CHICAGO
"Better than most" since 1892 — Robert Zimmer
MORON
Mansueto How its opening can be an opportunity to build a new library
FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2011 • VOLUME 122, ISSUE 35 • CHICAGOMAROON.COM
CAMPUS LIFE
Viewpoints, page 7
STUDENT LIFE
Summer Breeze revealed Kevin Robinson: Rebecca Black chosen to headline concert on the quad By Jordan Larson News Oracle The Major Activities Board (MAB) announced yesterday that Rebecca Black, whose YouTube sensation “Friday” recently took the the Internet by storm, will be headlining Summer Breeze. MAB spokesperson Amelia Byrne cited Black's viral rise as the main reason why she was selected among a list of top artists. “We really lucked out to get such a shooting star,” Byrne said. “I think students will really appreciate having her at the end of the quarter, when she's going to be on top of the world.” After MAB judges weeded down the candidates to five last week, they picked Black unanimously. Other performers on the short list were The Strokes, Justin Bieber, and local rappers Kanye West and Common. Although some judges were leaning towards Bieber, they all cited Black's musical talent as the deciding factor. “‘Friday’ resonates among young people,” said second-year MAB Board Member
Arnold Wills. “Black has really been a voice for our generation the past two weeks.” Th e y a d d e d t h a t s h e a l s o appeals to professors with more intellectual sensibilities, who will be able to buy tickets. “Black’s poignant lyrics belie many layers of subtext in which is signified the suffering the modern teenager endures as it strives to find meaning in the banal tasks normative societal standards demand of it,” s aid semiotics professor Ronald Clingham, who plans on staking his claim in the front row several hours prior to the event. “At its heart, this song is about the search for free will in post-Cold War America.” Tickets will go on sale third week, will “likely sell out that day,” according to Wills, and the concert will be on the quads at the end of seventh week. While MAB’s selection is widely seen as exceeding expectations, MAB commented that it does come with a price. “There probably won’t be any more Summer Breezes for a while,” Wills said. “Rebecca Black isn’t cheap.”
ADMISSIONS
U of C acceptance rate plummets By Alison Howard Undercover Agent According to statistics released Wednesday, the University of Chicago experienced its lowest acceptance rate yet after receiving a record-high number of applications, continuing a trend over the past two decades. The University made headlines last year after a 42-percent jump in applications, and administrators at the U of C and other colleges are reacting just the same this year after the acceptance rate eclipsed all peer institutions. Of the 21,669 applicants—a 12-percent jump—35 were offered a spot in the class of 2015. This resulted in a 0.16-percent acceptance rate, compared to the 18 percent of applicants that were accepted last year. While University officials say they are pleased with the direction that admission percentages are going in, they maintain that they’re not merely focusing on the numbers. According to University spokesperson Jerry Manning, “Our goal is always to seek out applicants who would fit in with the University’s distinctive academic culture. This is about giving passionate, qualified students a chance to attend a top college where their talents will be
put to use.” The admissions office addressed tactics that may have resulted in this year’s exceptionally low acceptance rate, such as an increase in the number of recruiting visits to high schools and mailings sent out. The office maintains that heightened interest in the school has been the driving force in lowering admissions rates. The 0.16-percent acceptance rate is the lowest among the U of C’s peer institutions. In comparison, this year Harvard had an acceptance rate of 6.2 percent, and Yale one of 7.35 percent. Administrators from those colleges are expressing concern over the U of C's practices, but Manning says it's “jealousy.” Looking forward to next year, Manning admitted that he couldn’t determine whether or not admissions rates would continue to decrease. “It’s exceptional that so many students applied, and unfortunate that we were able to admit so few. What’s important is that we have an incoming class that really holds the ‘life of the mind’ dear.” Many admitted students are showing interest in attending, and at last count the Class of 2015 Facebook group already had 17 members.
man with no mission By Christina Pillsbury Magazine Editor Kevin Robinson does not make eye contact with anyone. He wakes up close to 10 a.m. every morning, 15 minutes after his alarm sounds, and skips shaving. To keep his thin frame in check, Robinson said he goes to Ratner Athletic Center “whenever I give up on life.” His apathy towards sports peaked at an early age—Robinson has always suffered from inverted feet. “I was pigeon-toed—I still am—I never played sports because I wasn’t good at them,” he said. “My parents knew I was going to be a big homo so they didn’t pressure me.” According to Robinson, most people assume that he is, in fact, a “big homo,” he is a champion for gay rights. He says this is a stereotype he wishes to stray away from. “I don’t care [about marriage equality] because I don’t want to get married,” he said. “I hate people who get married in their 20s and have 8 kids and don’t care about them.” He is however, enthusiastic about his own daily accomplishments, a view he says he shares with all U of C students: “I’m passionate about being right and making everyone feel bad about being wrong, especially when they think they’re right.” This summer, Robinson will return to his career at a grocery store in Washington D.C., where he says he has made great strides. “I really enjoy memorizing the PLU codes for all the vegetables that people
Kevin Robinson doesn't always eat chocolate syrup with his ice cream, but when he does, it's Hershey's. DARRAN LEOW/MAROON
were buying,” he bragged. “Even though I didn’t know what it all meant because I don’t ever eat vegetables.” In addition to keeping a strict exercise regime, Robinson maintains a nutritious diet of macaroni and cheese, ice cream, and hot dogs. Recently he has branched out. “For dinner recently I’ve been trying
Martha Stewart recipes—they’re pretty good,” Robinson said. “But I usually don’t have any of the ingredients so I just make it up.” But Robinson considers himself an expert on ice cream. “You know how pregnant women eat ice cream and say they’re eating for two? I kind of feel like that, but there’s only one of me.”
Boyer recognized for global award By Adam Janofsky Foreign Correspondent International judges confirmed last week what all U of C students have known for years: John Boyer, in addition to being Dean of the College, is Dean of Moustaches. Boyer came in fourth place in the “academic” category at the World Beard and Moustache Championships (WBMC) last Thursday in Oslo, Norway. His competitors in the category were either “standing scholars at universities or displayed facial hair archetypal of said institutions,” according to the WBMC. Boyer, a longtime member of the Chicago chapter of the WBMC, was shocked when he found out about the award. It was his first ever. “I keep dragging my wife to these competitions to keep myself up to date with the latest moustache trends, but I never thought mine would be recognized as one,” Boyer said. Considered a “Hungarian-style” moustache, Boyer’s facial hair was popular over the past hundred years—seen on such figures as Theodore Roosevelt and Captain Kangaroo—but has recently
phased out of popular culture. First place went to Princeton economist Paul Krugman, who has won the award three times consecutively. All other candidates who were in the top 10 live or work in Europe. Boyer says he has kept the same moustache style since he was a teenager, and he considers it a part of who he is. Students say the award will only add to his reputation on campus. “I don’t really know what Boyer does
academically or as an administrator. I mainly think of him as the tall guy with a moustache who rides his bike everywhere,” second-year David Wintrope said. When asked if he was happy with his reputation among students, Boyer was largely accepting. “History is my occupation; it’s what puts bread on the table,” said Boyer. “But moustache growing is my vocation–my life.”
Dean Boyer (center) flouts his moustache next to American historian Leonard Krieger (right) at the University of Chicago in 1976. PHOTO COURTESY OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
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CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | April 1, 2011
STUDENT LIFE
STUDENT LIFE
Tuition hikes announced Financial aid is set to rise 15 percent next year
By Harunobu Coryne Associate News Editor
Changes in Tuition over the last three years 45,000
Tuition in dollars
40,000
$40,188 $38,550
$39,840
$41,853
University of Chicago
$41,592
Northwestern
$ 36,303
Harvard
$38,088
35,000 $33,696
$ 34,976
30,000
2009 - 2010
2010 - 2011
Hookups site gets around, draws national attention Anyone hoping for a romantic rendezvous in the Regenstein bookstacks may be disappointed to find their secret blown-by Jay Leno, no less. EduHookups, which began in February as UChicagoHookups, an online outlet for U of C students to seek out casual sex with their peers, has undergone a meteoric expansion spanning a half-dozen college campuses, with even more coming soon. And the media have taken notice. In the beginning, only students with
a valid U of C email address could gain access to the site. Since then, however, a number of colleges and universities from around the country have sought EduHookups’ services. Chicago-area universities were the first to express interest in joining the website, according to its founder, who prefers for privacy reasons to go by his online moniker Thiskid2000. Columbia College and Northwestern University led the way, followed shortly by DePaul University, Loyola University Chicago, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
HOOKUPS continued on page 5
2011 - 2012 CAMPUS LIFE
By Hans Glick Senior News Staff The U of C experience may cost more next year, but thanks to increased financial aid students might not have to dig too deep into their own pockets. College tuition will rise 4.1 percent next year, but a 15-percent boost in financial aid spending will help make the University affordable, according to University spokesman Steve Kloehn. Tuition for the 2011–12 academic year will be $41,853, an increase of about $2,000 from last year. Room, board and other fees will jump by the same percentage, bringing the total cost of a year’s worth of U of C education to $55,416. The University also announced an $88-million budget for undergraduate need and merit-based financial aid for 2011-12, an increase from the $76 million last year. “The size of the increase this year does reflect the fact that student aid
is a top priority at the University,” Kloehn said. “The University has made a significant commitment during this decade to increase the amount of spending on financial aid.” About 60 percent of undergraduates receive some type of financial aid from the University, with 50 percent receiving need-based aid in the 2010–11 school year, according to a March 23 press release. The average amount of grant assistance from all sources per aid-receiving student was $34,650. Spending on financial aid grew 13 percent during the 2009–10 school year and was projected to increase by another 4.5 percent or more during 2010–11, according to University statements released by the News Office last year. The increased financial aid will target funding the Odyssey Scholarships, a program for students with family incomes less than $75,000. The program benefits 1,100 University students, aiding almost 20 percent of
LAW SCHOOL
the current first-year class. “Exceptional students of all backgrounds and all income levels aspire to attend the College,” said Vice President and Dean of College Admissions and Financial Aid Jim Nondorf in the March 23 press release. “This year’s increase in financial aid spending means that we can continue to offer them the widest possible access to a Chicago education.” The tuition hike is comparable to the annual increases of the past decade—during which time the University has typically raised costs by just under 5 percent—and nearly identical to last year’s 4.2 percent climb. Still, the increase helps maintain the U of C’s spot among the nation’s most expensive schools, and outpaces the tuition increases announced by several peer institutions. Harvard increased its undergraduate tuition and fees by 3.8 percent and, north of the Loop, Northwestern added 4.6 percent to its tuition and fees.
