FRIDAY • APRIL 26, 2013
CHICAGOMAROON.COM
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
ISSUE 40 • VOLUME 124
Civic Engagement VP announces Law school alum covers tuition for students in need new student advisory board Sarah Miller Senior News Staff
Derek Douglas, the Vice President for Civic Engagement, discussed the University’s relationship with the surrounding community at McCormick Lounge on Wednesday during the third Leadership Conversation. TIFFANY TAN | THE CHICAGO MAROON
Harini Jaganathan Associate News Editor Vice President for Civic Engagement Derek Douglas headlined the third Leadership Conversation on Wednesday, which centered around the University’s community outreach efforts. At the SG and Office of Campus and Student Life–sponsored talk,
Douglas announced the creation of a new student advisory council to work directly with the Office of Civic Engagement to provide a link between student and administrative involvement in the community. Among the principles Douglas cited as part of a “New Model of Engagement” was a mutually beneficial relationship between the community
and the University, saying the University is not “going to do civic engagement out of charity.” Douglas outlined the three branches of the Office’s work: strengthening community relations through programs like UChicago Promise and the Neighborhood Schools Program, supporting urban research to develop
The incoming class of Law School students will be able to take advantage of a new full-tuition scholarship program, thanks to a donation from a Law School alumna. The $4 million gift from Debra Cafaro ( J.D. ’82) will allow some low-income UChicago Law School students beginning with the class of 2016 to graduate debt-free. “The scholarship was [Cafaro’s] idea. She was a first-generation college student…She believed the University of Chicago opened doors for her,” Dean of the Law School Michael Schill said. The daughter of a homemaker and a postman, Cafaro is a firstgeneration college student who is currently the CEO of Ventas, a senior housing and health care real estate investment trust. She practiced law for 13 years before entering the business sec-
tor. Cafaro is also the co-chair of the Law School’s Campaign Planning Group, and in the past she has chaired the Annual Fund, been a member of the Visiting Committee, and participated in the Dean’s Business Advisory Group. According to Schill, the Law School is currently in the process of finalizing admissions and choosing scholarship recipients for the class of 2016. There was no additional application for the scholarships; students were evaluated based on their financial need and merit, he said. The Cafaro scholarship is currently the only need-based, full-ride scholarship offered by the Law School and the second full-ride scholarship program at the Law School. The Rubenstein Scholars Program provides 60 full-ride scholarships, solely merit-based, to members of each incoming class. Cafaro was not available for comment prior to publication.
University mourns death of recent alum
LEADER continued on page 2
Uncommon Interview: Carol Browner Former Climate Czar Carol Browner was handpicked by President Obama to ser ve as director of the White House Office of Energ y and Climate Change Policy and ser ved as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for eight years, longer than anyone else who has held the position. She is now a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the
Center for American Progress and an environmental consultant. Before taking part in the Institute of Politics’ panel discussion on climate change this Tuesday, Browner sat down with the Maroon and shared her insights on how climate legislation failed in Congress in 2010, what to expect from Obama’s second term, and why it’s so hard to get people serious
about climate change. Chicago Maroon: What would you say is the main reason that the 2010 cap-and-trade bill, the last major attempt at climate change legislation, did not pass the Senate? Carol Browner: One of the primary reasons they never even got to a debate is that they ran out of time. They ran out of EPA continued on page 2
Catherine Ye (A.B.’11) passed away on April 22. COURTESY OF THE FAMILY OF CATHERINE YE
University, Argonne big on data
Celia Bever News Editor
Sarah Miller Senior News Staff
Catherine Ye (A.B. ’11), one of the founding members of UChicago’s chapter of Alpha Kappa Delta Phi (aKDPhi), remembered for her humor and mentorship, died after being hit by a truck in the West Loop on Monday morning. She was 24. Ye was crossing West Randolph Street near South Halsted Avenue
The University of Chicago Computation Institute (C.I.) is collaborating with Argonne National Laboratory and the Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology (IGSB) on two “big data” projects, the Beagle supercomputer and the
Bionimbus Cloud, to revolutionize the way clinical researchers analyze and collect medical data. Computation Institute director Ian Foster defines “big data” as data too large to extrapolate and analyze with standard systems. The CI uses the Beagle supercomputer, currently housed at Argonne, to simulate biological
processes in order to understand the causes of certain diseases like cancer, and to compile knowledge about basic patient outcomes and recent medical discoveries in order to discern more effective diagnoses and treatments. C.I. senior fellow and IGSB associate senior fellow Robert DATA continued on page 2
at 8:35 a.m. She was pronounced dead on the scene approximately 15 minutes later. The driver of the truck has been cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian and the incident is under investigation by the Chicago Police Department’s Major Accidents Unit. A native of State College, Pennsylvania, Ye majored in economics and was active with Blue Chips and campusCATALYST, investYE continued on page 3
IN VIEWPOINTS
IN ARTS
IN SPORTS
The false promise of neutral discourse » Page 4
Find XXX: Does UChicago have one sex culture? » Page 7
Hopeful Maroons travel east to UAAs » Back
Procession of faith » Page 5
Sem Co-Op documentarians write new chapter with Reg exhibit » Page 7
South Siders to face No. 3 Emory in semifinals » Page 11
Page
THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | April 26, 2013
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Browner optimistic that Obama’s second term will yield stricter requirements on coal-fired power plants
Carol Browner, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, speaks about U.S. environmental policy during a panel about climate change hosted by the Institute of Politics. JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON
the best strategies for civic engagement, and maintaining an urban initiatives portfolio of projects like the 53rd Street Development. As a part of this model, Douglas said, “Students can play and should play a critical role in that effort.” Also speaking at the panel were Stacy Lindau, associate professor at Pritzker Medical School and director of the South Side Health and Vitality Studies, and Shayne Evans, managing director of the Urban Education Institute and director of the University of Chicago Charter School. Lindau spoke about the inadequacies of health care on the South Side, saying, “We are a model of urban health. We’re just a bad model.” However, she noted the work of the UCMC’s Urban Health Initiative and other organizations in conducting research and improving patient care on the South Side. For example, the South Side Health Care Collaborative, which
was started by Michelle Obama in 2005, is a network of 35 health centers that meet to collaborate on health-related programs and initiatives. Evans spoke about the goals of the University’s charter schools, citing high standards for behavior and academic performance as key to achieving them. “We stay away from the soft bigotry of low expectations,” he said. He also discussed how one of the University’s charter schools has a literacy program that has proven successful as a means of assessing students’ reading proficiency, a good indicator of whether or not a student is on track to graduate. “UChicago has an ambitious and aspirational mission in that we believe that we want to prepare 100 percent of our students not just for college acceptance, but more importantly graduation from four-year colleges,” he said. “We believe in the basic premise that all of our young people are intelligent.”
DATA continued from front
Grossman has been working on the Bionimbus Cloud at the IGSB for four years. According to Grossman, it is currently one of the largest clouds to hold genomic data. It is the first project of its kind authorized by the National Health Institute (NIH) to use public data about genomes to perform biomedical research. Grossman is currently working with the Pancreatic Cancer Genomic Initiative to sequence the genomes of benign and cancerous pancreatic tissues. The project, which will take three years, will allow researchers and physicians to better understand the variations of pancreatic cancer, leading to
better diagnoses. The project has received a number of private donations. Crate & Barrel founders Carole and Gordon Segal made a “substantial pledge” to the Pancreatic Cancer Genomic Medicine Initiative. A Chicago Tribune article reported that University trustee Thomas Pritkzer and his wife Margot hosted a fundraiser downtown on April 8 to promote the “big data” Bionimbus Cloud initiative to 50 personal friends. “There is a race to see who can build the largest database and collect the most data,” Foster said. “With these gifts [and fundraising campaigns], we hope to take the lead.”
» April 18 to April 22, 5758 South Maryland Avenue (DCAM), unknown times— Between 10 a.m. on April 18 to 7:45 a.m. on April 22, an unknown person took a PlayStation 2 system and DVDs from a storage closet. » April 22, 5714 South University Avenue (Fraternity House), 5 a.m.—Unknown persons poured an unknown substance onto two cars parked in the rear parking area. » April 23, South Hyde Park Boulevard between East 54th and 55th Streets, 5:40 p.m.— Two unknown males used force to take a cell phone from a man walking on the sidewalk off campus. The case is under CPD investigation.
Source: UCPD Incident Reports
Since April 18
1
0
Robbery
1
0
Attempted robbery
8
0
Battery
5
0
Burglary
2
0
Criminal trespass to vehicle
9
4
Damage to property
144
16
Other report
3
0
Simple assault
136
6
Theft
3
0
Trespass to property
19
9
Arrest
103
10
Traffic Violation
Type of Crime
47th
» April 23, South Blackstone Avenue between East 51st and 52nd Streets, 11:30 p.m.—Four unknown males, armed with a handgun, forced entry to a private apartment off campus. They took iPhones and computers from occupants before fleeing. The case is under CPD investigation. » April 24, 5827 South Stony Island Avenue, 3:04 p.m.— UCPD officers arrested a male subject upon observing him smashing the window of an unoccupied car and taking a computer bag.
Since Jan. 1
51st
University
Donors in on the “race to...build the largest database”
Here are this week’s notables:
S. Lake Shore
LEADER continued from front
This is a series the Maroon publishes summarizing instances of campus crime. Each week details a few notable crimes, in addition to keeping a running count from January 1. The focus is on crimes within the UCPD patrol area, which runs from East 37th to 65th Streets and South Cottage Grove to Lake Shore Drive.
53rd
S. Hyde Park
Lindau: South Side “a bad model” of urban health
Weekly Crime Report
55th
57th
59th 60th
62nd
Cornell
—Ankit Jain
By Marina Fang
Stony Island
then the President asked me, and I was very honored and pleased to do it. I love public service. But there are other ways to serve—I serve on a lot of nonprofit boards, which is really fun. I work with young companies.
