TUESDAY • MARCH 12, 2013
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
CHICAGOMAROON.COM
ISSUE 33 • VOLUME 124
Westward bound: U of C arts hub opens in Washington Park Lina Li Senior News Staff Washington Park is now home to the University’s latest foray into the art world. The Arts Incubator was envisioned by Chicago-based installation artist and Coordinator of Arts Programming Theaster Gates and developed through the University’s Arts and Public Life Initiative. It officially opened to the public on Friday at 3 p.m. More than 400 people attended the open house. The opening kicked off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier that day attended by University administrators, community members, and local politicians, including state senators Mattie Hunter and Kwame Raoul, Third Ward Aldermen Pat Dowell and 20th Ward Alderman Willie Cochran. Speaking at the event, President Zimmer said the incubator is a way for the University to “positively represent ourselves as
active partners to these communities.” The incubator is located about a mile from campus on East Garfield Boulevard and South Prairie Avenue. According to spokesperson for the Office of Civic Engagement Calmetta Coleman, the University owns a dozen pieces of land between South King Drive and South Prairie Avenue. Though there is potential development in the future, Coleman said she had “nothing concrete to announce.” The 10,000 square feet of studio space in the Incubator will be used by the five Chicago-based artists accepted into the Incubator’s artist-in-residence program. There is also a woodshop and events and exhibitions space. Spoken word poet avery r. young, who shares studio space with photographer Cecil McDonald, Jr., said much of his work is influenced by Jim Crow laws. He said he has found the University’s resources useful for ART continued on page 3
The new Arts Incubator, located at 301 East Garfield Boulevard, will provide working space for artists and opportunities for them to build connections with the surrounding community. COURTESY OF TOM ROSSITER
Marcellis assigned to U of C celebrates International Women’s Day be in “plainclothes” Maira Khwaja News Staff
Madhu Srikantha News Editor The UCPD detective implicated as an undercover officer during a trauma center protest on February 23 was assigned to work as a plainclothes officer on that day, according to the Incident Command System (ICS) plan attained by the Maroon from an anonymous source. The plan, titled “Center for Care and Discovery Patient Move,” revealed that two other officers were assigned to the same role. According to the ICS plan, which details each officer’s assignments for a specific event, the three plainclothes UCPD officers were in charge of gathering intelligence relevant to the transfer of patients from the old to the new hospital and “outside groups planning actions to interrupt.” They were also responsible for videotaping the event. In an e-mail sent by Chief of Police Marlon Lynch to UCPD personnel on March 5, after Detective Marcellis’s undercover work was re-
vealed, Lynch clarified what is meant by “plainclothes” versus “undercover.” “We use ‘plainclothes’ assignments, not ‘undercover’ assignments. An example of a ‘plainclothes’ assignment is a police officer in ordinary clothes...observing and announcing their office if they need to utilize their authority as a police officer. An example of an ‘undercover’ assignment is intentionally concealing your identity or attempting to gain trust to obtain information or evidence,” stated the e-mail, which was forwarded to the Maroon by an anonymous former UCPD officer. In a statement sent to the Maroon last week, Lynch said that the event plan did not involve an officer actively participating in the protest. A second statement sent this week clarified what he meant. “Some UCPD officers work in ordinary clothes as opposed to a uniform, and plainclothes officers are routinely assigned to major events, including the opening of the Center for Care and UCPD continued on page 2
University students celebrated International Women’s Day with a “Women in the Classroom” workshop at Ida Noyes Hall on Friday. Female graduate students in the philosophy department formed the Graduate Students United committee “Gender and Academia Working Group,” which planned the workshop as its first
event. According to cofounder Francey Russell, the discrimination that the women in the philosophy department face as minorities raises the need for a community to discuss and improve these issues. “Women in the Classroom: Challenges and Solutions” centered on a panel of three graduate students who gave anecdotes of sex discrimination in University of Chicago classrooms as students, educators, and in the con-
tent of class materials. The three-hour workshop was interspersed with breakout groups to discuss personal encounters of sexism in academia and brainstorm solutions for their departments. The organizers aim to have frequent, similar events in the upcoming year. “At the moment, there isn’t really a women’s center on campus. We have the Gender and Sexuality academic space, which is fantastic, but we don’t
have a community space. This meeting is, in part, a response to the need to have an occasion to get together and share these stories,” Russell said. Emily DuPree, a metaphysics philosophy graduate student who spoke on “women as students,” is used to being the only woman in her classes. She warned of “stereotype threat,” in which minority students perform worse when they’re told IWD continued on page 3
Freenters extends SSA hosts panel for its imprint local teenage boys Ben Pokross Senior News Staff After a trial period in the fall, Freenters is on the rise. Five months after the campus printing service was launched, Freenters has 1,800 registered users, 40 advertisers, and prints 7,000 to 8,000 pages per week. They recently opened a new printer in
Stuart Hall, bringing the total number of printers up to five. But their achievements stretch further. They currently have 18 people on the team, including two original founders, two long-time staff members, and 14 interns, divided into four teams: sales, marketing, technolog y, and exPRINT continued on page 2
Marina Fang News Editor Over 100 male teenagers from 10 high schools in Hyde Park, Washington Park, Kenwood-Oakland, and Woodlawn attended a seminar geared toward empowering adolescent males held at the School of Social Service Administration (SSA) on Friday. Co-sponsored by UCMC’s
Urban Health Initiative, the SSA, and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and, Culture (CSPRC), the seminar explored issues particular to adolescent males growing up in an urban setting, including conflict resolution, social skills and networking, and nutrition and wellness. The seminar focused on the area immediately surroundMALE continued on page 2
IN VIEWPOINTS
IN ARTS
IN SPORTS
Better off read » Page 4
Director Chan-wook comes of Hollywood age—for what?» Page 7
All-American duo of Whitmore and Sizek heads out in style » Back Page
A shot at spring break with lots of tequila, rum, and vodka » Page 7
Chicago to face UIC in warm-up for Florida trip » Page 11
Skyrocketing grad fees hurt UChicago prestige » Page 5
THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | March 12, 2013
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SFCC demands divestment, meeting with Zimmer Celia Bever News Editor Stop Funding Climate Change (SFCC) demonstrated in front of the administration building and delivered a petition intended for President Zimmer urging institutional divestment from fossil fuel companies on Friday afternoon. The protest, which also called for a meeting between SFCC, Zimmer, and the Board of Trustees, was attended by approximately 30 people. Between strumming guitar music and chants of “Divest! Divest! Put fossil fuels to rest!”, several SFCC members gave speeches to the crowd. “Fossil fuel companies continue to drill, baby, drill, and mine, baby, mine…. As long as UChi-
cago invests, UChicago says it is acceptable. Is this acceptable?” asked thirdyear Paul Kim, the SFCC coordinator. Lynda Daher, director of the Bias Response Team, watched from the glass door of the administration building as she called a dean-on-call. SFCC’s advisor, Assistant Director of the Student Activities Center Arthur Lundberg , had previously informed her about the protest. “I’m just here to make sure everything goes smoothly,” she said. Daher oversees the dean-on-call program. Three at a time, attendees filed up to Zimmer’s fifth-floor office. Associate Dean of Students in the University for Student Affairs Belinda Vazquez, who had also been informed
about the impending protest by Lundberg, was present to receive the petition. In response to demands that she supply them with a date within five weeks for the meeting to take place, Vazquez insisted she did not have access to Zimmer’s calendar. As they exited the building, fourth-year SFCC member Sage Gerson called the response “a prime example” of a lack of transparency in the administration. Geophysical sciences professor David Archer briefly attended the demonstration and had previously signed the petition. “I feel that the University is a bit behind the curve in adapting to climate change,” he said in an interview after the event. “The University, as far as I can tell, doesn’t have
Members of Stop Funding Climate Change call for the University to divest from fossil fuel companies during a protest outside the administration building Friday afternoon. JAIME MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON
any doubts about climate change, but the question is whether they’ll put the money where their mouth is.” “There is an unsettling
contradiction in living and learning in a place that encourages us to act responsibly to others and to our environment while undermining this notion with
its own actions,” first-year SFCC member Natalie Wright said in her speech marking the end of the protest. “We will keep at this until our school divests.”
The undergraduate start-up will soon expand to Northwestern, Cornell Topics included college, safe interns, Park said, has been fore making them an offer. with the idea, but he only sex, and conflict resolution PRINT continued from front pansion. Freenters posted an advertisement for the positions on Chicago Career Connection (CCC). Third-year Hyesung Kim, Freenters’ CEO and cofounder, hopes to impart some of his start-up knowledge to the interns. “They’re really interested in the start-ups, but they don’t have an item [to sell]. They don’t want to take a risk,” he said. For fourth-year Paul Park, an original Freenters team member, working with the interns isn’t like working with employees. “How I like to think about it is, as the marketing chair, I’m more of the interns’ friend than boss,” Park said. One of the biggest challenges in working with his
to insist that Freenters is a business, not an RSO. “Even though we’re a close-knit group,” Park said, “a business is a business.” Park expects interns to arrive on time for meetings and to carry out their projects in a timely manner—especially sales interns, who have to visit local businesses and pitch the product. There’s a steep learning curve, and professionalism is important, Park added. Only the sales interns receive commission, based on the number of advertisers that they are able to get on board. Two different parties have expressed interest in investing in the company, but Freenters is still waiting be-
According to Kim, the team has been attempting to find different ways to reduce the risk of investing and make the company more attractive to the investors. One of their tasks in accomplishing that goal has been to prove that the Freenters business model can work on other college campuses. Kim said that they are planning to expand to Northwestern University next month, where they already have a manager and team in place. Cornell University sophomore Han Ko, a childhood friend of Kim, is the manager of Freenters’ first expansion outside the Chicago area. He has been talking to Kim about the project since he came up
decided to pursue the venture after visiting UChicago in November to see how Freenters was working here. At Cornell, Ko will use the patents and licenses obtained by UChicago Freenters, but his sales and marketing will be completely separate. According to Ko, his operation will be more of a partnership than a franchise. Ko is awaiting approval from Cornell University before installing printers and setting up their services. Officials have expressed interest, Ko said, and even if Cornell does not allow them to set up on university property, he is committed to the idea and will try other places in Ithaca.
