is darkness. 915 East 60th Street. 10:15–11:45 p.m., free.

Sun | May 13 The Hideout has found a space-saving , environmentally friendly and far less comfortable alternative to the drive-inmovie. Trade hand-holding for handlebar holding (and beer) at their Bike-In Movie Theater screening of The T.A.M.I Show (1964), which documents a free, teen-only concert that took place at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and included performances by James Brown, The Rolling Stones, The Supremes, and a young Toni Basil as a back-up go-go dancer. 1354 West Wabansia Avenue. Starts at 8 p.m., free.

Le Vorris & Vox are slated to hold their spring show in Rockefeller Chapel. The

20-person student circus will perform all sorts of stunning and startling feats, including aerials, hand manipulation, dance, and dreamscapes. And, as if that weren’t impressive enough, they will do it all to music composed by U of C students specifically for the show. 5850 South Woodlawn Avenue, starts at 9 p.m., $5.

If your mother is in town this weekend, you ought to have a game plan. If not, show her how well she’s raised you by taking advantage of Chicago’s Mother’s Day offerings regardless. Dozens of restaurants throughout the city will offer special prix fixe menus and à la carte items (mostly brunch), but my vote is for Volare, which is churning out pasta, crepes, and slowcooked baby lamb and mini pizza (for dessert), or Bistronomic and its brunch of Deviled Eggs and Ahi Tuna Nicoise Salad.

Or head to The River East Art Center for the monthly Dose Market, which will feature special handbag sale, vintage clothing galore, Do-Rite Donuts, and Little Black Dress vodka. Plus, if you do bring a fleshand-blood mother (preferably your own) she will be automatically entered into a raffle to win one of two boxes of this month’s Dose goodies. Volare: 201 East Grand Street. 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Bistronomic: 840 North Wabash Avenue. 10 a.m.–4 p.m., $32/person. Dose: 456 East Illinois Avenue. 10 a.m.–4p.m.

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12

Television provokes more democratic discussion, rendering arguments about its greatness irrelevant WIRE continued from page 10 novel can. But regardless, let’s accept the now general consensus that The Wire is the greatest show of all time, and ask why this view is so widespread.

Part of it is, of course, that it was indeed a well-made, thought-provoking , high-quality show. But there are other factors to consider. Clearly, it’s the kind of TV show that goes a long way toward reaffirming the political views and social values of the people and critics most likely to watch it. And it is also the kind of show that is likely to trick a viewer into thinking that he or she is an expert on drug policy (after watching Season Three) and education issues (after watching Season Four), without making said viewer feel like she is working very hard to gain her expertise. The Wire’s social consciousness and absolute commitment to authenticity make it cool among certain target demographics, in a way that

Breaking Bad could never be. All of this inevitably plays a part in explaining why the show is so beloved.

I’m not opposed to the idea that TV shows can be great art or that they belong to our popular culture canon. But I’ve always appreciated how democratic discussions about television are and just how little room there is to be a pretentious ass when you’re talking about a sitcom. There’s something vital and exciting about the fact that we don’t (as of yet) think of TV shows as masterpieces the way we do films or novels. Maybe you are illiterate and uncultured if you’ve never read Hamlet or listened to Beethoven’s 9th, but it would be preposterous to make the same claim about not having seen Seinfeld (an over-rated show if there has ever been one, by the way) or The Sopranos. Given this general atmosphere, it is particularly jarring to hear from a fan of The Wire about how the show “spoiled�

him and rendered him unable to watch more pedestrian fare like, I don’t know, Dexter, or something.

To be clear, I’m not sure “great art� is a meaningful or useful way to talk about aesthetics, but if we’re going to have it as a category, then The Wire is as good a candidate as most for the label. But sometimes I get the feeling that the show I watched and the show most fans watched were not the same. To my eyes, The Wire wasn’t a revolution in TV storytelling (except, perhaps, in ambition) and it had many of the same flaws that other TV shows do. This doesn’t really bother me, because I find nothing shameful in the TV format and see no reason to place The Wire in an alternative category like “visual novel.� It was a fine show; it had a lot to say about a variety of complicated social and political questions, and it did so through a multitude of lovable and unforgettable characters. To me, at least, this is enough.