U of C affiliates flee Japan Students ask for funds and awareness during crisis By Harunobu Coryne Associate News Editor As students on campus rush to raise funds for victims of the earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan last month, at least half of the University’s students and personnel abroad have since fled the island nation. A special group, made up of administrators and staff in the Office of International Affairs and the Office of Risk Management, Audit, and Safety, is coordinating efforts to keep track of the 16 people who were in the country on University business, including one researcher, one undergraduate in a studyabroad program, and 14 graduate students.
“This is something that’s been in transition ever since the earthquake. People are in different steps along the way of making plans,” said University spokesman Steve Kloehn. Vice President of Student Life Kim Goff-Crews urged students to leave Japan as soon as possible in an open letter dated March 17. A number of students still remain, though many have changed locations within the country, Kloehn said. Goff-Crews convened the administrative group in winter quarter to reassess University procedure when responding to international crises, such as January’s populist uprising in Egypt that saw the full evacuation of the University’s Cairo program.
JAPAN continued on page 3
CRIME
Law School pays education New video released in police brutality case loans for do-good grads Victims offer the footage in a call for more information from Chicago police By Rebecca Guterman News Staff U of C law students aiming to help the greater good can now expect a big payoff. Graduates entering the public service sector will have the opportunity to receive a free law school education, thanks to a new Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP). “This isn’t just an isolated loan forgiveness program. It’s tied into the creation of what we hope will be the best public interest program in the country,” Law School Dean Michael Schill said. The program is one of the simplest and most generous offered in the country, according to Director of Financial Aid Karla Vargas. Approximately 15 to 25 percent of the graduating class accepts public service jobs upon graduating, according to Vargas, and most of those students will probably enroll in LRAP, which will be offered this spring. The current income-based repayment (IBR) program allows students in public service jobs a sliding scale to pay back their loans. For 10 months after graduation, a percentage of their income goes toward paying off loans. After this period, the debt is forgiven. Chicago Law’s LRAP will pay for the
students’ monthly IBR contributions, Schill explained. The result is a free law school education. The program demonstrates the Law School’s commitment to encouraging students to take public service jobs that might not pay enough to pay off loans, according to Director of Public Interest Law and Policy Susan Curry. “We’re afraid that those students who had a clear desire to be a public service attorney are feeling this pressure to serve in the private sector instead for debt repayment,” she said. In order to ease the choice between high-paying law firm jobs and lower-salary public interest jobs, the new LRAP has raised the salary cap to $80,000 and does not include spousal income in the students’ income calculations. The LRAP also decided to expand the definition of legal public interest jobs—traditionally government positions, nonprofit attorneys, NGO jobs abroad, and the like—to include judicial clerkships, one of the most common jobs for law school graduates. Schill said that the new additions to LRAP will be paid for by continuing contributions from former Law School Dean of Students and Director of Admission James Hormel (J.D. ’58) and by additional fundraising.
Matthew Clark, one of the two University of Chicago graduate students who were allegedly assaulted by plainclothes police officers last February, shows his facial injuries from the attack.
COURTESY OF MATTHEW CLARK AND GREGORY MALANDRUCCO
By Crystal Tsoi Senior News Staff Over a year after the assault of Matthew Clark (Ph.D. ’06) and University lecturer and Ph.D. candidate Gregory Malandrucco, allegedly by Chicago Police
Department (CPD) officers, the alleged victims have released new video footage of the beatings via YouTube. The pair is also advertising a $10,000 reward for information leading to identification of the officers and has set up a
toll-free hotline for tips. They hope that their case will have broader implications regarding the impartiality of the Chicago I n d e p e n d e n t P u b l i c Re l a t i o n s Authority (IPRA). The two men claim they have
CRIME continued on page 4
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CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | April 1, 2011
RANKINGS
LIBRARY
U of C Law grads named most Special Collections opens with new space, old books attractive in the hiring pool By Giovanni Wrobel News Staff Top law firms are tapping the U of C Law School for talent more aggressively than at any other law school. According to the National Law Journal (NLJ), 58.97 percent of Law School graduates have secured positions in the country’s largest firms, a higher percentage than any peer institutions, including all of the Ivy Leagues. The study used the “NLJ 250,” the journal’s annual assessment of the law firms with the most full-time employees. In the past, the journal relied only on active lawyers for their calculations, but this year it changed its method to provide a broader conception of the firms. Associate Dean of the L aw School’s Career Services and Public Initiatives Abbie Willard has some hesitations about the new methods. “They said that we had 58.97 percent go to the NLJ 250; we actually had over 70 percent go,” she said. “Traditionally a lot of students do self-select to come to the University of Chicago because we do
have such success with large law firms.” The Law School graduates approximately 200 students annually and has always performed well in the annual NLJ study, but recent graduates are also making other significant decisions with their futures, according to Willard. “We also had an increase for the class of 2010 from five percent to 10 percent of people who went into public service, and we’re just as happy about that as we are about the 70-plus percent that go into big law,” Willard said. The study also did not account for students who become judicial clerks, which is a common option for graduates. Willard cautioned that the “NLJ 250” is not necessarily the best way to rank law schools. “You want to look at where they go, but you also want to look at their self-report in terms of the kind of education that they get,” she said. “One of the things that distinguishes the University of Chicago is that people who come here tend to love the program and tend to feel that it really makes their capacity to have a broad range of opportunities later in their career.”
Several RSOs to plan fundraisers and cultural demonstrations for Japan JAPAN continued from page 2 The developing situation in Japan poses its own challenges, however, because most of the students there are graduates pursuing their own ends and research, rather than a large undergraduate abroad program in a single location. As a result, the University has been maintaining mostly individual communication with its people there. “I think at this point, because we have oneon-one communication with each of the people involved…[the University’s response is] going to be less of a group mandate and more of a one-on-one assessment,” Kloehn said. While Kloehn declined to reveal details about the one undergraduate student, a press release on the web site of the University’s Study Abroad Office indicated that the student was participating in Columbia University’s Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies. The Consortium suspended its on-site program “in light of the recent developments in northeastern Japan, and the increasing uncertainty of what lies ahead,” according to the statement. Meanwhile, the Japanese Student Association (JSA) has begun organizing a large-scale effort to raise funding and awareness for victims of the tsunami and earthquake. JSA members have raised $1,300 over the past four days through their Relief and Rebuild campaign, which pooled funds with the South Asian Student Alliance. Funds collected this week will go to the Japanese Red Cross, while everything raised from second week onward will go to Iwate University in northeastern Japan. However, the campaign’s coordinators have a more long-term vision than simply providing monetary relief. Aside from collecting money, the JSA also aims to keep the University’s
attention piqued as time wears on and media coverage of the crisis inevitably abates. “When disasters happen, I feel like there’s always so much awareness about relief and so much money collected in the first initial period,” said Ariya Sasaki, a JSA member coordinating the campaign. She cited other natural disasters which prompted huge outpourings of support, such as Haiti’s earthquake in 2010, but which she said gradually faded out of the public consciousness. “The moment when the world forgets about the sufferings of the people in the affected areas, that’s when it’s the hardest for the people [living there],” said Chihiro Yoshida, a JSA board member and international student from Tokyo. To spread awareness, the JSO wants to coordinate with students, RSOs, and even faculty to create senbazuru, or a thousand folded paper cranes, a Japanese symbol for recovery and peace that has gained cultural significance since World War II. The paper cranes are characteristic of what Yoshida calls a “byproduct” of the crisis and its aftermath: Japanese solidarity on campus. “Of course, our aim is to support the people of Japan, to support my people back home,” she said. “But it’s great that, as a byproduct, as a result, we’re all coming together.” Sasaki said she believes that any funds the JSA raises will be less consequential than the long-term benefits of keeping the University involved and informed, though it will continue its fundraising in the weeks to come. The death toll from the tsunami and earthquake stands at 11,257, while another 16,344 remain missing, according to a March 31 UN Dispatch. All JSA members’ families are safe, Yoshida said, though at least one student has relatives who have lost their homes.
CORRECTIONS » The March 3 article “Websites Offer U of C Love” incorrectly stated the number of registered users on UChicagoHookups.com. The website had 160 registered users at the time of press. » The May 3 2009 article “Phi Gamma Delta Fight Leaves Two Injured, No
Charges Filed” mistakenly reported that Joyce was arrested. He was a suspect but was not arrested and charges were not filed against him. The MAROON is committed to correcting mistakes for the record. If you suspect the MAROON has made an error, please alert the newspaper by e-mailing Editor@ChicagoMaroon.com.
The new Exhibition Gallery of the Special Collections Research Center, which will showcase the Special Collections' archive of artifacts and publications, opens May 9. DARREN LEOW/MAROON
By Ben Pokross News Staff Th o u g h t h e M a n s u e t o L i b r a r y w i l l boast futuristic new tools, its newlyrenovated neighbor will continue to offer a collection of ancient and rare texts. The Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) in the Regenstein library reopened on Monday with new study rooms and a new entrance, with the aim of making the space more visible and access i b l e t o t h e U n i v e r s i t y c o m m u n i t y. The construction of the Mansueto library and a new passageway necessitated a reorganization of the SCRC. That passageway eliminated the SCRC’s existing exhibition gallery and two offices. Despite the new spaces, the collection will continue to include the same rare books, manuscripts and archives of different organizations and cultural movements. Library administrators took the opportunity to make larger changes to the Center during the construction, said Director of the SCRC Alice Schreyer. “The best thing is the reorientation
towards the hallway [to the Manseuto] and the increased visibility that that gives us,” Schreyer said. She said that in the past, the center was not visible or welcoming. Although the Center had been in an interim space since November 2009, the renovations began in August 2010. While the small seminar room has remained the same, a new, larger room has been outfitted with better acoustics and more seating to allow for larger classes to look at books. Schreyer said she hopes the changes will encourage teachers to bring their classes in to look at materials. Renovations also include a second study room to allow more students to work together. According to Schreyer, the renovations help pursue the mission of Special Collections. That mission, she said, is “to share the unique and extraordinary material…to enrich the teaching and learning at the university.” A new exhibition room will feature displays designed by faculty and graduate students. The first exhibit will be in place by May 9 for a “soft” opening of the Mansueto Library, which will not be fully operational until Fall 2011.
