FRIDAY • JANUARY 23, 2015
CHICAGOMAROON.COM
ISSUE 21 • VOLUME 126
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
UCPD squeaks by in matchup with students Health Dept.: UCMC best
The UChicago Student Government hosted a basketball game on Thursday in Ratner Gym between university students and officers of the UCPD. LIANA SONENCLAR | THE CHICAGO MAROON
Tamar Honig News Staff
hospital for trauma center
Sounds of squeaking sneakers and cheering spectators filled the Ratner Competition Gym as students and University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) officers faced off in a friendly game of basketball on Thursday evening, in an attempt to create bridges between the two groups. The game was part of a Student Government initiative called One Campus, the purpose of which is to create spaces for students and nonacademic staff to meet. “This game is meant to give students and off-the-clock officers a chance to mingle and just have fun together,” Sindhu Gnanasambandan, interim Student Government representative for the Class of 2016 and an organizer of the event, said. “Even though we see officers all the time, we hardly get a chance to get to know them and vice versa.” The basketball game was the second event organized by One Cam-
Katherine Vega News Staff
UCPD continued on page 2
SG to hold student referendum on U-Pass Raymond Fang Associate News Editor A referendum on whether or not to bring U-Pass to the College will be organized by College Council (CC), a move decided upon at Student Government’s thrice-quarterly Assembly meeting on Thursday evening. U-Pass is a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) program that provides unlimited rides to fulltime students during the school year. The referendum, which will be held sometime in the next two to three weeks, will provide CC with a general survey of student opinions on U-Pass, and is the first step in determining whether the College
should enroll in U-Pass. U-Pass would cost a flat rate of $250 per student per school year, which is about $85 per quarter. This amount translates to roughly four CTA rides per week. It is unclear whether the $250 per student would come from an increase in student tuition or other University funding sources, but it would likely be rolled into existing student fees, such as the Student Life Fee. If the College enrolled in U-Pass, it would not affect the current arrangement between the University and the 170, 171, and 172 CTA buses, which serve the Hyde Park area for free for anyone with a UCID. Last year, 69 percent of students
who took a SG-sponsored survey supported U-Pass. 500 students took the survey, 175 of whom were from the College. In the survey, students reported riding the CTA an average of three times a week and a median of twice a week, though at the time there was confusion over whether or not these rides included the already free 170, 171 and 172 buses. Students said they would ride the CTA an average of five times a week and a median of four times a week with the U-Pass. The various University graduate divisions will hold separate referendums on enrolling in the U-Pass program. Currently, students at the School of Social Service Administration use the U-Pass.
Violent crime in Hyde Park on the decline Cairo Lewis News Staff Hyde Park witnessed a decline in violent crime rates between the summers of 2013 and 2014, according to the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD). Although a full record of 2014 crime rates is not yet available, a statistical analysis from the summer data shows an overall decrease in violent crime
in Hyde Park and may indicate a decreasing trend in crime. While UCPD statistics for 2014 are unknown, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) listed 75 charges of violent crime in Hyde Park this past summer, down from 96 in 2013. The most commonly recorded form of violence that occurred between Labor Day and Memorial Day was battery. There were 56 charges of battery in Hyde Park this past
summer, with 29 of them being domestic battery. The trend of violent crimes in the Hyde Park/South Kenwood area has been steadily declining since 1999. Violent crimes are defined by the CPD as acts of violence involving aggravated assault and battery, criminal sexual assault, robbery, and murder. The crime rate for these particular acts of violence spiked periodiANALYSIS continued on page 3
The University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) is the area hospital best equipped to maintain an adult Level I trauma center, according to the new Trauma Center Feasibility Study by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). Seventeen Illinois hospitals participated, with five of those hospitals operating on the South Side of Chicago. All hospitals were ranked out of 85 points based on available services, percentage of certified physicians, and other similar criteria. The UCMC scored a 59 using these metrics. The next-highest scorer, Jackson Park Hospital, scored a 47. The UCMC, which already has a pediatric trauma center, said that it had “0” interest on a scale from 0–10 in developing another trauma center. Jackson Park Hospital, Roseland Community Hospital, and Advocate Trinity Hospital responded with scores of 7 or 8,
but none of them met the criteria for being able to operate a Level I trauma center. Level I trauma centers differ from Level II and III centers in that they offer the highest level of surgical care for grave situations, according to the study, which was released in early January. Patients in need of a Level I trauma center are often the victims of gunshot or stab wounds or car accidents. The study used several methodologies to gauge both the feasibility of establishing a new trauma center and the likelihood that such a change would occur. A survey conducted by the IDPH in June 2014 asked area hospitals to outline their services and express their interest levels in creating trauma centers. The survey was then used to create the Feasibility Study. The Feasibility Study was conducted in hopes of addressing the “trauma desert” problem that plagues the South Side, where there is a high rate of firearms-related homicide and thus a higher need TRAUMA continued on page 3
Nurses’ union to vote on strike against UCMC Isaac Stein Senior News Writer National Nurses United (NNU), the union that represents the majority of nursing staff at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC), called for a strike vote last week following four months of unresolved contract negotiations. The strike vote will take place on January 29. A one-day strike will follow if the majority of UCMC nurses vote for the measure. Negotiations between NNU and the UCMC are set to resume on January 30. According to Cindy Loudin, the NNU labor representative for the University of Chicago, the union is considering a strike because of pending demands concerning staffing and nurses’ pay. “I think that a vote in favor of a strike is likely, as we wouldn’t be taking in a vote if we thought that management was responsive,” Loudin said. As previously reported by the Chicago Maroon, the contract between the union and the UCMC expired on October 31, and both parties have since been unable to establish a
new agreement. According to Loudin, the NNUrepresented nurses’ primary objective in the ongoing negotiations is to eliminate the UCMC’s practice of nurse rotation. Rotation is the calling in of a day nurse to work a night shift, or vice versa. Loudin characterized rotation as unsafe and argued that it is used as a means for the UCMC to cut costs at the expense of its nurses. “It is very unsafe for you to be on a regular day schedule and then randomly work all night long. As for why [the UCMC] does it—it’s in their financial interest, because they don’t have to pay rotators as much as they would a permanent night shift worker,” Loudin said. According to Loudin, permanent night shift nurses earn a 20 percent premium over their base pay rate per hour for nursing staff, while rotators only earn $2.50 per hour above their base pay, saving the UCMC money. According to the UCMC’s website, it is currently offering to pay rotators four dollars above base pay per hour, as part of the ongoing negotiations. The website also stated STRIKE continued on page 3
IN VIEWPOINTS
IN ARTS
IN SPORTS
Around Chicago in 80 days » Page 3
An Englewood Chinese food odyssey » Page 6
Men’s basketball: Pair of upsets lands Chicago in top 25 » Back page
A new fantastic point of view » Page 4
The Oscars get bleached but it’s not a surprise » Page 7
Women’s tennis: Young talent combines with proven veteran to create lethal threat » Page 7
2
THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | January 23, 2015
Nobel Laureate Lars Hansen gives talk on uncertainty in econ. models Kelly Zhang News Staff 2013 Nobel Laureate and UChicago economics professor Lars Peter Hansen discussed how he and other social scientists have historically confronted uncertainty in their research and models in the Wirzup Lecture, an event organized by the Resident Masters of the Max Palevsky Residential Commons. Hansen is recognized for advancing economists’ understanding of how economic agents act in the face of uncertainty in financial markets. His work focuses on using statistics and historical data to create models to study the macroeconomy. The professor shared stories from his economic career, including a tale about
how he contracted pneumonia right before receiving his Nobel Prize and was on lots of medication prescribed by the Nobel organization’s staff doctor when he met the Swedish king. He joked that as a result, he doesn’t remember the encounter very well. The talk focused on how economists and other social scientists in the past have handled and studied uncertainty and risk. Economists use models to try to understand the consequences of different policies. Since it is often unfeasible for economists to perform actual experiments with policies, especially in macroeconomics, these models in a sense mimic experiments since they allow researchers to predict the consequences of changes in the economic environment.