Ondaatje: “We’re all really interested in a paragraph in Tolstoy that he doesn’t even remember writing�

ONDAATJE continued from page 9 tagonist, Michael, sees a girl go into an outdoor shower fully clothed after roller skating. “We began to get up earlier to watch her roller skate‌She was like some kind of clothed animal. This was a new kind of beauty.â€? Other knockouts included Michael’s description of people who came before him (“innocent knights in a dangerous timeâ€?), his account of riding out a storm (“It was as if we were staked out in sacrificeâ€?), and his thoughts upon encoun-

tering shady merchants in the Suez Canal (“We thought that our lives could be large with interesting strangers, who could pass by with no involvement�).

Seaman was full of praise for Ondaatje. “You put together collages of sensuousness and history,� she told him.

In a general question-and-answer session that followed Ondaatje’s informal interview with Seaman, the author seemed to relax fully into the situation. One audience member wanted to know how

Ondaatje felt about having his books studied in an academic setting. “I don’t think about the interpretation,� Ondaatje replied. “Of course, we’re all really interested in a paragraph in Tolstoy that he doesn’t even remember writing.�

Another student asked, “How do you feel once your books go out into the world?

Do you find people have got it all wrong ?

Or do you just feel like it’s theirs, it’s okay?�

From beneath his cool literary persona, Ondaatje deadpanned, “I’m in total denial.�

ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul have two different styles HIPPY continued from page 9 which has yet to show up on one of Ab-Soul’s official albums.

ScHoolboy Q took the stage in his trademark bucket hat (whether it’s deliberately un-cool or an homage to late-’80s hip-hop is up for interpretation) and proceeded to launch into a high-energy set complete with stage-diving, a cappella verses, and culminating in his decision to climb down into the crowd to show everyone how to bounce like a Black Hippy. Reggie’s is a venue that is home to flat brims and horn rims alike, and Q kept the whole crowd grooving through smoother songs like “Blessed� and “How We Feeling,� as well as thrashing out for bangers like “There He Go.� It was a powerful performance; his snarling delivery perfectly suited for the venue’s rambunctious atmosphere and punk roots.

But, unlike Ab-Soul, ScHoolboy Q betrayed a sense that something—more specifically, half of Black Hippy—was missing from his set. He seemed most at ease on stage when Ab-Soul returned to join him for a few of their collaboration efforts, including “Druggys Wit Hoes Again,� and he even went so far as to spit the first verse from Kendrick Lamar’s powerful “A.D.H.D.,� urging cheering fans to come see him and Lamar together at Pitchfork Festival. At the same time, cutting off songs after the second chorus to avoid featured verses kept the show moving at a quick clip, maintaining the crowd’s energy.

ScHoolboy Q even managed to use Reggie’s ludicrous 10 p.m. closing time and antimarijuana smoking policies to humorous effect. He led the crowd in chants of “Bullshit� and “Fuck that.� It was damning proof that just because a show is well-executed doesn’t mean it has to be professional.

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13

THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | May 11, 2012

14

Basketball, the Chicago way

By Vicente Fernandez Sports Editor I walked into Ratner at around 2:50 p.m. on Saturday with my UChicago backpack stuffed—filled to the brim with Sosc readings, my laptop, and old notebooks I always tell myself I’ll take out tomorrow, but never do. In my right hand I held a bag of Five Guys, packed with their infamously savory fries and a bacon cheeseburger.

Why am I telling you this ? Because I didn’t want to make a mess at the Chicago United Hoops Classic and disturb the families who were there to watch their son or their neighbor or their friend from across the block compete in the city’s premiere all–star game.

So, I climbed up the Ratner bleachers into a lonely spot up in the top left hand–corner of the stands and set my lunch on the seat to my right and my laptop for note-taking to my left.

I took a big bite of my burger and anxiously awaited tip–off, to watch the best high school basketball players from Chicago’s South and West Sides go at it, with my feet up and fries spilled across my napkin.

As I sat there, mess on my lap like the star ved kid at recess, I didn’t expect to have to stand until I’d finished my burger. But when the MC got up from his chair at the scorer’s table to introduce one of the city’s prominent pastors, I got the feeling I just might.

