Chicago-Maroon-10-02-26

FRIDAY

IN VIEWPOINTS

IN SPORTS

Tea Party

UAA title battle

» Page 3

» Page 12

Conservative movement could influence viable candidates.

Women’s basketball faces off against Wash U with championship on the line.

FEBRUARY 26, 2010

CHICAGO

AROON

VOLUME 121 ISSUE 30

CHICAGOMAROON.COM

The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892

DISCOURSE

CRIME

Former Treasury secretary describes first days after crisis

Student arrested in Reg UCPD, witness reports at odds over arresting officer’s actions

By Asher Klein News Editor University police arrested a student in the A-Level Wednesday night for criminal trespass and resisting arrest.

While UCPD claimed the student was charged because he refused to show officers his identification or leave the library for unruly behavior, witnesses deny that police asked the student for ID or that the student was causing a disturbance. They also said the arresting officer was inappropriately aggressive.

Witnesses identified the suspect as fourth-year Mauriece Dawson, who was taken into custody at around 8:30 p.m. and spent the night in jail.

UCPD officers were responding to a

SHANE COUGHLAN/MAROON

Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson criticized Congress’s inaction leading up to the recent financial crisis and defended how he handled in a talk Tuesday in Max Palevsky Cinema.

“We have an outmoded, outdated regulatory system in this country that needs to be fixed,” Paulson said to a packed Ida Noyes crowd. Paulson based his talk on his new book, On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System.

Paulson described the days leading up to the crisis as full of anxious attempts to kick-start governmental action. “We [Paulson, current Treasury

Secretary Timothy Geithner, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernake] had a situation where we knew the arteries were clogged but members of Congress didn’t had to convince them we needed to act,” Paulson said. “I’m proud of what we did as first responders.”

While Paulson has been described as an influential force in keeping the crisis under control, in Tuesday’s talk he expressed his disappointment that the government wasn’t able to stop it all together. “We were racing against time to get reform,” Paulson said of the Treasury during the days preceding the crisis. “And it took the impending meltdown to get Congress to act.”

Although Congress prevented a

ARREST continued on page 2

ACADEMICS

Former Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson speaks about Congress’s slow reaction to the recession in Max Palevsky Cinema Tuesday.

By Adam Janofsky News Staff

complaint by a Regenstein clerk that said Dawson and his friends were making too much noise.

“The policeman put the young man in a choke hold and wrestled him to the ground. The young man did not resist,” according to an account written by first-year Ariel McCleese and signed by more than 10 other students who were in the A-Level at the time.

The incident began when clerk Lynn Franco heard Dawson and fourth-year Sahara Robinson laughing loudly as they walked from the first floor to the A-Level, Robinson said. According to Robinson, Franco told the two to be quiet without identifying herself as a library employee.

Dawson and Franco declined to comment.

“We were baffled [at Franco’s reaction] and continued down to

quick reaction, which Paulson would have preferred, he recognized that things could have been much worse.

“Today we have unemployment at 10 percent, which is a very serious problem. But if the system collapsed we’re looking at...easily 25 percent unemployment,” Paulson said. Congress eventually passed the Troubled Asset Relief Program, providing an unprecedented $700 billion for the bailout that Paulson said helped stabilize the financial sector.

“I think it’s remarkable we got action from the Hill in the period we were dealing with,” Paulson said.

Paulson was quick to mention that true reform would require a change in corporate ideals as well as a change

PAULSON continued on page 2

University puts reading lists on Time Schedules Web site

By Amy Myers News Staff Listing course texts online could close the book on students’ quarterly trips to the Seminary Co-op.

The University now links course listings on the Time Schedules Web site to course reading lists at Barnes and Noble and the Seminary Co-op, in preparation of a federal law allowing students to see how much their textbooks will cost before they register for classes. While a number of spring quarter courses have book lists, many professors still haven’t posted their

required books.

The Higher Education Opportunity Act requires universities to publish both the retail price and ISBN numbers of textbooks before students choose courses. The change is effective this July, but the University began providing book lists a quarter early so that students can begin using the service as they pick their spring quarter classes, Associate University Registrar Jacqualyn Casazza said.

“The focus of this provision was to give students time to find cheaper books, so we felt that the sooner the

LISTINGS continued on page 2

DISCOURSE

America still important in Middle East peace, panelists say

By Hannah Fine Senior News Staff Two Middle East policy experts criticized black-and-white depictions of the Arab–Israeli conflict and emphasized America’s crucial role as a mediator during a talk Tuesday in Kent Hall.

David Makovsky, director of the Washington Institute Near East Policy Project, and Ghaith al-Omari, advocacy director at the American Task Force on Palestine, said that while policy makers in Washington have been able to focus on the shared concerns of each side, college campuses are often more polarized. Makovsky and al-Omari are traveling to American colleges to encourage moderation and support for a two-state solution brokered by the United States.

Al-Omari, who was an adviser to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, said the conflict had gone on too long to be resolved without a thirdparty mediator. “Both sides are hostage to their history,” he said. “In some ways,

both sides need adult supervision.”

Al-Omari said the United States is a necessary part of any negotiation process because of its special relationship with Israel, which would have to make major concessions in any peace plan.

Both speakers noted some good signs from the region. “Today we are poised at the beginning of a new phase.

Those of us in Washington follow... things that are unpublished and we know that things are moving,” he said.

Al-Omari expected to see negotiations through proxy talk in the next two to three weeks.

Makovsky said he saw signs of cooperation from both Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In order to achieve a lasting peace, both leaders will need to “[change] the ethos from that of victimhood and entitlement to an ethos of accountability,” he said.

The event was sponsored by Chicago Friends of Israel, Chicago Society, SGFC, and the Israel on Campus Coalition.

F

irst-year Lorca Sloan teaches a psychology class to high school students on the last day of the University’s Winter Cascade program Tuesday night.

CAMILLE VAN HORNE/MAROON

2

CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | February 26, 2010

Witnesses: Officer asked two students to leave library, did not request ID Paulson, former Goldman CEO, urges business students had identified as disruptive. Upstairs, Franco cor- to find jobs with right fit, not just best salary ARREST continued from front page the A-Level where our noise was appropriate,” Robinson said, referring to the fact that the A-Level is often noisy late at night.