Yoko Ono collaborates on Sky Landing for Jackson Park Maggie Loughran News Staff Yoko Ono, artist and widow of the late Beatles member and solo artist John Lennon, has partnered with the not-for-profit organization Project 120 Chicago to revitalize the landscape of Jackson Park. The organization, founded as a civic public-private partnership with the Chicago Park District in 2013 will use both federal and private funds to overhaul Jackson Park, which was designed by renowned landscape artist Frederick Law Olmsted for the 1893 Columbian Exposition. Olmsted’s other works include Central Park in Manhattan, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and the U.S. Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C. “The intent and mission of Project 120 Chicago, in partnership with the Chicago Park District and the community is to plan, develop, and carry out improvements in Jackson park that respect, preserve, and renew the character of the landscape,” according to the project’s website. The project consists of four parts, one of which is Yoko Ono’s Sky Landing. Sky Landing will be situated on the footprint of the original Phoenix Pavilion, a gift
from Japan at the close of the Columbian Exposition that was vandalized during World War II. It is next to the Osaka Japanese Gardens on Wooded Island. Sky Landing is the first major public commission by Yoko Ono in the United States. She visited the Park in 2013. “I want the sky to land here, to cool it, and make it well again,” she said, according to Project 120’s website. The other three parts of the project focus on restoring areas of the park to their original character, with some modern additions. These include preserving and restoring natural areas, creating a new Phoenix Pavilion and Music Center, and reestablishing the original Great Lawn—40 acres of open space that is currently occupied in part by a driving range and a chain-link fence. Project 120 presented plans to the community at a meeting on January 13, the same night that the Chicago Park District held a meeting about the location of the Obama presidential library. To make up for a lost audience, Project 120 scheduled another community meeting to focus on the construction of the $10 million visitor center, but it was postponed on January 21.
Throughout the lecture, Hansen emphasized the importance of not overestimating what can be deduced from economic models. Economic models all have limitations and can easily be falsified - the purpose of using them is to discover how they are useful despite the limitations, which requires delineating what can and what cannot be understood from a given model. He described the different perspectives researchers have toward economic models. Studying “outside a model” refers to estimating unknown population parameters, which is what is taught in typical statistics classes. Studying “inside a model” refers describing how economic actors behave as they cope with uncertainty in the economic environment. One metaphor Hansen used to describe
his research is the statistics problem of determining the ratio of red and blue balls in an urn. With each ball one takes out of the urn, one gets a better idea of what the exact ratio in the urn is. The issue in economics is that over time the ratio of colors in the urn changes, which makes the research more complicated. Creating and utilizing economic models not only involves assigning probabilities to events, but also dealing with ambiguity and assessing how much confidence one has in difference models. Due to the limits of researchers’ understanding of complicated economic problems, Hansen suggested that the best way to address these issues is with simple solutions until economists gain a deeper understanding of the phenomena.
Basketball game between students and staff meant to foster new relationships UCPD continued from front
pus. In May, an all-day event brought together students as well as UCPD officers, Allied Barton security officers, shuttle drivers, facilities staff, front desk staff, and dining hall staff for their option of breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The idea to organize a basketball game came from UCPD Deputy Chief Kevin Booker. After the event in spring, One Campus had many connections to people in various nonacademic staff groups. Gnanasambandan met recently with Booker to brainstorm ways in which students and UCPD officers could meet. A joint shoe drive, a movie night, and a group bike ride downtown were among the possibilities discussed. “After asking officers and students, it seemed that the basketball game was the thing that most people were excited about,” she said. Gloria Graham, assistant chief of police for the UCPD, commented on the valuable camaraderie and relationship building that can develop from this sort of event. “Community partnerships are important, and the opportunities to give back to the community around here are really endless,” she said. “If we can partner together, I think it would be great.” Music played, pizza was served, and a festive atmosphere pervaded the court as officers and
students competed for glory. During halftime, children of the UCPD players rushed from the bleachers to shoot hoops and dance to Beyonce. The game ended in a score of 59–53, with victory belonging to the UCPD team. “The students really gave us a run for our money but in the end we came together and really snuck out with this win today,” Tawrence Walton, UCPD Community Relations Officer, said. Despite their defeat at the hands of the UCPD players, students expressed enthusiasm and interest in participating in future events with the officers. Third-year Darek Blachowicz, one of the student players, was among them. “I haven’t really had a chance to interact with the UCPD in the past, so these events could potentially be awesome opportunities,” he said. The officers, too, look forward to future opportunities to engage with students. “I would love to continue to develop a great rapport with the student body and for the University of Chicago community to come together more,” Walton added. “Seeing each other as a community, that’s what this was— he community of the University of Chicago, students and police officers, coming together to have fun. No matter the outcome, it was a win for both sides.”
NEWS IN BRIEF UCPD makes arrest for recent string of robberies A suspect has been arrested and charged for a string of Hyde Park robberies, including those that took place between East 53rd Street and 55th Street between September and November, according to the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD). Tommy Langston, 21, was arrested on December 9 and has been charged with nine total counts of robbery in relation to the incidents, according to the Hyde Park Herald. He was arrested by the Chicago Police Department with assistance from the UCPD. According to the UCPD incident reports, one of the robberies in question took place on September 7, 2014. Two suspects, one of whom implied possession of
a weapon, stole from a student walking on the sidewalk on East 54th Street between South Ingleside Avenue and South Ellis Avenue. On November 5, two suspects, again one implying possession of a weapon, stole a cellphone and backpack from a victim on 54th Street. And on November 7, along Kimbark Avenue between 53rd Street and 54th Street, a suspect displayed a handgun and took a cell phone and wallet from a University of Chicago staff member. Similar robberies took place within a week of the November 5 and 7 robberies: one on October 31 and another on November 6. Langston is currently being investigated for his involvement in similar crimes in the area. —Anne Nazzaro
Mayor Emanuel will attempt transfer of park land to city Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced an ordinance on Wednesday to transfer 20 acres of land from the park district to the city in case the University of Chicago is selected to host the Obama Presidential Library, according to the Chicago Tribune. This news comes in the midst of uncertainty on the part of the Obama Foundation concerning the University’s bid for the library. The University’s plans center around a location in either Jackson Park or Washington Park, on property that is currently owned by the Chicago Park District, an entity outside of city control. The ordinance was introduced in response to these concerns and to the broad support expressed in two community meetings held last week, each of which drew
hundreds of people. The plan has encountered protests by community organizations that advocate for preserving parkland, such as Friends of the Parks. In response, the mayor plans to make up for lost park space by consulting community leaders on the best locations on which to create green space elsewhere. Additionally, the actual building component of the library is expected to occupy no more than five acres. The University has not specified what would be done with the rest of the property. Under Emanuel’s plan, the land would be transferred in exchange for $1. The City Council is expected to pass the ordinance without a fight, though it likely will not vote on it until after the February 24 city elections. The Park District will consider the proposal at its meeting on February 11. —Natalie Friedberg
THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | January 23, 2015
3
UCMC declares no Nurses to vote on strike “2013 saw a record low in violent crime in our area” interest in trauma center over wages and rotations ANALYSIS continued from front and their current goals. Last year, the ComTRAUMA continued from front
STRIKE continued from front
for a Level I trauma center. In this study, a “trauma desert” was defined as an area more than five miles away from a suitable trauma center, although the distance could potentially be much greater. According to a 2013 study in the American Journal of Public Health, transport times were directly proportional to distance from a trauma center. The percent of gunshot victims who live more than five miles from a trauma center was 38.3 percent, and they had an overall higher mortality rate than those who live within five miles. According to its authors, the study was commissioned to address access to trauma care. “Illinois Department of Public Health recognizes the need to further expand and improve the availability of trauma care to the patients throughout Illinois,” the authors of the study wrote. “IDPH stands ready to support efforts to expand the state trauma system, address desert in South Side Chicago and across the state, [and] work…to meet the health needs of residents in Illinois.” UCMC spokesperson Lorna Wong released a statement in response to the report confirming the UCMC’s commitment to paying attention to the “evolving needs of our community and patients.”
that UCMC nurses are paid, on average, $8.43 more per hour than nurses who work in other Chicago hospitals. In a statement, UCMC spokesperson Lorna Wong said that NNU’s strike vote was both unexpected and unresponsive to the UCMC’s counterproposals to NNU’s negotiating points. “The University of Chicago Medical Center was surprised to learn that despite its best efforts to bargain in good faith, the NNU has called for a strike vote on January 29. This strike vote is premature as we have not yet had the opportunity for any detailed negotiation regarding economic proposals. We have received virtually nothing back from the NNU about our proposals, except for a few clarifying questions,” she said. NNU’s motion to hold a strike vote is not unprecedented. In 2011, following a similar contractual lapse between the UCMC and its nursing staff, NNU voted to strike. According to Loudin, the strike did not occur because a contract was agreed before the day of the strike. If the UCMC nurses do vote to strike on January 29, the union will give the UCMC 10 days of advance notice so that it may hire nonNNU nurses to work in the hospital on the day of the strike, so the hospital may continue to operate.
THE CHICAGO MAROON since 1892
cally with 418 violent crimes in 1999 and 412 violent crimes in 2001 and 2005. Since 2006, these rates have steadily declined to 169 violent crimes in 2013. Within the Hyde Park and South Kenwood area and the UCPD patrol area combined, the violent crimes reached their peak in 2009 with a total of 559 recorded crimes. The rates here have also steadily declined, as the total number of crimes in these areas combined in 2013 was 169. UCPD Assistant Chief Gloria Graham stressed that the UCPD continues to work towards more effectively providing safety and security to Hyde Park residents. She noted the importance of the UCPD’s collaboration with the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies
mission awarded the UCPD an advanced certification. According to Graham, the UCPD is the first private university police department in the Midwest to receive this certification. “2013 saw a record low in violent crime in our area. We are proud of that accomplishment but recognize that one violent crime is one too many. We are always evaluating our strategies and tactics to ensure they are addressing community concerns and matters involving public safety,” Graham said. She said that she expects the final crime statistics for 2014 to be available in the coming weeks.
