030113 Chicago Maroon

FRIDAY • MARCH 1, 2013

CHICAGOMAROON.COM

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

Students call for marriage equality

Second-year Tessa Weil calls local community members to garner support for marriage equality as part of an effort by Illinois Unites for Marriage.

TIFFANY TAN | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Marina Fang News Editor For nearly two weeks, a coalition of student organizations including ACLUofC, Students for Barack Obama, and Queers & Associates (Q&A), have hosted phone banks on campus

to advocate for Illinois state legislation that would legalize gay marriage.

According to ACLUofC Managing Director Matthew Cason, the phone banks are an offshoot of a larger statewide campaign, Illinois Unites for Marriage, a coalition led by

three civil rights organizations, including the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Equality Illinois, and Lambda Legal.

“Marriage equality is an issue that our membership has been interested in all year…. Once we got the word from the ACLU

of Illinois that they were doing this, we hopped on immediately,” Cason said. He added that the Illinois chapter of the ACLU was interested in attracting students to the cause because “college campuses are relatively easy to have phone banks on.”

The marriage equality bill passed the Illinois Senate on February 14 and the House Executive Committee on Tuesday, but it faces opposition in the House. As a result, Illinois Unites for Marriage mobilized phone banks reaching out to constituents.

“We call constituents in various target districts where the representatives are either against the bill currently or are wavering… so we commit the constituents to call their congressman or congresswoman,” Cason said.

Second-year Anastasia Golovashkina, who spearheaded the initial organizational efforts, said that between 40 and 50 students have participated in at least one of the phone banks. The CALL continued on page 3

ISSUE 30 • VOLUME 124

Part II: High rent threatens school closures Harunobu Coryne Senior Editor When Chicago Public Schools (CPS) issued a list of 330 schools with ailing enrollments last December, marking them as early candidates for a coming sweep of cost-saving closures and consolidations, parents and teachers held their breath.

Four Hyde Park schools made that list.

Kozminski Community Academy at East 54th Street and South Ingleside Avenue, Canter Leadership Academy at East 49th Street and South Blackstone Avenue, Reavis Elementary at East 50th Street and South Drexel Avenue, and Ray Elementary at East 57th Street and South Kimbark Avenue, all had attendance rates that slipped below—in some cases well below—the threshold CPS had set for acceptable enrollment.

The city’s decade-long popula-

tion decline has long been implicated in under-enrollment, with its particular toll on school-age children and families.

But the neighborhood’s own contribution to the trend may be fueled particularly by the increasingly burdensome cost of living here, according to a study published last month of Hyde Park’s rental housing stock.

And the schools appear to be feeling the effect.

Ray made it off the short list of 129 schools CPS released February 19, but Kozminski, Canter, and Reavis did not, and are still on shaky ground.

“Every year, the numbers are declining,” said Lauren Sommerfeld, a language arts teacher at Kozminski who remembers that when she arrived at the K–8 school five years ago, enrollment was over 500 for a capacity of 780. Now, it’s 372.

Although not all Kozminski RENT continued on page 3

Uncommon Interview: Auschwitz survivor New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza speaks to students Noah Weilend & William Wilcox News Staff The list of people profiled by The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza reads like a “who’s who” of the major American political figures of the last five years: Paul Ryan, Rahm Emanuel, Michele Bachmann, and

President Obama have all been subject to his sharp scrutiny. For the past 15 years, Lizza has covered politics for such publications as The New Republic, The Atlantic, GQ, New York Magazine, and The New York Times. On Saturday, Lizza moderated an Institute of Politics panel discussion on the 2012

Obama campaign’s technolog y and social media strategies. After the event, he sat down with the Maroon to discuss the role of long-form journalism in the digital age, the key to good reporting , and the “Twitterification” of campaign coverage. The full interview can be found on LIZZA continued on page 4

Forum examines prosecutions Ankit Jain Associate News Editor A crowd consisting of mostly campus and community members expressed their concern about the alleged opacity of the University’s investigation into the January 27 UCMC protest at an open forum led by faculty yesterday. The intention to hold a discussion on the protests was stated in a campus-wide e-mail sent by Provost Thomas Rosenbaum on February 1.

Many community members expressed frustration and confu-

sion over the continued prosecution of the three arrested activists.

The original complainants, a University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) official on the trespassing charges and a UCPD officer on the single resisting arrest charge, passed over prosecution to the State Attorney’s Office. Jacob Klippenstein, one of the arrested activists, revealed that the University had convinced the State to toughen the plea bargain offered to him and Alex Goldenberg from just supervision, to a different offer of conditional discharge and a no contact order.

Supervision would have allowed the charges to be left off Klippenstein’s and Goldenberg’s criminal record in exchange for periodic check-ins with the authorities. Conditional discharge means the two would not face sentencing for the trespassing charge, on the condition they not have contact with the UCMC. The charge would remain on their record.

Several other community members questioned why the police officers involved in the incident were not being individually FORUM continued on page 3

During his talk on Wednesday, 93-year-old Holocaust survivor Ben Scheinkopf shows the audience his concentration camp identification number.

PETER TANG | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Ingrid Sydenstricker News Contributor Holocaust survivor Ben Scheinkopf, 93, shared his story as an Auschwitz barber to a packed Kent Hall on Thursday night.

Scheinkopf grew up in Płońsk, Poland and watched as German soldiers turned his hometown into a ghetto in 1941, when he was a teenager. In December 1942 he, along with his parents and eight siblings, was relocated to the Auschwitz concentration

camp in Poland. He saved his own life through his work as a barber: Every day, Scheinkopf and 25 other barbers shaved and cut the hair of over 1,000 prisoners.

“I was lucky I was a barber,” BARBER continued on page 2

IN VIEWPOINTS

IN ARTS

IN SPORTS

Representative example » Page 5

From fresh blood, absurdist short fiction with plenty of bite » Page 7

No. 3 Chicago to take on nation’s top teams at ITAs » Back Page

Korean Student Organization brings sass act to Mandel » Page 8

At Diving Zones, four Maroons pursue Nationals berths » Page 11

Invest in your peers » Page 5

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | March 1, 2013

2

Trauma protest trial: Day 1 Madhu Srikantha News Editor The three protesters charged by the University for their role in the January 27 trauma center protest reported to the District 2 Chicago Police Department (CPD) courthouse for the first day of their trial this past Tuesday.

Eighth-year history

Ph.D. candidate Toussaint Losier, Alex Goldenberg (A.B. ’06), and Jacob Klippenstein were charged with trespassing, a Class C misdemeanor, for entering the then-unopened University of Chicago Medical Center’s (UCMC) Center for Care and Discovery, which is private property.

Losier faces a second charge of resisting arrest.

As a Class A misdemeanor, the minimum sentence in the case of conviction is 48 hours of jail time and 100 hours of community service.

The defendants went into the trial hoping to convince prosecution to drop the charges against them, according to Joey Mogul, one of three defense attorneys for the protesters. Instead,

the University offered a plea bargain at the start of proceedings.

The plea offered the defendants conditional discharge, which means the protesters would not face sentencing for the trespassing charge as long as they complied with a no-contact ordinance at the UCMC for six months. Additionally, Losier would not TRIAL continued on page 4

University receives preservation award Lina Li Senior News Staff The University and the Woodlawn Home Owners Association (WHOA) received the Hyde Park Historical Society’s 2013 Marian & Leon Despres Preservation Award for their community-oriented development of the 5700 block of South Woodlawn Avenue in a ceremony last Saturday.

Specifically, the award recognized the extensive cooperation between the University and WHOA in the creation of Institutional Planned Development 43 (PD43), a zoning agreement controlling University development projects and land use.

After the tension following the move of the Seminary Co-Op and the construction of the Becker Friedman Institute, which residents felt would be disruptive, the agreement between the University and WHOA proved that collaboration and consistent dialogue could yield meaningful and mutually beneficial results, according to Harris School Senior Lecturer Paula Worthington. Worthington is also a homeowner on the 5600 block of Woodlawn Avenue.

“Compared to three years ago, there’s been some real progress between the University and the locals, and I think the good news is that that means the

University has been able to move ahead on some projects that are important and the locals are getting their concerns addressed,” she said.

George Rumsey, former President of the Coalition for Equitable Community Development, referencing the University’s prior decision to tear down Harper Theater until confronted with a public study financed by the Hyde ParkKenwood Community Conference that showed it was cheaper to rehab than to demolish, believes the University responds well to public pressure.

“I have the sense the UC is a good preservation neighbor when they’re trapped or embarrassed

into it,” he said.

Because most of the homes on the block were built just after the founding of the University of Chicago and the World’s Columbian Exposition in the early 1890s, the University and local homeowners identified buildings on the 5700 block of South Woodlawn Avenue that should be preserved and protected. They agreed upon stylistic and scale regulations on University development so that University-developed property would not be a source of tastelessness or architectural dissonance. For example, almost all newly constructed buildings in the area must be less than 200 feet in height, so no looming or architec-

BARBER continued from front

Scheinkopf said. “They needed a barber to cut the prisoners’ hair. Day and night the Germans brought Jews to Auschwitz and killed them all, but I had a good job.”

In January 1945, the Germans, realizing they were losing the war, liquidated the camps and marched all 10,000 prisoners, including Scheinkopf, for two days until they were shipped to smaller concentration camps in Austria.

“People were dead on the road because they couldn’t walk anymore,” Scheinkopf said. “If you made it, you had to die from starvation. I never believed I would come out alive.”

In May 1945, the American army liberated the camps.

Scheinkopf, weighing only 60 pounds, was put in a hospital for 10 weeks and then moved to a displaced persons camp. He was one of only 30 Jewish survivors from the Płońsk Jewish community of over 6,000. Scheinkopf worked for three years as a barber at an American army base in Germany until he had the opportunity to move to the U.S.

“I was asked to stay by the Americans but I had to go,” Scheinkopf said. “I didn’t want to be stuck in Europe for another war. I had a new life in Chicago.

The United States is the best country in the world.”