Blackstone
that climate change is an issue that has not really caught on with the American populace ? There doesn’t seem to be that big of a push to do something about it. CB: There are many reasons. One, there has been a significant campaign by the polluters against action, and they’ve spent huge amounts of money to dissuade the public from believing that everything from climate change is real to [whether] we should do anything. That’s the primary reason, I think. The secondary reason is, and it’s a remote second, is that it’s always hard to do things before you’ve actually confronted the problem. So when we created the EPA, we adopted the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act, you could see the pollution. The Cuyahoga River was on fire, the smog was so bad. You could see the pollution. Here, we’re trying to prevent something before it actually happens. Because if we wait for it to happen, it’ll be too late. CM: Do you expect to get back into government at any point in the future? CB: No, I’m done. I’ve had a lot of stints in government. I started at this state agency, then the EPA. I said I would never go back,
Ellis
time because there was eight weeks that Max Baucus and [Chuck] Grassley spent trying to get an agreement on health care. Ted Kennedy died; I mean, a lot of things happened. Having said that, there were some pretty significant disagreements in the Senate, and we never really got the chance to see if we could bridge those disagreements. And they existed between Democrats and Republicans—we did have some Republican support, but they also existed among Democrats themselves. CM: President Obama talked in grand terms during his inaugural address about dealing with climate change. What do you expect him to do in his second term? CB: First of all, he’s on track to meet the 17 percent—that’s the Copenhagen commitment in terms of a 17 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and that’s largely because of the requirements for cars and trucks.... I think what you’ll see this term is more greenhouse gas requirements, particularly on new and existing coalfired power plants. CM: Why do you think
Cottage Grove
EPA continued from front
*Locations of reports approximate
THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | April 26, 2013
Sorority sisters recall Ye mediating and advising younger members YE continued from front
ment and consulting RSOs. She lived in the Shoreland’s Bishop House for two years and remained close to the house’s members even after moving off campus. After graduating, Ye worked as a consultant at the IRI Group, based in the West Loop, but she recently received a job offer to work for Amazon in Seattle. Ye lived in Lincoln Park. Fourth-year Emily Yuan and second-year Sherry Wu, both members of aKDPhi, described Ye as professional and put-together, a combination that could sometimes seem intimidating. However, both attested to her naturally quirky and goofy personality, noting that she was known for making funny faces and photo-bombing pictures. “She was just extremely real and downto-earth,” Wu said. Yuan added, “She did not try to impress anyone.” After graduating, Ye maintained her connection to UChicago as aKDPhi’s alumni advisor. Though Wu described this as an informal position, Ye returned to campus for aKDPhi soirees and other campus
NEWS IN BRIEF Cathey fails health inspection—again Cathey Dining Commons failed a routine, unannounced inspection on Tuesday. According to the City of Chicago’s food inspection database, Cathey was cited for four items on the City’s health code standards during the unannounced inspection. Violations included food stored at improper temperatures, which was corrected during the inspection, evidence of rodents and rodent droppings in food prep areas, and dirty coolers and tables in prep areas. UChicago Dining issued a statement on its Web site in response to the inspection, announcing that Cathey underwent “additional cleaning and pest control measures” following the initial inspection. “We have also since increased internal walkthroughs and inspections, supplemented staff training, and taken new preventative pest control steps,” the statement said. The statement also noted that “all other dining locations passed their most recent inspections.” While they are not UChicago dining locations, according to the database, the Au Bon Pain at 5721 South Maryland Avenue and the Lab School’s cafeteria failed their inspections this week. Because all of the violations which the City labels as “critical” were corrected during the inspection, Cathey was not required to cease operations, based on the City’s requirements. However, if the other violations, which are categorized as “serious,” are not corrected by the time the City conducts its follow-up inspection next week, the dining commons will be required to close immediately. Cathey closed for five days during fall quarter after failing two consecutive inspections due to a fruit fly infestation. Cathey is considered a Risk 1 or “high-risk” food services establishment due to its “complex menus with more risky food handling practices.” Risk 1 establishments typically undergo two unannounced, routine inspections during each calendar year. —Marina Fang
E&R releases meeting minutes For the first time in recent memory, Student Government’s Elections and Rules Committee (E&R) has released its meeting minutes. This is part of an effort to
events, like last year’s Summer Breeze. She gave advice to many of the younger girls and helped them through conflicts. “She was one of the mediators, someone that everyone felt they could talk to,” fourth-year aKDPhi member Lucy Peterson said. Jina Choi (A.B. ’11), Mallory Hee (A.B. ’11), and Ye’s hometown friend Michelle Modest started a memorial fund to help Ye’s parents pay for the funeral expenses. As of last night, nearly $14,000 had been pledged, out of a goal of $15,000. “Cat was really concerned about her parents and how they were going to pay for Amy’s [Ye’s sister’s] college,” Choi said. “The last thing she would want is any kind of financial burden for her parents.” Ye is survived by her parents and younger sister. Her funeral is being held in Libertyville on Saturday. aKDPhi is holding a memorial service on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Rockefeller Chapel. —Additional reporting by Jennifer Standish
increase transparency regarding complaint proceedings during the 2013 election cycle. On Monday, E&R published their complaints database, which they have been updating throughout the week. The meeting minutes, from April 16, April 18, and April 23, reveal the conclusions of the appeals processes for both the Ignite and UChicaGOLD slates. Ignite’s minor vote penalty has been reversed, while UChicaGOLD’s major vote penalty was sustained. Additionally, viewers now have access to details about the penalties. UChicaGOLD’s initial penalty was a vote deduction of 10 percent of the final tally, but that has since been reduced to seven percent, as of April 23. Prior to its reversal, Ignite was to be penalized one percent of its total vote count. E&R meeting minutes can be found on sg .uchicago.edu/committees/electionsand-rules/. —Madhu Srikantha
Office of Campus and Student Life pledges diversity initiatives Karen Warren Coleman, vice president for Campus Life and Student Services, announced the administration’s plans to promote discussions about diversity across campus in an e-mail on Wednesday. The plans come after students raised concern over the lack of dialogue surrounding diversity on campus when a Facebook page titled “Politically Incorrect UChicago Confessions” surfaced last week. The administration has taken immediate steps to focus on diversity by setting up a talk with civil rights activist Tim Wise on May 6, which will be followed by several small group discussions on race relations. According to the e-mail, a broader program “to bring more visibility to diversity-related topics” will be announced at the beginning of May. Additionally, Warren Coleman said that a Vice President’s Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusion would be created immediately “to engage students on issues of diversity and the student experience.” Warren Coleman said the University will establish a fund to finance diversityrelated programming and that the administration would create a commission to judge the success of these efforts during the summer. —Ankit Jain
3
Prof examines low hiring rate Sindhu Gnanasambandan News Staff Employers’ hesitancy and uncertain attitude toward the economy may be causing the current sluggish pace of hiring, according to applied economist Steven Davis, a professor at the Booth School of Business. A standard, long-standing theory in labor economics predicts that the pace of hiring relates to the ratio between job vacancies and the rate of unemployment, according to Davis. Theoretically, the higher the ratio, the higher the hiring rate. But since 2007, this theory has failed to explain high unemployment rates across the United States because, while job openings have increased by 11 percent in the past year and are at their highest level in five years, employers are slow to fill those openings, Davis said. To answer the question of why jobs are not being filled as fast as the vacancy-unemployment ratio would suggest, Davis has added the variable of recruitment intensity per vacancy to the standard theory, which measures the degree to which employers
seek out qualified candidates. “Based on our analysis and inspection of the data, we concluded that it’s not just a matter of the number of vacancies out there, but it also depends on how picky employers are when they screen candidates, how aggressively they advertise job openings, and how attractive are the compensation packages they offer to applicants,” he said. In a Huffington Post article, Davis claimed that employers may be heavily influenced by the level of uncertainty in the U.S. economy and in the economic policy that guides it, which causes them to be more tentative to hire. When he spoke to the Maroon, he cited the debate over the “fiscal cliff ” and the eurozone crisis as examples of this type of uncertainty seen in recent years. Davis said the uncertainty means that employers are more selective in evaluating job candidates, often taking more time to find the perfect candidate or hoping for better economic times in the future. He acknowledged that there are many other plausible theories and said that his measurement of recruiting intensity “is only part of the story.”
CORRECTIONS •
The April 23 article “SG Elections Postponed until Next Week” misstated the parts of SG from which E&R chose students for the appeals committee. They chose two out of all students in SG.
•
The April 23 article “E&R Releases List of Campaign Complaints” misstated when E&R announces the exact number of votes deducted in a vote penalty. It is usually announced with the results of the election itself.
•
The April 23 caption for “Color Blinded” omitted some organizers of Holi. It was put on by the Spiritual Life Office, Hindu Sangam, American Association for Physicians of Indian Descent, and SASA.
•
The April 23 caption accompanying “Chicago Manual of Style | Second City Chic” incorrectly identified a designer. The pictured designer is Calvin Tran.
•
The April 16 “Athletes of the Week” misspelled the name of track and field head coach Chris Hall.
G R E Y C I T Y THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF THE CHICAGO
MAROON
SPRING 2013 ISSUE
COMING SOON
VIEWPOINTS
Editorial & Op-Ed APRIL 26, 2013
An all-student affair Recent administrative message regarding diversity and inclusion rightly reaches out to entire student body The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 REBECCA GUTERMAN Editor-in-Chief SAM LEVINE Editor-in-Chief EMILY WANG Managing Editor DOUGLAS EVERSON, JR Senior Editor JAMIE MANLEY Senior Editor MATTHEW SCHAEFER Senior Editor CELIA BEVER News Editor MARINA FANG News Editor MADHU SRIKANTHA News Editor JENNIFER STANDISH News Editor AJAY BATRA Viewpoints Editor EMMA THURBER STONE Viewpoints Editor EMMA BRODER Arts Editor ALICE BUCKNELL Arts Editor DANIEL RIVERA Arts Editor VICENTE FERNANDEZ Sports Editor SARAH LANGS Sports Editor JAKE WALERIUS Sports Editor HYEONG-SUN CHO Head Designer SONIA DHAWAN Head Designer KEVIN WANG Online Editor ALICE BLACKWOOD Head Copy Editor ALAN HASSLER Head Copy Editor JEN XIA Head Copy Editor BEN ZIGTERMAN Head Copy Editor SYDNEY COMBS Photo Editor
Five years ago, the University’s Office of LGBTQ Student Life was established in order to serve as a resource for LGBTQ students, as well as those interested in learning more about LGBTQ issues. Much of the Office’s work has focused on providing educational and collaborative resources for those students to reduce marginalization and increase awareness and discussion. In light of recent campus conflict over incidents of hate speech, particularly on Facebook, the Office’s anniversary is a salient reminder of the fact that controversies related to the treatment of certain groups are relevant not only to targeted students, but also to the campus at large. On Monday, April 15, an unknown Facebook user created a page titled “Politically Incorrect UChicago Confessions” (which was later renamed “Politically Incorrect Maroon Confessions”) that encouraged students to submit “racist, sexist, and homophobic thoughts.” Vice President for Campus Life and Student
Services Karen Warren Coleman posted a statement on the Campus and Student Life Web site on April 19, emphasizing that the University’s dedication to free speech is not antithetical to “a climate in which all members of our community can thrive and feel valued, in which nobody is demeaned or stereotyped for their race, gender identity, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, or other aspects of identity.” This past Wednesday, Warren Coleman again reached out to the student body in an e-mail detailing concrete plans aimed at promoting “support for diversity across our community.” Firstly, Warren Coleman is correct to speak out strongly on an issue that has already adversely affected students’ feelings of well-being and safety and continues to do so. Issues with such an immense impact on campus life are compounded when the administration is silent about them. Second, the announcement of initiatives that are meant to constructively follow what has been a
galvanizing experience for students seems promising as a reaction to the divisions and uncertainties created by the Facebook page—even if the the exact nature of the upcoming “opportunities” Warren Coleman listed in her e-mail are unknown. Most laudable, however, is the fact that the message was addressed to all students, and that the programs outlined therein are geared toward all students. While the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs held a meeting spurred by concerns that the page raised, the Maroon reported that some student attendees felt as though “students least receptive to discussions about diversity would not participate in them in the first place.” Warren Coleman’s e-mail and the forthcoming set of events reflect a crucial awareness on the part of administrators that issues of hate speech are not only relevant to the students targeted by that speech. Such issues necessarily involve every student as members of an accountable community. In this regard, the anniversary of
the Office of LGBTQ Student Life is timely, and provides an apt example of the fact that although certain services are geared toward specific students, they are open and relevant to the experiences of everyone on campus. The Office’s Web site states that though it “serves LGBTQ students, questioning students, and allies” in the University, it also “provides educational, social, and professional opportunities and resources for all students in the university.” These latter services are provided to all students because the diversity of this campus and the risks of marginalization are everyone’s business. In the wake of this controversy, and as the new plans that Warren Coleman listed in her email begin to take shape, all students, without exception, should continue to listen to one another and take time to reevaluate the inclusiveness of our community.