Franco walked through the A-Level several minutes later and passed Dawson, Robinson, and their friends. Franco approached them and “in a very angry tone of voice, from what I could hear, said, ‘If you don’t be quiet, I’ll call the police,’” said McCleese, whose account was confirmed by five witnesses who were sitting with Dawson.

UCPD Sergeant Eric Grays entered the A-Level soon after with Franco, who pointed at Dawson from across the room, said third-years and witnesses Krystle Frazier and De’Azia Baldwin.

Witnesses said the officer repeatedly demanded that Dawson leave the building, and that Dawson asked calmly why he was being told to leave. Grays handcuffed Dawson and placed him in a choke hold while Dawson protested, witnesses said, but they disagreed as to what he said.

According to many witnesses, students in the A-Level were staring at the incident by this point.

UCPD spokesman Bob Mason said the arresting officer asked Dawson for ID, but none of the five witnesses interviewed heard such a request.

After securing Dawson, Grays demanded Frazier follow him as well, but did not ask Frazier for ID; he had mistaken her for the female student Franco

rected Grays.

UCPD chief Marlon Lynch said asking for ID is typically part of UCPD protocol. “Upon contact [in those types of cases] the officer proceeds to those who were involved and makes the request for identification,” Lynch said.

University spokesman Steve Kloehn said students might be charged with trespassing if they resist a UCPD officer’s request for ID while on University property. “One of the agreements of being a part of this community is that, if I’m asked to ID myself, I have to ID myself. That’s been a long standing, basic condition to being a part of this community,” he said.

Students e -mailed 10 administrators about the situation, including President Robert Zimmer, Dean of the College John Boyer, Dean of Students Susan Art, and Vice President for Campus Life Kim Goff-Crews.

Kloehn said those administrators were aware of the arrest and were planning a response, but did not comment on specifics.

“In any event like this, University officials representing all the units that might be involved get together and do a thorough review of what took place and what needs to happen next. Those meetings have begun,” Kloehn said.

PAULSON continued from front page in Congress. “Even if we had a perfect regulatory structure, regulators wouldn’t be able to find all the problems,” Paulson said. There should be an increase in market discipline, companies should provide road maps for easy liquidation, and failed corporations can’t rely on government bailouts, Paulson argued.

The talk was moderated by Raghuram Rajan, a Booth School of Business professor and economic adviser to the prime minister of India. Rajan asked Paulson, who served as the

chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs before becoming Secretary of the Treasury in 2006, what career advice he could give to the Booth students in the audience.

“I don’t believe that you should be a career engineer,” Paulson said. “Find the right job and have it be something where you can grow and learn.”

Paulson is currently a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, a place where he can “hang his hat,” he told The Washington Post.

CRIME REPORT

BY JORDAN HOLLIDAY

» February 23, 9:37 p.m.

UCPD officers received a call about a minivan headed eastbound on 47th Street driving erratically. Officers stopped the van on 47th Street between Greenwood and Ellis Avenues, and asked the driver, a 35-year-old man, for his license. The driver said he was not licensed, and the officers, after smelling alcohol, began searching the vehicle. They found a loaded 9mm pistol and a small amount of marijuana. The driver was charged with failure to register a firearm, possession of cannabis and, because he is a convicted felon, felony unlawful use of a weapon. He was later charged with driving under the influence at a Chicago Police Department station.

Web site lists B&N as preferred seller, but acknowledges Co-op LISTINGS continued from front page links were available, the more students would benefit,” Casazza said.

As faculty place textbook orders with the two bookstores on campus, links activate on the Time Schedules Web site next to each course.

The Registrar’s office plans to work with faculty to ensure that all book lists are posted promptly once the law goes into effect, Casazza said.

Many students, like first-year Maria Nelson, are frustrated with the old system and welcome the new book listings. “It was really inconvenient that they only released book lists a week before and that you had to go to the Seminary Co-op,” Nelson said. “It wasn’t conducive to ordering books online which, is ultimately cheaper for students.”

The Time Schedules Web site designates the University Barnes & Noble Bookstore at 58th Street and Ellis Avenue as the preferred provider for U of C textbooks, listing it before other booksellers. In 1995 the University reached an agreement with Barnes & Noble that the company would renovate and operate the bookstore in exchange for preferred online status. The Web site links to the Seminary Co-op as a secondary source for books. “Including a link to the Seminary Co-op on the Web site is a way to acknowledge that role and help a local business,” Casazza said.

First-year Margaret Straer, who normally buys course books at the Co-op, said she’ll use the new book lists to find a cheaper source of textbooks than either of the Hyde Park stores.

“I’ll still go to the Co-op. But I’ll buy my [course] books on Amazon,” Straer said. Seminary Co-op manager Jack Cella doubts that online book lists will affect his sales. “I think a lot of people like to look at books [in person] and make a decision once they see them,” Cella said.

CORRECTIONS » The February 23 News article “Pepperland, The ‘Frisbee Frat’ To Party Again” attributed the Pepperland’s naming to the Frisbee team. The moniker was coined in the 1990s, before the Frisbee team moved in.

Persons with disabilities may request assistance in advance from Caryn Myers at 773.702.1386 or cmyers@uchicago.edu.

» The February 16 News article “Two Sites Proposed For Lab Schools Addition” misspelled Lab Schools Director David Magill’s surname.