With his voice as smooth as Chi– town jazz this MC introduced the mes-

sage behind the game we were about to witness. He talked about how this was “a rivalry with a purpose.” How it was a contest and a pledge to promote keeping violence off the streets and kids in the g ym. And how it was a game to show the young ones in attendance the rewards of dedicating effort to basketball in the city of Chicago.

What followed at Ratner was what hit me hardest on Saturday. After the MC handed the pastor the mic, the pastor asked the fans for a simple request—to “look at the person next to you and give them your hand.”

Now, I went to a Jesuit school and I’ve been to my fair share of high school, college, and professional games, but I’ve never seen what happened next before.

The entire arena—South Siders, West Siders, Hyde Parkers, and UChicagoans—looked to their the left and looked to their right and reached out. And the stadium stood still, as one.

I took the food off my lap and stood up in my corner by myself, but a West Side fan who slightly resembled Urkle with his thick glasses and jean shorts turned to me and said, “Come here, brother.” A kid with blonde hair to his left, no older than eight, turned back and smiled too.

I reciprocated a grin and stepped over the seats. I put my hands on their shoulders and they put their hands on mine.

And all together the arena listened to the pastor’s prayer for Chicago’s youth.

You could feel the city in that moment—religious or not. And I honestly felt a like a piece of the community.

On the court, I didn’t see what I’d expected either. I didn’t see high school ball hogs or kids trying to push stats. I didn’t see a lazy defensive effort in an all–star game and I didn’t see bickering between cross–town rivals. I saw basketball the way it’s played best—the way Chicago plays it.

SOFTBALL Great Lakes Region Rankings

There was something very hip-hop about the game and the representation Chi–town is putting out. Even through warm-ups ever y player’s dribble bounced to the beat, whether it was Kanye blaring or Common. Watching betweenthe-leg passes made to look easy and upand-under lay–ups, it was like listening to old school rap.

Once the game tipped–off, play swayed with the rhythm of the city. Ever y dime and handle flowed like lyrics.

On Saturday it became evident to me that Chicago pumps out a certain type of basketballer, a player that encompasses the city’s values, its toughness, and its flair.

Watching the likes of Rashaun Stimage, Steve Taylor, and Michael Orris I couldn’t help but notice how the game looked pretty, even despite the fact that these players only had a week to practice together. Ball movement was their motto, ingrained in them like the unity in the stands and the city.

Their defense didn’t slack, though.

Big men and guards were blocking shots in all directions. And whenever a player went down someone was there to help him back up—no matter what jersey color. Smooth on offense and tough on defense, even in all–star games, it doesn’t get much better than that.

With the “I love Chi” shirts filling Ratner, more halftime and postgame awards given out for sportsmanship than stat lines, and the occasional kid running onto the court for a shot between breaks, Chicago’s message resonated in Ratner on Saturday—in the stands and on the hardwood.

It proved that basketball, one of the city’s most momentous trophies, is more than just a game for its people—it’s a way of life. And that was an emotion all of Ratner felt. All it took was looking to our left and to our right.

Rank School 1 Illinois Wesleyan 2 Carthage 3 Wis-Eau Claire 4 Chicago 5 Augustana 6 Elmhurst

Record 33–6 (29–5) 32–6 (29–5) 30–10 (26–6) 23–9 (17–8) 25–13 (16–10) 25–14 (15–10)

Win % .846 .842 .750 .719 .658 .641

Batting Average (UAA) Rank Player Kaitlyn Carpenter 1 2 Birttany Grimm 3 Gena Roberts 4 5

Marianne Specker Sophia Tarte

School Chicago Brandeis Case Western

AVG .447 .424 .419

Brandeis Emory

.414 .403

Hits (UAA) Rank Player Kaitlyn Carpenter 1 2 Gena Roberts 3 Marianne Specker 3 Brittany Grimm 5 Meg Hennessy

School Chicago Case Western Brandeis Brandeis Rochester

Hits 55 54 53 53 51

Runs Batted In (UAA) Rank Player 1 Megan Light 1 Marianne Specker 3 Lauren Wolz 4 Jessica Boni 5 Brittany Grimm

School Emory Brandeis Case Western Emory Brandeis

RBI 39 39 38 36 34

BASEBALL Central Region Rankings Rank School 1 Washington (MO)

Record 28–12 (25–8)