Upon his arrival, Scheinkopf began working as a barber at Sid Miller’s Barber Shop in West Ridge, now renamed Ben’s Barbershop. Since 1949, he has worked there for nine hours a day, six days a week.

“I’m a happy man,” Scheinkopf said. “I’ve raised three kids, I have food to eat, and I have a job. I ask people, ‘Why are you complaining?’ I’ll tell you my life story and you’ll stop complaining.”

Decades after the Holocaust, Scheinkopf believes he must continue to tell his story.

“I can do nothing with my memories, so I tell you,” he said.

“When people in a country do nothing and let someone take over it’s wrong. People need to know that.”

The talk was organized by the Chabad Center for Jewish Life and Learning.

CORRECTIONS A February 26 article (“FLY, SHE protest opening day at Center for Care and Discovery”) misstated the nature of the University’s review. It is reviewing the January 27 incident, not the dean-on-call process.

PD43 continued on page 3

DESIGN.

DRAW.

Scheinkopf: “I never believed I would come out alive”

WRITE.

COPY EDIT.

SEEKING WRITERS, DESIGNERS, COPY-EDITORS, CARTOONISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS Have what it takes to make the Maroon Staff? Contact us: editor@chicagomaroon.com

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | March 1, 2013

3

University negotiates when pressed, Rumsey said STOP decides not to file complaint against UCPD

U of C phone banks inspire other Chicago schools CALL continued from front

software utilized at the phone banks enables students to “transfer the caller directly to their state representative.”

Golovashkina organized an initial conference call on February 7, connecting interested students, including second-year Tessa Weil from Q&A, and first-year David Johnson-Alvira, to Charles Watkins, a field organizer at Illinois Unites for Marriage.

According to Johnson-Alvira, three days later, they held an organizational meeting, with the first phone bank taking place on February 18. Since then, they have held phone banks each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in the Reynolds Club, Harper, and Bartlett.

“It can be very tough hearing rejection from some of the people

we call; however, it is an overall very rewarding experience. I am very, very happy to be a part of this coalition here on campus,” he said.

Golovashkina said that UChicago’s efforts have also inspired similar phone banks at other Chicago-area universities.

Rani Shah, a junior at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), found out about UChicago’s phone banks through Facebook.

After attending the first training session and phone bank at UChicago, she held the first phone bank at IIT on Tuesday evening.

“Getting people to come and participate is the hardest part, due to time conflicts, general apprehension of phone banking, and, IIT being a tech school, garnering enough people interested in policy [and] government work is tough to

find,” she said.

But the student participants believe their efforts could make a difference in the bill’s passage.

“We are ensuring that constituents show their representatives that this is something they feel strongly about,” Golovashkina said.

“Basically, the whole state’s strategy is if there are enough calls, [representatives] will learn that this issue is important to their constituents and it becomes electorally important, and it often…gives them the leeway for them to support the bill,” Cason said.

If the House passes the bill, Illinois would become the tenth state to legalize gay marriage.

Editor’s note: Anastasia Golovashkina is a Maroon columnist.

FORUM continued from front

investigated. The UCPD is currently engaging in what University spokesperson Steve Kloehn called a “broad review.” There is no individual review of the specific police officers accused of unnecessary force under way, Kloehn said, “because nobody has made an official complaint.”

Southsiders Together Organizing for Power (STOP) member Duff Morton explained that STOP decided to let the deadline for filing a complaint pass because of inequities in the process. Morton said that to file a complaint, “I, and every other eyewitness to the event, would have had to sign affidavits without the presence of attorneys. We are the same wit-

nesses who will subsequently be called into trial. That puts us in an extremely difficult situation. The fact that the University’s complaint system doesn’t account for the legal jeopardy in which I’m placing my friends is [ethically questionable].”

Throughout the discussion, the conversation repeatedly returned to the confusion with the University’s review process.

“I think that one of the things that’s loud and clear in this meeting is the sense of the opacity of the decisions and the decision making processes at both the hospitals and at the senior levels of the administration,” discussion co-moderator Deborah Nelson, English professor and the Dep-

uty Provost for Graduate Education, said.

Along with Nelson, the forum was moderated by Michael Dawson, political science professor and Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture; and Doriane Miller, Associate Professor of medicine and the Director of the Center for Community Health and Vitality. Executive Director of the Office of Community Affairs at UCMC Leif Elsmo and Assistant Vice President for Campus and Student Life Eleanor Daugherty were also present. All three activists arrested at the protest, including Toussaint Losier, attended the event.

Weekly Crime Report

By Marina Fang

This is a series the Maroon publishes summarizing instances of campus crime. Each week details a few notable crimes, in addition to keeping a running count from September 24. The focus is on crimes within the UCPD patrol area, which runs from East 37th to 65th Streets and South Cottage Grove to Lake Shore Drive.

Since Jan. 1

Feb. 21Feb. 27

» February 21, 1427 East 60th Street (UChicago Press Building parking lot)—Between 7:40 a.m. and 4:40 p.m., an unknown person smashed the passenger’s side front window of a vehicle parked in the lot.

0

0

Robbery

0

0

Attempted robbery

7

0

Battery

4

0

Burglary

1

1

Criminal trespass to vehicle

2

0

Damage to property

» February 21, Mandel Hall, 6:25 p.m.—An unknown male asked to use the victim’s cell phone. When the victim handed the phone to the suspect, the suspect walked off with the phone.

78

11

Other report

Here are this week’s notables:

1

0

Simple assault

45

2

Theft

3

0

Trespass to property

14

0

Arrest

59

5

Traffic Violation

» February 24-25, Reynolds Club, 11:44 a.m.—Between 12:00 p.m.

47th on February 24 to 10:00 a.m. on February 25, an unknown person removed cash from a secured safe in a secured office. There was no 51st sign of forced entry. » February 25, East 56th Street and Lake Park Avenue, 12:50 p.m.—A computer printer was found on the sidewalk. It was later inventoried at UCPD headquarters.

Source: UCPD Incident Reports

Type of Crime

53rd

55th

S. Lake Shore

And consolidation threatens to undo Kozminski’s progress since 2009—when discipline was slack and programming was thin. Residents complained of property damage in the street, according to Brumfield, and police often settled disputes between students.

“The kids were basically running the school,” Sommerfeld said.

An administrative reshuffling landed Kozminski with current Principal Myron Harris and Brumfield, both in their second year now, who have created programs to improve student behavior and test-taking. Scores have been climbing, and the atmosphere seems to have improved.

But if CPS injects another body of students into Kozminski, it may sidetrack the school’s modest gains in stability. Many suspect that Kozminski’s renewed sense of order has followed partly from its gradual disengagement from No Child Left Behind, by which students from around the city were bussed in.

Charles Beavers, a Hyde Park resident who is in his first year at Kozminski as a special education instructor, is sure he would like to stay, but he is aware of how fragile progress can be.

“The ship is turning around,” he said. “[But] it’s still a ship, and it takes turning.”

S. Hyde Park

families rent, 86 percent are lowincome, which means that most probably do.

One of those people used to be Maxwell Okwuedei, Sr., a one-time resident who put all his four children through Hyde Park schools but opted to leave the neighborhood in 2009. He still has a daughter at Kozminski in the fifth grade.

For 10 years, Okwuedei lived on Drexel Boulevard, first in a studio on 46th Street when he moved here from Nigeria and then in a two-bedroom on 50th once his family followed in 2003.

Around that time, he was paying $450 a month for his studio and $650 for the two-bedroom.

Prices soon rose, however.

“The time I came here in 1999, the rent was reasonable, but between the period 2005 to 2009, there was some drastic change,” he said. By the time he left, he was paying $900 a month.

On his salary with United Parcel Service, he calculated that he could afford a house of his own in another neighborhood for little more than what he was already paying in rent. Anticipating another hike, he leapt for it.

“If I have to pay above $900, why don’t I add $200 or $300 and get a house?” he recalls thinking. He now lives in a threebedroom house he owns in Cha-

tham and drives his daughter to Kozminski after his night-shift at a UPS office downtown.

According to the findings in the Coalition for Equitable Community Development (CECD) study, it is unlikely that Okwuedei is the only Kozminski parent to have left the neighborhood.

“At every grade level, there have been smart, successful students [who] score highly on the ISAT, and they’re leaving,” said Sommerfeld.

Sommerfeld says it is possible that parents pulled their kids out during a recent administrative overhaul, after the school landed on probation in 2009.

But Allen Simpson, Kozminski’s dean of students, keeps an ear to the ground in the community.

He says he has noticed some of the strain.

“We’ve had a lot of people saying they’re under a lot of stress when it comes to maintaining stability in Hyde Park,” he said.

“Some of them don’t have all the answers as to where they would go.”

Many are expecting consolidation: At a community hearing last Tuesday with CPS officials to discuss the closures, the understanding was that nearby Reavis would be moved into Kozminski’s larger facility, according to Assistant Principal Michelle Brumfield.

57th

59th 60th

62nd

Cornell

RENT continued from front

Stony Island

Community hearing last Tues. discussed CPS closures

Gregory Duff Morton, third-year Anthropology Ph.D. candidate, voices his frustrations with the University’s method of choosing individuals to sit on the Independent Review board that will examine events surrounding the UCMC protest arrests last month.

SYDNEY COMBS | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Blackstone

sity, development planners, and representatives of the community or community stakeholders,” citing that “a lot of people in Hyde Park have problems trusting the University because the University tells them something and then changes their mind and then the staff changes, and there’s a loss of organizational memory.”

He added that he would prefer more transparency about the University’s long-term plans for development.

University

power to press the University to negotiate,” he said.

Worthington also noted that the University continually corresponds with community members about upcoming construction projects.

Rumsey believes, however, that the relationship between the University and locals with regard to development projects is still a work in progress. He said that he would appreciate it if “there were ongoing and regularly scheduled meetings between the Univer-

Ellis

turally incongruous buildings would overshadow the residential homes that line the block.

Rumsey, whose Coalition mediates between local homeowners’ organizations, credited Fifth Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston, who often served as a representative for community members in the negotiations behind PD43.