The Feb. 23 protest was videotaped by UCPD officers UCPD continued from front
Discovery. That is different than the behavior I identified in my statement last week. I did not approve an officer posing as a protester, which would fall under the category of undercover policing,” the statement said. Lynch’s initial statement did not include that Marcellis was assigned to act as a plainclothes officer and did not address the use of video recording by UCPD officers. Demonstrators were not informed that UCPD planned to videotape the event. In the second statement, Lynch explained why UCPD videotapes certain events. “The UCPD periodically videotapes parts of high-profile events; examples include convocation or visits from prominent public figures. The intent is to have the ability
to document actions by police and people attending the event, especially in the event of a disruption. This is in addition to fixed security cameras, and serves many of the same purposes.” According to the ICS plan, the command post, located at UCPD headquarters, was staffed by Incident Commander, Assistant Chief of Police Gloria Graham; Logistics Section Chief, Interim Deputy Chief Kevin Booker; Video Coordinator, Commander Celeste D’ Addabbo; and the Operations Section Chief, Deputy Chief Eric Heath. Other operations personnel were required to relay information back to command staff. “Group supervisors will be out in the field reporting information back to the command post,” the plan stated. Those group supervisors were
Interim Group Supervisor, Commander Michael Kwiatkowski; Quick Response Team Group Supervisor, Commander Tom Phillips; and Exterior and Intelligence Post Group Supervisor, Deputy Chief Milton Owens. The photographs published by the Maroon indicate that Marcellis texted Owens during the demonstration. The internal review process, which was mentioned by Lynch in his first statement to the Maroon, involves a primary investigation of the behavior or policy at contention in the filed complaint. The investigation is traditionally conducted by Deputy Chief Heath. Findings of the investigation can conclude that the allegations were either unfounded and inaccurate, exonerated and found justified in the situation, sustained and found accurate
and the actions unjust, or not sustained. The investigation may not occur if the complainant does not sign an affidavit for the investigation to occur, or if the complainant does not comply with the investigation in a different regard. A review of that initial investigation is then done by the Independent Review Committee (IRC), which either confirms the findings of UCPD or disagrees with them. The IRC only has an advisory role, and cannot mandate UCPD to change its findings. The IRC consists of three faculty members, three students, two staff members, and three community members. The external, independent review process, according to University spokesperson Jeremy Manier, “is being put in place. We hope to have more information this week.”
MALE continued from front
ing the University, including students from Gary Comer College Prep in Grand Crossing, and north to Options Lab School in Kenwood. According to SSA Professor Waldo Johnson, Jr., a faculty affiliate at CSPRC who also helped organize the seminar, each school nominated 15 students “viewed as leaders in their high school,” who will then be expected to hold similar seminars and discussions with their classmates at their respective schools, according to Michael J. Harris, UCMC Community Relations Coordinator. Harris began developing the seminar last April after realizing that while the hospital provided a health-related seminar for adolescent females, “there was nothing comparable for adolescent males.” Johnson also said that in its assembly, he and the other program administrators looked for primarily African-American panelists. “We wanted people who look like [the students], people who can be viewed as experts other than athletes and entertainers,” he said, in reference to Law Professor Randolph Stone and UCPD Chief Marlon Lynch, who both spoke at the seminar. One of the panels discussed health, focusing on safe sex and sexually transmitted diseases, as well as how to meet daily nutritional needs. Another covered networking skills, teaching the students how to develop connections with their teachers, employers, and community leaders. UCPD Chief Marlon Lynch led a morning discussion on conflict resolution, stressing the importance of mediation in everyday life. “Just dealing with a situa-
tion on the street: that’s conflict resolution.... The way you deal with conflict resolution affects the rest of your life,” he said. During the afternoon question-and-answer session, one participant asked the panelists how conflict resolution relates to matters of life and death. Responding to whether self-defense can ever justify murder, UCMC Executive Director of Community and External Affairs Leif Elsmo was firm. “No. If you find yourself where you are having those type of thoughts, that’s a situation you have to get out of.” Participants in the afternoon forum also discussed the importance of a college education. Panelist Shayne Evans, Director of University of Chicago Charter School and the Urban Education Institute, noted the structural barriers his audience faces. “I’m going to be the bad guy on the panel.... There’s 100 of you in here. But the data tells you that only eight of you are going to make it,” said Evans. “You just have to figure it out. I saw a whole lot of hands that you want to go to college and make it.” Eriq Hilliman, a student at Options Lab School who attended the seminar, said his teacher told him the event “would be a good place to bond with males.” Hilliman noted that many students his age consider dropping out of school. “They just want to do drugs, gang bang, but I just want to stay in school.” According to Harris, the seminar was the first of four, two of them occurring this academic school year, and the other two next fall. Each will bring together students from a different set of neighborhoods on the South Side.
THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | March 12, 2013
Unfunded research finds a new crowd Amos Gewirtz News Staff With conventional sources of funding drying up for university researchers due to dwindling federal support, a growing number of academics are turning to crowdfunding, a method which relies on individuals making microdonations through online social networking Web sites to a given research project. Doctor Larry Thaete, a teaching affiliate of the University of Chicago, is one of the first University members—and academics in the country— to try this method of fundraising for his research. Several years ago, Thaete, head of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecolog y at Evanston Hospital, lost federal funding for his research on fetal growth. He decided to post his study “Endothelin Antagonism as a Therapy for Fetal Growth Restriction” on uStartups, a new crowdfunding platform that caters specifically to researchers and academics. uStartups was launched in 2012 by the National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer (NCET2),
a for-profit organization of universities aimed at creating and funding university-based start-ups, in the wake of recent success from other crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter. For instance, an MIT– based project to build a 4,000-pound spider-like robot named Stompy received backing from 1,500 Kickstarter users, reaching their goal of $65,000 in 11 days and exceeding their goal by almost $40,000 in just a few weeks more. According to the most recent data, in 2011, crowdfunding platforms helped raise a total of $1.5 billion to support underfunded projects, and the number of sites in 2012 rose 60 percent from 2011. Kickstarter alone raised $150 million for arts projects in 2011, more than the National Academy of Arts dished out that year. The need for additional academic-specific forums like uStartup, independent from sites like Kickstarter, arose not so much from truly unique funding needs—these sites have proven effective in raising money—but from a desire from members of the scientific community to clearly differentiate themselves from sites that
host a great number of arts projects, according to Thaete. “A few years ago, information about popular crowdfunding was distributed to many scientists. But most scientific organizations didn’t want their stuff associated with those sorts of venues. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but that’s what happened. Two years ago or so, Web sites that wanted to devote themselves to serious scientific research were started,” he said. Even though conventional crowdfunding has proven effective thus far, uStartups has yielded little funding for the three studies that it currently hosts, which include Thaete’s project as well as projects based at the University of Texas–Austin and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. As of yet, Thaete’s study has raised 2 percent of the funds necessary—$400—to achieve its goal of $20,000. Still, it seems that Thaete’s expectations have not necessarily been let down. “I had no idea whether it would be a bust or if it [would] yield a lot, but we decided to try. We lose nothing by trying.”
Feeling of “tokenism” hurts academic performance by minorities, grad student says IWD continued from front
that their status is stereotypically linked with lower performance. “Study after study confirms that it’s more difficult for students to speak up in class when they are
in the minority relative to the other students in the classroom. If there’s a perception among students that someone’s presence is a result of tokenism, rather than merit, their contributions are unlikely to be
heard at face value,” said DuPree. The workshop was sponsored by the Office of International Affairs, Graduate Students United, and the Gender and Sexuality Studies Workshop.
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CORRECTIONS
The caption to the March 8 article “UCMC Dr. Remembered for Compassion” misstated the position of Sarah Markovitz and Genevieve Liu. Liu is to the left in the photo and Markovitz is to the right. The March 8 article “Hyde Park, South Side Residents Get Red Light on Red Line,” misstated the author. The article was written by Qianyi Xu. The caption to the March 1 article “University Forum Examines Trauma Protest Prosecutions” misstated Duff Morton’s year in graduate school and failed to mention a second academic affiliation to the University. He is a seventh-year P.h.D. candidate in anthropology and a student in the School of Social Service Administration.