STUDENT LIFE
Site to nab classes given the OK Adminstration warns students against tampering with Time Schedules By Amy Myers News Editor The use of automated scripts during winter quarter’s add/drop period has drawn a warning from Dean of Students Susan Art and prompted students to question ScheduleSpy.com, a recent start-up and Uncommon Fund recipient which offers e-mail notifications for vacant seats in a desired class. The issues first arose last December when University students began using automated scripts and overwhelmed the University’s servers during finals week, according to University Registrar Gabriel Olszewski. Art wrote in an e -mail to University u n d e r g r a d u a t e s t h a t “a n y u s e w h i c h interferes with core use by others, including a script to gain an advantage in the course registration process, is unacceptable and is a violation of the University’s Eligibility and Acceptable Use Policy for Information Technology.” However, Olszewski contends that the use of automated scripts has not adversely affected the course selection process. “I do not believe it is having a significant effect on student enrollment or student choice in
courses. However, it has been negatively affecting the systems used to enroll,” he wrote in an e-mail. Olszewski confirmed that ScheduleSpy and programs that provide email notifications were not the impetus for the email and would not affect the University’s servers. Still, ScheduleSpy co-creators and second-years Paul Kaplan and Sean Clemmer met with Art to discuss the website the day before the announcement was sent out to the student body. Kaplan believes that the e-mail did discourage use of the website. "I got about ten personal emails from people that were really worried that we were going to get in a lot of trouble,” Kaplan said, though he remains positive about the future of ScheduleSpy. According to Kaplan, the site boasts a 79-percent success rate, with 560 uses, and 440 successful class entries. The time to secure a class spot averaged about four days. The site will remain in operation for at least two years, thanks to a grant from the Uncommon Fund, according to Kaplan. The site’s co-creators still plan to form a web development RSO next fall, and are in talks with Student Government (SG) to
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CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | April 1, 2011
Victims offer monetary reward for identities of assailants, who they believe were plainclothes officers CRIME continued from page 2 been dissatisfied with the CPD’s response in identifying the non-uniformed officers, with official surveillance camera footage released last year, and with a lack of access to evidence from the police cruiser’s video footage, so they have taken a grassroots route to finding the alleged culprits. Th e y c r e a t e d a Fa c e b o o k p a g e l a s t Tuesday and held a press conference March 23, where they announced the reward. Their deadline for naming the officer is set for May 4 of this year. They also revealed broader-view footage with the 9-1-1 call, which had not previously been released. “If we didn’t have the video, we would have been swept away. If we were poor, we would have been swept away. I think all the pieces are in place here, and it is still so unbelievably difficult, and it’s eye-opening,” Malandrucco said. “When confronted with it in this way, we really have an opportunity here to bring accountability to the police in the city. It feels like a necessity on our part that we have to do it, we must do it, and we must pursue justice.” Th e s u r v e i l l a n c e c a m e r a f o o t a g e
released last Saturday shows Mallendrucco being thrown to the ground in a parking lot in Bucktown and beaten repeatedly by two men—the alleged unknown officers. Midway through the assault, uniformed officers arrive on the scene, apparently hold Malandrucco to the ground, then leave the situation without repercussions to the assailants. The two claim they were left bleeding and unconscious on the ground. This image is one that Malandrucco said has prompted him to continue the search for the officers. “There are times when I’m still talking about this and it’s difficult to even articulate feelings,” Malandrucco said. “There are moments when it is consuming. Just the last three or four weeks, putting together the overture to the media, putting together all kinds of videos, and making more information available.” Ac c o r d i n g t o a p r e s s r e l e a s e d a t e d March 23, the defense filed a motion to dismiss the uniformed officers to the U.S. District Court, which was subsequently denied.
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Referring to the two pieces of footage provided by Clark and Malandrucco’s attorneys, the court ruled that it was unlikely the assailants were private citizens. “It is not plausible that the Uniformed Officers would arrive at the scene of altercation, proceed to participate with unknown private citizens in the beating of other private citizens, and then allow the private citizens to leave,” the ruling read. “We had been hopeful, perhaps skeptical, but still hopeful that through the process of deposing the uniformed officers (in January 2011), that the identity of the plainclothed officers would have been revealed,” Clark said. However, the process has proved arduous, as the identities of the alleged officers remain a mystery. Both Clark and Malandrucco believe that their case tests whether the Chicago IPRA is truly independent and does not defer to the city. “One of the things that the complaint tries to do is argue that this kind of police misconduct and the way in which it continues to exist actually is a deep structural problem in the city of Chicago,” Malandrucco said.
“One of the major misconceptions is that we’re looking for some sort of payoff, and I’ve said this from day one. I’ve worked my butt off at the University of Chicago, and over time I’ve transitioned that into management consulting,” Clark said. “If the award at the end of this is one penny and the result of it is actual change in the system, that’s what we want out of this. The case is the first opportunity to try to get that awareness and put the city in the spotlight.” Explaining the decision to offer $10,000 for the identities of the plainclothes officers, Clark said he believes that “if the city is not going to cooperate with us, all we have are individuals who had that information last to try and go out and get people to be aware of this.” Malandrucco echoed Clark’s skepticism of Chicago’s criminal justice system, citing the difficulties he has encountered in the past year. “We maintained that these officers would do the right thing and come forward, and I think that in the last six weeks or so we’ve come to realize that that’s not the case,” Malandrucco said.
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CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | April 1, 2011
As U of C site expands nationally, personal ads mature HOOKUPS continued from page 2 “We had a lot of e-mail requests from Northwestern,” Thiskid2000 said. “I’m not sure exactly how they heard of us, but any publicity is good publicity.” The site hasn’t gotten just any publicity, however. The Huffington Post and the Chicago Tribune both have picked up on EduHookups’ apparently novel idea to create a college-only forum for personal ads, and even Jay Leno has lampooned the site on The Tonight Show: “Students at the University of Chicago have created a website that lets them hook up with other students for casual sex. Now why? We already have a place where students can hook up for casual sex—it’s called ‘college.’” Leno be damned, EduHookups is showing no sign of slowing down, with Washington University in St. Louis and the Rhode Island School of Design, as well as Ivy-Leaguers Brown and Yale, scheduled to gain access within the next few days. And though U of C students comprise the largest source of the site’s personal ads, the newcomers are swiftly catching up. Since Monday, Northwestern, DePaul, and Columbia students have posted seven ads apiece to U of C’s 15, and Loyola students have posted two. The ads also offer an indication that the site is maturing in addition to growing. Early postings were filled with innuendos and puns (“let’s integrate our curves,” one March 3 ad proposes), and the site’s image as a legitimate tool might have suffered as a result. “I just think it’s really funny. I think it’s a huge joke,” said second-year Akashaya Kannan, who first read about the site in the Maroon when it was still UChicagoHookups. “I sort of wondered if people were going to make use of it,” said third-year Kelvin Ho, who encountered the site on Facebook. Neither Ho nor Kannan has used the site or know anyone who has, though they also had no knowledge of the site’s expansion-or of the
increasingly serious tone of its ads. Many of the recent posts include either measurements or some other act of earnest self-description. One male U of C ad reads: “I am a former grad student, 29, white, 6 ft, very fit. Highly successful entrepreneur.” EduHookups has also split its personals listing into three sections—“casuals,” “serious,” and “platonic.” The vast majority of posts remain in the “casuals” section, something Thiskid2000 said “is a testament to what college students want these days.” Still, there have been 11 “serious” ads since last Friday, of which most lack the kind of raunchy language found in the original site. So far, Thiskid2000 has been able to cope with the increase in through-traffic his site has received. “From a technical standpoint, we’ve done a pretty comprehensive review of our code, and it looks to be solid,” he said, explaining that he originally had some doubts about whether the site would be able to handle the increased demand from considerably larger universities, like DePaul, which boasts over 25,000 undergraduates. Thiskid2000 has also managed to expand his staff and even attract a few advertisers to the site, though he said that the revenue from advertisements will go mostly to finding a new domain. “The amount that we’ve made is barely enough to cover hosting costs,” he said. Before the site expanded, Thiskid2000 expressed legal concerns about UChicagoHookups’ relationship with the University’s Administration. He has since met with Assistant Vice President for Student Life Elaine Daugherty, and though he declined to discuss the details of the meeting, he is confident that, now more than ever, the site is wholly independent of the U of C. Daugherty was unable to be reached. Despite his anonymity, Thiskid2000 said his site’s new-found celebrity has, “Just been incredible. It’s a once-in-a-life experience.”