CHICAGO MAROON

| VIEWPOINTS | February 26, 2010

VIEWPOINTS

3

EDITORIAL & OP-ED FEBRUARY 26, 2010

EDITORIAL

Fed up CHICAGO MAROON

The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892

SUPRIYA SINHABABU, Editor-in-Chief TOM TIAN, Managing Editor JORDAN HOLLIDAY, Editor-in-Chief–Elect JAKE GRUBMAN, Managing Editor–Elect MICHAEL LIPKIN, News Editor ASHER KLEIN, News Editor EVAN COREN, Viewpoints Editor HAYLEY LAMBERSON, Voices Editor BEN SIGRIST, Voices Editor WILL FALLON, Sports Editor A. G. GOODMAN, Sports Editor BEN ROSSI, Editorial Board Member EMILY KAISER, Editorial Board Member ANDREW THORNTON, Ed. Board Member VICTORIA KRAFT, Head Copy Editor MONIKA LAGAARD, Head Copy Editor HOLLY LAWSON, Head Copy Editor ERIC GUO, Photo Editor CAMILLE VAN HORNE, Photo Editor HEATHER LEWIS, Head Designer ABRAHAM NEBEN, Web Editor BURKE FRANK, Associate News Editor LIAT SPIRO, Associate Viewpoints Editor BLAIR THORNBURGH, Assoc. Voices Editor RYAN TRYZBIAK, Associate Sports Editor JUDY MARCINIAK, Business Manager JAY BROOKS, Business Director JACK DiMASSIMO, Designer ANDREW GREEN, Designer IVY PEREZ, Designer CHRISTINA SCHWARTZ, Designer JESSICA SHEFT-ASON, Designer NAKUL SINGH, Designer MATT TYNDALE, Designer ANNA AKERS-PECHT, Copy Editor MARCELLO DELGADO, Copy Editor JORDAN FRANKLIN, Copy Editor DANIELLE GLAZER, Copy Editor LAUREN LARSON, Copy Editor MIRANDA LI, Copy Editor LAUREN MAKHOLM, Copy Editor SALLIKA ABBAS MELA, Copy Editor ALEX WARBURTON, Copy Editor LILY YE, Copy Editor WENJIA DOREEN ZHAO, Copy Editor The CHICAGO MAROON is published twice weekly during autumn, winter, and spring quarters.

The Administration should reintroduce meal plan choices to better meet student needs According to the Campus Dining Services office, “Participating in the residential dining program is one of the fundamental cornerstones of community development.” However, even if the strength of the house system rests largely on requiring residents to eat some meals in a dining hall, the University should let upperclassmen choose their desired number of meals past that minimum amount. The administration should ensure that upperclassmen residents of the house system are afforded some level of choice in their meal-plan selection rather than forcing them to purchase the most expensive, “Unlimited” plan.

Maintaining community feeling in the house system does not require residents to buy an unlimited number of meals. Many students on the unlimited meal plan

skip breakfast and eat dinner well after 8 p.m., when campus dining halls close. It is unreasonable to charge students for such services that they will not likely benefit from. Moreover, the University impeaches its own goal by limiting the number of guest swipes each quarter to five in conjunction with the new unlimited plan. If it were legitimately concerned with fostering increased social contact among students, the University ought to return to finite meal plans and accordingly remove the unreasonable cap on guest swipes.

While returning to the old plan may not help Aramark’s bottom line, it would provide greater value to students while continuing to build a sense of community.

Decisions relating to students’ eating should be left to students and their parents, and

the university should hesitate to intervene, especially in the case of upperclassmen residents who know from experience what level of meal-plan they require. Some students find that the dining halls’ convenience, quality of food, or opportunities for socialization merit purchasing the most expensive meal plan. Others would cook in the dorm kitchen or order from Jimmy John’s. Beyond mere personal preferences, some students’ medical conditions severely limit their choices at the dining halls.

The current system prevents those students from purchasing a plan that better fits the amount of food they actually eat.

In light of students’ varied preferences—and their parents’ finances—the University should give them much more freedom when choosing meal plans. To

ensure students continue to eat some meals with their fellow residents, the University might require residents purchase a minimum number of meals—perhaps six per week. And, in the unlikely case that students’ demand for dininghall meals decreases to a point where the current system no longer proves sustainable, the administration should look for cost-cutting measures before simply passing the expense onto students. With the cost of a college education on the rise, student residents should not be universally required to pay for a Cadillac meal plan.

— The MAROON Editorial Board consists of the Editorin-Chief, Editor-in-Chief– Elect, Viewpoints Editors, and three Editorial Board members.

OP-ED

Tea Party populism tastes fake Tea Party’s right-wing extremism is absurd, yet potentially damaging

Andrew Thornton Columnist

The idea of a “tea party” used to make me feel content, comfortable, and nostalgic for the fond memories from my youth. The Tea Party of today—an amalgam of every flavor of right-wing extremism—has excised all such positive connotation. There are hundreds

of Tea Party groups nationally, their only nodes of commonality being those two words in their names and generic praise for conservatism. Possibly because it is so difficult to pin down their views, thoughtful analysis of their policies has been absent from news reporting. (Of course, it could merely be that the fatuity of the protesters’ slogans “rebuts itself,” so to speak.) But we ignore the substance of what Partiers say at our peril: They are voters, donors,

and volunteers, who are waiting for right-wing candidates to co-opt at least some of the items on the Tea Party menu. Hence the Tea Partiers deserve analytical scrutiny, since their influence may become great enough to elect otherwise-mainstream candidates who share their extremist views.

The protesters’ frequent hostility to established Republicanism and its candidates has led some, including the New York Times, to call their movement populist, but

this is a difficult characterization to make. Tea Party convention attendees paid $550 for a lobster and steak dinner and convention officials paid $100,000 for ex-Governor Palin to deliver the keynote.

These bourgeois extravagances prompted some—presumably the “realer” Partiers—to counter-protest in the parking lot. A CNN/ Opinion Research poll of February 12–15 found that compared with all respondents (N=1,023), Tea

desires and hopes does it tap into?

Why do we love Avatar so?

A tour company that operates in East Africa offers something called Bush Adventures. For a fee, tourists can live the life of a Maasai Warrior: They can learn to raid cattle, defend themselves from water buffalos, imbibe the ritual significance of the cows’ blood and milk, and really see Maasai life from the inside. Avatar offers up the same experience, in slightly less costly and more convenient form. For one low price, you can escape earth, go to another planet, experience another species from the inside, and watch them kick some human-behind. Stories like Avatar have a double-sided appeal. On the

one hand, they tap into a deep, shared urge for self-immolation. Can we pass through a single summer without a movie that doesn’t feature the destruction of earth, or isn’t set in an apocalyptic waste-world? To imagine an apocalypse, as a wise thinker once noted, is to secretly yearn for it. We’re tired with being human, tired with the Earth, and Avatar lets us act out the overcoming of both.

Honest urges. And old ones too: Utopians have been imagining noble savages as an alternative to decayed civilization since the dawn of modernity. But in Avatar, the utopian desire takes a retrogressive bent. Avatar is as much a product of its public relations

TEA PARTY continued on page 4

Circulation: 6,500 The opinions expressed in the Viewpoints section are not necessarily those of the MAROON.

©2010 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

SUBMISSIONS The CHICAGO MAROON welcomes opinions and responses from its readers. Send op-ed submissions and letters to: Viewpoints CHICAGO MAROON 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 E-mail: viewpoints@chicagomaroon.com The editors reserve the right to edit materials for clarity and space.