The Editorial Board consists of the Editors-in-Chief and the Viewpoints Editors.
TIFFANY TAN Photo Editor COLIN BRADLEY Grey City Editor JOY CRANE Grey City Editor THOMAS CHOI Assoc. News Editor ALEX HAYS Assoc. News Editor ANKIT JAIN Assoc. News Editor HARINI JAGANATHAN Assoc. News Editor
New kid on the writer’s block Writing is a process of self-discovery, but its beginnings often lie off the page
STEPHANIE XIAO Assoc. News Editor KRISTIN LIN Assoc. Viewpoints Editor WILL DART Assoc. Arts Editor LAUREN GURLEY Assoc. Arts Editor TATIANA FIELDS Assoc. Sports Editor SAM ZACHER Assoc. Sports Editor JULIA REINITZ Assoc. Photo Editor FRANK YAN Assoc. Photo Editor TYRONALD JORDAN Business Manager TAMER BARSBAY Undergraduate Business Executive QUERIDA Y. QIU External Director of Marketing
By Kristin Lin Associate Viewpoints Editor
IVY ZHANG Internal Director of Marketing VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator ANDREW GREEN Designer SNEHA KASUGANTI Designer JONAH RABB Designer NICHOLAS ROUSE Designer KEN ARMSTRONG Copy Editor KRYSTEN BRAY Copy Editor CONNOR CUNNINGHAM Copy Editor LISA FAN Copy Editor NISHANTH IYENGAR Copy Editor CECILIA JIANG Copy Editor MICHELLE LEE Copy Editor
Let’s rewind to O-Week. In order to facilitate this throwback, let me just sum up the standard introductory conversation: name, hometown, dorm, classes, and— if you’re feeling fancy—potential RSOs. Lather, rinse, repeat. This foolproof formula has shepherded countless first-years through first weeks and first quarters, expertly staving off the awkward
silence that follows most first encounters. “I think I want to get involved with the Maroon, mostly,” I would respond to the final question. My peer would nod—a cue to elaborate. “I mean, I wrote in high school and really enjoyed it. Hopefully I find something to write about.” Spoiler alert: For a long time, I didn’t. In fact, an entire quarter passed with no avail. Imagine the taunting blink of the cursor on the poor excuse of a Word document you call your Hum paper, multiply that experience by 11 weeks, and you get the idea. Mind you, it wasn’t like I didn’t have things to say: I had issues, pretty pressing ones. I dreamt up my takes on self-deprecating T-shirts, dining hall health code
violations, and that one manhole outside of Max East, which, I would just like to point out, is perpetually, eerily steamy. For the longest time, I blamed writer’s block for my lack of motivation and, ultimately, inspiration. Perhaps it was true to a certain extent; being transplanted into a new environment was disorienting for me. Yet as the weeks rolled by, I felt increasingly reluctant to attribute my writer’s block to some inexplicable, reasonless entity. I couldn’t simply be stuck. In a moment of desperation during which I may or may not have typed “asdfghjkl” for an entire page (in hindsight, I could’ve just copy-pasted it), I decided to give up writing for the quarter. Instead, I ventured into the
polis of UChicago student life, stopped Tumblr scrolling and started payrolling, and at some point during the quarter ended up handing out bagged dinners to random people in the streets of Rogers Park. The night was cold, the wind dark, and for the first time in a long time I felt like I was actually doing something. In case you have never spent hours upon hours stringing together cohesive sentences for creative purposes, let me tell you: Writing is a very passive activity. Even as I write this, I am incurring a pretty large opportunity cost by forgoing the chance to study for a midterm, work out (no pain, no gain), or embark upon the harrowing voyage to WRITING continued on page 5
CHELSEA LEU Copy Editor KATIE LEU Copy Editor CARISSA LIM Copy Editor KATARINA MENTZELOPOULOS Copy Editor JONAH RABB Copy Editor HEIDI SIEGRIST Copy Editor
The false promise of neutral discourse Recent op-ed mischaracterizes the true weaknesses of “Politically Incorrect Maroon Confessions”
LINDSEY SIMON Copy Editor RUNNAN YANG 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. © 2013 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 Marley Lindsey Viewpoints Contributor Jake Smith’s Maroon article last week is a perfect example of the position of subaltern individuals in relation to general discourse. Smith, seemingly a white male, wrote a Viewpoints column discussing an issue to which he will never be able to relate personally. This is not to “silence” or “condemn” him. From his perspective, I’m sure that the article is well reasoned and not intentionally hurtful, but it is nonetheless an example of how a lack of experience can limit one’s ability to have meaningful discussions. I am aware of the “sardonic re-
plies” to the Boston bombing, some of which sought to contextualize the bombing in reference to the murder rate in Chicago. Are these reactions what he was referring to? I talked to people who share Smith’s sentiments, but who refuse such a comparison, citing the shock value of a bombing—people express concern at homicide where it is not supposed to occur. Comparatively, murder on the South Side is often treated with sad indifference due to its frequency. Race tends to correlate with the amount of attention each event receives; and to justify this double standard of reaction is simply to perpetuate the sort of sentiments that make us feel un-
worthy of humanity. These sorts of sentiments are littered throughout Smith’s article. They demonstrate his power to create a narrative that summarizes discussion from his perspective with no room for refutation. He claims that Politically Incorrect Maroon Confessions (PIMC), aside from a raft of disingenuous or deliberately provocative content, contains “a select few submissions pos[ing ] genuine questions hoping to gauge readers’ perspectives on complex issues of discrimination.” He characterizes the responses to these submissions as a “[d]istaste for particular ideas [that] has morphed into distaste for honest
expression.” These uneven assessments provide a narrative that presents PIMC as a good idea—a place where all people can engage in reasoned discourse and learn. This characterization clashes with reality, and not only because the numbers of posts that are deliberately hurtful far exceed those that are not. The truth is that Smith, regardless of his intention, cannot understand how someone who has faced systematic discrimination views these sorts of events and posts. If there is a separation between one’s reason and one’s consciousness, it gets lost in the language games played by the majority of people in society. PERSPECTIVE continued on page 6
THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | April 26, 2013
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Statistically insignificant Crucial Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage should not be hindered by a misguided desire to wait for data
By Kamil Ahsan Viewpoints Columnist When examining landmark judicial cases that could fundamentally change how the Constitution frames society, we don’t always have the benefit of hindsight. But when we do, as in the case of the Supreme Court hearing arguments for the support or vacation of Proposition 8 in California, we don’t often take advantage of it—especially when we’re dealing with questions that have to do with the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. This is an absolute shame. Consider this: How many of us know offhand the statistics of how children of interracial families fare in school? Or how society in general is affected by interracial marriages? Or if striking down anti-miscegenation laws affects social institutions? If
you’re anything like me, these questions will seem not only irrelevant, but also downright offensive. When it comes to fundamental rights, waiting for numbers seems not only superfluous, but also unfair. Consider if somebody told you they needed to wait on the data of how your choice of religion would impact society before she granted you the right to believe in it. Unfortunately, a great deal of the conversation in the oral arguments presented before the Supreme Court on the legitimacy and constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 focused on exactly these statistics. Justice Kennedy in particular, often considered a swing member in an otherwise equally divided Supreme Court, advanced just this sort of “wait-and-see” attitude, proposing that sociological information on the effects of same-sex marriage is required before the court settles on a decision that would affect all states, many of which are still far from reconsidering bans on same-sex marriage. This argument implies the belief that states should be allowed to wrestle with such tough questions on their own and experiment with what road they want to take before the Supreme
Court makes a ruling. That’s exactly the argument that Justice Sotomayor, one of the Court’s liberal judges, made. If that argument prevails, the cases on Proposition 8 could be dismissed. This, perhaps, would be equivalent to the Court postponing its decision
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When it comes to fundamental rights, waiting for numbers seems not only superfluous, but also unfair.