2001 report found lacking campus arts life ART continued from front
his work, especially the Regenstein Library’s Special Collections. “Everybody’s been real nice,” he said. “I didn’t anticipate anything other than full cooperation and open arms.” The Arts Incubator’s opening was a response to a 2001 University report on the future of the arts that found the campus arts infrastructure lacking. According to University spokeswoman Susie Allen, other initiatives that emerged from the report include the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry, and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. The incubator was funded largely by a $400,000 grant from ArtPlace, a national organization that works to establish community art spaces. Funding also came from the Office of Civic Engagement, the Office of the Provost, and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture. Originally a Walgreens pharmacy, the building was vacant for almost 20 years before the University purchased it in 2008. Efforts have been made to incorporate the Incubator into the broader Washington Park community. The incubator is partnering with several South Side arts and civic organizations including the Washington Park Consortium, Keep Loving Each
Other, and Urban Gateways Center for Arts Education, Allen said. There are currently eight student interns at the Office of Art and Public Life that split their time between the Logan Center and the Incubator. Gates said he hopes to create more internships and fellowships to connect students to the Incubator. According to Coleman, the University made substantial efforts to incorporate community feedback in the process through which the Arts Incubator was constructed, working with Third Ward Alderman Pat Dowell and meeting with Washington Park community organizations for input on how it could better serve the community. Although she believes that art should not have been a priority and that instead, deeper economic concerns should have been the focus of the community, Washington Park Homeowners Association Founder and Washington Park resident Pasha Gollibay appreciates the University’s investment. “The University has the capacity to do lots of things…. I don’t have a problem with it. We know change is going to happen around here. It can be called many things, but the bottom line is, ‘Who is going to invest in our community?’ No one’s done it in years,” she said. —Additional reporting by Celia Bever
VIEWPOINTS
Editorial & Op-Ed MARCH 12, 2013
Better off read Reading period must be reserved for the activity for which it was originally intended: studying 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
According to a January 7, 1983 Maroon article, the twoday reading period at the end of every quarter was introduced by then–Dean of Students Herman Sinaiko in order to “educate both students and teachers that extra studying time between classes and finals is needed and beneficial.” While Sinaiko noted that the reading period seemed to be a success, he also acknowledged that “there were complaints and problems with professors scheduling exams and classes during reading days and thus defeating the purpose of the reading period for some students.” Thirty years later, the College still employs a two-day reading period, and some professors and instructors still schedule classes, exams, and due dates during this time. In order to allow students to do as well as possible on final exams and papers, reading period must be fully respected, and students should be given more comprehensive information on how to file complaints regarding in-
fringements. As per the College Web site, “Instructors and/or teaching assistants may hold review sessions on these days. However, no new material may be introduced, assignments may not be due, and final examinations may not be given (except as necessary for graduating students) during the reading period.” While optional early exams do not conflict with this policy, any non-optional class, exam, or due date falling during Thursday or Friday of 10th week renders reading period pointless. According to an e-mail from University spokesman Jeremy Manier, “Students with concerns of this nature should contact the Dean’s office (the Dean of the College John Boyer or Associate Dean Martha Merritt).” While students should take advantage of this venue to seek redress, it’s troubling that there is not a more formal policy by which students can report reading period issues. The College should also inform
students of the option to lodge a complaint with their Deans, as it is not very clear or self-evident. Northwestern, for example, outlines the student complaint process on the page of its Web site that pertains to reading period in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. As long as professors and instructors feel that abiding by reading period policy is optional, these two days at the end of every quarter will not live up to their intended purpose. While Harvard allows professors and instructors to hold class during reading period if they so choose, its reading period lasts eight days instead of two, leaving more time for students to study in spite of class conflicts. Yale adopts a similar policy, though it asks that all instructors state in their course listings whether they plan to schedule class during reading period. While Harvard and Yale leave the question of holding class up to the discretion of professors and instructors, both
maintain that final exams are absolutely not to be held during reading period. Whether the University opts to continue offering a relatively brief reading period or to lengthen the respite, one thing is certain: The current paradigm, wherein there seems to be little compliance with the ban on finals and the introduction of new material, is not acceptable in a two-day period. The University should stick with its current reading period and ensure that professors adhere to a strong policy of not scheduling classes, or it should add more reading days, like Yale and Harvard have done, to accommodate the variable needs of professors. The current incarnation of reading period, one which effectively incorporates the relaxed class policy of peer schools without the benefit of more days off, is simply unfair to students.
The Editorial Board consists of the Editors-in-Chief and the Viewpoints Editors.
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 TYRONALD JORDAN Business Manager TAMER BARSBAY Undergraduate Business Executive
A change in political climate
I can’t tell that we are gonna be friends
In Obama’s second term, the issue of climate change may gain renewed traction
Sometimes long-distance connections are difficult to maintain without face-to-face interaction
QUERIDA Y. QIU External Director of Marketing IVY ZHANG Internal Director of Marketing VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator HYEONG-SUN CHO Designer ANDREW GREEN Designer SNEHA KASUGANTI Designer JONAH RABB Designer NICHOLAS ROUSE Designer KELSIE ANDERSON Copy Editor CATIE ARBONA Copy Editor KEN ARMSTRONG Copy Editor AMISHI BAJAJ Copy Editor MARTIA BRADLEY Copy Editor SHANICE CASIMIRO Copy Editor CONNOR CUNNINGHAM Copy Editor LISA FAN Copy Editor ALAN HASSLER Copy Editor SHERRY HE Copy Editor NISHANTH IYENGAR Copy Editor CECILIA JIANG Copy Editor MICHELLE LEE Copy Editor CHELSEA LEU Copy Editor KATIE LEU Copy Editor 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 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
By Luke Brinker Viewpoints Columnist President Barack Obama reinvigorated the hopes of environmental activists when he declared in his second inaugural address that his administration would make climate change a secondterm priority. Failure to tackle the issue, Obama said, “would betray our children and future generations.” Despite an oft-mocked 2008 pledge to slow the rise of the oceans, the President gave climate change short shrift throughout most of his first term. Initial indications suggested that Obama’s first year in office would witness significant progress toward arresting climate change. In June 2009, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives narrowly passed a cap-and-trade bill sponsored by Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA), but the legislation languished in the Senate. That December, officials from around the world convened in Copenhagen for a high-stakes climate summit. Signaling his optimism that a deal could be reached, President Obama dropped in on the conference.
But the meeting failed to produce a landmark agreement. By 2010, Obama and the Democrats had consumed so much political capital on the stimulus and on health-care reform that there was little appetite for tackling yet another controversial issue. Fearing energ y industry–funded attack ads, Democrats punted on the topic. They lost the 2010 midterms anyway. With Republicans in control of the House and Democratic ranks reduced in the Senate, the prospects for a climate deal diminished from iffy to nil. What changed? The Obama who reclaimed the mantle of environmental protection earlier this year no longer had to worry about reelection. Not only did the President secure a second term in November, but Democrats also boosted their numbers in the House and strengthened their control of the Senate, creating more favorable conditions for a climate change accord. Finally, much as the horrific shootings in Newtown, Connecticut transformed the national debate on gun control, Hurricane Sandy forced many reluctant political players off the sidelines, lest extreme weather soon become the norm. We’ve heard little from the President on climate change since his January address. (That said, earlier this month he did appoint Gina McCarthy, a fierce pro-environment regulator, to be CLIMATE continued on page 6
By Eleanor Hyun Viewpoints Columnist When we watched the sunrise on the day after we graduated high school, my best friend and I wondered aloud why people were hugging and crying. To us, it was unquestionable that we’d remain close when we went to our different colleges. There was no need to even say good-bye. In high school, we would go to restaurants and talk over the food, then talk as the food was taken away, and then, worried that we were being rude filling a booth for so long, sit on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant and talk some more. In a hybrid philosophy-literature course we took together in our senior year, we read Plato’s Phaedrus, in which the truly loving soul is described as a thing that sprouts wings—an image that heavily influenced how we described our friendship. In many ways, we pursued a platonic ideal of friendship. Friendship seemed to exist not on the physical plane that we inhabited, but in a world constructed by our words and ideas. Our physical meetings—for lunch or video games—often felt like primitive prerequisites, only done to better
facilitate our conversation. I believed then that the physical distance of college would be only the smallest of obstacles to the continuation of this friendship. But the ugly truth of my longdistance friendship—which is something that I find surprisingly hard to admit—is that I get annoyed with my best friend. When we instant message, there are many times when one statement will rub me the wrong way and then put me on the defensive for the rest of the conversation. I hate that I’m so easily annoyed by the person I called my “friend for life” only last year. I think, “What’s wrong with her?” while wondering at the same time what’s wrong with me. Why is she so insensitive? And why am I so judgmental? Further complicating the issue is that some of my relationships have been maintained just fine through instant messaging. I message my younger sister almost every day and tell her about my experiences so extensively that I feel compelled to save a log of our conversations to a document titled “Skype Diary.” When I reexamine this Skype Diary, I discover small things that color the way my sister and I communicate with each other. Every comment, no matter how trivial, warrants a reaction—even if it’s just “lol,” “omg,” or, my sister’s favorite, “welp.” Delayed responses are accompanied by apologies and explanations, often something FRIENDS continued on page 6
THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | March 12, 2013
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Skyrocketing grad fees hurt UChicago prestige Without a commitment to lowering costs associated with Advanced Residency, tuition price freeze means little for potential students David Mihalyfy Viewpoints Contributor
collapse further reduced the number of tenure-track jobs while increasing the competition for them. Accordingly, the level of recommended professionalization has also increased. Although details vary with program, a rough consensus has emerged among many professors, from here or elsewhere, who appear at UChicago-sponsored professionalization events and write in The Chronicle of Higher Education. What’s recommended for a good job? An ambitious dissertation, a demonstrable secondary research specialization (perhaps involving another language), at least one article (ideally in a refereed journal), and attention to pedagogy resulting in one or more substantive, student-created classes (ideally taught at other institutions and in areas that “push” the boundaries of a student’s academic identity). What do all these have in common? Time—and time is money, in the form of AR fees. Rosenbaum has recognized, but not addressed, the problem of high AR fees. Back in the 2006–2007 academic year, he responded
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Provost Thomas Rosenbaum should begin to draw down the increasingly high Advanced Residency (AR) fees that many Ph.D. students pay beginning in their sixth year. These fees are now over $6,000 a year, and on track to surpass $7,500 in five years. Since 2007, Rosenbaum’s cumulative policy decisions have increasingly discouraged poorer students in many departments from adequately professionalizing, which in turn hurts students’ job placement and intellectual influence, as well as, ultimately, the University’s prestige. It would be unfortunate if Rosenbaum’s tenure and Robert Zimmer’s presidency were defined by the creation of “two tracks” of Ph.D. students in many programs in the Humanities and Social Science Divisions and the Divinity School: those with independent money who can afford to adequately professionalize, and those poorer students who cannot. The visionary Graduate Aid Initiative (GAI) of 2007 let
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dens.” Due to the economy, however, the Provost chose one fee, out-of-pocket AR tuition, to hold constant— which amounts to a decision to let total fees, and thus the counterproductive workloan “burdens,” continue to rise independently of tuition. When students complained in 2006–7, the basic
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Past and present fee levels for Advanced Residency (AR) graduate students were determined with help from the Office of the Bursar and the Offices of the Deans of Students of the Humanities Division, Social Science Division, and Divinity School. Based on this information, an average yearly rate of increase was determined for basic health insurance and the student life fee and compounded annually to obtain the projections for all academic years following 2012–13. SONIA DHAWAN | CHICAGO MAROON
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to widespread student concern by convening a university-wide committee under then Deputy Provost Cathy Cohen. That committee of deans, professors, and students (including myself ) ultimately validated student concern and recommended lowering student fees, since they entailed counterproductive work-loan “bur-