Win % .700

2 3 4 5 6

22–12 (19–11) 26–13 (22–12) 28–11 (24–9) 23–15 (21–15) 21–11 (19–8)

.647 .667 .718 .605 .656

Chicago Illinois Wesleyan North Park Coe St. Norbert

ERA (UAA) Rank Player School 1 Claude Lockhart Chicago 2 Corey King Rochester 3 Taylor Berman Washington (MO) 4 Jon Menke Rochester 5 Connor Dillman Emory

ERA 0.88 2.23 2.65 2.83 2.84

Strikeouts (UAA) Rank Player 1 Paul Schwendel 2 Connor Dillman 2 Jarrett Gish 4 Jamie Hora 4 Jon Menke

School Emory Emory Case Western Case Western Rocherster

Ks 92 76 59 51 47

Wins (UAA) Rank Player School 1 Jamie Hora Case Western 1 Connor Dillman Emory 3 Claude Lockhart Chicago 3 Paul Schwendel Emory 3 Stephen Bonser Washington (MO)

WIns 8 8 6 6 6

MEN’S TENNIS UAA Standings Rank School 1 Emory 2 Washington (MO) 3 Case Western 4 Carnegie 4 NYU

Record 20–0 (2–0) 15–6 (2–1) 15–8 (2–0) 12–8 (0–2) 9–6 (0–1)

Win% 1.000

.714 .652 .600 .600

6

Chicago

3–6(1–1)

.333

7

Rochester

6–13 (0–1)

.316

8

Brandeis

5–14 (1–2)

.263

WOMEN’S TENNIS UAA Standings Rank 1 2 3 3 3 6

Ratner Athletic Center hosted the Chicago United Hoops Classic All-Star game where the South Side and West Side basketball teams battled to promote non-violence and education last Saturday.

SYDNEY COMBS | THE CHICAGO MAROON

School Chicago Carnegie Brandeis Emory Case Western Washington (MO)

Record 10–1 (1–0) 16–4 (1–1) 15–5 (2–1) 15–5 (2–1) 18–6 (1–1) 15–7 (2–1)

Win% .909 .800 .750 .750 .750 .682

7

Rochester

9–5 (0–1)

.643

8

NYU

0–12 (0–3)

.000

THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | May 11, 2012

15

In final home meet, South Siders running out of time Men’s Track Jake Walerius Associate Sports Editor The race to qualify for the NCAA Championships continues.

The Maroons compete at home on Saturday for the final time this season.

They host the Chicago Penultimate, where they expect a weakened field.

“It’s not a great meet this weekend,” head coach Chris Hall said. “A lot of other teams are in their conference meets right now or have finals or are graduating on Saturday. It’s not a great competition we have this weekend. Because some teams are done with school, you don’t necessarily get the full team.”

The South Siders will see competition from Northwest Missouri State, Carthage College, and Milwaukee School of Engineering, as well as several club teams and independent athletes.

With the UAAs already come and gone, Chicago’s athletes now divide into two groups: those still chasing qualification for the NCAA championship and those who aren’t. But, as Hall explains, all of his athletes still have something to compete for.

“At this point in the year we’re working on personal improvement more than anything,” Hall said. “We’ve got a handful of athletes who are chas-

ing national standards and that’s their primary goal, but we have others who are using this time of the season to have the type of performances that could lead them to believe that maybe next year they’ll be in a position to advance to the national championships or be a scorer in the UAAs.” “For those of us whose hopes of Nationals are somewhat distant, the meet still offers an opportunity for personal improvement, which is what track and field is all about,” third-year Avery Mainardi said. “This Penultimate meet is a great chance for all the hard work put in since the beginning of indoor track to materialize in fast times.”

There are still several Maroons, however, with a realistic, if improbable, shot at NCAA qualification. Thirdyear distance runner Billy Whitmore is currently Chicago’s top-placed athlete nationally, as he is ranked 16th in the 10,000-meter (30:18.56). Whitmore also holds out hope of qualifying in the 5,000-meter, an event he has mostly placed behind the 10,000 in importance this year, but that would require him to run over 30 seconds faster than his current season’s best (15:27.79).

Third-year Isaac Dalke may be in a better position to challenge for national qualification in the 5,000-meter with his season’s best of 15:06.14.