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to a later date, when things are much more “clear”—thanks to “sociological data” provided by states that have already approved same-sex marriage, which would make for an ironic sort of circular argument I’m still having trouble with. Here, again, hindsight would be useful. As National Journal observes, 16 states still had bans in place when the Supreme Court finally struck down anti-miscegenation laws
Procession of faith Italian Good Friday celebration reveals that rituals can build community
By Noelle Turtur Viewpoints Columnist I have always considered Good Friday to be the saddest day of Easter. The typical service in my tradition (Episcopalian) is the “Stations of the Cross,” or Via Doloroso (literally, “painful street”), which refers to the street in Jerusalem along which Christ walked on the way to his crucifixion. During this service, the celebrant walks the attendees through Christ’s last day as a man. It includes Christ’s condemnation, his suffering while carrying the cross, his falls under the weight of the cross, and his meeting his mother, and concludes with his death on the cross. For each of these “stations,” there is an image depicting each scene and a reading of that scene from the Bible. It is hard not to feel. Even as someone whose faith has always been characterized by doubt, I always feel great sadness and empathy for the suffering of Christ while walking the Stations of the Cross. It may only come from having grown up with the tradition, but for me, that’s what makes Good Friday so melancholic. This year, however, I was lucky enough to spend Good Friday in Trapani, Sicily with my parents, who came to visit me for the holiday. It was a completely different experience. Each Good Friday in Trapani, there is the Processione dei Misteri di Trapani. When we arrived in Trapani on the day, it was beginning to get dark, the city was crowded, and it was dif-
ficult to find parking. From afar, the streets were filled with vendors hawking balloons and candy, and children with parents and grandparents, meandering around the piazza. It seemed more like a carnival fair than a serious religious observance. Since we had skipped lunch, we stopped for an arancino, a stuffed and fried rice ball that is a typical Sicilian street food, and then dove into the crowd. It did not take long to hear the deep, medieval music. There was a large marching band playing, its music evoking more of a funeral march with bagpipes than anything typically peppier. The musicians were cloaked in black robes, moving slowly and deliberately with each step. Behind them came this unwieldy mass—a float of one of the Stations of the Cross, from which Christ and his tormentors hovered unsteadily over the crowd. Through the throng of musicians, I discerned that the heavy float was carried on the shoulders of men. Each with a shoulder under a pole, they seemed somewhat similar to pallbearers, dressed in somber black suits and black leather dress shoes. Those closest to the float had their backs covered in wax from dripping candles. They were young men and old men walking in unison, feet swinging out to the side with each step and giving the float its unsteady, swaying movement. Their faces were sweaty and red. I could see the solidarity that they found in one another as they carried this enormous burden for hours on end. To give you a clearer picture, there were at least 16 people carrying each float. At the front of each float was an older man with one hand on each of the poles. His function was to guide the float as it made its long, wobbly passage
through the streets of Trapani. Little “majorette” teams led the bands that accompanied each float. The leaders were the smallest children, perhaps three to five years old. They had the most somber expressions on their faces, clearly knowledgeable of their roles. A little boy dressed up like a gladiator counted the beats to make sure his steps were in time, his face wrought with focus. Young men urged on their friends. One saw his friend about to collapse under the weight of a float and took his place for a spell, even though he had not planned to take part in the procession and was wearing regular street clothes. In the crowd, there were parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, and beloved pets. These families stood, cameras poised, waiting all day to see their loved ones take part in the procession. Down the line, I saw a young man with Down’s syndrome playing in the band. Happy and smiling, he was just banging on his drum. Even though he was rarely in time with the music, he had been included in the most serious procession of the year because he was a part of the community. For that reason alone, he deserved an important place in the rituals. I could see the more traditional Stations of the Cross: images of the suffering of Christ, the weight of the cross mimicked in the weight of the floats, Christ’s falters and sways mimicked in theirs. But something else I saw that Good Friday was an absolute sense of community. I saw a group of people rooted in a place, in its history, and its tradition, and who, most importantly, belonged to one another. Noelle Turtur is a third-year in the College majoring in history.
in 1967. With such a track record, it’s highly possible that decades will pass before the Supreme Court sees fit to decide on this fundamental right, one that could have saved a lot of people a great deal of unhappiness if the power of hindsight were heeded. All of this could be waved away if one argued that, by and large, if states don’t seem on board with same-sex marriage, it seems a tad dictatorial to rule on something most people clearly don’t want. However, there is a clear trend in the way attitudes are changing: Political support for gay marriage has burgeoned recently. The Rhode Island Senate voted to pass gay marriage legislation on Wednesday; Illinois’s Republican Senator Mark Kirk recently endorsed same-sex marriage, a good omen for a state likely to go the way of Rhode Island in May. Gay marriage legislation is on its way in the Delaware Senate as well; a spate of high-profile Republicans, such as Ohio’s Rob Portman, are changing their positions on gay marriage. Public support for gay marriage, as reported by many recent polls, seems to finally have reached a narrow majority. Times are quickly changing. It is therefore downright
shocking that carping about effects takes precedence over arguments about principle—especially on an issue on which heads are slowly turning in a single direction. Don’t be too worried, though. It seems unlikely that sociological data will suggest that same-sex parents are anything other than equally suitable to their heterosexual counterparts. And society—particularly the institution of marriage—most decidedly will not burst at the seams. Perhaps what naysayers need is a healthy dose of New Zealand M.P. Maurice Williamson, whose stirring speech to the Parliament moments before it legalized same-sex marriage addressed just such concerns: “I give a promise to those people who are opposed to this bill, right now…the sun will still rise tomorrow, your teenage daughter will still argue back with you as if she knows everything, your mortgage will not grow, you will not have skin disease or rashes or toads in your bed…. [F]or most of us life will go on.” Kamil Ahsan is a first-year graduate student in the biological sciences division.
Allow experiences to sculpt your story and sense of identity WRITING continued from page 4 Bart Mart (no pain, no Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Puffs). Ah, the exciting options of student life! Maybe these alternatives are a little too close to home. For, ultimately, what I am risking is something much more significant than mundanity: By sitting in front of my computer, I give up the chance to create what will become the formative experiences of my youthful years. I could go swim in Lake Michigan, wander around the South Side with nothing but a notebook and some change for the ride back, or get a tattoo of a centaur on my bicep (something my roommate has long considered). These moments brought by wanderlust are what I want to inspire my outlook. While I would like to think that writing is purely an exercise in intellectual perspective, a library of actual life experiences can’t hurt and, in fact, may even give me an edge. Had Hemingway not fought in World War I, A Farewell to Arms would have been a very different book; if Kerouac had just bummed around New York City, we would never get to read about Sal Paradise bumming around in every other corner of the United States. Sure, I’m referencing works of fiction— these writers could conceivably have crafted their stories without experience. Yet our experiences inform our writing in a way that our thoughts cannot. They shape our personal narratives and sculpt our identities—which, for me, are the primary impetuses for writing anything down at all. I write to learn myself; yet, I can’t learn much without finding the boundaries of my actions, which only comes with experience. As I was trying to figure out
how to end this discourse on the merits of an immersive life, I ended up scrolling through some pictures from the beginning of my time at UChicago. In the fall, my house took a trip to an orchard in Indiana. After stepping off the bus and hearing a quiet punctu-
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I write to learn myself; yet, I can’t learn much without finding the boundaries of my actions.
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ated by birdsong, I walked with a few others searching for warmth, which was lacking in the October fog. Hands in my jacket pockets, I soon found that the orchard only offered items of a colder nature—pulpy berries and fallen apples strewn among the dewy plash of Midwest crops. Standing in those orchard fields, the Texan in me found more solace in the stretches of flatland than in the housemates next to me. And as we wandered the rows of fruit, I wondered if that would always be the case. If I had continued to spend hours upon hours writing , I think it might have been the case. Sitting at my desk, shunning experience, is not conducive to personal growth. For, when I merely write, all I can tell you is the tangent of what I want to do, and who I am going to be. And sometimes, that isn’t enough for you to get to know me—not even on the superficial, O-Week level. Kristin Lin is a first-year in the College.
THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | April 26, 2013
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Letter: UCMC unresponsive Hospital admins must make good on public discussion promise In the aftermath of the January 27 protest at the Center for Care and Discovery, University administrators made several promises. Provost Thomas F. Rosenbaum announced two upcoming conversations: a faculty-led dialogue about the incident itself and a discussion hosted by hospital administrators about the University of Chicago Medical Center’s (UCMC) role in South Side health care. At a meeting between members of Students for Health Equity (SHE), Fearless Leading by the Youth (FLY), and UCMC administrators on April 10, we were told that this second conversation has been postponed indefinitely. For those who followed the events before and after January 27, this conversation seemed to be long in the making. While describing the UCMC as an eager partner in the mission to improve access to health care on the South Side, its administrators have refused all of FLY’s attempts at communication since 2011. The announcement that hospital administrators would sit down for an honest conversation with students and community members brought the hope of an end to this cycle. Unfortunately, that hope may have been naive. Though the first promised dialogue did take place on February 28, it underscored the limitations of dialogue as a tool for addressing issues that have immediate and serious consequences for those involved. University administrators, coolly uninterested in communication, declined to send anyone with real decision-making authority to field questions from a room full of frustrated students and faculty members. Nearly three months after the initial incident, it seems that hospital administrators are also uninterested in real, public communication. Pritzker School of Medicine Dean
Kenneth S. Polonsky has appointed representatives to meet with FLY, SHE, and Pritzker students, and to continue a private dialogue about trauma care, but a date for the promised public meeting remains to be set. It seems as though hospital administrators agreed to a public meeting not because they wanted to, but because they felt they had to in the face of the pressure put on them by students, faculty, workers, and community members. As UCMC administrators seek once again to retreat from public scrutiny, we must demand that they fulfill their obligation to participate in a public meeting. As students, we do not share the same living circumstances as most South Side residents, but, nonetheless, we are all on the receiving end of an unfulfilled promise. Please, join SHE in the coming weeks as we ask Provost Rosenbaum to make good on his word and facilitate a public meeting with the UCMC. —Patrick Dexter, class of 2014
SUBMISSIONS The Chicago Maroon welcomes opinions and responses from its readers. Send op-ed submissions and letters to: The Chicago Maroon attn: Viewpoints 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 E-mail: Viewpoints@ChicagoMaroon. com The editors reserve the right to edit materials for clarity and space. Letters to the editor should be limited to 400 words. Op-ed submissions, 800 words.
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Majority’s perspective shouldn’t frame all debates PERSPECTIVE continued from page 4 The colloquial use of terms like “ghetto” or “bitch” shows how loaded terms can be appropriated into mainstream use with little concern. The insistence on normalizing problematic terms creates an environment in which the essence of “discourse” is biased. This normalization leaves little room for distinction between what someone thinks and who she is.
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We cannot separate the emotional experience of discrimination from our rational sense of discussion, nor should we have to.
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From this perspective, Smith’s suggestion that we (assuming that it is the subaltern’s responsibility to educate her exploiters) “show [him] the error of [his] ways” makes little sense. I can demonstrate and articulate these problems within Smith’s pseudo-neutral discourse, but this does not resolve the tension between a well-reasoned debate and the necessity of that debate being framed by the perspectives of the majority—the privileged. The picture illustrated by Benjamin Lange that ran alongside Smith’s article is a perfect example of how the subaltern perceives neutral dialogue. It is not my responsibility to demonstrate why Smith’s arguments are paternalistic and upsetting—language games have been written on extensively. DuBois and Fanon both reveal the weakness of
dialogue when some of its participants do not have to create for themselves a space in which the dialogue’s framework permits their existence. This is an emotional project—one Smith will never have to undertake. We cannot separate the emotional experience of discrimination from our rational sense of discussion, nor should we have to. As Arendt puts it, “If I describe these conditions without permitting my indignation to interfere, I have lifted this particular phenomenon out of its context in human society, and have thereby robbed it of part of its nature, deprived it of one of its important inherent qualities.” I have not engaged with other important problems of Smith’s article, like how he deems it inappropriate to call people out for being wrong, or how he emphasizes the importance and immutable nature of his perspective over my own, or how he is condescending to those who are hurt; or how his claim that PIMC’s anonymity protects people, when those whom it protects already benefit from the protection of society, is a misuse of the concept. However, it is not my job to educate: The project of demonstrating my right to exist at this University has been undertaken and completed. I encourage people who genuinely seek information to seek it on their own time, rather than presume to borrow mine. And should I choose to engage, consider that I will use my terminolog y, my beliefs, and my perspective for a reason, rather than insist blindly on your conception of “neutral.” The conception of, insistence on, and reliance on “neutral discourse” is yet another problem—not a serious solution. Marley Lindsey is a third-year in the College majoring in history.