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UChicago catch up to its intellectual peers by offering most Ph.D. students five years of guaranteed funding. However, an “academic arms race” has dovetailed with steadily rising AR fees and produced conditions in which UChicago is again falling behind its peers with every passing year. The recent economic
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bundle of fees was $4,602, but that bundle is now $6,039 (up 31 percent from when students first called attention to the problem) and is on track to reach around $7,700 within five years (an increase of 40 percent). Effectively, the Provost’s policies discourage poorer students from professionalizing—especially those in
programs that involve heavy language study or fieldwork, which increases time to degree. A student with benefits through a spouse or some source of outside income (e.g., spousal or family money) can more easily minimize work-loan burdens and thus more easily professionalize. Students without those advantages, however, face a devil’s decision: “Do I graduate early and stop accumulating debt but risk getting trapped in adjunct positions or in a series of one-years that go nowhere? Or do I hang on at UChicago and try to teach each quarter in order to gain AR tuition remission, eke out what professionalization I can, and still perhaps graduate into a lesser job than I might have gotten if I could have worked less and professionalized more?” Even working at UChicago to support professionalization has become increasingly unfeasible under Rosenbaum’s tenure. On the one hand, rising fees have steadily eroded the one-time teaching pay raise of 2008–2009, to the point that this year’s student TAs effectively make 18 percent less than just four years ago—an effective pay decrease of almost a fifth of their weekly pre-tax income. On the other hand, what if
a poorer student cannot secure teaching and thus AR tuition remission? Part-time non-teaching jobs of $12– $14 an hour now see an astounding 71–83 percent of weekly wages going to meet high fees. On top of all this, the 2011 federal debt ceiling deal severely restricted loan subsidies, forcing grad students into loans that accrue interest immediately. Some prospective Ph.D. students are already choosing not to attend UChicago. Anecdotally, two of three recently admitted students turned down offers from a language-heavy subfield of the history department. Why? Campus visit conversations with GAI students currently in their sixth year led them to look beyond initial funding and academic quality and recognize that the policies of peer institutions would better permit professionalization once they inevitably entered AR. Thus, such desirable candidates will never bear the UChicago imprimatur— nor will they ever offer us their questions, which often emerge from their unique socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. Conversely, those poorer students already at or who will enter the University increasingly graduate to no
jobs or less prestigious jobs because Rosenbaum’s policies erect ever-higher barriers to professionalization. Yes, some students may snag a top job with just the strength of their dissertation, but the overall result of Rosenbaum’s policies is clear: a University that is wealthier, less intellectually vibrant, and less prestigious. The GAI was an important achievement, but its vision has not yet been fully implemented and fades with each year. Deputy Provost Deborah Nelson’s efforts to encourage early language study and improve advising are important, but are not commensurate with the magnitude of the problem. The Affordable Care Act’s effects are unclear and may help some students, but international students will surely be excluded. Thus, with no real solutions on the table, the University’s own policies are increasingly frustrating its investment in graduate students. Rosenbaum should revisit his continuing choice to let AR fees rise, and begin to draw them down for the good of the University. David Mihalyfy is a seventh-year graduate student in the Divinity School’s History of Christianity program.
Letter: Advocate for one-state solution left questions unanswered In response to “Panelists discuss one-state, two-state solutions” (March 8) A recent Maroon article mentioned that I called into question a speaker’s rejection of an exclusively Jewish state. While I certainly called into question Ali Abunimah’s rejection of a Jewish state, I never said or implied that that state should be exclusively Jewish. Israel
is the state of the Jewish people, but it is not a state only for the Jewish people. Twenty percent of Israel’s population is Arab-Israeli, and they have all the same rights as Israel’s Jews, including seats in the Israeli parliament. Israel is home to the world headquarters of the Baha’i faith. Israel
is the only country in the Middle East where the Christian population is growing rather than shrinking. All of that makes me proud of Israel. My question was actually as follows: “Why do you support the rights of the Palestinians to a state while denying it to the Jews? Fur-
thermore, considering the fact that Hamas has fired 13,000 rockets at Israeli civilians in the past 12 years and in its charter calls for genocide against the Jews, and considering the attitude that led Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to say that not a single Jew would be
allowed to remain in a state of Palestine, how do you expect the rights of Jews to be respected in a majority Arab Muslim state?” I did not receive an answer. If you call for one state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and if—like Abunimah and
UChicago’s SJP—you call for a Palestinian “right of return” that would guarantee that any such state has an Arab Muslim majority, then you owe the six million Jews currently living in Israel an answer to that question. Rebecca Abrams, Class of 2016
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Subtleties of body language are lost in textbased communications FRIENDS continued from page 4 as simple as, “Oh, sorry, missed these messages,” or even, “Oh, I forgot about you for a while.” I realized that these small comments are how we assure each other—constant reminders that we are both engaged in the conversation and care about what the other person has to say. Even the seemingly callous remarks—“welp” or “I forgot”—are comforting in a way, because we’ve known each other long enough to understand that those, too, are ways we express that we care. When I message my little sister, it’s as if I can hear her voice in my head. These markers of assurance were missing from my text-based conversations with my friend. Rather than warm or natural, the tone of her messages often sounded flat and cold. I thought that this must be because she was less sensitive than my little sister, and cared less about what I had to say. But I had never perceived this problem when we were in high school. What made me notice this part of her only now? The other night, I was having a text chat with my best friend; when the usual tension surfaced, I suggested we switch to video chat. After we switched, the conversation flowed much more smoothly. The first thing I noticed was the way she spoke: In text, her sentences were simply constructed, isolated, and cold, but the same sentence said into a webcam was embellished with qualifiers and an acknowledgement of subjectivity. Much of the difference, though, was nonverbal. When I talked, especially about sensitive topics, she would nod her head in understanding, something that in text would have been rendered as cold silence. Body language, no doubt, plays a large role in all of our communications. The first message we send to our friends is often one that negates aggression—one that becomes tenderness. I feel that this is reflected in our cultural understanding of body language. Think of some examples of body language and what they signal. Chances are the majority of elements on your list were examples of negative or aggressive body language, like “crossed arms = angry.” These are the statements that we are the most aware of because we strive to avoid them. Positive body language—whereby we show our interest and care for others—is less likely to occur consciously. If I was only troubled by a feeling of disconnection from my best friend, I would have been fustrated, but I would have accepted the situation. What I couldn’t understand was why, when I talked to her, I often felt uncomfortable, and sometimes even threatened. My ability to communicate effectively with friends and family largely depends on how well they are able to translate their body language into verbal cues of comfort and understanding. It turns out that my little sister is very good at this (and perhaps it is no coincidence that she has a meepish, unassuming online personality), but my best friend isn’t. After I told her about my need for verbal assurance in the absence of physical communication, she remarked that I had never mentioned that particular need before. What I had judged as pure insensitivity, it turns out, came down mostly to a lack of communication. For me, distance has brought into sharp relief the importance of the way we present our feelings to our friends, both near and far. Our modes of communication must be as sensitive and customizable as our relationships themselves. Eleanor Hyun is a first-year in the College majoring in English.
THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | March 12, 2013
Political science In an era of rapid advancement, scientists’ political leanings are more worthy of scrutiny than ever Kamil Ahsan Viewpoints Contributor One of the things I find irksome about studying in science is being exposed to science students’ sense of superiority—a sense that manifests itself in a grating insistence that the objective, value-free scientific method places the natural sciences above and beyond other “soft” disciplines. At least in my experience, you don’t have to try too hard to be on the other side of a conversation derisive toward (what is perceived as) non-quantitative political theory, opinionated historical accounts, or partial sociological surveys. Such positions invariably put scientists in an ivory tower: an apolitical, judgment-free higher ground where the only thing that matters is hard data. Look a little closer and you’ll find the implication that, by extension, scientists are more logical creatures than everybody else. But this attitude raises a question: Who genuinely believes that scientists, just by virtue of being scientists, are themselves objective beings? There’s obviously a distinction between doing objective science and being an objective scientist. The former is required for good science, but the latter doesn’t really exist at all. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody. It also shouldn’t come as a surprise that in the modern world’s political landscape, scientists tend to be a fairly distinct group of people. For instance, if a 2009 Pew Research survey, recently referenced by New Scientist, is to be believed, scientists overwhelmingly lean to the left. The survey reports that 52 percent of scientists identify as liberal, while only 9 percent identify as conservative. Needless to say, these are not the national averages. Such a dichotomous result reinforces an oft-held association between science and liberalism. This may be a response to the often anti-scientific stance of the right, a large number of whose adherents question the validity and/or utility of scientific evidence on many grounds, most vocally on
evolution and climate change. But if that’s the only criterion, then is everybody who disagrees with the right on science considered leftist? And what exactly does it mean to be “left-leaning ?” If by “left” you think merely along the Democrat-Republican split and your criterion is voting for Obama, then my personal experience bears that out, but I’d be interested to see how different this would be at places that aren’t UChicago. Do scientists merely respond to a social liberal agenda—abortion, gay rights—or are they likely to respond to a truly leftist agenda involving, for instance, wealth redistribution, progressive taxation, increases in social spending, control on markets, and/or the move toward a welfare state? Or are they responding primarily to the Democratic Party’s support for increased scientific research, especially in areas such as stem cell research where right-wing scrutiny has been particularly obstructive? As a science major in my undergraduate program, my science friends (admittedly, not all of them, but a great many) would often proudly exclaim that they simply didn’t care about international relations, political science, or whichever course I happened to take alongside my major requirements. In grad school, such matters don’t really come up, given the high specificity of our program. However, it shouldn’t go unnoticed that, regardless of the degree of interest or whether or not one professes one’s beliefs, all of us are certainly political—at least at a basal level. But, as the obligatory retort goes, why does it matter to any of us whether we know how scientists feel about the world? Well, there are a few reasons. First, of course, for purely demographic purposes. Second, because it would open doors to figuring out the role of scientific education in a person’s development, and how training students about the objective world shapes their subjective views. There’s more, however. I’d argue that there’s an absolute need to have a discussion about this. I’ve always subscribed to the
view that even if subjectivity cannot shape the actual result of an electrophoresis gel or the nature of smashing particles, ideologies can influence the kinds of things scientists gravitate toward, and want to study. Does an increased environmental component to the body of ongoing scientific study provide political space to discourse on climate change? Absolutely. Of course, there’s incontrovertible evidence for climate change that scientists are swayed by, much as there’s evidence of evolution. But in today’s starkly partisan atmosphere, it also lends itself to a political position, and that’s unavoidable. How about research on human fertility, and the development of in vitro fertilization or work on stem cells? Is there a reason scientists on the whole seem so much keener than the Republican Party to investigate this area of knowledge? Is it, perhaps, because their belief systems make them view it as vitally important to human progress? The poll results I cite above are far from providing enough information. It could be easily argued, for instance, that there are natural constraints on how leftist today’s science can be, given its long-standing affiliation with corporatism. Industry grants are integral to much of scientific research, and this often puts limits on what is being studied completely independently of individual scientists’ leanings. Fundamentally, the flow of capital is essential to facilitating scientific research, even if it can’t dictate experimental results. Regardless, with Obama possibly looking to devote a large amount of federal funding to a giant project aiming to map the human brain (akin to the way in which the Human Genome Project mapped the human chromosomes), scientists will soon find that the folks in the White Ho use have profound effects on the state of their research to an unprecedented extent. Now would probably be a good time to see where they stand on politics. Kamil Ahsan is a graduate student in developmental biology.