Letters to the editor should be limited to 400 words.

Op-ed submissions, 800 words.

CONTACT News: news@chicagomaroon.com Viewpoints: viewpoints@chicagomaroon.com Voices: voices@chicagomaroon.com Sports: sports@chicagomaroon.com Photography: photo@chicagomaroon.com Design: design@chicagomaroon.com Copy Editing: copy@chicagomaroon.com Advertising: jmarcini@uchicago.edu

OP-ED

Caught in a Smurf romance Avatar’s popularity reflects modern psychological hang-ups

Greg Gabrellas Columnist

Bad story, bad characterization, bad dialogue, bad Smurf-CGI, bad score, bad Sigourney Weaver. Judged by any reasonable standard, Avatar (2009) is bad, bad, bad. Yet the world seems to have entered into a bad romance with James Cameron’s Smurf romance. It’s made enough money for Cameron to construct an island of his own and attempt to breed real life Na’vi. But we shouldn’t be too surprised at the tendency for so many people to go see expensive—and bad—movies. Michael

Bay has built a career on this lucrative particularity. What is unique in this instance, however, is the enthusiasm and critical reflection that Avatar has generated.

Critics, even critics who should know better, even critics who recognize just how bad it is, seemed compelled—somehow—to like it.

There’s just something to it, they think. Already it has garnered nine (!) nominations for Academy Awards.

Palestinians, protesting the Israeli occupation in the West Bank, don blue outfits to dress like Na’vi. Why, and how, did Avatar—little more than an old Poverty Row treatment whored up with expensive CGI—manage to mean so much to so many? What

AVATAR continued on page 4

4

CHICAGO MAROON

| VIEWPOINTS | February 26, 2010

EDITORIAL CARTOON

DEMOCKRACY IN ACTION

By Tom “T2” Tian

Afghan National Army Roll Call:

Palestinian protestors co-opted Avatar’s ready-made message to advance their cause

Despite pundits’ repeated claims, Tea Party movement is far from populist

AVATAR continued from page 3

TEA PARTY continued from page 3

team as it is a product of director James Cameron.

The movie’s hype made people excited before they knew what, exactly, they were waiting to see. Something of Star Wars mixed with Titanic, all we knew was that something was coming. But it took until the film’s actual release to see a flurry of reviews proclaiming the film’s timeliness.

The Na’vi themselves were modeled on a generic Other, African tribal villagers crossed with Ewoks. It’s hard not to see the underlying racism here: the differently-colored peoples being closer to nature, living in unitary harmony. None of this is new: Since the late 19th century, American politics has harbored a deep concern about over-civilization. Are we too fragmented, technological, inauthentic? But this discourse has been picked up by progressives and reformers of all kinds. Women reformers used their alleged place by the hearth to argue for their mainstream acceptance in civil and political life, arguing that women should extend their role as mothers to society as a whole. It’s plausible that the African-American scholar and political activist W.E.B. Du Bois meant something analogous to this with his “double-consciousness” metaphor. A similar way of thinking was enshrined in the Port Huron Statement, the charter document of the American New Left that sent middle-class students to Mississippi and other points south to work on the civil rights movement. A cross between arrogance and guilt, condescension and self-hate, there is no stronger American political tendency than the drive to get behind the veil and see things as they are for the other people/race/species.

What is most interesting is the way in which this old theme is picked up and used for ostensibly progressive ends. The quaint, victimized, noble savages—the Na’vi—have a certain “usable” quality about them. Shortly after the film’s stellar release in the United States, Palestinians donned blue outfits and make-up to make explicit what American activists were thinking but were too shy to say. The movie is about how white people invade other peoples’ land and brutally exploit and plunder their resources. Better to reverse the whole process: pull out and give the land back to the natives, let them rejuvenate the land, the

skies, the entire planet. This is kitsch, apocalyptic, predigested, and regurgitated political thinking.

There’s another side to Avatar, too, which is less romantic and more instrumental. The flip side of wanting the world to be destroyed is to master and dominate it. Hence, although there is enough action and gun-fighting to appeal to the general moviegoer, for sure, Avatar perhaps appeals to most for its hyper-futuristic, technological bent. The protagonist, Jake, is recruited to an anthropological research unit to study the Na’vi, the indigenous people where an aggressive corporation is extracting “unobtanium.”

This is not just any field assignment, however, as the atmosphere is toxic to humans and the anthropoid creatures are three times the size of an ordinary human. Hence the key technology that makes the story work is the “avatar,” a device that allows trained humans to inhabit the body of a Na’vi in order to engage in factfinding and humanitarian work.

But on closer inspection, this utopia turns out as specious as the other. In the Na’vi community, everyone knows their place: There are chiefs and clear leaders, a firm hierarchy in which those on top have earned the respect of their cohort. Instead of over-consumption and degradation, this community is integrated into the fabric of the entire ecosystem. Avatar could be read as the triumph of one management style over the other: warrior versus bureaucratic. The problem with the bureaucratic, all-too-human style being that it misused its own resources and personnel; it undervalued the resource it was trying to exploit, and was unable to maintain order and discipline despite the technological superiority of the armed forces.

Thus either way you look at it—romantic nostalgia or corporate tact—this “progressive” tale is like corporate training as it offers a “real” experience to offset a dull reality. For the romantics, it offers what they have been wanting all along: aesthetic gratification at humanity’s defeat by the natural world. I can’t wait for the next installment in the series—if the real world survives long enough, that is.

— Greg Gabrellas is pursuing a Master of Arts degree in the social sciences.

Party activists (N=124) are 20 percent (±9) more likely to have received some college education, 24 percent more likely to earn at least $50,000 per year, and 20 percent less likely to earn less than $30,000 per year.

In light of the Census Bureau’s report that the median income for individuals over 25 was $32,140 in 2005, before the recession began, it may be indefensible to give the populist imprimatur to the Partiers’ protests, at least insofar as populist means what it has always meant—“in the interests of ordinary people.”