ARTS
Heartlandia APRIL 26, 2013
Find XXX: Does UChicago have one sex culture? Eliza Brown Arts Staff I have often heard friends who attend other universities refer to the sex or dating culture on their campuses. They usually say something about the “hookup culture,” or the “you’re-married-or-single culture.” Indeed, college manuals and Web sites for prospective students often include whole sections about what sex and dating are like on campus. I myself asked the same questions when I was a prospective student at the University of Chicago. However, four years later, if someone were to ask me to describe the sex culture at UChicago, I am not sure that I would have a ready answer. Accordingly, I decided to investigate the issue and determine if, first and foremost, we have a sex culture, and if we do, what it looks like. I spoke with third-year Eve Hupert, an international student in a sorority, about her understanding of UChicago’s sex culture, which she described as “mostly unacknowledged.” She described herself as “traditional” in comparison to some of the more “liberal” stu-
dents on campus. “Students here take their studies or careers very seriously, but sometimes think, oddly, that relationships are below them.” She emphasized the importance of considering one’s reputation while deciding who to hook up with and who to date, especially in the Greek system, where according to her, “everyone knows everyone.” I spoke with fourth-year Danny Rosa, a gay fraternity brother, about his experiences on campus. Although Rosa’s mixture of identities might make him seem like an enigma, he is actually writing his senior thesis on the topic of gay fraternity brothers, and says that at UChicago they number in the double digits. Interestingly, his sexual orientation has never posed a problem for him in his fraternity, but the Greek system’s treatment and name-calling of sexual women and men has often made him uncomfortable. Rosa, a transfer student from California, said that his initial understanding of sex and dating culture was at odds to that of UChicago. “People have a really negative view of hooking up here. I don’t understand it,” Rosa said, describ-
ALICE BUCKNELL
| THE CHICAGO MAROON
ing students as, “relationship-oriented,” in a way he hadn’t experienced before. “I really wish there wasn’t this stigma against hooking up. Not everyone falls under the relationship paradigm. Keep
an open mind,” Rosa said. Fourth-years Erika Dunn-Weiss and Rachel Sullivan, two of the founders of Tea Time and Sex Chats, an RSO with the aim of creating a comfortable environ-
ment for students to learn about and discuss sex, discussed their experience and understanding of UChicago sex culture, described by Dunn-Weiss as “curious.” They SEX continued on page 9
Sem Co-Op documentarians write new chapter with Reg exhibit Robert Sorrell Arts Contributor Chicagoans know a thing or two about the power of beautiful buildings. There are enough architectural styles downtown alone to make your head spin, neck cramp, and legs stop halfway through an intersection. Even the Target on State Street is a glass and wrought iron masterpiece most cities would kill to call their own. About 70 blocks south of the Loop, in the cramped basement of the old Chicago Theological Seminary, the Seminary Co-Op bookstore shared a similarly special hold over anyone who wandered through its labyrinthine corridors
or ducked under the pipes that snaked along the walls and ceilings. Descending the stairs into the store felt like sneaking into the subterranean hangout of an intellectual community—a place where names like Freud and Arendt were likely to be bandied about. Yet the store was not just an academic mecca; it was a space whose endless book-filled chasms felt unique in their lack of commercial shine. With the decision to build the Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics in the old Seminary building, the Co-Op moved to 57th Street and Woodlawn Avenue, next to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House. That is precisely why Jasmine Kwong (A.B. ’06) and Megan E.
Doherty (A.M. ’05, Ph.D. ’10), two Chicagoans and alums, have attempted to immortalize the old space in The Seminary Co-op Documentary Project: Capturing the Bookstore’s Distinctive Character and History, which opened in the Regenstein Library this past Monday. At first glance, the exhibit seems fairly small, considering the Co-Op’s 51-year history and over 54,000 members. However, the display cases are almost as densely packed with fascinating stories and arresting moments as the CoOp is with books. Glass cases hold artifacts including membership cards for famous members such as Saul and Janis Bellow, Susan Son-
tag, and Barack Obama. Alongside these is the manufacturer’s plate from the famous Bellows Motor, which resided inside the old store. Also included is a New City Best of Chicago plaque, which the store, in keeping with its “just books” aesthetic, never displayed. Behind the displays, nearly 200 cards by students and Co-Op lovers cover the wall. Each card starts with a proclamation that the person “thinks the Co-Op is...” Some of the documenters’ favorite responses include “distilled memory in maze form” and “the last magical place in the world.” The exhibit itself flows chronologically, starting with a loving depiction of the old space and con-
THE SEMINARY CO-OP DOCUMENTART PROJECT
Special Collections Research Center Through July 13
Remember this—the good ol’ days, before the Becker Friedman Institute moved in? Us, too. COURTESY OF JASMINE KWONG
tinuing through construction and the move, and finally giving a taste of the new space. Kwong’s matterof-fact photographs, and Doherty’s shadowy, slightly more elusive work mix together along with audio interviews, notes, and vignettes. They all try to answer, as the front plaque eloquently states, “What is the life of the Co-Op? What is its emotional register? How and why is it important and unique?” Kwong’s and Doherty’s photographs beautifully capture a bit of the Co-Op’s essence by turning the lens on the humans who frequently, and lovingly, ventured through it, unsure what engrossing volume
they might find lurking around the corner. Kwong, a portrait and event photographer as well as a researcher at a Booth psychology lab, mentioned that “people make the bookstore come alive,” and pointed proudly to a photo she took of Austan Goolsbee, the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at Booth and a past adviser to President Obama, among the shelves. Kwong and Doherty agree that their project, officially started in February 2012, was all about capturing and memorializing a unique space. Doherty noted, “It was, I think, a loss of a one-of-a-kind space....that’s why I wanted to document it.” And this show isn’t nearly the end for Kwong and Doherty. Their ultimate goal is to publish a book that would not only serve as a visual and written history of the Co-Op, but also would contain essays by prominent literary figures on the status of the book and of bookstores. They’re aiming for something a bit more bedside table than coffee table. But, in reality, as Kwong stated, “The most essential parts of the bookstore are still there.” The famous front table, displaying a carefully curated selection of the top releases in academia and literature. The web magazine, The Front Table. The managers, staff, members, and, most importantly, books still remain. And while it may take awhile for Co- Op romantics to fall in love with the new store, perhaps they’ll just have to wait until Kwong’s and Doherty’s book hits the shelves. Jack Cella, the store’s manager since 1970, already agreed he would put the book in the store—but he hasn’t guaranteed it will make the front table.
THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | April 26, 2013
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Ebert gives last thumbs up to Malick’s To the Wonder Jon Catlin Arts Staff Both times I saw director Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life (2011) in theaters, once in the U.K. and once in the Chicago suburbs, impatient audience members laughed in disbelief and left midscreening. Other theaters purportedly knew enough to post notices at the box office: “Art film—no refunds.”
TO THE WONDER
Terrence Malick Landmark Century Centre Cinema
On seeing Malick’s latest, To the Wonder, returning viewers will quickly identify its stunning cinematography and rich soundtrack, as well as its ambitious philosophical and religious themes, as those of The Tree of Life. More similar to its predecessor still, To the Wonder is not exactly easy to follow. As many have noted, To the Wonder was the last film reviewed by Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert before he passed away three weeks ago. While The Tree of Life scored a prized four out of four stars, To the Wonder would have to make do with three and a half. Ebert wrote of The Tree of Life, “I don’t know when a film has connected more immediately with my own personal experience….If I set out to make an autobiographical film, and if I had Malick’s gift, it would look so much like this.” Critics have so taken the film’s autobiographical hints (Malick grew up in central Texas in the 1950s, the setting of The Tree of Life) that Slate’s Forrest Wickman called the last two films portents of “Malick’s personal period.” And this for a man notoriously reclusive, not having given an interview since the 1970s. To the Wonder is only his sixth feature film in his 40-year career as a filmmaker. What The Tree of Life did in its analysis of human life and faith, To the Wonder does for love, that cardinal Christian virtue whose elusiveness the film lays bare. Addressing troubles brought on by a rapidly diversifying world and the ensuing teetering of institutions like marriage, family, faith, and church,
Neil (Ben Affleck) and Jane (Rachel McAdams), high school sweethearts, share a particularly Malick moment in a field of wheat. COURTESY OF MAGNOLIA PICTURES
the film examines domains of love, framing the beauty and challenge of romance in parallel with that of love for God in an age when both seem under siege. The film centers around Neil (Ben Affleck), an American man who meets a French woman, Marina (Olga Kurylenko), in Paris and takes her and her daughter back to live with him in a small town in his native Oklahoma. In the film, as in Malick’s life, the Parisienne doesn’t take easily to life in the American heartland. For a brief interlude, she returns to France only to find the once-delightful Paris “dreadful” and ultimately returns to the U.S. and Neil. While Marina is away, Neil returns to seeing Jane (Rachel McAdams), his high school sweetheart, again following Malick’s biography. Jane counters Marina’s European charm with her ranch-girl character and rugged American beauty. Neil and Jane share a passionate but fleeting romantic reconnection, as Neil suddenly breaks it off, perhaps knowing that Marina longs to return to him. She indeed returns and the two finally do marry, but none of it comes easily, or with
any promise for certainty. In an interview, Kurylenko described her role as physically trying, which is unusual for a drama; her character is almost always in motion—be it prancing through sunny wheat fields, falling backward into Affleck’s arms, or dancing around the house with her daughter. Malick apparently instructed the cast to “never stop moving….Things have to just grow into something else and transcend from one thing into another and it’s like constant movement and dance, choreography….It’s more of a dance, performance.” In the spirit of this improvisational motion, Kurylenko was not even given a script. Still, the film is full of moments of incredible stillness and slow, subtle tenderness, so sharply contrasted with the predominantly explorative scenes that they immediately convey Marina’s deep unrest. From what must have been a massive collection of everyday (one might even say arbitrary) footage, Malick captures a remarkably coherent character in Marina: a person who is lucky enough to dance through life, but knows when to pause and take in its beau-
ty. By contrast, Affleck plays much the same role as Brad Pitt and Sean Penn did in The Tree of Life— the fearless American man whose impenetrable character we are permitted only outside access to. While the film’s romances elude the permanence of the sacrament of marriage, an option Neil considers to get Marina a green card, a Catholic priest ( Javier Bardem) concurrently tries to restore his love of God amidst the misfortunes of a bleak, wind-swept Oklahoma town crushed by poverty and harsh environmental conditions, including groundwater pollution that is implied to have caused autism and other health problems. In this darkness, each character is asked how to love God when the elements seem to crush another life at every moment. In one of the naturalistic stills interwoven with Neil and Marina’s story, a small cluster of reeds clings pathetically to life at the bottom of an industrial gravel pit that we know to be toxic. Just like us, Malick seems to say, except it is frighteningly left unclear whether to cope with that reality through love or despair. A Harvard-educated philosopher, Malick is more interested in
profound questions than answers, to the point of utter vacuousness in many scenes. But while he could have thickened the plot and revealed his characters’ motivations, Malick knows better than to give his audience what they want. The anonymity of the characters prevents us from relating to them merely as stock dummies onto which we can project parts of ourselves; that has been done a thousand times and it is too easy. Rather, Malick’s withholding heightens our attunement to their status as human beings, whom we, as well as the other characters, can never know and never truly love. In doing so, he elevates the film to the status of metaphysical inquiry. A man never afraid to celebrate a film’s challenge to its viewer, Ebert concluded his review with his last published words: “There will be many who find To the Wonder elusive and too effervescent. They’ll be dissatisfied by a film that would rather evoke than supply. I understand that, and I think Terrence Malick does, too. But here he has attempted to reach more deeply than that: to reach beneath the surface, and find the soul in need.”