Canceling pipeline won’t fix climate crisis, but approval would make it unsolvable CLIMATE continued from page 4 the next head of the Environmental Protection Agency.) It’s not clear when or if Congress plans to take up the matter. For now, immigration reform and gun control are the two big issues dominating the political agenda. But that’s not to say there’s nothing Obama can do on the subject in the meantime. On March 1, the State Department released an official assessment of the environmental impact of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline would transport oil from Canada’s tar sands through the Great Plains and down to Texas. In July 2010, the EPA estimated that tar sands oil would produce greenhouse gas emissions 82 percent greater than those from the average U.S.–refined crude. Somehow, though, the State Department report asserted that building the Keystone pipeline would have no real impact on climate change. The report appears to set the stage for official approval of the project. Formally, it’s up to the State Department to grant permission for construction of the pipeline. However, Obama has indicated that he will have the final say on the matter. It’s difficult to square the State Department’s findings with the assessment of NASA climate scientist James Hansen, who famously stated in 2011 that “if the tar sands are thrown into the [energ y] mix, it is essentially game over” for the climate. Any measures taken after the development
of the tar sands would represent nothing more than a drop in the bucket. Curbing climate change can’t be accomplished simply by blocking the Keystone pipeline, but it will be virtually impossible if the pipeline is approved and thereby expedites production of tar sands oil. The State Department’s analysis appears to be partly based on the judgment that the tar sands will be developed whether the U.S. builds the pipeline or not. Canadian officials have boasted that they will have no shortage of consumers if the U.S. demurs. China, for example, is eagerly seeking new sources of energ y to fuel its burgeoning quasi-capitalist economy. It’s not obvious, though, why this should be an argument for the construction of the pipeline. It’s like saying that we’re going to be screwed anyway, so we might as well screw ourselves. If anything, it highlights the urgent need for a global agreement to solve climate change, complete with credits and supports for emerging economies like China, India, and Brazil. While the State Department report is understandably disheartening for climate change activists, they can take solace in the fact that Secretary of State John Kerry is now at the helm of the department. Throughout his Senate career, Kerry devoted significant attention to the climate crisis, and in his Senate confirmation hearings, he indicated that he considered climate change one of the leading foreign
policy challenges he would face. Having Kerry at the table makes it more likely that Obama will reach the right decision on Keystone. Denying the Keystone permit won’t be enough for Obama to keep the promises he made in his inaugural address. But, it’s an essential first step. Luke Brinker is a graduate student in the MAPSS program.
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 12, 2013
Director Chan-wook comes of Hollywood age—for what? Daniel Rivera Arts Editor When it first made the festival circuit, Stoker, the Hollywood debut of famed Korean director Park Chanwook, was, like any good movie, radically polarizing. The detractors were particularly vocal; back in January, a friend linked me to a review from Sundance that called the film a “brightlycolored Gothic disaster.” While most could agree that it was stylistically unparalleled, many were up in arms over its ambiguous plot (or lack thereof ). Other complaints lodged included a holey script, shaky characterization, a general unevenness, and execution that was sometimes near-comical. And retrospectively, I’m almost tempted to agree. But then I think of the film’s closing scene—Mia Wasikowska standing atop a highway knoll, legs parted in a new pair of crocodile-skinned Louboutins, peering through the crosshairs of a rifle— and it becomes apparent that Stoker is getting at something that operates against convention. Whether or not that’s earned, however, depends on if you’re willing to buy into it.
STOKER
Park Chan-wook AMC River East
To speak at length about what actually happens in Chan-wook’s film is to rob Stoker of the tension that defines it. Yet, for context: India Stoker (Wasikowska) and her father (Dermot Mulroney) are incredibly close. Lining his office walls are not only her pictures but also the stuffed corpses of all the birds he has spent years train-
ing her to hunt. When he dies in a car crash on her 18th birthday, India is left with her unstable mother, Evie (Nicole Kidman) and her uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode), who mysteriously turns up for the first time on the day of the funeral. Chan-wook’s camera often loses itself in Charlie’s magnetic cerulean eyes, which linger on India just long enough to let us know he’s planning something. In a confrontation in the middle of the film, Charlie says of India, “She’s of age.” Evie demands, on behalf of all of us, “Of age for what?” As mentioned previously, the script, penned by Wentworth Miller (who starred in the show Prison Break), has drawn ire for reveling in its buildup and then failing to deliver in its final act. Yet the first hour or so, with all of its suspense, plays out like a master’s class in psychological thrillers. This is appropriate, as Miller said he took cues from Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt. Perhaps that’s what attracted Chan-wook to making his Englishlanguage film debut. He claims that Vertigo spurred him into filmmaking. If we’re to examine Hitchcock, then, we can see that pivotal to any good suspense film is a strongly defined sense of place. Check. The Stoker estate is meticulously staged: India cracks hard-boiled eggs in her dining room while sitting in a high-backed wooden chair. It rears up above all the seating around it, caging India, or cradling her. Note the yolk of the egg, which is the same shade of ochre as a dish hung on the far back wall, or as Kidman’s perfectly coiffed hair. Color is consistent and thrown back at us unexpectedly, amplifying space while at the same time shrinking it. The film’s palette in general is lush, replete with a textured warmth that insulates all of the proceedings at hand; there’s
India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) surrounded by identical pairs of shoes—creative gifts from birthdays past. COURTESY OF FOX SEARCHLIGHT
no sense of time here, and despite the fact that India’s birthday is said to have been in ’94, it could just as convincingly been in ’61. Perhaps that’s due in part to Wasikowska’s performance. It should be no surprise to anyone that she’s good, but in India she finds a quiet depth that supersedes any of the work she’s done previously. Like Jennifer Lawrence’s Oscar-winning role in Silver Linings Playbook, Wasikowska was here called to express a wide range of emotions constantly, simultaneously. Unlike Lawrence (who, in playing Tiffany, was allowed room to be manic), Wasikowska must remain lethally controlled: India is quiet, withholding, angry, recklessly intelligent. Emotion may rack her body, but it will never control it. Accordingly, Stoker and much of its genius hangs in the balance between the furrow of Wasikowska’s brows and the unrelenting
purse of her lips. Also key to good suspense is strongly defined characters. The more ambiguous the motives, the more clearly delineated the players need to be. Stoker succeeds here largely thanks to its costume design, orchestrated by super duo Kurt and Bart. India spends the movie in sharply pleated skirts and loose, Peter Pan–collared button-downs. She is demure, muted. Her black and white saddle shoes, gifted to her by her father every year on her birthday, become Stoker’s defining motif. The first time she steps into heels signals the film reaching its climax. Evie, meanwhile, is elegant, and dressed in a way the film’s costume design team described as very “lady of the house” in an interview; this is encapsulated in the ivory silk slip she wears as she burns what’s left of her late husband’s personal belongings. Charlie wears fitted, deep-pocketed trousers, in which his hands are often
buried, and regally colored V-necks. The stylists revealed that when dressing Charlie, Chan-wook instructed them to curate a color scheme from the plumage that would be found naturally on birds of prey. Long before he struck it big in Korea with Joint Security Area and the Vengeance trilogy, Chan-wook studied philosophy at Sogang University. It’s still evident in his work today: It’s present in the carnal red of the pining widow’s bedroom and in the close-up of a needle puncturing a young woman’s blister. It is common territory in film to make the environment of the movie visually reflect the internal struggles of the characters; Chan-wook takes this a step further, so that we’re not sure if the characters are defining their world or being subsumed by it. Heels on, safety off, we see in India a stroke of brilliance, and, not to be redundant, a stunningly cinematic one at that.
A shot at spring break with lots of tequila, rum, and vodka Andrew Green Arts Contributor Spring break has come a long way since its origins in 1936, when Colgate University’s swimming coach Sam Ingram brought his team to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for training over the spring holiday. The April 1959 TIME Magazine article “Beer & the Beach” brought spring break revelry into the mainstream, setting the stage for the explosive success of the first spring breakthemed film, 1960’s Where the Boys Are. However, we have the late ’70s and early ’80s to thank for spring break’s current reputation—including the Tom Cruise film Spring Break and the advent of MTV’s coverage of the event as a debaucherous, alcohol-fueled marathon of wet T-shirt contests. True to this ideal, the Maroon brings UChicago’s sun-starved, overworked, and fed-up students a selection of three wholesome shooters, inspired by notorious spring break. Each recipe is intended to fill five equally sized shot glasses. As they say in Cancún, ¡¡¡Bebe con moderación!!!