Take an Hour to Change your Life peacecorps.gov/openings Apply today.
have a tip? let us know!
773.702.1403
2O14/2O15 CONCERT SERIES
3DFLoFD 4XDUWHW SUNDAY / JANUARY 25 / 3:00 PM LOGAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS / PERFORMANCE HALL 915 East 60th Street 2:00 PM pre-concert lecture with Steven Rings Puccini: Crisantemi Carter: Quartet No. 1 Beethoven: Quartet in F major, Op. 59, No. 1, “Razumovsky” Enjoy an exhilarating weekend break as the exuberant, virtuosic Pacifica Quartet takes you from the classical to the modern era of musical masters. 7LFNHWV VWXGHQWV “The quartet gave it an achingly poised performance, leaning into the music in a way that left a listener keenly aware of its internal tensions.” —San Francisco Chronicle
For tickets call 773.702.ARTS or visit chicagopresents.uchicago.edu
$5
STUDEN
T TICK
A limited number of FREE tickets are available through the Sponsor-A-Student Program, made possible by University of Chicago Arts Pass. For more information, visit chicagopresents.uchicago.edu/tickets/student-tickets
ETS
1.855.855.1961 | chicago@peacecorps.gov
VIEWPOINTS
Editorial & Op-Ed JANUARY 23, 2015
Around Chicago in 80 days The Study Chicago Quarter makes inroads on creating more accessible study abroad options by allowing students to learn locally On Wednesday, UChicago Study Abroad announced a new program that focuses on the city of Chicago: the Study Chicago Quarter (SCQ). The SCQ launches in a pilot version this Spring. This study abroad-style program is open by application to 20 undergraduates who will take three classes focusing on different aspects of the city of Chicago: its history, representation in art and literature, and politics. The classes will be supplemented by weekly excur-
sions to locations throughout Chicago. The Maroon Editorial Board commends UChicago Study Abroad and the Chicago Studies department for introducing a program that is more accessible than other study abroad options and that will encourage students to engage more directly with the city in which they live. The SCQ is an opportunity for students to learn about one of the world’s great cities. Admissions consistently highlights the academic, social, and
professional opportunities that the city of Chicago provides to students. However, due to the demands of class work and extracurricular activities, many students spend four years at UChicago rarely leaving Hyde Park. The SCQ is a chance for interested students to immerse themselves in the city without forcing them to limit their involvement in other areas of campus life. Chicago may not seem as exciting a location as Paris or Rome, but it is still rich
in culture and history, a fact the SCQ does well to remind us of. While the Chicago Studies department currently offers a wide array of courses (e.g. “Race in Contemporary American Society”, “Law and Urban Problems”), the majority of them focus on broad issues like race and politics and are only tangentially related to the city of Chicago itself. Furthermore, the SCQ offers a much more immersive approach than other Chicago Studies classes and
will allow students to experience the city more thoroughly. It is tempting to smirk at the idea the SCQ being marketed as another study abroad program, but it is worth noting how little many students actually know about this city. Finally, the new program is a more practical way for students to “study abroad.” The SCQ comes without the added travel and living costs of traditional study abroad programs and is a less disruptive way for students to break out of the
monotonous rhythm of a standard UChicago quarter. On top of this, students can still take one class in addition to the program, providing flexibility to students with more restrictive major requirements. Ultimately, the SCQ is an opportunity for students to stop pretending to their friends and family back home that they know Chicago, and actually get to know it for real. —The Maroon Editorial Board
BLACKLIGHTxMAROON
Got an SOS? Go to SCS! Student Counseling Services doesn’t deserve the bad rep Maya Handa Maroon Contributor Last spring, I couldn’t find the energ y to do anything productive. Each day felt the same. Activities that I used to enjoy seemed pointless and unfulfilling. It was scary to think about my lack of motivation, because then I felt guilty about how little I’d accomplished. All I could focus on was how upset I was, but I was too afraid to bring it up to my friends in case they thought I was boring. To make myself feel better, I tried baking, running, jamming to Madonna until I got a headache, sleeping all day, and staying up all night reading Orson Scott Card books. And not even the good ones, like Speaker for the Dead. Lame ones, like Hidden Empire. I was halfway through The Worthing Saga when I realized there was something wrong with me thateven Card novels couldn’t fix. It was hard to acknowledge that I was the victim of an illness that I couldn’t control, but I’m glad I did. I went to Student Counseling Services, and they helped me get better. A counselor talked to me about how I felt and how it was affecting my life, and gave me options for treatment. About two weeks after I started taking medication, I felt ten times better, and right now I am sitting on the couch watching Criminal Minds and eating cookies and feeling as normal as I have ever felt. However, many others won’t be that lucky, beacuse of the worrying campus sentiment towards Student Counseling Services.
A past Maroon article by Sarah Zimmerman, “Those who fall in the middle,” (10/4/14) cautioned people against using SCS for anything more than “less pressing problems with schoolwork or a relationship.” Many students seem to view SCS as a manipulative tool of the university preoccupied with removing potential liabilities from campus. The story of the anonymous student in Zimmerman’s article, who was hospitalized against her will, is frightening. But it is only one anecdote— like the story I shared above. Regardless of which side can find the most, or most terrifying anecdotes, one thing is true: the University climate that warns students away from Student Counseling Services is extremely disturbing, especially because SCS is sometimes the only affordable option. Zimmerman dismisses SCS as people “who are willing to lend an ear.” My Spanish Lit TA was willing to lend an ear. The professionals who work at SCS have medical degrees. They can talk to a student, discuss her concerns, suggest treatment, and prescribe medication, as they did for me. I had depression, and if I had been told that student counseling was only good for help with a breakup or the stress of a demanding schedule, I never would have received the professional help I needed to feel like myself again. Mental health care is subjective, and students who have had bad or uncomfortable experiences with SCS could have had similar experiences with
private counselors. Sure, the University of Chicago and the SCS want to keep students from self-harming on campus, but primarily they want to keep students from self-harm. A perceived overreaction on the part of SCS is more likely an experienced counselor wanting to ensure a student’s health and safety than it is a side effect of a flawed University system. My friend finally went to SCS last year, after many months of anxiety and depression. “My therapist was kind, professional, and incredibly intelligent. He helped me reframe my problems, noticed trends in my behavior, and gave me tools for dealing with anxiety,” she said. My friend and I have had good experiences; other people have had bad experiences. But to write off SCS completely as useless or coercive frightens students away from the services of highly educated professionals who may be able to help them overcome many different psychological problems, including depression, anxiety, addiction, or disordered eating. Mental health issues are incredibly difficult to acknowledge, and deciding to get help is harder still. It is irresponsible for us to discourage struggling students from taking advantage of the expertise provided by SCS, especially because SCS is sometimes the only affordable option for professional help. Maya Handa is a third-year in the College studying public policy.