Though they are not statistically representative of average Americans, it is still possible that Tea Partiers have the interests of ordinary Americans at heart in advocating for their preferred policies. Tea Party Patriots, a coalition of many state and community Tea Parties, lets its Web site visitors choose their favored 10 policy proposals from a group of 21, most of which may be duly characterized as utterly insane. A few representative examples: scrapping the progressive income tax and replacing it with a single-rate tax law “no longer than 4,543 words—the length of the original Constitution;” allowing “young Americans” to opt out of Medicare and Social Security; requiring Congress to justify the constitutionality of each bill passed by referring to “the specific provision of the Constitution” that grants Congress such power; introducing a balanced-budget constitutional amendment that also requires a two-thirds majority for tax increases. The most popular proposals will become the Tea Parties’ Contract from America.

Indeed, it staggers the mind. In none of these proposals do we see the interests of ordinary Americans favored over the interests of right-wing ideologues. The progressive income tax favors the poor and middleincome over the wealthy. Tax revenue transfers from today’s workers to today’s retirees are necessary for the government to fund Medicare and Social Security; without them, poor and middle-income seniors will

face the death panels of the free market.

Nearly all Congressional legislation is rationally related to some desired end that fits easily within “the common defense and the general welfare” of Article I, Section 8.

A balanced-budget constitutional amendment, while it sounds fine, would require substantial cuts in Medicare (13 percent of the FY 2010 budget), Social Security (20 percent), and the Department of Defense (19 percent), all of which are political third rails and noticeably absent from the Contract’s proposals. To see the impracticality of requiring a supermajority for tax increases, one needs to look no further than California, which is facing a $40 billion budget shortfall over FY 2009-2010, partly due to the political impossibility of budget proposals’ receiving a two-thirds majority.

It is lazy, and indeed reckless, to call the Tea Partiers a populist movement when they support thoughtless right-wing causes like those above. The New York Times would be forgiven if these proposals were directed to help average Americans, but they plainly are not. They are instead the pet causes of various right-wing activists, dragged out every time people are distrustful of government; we see their missing logic after only a moment’s research.

The truly extremist constituents of Tea Party protests should not worry us too much. Ideas advocated by secessionists, citizen militiamen, and the “birthers” have little chance of being incorporated into the mainstream political parties’ explicit platforms. More worrisome is the inevitable situation that mainstream, electable Republicans will co-opt some of their less-distasteful positions in an effort to get Tea Party support. To treat them as political sideshows, as the Times does, is dangerous, because they will all too soon become serious proposals when they are made by candidates like Ms. Palin or Texas Congressman Ron Paul.

— Andrew Thornton is a third-year in the College majoring in philosophy.

5

CHICAGO CHICAGOMAROON MAROON| |VOICES VOICES| |November February 23, 20, 2010 2009

VOICES

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT FEBRUARY 26, 2010

ART

HPAC's Notes gets inside your head

By Hayley Lamberson Voices Id It’s a common trope: Art is pretentious.

Hype Park Art Center’s exhibit Notes to Nonself sounds like a perpetrator of this infamous crime, but it turns out to be so only in name.

The exhibit is an entirely unpretentious, refreshingly cheery examination of the mind’s inner workings.

NOTES TO NONSELF Hyde Park Art Center Through May 2

Notes is the result of a long-distance collaboration between artists Diane Christiansen and Shosana Utchenik, who communicated from their respective homes in the United States and Slovenia. But to call Notes an art exhibit seems inaccurate. There are individual pieces, but they’re intended to be viewed as a whole.

And there are no plaques—nothing that gives the works’ names, media, or date.

But to call it an installation seems incorrect too. It’s stage-ready for a theatrical production, complete with props, lighting, and sound effects. The actors? Anyone who strolls through the gallery. There are even red curtains flanking the entrances.

To enter Notes to Nonself is to begin a journey into the mind. The first stop: Ego Forest. The trees in this forest are collages of magazine cutouts, notes, and all other sorts of everyday items. Paper clouds swirl overhead, and the murmur of insects is just barely audible. This is the front of the mind, memory, and everyday thoughts.

As the trees and clouds thin out and become smaller, a massive, pink, papier-mâché octopus welcomes visitors to the Relationship Bardo.

A string of valentines and love notes connect the octopus to the wall. Next to the Bardo is the Temporary Refuge and Teacher Garden, represented by cardboard cutouts of a pup tent and flora. This mental respite is the least

interactive of the exhibit’s pieces—it is entirely two-dimensional.

At the very back of the mind is the Meditation Clubhouse, lofted roughly three feet in the air. Attendees are encouraged to go up into the structure and meditate. Long strings of brightly colored slips of paper— pictures, scribblings, and short notes to oneself and others—hang overhead from the back ceiling of the gallery and intermingle with the trees in the Ego Forest.

In a different context, the pieces in Notes to Nonself could just as well serve as the set pieces for some bizarre elementary school play (or perhaps a Michel Gondry film). Each piece has a certain crafty, “rough around the edges” style about it that is inescapably charming.

This style, combined with the immersiveness of the pieces, makes Notes incredibly inviting. While most contemporary art makes a point of distancing itself from the viewer, Notes welcomes its visitors with open arms.

It’s difficult to call a piece of art haughty when you’re scrambling up a ladder to its Meditation Clubhouse.

It would be easy then to dismiss Notes as childish, shallow dribble. Yet it is the playful and positive approach to the human mind that makes the installation so effective. It’s refreshing to see art that focuses on the brighter side of psychology. Gallery-goers are even encouraged to write positive notes to be strung up along with those of the artists.

This is not to say there isn’t some element of darkness within the exhibit. Tiny paper skulls can be found on nearly every piece in the exhibit, save the Clubhouse and the octopus, which recall a constant awareness of death. The effect is initially startling, but never sobering. Even these morbid reminders fall victim to the exhibit’s preciousness, adorning brightly colored flags and crudely painted tree stumps.

Notes’s constituent pieces are not entirely consistent, but that is all in the spirit of the exhibit. Very few thoughts are wholly rational.

The only thing inconsistent in Notes is the name itself. The notion of nonself, the absence

As part of a free association exercise, visitors can discover shapes in the clouds that point to their latent mother love.

COURTESY OF HYDE PARK ART CENTER

of a being, is entirely opposed to the spirit of the exhibit. Notes emphasizes interactivity and imagining your mind in the context of the

Voices STD (Stuff to Do) Friday | February 26 Telling the story of a local talk show host and his visit from the personification of hip-hop, the play I Still Love H.E.R. (atributetohiphop) returns to the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts for a special show to benefit the Yéle Haiti Foundation. (777 North Green Street, 7:30 p.m., $20) Reggie’s Rock Club presents a night of rodent-tastic rocking with bands Screeching Weasel and Lemuria in concert. Originally from Chicago, Screeching Weasel is often credited as a pioneer of the pop-punk movement of the 1990s.