The Cancún Tap Water Did you know that Cancún is a Mayan word meaning “nest of snakes”? Yuuuuup. 1 hibiscus tea bag 4 ounces tequila 2 ounces lime juice 1 ounce agave nectar, sugar syrup, or other sweetener Begin by steeping one hibiscus teabag in about 4 ounces boiling water for 5 minutes. Then, in a glass or a cocktail shaker, combine 4 ounces tequila, 2 ounces lime juice, 1 ounce agave nectar or other sweetener, and a ton of ice. Stir or shake until the drink is very cold. Using a strainer or anything to keep the ice in the shaker, pour the margarita into five 1.5-ounce shot glasses, making sure to leave a bit of room at the top of each glass. When the tea has turned a deep, rich, dark red, remove the tea bag. Place a small spoon upside down over the shot glass, and gently pour the tea over the back of the spoon to evenly disperse it on top of the margarita. This is called a
“float,” and it is a technique used to layer liquids atop one another in a shot glass. When you’re finished, your shooter should contain a vibrant red, tart, cranberrylike layer followed by a strong but balanced margarita. If tequila isn’t your thing, this can be made with mezcal, vodka, or any other clear liquor. But tequila is what all the cool kids will be drinking. The Daytona Beach Bomber
Did you know that Daytona Beach was the site of MTV’s first ever Spring Break special in 1986? And that tornado strikes in the Daytona Beach area are 33 percent above the national average? 4 ounces rum 2.5 ounces pineapple or mango juice 1.5 ounces ginger beer
According to legend*, the spring break epicenter Daytona Beach was named after the mythical Seminole spirit Day’Toya, a fire-breathing, half-manatee, halfcougar goddess of ecstasy and hedonism. Every spring, Daytona Beach plays host to over 100,000 spring breakers over the course of six weeks. Start this shooter by mixing 4 ounces of rum with 2.5 ounces of DRINKS continued on page 8
THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | March 12, 2013
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Style
Chicago Manual of
B by Alexander Wang
Jessen O’Brien byby Alexandra McInnis
Alexander Wang takes to the runway after his first show as head designer for Balenciaga, looking like he’s gone back to his roots and styled himself in his old T-shirt line. COURTESY OF STYLE.COM
The legendary Vogue editorin-chief Diana Vreeland once declared, “In a Balenciaga [outfit], you were the only woman in the room.” This was in the 1960s, when the influence of Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga was at its peak. Almost more of a craftsman than an artist, Balenciaga had received formal training in tailoring since age 12, and his unparalleled finesse for cut, fit, and drape was evident in his neat, architectural clothing pieces. Balenciaga infused his Spanish heritage into his masterful silhouettes, with influences ranging from flamenco dance to the Spanish monarchy, all culminating in garments that conveyed a sense of dignity and pride. He was a favorite of Pauline de Rothschild and Jackie Kennedy until his retirement in 1968. As of December 2012, this legacy has been transferred to the hands of a tranquil and soft-spoken 29-year-old Taiwanese-American from New York City’s East Village. The decision to appoint Alexander Wang, the ultra-cool designer known foremost for his pricey hoodies and tank tops, sparked
First spring break’s sour, then it’s sweet, then, all of a sudden, it’s Easter DRINKS continued from page 8 pineapple or mango juice in a glass. Sweet fruit juices pair best with rum, which is distilled from sugarcane or molasses. I recommend using Bacardi 151, a higher-proof version of traditional rum. If there’s none handy, any variety of clear rum will work fine, as these don’t have a noticeable taste, while dark rums, those that have been aged in barrels, have a strong flavor which can detract from the other components of the drink. To this mixture, add 1.5 ounces of ginger beer. This isn’t “beer”; it’s a spicy carbonated soda with a strong ginger kick—very different from ginger ale. Pour the shooter into 5 shot glasses and enjoy. The sugary juice and the peppery kick of the ginger beer pair well with the subtle taste of the rum. Sweet and spicy, like Day’Toya herself. *This is unverifiable.
Southern Comfort has a rich history in its hometown of New Orleans and can be thought of as a type of infused whiskey, although today it is made from a proprietary mixture of vanilla, lemon, cinnamon, cherries, honey, and grain alcohol. Amaretto is an Italian liquor that is almond-flavored but is made from apricot pits and may not contain any almonds at all. It makes drinks taste like candy. Popular brands include Disaronno and Lazzaroni Amaretto. This drink couldn’t be any easier: combine all three components in a cocktail shaker or glass, add ice, stir, strain, and divide easily between shot glasses. If you’re feeling adventurous, feel free to add cranberry juice or peach nectar. Depending on how much lime juice you use, this drink can taste like anything from Swedish fish to Warheads. Remember those? Throw a few of those into the shaker as well, to keep things interesting. And remember, Easter is right around the corner….
The Punta Cana Pucker Did you know that the island of Hispaniola, where Punta Cana is located, was part of the New World discovered by Christopher Columbus? He even made his brother Bartholomew the island’s first governor! Then, they were both imprisoned, along with their less famous brother, Giacomo. 3 ounces Southern Comfort 2 ounces lime juice 2 ounces amaretto This drink is a take on the classic SoCo and lime, with the addition of almond liquor giving the drink the tart, sweet taste of sour gummy worms. Rather than suggest a logical connection between this drink’s name and the worldwide spring break headquarters of Punta Cana, I want to reiterate that it tastes like sour gummy worms.
THE PUNTA CANA PUCKER
outrage among high fashion fans when they learned of the decision. But with the departure of Nicholas Ghesquière, the brand’s creative director for the past 15 years, the Balenciaga company—whose name had become synonymous with Ghesquière’s avant-garde, armor-like pieces—had the opportunity to go in a new direction. With Alexander Wang, they found new talent to revive Balenciaga’s historic past, and to bring back a sense of wearability to the brand. Wang’s debut collection, which showed on February 28 as part of Paris’s Fall/Winter 2013 Fashion Week, utilized a somber palette of black, white, and grey, with occasional touches of brown and green. These tones are ubiquitous among Fall/Winter collections and often appear heavy, but Wang’s silhouettes, defined by a combination of sharp fit and gravity-defying flare, conveyed a lightness of movement that counteracted the potential dreariness of the collection. The references to classic Balenciaga tailoring were clear
in Wang’s sheath dresses and cigarette leg pants, but he also incorporated drapery into some of his dresses that steered away from a cliché Grecian shape through use of tapered shapes and angular necklines. His gowns and turtleneck sweaters both looked expensive and high quality but, like original Balenciaga garments, always erred on the side of ready-to-wear as opposed to haute couture. They were, in short, clothes that a woman in 2013 could wear on a normal workday. Wang’s success in modernizing the classic qualities of Balenciaga may be due to the fact that he mastered wearable clothing in its most basic sense with his own line of high-end basics. Nevertheless, his work falls in line with the current trend of historic fashion houses recruiting new creative directors to bring brands back to their roots—for example, Raf Simons reviving the “New Look” for Christian Dior. Just as cinema is obsessed with Old Hollywood, the fashion industry continues to look back nostalgically on fashion’s supposed “Golden Age,” where
the likes of Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent transformed women’s wardrobes with unprecedented artistry and innovation. It appears that innovation in fashion has seemingly been exhausted. Women freely wear pants, mini skirts, and dresses in all silhouettes, and little territory is left for revolutionary sartorial upheaval. Instead, more subtle changes have prevailed. The pieces we wear now are not so different from those of the 1990s, but consumers generally approach these clothes with more consciousness of brand, fit, and detail. Meanwhile, the so-called “futuristic” look appears on the runways every few seasons, but since these looks are inevitably composed of plastic and metallic fabrics, it’s no wonder that we find ourselves turning once more to the great designers of the 20th century. Until a designer creates a drastically new and appealing vision of the future, we will continue to rely on the past for inspiration, just like Alexander Wang at Balenciaga.
Sahmat Collective brings a history of Indian activism to the Smart Sarah Tarabey Arts Contributor At the crossroads of uniquely Indian artistic expression and political activism stands the Smart Museum’s Sahmat Collective. A wide range of artistic media provide the expansive stage upon which is offered a telling glimpse of India’s often contentious sociopolitical scene, set against the backdrop of its engrossing culture, history, and ethnic diversity. The movement has a multifaceted and highly imaginative approach in giving a voice to Indian people’s rising calls for unity and progress.
SAHMAT COLLECTIVE Smart Museum of Art Through June 9
The project itself began in 1989, prompted by the politically motivated assassination of Safdar Hashmi, a well-known actor and activist in India. Upon his death, a group of his supporters and other Indian activists banded together to form the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust. Working to promote freedom from prejudice and perceived differences in favor of unity through artistic communication, it continues to provide a forum for Indians to express their hopes and beliefs. It is this air of freedom and dynamism that pervades the exhibit. The Collective does a good job of articulating the stylistic breadth of the movement. From so driven and passionate a goal emerge deep, sensitive, and spiritual pieces that function on both aesthetic and symbolic levels. Subject matter ranges from social and realistic, to naturalistic, to mythological and religious iconography. It is equally difficult to label the exhibit with a single style; it’s a mixture of past
and present, of reality and unreality with heavily mystical undertones. Bright greens, bloody reds, deep yellows, and hues of blues stand out among the more ghoulish black. In observing the exhibit as a whole and examining the detail of each individual work, it is thus easy to get lost—or, better yet, immersed. There are even more surprising works as well, challenging notions of what can be considered art. An auto rickshaw hearkens to an annual public event in Delhi wherein drivers of these pseudo taxicabs compete to publicly display the best slogans pertaining to the Sahmat movement on their vehicles. These drivers are of highly diverse ethnic backgrounds, and their cooperation reinforces a common bond amongst the Indian people. Another centerpiece is even more cryptic: Yellow-petaled flowers stand atop an inverted boat, which itself lies on a cart. On its sides are two rows of identically pictured bearded men, under each a different label: “secessionist,” “extremist,” “fundamentalist,” and the like. On the floor of the later portion of the exhibit lie several versions of a picture of a decaying corpse in the street, each with large nails of various arrangements sticking out of the image. Not all of the pieces explore matters of such weighty consequence. Laid out according to the chronological progression of the movement, the more recent pieces become more abstract, political, and recognizably “modern.” One can even take a picture with a life-size cardboard cutout of India’s noted modern artist, M.F. Hussain, and lounge in a projection room displaying various musical performances, filled with pillows and overcast with banners with painted Sahmat phrases. The Collective ultimately appeals to a very universal desire to express and to be understood as equals. For the art connoisseur, the politically inclined, and the Curious George, it is well worth the inquiry.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON | ADVERTISEMENT | March 12, 2013
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Thursday, April 11th 7:00 - 9:00 pm Speaking program begins at 7:45 pm Illuminating Company 19 E. 21st St., Chicago (chicagoilluminatingcompany.com) Event will include hearty hors d’oeuvres, wine/beer, and a live jazz quartet Your class, David Axelrod, and Allen Sanderson will be there, will you?