Hyphenation hiatus Striving toward diversity has actually led us further away from this ideal MeeSoh Bossard Maroon Contributor As a military brat, I’m an American who has spent most of her life overseas. And as a Korean-African-American living in Korea—a highly racially homogenous society— I experienced acute racial discrimination on a daily basis. Because of it, I idealized my notion of the American identity. In Korea, I chose to identify myself as American. I told myself America was a “melting pot,” and I had a place in the inherently hybrid cultural identity of being an American. Back “home,” I could find my place within a group identity without feeling caught-in-between while simultaneously being made the Other. But these past few years back in the States have shown me the hopelessness of my endeavor, so much so that I’m forced to believe there has been a contemporary death of the American identity. The addition of a hyphenated “American” to tie subgroups such as “Asian-American” or “AfricanAmerican” to a larger overarching identity has, to some extent, become superfluous. Both my personal experience and exposure to crosscultural social science research has led me to suspect that there might be significant negative implications to the spread of this cultural movement toward “diversity.” There has been some commendable progress in the discussions surrounding race relations as a result of this movement— particularly in the field of academia. Scholarly articles such as the one
published by Markus and Kitayama proclaiming a dichotomy between “Eastern” and “Western” societies—the first as interdependent and the latter as significantly independent—have been critiqued for their sweeping generalizations and ignorance of the incredible degree of cultural variation amongst large geographic groups of people. The recent exploration and acknowledgement of the vast array of diversity within these previously overgeneralized groups by social scientists has paved the way for studies focusing on the now clearly evident subcultures within them. Theories such as Spencer’s PVEST highlight the role of sociocultural variability in individual identity development. Spencer’s study of African-American youth resilience is a prime example. However, this apparent pursuit of inclusivity and appreciation of an idealized conception of “diversity” has led to a greater solidification of lines separating these varied racial and ethnic groups. It unintentionally promotes the further separation of these groups from the greater fabric of the wholly “American” society. Take, for instance, the inclusion of multiracial individuals in comparative racial studies. The use of multiracial peoples as a definitive category is, in many ways, significantly heartening. It is a clear recognition of the multitude of Americans who choose not to be limited to identifying with a single traditional racial group. At the same time, the label “multiracial” itself demarcates a clear division between those of a dominantly identified race
and those without. In a society where a person’s hierarchical classification of their race is so tightly bound to their predominant cultural affinity, when mixed individuals are repeatedly shelved as “Others” when it comes to race, so too is their identity. Nevertheless, the shortcomings of this attempt to increase the visible appearance of diversity at the societal level has not merely slighted raciallymixed or non-singularly identifying individuals. In fact, the cultural identity of any and all individuals is now consistently attached to their allegiance to their respective dominant racial group. What role then does the term “American” in “AfricanAmerican” or “Asian-American” play? In our society, the American portion for individuals with culturally hyphenated identities is purely rhetorical; at the end of the day an “African-American” individual is mostly considered black and an “Asian-American” individual is an Asian. The normative American— the Caucasian-American— is simply (and always) “white”. In our frantic pursuit of diversity, we have moved away from achieving the broader unity we are capable of when we acknowledge diversity and variety as inherent components of the overall fully “American” identity. Our failure to do so is apparent in our increasing lack of unity even within these broadly clustered racial groups. Racial groups who share economic plights and similar societal discrimination DIVERSITY continued on page 5
THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | January 23, 2015
5
A new fantastic point of view Limits on free speech rob students of the wealth that opposing vieiwpoints have to offer Nicholas Saffran Maroon Contributor Between the University’s recent report on free expression, the Charlie Hebdo massacre, and The Maroon’s recent editorial on open discourse, we find ourselves in a moment where there is much hand-wringing about free speech. Many, myself included, were inclined to believe that, for all intents and purposes, the debates on this subject effectively ended in 1791 when the states affirmed the First Amendment. Yet again we find ourselves asking: Does freedom of expression admit of any limit? And, most fundamentally, what is free speech? Free speech is first and foremost a limit. As applied to the government, via the First Amendment, it means that the state must make “no law. . . abridging the freedom of speech.” However, it applies just as forcefully, if not legally, to the University. As it acknowledged in its statement, it is not the University’s job to police arguments, even when the views of one side may seem downright vile, bigoted, racist, or, yes, even discriminatory. Contrary to seemingly popular belief, U.S. law neither recognizes nor criminalizes anything called “hate speech,” and nor should the University. “Hate speech” is not
and never has been illegal in the United States, as the Supreme Court made clear in its cases R.A.V v. City of St. Paul and Snyder v. Phelps. There are very few, if any, exceptions to free speech, primarily because there exists nobody qualified to decide, for the whole community, what thoughts may or may not be held. Too often, we conceive of free speech as merely a negative limit on what institutions, whether governments or universities, may do to restrict what we say and believe. We fail to acknowledge that these negative limits, which ought to be absolute, are grounded in a long tradition of arguments about why open, rigorous discussion is actually good for us. Free speech is a positive quality, even a virtue, which we all ought to embrace by actively engaging with views we find abhorrent. The negative view of free speech alone often leads us into relativistic claptrap, where both sides to the debate appeal emptily to some notion of free speech. Those who protest commencement speakers (something which, luckily, has not happened at this University…yet), often justify their actions by pointing out that, yes, the commencement speaker has some right to speak, maybe on some street corner somewhere, but the protesters also have a right not to listen. Under the merely legal and negative view of free
speech, they are correct. And this is where that conception fails us: We descend further into a society where everyone speaks and no one listens, except to those with whom they already agree. This ignores the ultimate justification for the legal protections that our governments and, sometimes, our universities give to open expression. Namely, that it is good for each of us to actively seek out views with which we disagree. Indeed, it is most important to seek out views that fill us with disgust. As John Stuart Mill originally pointed out, this serves two purposes: first, those arguments which we previously found abhorrent may indeed contain a grain of truth; second, even if they do not, we come to improve our own arguments merely by being exposed to those we do not agree with. Free speech as a positive quality likely admits many more limits than does free speech as a negative quality. One need not seek out the views of the KKK in order to refine one’s views on race relations in America. Yet it is neither the place of the University nor the government to ban those views from ever being uttered. Rather, it is civil society that can and should shun those who hold such extreme and bigoted views. These actions are necessary only in very extreme cases, like that of the KKK or the Westboro Baptist
Church. We can say it’s a virtue to seek out those with whom you disagree without saying that those on the right need to seek out the violent anarchists or that those on the left need to seek out the Fred Phelpses of the world. But still, no one should ban any views from being held. Yet of the two possible extremes— one in which civil society is far too tolerant of extreme or heretical views, and one in which it is not near tolerant enough— it is clear that we find ourselves much closer to the latter. Especially on college campuses, we pigeonhole ourselves into small groups of our ideological compatriots and rarely take the other side seriously. We prefer to get our news from satirical outlets like The Daily Show that mock and deride the most ignorant people, instead of identifying and grappling with the arguments of the smartest of those with whom we disagree. Free speech certainly means something about what the University cannot do. Indeed, ironically, it means the University cannot stop us from being so narrow-minded if we so choose. Yet those very same principles compel us to go beyond our ideological blinders and to fully embrace truly open discourse. Nicholas Saffran is a third-year in the College studying political science.
“In our frantic pursuit of diversity, we have moved away from achieving broader unity.” DIVERSITY continued from page 4 fail to stand together in solidarity, sometimes doing exactly the opposite. An authentic sense of acceptance and belonging for formerly marginalized and minority groups in the United States necessitates the formation of relationships based on reliance and trust rather than
on competition and divisiveness. The modern American populace is a majestic house divided, and as a result, continues to falter. America has a great variety of all social identities, both racial and otherwise. Therefore, our overarching cultural identity must reflect these forms of diversity without a fixation on racial
demarcation. This shift toward the emergence of a more truly inclusive conception of our national identity is one that must be forged in part by discovering our existing commonalities, as well as through opening up the dialogue to a vast multitude of exciting differences contained within our fabric. In recognizing this, we, as
citizens of the “United” States, can begin to reflect in our actual society the lofty values we proclaim in our name. MeeSoh Bossard is a second- year in the College studying comparative human development.
Post-baccalaureate Certificate Programs • Advance your career with a range of programs in areas including business, finance, IT and management, or create a custom program that meets your goals. • Build your academic resume in preparation for advanced study in areas such as business, education, medicine or law. • Attend convenient evening courses on Northwestern’s Evanston and Chicago campuses.
Apply today — the summer quarter application deadline is May 1. sps.northwestern.edu/post • 312-503-1177
ARTS
What is art? JANUARY 23, 2015
Bronfman’s versions of classical works are professional but lack creativity Hannah Edgar Arts Staff The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has not disappointed with their post-Christmas programming, especially for those among us who love a good Romantic piano concerto. Last week saw the coming and going of British pianist Paul Lewis, who presented a lithe, sculpted take on Beethoven’s epic Emperor. No more than a week later, the CSO was at it again. January 15th’s program marked Maestro Muti’s first performance of the new year, with soloist Yefim Bronfman in tow to play Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2, a behemoth in both length—it boasts four movements instead of the usual three—and difficulty. But during Thursday’s program, Bronfman hardly batted an eyelid at the piece Brahms himself once called “the long terror,” executing the composer’s final piano concerto with astonishing ease and dexterity. Bronfman is, after all, well-known for his interpretations of the most demanding Romantic concertos in the repertoire. However, for all Bronfman’s polish and dynamism, something seemed to be missing—something I struggled to identify until I remembered what had been said during the program’s pre-concert lecture. There, lecturer and musicologist Johann Buis aptly reminded his audience that, even as a young teen, Brahms was a talented improviser on the piano. And that’s precisely what Bronfman’s rendition lacked: a sense of novelty. Even in a genre like classical music, which requires meticulous preparation, it is that very spirit of extemporaneity that makes live performance so riveting. Bronfman,
on the other hand, at times sounded over rehearsed to a fault. Perhaps our own impressions of Brahms are just as much to blame. Interpretations of the German master’s concerti—thickly scored and technically formidable as they are—can easily err on the side of leadenness. Even the cheeky final movement never quite seemed to achieve the buoyancy prescribed in the score. Bronfman compensated for what his interpretation lacked in creativity with his sheer technical prowess and seamless cohesion with the CSO, both of which he had in spades. His impeccable synchronicity with Muti was a marvel in itself, and whenever the orchestra fell silent to leave Bronfman to his own accord, his cadenzas proved fleet-footed and refreshingly inventive, especially in comparison to the rest of his performance. This was most apparent in the third movement, which was easily the apex of Bronfman’s already powerful interpretation. And it was not just Bronfman who made this particular rendition of the Andante stick: Principal cellist John Sharp began the movement with a gorgeously vocalized solo—far and away the most exquisite interpretation this reviewer has heard—and the entrance of consistentlyspectacular principal oboist Eugene Izotov a few bars later culminated in a tender duet that more than paved the way for the piano’s pensive opening cadenza. You know it’s a night to remember at the concert hall when the highs just keep on coming. The concerto was followed by a memorable performance of Tchaikovsky’s severely under programmed First Symphony, Winter Daydreams. Now, an admission: this is a piece I will always defend in a fight, lest I ever come to blows
The Chicago Symphony Ochestra performing in Chicago's Orchestra Hall.