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CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | March 8, 2011
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VIEWPOINTS
EDITORIAL & OP-ED APRIL 1, 2011
EDITORIAL
CHICAGO MAROON
The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892
ADAM JANOFSKY, Editor-in-Chief CAMILLE VAN HORNE, Managing Editor AMY MYERS, News Editor CHRISTINA PILLSBURY, News Editor PETER IANAKIEV, Viewpoints Editor ALISON HOWARD, Viewpoints Editor JORDAN LARSON, Voices Editor MAHMOUD BAHRANI, Sports Editor JESSICA SHEFT-ASON, Sports Editor VICTORIA KRAFT, Head Copy Editor MONIKA LAGAARD, Head Copy Editor HOLLY LAWSON, Head Copy Editor DARREN LEOW, Photo Editor LLOYD LEE, Photo Editor D'IVY PEREZ, Head Designer ABRAHAM NEBEN, Web Editor KEVIN WANG, Web Editor HARUNOBU CORYNE, Assoc. News Editor JONATHAN LAI, Assoc. News Editor SHARAN SHETTY, Assoc. Viewpoints Editor ILIYA GUTIN, Assoc. Voices Editor CHARNA ALBERT, Assoc. Voices Editor VINCENT McGILL, Delivery Coordinator HAYLEY LAMBERSON, Ed. Board Member DOUGLAS EVERSON, Designer ANDREW GREEN, Designer ALYSSA LAWTHER, Designer ALYSSA MARTIN, Designer VINCENT YU, Designer SABINA BREMNER, Artist AMISHI BAJAJ, Copy Editor JANE BARTMAN, Copy Editor ALICE BLACKWOOD, Copy Editor HUNTER BUCKWORTH, Copy Editor MARCELLO DELGADO, Copy Editor DANIELLE GLAZER, Copy Editor DON HO, Copy Editor JANE HUANG, Copy Editor ALISON HUNG, Copy Editor TARA NOOTEBOOM, Copy Editor LANE SMITH, Copy Editor ANNA AKERS-PECHT, Copy Editor ALEX WARBURTON, Copy Editor BELLA WU, Copy Editor LILY YE, Copy Editor MICHELLE LEE, Copy Editor MERU BHANOT, Copy Editor JULIA PEI, Copy Editor The CHICAGO MAROON is published twice weekly during autumn, winter, and spring quarters.
A novel idea The U of C should build a new library in order to compete with peer institutions As spring quarter starts up and campus buildings open their doors once more, one opening in particular begs closer attention. The Mansueto Library has been a work in progress for over three years, and in the coming weeks students will finally be able to use it. With underground storage that will expand the University’s book collection by 3.5 million volumes, a stateof-the-art automated storage and retrieval system, and a glass dome that will allow indoor sunbathing while studying, the library will be a welcome addition to campus. The University should take Mansueto’s completion as an opportunity to expand the library system further with another cutting-edge project. Currently, our library system barely breaks the top 10 on the list of largest academic libraries with nearly 9 million volumes. With Mansueto’s addition, we could be neck-and-neck with Yale University for third place, with University of
©2011 CHICAGO MAROON, Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 East 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
WRITING THE WRONG
Editor-in-Chief Phone: (773) 834-1611 Newsroom Phone: (773) 702-1403 Business Phone: (773) 702-9555 Fax: (773) 702-3032
SUBMISSIONS The CHICAGO MAROON welcomes opinions and responses from its readers. Send op-ed submissions and letters to: Viewpoints CHICAGO MAROON 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.
unlikely at this point. This is certainly not a new stunt. In fact, the very first legislative walkout is purported to have been orchestrated by none other than Abraham Lincoln in the Illinois House back in 1839. Lincoln led the Whig party out of the legislature in protest over a banking bill that ultimately passed without a quorum–some reports of the event even include Lincoln escaping the locked chamber by jumping out of a window. Even recent political history shows us walkouts in California, Alabama, Nevada,
WALKOUTS continued on page 8
U of C students can learn a lot from prospies' optimism
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The Wisconsin walkout, as some of us remember quite well, coincided with massive protests over a bill to reduce collective bargaining rights for state employees. The Indiana walkout was less publicized, but ultimately gained notoriety for becoming the longest of its kind in US history. Democrats there originally left over a right-to-work bill, but subsequently found many other reasons for enjoying Illinois’s hospitality. The possibilities of similar walkouts have been floated in Missouri and Texas as well, although these both seem
Wise beyond their years
By Sharan Shetty Assoc. Viewpoints Editor Six days ago, thousands of hyperventilating high school seniors found out they had been accepted to the UChicago Class of 2015. While we were enjoying the lazy, gloriously unproductive lull of break, they received e-mails
The Editorial Board consists of the Editor-in-Chief, Viewpoints Editors, one other editorial board member, and the spirit of capitalism.
Nothing U of C about UChicago hook-up site
Though acceptable in theory, legislative walkouts yield few results and can be counterproductive
By Colin Bradley Viewpoints Columnist
missed if they were torn down, especially for the creation of a new, state-of-the-art economics e-books library. Honestly, would anybody even notice Cobb was gone? A new University library to complement the new University library would be one of the best developmental decisions the U of C could make. Besides boosting the library system’s ranking past the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s, a Milton Friedman Library for Research in Economics would solidify the University’s standing in a field that it has contributed so much to already. By building a new library centered around the e-book, the University would start a new chapter in book storage innovation.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Walking out on democracy
are not necessarily those of the MAROON.
The opinions expressed in the Viewpoints section
Mansueto, it could be a subject-specific library. Our campus currently has five libraries: Crerar (science), D’Angelo (law), Eckhart (math), SSA (social work), and the Regenstein/ Mansueto monolith. This unequal distribution minimizes some of the University’s most famous academic areas. The fact that the U of C doesn’t have a library devoted to economics is perverse and baffling. A new library should be constructed to recognize the University’s contributions to the field. The argument can be made that there isn’t enough space to build a new library, but these concerns rest on faulty foundations. The entire east side of the main quadrangle is completely vacant, and awaits an addition to reflect the Administration Building’s beauty. Another possibility is the Midway Plaisance, which is completely underdeveloped (although the Midway Crossings Project was a good start). Other buildings on campus wouldn’t be
COLIN THE SHOTS
Illinois has recently played host to two legislative walkouts by Democrats from its northern and eastern neighbors.
Circulation: 6,500
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Harvard University topping the list. The only thing that this demonstrates is that we can do better. There’s no reason why the U of C, touted as one of the most scholarly and bookish universities in the nation, should be bested in its own state. A new library will solidify the University’s image by following Mansueto’s precedent. Although introducing a new library project on the coattails of another seems redundant, the University can build upon the ingenuity of Mansueto by introducing a completely new type of library. Just as Mansueto Library is pioneering a robotic book retrieval system, a new library could one-up it by creating a digital retrieval system. A library devoted to e-books, for instance, would be at the forefront of modern cataloguing and would make the U of C’s name synonymous with the future of text. To make the project distinct from
informing them of their inclusion into our community. None of this significantly increased my level of vacationinduced happiness, but their elation was clear when I semi-stalked their newly formed and burgeoning Facebook group. After experiencing a fleeting bout of nausea while scanning their gushy enthusiasm and sappy odes to the life of the mind, I returned to watching the Food Network on repeat. Then I returned from suburbia to Chicago, and lunch on Monday was packed with unfamiliar people clothed in newly-bought and overpriced phoenix sweatshirts, guarded by parents who insisted on inquiring
as to my exact GPA, the amount of carbohydrates I eat daily, and the sexual deviancy facilitated by co-ed bathrooms. This was followed by my walking to the first classes of spring quarter, an odyssey punctuated and very often impeded by tour groups making their leisurely way across campus. These little clusters of wideeyed high school seniors (always shadowed at a distance of about 10 feet by their proud, whispering families, “give them some space, honey, give them some space…”) were the final and tragic toll of the bell, the indisputable reminder that it was, indeed, prospie season.
PROSPIES continued on page 8
I am writing to express my embarrassment as an alumnus of the College. Your publication recently alerted me to a startling upstart, headed by a UChicago undergrad, in the business of fornication facilitation (“Websites offer U of C romance,” 3/8/11). (I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt, out of charity and observation of campus fashion trends, and assume the use of the word “romance” in your headline was meant ironically.) This morning, thanks to CBS and the Drudge Report, a much wider audience was introduced to UChicagoHookups. To be blunt, it is shameful and morally repugnant that such a site is being run by and for UChicago students. “ThisKid2000” must know this at some level, as he won’t even let himself be affiliated with his website by name. It’s too bad he didn’t spare the rest of the University community the same indignity. And yet I can’t help but wonder if such a decline in quality among UChicago undergrads isn’t partly the Administration’s fault. They are, after all, the ones who admitted such debaucherous detritus. Three cheers for the Common App! Because that’s what this is: common. It’s the banality of immaturity. It is mere common promiscuity, promoted by common minds, for common lusts. There is absolutely nothing "U of C" about it. But at least we’re keeping up with Northwestern, right? I hope ThisKid2000 hasn’t read the Symposium yet, or I would shudder to think of what other proclivities he might encourage. Mark Meador A.B. ’07
CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | April 1, 2011
8
There is urgent need for debate over the legitimacy of walkouts Prospies are the perfect antidote for undergraduate malaise WALKOUTS continued from page 7 Oregon, Indiana, and Texas over the last 15 years. The point is that this is not a new legislative tactic. It has, however, been strongly criticized this year. Many critics of the move basically call it a legislative strike–which essentially it is. They cite other public employees who are prohibited from striking, such as police officers, firefighters, and in some states, even teachers. These people are considered crucial to a functioning society and for good reason are generally forbidden to strike. The argument continues that legislators are equally crucial to society and should also not be allowed to strike. These critics also argue—correctly—that in the process of walking out over an issue with one particular bill, legislators also halt the democratic process for other bills with which they may not have a problem. State legislators only have a limited amount of time to work, and a walkout over one controversial bill jeopardizes the possibility of passing even the commonsense laws that everyone can agree on. In all, the legislative walkout leaves a bad taste in peoples' mouths. It seems like a rejection of the majority-rule principle of democratic government— it’s like saying, “I don’t like the rules, so I’m not going to play.” But the outcome of this game affects millions of people, and they don’t have anyone else to play for them. That said, the legislative walkouts are not without some justification. In Wisconsin for example, the Democrats argue that they were actually representing the will of the people. And they were right—the polls showed that the majority of the state was opposed to the bill. They reasoned that if the bill were put to the people, it would fail, and therefore it should also fail in the body that represents the people. Furthermore, they at least appeared to have legitimate fundamental issues with the collective bargaining bill. Now, the bill is not such an unforgivable attack on human rights as some of the rhetoric may have you believe, but the Democrats’ claims raise an interesting question. Namely, are there certain issues which would, unquestionably, merit a walkout? Is it fair that firefighters, police officers, and
legislators can never protest? I for one believe there are some fundamental issues which could warrant a walkout—the problem is defining those particular issues. In the case of an egregious attack on the American people or Constitution, a walkout is acceptable in theory. As it stands, this procedure is already overused, and in danger of becoming almost commonplace. But let’s look at the results in Wisconsin. State Republicans were ultimately able to pass a slightly modified version of the bill without the Democrats’ presence in Madison. So not only did the legislators fail in preventing the bill, but they forced it to be passed in a bizarrely compromised fashion—a compromise made not between Democrats and Republicans, but between Republicans and necessity. The ultimate result: an imperfect version of an already hotly contested bill. The walkout not only failed—it did more damage. I think what this issue boils down to is a sort of national ambiguity concerning the nature of our representative democracy. Do we expect our elected officials to at every moment respond to the will of the majority? Or is it their prerogative to exercise their own judgment, in some sort of safeguard against the often volatile whims of the people? If we accept the first proposition, then the Democrats in Wisconsin and even Indiana were completely justified in their walkout. The only way for them to represent the majority will of the people was, unfortunately, to completely halt the democratic process. Yet if we accept the second proposition, the walkouts were entirely unreasonable and undemocratic moves. This is a debate we need to have in this country. If we cannot come to some sort of consensus, we will likely continue to endure even more bouts of legislative limbo. We must once and for all decide whether or not we want to accept this procedure (as we have the filibuster), or if above all else our legislators must cast their votes and let the dice fall as they may. Colin Bradley is a first-year in the College.