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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | March 12, 2013
Fourteen Maroons to compete at NCAAs Swimming & Diving Tatiana Fields Sports Staff The pressure is on for the 14 Maroons that qualified for the upcoming D-III Nationals. After a six-month-long season, everything comes down to this final meet for these select athletes, and the Maroons are hoping for their best finish ever. With 57 people on the swim and dive squads, about onefourth of the team qualified for Nationals—a great improvement over previous years. Swimmers had to either achieve individual NCAA cuts throughout the season or earn a spot on the relay teams that also qualified through their aggregate times. Divers earned their qualifying berths at the D-III Diving Zones a couple of weeks ago. “This is the largest NCAA Championship team we’ve ever had,” head coach Jason Weber said. “Last year, we had 10 (six women, four men), so the nine qualifiers on the men’s side is by far our best. We have also qualified a total of four relays, with three on the men’s side, which is a first. In years past, we’ve only had individual qualifiers, and last year was the first time we had ever qualified a relay with our women’s 800 free relay. I think we have a good shot at scoring in all four of the relays
we qualified in plus possibly two more on the men’s side.” The surge in relay qualifiers can only bode well for the Maroons. Two years ago, the South Siders didn’t qualify for any relays, and now the team has four relays that are through to Nationals. With three of these relays on the men’s side, this is another marker of how much stronger the men’s team has gotten over the past year. Another plus of having relays qualify is that relays score double the points of individual events, giving the Maroons a chance for their best team finish in history. “We would like to improve upon our times and scores from conference champs and score in as many events as we can,” Weber said. “Last year, we finished 29th on the men’s side and 21st on the women’s. [We] would like to improve on both of those places, hopefully finishing in the top 20 on both.” The men’s side has nine qualifiers, with seven swimmers and two divers. Veteran thirdyear Eric Hallman will lead the men’s side, competing in five events, including the 200 IM, 200 freestyle, 200 butterfly, and two relays. Second-year Andrew Angeles has had a very strong season too and will be swimming the 200 breaststroke, 100 breaststroke, and 50 freestyle. Fellow second-year
Andrew Salomon will be in the 800 freestyle relay. However, most of the men’s team is made up of fresh faces, with first-years Bryan Bunning, Thomas Meek, James Taylor, and Matthew Veldman all competing at Nationals. The team is rounded out with second-year divers Matthew Staab and Anthony Restaino, both of whom had impressive performances at Diving Zones. On the women’s side, five swimmers made it through. Fourth-year Kathleen Taylor will finish out her last Nationals with the 1,650 freestyle, 200 freestyle, and the 800 freestyle relay. Second-year Elizabeth Millen will also have a busy schedule with the 500 freestyle, 1,650 freestyle, 200 freestyle, and 800 freestyle relay. Like the men’s team, the women’s team also features a host of fresh talent: First-years Karen Chu, Jenna Harris, and Ciara Hu are all swimming at Nationals. With the number of underclassmen on the Nationals team, Weber has high hopes for the future of the team. “We’re a young team with a lot of talent, and we’re only going to get better,” Weber said. The NCAA D-III National Championships will take place in Shenandoah, Texas at the Conroe Natatorium on March 20–23.
Fourth-year pair looks toward outdoor season TRACK continued from back senior is a satisfying reward after countless hours of training,” Whitmore said. “I simply ran my race, got out aggressive, settled in, and closed hard.” The men’s race also had a tight finish. Haverford’s Chris Stadler took first with his time of 14:27.74, beating John Crain of North Central by a bit more than a second. Whitmore took the end of his indoor career with grace. “It was great to end my indoor career at North Central College, a place where I have had success before and is not too far away [so] my family and friends were able to attend,” Whitmore said. Whitmore’s career as an athlete at the University of Chicago has been characterized by success, with numerous AllAmerican performances and top finishes. Like Sizek and Lawton before her, he wishes to inspire current and future Maroons in their own pursuits. “Through hard work and dedication, I hope to continue to set an example for others to follow,” Whitmore said. “I’d really like to add that we had a fan bus of people come out to the meet, and it was awesome,” Sizek said. “A national meet is only scary when you feel like you are there all alone, and I most definitely was not alone. It was
great to have teammates warming up with me before my race and cheering for me during it. I love the team, and it’s only through having the team’s support that I can do well at running.” People often forget that track and field truly is a team sport— even though it is subdivided into mostly individual events. Whitmore and Sizek trained with their fellow Maroons all year long, and their teammates pushed them to victory. “To all who came out to support, thank you! You really do make a difference!” Whitmore said. The South Siders, led by Whitmore and Sizek, will now move on to the outdoor season. While preparation for their teammates began over two weeks ago before Last Chance weekend, Whitmore and Sizek began this Sunday, the day after Nationals. “It’s time to move outside into the freezing rain and unseasonably cold temperatures that seem to define springtime in Chicago,” Sizek said jokingly. “Outdoor season started on Sunday for me with an 85-minute-long run.” The Maroons will take on the best of the region early next month at the Chicagoland Invitational. There, the quest for more Nationals qualifiers and a conference title will begin anew.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | March 12, 2013
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Chicago to face UIC in warm-up for Florida trip Baseball Sarah Langs Associate Sports Editor The baseball world is waking up. Spring training games in Arizona and Florida are in full swing, and the World Baseball Classic is starting to garner headlines as well. Did you hear? New York Mets third baseman David Wright is a national hero. While the Netherlands and Italy continue to prove that they do belong in the international tournament, established in 2006, the Maroons begin their quest to do the same, though on a smaller scale. As you may or may not recall, the Maroons were left out of the NCAA D-III tournament last spring, despite a strong season against a tough schedule and all indications as late as the night of the announcement that they would be included. This year, the South Siders are out to end up where they believe they should have last year. “Our team is hungry to prove we belong in the tournament. We don’t forget last year; we use it as extra motivation for this season,” fourth-year first baseman J. R. Lopez said. Perhaps they’ve been following the Twitter account of another American hero, Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones, who ends most days with a reminder to his followers that they should “#StayHungry” for success in sport and life. When asked about general expectations for the season, Lopez simply replied, “Tournament bound.” Starting their regular season before the Major Leaguers do, the South Siders will
step into the batter’s box this afternoon against Illinois–Chicago (4–7). The D-I Flames started off their season with a win over Texas A&M, but have been losing games of late. Their pitching staff has been on a roller coaster. The Flames surrendered 17 runs to Purdue on March 9, the day after yielding only two to the Boilermakers. One advantage Illinois–Chicago will have over the South Siders is the mere fact that the Flames’ season began in midFebruary. It’s not like the Maroons have just been sitting around, looking out their windows, like Rogers Hornsby in his immortal quote (“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”). “We have been training inside of Crown Field House for the past nine weeks,” Lopez said. Another boon to the Maroons’ hopes is the number of players they have returning from last year’s successful squad. “We have a similar team as last year, so I’m expecting us to play well and contend for a spot in the playoffs,” second-year infielder Kyle Engel said. Lopez, too, is feeling hopeful. “I feel confident in our team’s abilities. We have a lot of returners, and we have put in the work during the offseason to make improvements from last year,” he said. Most specifically, the Maroons have been focusing on defense. They feel their hitting is already close to where they want it to be, but want to make sure they don’t lose games on errors. Errors certainly caused concern
FREAKY FAST
DELIVERY!
Current fourth-year pitcher Matt O’Connor throws the ball during an away game against Northwestern on May 8 of last year. COURTESY OF DAVE HILBERT
toward the end of last season for the team. Today’s game will be the team’s first and only contest before heading down to Florida for the spring trip. “The game against UIC is serving as a warm-up for…Florida. We need to get the
season to a good start by playing well in Florida, and UIC is a team that will prepare us for that,” Engel said. The quest to show the NCAA that the Maroons belong in the playoffs begins this afternoon at 4 p.m. at Les Miller Field.
Squad to face Seward CC in Burr Ridge on Thursday M. TENNIS continued from back itself with a win in the third. The Maroons’ No. 1 doubles team of Sabada and Ravella lost 8–2 and Bhargava and Karandikar went down 8–5 at No. 2. Crawford and Zhang were able to salvage a point with an 8–5 win at No. 3. “I think the first match was such an emotional high that we had a little mental lapse during doubles, but we found our way in singles,” Tee said. “We’re lucky enough that we’re very deep in singles and very good, and we can sometimes make up for a lapse, not that we like to, but we’re fortunate enough that we’re very good in singles.” Chicago was not unsettled by the disappointment though, winning five of six singles points, its only loss coming in the No. 5 spot when Zhang had to retire due to a cramp while trailing 7–5, 3–0.