Indie-punks The Seething Coast will also be performing. (2109 South State Street, 7 p.m., $20)

Saturday | February 27 Watch the world premiere of That’s Livin’! The Zora Neale Hurston Story at the Gene Siskel Film Center this Saturday.

The screening will also include a discussion and book signing with the author’s niece, Lucy Ann Hurston. (164 North State Street, 12 p.m., $25)

If your World Music core class hasn’t already introduced you to the New Budapest Orpheum Society, you can catch the Jewish Cabaret in Exile for free this Saturday. The group performs historical songs written by Jewish composers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Fulton Hall, 7:30 p.m., free)

Sunday | February 28 Sao Paolo may get to host the 2016 Olympics, but Chicago is hosting this year’s International Kennel Club Cluster of Dog Shows. Over 10,000 dogs from across North America will be competing at McCormick Place in hopes of winning the Best in Show title. Be sure to also catch the Puppy Spectacular and canine drill team demonstration, as well as special meet-and-greets with the competing dogs. (McCormick Place, 8 a.m., $17)

Monday | March 1 The American Theater Company celebrates its 25th anniversary with the Silver Project play festival. Featuring 30 short American plays,

exhibit’s constituent parts, like relationships and memory. So perhaps a better name would be Notes to Everyself.

With Christine Yang the festival will be performed in five parts, each focusing on American identity in a specific year between 1985 and 2010. This month’s showcase features the years 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, and 2001. (1909 West Byron Street, 7:30 p.m., free)

Tuesday | March 2 Professors Eric Posner and Geoffrey Stone of the Law School will be discussing the effects of terrorism on American criminal law. The talk, titled “Gitmo, USA? Torture, Terrorism and the Law,” will focus on legal decisions regarding terrorism and torture as well as President Obama’s decision to close Guantanamo Bay. (Eckhart 133, 7 p.m., free)

Wednesday | March 3 While catching a Furthur show may be scoffed at by true Deadheads, the band still rocks out even though its members are all well past retirement age. Furthur consists of Grateful Dead founders Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, John Kadlecik of the Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra, and a rotating lineup of other guest musicians. (50

East Congress Parkway, 7:30, $47.50)

Thursday | March 4 Show off your creative side or simply enjoy the performance at the Smart Museum’s Open Mic Night, presented in conjunction with the museum’s “The Darker Side of Light” exhibit. Free coffee and a DJ spinning tracks in the background will keep the party going. (Smart Museum, 7 p.m., free) Party it up in style for Chicago’s 173rd birthday bash at the Chicago History Museum.

Visitors can help themselves to free admission until 1 p.m., as well as snacks and a very special birthday cake from Bleeding Heart Bakery. Those who share a birthday with our lovely city can take home the ultimate birthday card: a certificate signed by Mayor Daley himself. (1601 North Clark Street, 9:30 a.m., free)

Have an event you’d like to see in STD? E-mail christineyang@uchicago.edu.

6

CHICAGO MAROON | CLASSIFIEDS | February 26, 2010

CLASSIFIEDS Classified advertising in the CHICAGO MAROON is $3 for each line. Lines are 45 characters long INCLUDING spaces and punctuation. Special headings are 20-character lines at $4 per line.

Classifieds are NOT accepted over the phone, and they must be paid in advance. Submit all ads in person, by e-mail, or by mail to the CHICAGO MAROON, Ida Noyes Hall, Lower Level Rm 026, 1212 E. 59th St., Chicago, IL 60637 attn: Classified Ads. Deadlines: Wednesdays and Fridays, 12 P.M., prior to publication. The CHICAGO MAROON accepts Mastercard & Visa. Call 702-9555.

51st & Kimbark Very lg. 1 bed. 1 ba. Garden unit Heat incl. in rent Avail. Immed.

773-493-3440 TP Realty & Mgmt.

54th & Hyde Park Blvd.

Very lg. 1 bed. 1 ba. Garden unit Heat incl. Lots of storage Avail. Immed.

773-493-3440 TP Realty & Mgmt.

This exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Anders Zorn, An Irish Girl (detail), 1894, Etching. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Rosenwald Collection.

The Bad Plus

THE DARKER SIDE OF LIGHT ARTS OF PRIVACY, – Open Mic: The Dark Mirror | Thursday, March 4, 7-9 pm Thursday, March 4, 7-9 pm smartmuseum.uchicago.edu/darkersideof light

Reid Anderson, bass Ethan Iverson, piano David King, percussion Tickets : $ General $ Students with valid ID

FRIDAY/ FEB 5 / 7:30 PM Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th Street

Whether controversial, audacious or daring, The Bad Plus is anything but forgettable. One of the most talkedabout acoustic jazz groups in recent years, the self-proclaimed "power piano trio" has become known for putting its own groove and visionar y spin on ever ything from avant-garde jazz to indie rock, covering Nir vana, Pink Floyd, Ligeti and Stravinsky.

SMART MUSEUM OF ART UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

773.702.8068

5550 South Greenwood Avenue | Chicago, Illinois 60637 | http://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu

chicagopresents.uchicago.edu

BVS <Sea /`]c\R G]c W1VWQOU] bVS 1671/5= ;/@==<¸a T`SS W>V]\S O^^ZWQObW]\

7

CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | February 26, 2010

Conference tournament would add excitement while remaining fair GRUBMAN continued from back page (and its automatic NCAA bid).

Of course, taken like that, the UAA’s current format seems perfect. The best team usually wins the automatic bid, rightfully earning a trip to the NCAA tournament.

But the addition of a conference tournament wouldn’t necessarily change that.

The best teams would still usually win, but a tournament format would add in the Cinderella factor, the outside chance that UAA fans would witness a season-changing shocker.

The UAA could follow the CCIW’s tournament format, pitting the top four teams against each other with an automatic bid on the line. That way, the biggest upset would be the fourth seed beating the first seed.

Instead of being a “fluke,” it would just be a team that executed down the stretch—and in truth, flukes go both ways. A great team could lose at the beginning of the season and have its championship dreams diverted from the start.