“The University has been very willing to negotiate when they are pressed to, and the Alderman had the

Cottage Grove

PD43 continued from page 2

*Locations of reports approximate

THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | March 1, 2013

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Lizza speaks on long-form journalism, presidential media coverage, and public duty LIZZA continued from front

chicagomaroon.com.

Chicago Maroon: In a world saturated with information, what’s the place for long-form journalism in the news industry?

Ryan Lizza: As the Internet has put a little more value on short and quick, and as everyone in the media business, from The New York Times to onair personalities, has had to adapt to writing short form on the web, and as Twitter has taken over as one of the main sources of breaking news for a lot of journalists...so as that has all accelerated, it has actually created a bit more of a space and market for long-form journalism. Everything is so short and so quick and not deep that all of a sudden in the last four years, there’s been a

renaissance for long-form.

There have been Web sites that have been promoting it; there are hashtags on Twitter that promote it.

So I actually think there’s been a little bit of rejuvenation.

CM: As a political journalist, do you have a certain kind of duty to the public?

RL: As a political journalist, I’m trying to translate a lot of really complicated national issues for a general interest audience. My last piece, which comes out tomorrow [Sunday, February 24], is about Eric Cantor, the majority leader, the number two guy in the house as the Republican. And he’s been at the center of all of these budget crises that you read about every day, and these are really difficult things

to understand. People don’t understand the sequester, and the debt ceiling , and why we keep going through this cycle of fiscal dramas, and so a lot of this piece was trying to explain the last few years of budget battles through this one character. When you write something like that, you feel a responsibility that you have 10 pages in The New Yorker that go to a million people. You have one shot to explain this incredibly difficult issue to a pretty big audience. Don’t blow it.

CM: How is media coverage of presidential elections evolving ?

RL: Coverage has gotten worse, with some bright spots that we discussed today. The more rigorous, scientific approach to covering the campaigns that

Nate Silver gets a lot of credit for in the last cycle, [as well as] other people like Sasha Issenberg. I’ve tried to do that by bringing in a lot of political scientists to the things I’ve done in the last few years.

There’s always more than one thing going on at the same time. The daily grind of campaign coverage has gotten really, really bad.

The campaigns, by the way, are just as much to blame.

They feed into that, and they use the Twitterification of journalism to their advantage all the time.

It’s not the press. There’s a symbiotic relationship between the press and the campaigns in trivializing American politics. Having said all that, there’s also this counter-trend that’s completely the opposite that’s a bright spot, and I think is going to accelerate in the next cycle.

The New Yorker’s Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza moderated the Institute of Politics’ panel “HighTech and Highly Targeted” on Saturday.

JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON

Losier rejects plea bargain of one-year conditional discharge and no-contact ordinance TRIAL continued from page 2

face sentencing for the charge of resisting arrest. The charges would remain on their records.

According to Mogul, the no-contact ordinance “really” means that the Uni-

versity intends to bar them from the site of many previous demonstrations, inhibiting their continued ability to protest.

The first deal offered to Losier was much broader than the final bargain, he said.

“I was offered a oneyear conditional discharge, which means it goes on my record. I was also offered [a plea bargain that included a] no contact with the University of Chicago…. It was with the entire University.

Our lawyer went back and pushed them on it. They said I was a student and that doesn’t make any sense,” Losier, who decided to reject the plea bargain, said.

Eight University representatives were present

at the trial, including five UCPD officers, several of whom Goldenberg and Losier recognized from the protest and station the night of their arrest. This included Milton Owens, Deputy Chief of Investiga-

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tive Services, who declined to comment on the protest when asked on Monday.

The trial will reconvene today at 1 p.m. at the District 2 CPD courthouse on East 51st Street and South Wentworth Avenue.

VIEWPOINTS

Editorial & Op-Ed MARCH 1, 2013

A full plate Smart planning will help ease pain as Pierce closure next year increases strain on dining halls The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 JORDAN LARSON Editor-in-Chief SHARAN SHETTY Editor-in-Chief COLIN BRADLEY Managing Editor HARUNOBU CORYNE Senior Editor DOUGLAS EVERSON, JR Senior Editor JAMIE MANLEY Senior Editor CELIA BEVER News Editor MARINA FANG News Editor MADHU SRIKANTHA News Editor JENNIFER STANDISH News Editor AJAY BATRA Viewpoints Editor DAVID KANER Viewpoints Editor EMMA BRODER Arts Editor HANNAH GOLD Arts Editor DANIEL RIVERA Arts Editor DANIEL LEWIS Sports Editor VICENTE FERNANDEZ Sports Editor MATTHEW SCHAEFER Sports Editor SONIA DHAWAN Head Designer BELLA WU Head Designer KEVIN WANG Online Editor ALICE BLACKWOOD Head Copy Editor JEN XIA Head Copy Editor BEN ZIGTERMAN Head Copy Editor SYDNEY COMBS Photo Editor TIFFANY TAN Photo Editor JOY CRANE Assoc. News Editor ANKIT JAIN Assoc. News Editor STEPHANIE XIAO Assoc. News Editor EMMA THURBER STONE Assoc. Viewpoints Editor ALICE BUCKNELL Assoc. Arts Editor SARAH LANGS Assoc. Sports Editor JAKE WALERIUS Assoc. Sports Editor JULIA REINITZ Assoc. Photo Editor FRANK YAN Assoc. Photo Editor

Pierce Tower’s slated closure at the end of the year will also bring the closure of Pierce Dining Commons, one of only three dining halls available to students on campus. As a result of class size increases and a push to increase housing retention, campus dining halls can already be chaotic during mealtime rushes. Once Pierce is closed, the Office of Undergraduate Student Housing (OUSH) and UChicago Dining have announced plans to expand seating in both remaining dining halls—as well as relocate tables for houses in Pierce, Broadview, and Maclean—in order to meet demand. While its intentions are good, the current plan will exacerbate overcrowding in dining halls while unfairly undermining the house system’s ability to foster community for certain residents.

As The Daily Sophist reported last week, both dining halls will revamp their current service structures in order to increase efficiency in light of what will no doubt be a tight squeeze up until the day Campus North Dining Commons opens. These measures will include increasing hours, having more cashiers, expanding food stations, and adding express salad bars for the arugula-only crowd. It remains to be seen, of course, just how well

implemented and effective these changes will be, but they seem to have been devised sensibly.

While all of this seems intuitively likely to help ease congestion, the basic problem of making room for all the additional diners is not so easy to solve. The plan to add seating to Bartlett by populating the third-floor track with more tables is a non-contentious idea, but the approach being taken in Cathey is fraught with problems. OUSH and UChicago Dining plan to expand the actual Cathey Dining Commons building to include the Cohler and Sinaiko Club Rooms, two large common areas in BurtonJudson Courts. The added space will accommodate house tables for the three Broadview houses, as well as the four Pierce houses that will reside in I-House and New Graduate Residence Hall starting next year. The space will still be available to B-J residents when the dining halls are closed.

However, limiting access to and changing the function of these social spaces may still hinder the sense of community in the dorm.

UChicago Dining could at least improve other aspects of the dining experience for B-J residents.

For example, installing another cashier at a B-J entry point to allow residents to enter the din-

ing hall through their building would be a welcome and longawaited change.

Of course, a more glaring problem related to this house table relocation concerns those who live in Broadview. Residents of the dorm, which is located on the 5500 block of South Hyde Park Boulevard, will now be one and a half miles from their new house tables in Cathey for at least the next three years. Given that this is not a reasonable walking distance, Broadview house tables will likely be emptier than usual—a reality that runs counter to everything the house system ostensibly seeks to accomplish with house tables as fortifiers of house community.

Moreover, there are a number of other practical concerns surrounding this move. For one, it seems obvious that Broadview residents who purchase the unlimited meal plan—as all firstyears are forced to under the current system—will find that it leaves them unfairly short of oncampus dining options outside of the dining halls given their unique situation. Upperclass students, who have the option of purchasing the Phoenix plan at no extra cost, will likely find the alternative plan’s flexibility lacking if they live in Broadview. It

still assumes roughly two dining hall meals per day, something that OUSH and UChicago Dining shouldn’t expect from Broadview residents starting next year, while offering just 15 meal exchanges and an extra $50 of flex per quarter. A new meal plan option with increased amounts of flex and meal exchanges should be devised as a practical concession—at least to residents of Broadview, if not all affected dorms. The planned expansion of on-campus meal exchange options next year will hopefully make this change in dining patterns feasible. Furthermore, incoming first-years placed in Broadview should be freed from their obligation to buy the unlimited plan.

In all, these planned changes to on-campus dining will not only negatively affect many segments of the campus community, but will also serve as a reminder of OUSH and UChicago Dining’s lack of foresight in regard to Pierce’s closure. However, creative and proactive planning, and a commitment to offering increased and more flexible services where possible, will ease the difficulty of this imminent transition.

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Representative example We act appropriately when representing institutions—why not do the same when acting on our own?

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By Raghav Rao Viewpoints Columnist Earlier this month, a fraternity chapter at Emerson College, Phi Alpha Tau, raised $16,000 to help a transgender initiate pay for transition surgery. Donnie Collins’s

insurance company wouldn’t help him out, so his brothers did. It’s a heartwarming, stereotype-challenging story.

Something else happened this month. A friend of mine saw two students at our school impersonate fraternity brothers and yell the word “faggot” at passersby. Perhaps that’s what they imagine people in Greek life do in their spare time. Unbeknownst to the pranksters, one of the passersby was gay.

Not only were their actions homophobic, they also misrepresented an organization to which they

do not belong. Progressiveness among fraternities is not a new thing. In 2009, in response to the Westboro Baptist Church’s march on campus, the brothers of Alpha Delt danced to Diana Ross’s “I’m Coming Out.” Fraternities are conscious of the stereotypes that have been historically associated with them. At schools like ours, they try and steer clear of controversy; their checkered past regulates their current behavior.

The incident my friend saw is interesting and sad because it shows that, when individuals do not

feel responsible, they can become worse versions of themselves. It’s unlikely that the students in question are truly homophobic. Rather, they were probably trying to mock an organization they think is homophobic. In doing so they perpetrated an action that neither they, when acting like themselves, nor fraternity members representing their fraternity, would ever consider doing.