Other potential national qualifiers include third-year Dee Brizzolara in the 200-meter, who still needs to shave off a tenth of a second from his best time this season (22.01) to make the top 50 in the nation at the DIII level.

Fourth-year Moe Bahrani needs to find a little less than 9 seconds in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to make the national lists, while Daniel Heck needs to improve his season’s best (52.20m) by nearly half a meter to do the same in the hammer throw.

At a time of year when the individual is very much the focus, and at a meet with such a weakened field, there could be question marks about the team’s motivation. But the Maroons seem confident they will put in their best performances as they say farewell to Stagg Field for the year.

“Winning awards and standing on the podium definitely make our sport fun, but that is not why we compete. Track and field, especially at the DIII level, is about beating yourself,” Mainardi said. “Chasing personal records as well as running on our home track for the last time this season will certainly provide ample motivation for us this weekend, especially for the seniors.”

The Chicago Penultimate gets underway at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Stagg Field.

Second-year Sam Butler runs the steeplechase at the Chicagoland track meet earlier this season.

COURTESY OF DAVE HILBERT

Penultimate push: Individuals chase NCAA qualification Women’s Track Katie Burkhart Sports Contributor They’re coming home.

The Maroons will compete at Stagg Field this Saturday at the UChicago Penultimate Invitational meet.

Having already competed in the UAA Conference Championship meet, the South Siders have largely shifted their focus from team achievements to individual achievements.

“This weekend’s meet is definitely going to have a different feel because it’s a post-conference meet,” first-year thrower Reecie Dern said. “A lot of people won’t be competing, or will be competing in a fraction of their normal events—at this point in the season, we’re really looking to improve individually.”

However, while the season is nearing its end, for several athletes it is not winding down just yet. While many team members

take the end of the season as an opportunity to try their hand at new events, others use it to attempt to improve their rankings on the National Honor Roll and close in on NCAA Championship positions.

Third-year distance runner Julia Sizek, for example, is set to compete in the 10,000-meter run.

“I feel like I’m now in an extremely weird position, as I enjoy running for the team more than running for myself—particularly when it comes to nerves,” Sizek said. “It is not fun to be nervous, and I like legitimizing it somehow.”

In fact, with the Penultimate shaping up to be a smaller meet than usual, head coach Chris Hall entered several athletes (including Sizek, fourth-year Sonia Khan, and third-year Sarah Peluse) in the Keeler Invitational in Naperville, IL on Thursday, May 10 to provide an additional improvement opportunity for 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runners.

“It’s not on our schedule, but coach [Hall] felt like the competition would be good for distance runners,” Khan said. “Julia [Sizek] and I will be working together to try and break 37 minutes in the 10,000-meter run.”

Even at the Penultimate itself, several athletes will be looking to end the season on a high note to improve—or secure—nationally ranked positions. Some of these athletes include fourth-year jumper Paige Peltzer (currently ranked 16th in the high jump) and thirdyear Kayla McDonald, who currently holds the 28th-place ranking in the 800-meter—a position she is eager to improve, as the top 22 athletes in each event qualify for Nationals.

Despite the small nature of the Penultimate, the competition on the field should be worthy of attention.

“For the throwers, it’ll be a small but healthily competitive group of athletes,” Dern said, who has held her own as a consistent point

earner for the Maroons all season. “All competing throwers should get a good quantity of opportunities to throw their best.”

For all team members, however, the Penultimate meet will be a great opportunity to explore new areas of talent—or, at the very least, to support fellow teammates.

“Individually, people are trying to squeeze as much as they can out of the end of this season.

As a team, we come together to try and give them that extra bit of encouragement that will help them achieve their goals,” Dern said.

As team captains have stressed throughout the season, this encouragement is often key for exceptional achievement.

“Hopefully we get a lot of people to come cheer us on Saturday because having support really makes a difference,” Khan said.

“Knowing you are running for something bigger than yourself really puts the extra edge on a performance.”

Cygan’s pitching sets up showdown with No. 1 Trine SOFTBALL continued from back

to advance into scoring position. A double from Blue Streaks catcher Mackenzie Griffin brought in their second and final run.

With Chicago clinging to a one run lead, John Carroll mounted the night’s biggest threat, getting Robinson and Griffin on the corners with one out. Showing poise, Cygan deflated the high-pressure moment,

inducing an in-field pop up before ending the game by striking a Blue Streaks batter out looking.