Under this format, the “best” teams would still probably get in, since the UAA commonly sends three teams to the NCAA tournament. One team might get left out, but that’s what would make the tournament exciting and unpredictable.

One more win for the Bears or one more loss for the Maroons this season, and the UAA wouldn’t have any “championship weekend” at all. I like title talk as much as anyone; I’d just like to be able to speculate on Chicago’s chances every season.

Current format rewards consistency, keeps games meaningful HOLLIDAY continued from back page time until the conference tournament. They have to come to play every week.

That’s the key point: The UAA’s method keeps the conference meaningful despite DIII’s tournament selection system, which relies on regional rankings and greatly diminishes inconference competition.

Granted, all conference games are regional games, and that helps keep conference play relevant. But thanks to the UAA’s system, the women are playing Wash U for an automatic bid tomorrow—an opportunity the teams have earned through weeks of hard work. If there were a UAA tournament afterward, tomorrow’s game would have roughly the same postseason implications as Chicago’s game against St. Mary’s of Minnesota in mid-November (which

was also a regional match-up). Gosh, wouldn’t that be gripping?

Look, Jake, I know you’re a fan of the NBA, so I understand that you prefer your regular seasons to be meaningless and your drama to be cheap and artificial. That’s just what the excitement of a conference tournament is—artificial, because by the time the tournament is played, the conference season has already clearly demonstrated which teams are the best.

It’s true that conference play is such a rigorous test of talent that underdogs don’t stand a chance of winning, but here’s where I’ll make my confession: I don’t much care for Cinderellas. I don’t like flukes. I want the UAA championship and the conference’s automatic bid to be hard-won and well deserved, and that’s what is best about the UAA system—we know that they will be.

MAROONCITY.COM

SPORTS LEISURE ETCETERA

DON’T BITE. Don’t get lured into disclosing personal information.

Learn how to recognize internet scams.

Maroons to challenge for title, shot at NCAA bid W. BASKETBALL continued from back page

In a game with heavy postseason implications— both Chicago and Wash U are NCAA hopefuls in the Midwest Region—the Maroons are looking for their third postseason appearance in program history. It’s been seven weeks since their last meeting, but both teams are heading into Saturday’s contest with a clean slate.

“The last game has no bearing,” Fahey said.

“The way the UAA is structured, these are two teams that have evolved and changed. There’s a reason we’re both playing for the champ on Saturday.”

has been vital down the stretch. Hackney has led the Maroons with 10.5 points and six rebounds per game in conference play, while fourth-year Jamie Stinson has added another 7.9 points per UAA contest.

“I think our seniors have stepped up and become great leaders,” Roussell said. “For whatever reason, they hadn’t come out of their shell completely until last month, but we’ve been following them, and they’ve been doing a phenomenal job leading us.”

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Chicago takes first crack at indoor nationals neither she nor her teammates are holding anything back.

“We’ve been having two-a-days, morning practices, and night practices,” Higgins said.

“We’ve focused a lot and are trying to get into the match mind-set to prepare.”

Their first match is against 11th-ranked DePauw, who is competing with the hometeam advantage. If they do advance they will then compete in the semifinals against either Johns Hopkins or Washington and Lee on Saturday. In the event that they are knocked out, the consolation round will be at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, and the competition for third place will occur Sunday at 9:00 a.m.

On the other side of the bracket, there is quite a bit of competition for top-ranked Emory. Last year they defeated the Maroons all three times the two teams faced each other.

“We’re a little more confident, a little older, and we know what we’re going into,” Higgins said.

Another formidable, if underrated, team is the fourth seed—ranked sixth nationally—Carnegie Mellon. Last year they came from behind in the fifth seed to win by beating Emory in the championships.

As the team prepared to get on the bus for DePauw, Higgins did not sound worried.

“All of us have confidence in how we will play this week; hopefully it will go well.”

Full coverage of almost all of the event’s matches can be followed live on the DePauw women’s tennis webpage.

By Will Fallon Sports Editor With the quarter coming to a close, Chicago athletes have one additional thing to worry about: championship season. For women’s tennis, that will come this weekend at the indoor national championships at DePauw.

This is the second year the national tournament is being run by the ITA, and the first time the Maroons have qualified for the tournament.

Needless to say, the team, which is ranked fourth in DIII, is looking forward to it.

To qualify, teams must be seeded in the top eight in DIII by the ITA, the governing body of NCAA tennis. The teams are then placed into brackets with the top seeds facing the lowerranked seeds. Eight of the top thirteen teams in the country will be competing in this year’s tournament. Noticeably absent are Amherst and Williams, ranked number one and two respectively, whose conference rules do not permit them to compete in championships until later in the season.

This leaves Chicago as the number-two seed in the competition. However, this doesn’t mean the team is resting on its laurels.

“All the other teams are here, and they are all great competitors,” second-year Kendra Higgins said. “It’s never going to be an easy match.”

If anyone had reason to rest, it would be Higgins. She has already won the DIII doubles’ title along with third-year Chrissy Hu, but

Richard I. Kaufman DDS & Louis R. Kaufman DDS & Associates Family & Cosmetic Dentistry

We welcome all new and returning students and faculty!

Call our office today and find more information about our: • Convenient office hours • Quick appointments between classes • Affordable monthly payment options • Free examinations • Special discounts for University of Chicago students & faculty

PROFESSIONAL HOME WHITENING SYSTEM

Learn how to smile again

safecomputing.uchicago.edu Proud member of

16,7 1HWZRUNLQJ 6HUYLFHV ,QIRUPDWLRQ 7HFKQRORJLHV

Whiten your smile in only 3-minutes

No Pain, No Shot, Perfect Smile that will last over 20 years

Richard I. Kaufman DDS & Louis R. Kaufman DDS & Associates 1525 E. 53rd St., Ste. 734 Chicago, IL 60615 773-643-6006 • 773-493-3340 www.chicagodentistr y.com

*Tooth contouring may be necessary. Individual cases may vary. ©2008 Den-Mat® Holdings, LLC. World Rights Reserved. 801252400 8/08 MD

Before

IN QUOTES “I actually see a lot of similarities in what pole dancing is now for women with what skateboarding used to be for men back in the day. Pole dancing is definitely on its way to becoming a mainstream sport.”

SPORTS

—Finnish pole dancer Ilina Laatikainen, speaking about the proposal to make pole dancing an Olympic sport.