COURTESY OF TODD
ROSENBERG
with someone over Tchaikovsky’s music. I won’t hold my breath for that particular scenario, but in the meantime, it should be known that Winter Daydreams is a well-proportioned, sensitively orchestrated delight—one that deserves to be heard in the concert hall more often. It is fascinating to explore Tchaikovsky’s youthful foray into symphonic writing, only to find that it is, nevertheless, unmistakably Tchaikovskian. Clearly the 26-year-old Tchaikovsky had already found his voice. As even the notoriously self-critical Tchaikovsky fondly mused of Winter Daydreams years later, “I have a soft spot for it, for it is a sin of my sweet youth.” Perhaps the only sin at Symphony Hall last Thursday was that Tchaikovsky’s musical reverie ended too soon. The orchestra satisfy-
An Englewood Chinese food odyssey Isaac Stein Senior News Writer I never anticipated the opportunity to dine in an establishment that, in several respects, resembles The Chum Bucket. For those who missed downing bowls of Kix cereal and sitting down to watch cartoons before the fourth-grade morning bell, I am referring to the eatery operated by Plankton, the commercial nemesis of Mr. Krabs of SpongeBob Squarepants lore. Yet I managed to stumble upon one when I went to Englewood for Chinese takeout. I held two reasons for wanting to branch out from the cheap Chinese takeout scene in Hyde Park: dissatisfaction with the current selection of restaurants and a burning hatred of delivery services. 53rd Street, our commercial mecca, has never been served well by vendors of Chinese or imitation Chinese food— “imitation” in this case is not an insult; sometimes you need some fake beef and broccoli slathered in an unknown sauce to power through to 2 a.m. But the likes of fare from Nicky’s Chinese Food are not only not real; the restaurant also fails to keep it real, because even their phony food tastes terrible. Nicky is an atrocious host, and even moderately clever puns could not
save the now-defunct Wok N Roll from their own mediocre spring rolls. To expound on the point about delivery: Dragon Express is palatable, but I’ve never paid less than 18 percent of the subtotal in delivery charges and tip—definitely a nogo. Of course, simply going to Chinatown is an option that neatly avoids all of these issues, but that is no fun. Besides, the bus trip west on 63rd Street is a cool half the distance of the Red Line to Cermak. So, Englewood’s Chinese takeout haunt—according to the best intelligence Yelp could provide—fell into my sights rather neatly. Long Tung Chinese Restaurant, at 6237 South Union Avenue, is nestled in a strip of restaurants that resemble a bizarro-universe Kimbark Plaza. Seriously—it has a fish and chicken place that isn’t Harold’s, and all of the restaurants are adjacent to a Walgreens. The eeriness is magnified inside the restaurant. While it is clear that chefs and various other employees are scurrying around behind the counter, it is impossible to see what they are preparing or how they are doing it—the entire prep area is concealed from public view. We have to presume that they are not attempting McDonald’s tactics and pulling General Tso’s chicken out of
heated drawers. This air of mystery, combined with an intricate setup of stainless steel surfaces and walk-in freezers, which spontaneously hiss and pop, is the primary basis of the comparison to The Chum Bucket, which likely never had any customers for very similar reasons. However, Long Tung does not serve orange-brown sludge in Soviet-style metal buckets. Correctly, and unlike the Chum Bucket, it also makes no pretensions at fine dining. You order one of the 100-plus meal combinations, do not question the contents of the takeout bag, and eat it. I went for a basic meal that clocked in at $17 after tax: an order of spare ribs, some chicken with broccoli, and the obligatory white rice. The ribs went down easy—fall-off-thebone meat combined with a spicy BBQ sauce puting out a product that gives dedicated South Side barbecue joints a run for their money. My experience with the chicken and broccoli was a bit more complex. As part of the metric for reviewing the main course, I consider it imperative to give an initial impression alongside tasting thoughts two days later. My reasoning is that cheap Chinese takeout is not something that is ordinarily consumed in one sitting; you eat some of
it, put the rest in the fridge, and microwave the rest of it at about 3 a.m. on Saturday. To not attempt to replicate that experience would be criminal. The initial tasting was concurrently off-putting and almost passable. Long Tung serves the dish with discshaped chicken slices served in a thick, goopy white sauce. This runs counter to every order of chicken with broccoli that I had ever previously consumed, characterized by chicken strips in a relatively thin brown sauce. This departure from convention was certainly unexpected, but not a deal-breaker. The UFO chicken was flavorful and the all-enveloping goop did not contribute any off flavors. Furthermore, the dish was far from loaded with MSG or salt, which is a definite plus in this market sector. The real villain was a dark horse: the broccoli, which was wilted, soft, and overdone. An expectation with any Chinese restaurant is that the greens, unless intended otherwise, as would be the case with broccoli rabe, have a strong crunch—even if that means slightly underdone in other cuisines. I did not go there for a repeat of dining hall Brussels sprouts. Two days later, the broccoli did not change consistency TAKEOUT continued on page 7
ingly brought out every nuance in the score, from the skipping, lilting opening figure in the woodwinds to the delicate dynamic shifts of the second movement. The third movement, a silvery Scherzo, was superbly balanced, and the potency of the final movement—with a flurry of strings under strong chords from the winds and brass—brought to mind the yet-unwritten bombastic finales for which Tchaikovsky would become so well known. Winter Daydreams is certainly lighter fare than the composer’s later symphonies. However, for those seeking the melodic splendor that makes Tchaikovsky’s music so enduring, the first is, as its moniker promises, a welcome respite in the midst of our own winter, especially under the capable baton of Muti.
Exodus draws on questions of identity Maria Alvarez Arts Contributor There’s an instant inside Alexandria Eregbu’s and Alfredo Salazar-Caro’s joint exhibition—it happens quite suddenly—when spectators realize that they have ceased being mere spectators and instead become part of the exhibit itself. Exodus is an exhibition featuring the work of Mexicanborn Alfredo Salazar-Caro and Nigerian-American Alexandria Eregbu, housed at the Arts Incubator in Washington Park. It explores the artists’ personal interpretations of borders, identity, and belonging. Comprised mostly of sculptures and digital media, Exodus uses the very materials used to build borders between people to bring people and art together. As soon as one walks in, one is immediately integrated into the exhibit, even if one hasn’t realized it. The space is dramatically divided by a piece from Salazar-Caro called “In and Out,” a fence cutting off the exhibition space from the spectator. The piece forces one to literally cross the border in order to see the rest of the installations. In this way, “In and Out” provides more than just social commentary about the borders that keep
people apart; it also pulls from the artist’s background as a Mexican citizen to make a statement about the United States’ current immigration policy. Taking a closer look, one’s gaze is directed towards a projection hung from the fence of a group of people waiting at the U.S. border. In a way this projection mirrors the scrutiny experienced by immigrants when crossing the border. Eregbu’s contribution to the exhibit features an installation of golden hurdles mounted on the wall, “The Golden Hour (Between Dimensions).” These hurdles explore the idea of dimensions when it comes to identity; they represent the hurdles one has to jump over when trying to answer the question of our own identity. This piece explores the idea of the different dimensions that are present when we answer the question: to which group do we belong? When one finally leaves Exodus, one forgets the fences and hurdles keeping us from each other and ourselves, and one can finally feel liberated. Through March 20, Arts Incubator, Tuesday–Friday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m. and Thursday, 12 p.m.–7 p.m., free.
THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | January 23, 2015
7
“...the entire prep area is concealed from public view...” TAKEOUT continued from page 6
to suit my tastes, but the chicken and sauce certainly put up an interesting performance. Normally, the chicken fat coagulates in the fridge and makes a dish of chicken with broccoli thicker, at least until it is heated. But the Long Tung version again defied convention; the sauce actually became thinner with time, and fat failed to appear around the edges of the chicken slices. This
chemical voodoo won a few points of my respect, but only in the “shock and awe” sense rather than in terms of culinary value. In short, I learned the complicated way that a trip to Long Tung, while time- and cost-efficient, is not a substitute for a trip to Chinatown. And while white rice was included in my takeout bag, I refuse to comment further on it—the only place that could botch that is Nicky’s.