PROSPIES continued from page 7 Any student who has been on campus for more than a quarter knows how to identify one. Besides the conspicuous and omnipresent folders, they tend to simultaneously exude auras of muted helplessness and manic excitement. Some look like they haven’t hit puberty. Most don’t know the difference between the C-Shop and the Co-op. To be honest, many look like they wouldn’t know how to walk around the block by themselves. Recently, however, I’ve noticed an additional and surprisingly pleasant indicator betraying the taint of prospiehood: All of them look happy. In an even stranger revelation, they all seem appreciative of just being on campus. Each seems to be imbued with a productive energy, a naïve and innocent sort of eagerness. And in what could be the product of my overactive imagination, every one of them is brimming with big ideas and bigger dreams, both rooted in merely attending the school I take for granted. I call it the Prospie Phenomenon. It is essentially the antithesis to the senioritis we all succumbed to in our fading days of high school; a wave of goodwill and optimism, it is introduced like a plague each spring by these foreign invaders. It is at times annoying, tiring, and refreshing. But, more than anything, it is contagious. Which is fine. Because here’s the thing: If everyone here retained the same sense of wonder, passion, and ambition they experienced when they got their admission letter, the University of Chicago would be a unique and electric environment, and one immediately changed for the better. I realize that part of college is becoming accustomed to your surroundings and, admittedly, part of that process involves not stopping to marvel at every Gothic building on the way to Sosc. I’m not asking for toasts to the Core at Bar
catch the action!
Night; nor do I want to see kids frolicking through the quads barefoot, stopping only to gently kiss the grass of their beloved academic institution. I want only the gradual destruction of the “comfortably numb," those sad souls who have decided to surrender to the upperclassmen traditions of self-deprecation, self-pity, and bittersweet resignation. It’s painful to realize that those who have not yet matriculated seem to know much more about how to approach and utilize opportunity at this school than its most seasoned veterans. So yes, we can learn from prospies. This isn’t about admission statistics, or the latest arbitrary rankings compiled by the latest arbitrary publication, or any of the other over-discussed, overblown deficiencies in UChicago culture. I just think that, with the passage of time, a little bit of luck, and a slight tweak to our attitudes, we could harness the power of prospie enthusiasm without looking utterly lost or being newly admitted to the College. Because contrary to popular opinion, I don’t think that UChicago is a soul-stomping conglomerate bent on mentally murdering its students. I think it’s a world-class university in a world-class city. Happiness at a college is not a given; it is not something covered in our tuition or the ever-enigmatic student life fee. It is constructed and perpetuated by a student body. We would do well to reflect on and appreciate the fact that, however sentimental or cliché it is, by just being enrolled at this school we are the envy of many—namely, those who clog our dining halls, sit in on our classes, and sleep in our rooms each spring. They’re there to learn from us, but maybe we just have it backwards. Sharan Shetty is a second-year in the College majoring in Law, Letters, and Society.
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VOICES
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT APRIL 1, 2011
FILM
Sucker Punch fails as a scantily-clad take on Inception By Bradford Rogers Voices Steam-punk Nazi Ass-Kicker In his short career, Zack Snyder has developed an infamous reputation for trademark over-the-top action sequences and gratuitous use of slow-motion shots in films like the gory 300 and the critically successful Watchmen. These epic films have thrust Zack Snyder onto cinema’s directorial A-list, not only with their visually stunning scenes but also with compelling characters and plot arches. Yet, with his newest film Sucker Punch, Snyder’s writing falls short and we are left with the shell of the fantastic action film it should have been.
SUCKER PUNCH Zack Snyder AMC River East
Sucker Punch, described by Snyder as “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns,” tells the story of the deceptively innocent Baby Doll as she is institutionalized in an insane asylum by her evil stepfather. In order to cope with her tragic situation, Baby Doll retreats to an illusory world in which she is the new dancer at a brothel. During one of her dance lessons, she creates an additional fantasy world in which
she visualizes her metaphorical escape from the asylum. While she accomplishes various action-packed missions in this delusion, she is actually dancing and mesmerizing the spectators in the first delusion, and literally carrying out her visualized deeds in the “real world.” Confused yet? Don’t worry, so was I. In a nutshell, Sucker Punch is stylistically another testament to the visually rich movies of Snyder’s repertoire, but it relies heavily on a convoluted and hardly original plot structure supported by an entirely ineffective ensemble. The genre of movies that question reality, such as Inception, Shutter Island, and Fight Club, are at the height of their popularity these days, and it seems that Sucker Punch is Snyder’s attempt to capitalize on this thematic trend. But where Inception and Fight Club succeed, Sucker Punch fails. The script is simply not strong enough to support the complexity of a character existing in three levels of reality, or any sort of complexity for that matter. Instead of drawing the viewer into an intricate world of cerebral intrigue, Sucker Punch leaves its viewers confused and struggling to suspend belief long enough to at least enjoy the visual merits of the film. Clearly it’s unreasonable to expect films generally enjoyed for their visual elements to live up to the same expectations as heavier, more thematically focused films. It was
Baby Doll (Emily Browning) stops to ponder how fantasizing about working in a brothel is better than actually living in a mental institution. COURTESY OF LEGENDARY PICTURES
hard to ignore Transformers 2’s predictable plot, subpar acting, and cheap jokes. But let’s be honest, the millions of us that went to see Transformers 2 and will likely go see Michael Bay’s next installment of the fran-
chise aren’t looking for intriguing character development and plot dynamics. We fill the bank accounts of filmmakers like Bay simply because it’s really fun to watch Optimus
PUNCH continued on page 11
THEATER
SASA revamps its show's image By Madalyn Frigo Voices Sassy Dancer If the slew of catchy phrases, witty posters, and pop-culture references advertising this year’s show is any indication, the South Asian Students Association is departing from the traditional tone of previous years and putting on a more modern and accessible performance. The student-run production will still include dance, instrumental, and singing numbers. In fact, this show will have more acts than any previous performance, as well as over 125 participants. However, SASA is also aiming to make this year’s production more youthful and vibrant. “This year we catered to the energy of the
SAFFRON NIGHT LIVE Mandel Hall April 2nd, 7:30 pm
show rather than the length of the show. We hope the audience can see the versatility of the choreography but also the high energy of the performers,” said secondyear Malini Kartha, one of SASA’s three show-team directors. The show will also be featuring more than just dance performances. This year’s production will feature rap music, performed by a South Side artist, Koncept. Kalaripayattu, an ancient martial art from Southern India, will also make a first-time appearance. An art form that crosses the boundary between dance and martial arts, Kalaripayattu even uses swords in its performance. To keep the show energetic and
youthful, SASA’s production will include hip-hop fusion dance in addition to the classical dances normally featured. This year’s theme for the SASA show is “SASA Night Live,” a play off of the popular show “Saturday Night Live.” The three-hour-long show models SNL’s fastpaced, lively entertainment. “This year we have increased the number of acts with shorter time slots so that the audience is constantly exposed to a change in what they’re seeing and are also exposed to a wider range of dance styles,” said Sid Biswas, a fourth-year and also one of the show directors. Traditionally the show focused primarily on a story with a more serious narrative. “In the past the whole show would be about a marriage or arranged marriage— idiosyncratic things about our culture and family values,” said fourth-year Prunil Patel, another of the show’s directors. “This year we are completely changing the style of the show. We want to show a really fresh, urban, youthful view of our culture and represent that in the show,” Patel said. SA SA has also revamped their mark e t i n g s t r a t e g y t h i s y e a r. “ O u r m a i n marketing strategy was to develop a lot of hype. We had a lot more exposure on campus,” Patel s aid. Instead of printing multiple copies of just one poster, SA SA designed nine different posters, each with a different objective. “Some were just to make people laugh, some were to encourage people to buy tickets, and some were just to make people get excited and show the grand scheme of the show,” Patel said. SASA also made a point of partnering
SASA continued on page 11
() THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MATERIALS RESEARCH CENTER AND THE REVA AND DAVID LOGAN CENTER FOR THE CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS,
A R T S | S C I E N C E I N I T I AT I V E
Solicits contributions to the sights and sounds of science (S ) project. The three best entries in both “sights” and “sounds” will be selected for first prize ($500), second prize ($250), and honorable mention ($100). For more details and rules, see
http://mrsec.uchicago.edu/s3_project
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: APRIL 4, 2011 Subject matter: the science and the research environment at the University of Chicago Materials Research Center (MRSEC). Categories: Sights (video/film/animation) and Sounds (recorded sounds, sound collages, musical composition).