It was William Golding’s Lord of the Flies that first showed me how thin the veneer of civilization REPRESENT continued on page 6

CARYSSA LIM Copy Editor JONAH RABB Copy Editor LINDSEY SIMON Copy Editor ESTHER YU Copy Editor The Chicago Maroon is published twice weekly during autumn, winter, and spring quarters

Invest in your peers Senior Class Gift boycott only risks hurting the programs and opportunities that make UChicago great

Circulation: 5,500.

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

DJ LoBraico and Stephen Lurie Viewpoints Contributors An op-ed in Tuesday’s Maroon (“The greatest gift of all”) makes some important points, illustrating potential deficiencies in the way the University makes and discloses investment decisions, especially compared with peer institutions. Like many of our fellow Maroons, we agree that a healthy concern for the ethical and humanitarian consequences of our investments should factor into the Board of

Trustees’s decision-making process. Further, we agree with Ms. Sizek that the community as a whole would greatly benefit from an increase in transparency with regard to these decisions.

In making these arguments, however, Ms. Sizek has inappropriately and incorrectly targeted Senior Class Gift (SCG). First, some facts: • The University has a total endowment of just over 6.7 billion dollars as of last year, according to the 2012 Report of the Na-

tional Association of College and University Business Officers.

• Even if SCG meets its stated goal of 85% participation, counting the gifts committed as incentives by alumni, it can only expect to raise about $90,000.

• The Gift goes directly, and exclusively, to the College Fund, a primary source of support for the programs and initiatives of the College.

• The Senior Class Gift is not invested, ever.

The College Fund serves as a

general support for students by funding those programs and initiatives that might otherwise go unfunded. From financial aid and internships to study abroad and student life, you would be hardpressed to find an undergraduate here who has not been impacted positively in some way by the College Fund. Indeed, most students have likely benefited from the Fund in more ways than one.

Since all money raised by SCG goes directly and immediately to the College Fund, there is no SCG continued on page 6

6

THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | March 1, 2013

Dancing in the dark The University should support the neglected art form of dance by including facilities in the new Campus North residence hall Shir Yehoshua Viewpoints Contributor We all have our artistic passions. Whether it’s playing an instrument, singing in an a capella group, or performing in a theater production, we all express ourselves through art.

My passion is, and has always been, dancing.

As a three-year-old, I would sit my family down to watch me perform whatever 20-minute piece I decided they had to see. At my aunts’ and uncles’ weddings, I would convince the groom that the bride was better off dancing with me. And in high school, I took every dance class I could. Arriving at the University of Chicago, I couldn’t wait to join the vibrant community of dancers.

But there was a problem: I had fallen in love with the wrong art form. Dance on campus is not supported. Even with the opening of the new arts center, dancers struggle to find the right resources. While our musicians have a building of their own, our dancers have a room in a basement equipped with an oftenbroken sound system, walls with gaping holes in them, and no shortage of bugs. While TAPS (Theatre and Performance Studies) and UT (University Theater) have several cocurricular spaces to practice for their shows, dance groups are forced to fight for leftovers.

Although the Logan Arts Center was a huge step toward encouraging creativity and artistic exploration on campus, it was built without consideration for dance. There is one “dance” room that seems to have been built with dance hardly in mind: It is square

rather than rectangular, and it is fully owned

by TAPS. In order to access the room, dancers must beg to use it during the few limited hours that TAPS leaves it free. Alternatively, dancers can dance in the empty Performance Hall when it is not being used, again only for a few hours here and there.

Right now, there is a solution: It is not too late to add a dance space to the plans for the soon-to-be constructed Campus North residence hall, which will replace Pierce.

As a first-year asking about where I could dance on campus, I was initially impressed to find out about all the dance RSOs this university has to offer. However, I was astounded to discover that there were very few classes being taught, and that RSO practices were often held in strange locations—like the squash court in Henry Crown.

I learned very quickly that this was because of an extreme shortage of dance space. When we needed extra space to practice for upcoming competitions, we would find ourselves on the scratchy Henry Crown Green Room floor, random alcoves in Ratner, or the carpeted library/lounge in Ida Noyes, and often getting kicked out mid-practice. I frequently camped outside of Ratner’s dance space, hoping to squeeze in practice time when it wasn’t being used by martial arts groups. Adding a dance room in Campus North would solve all of these inconveniences.

This is a simple supply-and-demand problem: There are about 60 hours per week of space available to performance RSOs between BARS (Bartlett Arts Rehearsal Space)

and Ida Noyes Dance Room, but about 100 hours per week are needed. Campus North could provide us with those missing 40 hours and more. This new dance space would allow time for dance classes, choreography, and individual artistic projects. With this kind of space, dance would be able to thrive on our campus.

“

Dance on campus is not supported. Even with the opening of the new arts center, dancers struggle to find the right resources.

”

Throughout my time living in Pierce, I have held a few impromptu practices in the basement of the building: a somewhat open space with tiled floors, giant columns in the middle of the room, a bike rack, and boxes that we casually moved out of our way. As uncomfortable and unmanageable as the space was, we would have a blast. After practice we’d get dinner together in the dining hall, hang out in my house lounge, or just sit in TANSTAAFL, a common area in Pierce. Although the space was barely usable, its location in a dormitory with a dining hall allowed for practice to become more of a social event and less of a chore.

As a dance leader, I have spent a dispropor-

tionate amount of time planning and managing rehearsal schedules, and I’m not alone. My fellow leaders and I beg each other to share spaces, orchestrate trades, and brainstorm creative places to practice. Currently, we’re working with representatives from ORCSA, who are doing the best they can with a limited supply, but band-aid solutions are not enough. Nothing will suffice until we can get a new space that is absolutely dedicated to dance and dance only.

For this university, I chose the wrong form of art. Had I just pursued piano, I would have practice rooms available to me almost whenever I wanted. Had I done theater, I would have the entirety of UT and TAPS behind me. If I could carry a tune, I could practice singing in soundproof rooms. But I am a dancer. I chose the art that requires a type of facility that, at this moment, the University doesn’t have enough of.

Campus North is our solution. This is why I’ve started a petition to add a dance room to the new structure. This is a petition created with the well-being and safety of future dancers at this institution in mind—created to allow them to one day focus on being great artists, not great logistics coordinators. This is a petition to help dance become just as supported as every other wonderful art form on campus. This is a petition to prevent future dancers at the University of Chicago from feeling like they’ve chosen the wrong art.

Shir Yehoshua is a fourth-year in the College majoring in mathematics and computer science.

Acting anonymously encourages us to abandon our principles and forgo any accountability for our actions REPRESENT continued from page 5 is. In this classic, a group of British schoolboys marooned on an island descend into savagery. The boys, away from the watchful eyes of society, do things that they would have been incapable of back home in England. At our school, we’re constantly ensuring that our vocabulary is not hurtful and that our actions aren’t divisive. We would like to believe that this is not due to University policing, but rather stems from within us. However, if the University did not have a bias response team that acts on hate crimes, would there be an increase in incidents of discrimination? It pains me to say it, but yes. There probably would be.

Furthermore, many forms of discrimination have been stigmatized to the extent that, if exposed, their perpetrator is subject to humiliation. Michael Richards, for one, will never live down his n-word rant.

Is fear of punishment and humiliation the instrument that keeps us from turning on each other? We come to this school and are exposed to intense diversity. We realize that

people of all colors and creeds and sexual orientations have similar dreams and hopes.

We think that we’ve made progress as individuals and as a society. But a little liquor, the cloak of anonymity, and the absence of authority are enough to erode all of that?

We’ve all heard the “When you go out to this soccer tournament/debate competition/field trip you’re representing X institution and your actions reflect X institution’s values” speech at some point in our lives. This speech used to bother me.

I always thought, “I’m an individual and a lot more than this crest on my shirt”. This is a normal reaction because the coach or teacher is often misusing this important lesson just to get us to keep quiet or to walk in straight lines. However, it is important because it implies that your actions are about more than you. You’re acting as an example of the society to which you belong.

Anonymity, or taking an assumed identity, is dangerous because not only are we not beholden to an institution, we are also

not even beholden to our visions of our own selves.

In our day-to-day lives we behave without constantly thinking of ourselves as representatives; the only thing seemingly at stake is the perception others have of our personalities. Problems occur when someone’s feelings are at stake. When someone who is not acting as a representative of an institution makes a racist joke, he thinks, “People know me as an individual. They know I’m not a bigot. They get that this is a joke.” This lack of responsibility to an institution gives him that leeway. However, he’s letting himself down by allowing for a dissonance between who he actually is and the temporary racist he’s become during the telling of the joke.

Disguise is even worse because it eliminates accountability altogether. It’s easy to say, “I’m pretending to be a homophobic frat guy. Now listen to me say terrible things because it’s not actually me.” No fraternity member is going to proudly wear his letters, lean out of a window, and

yell ‘faggot’—in that moment, he is conscious that he is a representative of something larger than himself.

We use the word ‘representative’ in the context of the institutions with which we are associated. And the attendant responsibility makes us govern our words and actions. When we think of ourselves as ‘representatives’ we tend to observe ourselves the way other people do. We behave with more sensitivity and empathy. In this sense, the brothers of Phi Alpha Tau are sterling representatives of their fraternity and its values. However, our actions are the ‘representatives’ of our selves. Shouldn’t that be more important to us than honoring a motto or a crest? As UChicago students we see ourselves as bright, motivated and socially conscious. Of course, we should try and do justice to our alma mater’s values.

However, firstly, we should be trying to do justice to our own visions of ourselves.

Raghav Rao is a fourth-year in the College majoring in English.

Shunning College Fund will not bring about needed investment transparency SCG continued from page 5 connection between SCG and irresponsible investment practices.