Sabada was able to see out a 7–6 (7–2), 6–3 victory at No. 1. Bhargava cruised at No. 2, winning 6–2, 6–3, before No. 3 Crawford won by the same score. Wins at No. 4 for Golovin and No. 6 for Abrams saw out a 6–3 victory. The Maroons, who can rightfully be pleased with two impressive victories against opponents of similar quality, must move on quickly, with their next match coming up on Thursday. There is a large portion of the season still to play for Chicago, but Tee is happy with his team’s progress so far. “At the beginning of the year, our goal was to be a top 10 team and, other than the little upset against Kenyon, I think we’re well on our way to achieving those goals,” Tee said. “We still have a really tough schedule ahead of us, but we’ve taken care of what we need to take care of so far.” The Maroons face Seward CC at 5 p.m. on Thursday at Five Seasons in Burr Ridge, IL.
McGillis: “The energy from my teammates was awesome”
FREAKY FAST
DELIVERY! ©2011 JIMMY JOHN’S FRANCHISE, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
W. TENNIS continued from back could not convert. “I know that I wasn’t being aggressive enough at the net during those match points—my nerves playing a decent part in it—and ultimately DePauw was more aggressive,” Tang said. The second-years would lose in the tiebreaker, 9–8 (1). Once again, Chicago would have to turn things around in singles. With wins from Tang, Lee, and Schumann, and narrow defeats of Li and McGillis, the dual was tied 4–4, with Ramaswami splitting sets at No. 4. The high-pressure situation did not faze Ramaswami though, and the first-year took a 4–0 lead to start off the third set. “The energy from my teammates was awesome, and I gave it back to them by battling for every point and putting my all into the third set,” Ramaswami said. “I think
my opponent started to break down a little mentally.” Even with DePauw’s Caroline Emhardt giving Ramawami no pace on the ball through high and far ground strokes, the first-year managed to contain her opponent by maintaining her position on the baseline, focusing on ball movement, and attacking whenever she could. Ramaswami’s adaptive strategy not only helped win her match 6–2, 4–6, 6–3, but also clinched the 5–4 win for Chicago. “It felt great to be the deciding match, but I do have to say that it was a team effort,” Ramaswami said. “My teammates got me there by staying solid and getting us four victories: To top it off with the fifth in that kind of high-energy atmosphere was an awesome feeling.” The Maroons will play host to Olivet Nazarene on Friday at 5 p.m.
SPORTS
IN QUOTES “Right out of the hand I was like, ‘Oh (shit), it’s right at his (groin).” —Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander tells reporters what was going through his head as he relased a pitch to the Mets’ Jordany Valdespin on Monday.
All-American duo of Whitmore and Sizek heads out in style Track & Field Isaac Stern Sports Staff As the indoor season wrapped up this past weekend at Nationals, two Maroons added “2013 AllAmerican” to their resume. Fourth-years Billy Whitmore and Julia Sizek—the only two South Siders to make the trip to Naperville—claimed the honor for the second time this year by finishing seventh and eighth, respectively, at the NCAA National Championship. In order to receive All-American honors in indoor track and field, an athlete must place in the top eight at the national meet. Sizek finished with a time of 17:15.21 in the 5,000-meter run to place eighth at the meet. Sizek came into the race with the 11th seed, which she had earned with her time of 17:11.37 from the Warhawk Classic. En route to her All-American performance, Sizek overcame four higher-seeded runners and ran a negative split, running the second half of the race faster than the first. “I think I raced pretty well,” Sizek said. “I went out with the second pack and just stuck
with them. It was definitely an exercise in holding on for as long as possible, which is how longdistance races often go.” Sizek had intense competition down to the wire as Christy Cazzola of UW–Oshkosh took home the championship by a narrow margin of .09 seconds over Nicole Michmerhuizen. Cazzola’s time of 16.57.58 earned her the first place finish. Sizek finished a comfortable six seconds ahead of the ninth place competitor and All-American cutoff, Kristen Galligan of Washington and Lee. Despite the impressive finish, Sizek still felt she could have run a better race. “It was good to end on a high note, though I never walk away from a race feeling fully satisfied,” Sizek explained. “There’s always the wish that you could have run a little faster, or been a little more strategic, or something to that effect.” Even though an athlete’s competitive nature always forces her to look for ways to improve, Sizek remains proud of what she has accomplished. “It’s very satisfying to reach a goal, and it’s nice to be an All-
American,” Sizek said. “What I think was best about the whole experience was seeing how far I’ve come. I remember my first year, when we drove out to watch Liz Lawton run the 5k at indoor nationals, and I was so impressed by her fourth place performance, as well as by the ferocity of the field. Now that I’m a fourthyear, there have been a couple of weird moments when I realized that I’m now that person that people think is fast, not that I’m Liz Lawton by any stretch of the imagination!” Whitmore, on the other hand, finished seventh in the field of 13 with his time of 14:36.39 in the 5000-meter run. He came into the meet seeded 12th with his time of 14:33.99 from the Leonard “Squig” Converse Invitational. Whitmore overcame five higher-seeded runners in order to achieve his All-American finish. Like Sizek, Whitmore finished comfortably over the All-American cutoff. Whitmore beat ninth-place finisher Peter Kissin of Haverford by just over nine seconds. “To be an All-American as a TRACK continued on page 10
Fourth-year distance runners Julia Sizek (pictured) and Billy Whitmore earned All-American honors at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships this past Saturday. COURTESY OF HANS GLICK
Squad edges Oberlin, DePauw in South Siders take to road, defeat Tigers, Quakers return to Greencastle, IN Women’s Tennis
Men’s Tennis
Second-year Megan Tang returns the ball in a match against UW–Whitewater in the NCAA Regionals on May 13, 2012. COURTESY OF DAVE HILBERT
Alexander Sotiropoulos Senior Sports Staff Greencastle, Indiana is the Maroons’ kind of town. After finishing third at the ITA Indoor Championships two weekends ago, No. 5 Chicago (5– 3) went back to DePauw’s home courts on Saturday and defeated Oberlin 6–3, before narrowly beating No. 8 DePauw (6–2) by a final of 5–4. No. 1 doubles and No. 4 singles player, first-year Helen Sdvizkhov, did not play due to a back injury.
Against Oberlin (5–4), the temporary lineup put the Maroons at a 2–1 deficit heading into singles. The lone doubles victory came from the No. 3 tandem of secondyears Megan Tang and Maggie Schumann. While it was the first time the two have played together this season, the transition was smooth. The second-years won 8–2. “I didn’t really feel like I needed to adjust, because all three of us ultimately have the same goals: Attack the net, hit deep crosscourt shots, and get as many first serves in as possible,” Tang said.
Fourth-year Linden Li and second-year Kelsey McGillis fell short at No. 1, 8–6, while firstyears Stephanie Lee and Sruthi Ramaswami, in their first time playing No. 2 doubles, lost 8–1. But the defeats did not hurt the Maroons mentally. “Singles was the time for me to start over, and I think my losses in doubles fired me up to show the other teams that they can’t get past me,” Ramaswami said. “Since tennis is just as much a mental game as it is physical, I was determined to get out on the court after doubles as excited and ready to fight as I could be.” The Maroons stormed the court in singles, winning five out of six matches to clinch the victory. Chicago’s comeback win against Oberlin foreshadowed what was to come against DePauw. For that match, Lee and Ramaswami played No. 3 doubles, while Tang and Schumann held the No. 2 spot. Li and McGillis would win decisively, 8–3, but Lee and Ramaswami lost 8–5. The closest match would come at No. 2. With a 7–5 advantage on Tang’s serve, Chicago looked for a 2–1 lead going into singles. Unfortunately for the Maroons, Tang could not hold, but Chicago still had two match points the following game. The Maroons W. TENNIS continued on page 11
Jake Walerius Associate Sports Editor For a team that has been pegged as the underdog more often than not in the past few weeks, the Maroons proved to be accomplished frontrunners as they saw off DePauw and Earlham on Saturday. No. 29 Chicago (6–1), which has now extended its winning streak to five matches, scored a 7–2 victory over DePauw (2–6) before beating No. 30 Earlham (7–2) by a score of 6–3. Head coach Jay Tee pinpointed DePauw’s doubles lineup as a potential threat before the match, but the Maroons were able to secure all three doubles points with relative comfort. Third-year Krishna Ravella and second-year Deepak Sabada won 8–6 in the No. 1 spot, second-year Ankur Bhargava and first-year Neil Karandikar saw off their opponents 8–4 at No. 2, and first-years Jake Crawford and Gordon Zhang earned an 8–5 victory at No. 3. “We really, really played well first and foremost,” Tee said. “I thought the guys did a great job competing and doing all the little things right. DePauw are very energetic in doubles and, instead of matching their energy, we surpassed it.” Things didn’t go quite as smoothly in singles play, but Chicago was able to win four of its six matches. No. 1 Sabada continued his dominant season, winning 6–2, 6–1.
“Deepak Sabada at No. 1 has been our leader all year and did a great job against a really, really tough player in Sam Miles,” Tee said. “Miles has made the NCAA tournament the last few years and just on Thursday beat the No. 1 player from Butler University, who is a fantastic player, and Deepak made quick work of him.” Bhargava struggled at No. 2, falling into a back-and-forth encounter that ended with a score of 6–4, 0–6, 10–8. However, the Maroons bounced back from that loss quickly with Crawford, third-year Alexander Golovin, and Zhang picking up straight sets victories at Nos. 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Fourth-year Harrison Abrams dropped his No. 6 match, 6–1, 6–3, but the team victory had already been secured. DePauw has struggled this season after finishing last year as one of the top 30 teams in the nation. It has fallen out of the national rankings with a slow start to the season, and, after this defeat to Chicago, will likely drop down in the regional rankings, where it currently sits one place ahead of the Maroons at sixth. The new rankings will be released on Thursday. If DePauw was a team in decline heading into this weekend, then Earlham was certainly a squad on the upswing, coming into the match on the back of seven straight wins. Chicago struggled to slow that momentum, dropping its opening two doubles games, before steadying M. TENNIS continued on page 11