UAA CHAMPIONSHIP CH MPIONSHIP

WASH WA HU AT

CHICAGO CHI AGO SATURDAY, SATUR Y, 1 P.M.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHICAGO AND WASH U SPORTS INFORMATION

TITLE FIGHT CHICAGO MAROONS (19–5, 11–2) With their third UAA title on the line Saturday, the Maroons have already matched their highest-ever conference win total with 11. Only three schools have ever won 12 UAA games in a season.

Chicago last hosted a de facto UAA Championship game in 2008. The Maroons defeated Wash U 76–53 en route to the first full conference title in program history.

Anchored by the nation’s fourthbest rebounding margin (plus-11.5), the Maroons boast the UAA’s second-best offense (65 points per game) and defense (55 points per game).

Chicago and Wash U will battle it out Saturday with the championship on the line in the final game of the season

By Jake Grubman MAROON Staff This is what coming full circle must look like.

Seven weeks ago, women’s basketball walked out of WU Field House with a 29-point loss and a massive burden on their shoulders. A team with serious conference title aspirations had suffered one of the worst losses in program history against a rival school in the league opener. They would need to be nearly perfect to make the rematch in the season’s final game mean anything.

So that’s what they did.

When sixth-ranked Wash U (22–2, 12–1) comes to town for the regular-season finale Saturday afternoon, the 21st-ranked Maroons (19–5, 11–2) have a chance at more than payback: They have a chance at a share of the UAA crown.

“When we left St. Louis, our goal was to make sure this final game meant something, and we’ve achieved that goal,” head coach Aaron Roussell said.

“Going into this game, to still have a chance at a share of the championship is a pretty big accomplishment.”

With 12 wins already, Wash U will arrive with at least part of the conference championship locked up. But in the latest installment of an increasingly intense rivalry between the Midwest neighbors, the Maroons will have the other half of that title in their sights, playing for the third UAA Championship in program history.

“The rivalry makes the game so much more exciting because we aren’t just playing for a share in the UAA title, but also for pride,” fourthyear forward Molly Hackney said.

“The games are high energy, a lot of fun, and extremely competitive.”

The turning point for the rivalry between Chicago and Wash U came in 2008. Prior to that season, Wash U had won at least a share of the conference crown 17 times in 20 seasons of UAA play. But with the title on the line in the final game of that season, the Maroons dominated the Bears at home, scoring a 76–53 win to capture the conference crown and start a new chapter in the feud.

Now Chicago plays the role of upand-comer while Wash U defends its spot as cream of the UAA crop.

“The biggest thing is they’re the top dog and have been for the entire history of conference,” Roussell said.

“They do a phenomenal job, and I like those kids. When you’re trying to [be] the best you can be, you’re obviously going to go against the best, and they’ve proven they’re the best.”

When the Maroons ended the Bears’ string of 10 straight conference championships in 2008, it solidified the programs’ mutual respect.

“I have a great deal of respect for coach Roussell and their team,” Wash U head coach Nancy Fahey said.

“The rivalry is a positive rivalry; I think that’s the most important thing.

That’s what we enjoy, is going out and playing some good basketball.”

The latest installment of the Chicago– Wash U series will pit two of the most experienced teams in the UAA against each other. With the Maroons celebrating their five fourth-years on Senior Day, the Bears are bringing three seniors and one graduate student of their own, making for a clash of two teams with plenty of big-game experience.

For Chicago, fourth-year leadership

W. BASKETBALL continued on page 7

Would a UAA tournament build suspense or simply undermine the regular season?

Nothing like a Cinderella story to spice things up

By Jake Grubman MAROON Staff

The phrase “championship weekend” feels pretty good to say.

Two months ago, I—like most Chicago followers, I have to think— had serious doubts about where the women’s basketball team would be at this point in the season. If I learned anything in my first two years, it was that you don’t win all of your games in the UAA if your name isn’t “Wash U.” But here we are, one day away

from the UA A Championship game. And so it seems like the perfect time to look this gift horse directly in the mouth.

I just can’t help but wonder how a UAA tournament would change things, and I think it’s something league officials should at least consider.

Last year, in an article about teams competing for bids to the NCAA tournament, Gordon Mann of d3hoops.com called the UAA “the ultimate anti-Cinderella,” and it’s easy to see why. With 14 games in the season, it’s almost impossible for a surprise team to win the UAA

GRUBMAN continued on page 7

WASH U BEARS (22–2, 12–1) With the league’s best record heading into Saturday’s game, the Bears have wrapped up at least a share of their 19th conference championship, the team’s 12th in the last 13 seasons.

Wash U leads the all-time series against Chicago, 39–9. In their last meeting, this season’s conference opener, the Bears defeated the Maroons 63–34 in one of Chicago’s worst losses in program history.

Wash U has the 11thbest scoring margin in the nation, at plus-18. The Bears rank first in the UAA in scoring offense (68.9 points per game) and scoring defense (50.9 points per game).

CA LEN DA R

Title should be reward for excellence and consistency

By Jordan Holliday MAROON Staff

Jake, you just can’t see how good we have it. Most conferences award their automatic NCAA bid to whichever team wins the conference tournament, but the UAA doesn’t, and you should be counting your blessings. Actually, I’ll count them for you.

First, the UAA gives its bid to the bona fide champion—the winner of conference play. A one-weekend tournament is cute, but if you want

to know which of eight teams is the best, make them all play home-andaway series. Anyone can win in a three-round crapshoot, but a team that’s on top after eight weekends and fourteen games has a genuine claim to the conference championship.

Second, UAA fans get eight weekends and fourteen games worth of excitement. The conference season isn’t reduced to half-hearted jockeying for tournament seeding. A game with Wash U is always important whether it’s played at the beginning of January or the end of February.

Top teams can’t simply bide their

HOLLIDAY continued on page 7

Friday 2/26 •Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving @ Midwest Invite, 6 p.m.

•Women’s Tennis @ ITA Team Championships vs. DePauw, 5 p.m.

Saturday 2/27 Women’s Basketball vs. Wash U, 1 p.m.

•Men’s Basketball vs. Wash U., 3 p.m.

•Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving @ Midwest Invite, All Day •Women’s Tennis @ ITA Team Championships, Time TBD

Sunday 2/28 Women’s Tennis @ ITA Team Championships, Time TBD