By arguing that the Senior Class Gift in some way “indirectly” supports the University’s continued decisions to make the unethical investments that she cites, Ms. Sizek vastly misunderstands the magnitude of the University’s investments. $90,000 or, to be extreme, even a few million dollars, is essentially pocket change from the perspective of a Board of Trustees sitting atop an endowment of six billion. To think that a boycott of Senior Class Gift will in some way “teach them a lesson” is misguided at best and delusional at worst. There are certainly more pertinent and effective ways to demonstrate to the administration the significance that we, as a community,

place on responsible investment practices.

By utilizing methods more suitable to the cause at hand we could expect a higher chance of success without unnecessary collateral damage.

Indeed, by denying the College Fund the proceeds of a successful SCG campaign, as Ms. Sizek implores us to do, we would do nothing more than take money from the programs and environment that we have so benefited from, fundamentally threatening the experience that we valued for those who come after us. It is, in fact, the College Fund that enables many of the experiences that open our eyes to the very humanitarian concerns that Ms. Sizek raises with respect to University investment practices. Beyond this, the College Fund promotes equity through its funding

of scholarships and financial aid, ensuring equality of opportunity for all students.

In her op-ed, Ms. Sizek raises some valid concerns, but does so at the cost of factual accuracy. Boycotting the Senior Class Gift is a lose-lose endeavor: It will not cause the Board of Trustees or the University administration as a whole to suddenly transform its investment practices, but rather will threaten the very initiatives that make the “spirit of intellectual inquiry” in our community so strong. Donating to Senior Class Gift is not “signaling our approval” of the University’s investment practices; it is professing our desire to sustain the College that we love.

DJ LoBraico and Stephen Lurie are fourth-years in the College.

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

Op-ed submissions, 800 words.

ARTS

Trivial Pursuits MARCH 1, 2013

From shtetl to stage, Foer adaption illuminates historical void Jon Catlin Arts Contributor “The origin of a story is always an absence,” writes Jonathan Safran Foer in his 2002 novel Everything is Illuminated. In Next Theatre’s adaption of the novel to the Evanston stage, a warm and hilarious journey springs out of the void left by the Holocaust.

With only a disintegrating photograph in hand, an American college student named Jonathan Safran Foer (Brad Smith) sets out to find the woman who saved his Jewish grandfather from the Nazis during the Holocaust in a Ukrainian shtetl, accompanied by the ever-amusing Alex (Alex Goodrich), his young Ukrainian translator who speaks in “sublimely-butchered” English, and Alex’s grouchy and “blind” Grandfather (Bill Norris), also the group’s driver, who is haunted by memories of the war era, and his seeing-eye dog named Sammy Davis Junior, Junior [sic].

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED Next Theatre Through March 31

Next’s production, directed by Devon de Mayo, is the most recent adaption of this story to different media. It began when the real Jonathan Safran Foer embarked on a similar journey to the Ukraine after his first year as an undergraduate at Princeton in search of the woman who saved his grandfather during the Holocaust. The experience grew into his 2002 debut novel Everything is Illuminated, which won the National Jewish Book Award for

Fiction. A 2005 film adaption by Liev Schreiber starred Elijah Wood as Jonathan, and Jewish writer Simon Block first adapted the novel to the London stage in 2006.

Unlike the film, the drama preserves the book’s ingenious yet disorienting structure: an epistolary conversation between Jonathan and Alex after their “voyage” in the Ukraine. In the drama, as in the book, we are left to Alex’s “not so premium” English for narration— which Goodrich nails—of what he “dubs” a “very rigid search” in an old car across the country from Odessa— which, Alex assures Jonathan, “Is very much like Miami”—for the lost Jewish shtetl of Trachimbrod.

While Alex writes in the present to Jonathan, Jonathan responds with sections of the legend he is writing about his lost relatives based on scraps of information handed down to him—from the fantastical founding of the shtetl in 1791 to its destruction in 1942.

The result is a Holocaust narrative that is anything but typical. Both Alex and Jonathan are third-generation victims of the war era—so far removed from the events that Alex has to ask Jonathan, “What is Yiddish?” since Ukrainian Jewish life was so completely erased.

The only remaining trace of the town lies in the house of an Old Woman (Ann Whitney) who turns out to be its lone survivor. (“A real Jew, here?” she exclaims upon seeing Jonathan.)

Her country house, captured in an enchanting set by Grant Sabin, is packed to the ceiling with boxes, obscurely labeled “dust” and “darkness,” full of miscellaneous possessions of the Jews of Trachimbrod, which they buried as the Nazis approached. However, as Jonathan discovers when he is finally

Alex (Alex Goodrich), Jonathan (Brad Smith), and Grandfather (William J. Norris) take a premium ride through Ukraine.

COURTESY OF MICHAEL BROSILOW

taken to the town itself, Trachimbrod is now just an empty field. Despite the Old Woman’s stores of seemingly everything from the shtetl, “There was nothing,” Jonathan remarks, of the family history he initially sought.

After Jonathan experiences this anticlimactic “illumination,” he realizes that the only history he’s going to unearth is from his own mind. “All we know of these people is from newsreels,” Jonathan says, “but it’s unjust to be remembered only for one’s death.”

So eager is Jonathan to overcome this void in history that he fashions lively tales of town festivals and even orgies.

Rather than despairing, he embraces

his power to craft his own history: “We’re each the most recent page in a book, stretching back.”

Just the opposite, it becomes clear from Alex’s staunch and abusive Grandfather’s refusal to drive to Trachimbrod that he is hiding a history of his own that links him to the horrors that took place there. Alex, in a way typical in former Soviet regions, has been left in the dark about his family’s dark past and must in turn face his own illumination.

Despite the play’s dark subject, the most amazing part of the story, preserved through Alex’s ceaselessly endearing approach to tough circum-

stances, is the nuanced friendship he develops with Jonathan—whom he never stops calling “Jon-fen.” While his Grandfather continuously threatens to stall the journey, Alex becomes immersed in it and won’t let it fail. “This is my story also!” he exclaims to Jonathan.

While Alex initially narrates, “Before the voyage I had the opinion that Jewish people were having shit between their brains,” he comes to see Jonathan as more than a client, or an American, or a Jew. “We became like friends while you were in Ukraine, yes?” Alex writes to Jonathan. “In a different world, we could have been real friends.”

From fresh blood, absurdist short fiction with plenty of bite Sharan Shetty Editor-in-Chief

Karen Russell’s new lemon-colored book is batty in the best of ways.

COURTESY OF KNOPF

There aren’t too many writers who, still in the young, fresh dawns of their careers, feel compelled to throw caution to the wind. Reputations have been ruined with ill-timed forays into the experimental. It becomes clear, somewhere between the Japanese farm-girls mutating into swollen, furry-faced silkworms and the Antarctic tailgaters risking death to cheer on microscopic krill against behemoth baleen whales, that Karen Russell couldn’t care less. In her new collection of stories, Vampires in the Lemon Grove, she has no fear of failure. And if the short story is dying, she is determined to have it go out with a big, bizarre bang.

But before delving further, the obligatory backstory: A native of Miami, Russell is a wunderkind of sorts who has astonished literati with her disarming oeuvre of fantasy, inventive prose, and off-kilter observation. Her debut short story collection, Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, was critically acclaimed, and her 2012 novel, Swamplandia!, was mired in a Pulitzer-Prize controversy when the prize commit-

tee—forced to choose among Russell, David Foster Wallace, and Denis Johnson—grumpily decided to recuse themselves from their only job: to give an award to somebody.

But Russell has returned. Her new octet of short stories, with or without Pulitzer imprimatur, is a liberation of sorts, her first work situated outside the humid frontier of Florida. There’s something of a circus in Russell’s brain, and all the acrobatics and pyrotechnics come pouring out on page: Gulls hoard trinkets of the future in a damp tree hollow, great harvests of bone rise chalk-white in a prairie expanse, and vampires feel the pangs of unrequited love while they slake their thirst with tart Italian lemons.

Given these cursory descriptions, it’s clear why Russell is primarily known for the outlandish nature of her work. She has an imagination that resembles the twisted lovechild of Hayao Miyazaki and H.P. Lovecraft, and it conjures entire landscapes and mythologies within twenty or thirty pages. In fact, Vampire’s short stories often read like excerpts from some lost sci-fi epic or chapters in a larger novel.

This imagination is Russell’s

greatest strength and most glaring weakness. When she is at her best, she provides a devastating blend of intellect, understanding , and symbolism. But in a handful of stories the gimmick dominates the narrative, and it becomes apparent that such imagination is only useful when coupled with insight. Stories like “Reeling for the Empire,” wherein Japanese girls are able to coil colored thread within their silkworm bodies, are beautifully written but serve no purpose other than pure entertainment.

No more, no less.

This dichotomy is most evident in the middle of the collection, with two stories that indicate Russell’s interest in the underbelly of the American Dream. The first is the sublime and near-perfect “Proving Up,” which won the 2012 National Magazine Award for Fiction. A haunting exercise in Gothic execution, the story is set in a late 19th-century dystopic heartland, where a federal Homestead Act mandates that in order to own a piece of land a family must build a claim shanty on the wanted land, maintain residency through drought and famine for five years, somehow RUSSELL continued on page 8

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | March 1, 2013

8

Korean Student Organization brings sass act to Mandel Angela Qian Arts Staff Posters for My Sassy Tutor have been stuck on the doors of practically every bathroom stall on campus for the past week, and for that we have the Korean Student Organization to thank. KSO’s annual cultural production is playing this Saturday, March 2, at Mandel Hall. The directors are eager to have everyone come see the culmination of their 10 months of work and to experience a little bit of Korea.

MY SASSY TUTOR Mandel Hall Saturday, March 2, 8 p.m.

The show is a romantic drama about a girl, Jooyoung (played by first-year Jaewon Yoon) who meets a boy—Jiho, a proud and impoverished student portrayed by first-year Kevin Kim—at her new school. Jooyoung is wealthy, but Jiho lives alone with his father and tutors other students to make ends meet.

The two clash immediately. Though the directors were cryptic as to the specifics of the actual plot, they mentioned that issues of class, wealth, social division, and family create conflict in the play. They also emphasized the light-hearted and heartwarming love story, which comes out of the play’s modern school setting.