Now in the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament, the Maroons square off today against first-seeded Trine (38–8), who triumphed over eighth seed Geneva College 6–5 in a Thursday morning game. The Thunder are making their

sixth straight NCAA tournament bid, and were two games away from the DIII World Series in 2011.

“We’re not fearful of Trine,” Kmak said, “but we know we have to play as well as we are capable of playing.”

Trine is led by pitchers Andi Gasco (21–5) and Carly Searles (5–2), who have proved to be two of the Thunder’s best hit-

ters, as well. They have earned run averages of 1.56 and 3.00 respectively, and are batting .436 and .435; even if only one will be on the mound, the Maroons can expect to see both at the plate.

At Alma, the fourth-seeded Maroons play at 2 p.m. Eastern time. If they continue to win, they’ll play at least one game a day until the regional ends on Sunday.

McGillis: “It doesn’t necessarily have to be pretty” W. TENNIS continued from back

place of a third set for Kung and VacaGuzman at No. 2 and 3 singles, respectively.

Kung won her tiebreak 12–10 while VacaGuzman won 10–7.

“I don’t want to underestimate any team; we will treat each team like a Williams or Amherst,” first-year Kelsey McGillis said.

The Maroons will have another familiar

opponent in Wash U if the Bears advance to Sunday’s regional final.

Chicago beat Wash U 8–1 on April 15 at home. With such a large rivalry and stage, the Maroons are going to implement what they learned from their last match against the Bears.

“From Wash U, we learned there are many ways to win; it doesn’t necessarily

have to be pretty, just getting one point for the team is one point closer to a win,” McGillis said. “You are really playing for the team, not yourself.”

With a Chicago starting lineup that includes two first-years, McGillis and Megan Tang, the Maroons need to adjust mentally to the new environment of the NCAA tournament.

“Although the pressure as a [first-year] is big, we really don’t know what to expect,” McGillis said. “The [fourth-years] can tell us, but we really just have to wait and experience it for ourselves.”

The combination of players, from firstyears through fourth-years will be key in determining the Maroons’ success.

Chicago opens play at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

SPORTS

IN QUOTES

“He has been extinguished from the game.”

—Miami Heat PA announcer Michael Baiamonte, after Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire—of fire extinguisher infamy—fouled out of Game 5 of their NBA Eastern Conference first-round series.

Tomaka upends Blue Streaks with three-run shot Softball Derek Tsang Associate Sports Editor

Second-year Kaitlyn Carpenter slides into base at a home game against Hope College earlier this season.

COURTESY OF DAVE HILBERT

’Cats in the bag: Maroons defeat DI Northwestern Baseball Sarah Langs Associate Sports Editor Sports fans often joke that a very bad Major League team could be beaten by a minor league team.

It would probably never happen, even though the San Diego Padres sometimes look like they could lose to the Buffalo Bisons.

The Maroons (23–12) showed on Tuesday against Northwestern (16–30) that sometimes, a talented DIII team is better than a struggling DI team. The South Siders beat the North Siders by a score of 6–3.

Chicago got on the board early in the first inning. In fact, they scored two runs before Northwestern second-year starter Nick Friar had recorded an out. Friar walked the first two hitters. Due up third was second-year outfielder Ricky Troncelliti, whose season has been nothing short of outstanding. Troncelliti padded his .468 batting average with a tworun double. Chalk it up to not knowing their opponent, perhaps, but the Wildcats should not have put runners on for Troncelliti.

After Northwestern cut the Maroons’ lead to one, adding a run in the bottom of the third, Chicago answered an inning later with three runs in the top of the fifth. The Wildcats’ pitching staff gave up yet another costly walk, this time walking third-year infielder J.R. Lopez with the bases loaded to force in a run. Fourthyear catcher Stephen Williams added to the inning driving in a run with a fielder’s choice, and second-year outfielder and first

baseman Brett Huff capped off the inning’s scoring with an RBI single.

Though the Maroons gave up two runs in the bottom of that inning, their lead was never in doubt. They tacked on one more run in the eighth for a final score of 6–3. This squad is making a habit of playing games in which they accumulate a double-digit hit total, accumulating ten on Tuesday afternoon.