The Oscars get bleached, but it's not a surprise James MacKenzie Arts Editor The announcement of and ensuing controversy over this year’s Academy Award nominations presents an interesting critical conundrum. It can be difficult to identify individual actions and decisions as parts of wider trends, and yet we know that these wider trends only exist as accumulations of individual actions. This is why most of society’s large systemic problems can be so hard to address. They are too large to take on as a whole, but many of their individual pieces can be too ambiguous to judge. There is no one Academy Award nomination where we can definitively say that race played a factor in its selection; no one white actor who we can definitely say was less deserving than an alternate person of color. But the larger trend is clear: 20 acting nominations filled by 20 white actors and actresses (the first such occurrence since 1998), not to mention the predominantly white nominations in most of the non-acting categories. People will hem and haw about how awards of merit such as the Academy Awards should always place considerations of quality before considerations like diversity. And in a vacuum, that thought has some validity. However much they like to parade themselves as bannermen of social progress, the Academy’s voters have no obligation to reward the work of anyone other than those they choose, whatever the recipients’ backgrounds. But the backlash to the backlash misses the mark in my mind. The takeaway from these nominations is not that we should impose some affirmative action–like quota on minority nominees. It’s that we shouldn’t have to, and the fact that this is still a problem reflects very poorly on the way the film industry promotes and circulates its own products. What I mean is that we don’t have to look very far before finding worthy nominees of all colors and creeds. The controversy has really focused on the perceived snub (I’ll drop the “perceived,” it was a straight snub) of Ava DuVernay’s Martin Luther King Jr. biopic Selma from the Best Director and Best Actor categories for DuVernay and David Oyelowo respectively. DuVernay would have been the first black woman ever nominated as a director, and it would have been well-deserved. Selma is a
breathtaking film, as our own Paul Dillon eloquently attested in his review last week. But the focus on Selma also takes away from an excellent crop of diverse perspectives in filmmaking we saw last year. Critics raved about the performance of Gugu Mbatha-Raw in the underbilled Beyond the Lights, and rising star Rosario Dawson’s turn in Chris Rock’s Top Five. Either could have shaken up what is frankly a very stale Best Actress race. I was shocked not to see Rock’s work not recognized in the Best Original Screenplay category; Top Five might have been the funniest film of last year. I could go on, but just as it is fallacious to shoot down white nominees who are “less deserving” than their peers, it is also unproductive to cherry-pick certain persons of color whose work might be “more deserving.” The problem, if we are to call it that, cannot be solved on a case-by-case basis. The fact that 12 Years a Slave was awarded Best Picture last year does not in any way make up for this year’s results any more than a predominantly black film winning big next year would. And we are all somewhat complicit in this. I am writing this column now, but in a few weeks' time I will be writing my Oscar winner predictions, and then my post-ceremony wrap-up and analysis. And most likely I will only mention this controversy as an aside, if at all. I’ll be caught up in the minutia and politics of the awards while ignoring the larger and far more important politics that surround them. And so will the rest of the critical establishment. I can’t say for sure if this is some moral failing on our part. After all, as some writers have pointed out, the Academy Awards are hardly the central battleground for racial issues in our country, even if they receive a disproportionate amount of attention for their failings in that regard. I don’t think something like this will happen again, not because the Academy will see the error of its ways or somehow eradicate its internal racism, but simply because this is a public embarrassment the likes of which the Academy has not seen before. Like all institutions in the motion picture business, the Academy is obsessed with its own image. And the last image it wants to project is 94 percent white, 76 percent male, and an average age of 63. Unfortunately, these numbers are not an image— they’re a reality.
This past Saturday evening, the Chinese Undergraduate Student Association put on their colorful annual show in Mandel Hall.
COURTESY OF YUNLONG ZHAO
Celebrating the body with BODY Sam Zoeller Arts Contributor This past weekend, UChicago Maya — a student-run fusion dance group that brings together traditional eastern dance styles and more contemporary western dance styles — performed a dance collaboration titled BODY. As a first year, I had never seen Maya perform and found the show electrifying. The talent of the dancers and choreographers was evident, and as a whole the show was cohesive and professional. Their show took place in Theater West in the Logan Performing Arts Center, a cozy black-box venue. The close proximity was an appropriate setting for a show titled BODY. For this theme was underlined through dance as different body parts were highlighted in various creative compilations of movement. The style and pace of the show varied among pieces; some performances were solemn and powerful, while others were upbeat and sexy. The music, an essential element of the overall performance, successfully tied to-
gether the body parts focused on in each piece. The musical accompaniment to the show was incredible and featured artists like ZZ Ward and Dexter Brain. Sofia Karlberg’s cover of “Crazy in Love,” which will feature in the soundtrack of Fifty Shades of Grey when it comes out in February, was also part of the show’s soundtrack. Not only was the performance visuallyf clear, musically riveting, and clearly showed how the various body parts were physically celebrated within the scope of the movements of each specific dance, but the emotional energy in the room ran so high that you could almost feel what each of these body parts were supposed to represent. This energy was enhanced through the use of the recording of Andrea Gibson’s spoken-word poem “I Sing the Body Electric; Especially When My Power’s Out.” This poem deals with self-harm and suicide but also with the importance of taking control of your own body and loving it. The powerful words contributed to the celebration of the body, which is
Maya strikes again, with a head first exploration of human physicality. COURTESY OF ARIELA SUBAR
inherently present in dance, but was especially significant in this show. The performance filled the small space of Logan’s Theater West, for the choreographers clearly took full advantage of its spacial limitations by incorporating the aisles, staircases, and upper stage level, adding depth to the experience. I mentioned the intimate quality of the show previously, but this feeling was intensified by Maya’s unique tradition of encouraging the audience to participate in the performances by verbally responding to the dances. The boundary between audience and performer diminished, while members of the audience encouraged and praised their friends and classmates, shouting out comments as they felt moved to do so. Maya’s collaborative dance performance BODY was well-executed, creative, and moving. I have nothing but praise to give to the talented members of this organization. If you haven’t seen UChicago Maya perform, make sure to see them next time they have a show for an engulfing and exciting experience.
8
THE CHICAGO MAROON | ADVERTISEMENTS | January 23, 2015
EGG DONOR NEEDED We are an Ivy League couple seeking the help of a special woman who is healthy, Caucasian, tall, natural blonde hair, blue eyes, and under the age of 29. Please contact our representative at:
info@aperfectmatch.com Or call 1-800-264-8828 $20,000 (minimum) compensation plus all expenses paid IPN: 11/2014
Large Pizza up to 3 Toppings only
$10! Carry-out or Delivery Order online! www.papajohns.com
Hyde Park Location 1418 E. 53rd Street (773) 752-7272
Mention this coupon to receive offer
Photo credit Jason Smith
50TH SEASON 2015
CONTEMPO AT 50: NOW AND THEN I
For five decades, Contempo has stood for the living art of composition. Celebrate the 50th anniversary with a full evening: a pre-concert conversation, a short documentary film on Contempo, and three world premieres, including The End of It by John Eaton, Professor Emeritus and recipient of the MacArthur Foundation “genius” award.
PROGRAM Lee Hyla: Wave (world premiere, in memoriam: 1952-2014) Shulamit Ran: Perfect Storm Ralph Shapey: Concertante No. 1 for Trumpet and Ten Instruments Huck Hodge: then (2nd movement world premiere) John Eaton: The End of It (world premiere)
PERFORMANCE HALL, LOGAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS 915 E. 60th Street
6:30 PM Contempo Commissions: Roundtable Conversations with Shulamit Ran and John Eaton
David Fulmer, conductor eighth blackbird Pacifica Quartet Stephen Burns, trumpet Anthony Cheung, piano Sharon Harms, soprano Masumi Per Rostad, viola Ensemble Guests: Alison Attar, harp; Julia Filson, horn; Andrew Nogal, oboe, English horn; Karl Rzasa, bassoon; David Scholl, double bass; Minghuan Xu, violin
01.24.15 SAT | 7:30 PM
Tickets $25 / $5 all students For tickets, call 773.702.ARTS or visit chicagopresents.uchicago.edu
CONTEMPO. 50 YEARS, AND COUNTING. contempo.uchicago.edu
THE CHICAGO MAROON | ADVERTISEMENT | January 23, 2015
9
10
THE CHICAGO MAROON | ADVERTISEMENT | January 23, 2015
THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | January 23, 2015
11
Papoutsis and Ferraro earn gold at Al Hanke Invite Wrestling Sarah McNeilly Maroon Contributor After having traveled across town last weekend to compete in the Al Hanke Invitational at Elmhurst College, the Maroons now have the opportunity to take the Eagles on in a more familiar setting : their beloved Ratner Center. The 5–3 Maroons are coming off a series of strong individual showings last weekend. Chicago finished with 83.5 points, earning them fifth place in a field
of 11. Olivet Nazarene University came away with first place with 141 points. Coming off a series of victories, the fifth-place finish was uncharacteristic. However, the South Siders still came away with a pair of weight class titles at 165 and 174 pounds. “Despite the length of the tournament, I think most of our guys were able to stay really focused on their matches. That was a key component to our success,” said second-year wrestler Paul Papoutsis.