Third-year Jae Min Cha, co-cultural

In this photograph of the leads in KSO’s winter show, first-years Kevin Kim and Jaewon Yoon, its hard to tell who’s tutoring whom.

COURTESY OF JAMES TAO

director of the show, explained that the title and plot both borrow heavily from Korean dramas. The tropes of this play are common in the modern Korean cultural and media industry, which, as of late, has increasingly gained recognition

for its dramatic television and movie productions.

It is this pop culture that the directors wanted to draw on for this year’s show, second-year Kimberly Han, the other director of the show, explained.

“Throughout the past, culture shows we have been dealing with very historical events,” she said, explaining how in the past few years the shows have dealt with ancient historical periods of Korea, or SASSY continued on page 9

Russell’s stories range from political to whimsical RUSSELL continued from page 7 grow a sustainable crop, and possess a glass window on their property. This last caveat is the “wink in the bureaucrats’ wall,” which, given the scarcity of glass in the area, is “a whimsical clause that has cost lives out here.” It’s a damning indictment of government’s disconnect with reality, an ingenious dig at the naïve yet sinister consequences of political games, and Russell never plays her hand too heavily.

The second story, “The Barn at the End of Our Term,” features a doting, slightly neurotic Rutherford B. Hayes reincarnated as a “skewbald pinto with a golden cowlick and a cross-eyed stare.” His stable also houses an introspective Woodrow Wilson, a feisty Eisenhower, and an overly ambitious Andrew Jackson. It’s Animal Farm meets 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s also Russell becoming a slave to her equine premise, relying on one (good) joke, and milking it for all it’s worth.

It’s the difference between these two stories—the former a profound yet concise commentary, the latter more of a half-boiled idea jotted down in one-liners—that Russell needs to avoid more consistently. Part of the problem is an identity crisis: Should she succumb to her wily gifts and entertain the masses, or cater to the somber definitions of “literature” that win awards, magazine covers, and whispered salvos of highbrow adulation? It’s a fine line, and in an ideal world, Russell will find a sturdy middle ground. Though she displays the same sentence-by-sentence mastery as her famed idols—George Saunders and Flannery O’Connor—she is not like them.

She is, in many ways, better.

Take, for example, her uncanny precision. She’ll pry you with finely calibrated stabs of description and insight, and entire

characters are captured, released, in a single turn of phrase. The tension and layers of a story often unspool like a sudden sigh.

It’s a literary acupuncture of sorts, and Russell operates with deft hands.

If there is a further method to her madness, it is a refreshing focus on youth. In Vampire’s stories, adults are the louche figures of grown-up decay—needy, flawed, and broken. They are white noise, a house of mirrors in which children wander unseen and ignored. Russell’s stories bring these adolescents to the fore. In “The Seagull Army Descends Upon Strong Beach, 1979” teenaged Nal works constantly to supplement his defeated mother’s income; his belle d’amour, Vanessa, “rumbles around the house like its last working part.” Even Beverly, the fortysomething protagonist of “The New Veterans,” tries “to wear her face proudly, like a scratched medallion,” but, “still feels like an old child.” Russell’s eccentric touch is by no means the happy magic of our childhood, but it is almost certainly the witchcraft of our adolescent interiors.

Vampires in the Lemon Grove is an only slightly flawed addition to Russell’s burgeoning legend, and her voice promises depths that have yet to be explored. She need only temper her novelty with the more enduring traits of restraint and self-awareness; if she is to realize her full potential, she must better moderate her prodigious imagination so that her beautifully sketched characters aren’t suffocated by her zany premises. Regardless, in an era of insufferably self-serious authors, it’s inspiring to encounter a writer who can craft a powerful tale about a soldier’s magic tattoo and glistening trapezius muscles.

And let’s acknowledge the most important fact—she’s 31 years old. She’s got time, and so do we.

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KSO hopes to draw viewership from all over Chicago to its one-time performance SASSY continued from page 8 the modern political concerns dividing North and South Korea.

But while she doesn’t think those issues are unimportant, she says that this year the KSO wanted to have a change of pace. “[Modern Korean culture] is becoming very popular,” she said, “and it’s something important that we want to showcase to the audience.”

Cha says that they had the first draft of the script in spring of last year. “The draft is on its fourteenth version,” he said, and they have tweaked and edited the lines and transitions for the script to fit its characters.

“Individual lines we definitely tweaked to our own personalities,” added Kim about the rehearsal process. Yoon said that though she wasn’t thinking of acting at first, she has grown into her role as rehearsals have progressed: “I like the fact that [ Jooyoung ] really cares about the people around her, the more I think I do find what is attractive about her, so I think as rehearsals go on I find myself more attached to her character.”

Cha commented, “The characters in this play are rather eccentric…I think it’d be rather difficult to find someone in reality as vibrant and…with so much conflict, and dramatic overall.” This is another common trope of modern Korean dramas—exaggerated characters.

Nevertheless, he added, “There are key elements in the characters everyone can relate to.”

The show will feature other aspects of Korean culture as well. To continue with the modern theme, there will be two modern dance performances,

one performed by a female group and one by a male group, in tribute to the K-pop music industry, which has also been becoming increasingly well known outside of Korea. Cha said there will also be a traditional Korean fan dance, DJ turntabling , a traditional Korean drumming performance by the Koong RSO, and a musical fusion between a Western orchestra and the traditional Korean drumming group, directed and composed by a UChicago student.

Also, according to Cha, the catering will be excellent. “To really come to understand and know a culture is to sit down and enjoy the food,” he said, and he mentioned that there would be bulgogi (Korean barbecue meats), chicken, and lots of side dishes.

Though the show will draw much of the Korean community on campus, Han said, “We’ve been trying to market as much as possible to reach anyone, really, who’s not just Korean or interested in Korean culture, but to anyone who we can reach out to.”

Cha said that the purpose of the show is not only to give the experience of Korean food and culture to a Korean audience, but to include other cultural groups as well. As KSO’s main event of the year, the show is also meant to reach those outside of UChicago. KSO is inviting students from Northwestern, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and local high schools to give them more exposure to Korean culture.

“Honestly, it’s just really entertaining ,” added Han. “I can really promise it will be a great show.”

9

UT/TAPS stage heists and lows of twenty-something scam artists Will Dart Arts Contributor The latter portion of winter quarter is not the most fun time to be alive. As the assignments pile up and the most miniscule of participation grades start to look like the arbiters of life and death, it’s within reason that one might begin to sort of lose one’s shit… at least a little, anyway.

But, if the events of University Theater’s production of Keith Bunin’s The Credeaux Canvas are anything to go by, at least we’re not alone in our youthful misadventures.

In fact, our screw-ups shine by comparison.

The central players in The Credeaux

THE CREDEAUX CANVAS Logan Center, Theater West Tonight and Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

Tickets $6

Canvas are the stock characters of modern theater: three beautiful, struggling twenty-somethings in New York City.

Winston (fourth-year Fred SchmidtArenales) is a talented artist who’s having trouble developing his own style and is astoundingly apathetic about it. Jamie (third-year Jimmy Brown), his roommate, is the son of a wealthy art dealer whose manic energ y and ambition are wasted on increasingly futile ventures. Tying it

Ralph Shapey

all together is Jamie’s girlfriend Amelia (fourth-year Izzy Olive), who’s trying to make it in the city as a singer but has thus far found more gainful employment in the service industry.

It’s all going swimmingly until the death of his hard-assed but financially supportive father and a run-in with a wealthy art collector (third-year Lizzy Lewis) prompt Jamie to come up with a charmingly hair-brained get-rich-quick scheme: have Winston forge a painting by the soon-to-be in vogue French master Jean-Paul Credeaux and use Amelia as the model. They’d then sell the portrait to the hapless collector and make tons of money.

It sounds like a stupid idea, and it is. But the events that follow are much more troubling than the usual comedic hijinks such poorly thought out plots are prone to breed. Things get very real, and things go very wrong, very fast.

“It’s a play about young people trying to figure out how to make art and love,” says the show’s director, fourth-year Jesse Roth, “and about how life can start to spin out of control when things get desperate.”

It’s discouragingly easy to identify with the confusion and chaos that abounds on stage, although our own shit rarely hits the fan as spectacularly as it does for Winston, Jamie and Amelia. “It’s like your typical awful week… that escalates in the worst way possible.”

Aside from the chance to stage such a deliciously unfortunate turn of events, Roth was also keen on working with a script that “could really let the actors work.”

Roth’s actors do good work, too, and they CANVAS continued on page 10

CELEBRATING THE TIMELESS MUSIC OF RALPH SHAPEY

03.01.13 FRI | 7:30 PM 6:30 PM pre-concert discussion with Andrew Patner, noted arts critic, and the artists

Performance Hall, Logan Center for the Arts

Tribute to Ralph Shapey: featuring the New York-based nunc artists led by violinist Miranda Cuckson 2 for 5 (Concerto Grosso) for clarinet and strings Miranda Cuckson

String Quartet No. 10 “Quartet D’Amore” Five for violin and piano Piano Quintet Hear the finest in new music as it crosses generations in this program dedicated exclusively to Contempo’s venerable founder, Ralph Shapey (1921-2002), performed by the distinctive nunc.

“Shapey was particularly inspired by Beethoven, and I love the gritty strength and abundance of energy and the radiant joy of both composers.” − Miranda Cuckson in her February 6 blog posting on the upcoming concert $25 / $5 students with valid ID Buy your tickets today!

773.702.ARTS (2787)

“…a winning combination of intriguing music and superb performers.” − Chicago Sun Times

This concert is generously supported by a gift from the family of Elsa Charlston.

THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | March 1, 2013

10

The Credeaux Canvas is grounded in unstable cast of characters CANVAS continued from page 9 work well together. Schmidt-Arenales and Brown make an interesting (if not entirely plausible) pair as roommates Jamie and Winston; one is impossibly energetic and excitable, while the other is slightly less animated than a block of wood. Olive seems like a natural for the part of Amelia; she speaks volumes with a still face and, in a feat of theatrics as impressive as I’ve ever seen, at one point swallows a spoonful of peanut butter without missing a beat.