Dax magazine promises to be the best thing since Sliced Bread James Mackenzie Arts Staff Dax, a new magazine from students at UChicago, looks to fill a void in campus publications with experimental art and writing that would not normally be featured in other student-run media. “I’m just surprised we didn’t have something like it before,” said firstyear Angela Zhang, one of Dax’s founding editors. She and her fellow editors—first-years Jackson Roth, Ben Goldner, and Jake Elkin—hope that the magazine will provide a new outlet for students interested in expressing themselves using alternative art, photography,
and writing. Described by its editors as aiming to be “The New Yorker on acid,” the magazine’s mission is very broad in scope, yet its purpose is clear in the minds of its creators. It seeks to find a place for the misplaced, a forum for art which, for whatever reason, did not fit within other venues and for artists who do not fall into the usual artistic crowd. The title itself is drawn from a pool of nonsense used for word association experiments in linguistics. “It has no meaning; it is more about attaching meaning to other things. Dax is about exploring the meaning of art and the meaning
of writing,” Zhang said. The editors hope that this theme will carry over to the pieces within Dax itself, challenging conventional ideas of meaning in art. “We can provide that outlet for people who want to try weird things or format weirdly, or do things that might seem pointless but might have a really cool message,” Zhang said. However, it was not this mission, but a mutual love of reading and writing, which initially brought together Dax’s four founding editors. “We all bring a different side of literature to the table,” Goldner said, “We’re all interested in different authors and different writing
styles, and I think that conglomeration of forms is going to help produce something really cool. We push each other to write more.” Dax is still very much in its infancy, having only recently gained status as a Registered Student Organization at the University. Armed with only a WordPress page and boundless creative energy, the editors now face the task of gaining both the funds and the student material with which to build the magazine. However, bolstered by a fast influx of submissions and student interest, the editors have very high hopes and expectations for how far their project can go in the future.
“It has the potential to be something that stays well beyond our stays at this school,” Zhang said, on the group’s vision for Dax. “We’re definitely planning on expanding as much as possible,” Goldner added. Currently, the editors hope to release Dax’s inaugural print issue in the fall or winter quarter of next year, with a new issue coming out every subsequent quarter. They are excited to tap the deep undercurrent of creativity which they believe lies dormant at the school. “We want people to experiment,” Goldner said. “It’s so obvious that everybody here has something to say.”
THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | April 26, 2013
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Friday | April 26 Now that it’s a feisty 13 years old, The Chicago Anarchist Film Festival’s rebellious streak is beginning to set in. The festival will hold its first screenings tonight, though this radical event will run all three nights of the weekend. Cointelpro 101 and Just Do It: A Tale of Modern Day Outlaws give homage to tonight’s “sabotage” theme. A discussion on “movement building and destruction,” led by Four Star Anarchist Organization, will accompany the films. Bring your own black jeans, safety pins, and antiauthoritarian swagger. 556 West 18th Street. 7 p.m., $5–$10 suggested donation. The weather this weekend will be beautiful, so why not sit in a quiet, dark room and academically ponder “the spatial history of Chicago”? Chicago and the Built Environment is a weekend-long conference including a field trip around Chicago on Saturday. On Friday, all those lusty panels will go down in the atrium of the Gordon
Center for Integrative Science. Talks will include “Past and Future” with Dean Boyer and “Environment” with Michael Conzen, one of the geography department’s two proud professors. 929 East 57th Street. Various times, free. To register, visit urban. uchicago.edu. Saturday | April 27 It’s that time of year again—Fat Cat’s Annual Beer and Bacon Fest has arrived. There’ll be over 20 of the nation’s best craft beers and, apparently, something called “chocolate bourbon bacon cake.” Be there. 4840 North Broadway. 3 p.m., $40. Can’t get a date this Saturday? Just buy one instead! Splash! Chicago will be hosting its fourth annual Splash! into Love date auction featuring some of the hottest hunks and honeys on campus (read: the University of Chicago campus), and all for a good cause. Date packages include trips to the Girl and the Goat, the Second City and
the Museum of Science and Industry. 1212 East 59th Street. Doors open at 6 p.m., $1. Sunday | April 28 Everything ends, some things sooner than others. Like the Renaissance Society’s 2012–13 season, and unlike this school year. Sunday will see the Society take a final bow for the year with Forlesen, a new installation by DoVA faculty member William Pope.L. Pope.L’s first show since joining the university staff, Forlesen promises to feature an exploration of multimedia unlike anything the artist has done previously. Plus, free wine. Forlesen runs through June 23. 5811 South Ellis Avenue. 4 p.m.–7 p.m., free. In some part of the country, this spring is actually warm and pleasant. Go to Frontier for its Crawfish Boil and Bands starting at 3 p.m. for Louisianastyle boiled crawfish, potatoes, and corn, plus $4 beer and complimentary SKYY
vodka between 5 and 6 p.m. Veggie kebabs for the herbivores among us, with bands starting at 6:30. 1072 North Milwaukee Avenue, 3 p.m., $25. With the current frenzy of student election scandal and general real-world social unrest, it’s been all too easy to slip into a brand of American parochialism that’s no fun for anyone. If you want to take a step back and realize that hey, things are kind of shitty everywhere, check out the first Chicago run of The Angels’ Run at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Directed by Ken Loach, who’s famous for his anti-Hollywood sentiments and socialist/realist style, The Angels’ Run won the Grand Jury Prize at last year’s Cannes and purportedly blends comedy and social commentary perfectly in its tale of a young British delinquent whose ability to identify whiskies is near supernatural. 164 North State Street. Showings at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., $7 with UCID. —The Arts Editors
Tea Time and Sex Chats cofounder:“Just because you got into UChicago, doesn’t mean you learned sex ed” SEX continued from page 7 explained that they originally applied for money through the Uncommon Fund, but were aggressively turned down. Since then, the campus community has been highly supportive, financially and otherwise, of the program. “Everyone deserves a space where they can talk about sex that isn’t their doctor’s office or health class,” Sullivan said. They hold sessions every other week on sex topics like “Sex for First-Timers” and “Oral Sex,” which 70 students attended each time it occurred. They explained that UChicago
students do not want to appear ignorant about any topic, especially sex. However, “just because you got into UChicago, doesn’t mean you learned sex ed,” DunnWeiss said. (Tea Time and Sex Chats’ next session is May 1 at 7:30 in Harper 140. RACK [Risk Aware Consensual Kink] will be presenting “BDSM for Beginners.”) Dunn-Weiss and Sullivan also started the University of Chicago Clothesline Project, which will be displayed in Hutch Courtyard Memorial Day weekend. The Clothesline Project docu-
ments instances of sexual assault through T-shirts designed with the stories of survivors or the family or friends of survivors. They decided to start the project because of the reinvigorated discussion about sexual assault on campus in response to a firstperson account published in the student newspaper at Amherst last year. The main response to the article and to the Clothesline Project is “it wouldn’t happen at UChicago,” Dunn-Weiss said. The 27 shirts directly dispute this misconception, as well as “offer people who shared their stories a
transformation that is striking,” said Sullivan. Sullivan and DunnWeiss said that the Clothesline Project remains separate from the “curious” sex culture of UChicago. “There is not the same curiosity about understanding sexual assault,” Dunn-Weiss said. Perhaps people don’t refer to UChicago’s sex culture by a catchy moniker because there is no unifying, definable sex culture here. Like students everywhere, UChicago students are constantly striving and failing to become responsible adults not only professionally, but also in their romantic relation-
DESIGN.
DRAW.
ships. Unlike students everywhere, they may think that the best way to lead to a sexual encounter is to, say, demonstrate their deep knowledge of Wittgenstein. Second-year Rebecca Stoner explained, “All students here share underlying features, such as intellectual curiosity; however, they all belong to different subgroups that have their own subcultures and, accordingly, their own unique sexual cultures.” She added, “It is a matter of scale. In a population of 5,000 students there is room for a lot of cultures...UChicago has a surprisingly strong dating culture.”
WRITE.
COPY EDIT.