The gravity of this win is not to be understated. There’s no better way for a team like the Maroons to end a season than by beating a DI opponent, all while awaiting selections for a mere DIII tournament.

“It was nice to finish our season strong and get the win against Northwestern,” first-year infielder Kyle Engel said.

The win was Chicago’s first against a DI opponent since May 2, 2000, when they beat Chicago State.

The Maroons and the Wildcats have now met 119 times and four times in the past four years.

In those games, the Maroons can now boast a 1–3 record.

Now, back on the South Side, the Maroons await word on whether or not they’ve made the NCAA tournament, and where they will be playing if they did indeed make it. The berth would be the program’s first ever to the NCAA DIII postseason.

“We’re all looking forward to hearing the NCAA selections in the future,” Engel said.

The South Siders’ fate will be announced on Sunday, May 13.

Earlier in the season, the Maroons lost a handful of close games where they out-hit, out-pitched, and out-ran their opponents, only to leave runner after runner stranded in scoring position.

That was then; these are the playoffs. A mostly quiet Chicago (25–9) offense got all the runs they needed Thursday afternoon against John Carroll (30–14) on a second-inning Vicky Tomaka three-run blast. It was the thirdyear’s first home run of the season, and it couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.

On defense, third-year pitcher Kim Cygan (15–4) led a bendnot-break effort, allowing only two runs even as the Blue Streaks tallied seven hits and three walks.

The Maroons stranded eight of John Carroll’s base runners en route to a 3–2 victory.

“We came out a bit nervous and

tight,” head coach Ruth Kmak said, “but we battled through.”

In the second inning, Cygan reached on a fielder’s choice and second-year Zoe Oliver-Grey drew a walk to set the stage for Tamaka. She stepped up to the occasion spectacularly, bashing a ball from pitcher Brittany Danilov (22–6) to left-center field. The Maroons have now had ten games with a home run; they’ve won nine of them.

“I saw the change-up coming and I just wanted to drive the ball somewhere,” Tomaka said.

After four innings of stranding at least one runner on base, the Blue Streaks broke through in the fifth inning. In a rare lapse of control, Cygan hurled two wild pitches in the inning. The first allowed John Carroll’s Morgan Robinson to advance to third after she had already stolen second base; the second came after Robinson scored, and allowed another base runner SOFTBALL continued on page 15

Chicago awaits Carleton–Grinnell winner Women’s Tennis Alexander Sotiropoulos Senior Sports Staff The quest for the NCAA championship begins this weekend at the Stagg Field tennis courts.

Chicago, the nation’s second seed and the top seed in their region, will have a bye in the first round and will play the winner of the No. 30 Carleton/Grinnell match at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Being the favorite, the Maroons are likely to advance to the regional final and will likely play their archrival No. 11 Wash U Bears on Sunday at noon.

While the Maroons boast three fourth-years that have received fourth place in the NCAA DIII tournament for the past three years—Kendra Higgins, Jennifer Kung, and Carmen VacaGuzman—there is not a lot of tension and nerves to take home the national title.

“I know all of us seniors are very eager to progress further than we have in the past because this year we have a team that can do it,” Higgins said. “I don’t think I would say there is a lot of pressure. Yes, each of us is anxious and excited, but we have been in this situation before, and our goal is to have fun and go far especially in our last year.”

Luckily for the Maroons, they will avoid Emory, the team that has beaten them in two of the last three national semifinals but that the Maroons beat in this year’s UAA title match, until the final round.

Still, Chicago’s draw features national powerhouses No. 3 Amherst, No. 6 Carnegie Mellon and No. 8 DePauw, a team that the Maroons split duals with this season.

But the Maroons will not visit any

First-year Megan Tang returns the ball in a rally played against Emory University earlier this season.

COURTESY OF DAVE HILBERT

of those teams until the semifinal.

For now, the Maroons are concentrated on besting their regional opponents.

Carleton defeated Grinnell on April 1, 9–0.

If Chicago plays Carleton on Saturday, they should be ready for an easy victory. The two teams

faced off on March 21 with the Maroons cruising to a 9–0 win.

But there were a couple of roadblocks along the way to victory. Being a non-conference match, and with the Maroons already having clinched the dual, a 10-point tiebreak was played in W. TENNIS continued on page 15