All three deliver nuanced performances, imbuing their characters with the sort of depth that requires no backstory. We can look at the surface and see the brush strokes underneath.

Mention must be made of the production’s exceedingly inventive set.

Haphazard craft supplies, rows of empty bottles, and a combination bathroomkitchen suggest a very lived-in apartment that’s half art studio and half health code violation. Lighting, arguably the crux of the play’s action, is expertly handled and very dynamic—Logan’s sophisticated systems work in tandem with the set’s built-in fixtures. I have no idea how any of it works, but it’s all very interesting to watch.

But, fascinating as their surroundings are, it speaks to the quality of Bunin’s writing (and the skill of those who bring it to life) to say that your attention won’t wander far from the frames and movements of the characters who inhabit them. There are some nice surprises in the way words are spoken, and in the way glances are met or avoided. The characters share some extremely charged moments; it’s transfixing , and more than a little discomfiting. But, all told, it’s pretty cathartic, too. With luck, you won’t find yourself in this kind of mess anytime soon.

That comes after college.

WITH HANNAH GOLD

CALEND AR 1

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9 10

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Do What You’re Told

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Fri | March 1 Lord of the Flies may have seemed like a slog in high school, but that’s nothing compared to what creator Kurt Chiang has to go through in Analog, a NeoFuturist production opening tonight and running through April 6. Experience William Golding’s tale of murderous, island-dwelling tweens like you never have before—that is, painstakingly transcribed.

Within the walls of the Neo-Futurarium theater, Chiang recounts, in excruciating detail, writing out the entire novel by hand, including the notebooks and pens he used to do it. He interweaves text, spoken word, and space to showcase the abstract workings of his brain, and come to a conclusion reached by so many ninth graders and college seniors before him: that writing is a tortuous process. 5153 North Ashland Avenue. 7:30 p.m., $10– $20.

Ninth week is fast approaching, and with it an impending doom of 12 pt., double-spaced, Times New Roman, nomore-than-20-page papers. But for now it’s still the weekend—time to break out of your typographical prison and explore alternative ways of seeing words. At Typeforce 4’s opening night at the CoProsperity Sphere in Bridgeport, enjoy complimentary food, drink, music, and 22 design projects by 45 typography all-stars who think outside the 1.25” margins. 3219 South Morgan Street. 6–11 p.m., free.

Sat | March 2

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

54th & University, June 16th, attentive landlords, email Betsy, betnewton@msn. com, $2400

A few restaurant openings to take note of this weekend, the first being Chef Rodelio Aglibot’s Earth + Ocean in Mount Prospect, 22 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. This New American restaurant, the kind of place where you can get sushi with your pizza with your hummus, officially began service a couple of weeks ago, but the grand opening, which benefits Autism Speaks, is tonight. There’s also Longman & Eagle’s new imminently popular 16-seat bar, appropriately called The Off Site Bar (or OSB @ L&E, for short), which opened this past Thursday. OSB is just behind the inn and conveniently attaches to the restaurant’s patio for easy-access day drinking. The menu will be similar to that of L&E, but still unique, with the occasional food item and a pop-up sausage store on Saturdays starting on March 16.

E&O: 55 East Euclid Avenue. 10–12 a.m.

OSB: 2657 North Kedzie Avenue. Opens at 5 p.m.

Sun | March 3

Many Chicagoans are unaware that they live in a city with a rich history of candy. Just as the spice trade connecting the ancient civilizations of the East and West made Alexandria a destination nearly two millennia ago, Chicago’s flourishing railroad system made it an integral crossroads for Lemonheads, Milk Duds, and Frango Mints. Oh Henry! bars were first manufactured here in 1920, not to mention the recipe for Oh Henry! afternoon tea toast, invented in Chicago in 1926 (toast slices of bread, butter, top with candy). You can learn about these and so many more ways of eating sugar, but you’ve got to act fast because this is the last day to catch Sweet Home Chicago: The History of America’s Candy Capital at the Harold Washington Library Center’s Special Collections Exhibit Hall.

400 South State Street. 1–5 p.m., free.

Today’s race through a freezing Lake Michigan to raise money for the Special Olympics is as multifaceted as it is uncomfortable. On one hand, the muchhypothesized link between living in Chicago and being a masochist has never seemed clearer; on the other, it makes the goodness and charity of Chicagoans even more evident. Perhaps we can find a middle ground and just admit that some of us like being really, really cold. At the 13th annual Chicago Polar Plunge you can put a pinky, an elbow, or your whole body into the icy waters of North Avenue Beach to show your support—or, if you’re really ambitious, raise $150 to create your own team and compete. 1600 North Lake Shore Drive. Starts at 9:30 a.m., free.

Consider yourself particularly footsy and brainy? Know what it means to be either?

Well, then you’re more than qualified to attend Open Books Chicago’s Dr. Seuss

CLASSIFIEDS

IDEAL LOCATION - CLOSE TO CAMPUS - LARGE 4 BEDROOM APT

Day, which is being held in honor of both what would have been Geisel’s 109th birthday and Read Across America Day. The nonprofit, which supports youth literacy, has enlisted the help of Wishcraft Workshop, Emerald City Theater, and Marsha’s Music to provide cake, face painting, theater games, and more things that can happen, and frequently do. The event is suggested for persons ages three and up—and that means YOU! 213 West Institute Place. 10 a.m.–1 p.m., free.

First Prize $1500 Second prize $500

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EGG DONOR NEEDED We are an Ivy League couple seeking the help of a special woman who is a healthy, Caucasian, with highest percentile ACT/SAT scores, tall, slender, dark to light blonde hair, blue eyes, and under the age of 28. Please contact our representative at: infoaperfectmatch.com Or call 1-800-264-8828

$20,000+ compensation and all expenses paid

www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/crerar/crerar-prize Submission deadline: April 8, 2013

THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | March 1, 2013

11

At Diving Zones, four Maroons pursue Nationals berths

UAA Standings Rank

Diving Tatiana Fields Sports Staff This weekend, the South Siders hope to (not) make a splash at NCAA Diving Zones, which will be held at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the first time. Four members of the diving team will be competing at Zones, the only chance to qualify for Nationals. The pressure is on for these select Maroons, and there are high hopes for all of the divers to make it through to Nationals.

This year deviates from previous years because of the new format the NCAA is using to determine qualifiers for Nationals. This regional competition will decide which athletes will go on to Nationals, and previous performance in the season falls to the wayside because this one competition decides everything for these divers.

“The NCAA Regional Diving Meet singlehandedly decides who gets to compete at the NCAA Championship next month in Houston,” diving coach Kendra Melnychuk said. “In the past, divers simply had to achieve a qualifying score and would send in a video tape of themselves diving at some point during the season, and the 44 divers who competed at Nationals were selected by a video viewing panel. The new Regional format is nice in the sense that we actually get to compete for our spots at the NCAA Championship. However, this is their one and only shot and there are no second chances.”

The team heading to Regionals consists of fourthyears Becky Schmidt and Bobby Morales and second-years Matthew Staab and Anthony Restaino.

Melnychuk knows that this year’s team is especially strong, but that this region is also very competitive.

“All four divers competing at Zones have a very good chance of qualifying for the NCAA Championship,” Melnychuk said. “The ultimate goal is to have everyone qualify, but our particular region is extremely strong, especially on the men’s side. It is an unbelievable pool of talent and I look forward to seeing who comes out on top.”

MEN’S BASKETBALL School

Record

1

Rochester

21–4 (10–4)

Win % .840

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Washington (MO) Emory Brandeis NYU Case Western Chicago Carnegie

20–5 (10–4) 19–6 (10–4) 17–8 (8–6) 15–11 (5–9) 12–13 (5–9) 11–14 (5–9) 6–19 (3–11)

.800 .760 .680 .577 .480 .440 .240

Points Rank Player John DiBartolomeo 1 2 Jake Davis 3 Alex Greven 4 Austin Fowler 5 Chris Klimek

School Rochester Emory Emory Case Western Washington (MO)

22.6 17.7 16.8 16.0 15.6

Assists Rank Player 1 Michael Florin John DiBartolomeo 2 3 Alan Aboona 4 Gabriel Moton 5 Jimmy Holman

School Emory Rochester Washington (MO) Brandeis Case Western

5.7 5.4 4.6 4.0 3.6

Rebounding Rank Player 1 Austin Fowler 2 Matt Palucki 3 Carl Yaffe 4 Robert Burnett 5 Michael Friedberg

Fourth-year Becky Schmidt, seen here in a picture from January 2011, will be one of four Maroons competing at NCAA Diving Zones in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this weekend.

COURTESY OF HANS GLICK

Melnychuk has been particularly pleased with the efforts of this year’s squad. The team is made up of six members, meaning that over half are going on to Regionals.

“This past season has been nothing short of amazing for the diving team,” second-year Anthony Restaino said. “We all had personal bests and we all finaled at conference.”

The team attributes much of its success to the close nature of the team, and it has achieved a lot this season. The Maroons broke all of the school records and set two UAA Conference records, Staab broke DePauw University’s pool record, and Staab and Schmidt were named the UAA Divers of the Year.

NCAA Diving Zones will start today at 5 p.m. at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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

8.3 8.2 7.7 7.2 7.1

Field Goal PCT Player School Rank 1 Rob Reid Rochester 2 Devin Karch NYU 3 Chris Klimek Washington (MO) Tyler Sankes Rochester 4 5 Dane McLoughlin Case Western

Pct ..638 .602 .590 .568 .532

Free Throw PCT Rank Player McPherson Moore 1 John DiBartolomeo 2 3 Nate Vernon 4 Alan Aboona 5 Jake Davis

School Emory Rochester Rochester Washington (MO) Emory

Pct .926 .923 .908 .900 .869

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

For NCAA hopefuls, UW–Stevens Point meet offers Last Chance Track & Field

Third-year Elise Wummer runs the mile in the UW–Oshkosh Dual on January 15. She will try to qualify for Nationals in the event this weekend at UW–Stevens Point.