10
CHICAGO MAROON | VOICES | April 1, 2011
MUSIC
Moon Duo creates a sonic jungle of sound with Mazes By Rob Underwood Voices Cosmic Dancer Though ostensibly only a side project for Wooden Shjip’s guitarist Erik “Ripley” Johnson, Moon Duo has quickly established a unique sonic character, falling somewhere in between giddy psychedelic pop and the expansive tone of post-rock and drone. Formed in 2009 by Johnson and keyboardist Sanae Yamada, Moon Duo released their first album Escape in 2010. While containing superb playing and instrumentation, the album did not have much in the way of interesting song structure and only offered four songs. With Mazes, Johnson and Yamada tone down the grandiose ripple effects and distortion just enough for them to devise a highly original and diverse set of songs. Though at certain points the album loses momentum in producing highly distinct songs, listeners won’t lose anything for treating the album as
MAZES Moon Duo Sacred Bones
a whole. The first song opens with a piercing outburst of the hypnotically repetitive rhythm and tone that is a staple of this album. “Seers” begins by giving a brief taste of the disorienting psychedelic effects, and then quickly inundates the listener with drums, guitar, and Johnson’s croon. Near the halfway point, his guitar explodes out of this calming progression with sharp, staccato notes which imme-
diately dislodge the listener from the song’s induced trance. This sharp entrance is also a staple of many of Johnson’s solos here, a facet which never induces boredom, though it occurs frequently. “Mazes” changes the overall rhythmic tone conspicuously, evoking ’70s alternative rock and its light-hearted yet insistent liveliness. “Scars” represents yet another transformation, beginning with far more subdued and reticent instrumentation and vocal tone. The sounds creep and slink along, rather than move with rapidity as they did previously. Johnson’s guitar, provides a similar tactic as in the first song, to great emotional effect, giving the song a tremendous lift about a minute in. After another verse, however, he uses the once sharp and piercing guitar notes in wave-like ripples which melt into the rhythm section rather than contradict it. These three represent the most diverse assemblage of songs on the album, and we see elements of each of them echoing through the rest of the album. “Fallout” and “Run Around” are the weakest songs on the album, clearly recycling the stylistic achievements of the album’s three strongest songs, rather than forging their own ground. Both try and emulate the buoyant pop tone “Mazes” evokes while still maintaining a driving sequence, but while increasing the speed and ferocity of the rhythm guitar. Though both are viscerally exciting, this extremely fast pace ultimately detracts from Johnson’s previously distinct sonic jabs at the wall of sound in the background. The album’s last two songs, “In The Sun” and “Goners,” also call to mind the techniques of the first three songs, but actually succeed in conveying a highly distinct sound to end the album on a
PHOTO COURTESY SACRED BONES RECORDS
strong note. “In the Sun” replicates the same slightly unsettling calmness and repetitiveness as “Scars.” Here however, Johnson gives the guitar a markedly different role, reemphasizing rather than contradicting the background’s sluggishness with a seamless flow of guttural guitar noises. The album ends with “Goners,” a song reminiscent of the beginning of the album, with a strong chord progression and two sets of verses before Johnson lets loose. Rather than utilizing either a particularly jarring or darkly lulling entrance for his solo, Johnson recalls a classic blues rock timbre with very repetitive
compact guitar licks and just enough distortion to still hear individual notes. Despite the influence of the three initial songs throughout the album, the vast majority of songs are highly original in their own right, and at the very least don’t become boring after more than a few listens. They all exhibit an enthralling level of resonance and vitality, and create impressively expansive sonic landscapes. Anyone who enjoys alternative rock ’n’ roll paired with grandiose and mesmerizing blocks of sound will not be easily bored by this album, and will find great pleasure in its subtler songs for quite a while.
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11
CHICAGO MAROON | VOICES | April 1, 2011
Style
Chicago Manual of
All play and no work makes spring a good time
by Jessen O’Brien
Spring is theoretically upon us. And, although it has yet to actually show itself, designers have been decking models in warm weather wear on runways and in magazines for months now. In fact, the ever-early fashion world is currently determining fall aesthetics. But before worrying over that distant future, let’s discuss the present trends. ’70s trends are now back in style, possibly for the first time. Believe it or not, bell-bottoms have been spotted in Vogue. Yes, their identity is somewhat masked by phrases like “high-waisted” with “flare,” but we all know what that means—pants that start high, go long, and go out, call
them what you will. Think long, loose, and bright. Maxi dresses or skirts, wide-legged trousers instead of skinny jeans—really anything that’s comfortable and preferably makes you look 10 feet tall. You can decide to go the route of California beachwear or look to Annie Hall for a more menswear East Coast chic. Luckily, “loose” is another watch word this season, and it’s starting to replace “short” as an alternative hot weather solution. Instead of a skin-tight bandage dress that barely ventures to mid-thigh, put on boxy, breezy dresses with dolman sleeves or skirts so long you’ll be worried about grass stains. Designers are playing with sil-
Snyder's visuals can't make up for lack of plot PUNCH continued from page 9 Prime skydive onto a Japanese highway and battle a multi-story Decepticon to the death while leaving a path of destruction to rival that of Godzilla. Films like Watchmen and 300 put Snyder into the category of filmmakers whose work is simply fun to watch (like Bay). One would expect Sucker Punch to follow this precedent, but we’re left unable to appreciate the scantily clad twenty something women kicking steam-punk Nazi ass because we’re too preoccupied trying to figure out why these institutionalized delinquents are kicking steam-punk Nazi
ass in the first place. Sucker Punch is Snyder’s endeavor to leave his unique footprint on the exponentially increasing popularity of psychological action thrillers. However, Snyder’s affinity for visual aesthetics is simply not enough to pull Sucker Punch’s mediocre screenwriting up to a level required for its sort of plot structure to work. Throw on a bunch of shameless eroticism, Carla Gugino’s hideous attempt at a Polish accent, and a thoroughly confusing concluding dance number and you’ve got one of the most over-hyped and underwhelming films of the year.
houettes, and their work actually looks like play. Some collections look like someone gave the designers crayons and suggested that “tortured artist” is really, really over. For example, Prada is shortening mermaid skirts and putting monkeys on everything like they’re hyperactive five-year-olds with access to sewing machines. Horizontal stripes, especially in bold colors, are another big pattern this spring. Think less minimalist black and white and crazy kids with crayons again. Orange, chartreuse, and sapphire blue are particular color favorites, but as long as it’s not a pastel you’ll wear it right. As further proof that the fashion world
is somewhat contradictory, both lace and punk are in. And no, I do not mean a black lace that might merge the two, but white or even crocheted lace, especially if it looks vintage and is paired with something sleek. As for punk, it’s combat boots, studs, and a little funk. Neon colors, motorcycle jackets, and even safety pins have walked down the runways of Balmain and Balenciaga. The good news is there are plenty of choices. “Romantic,” “punk,” “modern,” even “comfortable”—all these words have a place in closets this season. My main recommendation? One trend at a time. No boxy, striped, and studded monkey shirts paired with neon lace bell-bottoms, please.
SASA shows passion both in its show and desire to educate SASA continued from page 9 up with other student organizations. The show’s dinner will use only decomposable materials thanks to partnership with Green Campus Initiative, and there will also be a raffle to benefit tsunami victims in Japan, in partnership with the Japanese Student Association. The year did not start out smoothly for SASA, with the student organization receiving only half the funds it usually receives from student government. “It was a big challenge because we started off with a lot less money than in the past. We had
C H I C A G O
to raise a huge amount of money to even make the show a possibility. In 10 weeks we were able to raise enough money to make it even bigger and better than [in] past years,” Patel said. However, while the show is sure to be entertaining, the organization’s true goal is to educate a wider audience about South Asian culture. “If we can make all 1,000 audience members just laugh and smile in our show, that might make them go home and google South Asian culture and take their own time to learn about it,” Patel said.
P U B L I C
L I B R A R Y
China and International Law 6 hnbedh^jb hedchdgZY Wn i]Z Jc^kZgh^in d[ 8]^XV\d 8dc[jX^jh >chi^ijiZ VcY i]Z Jc^kZgh^in d[ 8]^XV\d AVl HX]dda
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Wednesday, April 6, 2011 8:45 a.m.–4:45 p.m. Weymouth Kirkland Courtroom University of Chicago Law School 1111 East 60th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 This symposium is free and open to the public. No response is required but seating is limited. For special assistance or needs, please contact Rebecca Klaff at 773.834.4326 or rklaff@law.uchicago.edu.
Tuesday, April 12 at 6:00 p.m., Harold Washington Library Center
photo by Stephen Desantis
Join us at one of the many events taking place throughout Chicago this spring including:
Neil Gaiman Reading and Lecture Wednesday, April 13 at 6:00 p.m., University of Chicago, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave. For details on additional One Book, One Chicago discussions and events, pick up a resource guide at your local library or bookstore, visit chipublib.org or call (312) 747-8191.
12
CHICAGO MAROON | VOICES | April 1, 2011
The Fun Corner. CORE: Comic Only Read Entelligently
By Alyssa Martin
"Cantina Bar"
Across
SUNDAY APRIL 10 3 PM French piano virtuoso’s Chicago recital debut celebrates the legendary Franz Liszt
Solution to 3/4 puzzle
1. 0316921173, for Infinite Jest 5. Cool and Six Pack 9. Political gadfly Bill 14. Huh? to Derrida 15. "Not right, not left, but forward thinking" Reader 16. End of ___ 17. Half of a Lone Ranger nickname 18. Word before Man or watts 19. Certain dance partners 20. Reservation #1: Becoming a man is a trap! 23. Ichiro's Field 25. Flying saucer, e.g. 26. Compass letters 27. Iron 28. They unease the head of Crown? 31. Outside: (prefix) 32. ___ Mot 33. Swab 34. Reservation #2: Veni, Vino, Wookie 41. Mess up 42. "Oh joy!" 43. Treebeard's kind 44. Film where Whoopi played a nun 48. Between, to a bard 50. Card game exclamation 51. My first SN on it was "Pikachu24"
52. Like shining young faces 53. Reservation #3: Patrons who drink too much beer will be put on a shuttle back to Endor 57. Someone's in the kitchen with her 58. Monopoly purchase: (abbr.) 59. Lady's man 62. Classic British Jaguar 63. Ancient colonnade 64. A Ghostbuster or a painter 65. Sends 66. Dost possess 67. Seinfeldian "etc."