SEEKING WRITERS, DESIGNERS, COPY EDITORS, CARTOONISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS Have what it takes to make the Maroon Staff? Contact us: editor@chicagomaroon.com
10
THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | April 26, 2013
Chicago walks away from Elmhurst with nothing Hall: “I want them to have fun.” Baseball
TRACK continued from back
Fourth-year outfielder Ben Bullock crosses the plate during a home game against Dominican earlier this season. JAMIE MANLEY | THE CHICAGO MAROON
Russell Mendelson Sports Contributor The Maroons suffered a tough loss Wednesday evening and will have to head into a busy weekend with disappointment still lingering, having allowed Elmhurst to sneak away with a walk-off victory. Chicago’s (16–9) hitting remained potent, but the Maroons’ pitching was unable to hold a tworun lead in the bottom of the ninth as Elmhurst (14–14) had the last word in a 13–12 victory. The South Siders were hitless through two innings, but thanks to a patient approach at the plate and some wayward pitching by Elmhurst, they plated five runs in the third. Fourth-year catcher Tony Logli walked to lead off the inning. Fourth-year center fielder Ben Bullock recorded a walk of his own, putting two on with none out. With one out, fourth-year left fielder Jack Cinoman was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The Maroons scored their first two runs without recording a hit. Second-year third baseman Kyle Engel and third-year DH Ricky Troncelliti walked back-to-back to put Chicago up by two. With two outs, a Chicago hit finally contributed to the scoring. A single to left by fourth-year first baseman J.R. Lopez gave the Maroons a 4–0 lead. The South Siders scored their fifth and final run of the inning when Logli drove in Troncelliti with another walk. The Maroons batted around having recorded only one hit. “We had a good approach at the plate and swung at strikes,” Troncelliti said. The Blue Jays countered with a run in the bottom of the third, but the South Siders quickly
regained their momentum in the fourth, again courtesy of some poor pitching from Elmhurst. Kyle Engel singled and took second on a wild pitch, Troncelliti walked, and both advanced again on another wild pitch. Third-year outfielder Brett Huff walked to load the bases for Lopez, who quickly unloaded them with a bases-clearing double that put the Maroons up 8–1. Elmhurst whittled away at the Chicago lead, scoring twice in the fourth on two RBI singles, before breaking out in the sixth inning to score five runs on five hits. With the game tied 8–8 in the eighth, Engel hit a lead-off single. Troncelliti collected his fourth walk of the day, and with one out Lopez advanced the runners with another single. Chicago then recorded back-to-back-to-back hits to lead by four, their first real offensive showing of the game. Elmhurst responded quickly, putting up two runs in the bottom half of the inning and shutting out the Maroons in the top of the ninth. Everything seemed to fall apart for the South Siders in the bottom of the ninth. The frame began with two walks by fourth-year pitcher Drew Nicholson, who was then replaced by second-year Andrew VanWazer. With the bases loaded, the Blue Jays trimmed Chicago’s lead to one with a single. After a strikeout from VanWazer, Elmhurst first baseman Luke Collins drove in the winning runs with an RBI single. The Maroons’ offense continued to excel at Elmhurst. Not only did they record 10 hits, but they also showed commendable patience, racking up 11 walks. Unfortunately, Chicago’s pitching was not able to give its offense the support it needed, allowing 18 hits and walking five batters
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in what was an error-strewn game for both teams. “We needed to play better. We were unable to execute some key plays and ultimately that led to our loss,” Troncelliti said. “If we execute and play like we can, we will have a great weekend against Wash U.” The South Siders will be hoping their defense can match their offense this weekend as they face Wash U (20–12) in two doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday at Stagg Field.
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be accurate, which is a big “if,” both Chicago squads can expect to finish around third place. In the best-case scenario, the Maroons will win the conference title on both sides. Realistically, this will prove extremely difficult. The quantity of points the Maroons would have to make up is just too vast. Rather, another second-place finish for the men and third for the women seems more likely. Whatever the outcome, the Maroons recognize this will be the last time they will compete as a team this year. After UAAs, the teams’ focus will shift to qualifying for Nationals. This fact is especially poignant for the fourth-years on the team, who will be competing in their last conference championship. “I want them to have fun,” Hall said. “I want them to enjoy the time they spend with their teammates one more time. Generally, the greatest enjoyment comes from success, so a little greater focus in this final meet [would be ideal].” The work, time, and effort have been put in. All that remains is for the curtain to be drawn, and for the Maroons to perform the act they have strived to perfect all year long. “I am always proud of the athletes that I work with at Chicago. I have been here for 12 years and have grown to expect great work ethic, desire…. We are on a campus of over achievers willing to work hard to succeed. This team has been very much like the others I have worked with and I do expect them to perform well this weekend,” Hall said. The UAA Championships get underway at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning and continue at the same time on Sunday on Randall’s Island in New York, NY.
11
THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | April 26, 2013
South Siders to face No. 3 Emory in semi finals
First-year Stephanie Lee sizes up a backhand during a match last Tuesday against Wheaton. The Maroons won 7–0. COURTESY OF HANS GLICK
Chicago cruised through the first day of the UAA Championships, but the tournament will become exponentially harder in only a matter of hours. The No. 4–seeded Maroons defeated No. 5– seeded Case by a score of 8–1 on Thursday and
UAA Standings Rank
Women’s Tennis
Alexander Sotiropoulos Senior Sports Staff
BASEBALL
will attempt to upset the No. 1–seeded and No. 3– ranked national powerhouse Emory today. In spite of Chicago’s defeating Case 8–1 when they met on April 5, head coach Jay Tee knew the Maroons could not afford to look past the Spartans prior to yesterday’s match. “We knew that if we continued to improve in doubles that it would translate to a match situation
regardless of our opponent,” he said. “We knew that Case could be a pesky team if we let them hang around, so it was our goal to treat them with a lot of respect and to make sure we closed them out when we had the chance.” With a 3–0 lead after doubles, the Maroons did not look back, winning five out of six singles matches. First-year No. 6 singles player Stephanie Lee has shared time with second-year Maggie Schumann at the No. 3 doubles spot, but Tee decided to partner first-year Sruthi Ramaswami with Schumann for the UAA Championships. “Maggie was playing really well in practice, and we decided to go with the hot hand,” Tee said. “Based on today’s results, it was the right call, but we need Maggie to be consistent. If she continues to play like she did today, she’ll be in good shape going forward.” For the first time this season, the Maroons will be the underdog against a DIII opponent. But Tee does not want his team to think about that. “I think it’s important that we play free and don’t think about the situation,” he said. “If we think about playing Emory, playing the No. 1 seed, or anything like that, it will limit what we’re able to do. If we understand that all the pressure is on them to win, then we will be able to play to our abilities.” In a typical match, the Maroons are virtually guaranteed wins at No. 1 singles and doubles. No. 1 singles player and second-year Megan Tang is on a 15-match winning streak. Tang and firstyear Helen Sdvizkhov are on a 10-match winning streak at No. 1 doubles. However, Emory has the reigning NCAA DIII singles champion in Gabrielle Clark. Clark is on a three-match winning streak and is 9–1 in her last 10 matches, and along with No. 1 doubles partner Annette Sullivan, the tandem is 10–3 on the season. Tang faced Clark in the USTA/ITA Division III National Championships in October; Tang lost 6–1, 6–0. Even with this, Tee said he believes Tang has what it takes to defeat Clark. “I’ve been around some great players at the DI level, and Megan has similar physical abilities,” Tee said. “Megan’s ground strokes are every bit as good as Gabrielle’s, and she covers the court just as well. What sets the best apart from everyone else is their self-belief.” Every player in the Maroon lineup will need to have that confidence to defeat Emory today at 1 p.m. in Orlando, FL.
School
Record
1
Case Western
23–10(5–3)
Win % .697
2 3 4 5 6
Chicago Washington (MO) Emory Rochester Brandeis
16–9(0–0) 20–12(5–3) 21–16 (4–4) 15–16 (4–4) 11–20 (2–6)
.640 .625 .568 .484 .355
Batting Average Rank 1 2 2 4 5
Player Engel Schwabe Cinoman Lowery Bullock
Rank 1 2 3 3 5
Player Engel Pakan Keen Iturrey Cinoman
Rank 1 2 2 4 4
Player
Cinoman Bullock Keen
Rank 1 2 3 4 5
Player Gish Dillman King Menke Bonser
RBIs
Tatiana Fields Associate Sports Editor Wednesday and Thursday brought four low-scoring games and a 1–3 record for the Maroons. Aurora (29–3) increased its winning streak to 21 straight as the South Siders (14–14) dropped two contests to the Spartans on Wednesday. In both games, the Maroons held the Spartans to low run totals but couldn’t get their bats going enough to match the host’s offense. “Today’s performance did not reflect the strong offensive team that we are,” firstyear Devan Parkison said. “I have never really been worried about scoring runs in a game with this team, but it seemed like today we had some trouble stringing hits together.” In the first game, it was Chicago that took the early lead. First-year Kathleen Kohm scored on an RBI triple by thirdyear middle infielder Maddie McManus. Fourth-year Kim Cygan pitched for the Maroons and was instrumental in holding Aurora to a few runs. Though Aurora loaded the bases with no outs in the third inning, the Spartans were limited to one run on a sacrifice fly, tying the score at 1–1. The South Siders took the lead in the top of the seventh with an RBI double to
Carthage came back, tying the contest at 2–2 in the seventh. The home South Siders weren’t about to drop two straight doubleheaders—they walked off with the 3–2 win on Covello’s solo home run. Despite Chicago’s up-and-down season, the team still has hopes for the postseason. “We need to focus on winning each inning in order to advance to Regionals,” Parkison said. “We are [also] trying to enjoy the rest of the season together, while focusing on extending it as long as possible.” The Maroons are coming down the home stretch with only four games remaining in the regular season. Today, the South Siders face North Park (18–10) in a doubleheader on the road. Both teams have faced Wheaton (17–13) this season; the Maroons lost both games against the Thunder while the Vikings split their doubleheader against them. On Monday, the South Siders will compete against Beloit (7–25) in two contests at home. The Buccaneers are weak on defense, allowing opponents to score in double digits in seven games this season, so Chicago should have a good chance to rekindle its offense. Chicago takes on North Park at 3 p.m. today and will then face Beloit at home on Monday at the same time.