COURTESY OF HANS GLICK

Isaac Stern Sports Staff While a select group of Maroons will travel to UW–Stevens Point this weekend in a last-ditch effort to qualify for the NCAA National Championship, the rest of the team will begin preparation for the long-awaited outdoor season. Traditionally, the South Siders compete in the North Central Last Chance, but the Cardinals, who will play host to the National Championship, have canceled the last chance meet in order to prepare for NCAAs.

In order to qualify for the national meet, a competitor must place in the top ten nationally in their event. Currently, only fourth-years Julia Sizek (ninth, 5000m, 17:11.37) and Billy Whitmore (10th, 5000m, 14:33.99) are on pace to meet this requirement.

“We are taking a very small group to UW–Stevens Point in hopes of qualifying a few more athletes,” head coach Chris Hall said.

Hoping to join Whitmore on the men’s side, first-year Michael Bennett will compete in the pole vault. The UAA just named Bennett Rookie of the Year after his impressive first season. Ben-

nett’s top jump this season, 4.68m, lands him at 23rd in the nation. To qualify, he would need to improve by at least 0.14m.

“My goal is to match or better my high school personal record and qualify for nationals,” Bennett said. “I’ve been close the last few weeks, so I believe I have a very good chance to qualify.”

On the women’s side, hopefuls include thirdyear Elise Wummer (mile) and fourth-year Elsbeth Grant (800m). In order to get to nationals, Wummer would have to cut off about 10 seconds from her time of 5:08.5. Grant, on the other hand, needs to speed her pace up by four seconds.

Also, the distance medley lineup, comprised of fourth-year Kayla McDonald, third-year Michaela Whitelaw, and first-years Brianna Hickey and Alison Pildner, will compete. The foursome would have to finish in under 12:02 in order to earn a Nationals berth.

Meanwhile, the rest of the squad will prepare for the outdoor season. After a close conference meet, in which the men placed second and the women placed third, the team feels more eager than ever to compete for a conference title.

“Our spirits are high,” first-year sprinter Jake Romeo said. “By the time we were on the bus back to Chicago [from UAAs], we were already talking about what we need to do to get ready for outdoor season and what it will take to come away with the UAA championship in the spring.”

The Maroons have the ability to really challenge their conference rivals. However, the key to victory will again lie with the first-years the Maroons have brought in. The UAA named two Maroons as the Rookies of the Year (Bennett and thrower Nkemdilim Nwaokolo). If the South Siders plan to have success this outdoor season, first-years will have to continue to step up.

Across the nation, athletes will use this final weekend as an opportunity to book their ticket to Naperville. The Maroons are no exception.

UAA Standings Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

School Emory

Record 22–3 (12–2)

Win % .880

Rochester Washington (MO) Case Western Carnegie Brandeis NYU Chicago

19–6 (11–3) 20–5 (10–4) 16–9 (8–6) 13–13 (5–9) 10–15 (4–10) 10–15 (3–11) 7–18 (3–11)

.760 .800 .640 .500 .400 .400 .280

Points Rank 1 2 3 4 5

Player Evy Iacono

School Case Western

Melissa Gilkey Emily Peel Lilly Hannah Megan Dawe

Washington (MO) Carnegie Emory NYU

Avg/G 17.9 15.6 13.9 13.0 12.8

Assists Rank 1 2 3 4 5

Player Erica Iafelice

School Case Western

Avg/G 5.2

Savannah Morgan Riley Wurtz Evy Iacono Ally Zywicki

Emory NYU Case Western Rochester

5.1 4.8 4.0 3.8

Rebounding Rank 1 2 3 4 5

Player Misha Jackson Riley Wurtz Emily Peel Liza Otto Loren Wagner

Rank 1 2 3 4 5

Player Emily Peel Megan Dawe Melissa Gilkey Brooke Orcutt Amy Woods

School Emory NYU Carnegie Carnegie Rochester

Avg/G 9.0 8.8 8.2 8.0 7.8

Field Goal PCT School Carnegie NYU Washington (MO) Case Western Rochester

Pct .566 .522 .515 .506 .500

Free Throw PCT Rank Player 1 Evy Iacono 2 Morgan Donovan 3 Melissa Peng 4 Ally Zywicki 5 Emily Peel

School Case Western Chicago NYU Rochester Carnegie

Pct .829 .827 .797 .757 .748

SPORTS

IN QUOTES “‘@RealCJ10: LeBron James is the best and most physically imposing athlete that I have ever seen!’ That hurts bro!”

—White Sox DH Adam Dunn ‘takes offence’ to Chipper Jones’ praise of LeBron James on Twitter.

Tough competition awaits South Siders at Midwest Regional Wrestling Sam Zacher Sports Staff After finishing second at the UAA Championship, the Maroons are looking to make their presence felt this weekend at the NCAA Midwest Regional (Great Lakes) tournament.

At the UAA tournament, Chicago—wrestling on its home mat in Hyde Park—watched NYU dominate Case Western, winning by a score of 43–6. The Maroons also beat down on Case, winning 40–9, but then lost to NYU in the final by a score of 24–15.

Three Maroon wrestlers were named to the All-UAA team: fourth-year Joeie Ruettiger (149 pounds), second-year Joe Ellis (141 pounds), and second-year Devon Range (157 pounds).

Chicago accomplished that with a spotty lineup, too. Head coach Leo Kocher is hoping to have everyone back for the Great Lakes Regional.

“Our lineup is in a state of flux,” Kocher said.

“We [are] still trying to get some guys back from injury.”

Kocher highlighted a few wrestlers who will be competing for the Maroons this weekend.

“We have a couple of [fourth-years] competing, Joeie Ruettiger and Jim Layton, who have had strong years,” he said.

Ruettiger has put this Chicago team on his back this season, while throwing his opponents to the ground, showing he’s a force to be reckoned with. Ruettiger is almost always among the top finishers in his weight class and among the leaders in pins for Chicago. “[Second-year] Mario Palmisano is another

Fourth-year wrestler James Layton competes in a home match against Augustana College on February 8.

COURTESY OF HANS GLICK

one who has demonstrated that he can compete with and beat nationally-ranked wrestlers,” Kocher said.

Palmisano has come on very strong this season following his UAA Rookie of the Year honor last season. He didn’t lose a match for a long stretch between November and January, and was named UAA Athlete of the Week on February 11. At the

time, his season record was 17–7.

Kocher touted the competition of the Great Lakes Regional among national tournaments.

“I believe we may get anywhere from two to four guys a top six seed,” he said. “You have to place in the top three to advance to the Nationals, and this Regional is a tough one. We will have the second, fourth, fifth, ninth, 12th, and 29th ranked teams

in the nation there. Considering that [there are] a total of six regional tournaments, five of the top 12 schools in one region probably makes [this one] the most competitive in the NCAA. “The upside is anyone who advances to the Nationals from a Regional this tough has a good chance of placing in the NCAA,” Kocher said.

The Maroons hit the mats at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

No. 3 Chicago to take on nation’s top teams at ITAs Women’s Tennis Alexander Sotiropoulos Senior Sports Staff

Fourth-year Linden Li returns a ball in a match against Wash U last year.

This weekend the women’s tennis team will compete in the ITA Indoor Championship in Greencastle, Indiana.

COURTESY OF DAVE HILBERT

There will be no easy wins for the Maroons this weekend.

Chicago, ranked third in the nation and holding a 2–0 record against D-III opponents, will go up against undefeated UW–Whitewater (10–0) in the first round of this Friday’s ITA Indoor Championships at DePauw University.

The ITA Indoor Championships is the most prestigious team tournament in the nation besides the NCAA tournament. Eight of the most successful programs are invited to compete each year.

This year, Chicago has been honored with the No. 1 seed; UW–Whitewater, the eighth seed, is the lowest seed in the tournament. Nonetheless, Maroons head coach Jay Tee said that the Maroons cannot underestimate the Warhawks since UW– Whitewater already had its conference season in the fall, and therefore has participated in more NCAA matches this academic year.

“They’ve played three times as much tennis as we have,” Tee said. “This is their first time here, so I know they want to prove a point.”

The Warhawks have been able to identify their best lineup, but given that Chicago has had limited match play thus far into the season, Tee is still hashing out the best positions for each of his players.

This weekend, Tee will change the No. 3 doubles spot. First-year Sruthi Ramaswami will play No. 3 doubles alongside fellow first-year Stephanie Lee. The previous three matches, Lee was paired with second-year Maggie Schumann while Ramaswami was confined to singles.

“It wasn’t anything that Maggie did or didn’t do,” Tee said. “It was more that Stephanie is playing really well and so is Sruthi. We want to give them both a chance to see what they can do.”

Tee said he thinks Ramaswami’s and Lee’s strengths complement each other well as he has witnessed this week at practice.

“Sruthi is very good from the baseline hitting cross-court hard; Stephanie is very big and athletic, and she’s very good at crossing the middle,” he said. “I think that little extra consistency from the baseline is going to be a big difference.”

No. 6 singles, the spot that both Lee and Schumann have shared this season, will go to Lee. Although the ITA Indoor Championships is less revered than the NCAA National Championships, the tournament still contains the highest caliber of tennis.

“This is a different team, it’s a different program, and hopefully it’s a different attitude,” Tee said.

“We’re going to go out there and try to win this thing.”

Realistically, Tee said he expects his team, which consists of just one fourth-year and six underclassmen, to compete as hard as possible.

“I know that we are young, and these other teams have more experience,” he said. “All we expect them to do is go and compete as hard as they can, and the results will be there for themselves.”

If the Maroons win on Friday against the Warhawks, they will play in the semifinals on Saturday. With a win on Saturday, Chicago will compete for the title on Sunday. Even with the unenviable thought of playing three matches in three days, Tee said the Maroons are ready.

“We’re a well-conditioned team; we’ve worked hard on that,” he said. “The old cliché ‘one match at a time’ is all we’re really thinking about right here.

We want to beat Whitewater first; we don’t know who we’re going to play next, but we know we’ve got to beat a very good Whitewater team before we can even think about playing the second and third match.”

The Maroons are scheduled to play UW– Whitewater at 3:30 p.m. today.