Papoutsis dominated his first two matches and then proceeded to earn victories in both the semifinal and championship matches to win the 165-pound weight class title. On his performance, Papoutsis said, “I was really pleased with my performance last weekend. I haven’t won a tournament in a while, so it felt great to pick up a gold medal.” First-year Nick Ferraro also captured first place with four decisive wins. Entering the tournament as the No. 4
seed, Ferraro upset both the No. 2 and No. 1 seeds to capture the championship title. This performance, combined with an eight-match winning streak, resulted in Ferraro being named the UAA Wrestler of the Week. Two fourth-years managed to pick up bronze medals as well. Fourth-year Mario Palmisano saw his 11-match winning streak come to an end at the hands of eventual tournament champion Mack Green, of Trine. Green is seeded No. 2 in the nation in his weight
class. Palmisano bounced back in the consolation match, though, to earn a third-place finish. Fourthyear Adam Wyeth picked up a third place finish in the 133-pound weight class after bouncing back from a loss in the semifinals to earn a pin the second period of the consolation match. The Maroons hope to continue this momentum heading into this weekend’s meet. While Elmhurst placed third last weekend, the Maroons remain confident in their ability to dom-
inate this time around. The Eagles are sliding in right behind the Maroons with a record of 4–3 and should prove to be an equal match for the Maroons, but with the location now in their favor and key talents making their way back into the lineup, spirits are high in Hyde Park. “I think we’re going to be really competitive against Elmhurst and it should be a great meet.” Papoutsis said. The meet begins at noon on Saturday at the Ratner Athletic Center.
Young talent combines with proven veteran to create lethal threat Women’s Tennis Helen Petersen Associate Sports Editor Chicago will be looking to an unlikely pair this season to pace the team through regular season play. Fourth-year Megan Tang, a veteran with several postseason wins on her record and the heart of the squad over the past few years, has teamed up with first-year Ariana Iranpour in hopes of piecing together another winning campaign. While Iranpour does add new blood to this veteran squad, she is hardly new to
the collegiate tennis scene. In the fall Iranpour captured second in the singles competition at the ITA Central Region Championships, falling only to Wash U’s second-year Rebecca Ho. Iranpour and her doubles partner Tang also came away the tournament’s doubles champs. This would be an impressive accomplishment for any player. However, Iranpour was not done. She and Tang also took third in the doubles competition at the National Small College Champion-
ships. At the Chicago State Invite, where the Maroons were the lone Division III squad competing, Chicago picked up seven wins on the first day of play, nine on the next, and a whopping 12 victories on the last day of the tournament. Standouts for the Maroons included fourth-years Maggie Schumann and Kelsey McGillis. Schumann picked up singles victories all three days of the tournaments, adding wins in the doubles column with wins of Lewis and Green
Division I Panthers cool off hot Maroons Swimming and Diving Katie Anderson Sports Staff The likes of Division I UW–Milwaukee proved too much to handle for the hot Chicago squads this weekend. Their two losses from this past weekend constitute the first dual meet the Maroons did not leave victorious from since the beginning of November. The No. 10 men’s side finished with a score of 183–113, while the No. 7 women’s side finished at 200–98. “Competing against D1 schools will help get us to the next level. We want to be competitive with DI teams like Wisconsin–Milwaukee and be ready for UAA championships. The team needs to be training and competing at a highlevel in order to succeed at UAAs,” said fourth-year swimmer Andrew Angeles. Despite the loss, the South Siders still had a few standout individual performances. On the men’s side, Angeles placed first in both
the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard breaststroke. Second-year Kevin Ku took home first place in the 100-yard butterfly, while his classmate Mantim Lee came out on top in the 100-yard backstroke. “It feels good to get the individual wins, but swimming and diving is a team effort. Wisconsin-Milwaukee was tough competition and we are refocusing after the meet,” Angeles said. On the women’s side, first-year Sydney Wong finished first in the 200-yard butterfly. “It was very exciting to win my event. Knowing that I was up against a competitive Division 1 school motivated me to give it my all and to succeed in doing so felt great,” Wong said. The divers also held their own against their opponents. Fourth-year Matt Staab and first-year Natalie DeMuro both finished second in the three-meter dive. With the UAA Championships looming, The Maroons recognize the ben-
Bay. McGillis added wins in both the singles and doubles competitions throughout the tournament. Third-year Stephanie Lee said, “Doing well in the fall was a great confidence boost, but we’re still training hard every day and working towards getting better and better.” The fall season’s success led to the Maroons’ prewinter season ranking of No. 12. Their first challenge will be no easy task as they kick off play against their lone Division I opponent, UW–
Milwaukee. “Playing a team like Milwaukee will be tough, but it’s always exciting playing a DI team. It’ll be a good test to see how far we’ve come since the fall,” Lee said. After winning the Horizon League last spring, the Panthers were picked to finish fourth of nine teams in a preseason poll. They return nationally ranked secondyear singles competitor Hayley Marshall. The team dropped its last match to nationally ranked Minnesota and has three matches in the coming weekend.
Last season the Maroons began their winter schedule with a match against Illinois, another Division I school, and were defeated by a score of 7–0. The Maroons will be looking to start this winter with a better foot forward. Following this match, Chicago faces fellow top ranked schools No. 28 Denison and No. 23 Case Western to begin Division III play. The match against UW– Milwaukee serves up at 5 p.m. on Sunday in Milwaukee.
Maroons run the table at Private School Championships Track and Field
efits of competing against a DI team this late in the season. “This meet was a tough one for us, especially after a few weeks of intense training,” Wong said. “The conditions and outcome were not ideal, but there was a lot of team spirit and effort.” Angeles reiterated these sentiments. “We came into the meet after a hard week of training. The team is working on performing while we are broken down and tired,” Angeles said. The teams will look to get back on track this Friday in their dual-meet against Lewis University. “The team is excited for the Lewis meet. It is one of our last dual meets before the UAA Championships and it is a great opportunity for us to fine-tune our events and have fun racing,” Wong said, The meet will take place on Friday, January 23rd against DII Lewis in Romeoville, Ill. The dual meet begins at 6 p.m.
Zachary Themer Associate Sports Editor The University is going to need to solicit new donors for a trophy-room addition to the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center at the rate at which the Maroons have been winning meets this season. After both the men and women won the Phoenix Invitational earlier this season, the Maroons added another notch on their belt this past weekend as both took home the top prize at the Private College Invitational in Kenosha, WI. On the men’s side, there was never any doubt that the Maroons would come out on top. On the backs of several strong individual performances, the men topped their group of 12 teams with a total of 183 points, nearly 60 more than the 125 points second-place Carthage managed to total. Taking home wins for the Maroons were first-year Mitchell Dennis in the 800-meter with a time of 1:59.31, secondyear Gareth Jones in the onemile with a time of 4:31.22, fourth-year Renat Zalov in
the 3,000-meter with a time of 9:14.44, second-year Eyal Hanfling in the 5,000-meter with a time of 16:01.25, and third-year Nicholas Lyon, who won via tiebreaker in the pole vault with a height of 4.15m. On the women’s side, the day in Kenosha was marked by a series of dominating individual and group performances. After the dust settled, the South Siders found themselves at a pretty familiar place, the top of the podium, as they racked up 210.50 points, good for first over the 89 produced by second-place Carthage. Notable winners for the Maroons included fourth-year Pam Yu in the long jump and triple jump with distances of 5.13m and 10.62m respectively, third-year Brianna Hickey in the one-mile with a time of 5:09.61, and third-year Nkemdilim Nwaokolo in the weight throw with a distance of 16.38m. While the Maroons would like to rest on their laurels, they won’t have any time to do so as they continue their marathon of a season this Saturday at the Triangular Invitational in
Bloomington against Illinois Wesleyan and conference rival Wash U. For the Maroons, this won’t be the same competition from the past two weeks. Wesleyan and Wash U are both competitive programs with several of their competitors likely to advance to the national championships later this season. For the Maroons to win this weekend, it’s going to take their most formidable efforts. “I think that Wash U being there definitely gives us more of a reason to want to win this weekend,” said second-year sprinter Charissa Newkirk. “They are our biggest competition, and seeing them early on in the season gives us an idea of where we are at compared to them and how we can improve our training for conference.” Looking for their third win in a row on both the men’s and women’s sides, the Maroons will trek down to Bloomington, IL this weekend to the indoor field house of Illinois Wesleyan. Competition is slated to begin at 11 a.m. with individual event times posted on the Illinois Wesleyan website.