RBIs 34 30 29 29 28
School Chicago Case Western Chicago Chicago Case Western
HRs 5 3 3 2 2
School Case Western Emory Rochester Rochester Washington (MO)
ERA 1.78 2.19 2.51 2.55 2.60
Engel
Pakan
ERA
Rank 1 2 3 4 4
Strike Outs School Player Dillman Bonser
Washington (MO)
Ks 66 47
Gish Johnstone Menke
Case Western Case Western Rochester
40 38 38
Emory
SOFTBALL UAA Standings Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6
School Emory
Record 39–3 (8–0)
Win % .929
Washington (MO) Brandeis Case Western Chicago Rochester
25–11 (5–3) 21–13 (3–5) 20–13 (3–5) 14–14 (0–0) 16–17 (1–7)
.694 .618 .606 .500 .485
Batting Average Rank 1
left field by fourth-year Jacqueline Ryan. Despite having the lead for much of the game, the Maroons couldn’t quite hold on. In the bottom of the seventh, the Spartans tied the game again at 2–2 with a run by first-year Lauren Huebner. The Spartans carried their momentum into the eighth with a walk-off RBI single to win the game 3–2. Chicago left lots of runners on base, tallying only two runs on a baffling 11 hits. Aurora’s confidence extended into the second game, but this time its defense held the Maroons to just three hits. The Spartans scored two runs right off the bat with a pair of RBI singles and didn’t look back. Fourth-year Stephanie Lynch jacked a solo homer in the fifth, increasing their lead to 3–0. The South Siders scored their only run of the game in the sixth with the bases loaded and one out. Third-year catcher Julia Covello put Chicago on the scoreboard with an RBI on a fielder’s choice, but that was it for the Maroons. The next day, Carthage visited the Maroons at home and took the first game 2–0, but Chicago countered, winning the second by a score of 3–2. First-year Jordan Poole got the win on the mound as she held the Lady Reds to two runs on eight hits. The Maroons had a 2–0 lead until
School Chicago Case Western Case Western Emory Chicago
Home Runs
Defense dominant, but squad drops three of four Softball
School AVG Chicago .435 Chicago .418 Chicago .418 Washington (MO) .414 Chicago .413
Player Genovese
School Brandeis
AVG .470
2 3 4 5
Janssen Light Komar Lopez
Washington (MO) Emory Case Western Chicago
.463 .424 .421 .420
Rank 1
Player Light
School Emory
Neal Berg Roberts N. Korn
Washington (MO) Washington (MO) Case Western Rochester
RBIs
2 3 4 5
RBIs 53 50 35 34 33
Home Runs Rank 1 2
Player Light Korn
School Emory Rochester
3 4 4
Bradford Neal Berg
Rochester Washington (MO) Washington (MO)
Rank 1 2 3 4 5
Player Kardys Carpenter Brottman Poole Grage
Rank 1 2 3 3 5
Player Taylor Pitkin Grage Carpenter Kardys
HRs 12 11 9 8 8
ERA School Emory Emory Emory Chicago Rochester
ERA 1.38 1.60 1.76 2.55 2.75
Strike Outs School Case Western Washington (MO) Rochester Emory Emory
Ks 142 100 98 86 85
SPORTS
IN QUOTES “Our new whizz-bang ‘let’s give away our best player for a bag of old jockstraps’ G.M. is going to fire Rex Ryan because, after all, that 2–14 record is clearly Rex’s fault.” —Author George R. R. Martin gives his prediction on the Jets’ future after trading Darelle Revis.
Hopeful Maroons travel east to UAAs Postseason tournament to get Track & Field
underway against No. 16 Tartans Men’s Tennis Sam Zacher Associate Sports Editor
Second-year Kevin Vollrath competes in the 3,000m steeplechase at last year’s Chicagoland Championship. COURTESY OF DAVE HILBERT
Isaac Stern Sports Staff The Maroons will leave the Midway for Broadway this weekend as they look to put on a show against their conference rivals at the UAA Championship in New York. After only three short weeks of outdoor preparation, the South Siders will compete in their most important meet of the season. Last year, the men’s and women’s teams both placed fourth. Since then, the Maroons have picked up a talented first-year class and gained more experience on the track. Chicago has been working toward this weekend for a long time. While the outdoor season may be short, the Maroons simply view it as a continuation of the indoor season and another shot at a conference title. “It’s hard to prepare for the outdoor conference meet since it falls in the middle of our schedule,” fourth-year Billy Whitmore said.
“Luckily, our fitness has carried over [from the indoor season] and we’re ready to go.” Whitmore will compete in the 5,000m and 10,000m for Chicago. He currently has the eighth best time in the nation in the 5,000m. The Maroons showed progress from last year during the indoor season, placing second in the conference on the men’s side and third on the women’s, but Chicago has its sights set on a conference title. “Overall, goals are high, which is no surprise considering the men finished second at indoor UAAs,” Whitmore said. ”The men’s team will look to compete with Wash U and Carnegie Mellon, who is the early favorite.” Carnegie, Wash U, and Emory, along with Chicago, hold the strongest squads going into the conference championship. On the men’s side, Carnegie beat the Maroons by about 50 points during the indoor championship, with
Wash U and Emory nibbling at the Maroons’ heels. For the women, Emory edged out Wash U by one point to steal the title, while the South Siders trailed by just over 30. These margins will be no easy task for the Maroons to overcome. “We don’t have any obstacles to overcome necessarily. We’re simply challenged by other teams,” head coach Chris Hall said. ”We have a competitive conference and will need to elevate our competitive level at this meet.” The Maroons’ travel squad consists of 24 men and 24 women. Unfortunately, not everyone can travel. “[We had to decide who could travel] by looking at the UAA honor roll and evaluating who was in the best position to score,” Hall said. The Maroons currently have 25 athletes ranked in scoring positions on the men’s side and 31 on the women’s. If these rankings prove to TRACK continued on page 10
No. 29 Chicago (12–4) will fight it out for the UAA title this weekend, hoping to turn what has been an up–and–down season into a Cinderella story with victory against a strong conference field. The Maroons are seeded fifth out of eight. The South Siders caught fire early in the season—after a 1–1 start, they won their next 10 matches. However, since the streak, they’re 1–3. “As a team, we’re doing all right. We have to step it up this weekend for UAAs because every team we could possibly play is going to be a battle,” second-year Ankur Bhargava said. “We’re going to have to up our games to give ourselves a chance to be successful at the UAAs.” The Maroons will have some momentum going into the weekend, following Monday’s 7–2 domination of Wheaton. Their three recent losses all came against teams ranked ahead of Chicago— No. 28 UW–Whitewater (17–11), No. 18 Gustavus Adolphus (19–9), and conference rivals No. 14 Wash U (14–5) who beat the Maroons 6–3. Unfortunately for Chicago, the Bears are only the third-seeded team in the conference tournament. No. 13 Case (19– 5) is the second seed, and No. 3 Emory (12–5) is the first. The Maroons will obviously be up against some tough competition, and for them to succeed, they’ll need their No.1 singles player, second-year Deepak Sabada, to perform at a high level and win some clutch points. “I feel like I have played well recently but have come up a bit short in the important moments in matches, which has caused me to lose a couple of close matches,” Sabada said. “I think if I learn from my mistakes in my previous matches, I have a good chance of being successful this weekend.” Sabada was referring to Monday’s match against Wheaton, where he unexpectedly lost his singles match and the No. 1 doubles
match that he played with third-year Alex Golovin. However, the second-year standout certainly knows how to play, since he won eight straight individual matches in the middle of the season. In addition to Sabada, Bhargava has been a consistent contributor for the South Siders and will also be key to any success Chicago will have. Bhargava plays on the No. 2 singles and doubles courts. “Personally, I feel like I’ve been playing fairly well,” Bhargava said. “I need to play solidly from the start of each match and stay consistent. It is important for me to stay focused on my game plan and execute. I need to stay aggressive from the back and attack the net when I get the right ball.” Energy will undoubtedly be on the Maroons’ side, as the young team boasts two first-years and two second-years in its singles lineup. However, experience could end up costing Chicago as it did during its three-loss streak. Regardless, Sabada and the South Siders are aware of the talent of powerhouse teams like Emory and Case, and realize they need to play their best tennis of the year to win matches this weekend. “The team feels like we are getting better every day ahead of the UAAs, but we know that the competition is going to be tough and that we can’t be satisfied with our current level of play as we are going up against some of the best teams in the country,” Sabada said. Chicago opens up the tournament against fourth-seeded No. 16 Carnegie (12–5). The Tartans’ and Maroons’ only common opponent this season was No. 2 Kenyon (20–3). Kenyon defeated Chicago 9–0 early in the season and recently beat Carnegie by a score of 6–3. The Maroons are prepared for a challenging two days of tennis as they set their sights on a ride in Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage. It’ll be an early start for the squad in Orlando, FL today as they first hit the courts against Carnegie at 8 a.m.
Five for Friday: Taking a look at this weekend’s key story lines WHITMORE SAYS 2. MAROONS TARGET 1. BILLY GOODBYE TO THE UAA
WASH U SHOWDOWN
Fo u r t h - y e a r Billy Whitmore will compete in the 5,000m and 10,000m runs at the final conference meet of his career this weekend. Competing in both events means Whitmore is unlikely to win in both, but this remains a big moment in Chicago sports. Whitmore has dominated the UAA in his four years as a Maroon, and when he appears for the final time this weekend the South Siders will be saying goodbye to one of their all-time greats. For Whitmore himself, a successful conference would offer a nice springboard as he sets his sights on elusive NCAA All-American honors in outdoor track.
When women’s tennis plays Emory in the W semifinal of the UAA tournament today, it will be playing the third–ranke d team in DIII ; victor y is far from g uarante e d. But the Maroons will enter the match with confidence, having beaten the same team in the fina l last year, and will be spurre d on by a potentia l fina l showdown with Wash U. The S outh Siders have both beaten and lost to the Bears in the last month. The y would like nothing more than to ma ke it t wo out of thre e on their way to a se cond conse cutive UAA title.
3.
BEARS, BEARS, BEARS, BEARS
Chicago plays two doubleheaders against Wash U this weekend after what was arguably its strangest game of the season, a 13–12 loss to Elmhurst on Wednesday. Despite scoring 12 runs, the Maroon offense was not at its best. The South Siders scored five runs in the third inning recording only one hit, and Elmhurst walked 11 Chicago batters in total. However, the Maroons’ pitching wasn’t much better, surrendering 18 hits and blowing a two–run lead in the ninth. This team is nothing if not exciting. As the hunt for a postseason berth heats up, it might be worth checking them out in one of their four games on Stagg this weekend.
4. CHICAGO WILL BE
5. END OF THE ROAD
Men’s tennis kicks off its pursuit M of the UAA title today against No. 16 Carnegie Mellon. If they win, they are likely to face No. 13 Case Western in the semifinals, and, if they manage to win that one as well, their opponents in the final will be either No. 14 Wash U or No. 3 Emory. No. 29 Chicago has done very well to reach the nation’s top 30 this season, but when you consider that four of the teams in the Maroons’ conference are ranked ahead of them in the same list, that achievement loses some of its gloss. The South Siders will try not to focus on rankings when they take to the courts today, but such is the strength of this conference, and the rankings may quickly become hard to avoid.
The Maroons will graduate three fourth-years this year: pitcher Kim Cygan, and infielders Jacqueline Ryan and Vicky Tomaka. Chicago has struggled somewhat this year, after making it to the postseason last year, but there is still time to make this season a successful one. Cygan, Ryan, and Tomaka will be determined to end their careers on a winning note. The Maroons currently hold a record of 14–14, but will play three doubleheaders in the next four days. They will start at North Park today before returning home to take on Beloit on Monday in the three seniors’ last ever games on Stagg.
THE UNDERDOG IN STRONG CONFERENCE
FOR SOFTBALL FOURTH-YEARS