Down 1. Mensa figs. 2. Latin possessive 3. Reservation #4: Jetpacks at Carnival! 4. They may cry "uncle!" 5. Big 6. Cup ___ 7. Maj. not found at the U of C 8. First name in Dumbledore's Army 9. Like an elephant, but more badass 10. Dreamworks' first animated film 11. To the Talking Heads, a place where nothing ever happens
Lise de la Salle Liszt: Ballade No. 2 in F major, op. 38 Funérailles in F minor Transcendental Etude No. 4 in D minor “Mazeppa” Nuages Gris Après une lecture de Dante: Fantaisie quasi Sonate Schumann: Symphonic Etudes, op. 13
Buy your tickets today! 773.702.8068
Mandel Hall, 1131 East 57th Street chicagopresents.uchicago.edu Solution to today's puzzle
$35 / $5 students with valid ID A limited number of FREE student tickets are available through the Arts Pass program; visit chicagopresents.uchicago.edu for details
Sign up for the MAROON's e-mail edition Get the Early Bird delivered straight to your e-mail box every Tuesday and Friday. Sign up at ChicagoMaroon.com/subscribe
Sudoku is provided by Laura Taalman (A.B. '94) and Philip Riley (A.B. '94).
12. Wandering 13. Skin woes 21. Leader of the Sunshine Band and others 22. "Ahem" 23.Something risky to build on 24. Foot shape 28. Fabled flyer 29. Funk & Wagnall’s offering: abbr. 30. They watch for PCBs 32. One might have a bodega 35. Alcoholic 36. Inhales 37. The ^ of p 38. Reservation #5: PRIN-CESS! PRIN-CESS! PRIN-CESS! 39. Band on the Donnie Darko soundtrack 40. Dewey, Cheatem, or Howe (abbr.) 44. Soft leathers 45. Close to 46. Woody's wife 47. Surprise attack 48. It's past due? 49. Everyone else, to Mr. Butlertron 52. A black key 54. 1920 Putsch to overthrow the Weimar Republic 55. Jazz's James 56. Spanish flowers? 60. One of Ned Flanders' boys 61. Biological blueprint
13
CHICAGO MAROON | ADVERTISEMENT | April 1, 2011
pritzker school of medicine
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14
CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | April 1, 2011
Intense workout regimen includes preperation at the treacherous Colorado Continental Divide Trail KILIMANJARO continued from back page Andrew’s enthusiasm and passion for life. “We wanted to take it to the next level and do something huge,” Read said. What is more huge than one of the world’s seven highest peaks? Standing at 19,298 feet tall, Mount Kilimanjaro, located in Tanzania, is Africa’s tallest mountain and the fourth most prominent mountain in the world. About 25,000 people attempt to climb Kilimanjaro per year, and less than half succeeded. The mountain is responsible for 10 to 20 deaths yearly, and it is speculated that more people have died climbing it than Mount Everest, though fewer have attempted Everest. All in all, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is no small task, and Read and Kingdon are preparing for their trek as any athlete would prepare for his “Super Bowl”. On your average school day morning ordinary University of Chicago students crankily crawl out of bed to thoughts of a Bartlett breakfast, an unfinished reading, and a day of hitting the books. Read and Kingdon’s minds are elsewhere when their alarms go off. They are not thinking about hitting the books at the crack of dawn; instead, they are thinking of hitting the weight room and the pavement on six-mile runs in preparation for their climb. The workout plan they are following isn’t any slouch either. Read, who played a couple of varsity sports in high school, plans on joining the Marines after college. The regimen he and Kingdon are following is a tweaked version of a Navy Seal workout that is supposed to get Read in shape for the Marine Physical Fitness Test. “I’ve been kicking [Kingdon’s] ass getting him out of bed, going to the gym,” Read said. Kingdon laughed and admited, “Yeah, I guess Alex is the motivator behind the training.” This Marine workout begins chiseling you at phase one. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday consists of a four-mile run, five sets of 25 pushups, five sets of 25 sit-ups, and four sets of five pull-ups in super sets. By the end of phase two Alex and Chris will be running six miles every day of the week at a 7:30 pace, doing 20 sets of 20 push-ups, 20 sets of 25 sit-ups, five sets of 12 pull-ups, and 10 sets of 15 dips. “Being in good shape is the best type of preparation. When you start getting sloppy is when things start getting dangerous. So you need to keep focus,” Read said. The duo’s hiking experience stems from
Kingdon, who has been climbing with his family since age four. Both he and Alex recognize that the preparation should not limit itself to being in pristine physical shape. “Our biggest chunk of training — I mean the gym is helpful and all — really is adjusting to the altitude,” Read said. Their warm-up for hiking what is arguably the world’s most recognizable mountain after Everest will be trekking the Colorado Continental Divide Trail from June 20 until August. This five-week hike is a whopping 500 miles long at 10,000 feet above sea level and may in fact prove to be as difficult, if not more difficult, than the monster mountain in Africa. For the Colorado trail Read and Kingdon will be completely on their own. No cell phones, no laptops, and no civilization except for the small towns they will run into every eight days to resupply. They will have to carry everything with them from water purifiers to tents to their gourmet dinners of beef jerky and Cliff bars. Read and Kingdon are already planning out the extended equivalent of their spring game. They plan to battle the rapidly changing terrain at a rate of about 10 to 30 miles per day. Some mornings they will be heading over the top of mountains and others they will be walking down valleys. The constant new challenges that the Colorado trail will present them with is what makes the hike such a perfect warm up for Kilimanjaro, as by the time they hit Africa’s tallest mountain they will be ready for anything. “The most dangerous part is being cut off from everyone in case something happens,” Kingdon said. “It is also the most exciting part. You have to completely rely on yourself and accept real responsibility,” Read added. After finishing their five-week tune-up, Read and Kingdon will head straight from Denver to Tanzania, catching their breath for a few days before taking on the larger-than-life Kilimanjaro for the B+ Foundation. They will start climbing on the Equinox, the year’s longest day, a strategic move that will allow them to maximize their time in the sun. Even though the pair will be climbing in the summer, the mountain is so tall that it can get cold enough that it snows at night. This is just one of the challenges they will face on Mount Kilimanjaro ,due to the increased altitude, along with difficulty breathing, nausea, headaches,
stomach burning, extreme cold and wetness, and limited sleep. Read and Kingdon will be climbing with a group, but they will not be letting anyone else carry their stuff. “No way,” said Read. The climb to the top will take seven days, the most grueling of which will be the final two: their fourth quarter. Kingdon described it as such: “The second to last day you hike from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. because you have to wake up at 11 p.m. and start at midnight. Then you finish that evening. You have to get to the top and back down quickly because there is no camp at the top. Deaths happen from not getting down quick enough.” This 15-to-16 hour hike on their last day will be worth it, however, if they fight through it and stay positive. The benefits for the organization, for their fraternity, for themselves, and most importantly, for the children they are helping, will be too high of a number to count. They are symbolically taking B+’s message to the highest level by climbing to the summit of the world’s fourth tallest mountain. Read and Kingdon hope to create a Kilimanjaro-size enthusiasm around their climb. In collaboration with Jack McDonough they have set the goal of raising $150,000 for B+. They hope to do this primarily through donations starting at the place they know best, UChicago. Up to this point their main influx of donations have come from the 200 friends and family members who received handwritten letters from Read and Kingdon asking for their help in the cause. Outside of donations, they are trying to arrange corporate sponsorship for their climb; their main targets are North Face and Patagonia. The headliner who has been most willing to help up to this point is American Airlines. Read and Kingdon are hoping to get at least one portion of their flight covered by AA. The rest of their expenses they will pay for themselves with money they have saved up through work. Unlike other fundraisers that only wind up giving part of the donations they receive to their cause, Read and Kingdon are going to give everything they receive to B+ and the leukemia cause. As Kingdon puts it, “Apart from the cost of the stamps for mailing the checks [to the organization], literally 100 percent of the proceeds will be going to B+.”
With this money, the now small organization based in Maryland is looking to branch into the Midwest region of the U.S. to help more children in the surrounding areas, even possibly establishing an office in Chicago to immediately help the local community with the assistance of the SigEp chapters in the neighboring area. “Because of all of the work that we have done out here, they are thinking about having a Chicago office. This will be a way to support that and give them a platform for the move,” Read said. Since one of B+’s purposes is to promote physical activity, enthusiasm for life, and just going out there and being active, Read and Kingdon are hoping that their dedication to working out will inspire some of their fellow fraternity brothers to get involved in a fraternity-wide fitness challenge. “We are hoping that through this project we can create a bunch of change in almost everything that we are involved in and get people excited about what they are doing,” Read said. With all these aspirations some might be skeptical that Read and Kingdon can accomplish everything they have set out to do, but being positive is their motto. Though they cannot be sure of what their final product is going to look like, they have faith that their training will push them through the climb and that that climb will create the necessary buzz to really impact lives. The vision of standing atop Mount Kilimanjaro looking down at the clouds is enough to keep them moving forward at this point. “It should be pretty powerful, the culmination of 10 months of work. If we have raised a good chunk of money and awareness by the time we are up there I bet that’s going to be an incredible feeling,” Kingdon said. Read joked, “I don’t know what I’ll do. Maybe bring my favorite baseball card up there or something. I might cry.” The one downside to their climb is that they might love it too much. Both have heard that once you climb your first really big mountain, you can’t stop, but that’s a risk they are willing to take. In the end their adventure will hopefully benefit kids like Andrew through B+ and their enthusiasm for life will spread to those around them. Alex said, “Raising money for something like this is really meaningful. You can really see some concrete results, like saving someone’s life.”
COLLEGE STUDENTS—NOMINATE YOUR
MENTOR
for the MARY LEE BEHNKE PRIZE for Exceptional Commitment to Mentorship, Teaching and Support of Students in the College
The Mary Lee Behnke Prize The Quantrell Award honors three or four faculty members. The awards include a cash prize of $5,000 and are presented at the College Diploma Ceremony in June.
honors a member of the University community for exceptional commitment to mentoring, teaching, and supporting students in the College. In recognizing such commitment, this prize celebrates a student-centered approach to working at the University of Chicago both in and beyond the classroom.
The Booth Prize honors graduate students who have taught in a formal capacity in the College for at least two quarters. Up to four awards of $2,000 are given at the annual Honors Awards Reception.