SPORTS
IN QUOTES “First time there’s been a sports controversy about deflated balls that doesn’t involve steroids.” - Jimmy Fallon discussing Deflate-gate, the name given to the accusations that the Patriots intentionally deflated footballs in their AFC Championship game against the Colts
Pair of upsets lands Chicago in top 25 Men’s Basketball Michael Cheiken Sports Staff Coming off of a huge 20-point win over the then–No.1 Wash U Bears, the Maroons needed to avoid a post-upset letdown against Rochester University this past Friday. Perhaps partially blinded by the neon shoelaces donned by the Chicago athletes or merely deafened by the roaring exuberance of the student section, the Yellowjackets seemed lost in the low post. Third-year forward Nate Brooks consistently dominated in the paint, manhandling whichever defender Rochester coach Luke Flockerzi deployed against him. Brooks’s control was reflective of the team’s overall performance. However, despite seeming to be in the driver’s seat for the entirety of the half, the No. 21 Maroons entered the locker room at the half just a single point ahead with the score 37–36. With some turbulence, the home side was able to extend its lead to 12 points with just four fateful minutes remaining. Flockerzi motivated the troops with a rousing pep talk, and the Yellowjackets began to mount a comeback. The buckets started drop-
ping for the Rochester squad and with 16 seconds remaining the Yellowjackets found themselves just four points back. The opposition was forced to foul, sending Chicago first-year forward Collin Barthel to the line. Barthel iced the game by hitting both of his foul shots and propelled the Maroons to their fifth straight victory. The Yellowjackets were just an appetizer for the Maroons as they prepared to play host to the No. 12 Emory Eagles. The Sunday afternoon crowd was substantially less rowdy than that of the Neon Night festivities, but the Maroon squad was not so lackluster. Both teams struggled to provide the game with any real flow as the early activity of the officiating crew and the seemingly ineffective Eagles’ half-court defense prevented the formulation of any real tempo. However, as the half progressed, the Maroons built up a lead, and were it not for its defensive woes the home side would have found itself ahead by much more than nine points as it headed into the locker room for the intermission. When the Maroons emerged from the 15-minute break, they appeared an entirely different team. Over the course of the next seven minutes the
Maroons went 0/10 shooting and 0/4 from the line. Over the same time span the Emory Eagles mounted a 16–0 run, catapulting the visitors to a 50–43 lead. Barthel finally drained a three-pointer from the baseline to break the Eagles’ momentum. Showing much resilience, the Maroons inched their way back into the game, tying the game at 56 points apiece with just under eight minutes left in regulation. The two sides exchanged the lead until with two and a half minutes remaining Barthel scored the old-fashioned three-pointer to put the Maroons up by three. The score held, until with just 41 seconds remaining third-year guard Jordan Smith hit a pull-up three with hands in his face and with about three feet from the top of the key. Moments later, he cemented the victory with a breakaway dunk. While excited that the team was able to show such resilience in the match, third-year forward Alex Voss believes there is still room for improvement. “The takeaway is that we can and will compete with every team in the country,” Voss said. “Emory is a really good team and they are going to make shots. We gave them too many easy looks with
Third-year guard Jordan Smith leaps over defender from Southwest University in a game last season. COURTESY OF UCHICAGO ATHLETICS
mental lapses but were able to overcome those mistakes. In the future we need to maintain our discipline and make them take tougher shots more consistently.” The eventual 80–74 victory over the Eagles will provide the fuel for the Maroons’ grueling road trip this weekend to take on the Brandeis Judges (6–8)
in Boston before squaring off with the 10–4 Violets of NYU in New York City just two days later. The Chicago squad is poised to take out the UAA bottom-feeders this weekend to try to catapult itself to a stand-alone spot atop the conference standings.
Rookies propel team to No.17 preseason ranking Men’s Tennis Russell Mendelson Senior Sports Staff This evening the Maroons will face DePaul University at the Lakeshore Club in their opening competition of the season. Chicago enters the season ranked 17th overall among Division III schools. Division I DePaul, while unranked, poses fierce competition for the Maroons and will prepare the squad for the competition heading Chicago’s way in the upcoming weeks. The South Siders will face four ranked schools in a row in the coming month. The Maroons ended the autumn preseason on a good note at the
United States Tennis Association/ Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Small College Championships. First-year Nicolas Chua captured the singles title while fourth-year Deepak Sabada paired off with first-year David Liu to finish fourth in doubles. Chua reflected on his first experiences with college competition. “I think the most important thing I’ve taken away from preseason is the confidence that I can play and beat anyone in the country,” Chua said. “It may not seem like much, but stepping on the court with that kind of belief is important mentally.” Chua also mentioned the time management skills he has had to develop quickly as an important step
to transitioning to the college level. However, his fellow first year Liu focused more on some of his on-thecourt adjustments. “It has been an honor to play alongside a player as experienced as Deepak [Sabada],” said Liu of the role Sabada has played in his early athletic collegiate development. “College tennis is much faster and much more physical than the juniors, so playing with him showed me what I had to do to reach that level.” Sabada has high hopes for this year’s team, having already seen early on the potential of some of the new additions and knowing what his other teammates are capable of. In assessing the team’s overall ability, Sabada is op-
timistic. “I think this is the best team we have had in my four years here, and I’m looking forward to having the best season the school has had in recent years,” Sabada said. “I think we are all looking to qualify for NCAAs and then we will take it from there.” Fourth-year Ankur Bhargava was also highly positive when comparing this Chicago team to those of years past. “During offseason, the team did a phenomenal job keeping up with hitting and lifting—the team looks the best they have in my four years regarding fitness and sharpness,” said Bhargava on the team’s health and fitness going into the season.
“I’m hoping to make the NCAA tournament as a team and hopefully win the UAA. These are both very difficult tasks, but I believe with the team and leadership we have this year, that is very plausible.” “For this Friday, as always, doubles will be key in determining who wins the match,” said Sabada on what the team needs to do out of the gate to work on achieving their lofty goals. “Since this is the first match of the season, we need to be extremely focused right from the beginning to avoid making errors and falling behind early.” The Maroons face off against DePaul tonight at 7:15 p.m.
Two UAA conference wins put squad back on track Women’s Basketball Ahmad Allaw Sports Staff Chicago added to its streak of recent successes this past weekend and will hope to do the same in its upcoming road trip. On Friday, the Maroons (8–6, 2–1) stung the Rochester Yellowjackets (9–5, 1–2) on Neon Night to go above .500 for the first time this year. But their weekend didn’t end there. They added an additional victory to their record. Just two nights later, Chicago downed the Emory Eagles (8–6, 0–3) to tally its second consecutive conference win. With the pair of victories, the South Siders ended a six-
game home stand with five wins to just one loss. In the Rochester game, both teams started out relatively even. After the first 13 minutes of play, only two points separated the competitors. But from there on out, the Maroons took decisive control of the game. Before the end of the half, Chicago extended its lead to a 41–28 advantage. The second half featured much of the same, with Chicago building on its already comfortable lead. The game finished with a 78–51 Chicago win. Rebounding proved to make the difference in the game. Chicago pulled down an impressive 51 rebounds,
17 of which were on the offensive glass. These were translated to 23 second-chance points. Secondyear forward Britta Nordstrom contributed significantly with 16 points, making her the Maroons’ high scorer. The Yellowjackets couldn’t recover. Against Emory, the Maroons spent little time proving their skill. Fourth-year forward Ellie Greiner kicked off a dominant start by knocking down a corner three. For the next eight minutes of regulation, the Maroons worked to take a 16–2 advantage. However, despite an 11-point halftime lead, the Maroons had to withstand a furious Eagle come-
back. Emory third-year Khadijah Sayyid poured in 19 of her 23 points in the second half. With eight minutes left before the end of regulation, her third three of the night brought Emory to within just three points of its opponent. However, her efforts fell short. Chicago’s savvy play gave it the 70–57 win. The South Siders’ next two games will be on the road. Today, they will travel to Boston to take on Brandeis (9–5, 1–2). While the Maroons will come into the game having won seven of their last nine matches, the Judges will arrive having lost three of their last four competitions. However, Brandeis’s
recent record may be deceptive. Each loss has come in closely contested games. Two nights later, the Maroons will take on what may be their toughest opponent yet, New York University (14–0, 3–0). The No. 9 Violets present Chicago with another opportunity to prove itself among the conference elite. Two weeks prior, the Maroons let such an opportunity slip against undefeated No. 4 Wash U. However, this time around, they will be looking to reverse their fortunes. The Brandeis game tips off at 6 p.m. tonight. The NYU match will start at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Chicago will be away for both games.