The award includes a cash prize of $1,000.
Write a letter describing the contribution the nominee made to your education, include the name of the nominee and the course in which you met.
To make a nomination: write a letter describing the nominee’s role as a mentor in your life at the College.
Submit in hard copy to: John W. Boyer, Dean of the College, Harper 241, or send via email to: mrjones@uchicago.edu
Submit a hard copy to John W. Boyer, Dean of the College, Harper 241 or send via email to mrjones@uchicago.edu
Questions? Contact Michael Jones, Associate Dean at (773) 702-8929 or mrjones@uchicago.edu
DEADLINE IS APRIL 8, 2011
Questions? Contact Michael Jones, Associate Dean at 773-702-8928 or mrjones@uchicago.edu
DEADLINE IS APRIL 8, 2011
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CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | April 1, 2011
Cinoman: I have no doubt we will be able to beat [Lawrence] twice again three -run rally after fourth-year starter Dan McConologue exited the game. The Maroons have taken early leads in eight of its eleven contests this season, but have lost three of those games. “We have definitely seen glimpses of what we are capable of as a team,” secondyear outfielder Jack Cinoman said. “Now it is just about being consistent every game. I think the one thing we need to focus more on is keeping our intensity throughout the whole game.” “We are very good about coming out with energy and jumping on teams in the early innings. We need to be able to carry that mentality over all [seven] innings.” “We could have easily been 8—2 [after the break],” Huff added. First-year first baseman Claude Lockhart pointed out that Chicago has had difficulty combining its strong offensive showings with equally strong pitching. “We’ve done a good job hitting in some games, and pitching in other games,” Lockhart said. “But we have to put those
together to be successful in the future. There’s no better opponent to make this step than Lawrence.” Sunday’s doubleheader against Lawrence indeed presents an excellent opportunity for Chicago to bounce back strong. Last year the Maroons crushed the Vikings 24—6 and 29—3. Cinoman personally accounted for 17 of Chicago’s 53 total runs, driving in 11 and scoring six. “Last year our bats came alive against Lawrence and we put up big scores in both the games we played,” Cinoman said. “I know they were a very young team last year, so we can’t take them lightly. As long as we come out with similar energy as last year, I have no doubt we will be able to beat them twice again.” “We’re really looking forward to playing two games at home on our own field against Lawrence,” Huff said. “We want to focus on jumping on them early and scoring a good amount of runs in the early innings. And we hope to have a good showing of fans.”
NCAA BASKETBALL
Stevens accepts Tennessee coaching position By Mahmoud Bahrani Sports Staff The Tennessee Volunteers have found a new head coach, just weeks after ousting disgraced coach Bruce Pearl. According to ESPN insider Chris Broussard, Butler head coach Bradley Stevens accepted a multimillion dollar deal to coach the Tennessee Volunteers next season. Stevens is one of the hottest coaches on the NCAA scene, having reached his second Final Four in a row with the Butler Bulldogs, a program not traditionally known for its basketball strength. Stevens’ remarkable success with the midmajor program left some wondering when he would make the move to a larger, more reputable program. Stevens, however, continually made statements regarding his desire to remain at Butler. “First and foremost, I’m loyal to Butler,” Stevens said last year. When asked if he would ever leave Butler, Stevens replied: “I guess if they kicked me out.” Stevens attributed the financial security for his family as the main reason for accepting the position. “Ultimately it came down to what was best for
myself and my family,” said Steven in a Friday afternoon press conference. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime, to coach one of the most respected programs in Division I basketball, and I just couldn’t turn it down.” Broussard is reporting that the deal is for $15 million over the course of five years. The deal came as a shock to many in the basketball community, as well as many of the players on the Butler squad. “He’s the best coach I’ve ever had, at any level,” said junior guard Shelvin Mack. “I hate that he’s leaving, but I guess he’s earned the opportunity. I have no hard feelings, I just wish he was sticking around.” Others on the Butler squad were less sympathetic. “It hurts. Here he is, telling us all these things about family and teamwork and then he says he’s leaving us, right before the Final Four?” said senior forward Matt Howard. ”That’s bullshit.” Stevens said that accepting the Tennessee position will in no way impair his ability to coach the team in this weekend’s games. “My focus is entirely on the present. Tennessee is the farthest thing from my mind right now. All I’m worried about is figuring out how to get people on April Fool’s Day,” Stevens said.
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IN QUOTES
SPORTS
“Implausible? Inconceivable? Unbelievable? Unfathomable? Preposterous? Insane? Frankly, the only thing more unlikely than this Final Four is that we’ll correctly choose an adjective to describe it.”
—ESPN blogger Eamonn Brennan, revelling in the strangeness of this weekend’s Final Four.
KILIMANJARO
HOME
BEING POSITIVE Students train to climb one of the world’s largest mountains By Vincente Fernandez Sports Staff “Chris! What are you doing this summer?” asked second-year Alex Read from a phoned line in Germany during fall quarter. “Uh, I don’t know, I was going to do some internships,” replied fellow second-year Chris Kingdon from his humble room in Hyde Park. “I got an idea. Do you want to do something crazy?” “Alright. What do you got for me?” “Let’s climb Mount Kilimanjaro.” “Yes! Sold.” This is the phone conversation that kicked it off. This was the long-distance dialogue between two close friends that jump-started their efforts to do something un-ordinary for an extraordinary cause and was the spark that led two University of Chicago students to stumble upon a life-changing experience, not only for themselves, but for individuals who could really use the help. Read and Kingdon are the vice
presidents of recruiting and programming for campus fraternity SigEp, and they are on the verge of embarking on the biggest adventure of their lives this summer. “It all started when we got in touch with the B+ Foundation,” Read said. Over the past two years Read and Kingdon have been two of the heavy lifters in SigEp’s efforts to promote the B+ Foundation, an organization whose influence runs as deep as Mount Kilimanjaro is tall. B+’s official name is the Andrew McDonough Foundation. Andrew McDonough was a 14-year-old boy whose enthusiasm for life would have undoubtedly had him smiling at the prospect of climbing a mountain as tall as Kilimanjaro. McDonough was also a serious athlete, and his athleticism and passion for sports would have had him training for the treacherous hike as if it were the World Cup. Andrew’s athleticism translated directly to the soccer field, but after a day of doing what he loved most, competing in a series of soccer games, Andrew had
a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. It was discovered that he had leukemia. Over the next 167 days Andrew fought through five surgeries, four strokes, a brain aneurysm, and four separate predictions that he would not make it through the day alive. Andrew beat all of those odds for a little less than half a year before finally passing. The motto that pushed him through those hard months matched his blood type: Be positive. In those final months people from all over the world began donating money and giving support to the teenage sports-star for his chemotherapy and battle against cancer. After his passing, Andrew’s father, Joe McDonough, took that baton and ran with it, creating the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, which today helps thousands of children a year with the battle that Andrew once fought. They focus not only on funding families who cannot afford chemotherapy for their children and the ongoing research done on leukemia, but also on adding a personal
touch that brings a big positive into the often negative fight against cancer. “It’s not just the medical side of things. They’ll send volunteers to come sit with you if you are a single mother. They bring cooked meals to your house after a long day at the hospital. It’s a really caring, personal foundation,” said Kingdon. “Unlike other big charities B+ is small enough where it is really accessible and if you actually need money you can call them up and probably even talk to Joe,” Read said. SigEp’s connection with B+ stems from its philanthropy chair, Steve Barron, and his close ties with the family. Steve is Andrew’s brother’s best friend and has been involved with the organization since day one. For the past few years Sigma Phi Epsilon has raised money for the cause with events that Andrew would most definitely have approved, such as sports tournaments (focusing in particular on soccer). Read and Kingdon were ready to try a new project in order to take on
KILIMANJARO continued on page 14
BASEBALL WHEN: 1 P.M. Sunday, April 3
Chicago will be going head-to-head with the Lawrence Vikings in a doubleheader on Sunday, which presents an excellent opportunity for Chicago to bounce back strong from their Spring Break trip. Last year the Maroons crushed the Vikings 24-6 and 29-3. By Eugene Chong Sports Staff
TRACK & FIELD WHEN: 11 A.M. Saturday, April 2
The Ted Haydon invitational is the first opportunity for the Maroons to acclimate to the wind and cold outdoors. Many athletes will be attempting to hit standards for next weekend’s Chicagoland Invite. By Kate Marsden Sports Staff
AWAY SOFTBALL
WHEN: 3:30 P.M. Saturday, April 2 at Hope
Maroons attempt to right the ship against Lawrence
“Having to be inside for so long makes playing outside so much better,” said second-year Samantha Hobson. With everything coming together, the team is looking to use the momentum from the tail end of the Florida trip to propel them to wins this weekend.
By Eugene Chong Sports Staff
By Noah Weiland Sports Staff
Baseball makes its home debut this weekend as it hosts Lawrence for a doubleheader this Sunday. The Maroons are aiming to recover from a late loss to Wheaton on Wednesday. Chicago is 6—5 for the season and hoping to carry the momentum from their strong play during the break into the rest of the spring. Chicago has had a promising start to the spring, and its offense has been clicking. The Maroons have scored no fewer than four runs in any contest this season. “We’ve been really happy with our spring thus far,” first-year outfielder Brett Huff said. “We hit the ball real well during our trip and were able to score a lot of runs.” The Southsiders’ Achilles heel thus far this season has been its inability to protect early leads. Though Chicago led 6—4 through s i x i n n i n g s o n We d n e s d a y against Wheaton, it fell to a late
MEN’S TENNIS
BASEBALL
BASEBALL continued on page 15
WHEN: 2 P.M. Saturday, April 2 at WashU
This highlighted match between two powerhouse UAA teams has psychological implications as the UAA tournament approaches in two weeks. After losing to Emory, the top-ranked UAA team, the Maroons cannot afford another conference loss. By Matt Luchins Sports Staff
Second-year J.R. Lopez runs the bases in a game last year. Lopez is batting .412 this season and has 14 hits, good for second most on this high-powered Chicago team. PHOTO COURTESY OF U OF C SPORTS INFORMATION
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