JANUARY 6, 2017
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
VOL. 128, ISSUE 18
Admissions Offers At IOP Event, Trump’s Press Secretary Says It Is “Insulting” to Question his Boss’ “Desire to be Truthful” $500 for Creative Way to Fight Perception BY LEE HARRIS STAFF REPORTER of Violence On Wednesday, the Institute BY PETE GRIEVE NEWS EDITOR
On the heels of Chicago’s deadliest year in nearly two decades— and a tweet about it from the President-elect—the admissions office is offering a cash reward for a tour guide who can come up with a creative way to dispel the “negative perception” among prospective students and their families that all of Chicago is unsafe. This is according to an e-mail sent Tuesday from Assistant Director of Admissions Colleen Belak to student tour guides. The tour guide who provided the e-mail to THE MAROON asked to remain anonymous due to a confidentiality policy. “If you’ve paid attention to the national news (or Donald Trump’s tweets) over the last few months, you’ll notice that the city of Chicago is often painted with a broad brush as an ‘unsafe’ or ‘scary’ place Continued on page 2
of Politics (IOP) hosted President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for press secretary, Sean Spicer, and President Obama’s first-term press secretary, Robert Gibbs, in conversation with IOP Director David Axelrod. The announcement of the event over winter break drew criticism from students opposed to the incoming Trump administration. Two students who had threatened to disrupt the event in Facebook were called into the Dean of Students’ office last week. At least 10 University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) officers were stationed around Ida Noyes Hall in preparation for the event, and the two rows nearest Spicer were reserved for members of the College Republicans. After introductions by IOP Executive Director Steve Edwards and second-year Josh Parks, a protester from the anti-Trump organization Refuse Fascism stood up Continued on page 4
CIA Director Touts Russia Sanctions at IOP He said a former CIA director was calling for “a bit of a nuclear option.” BY DEEPTI SAILLAPAN STAFF REPORTER
The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was emphatic in his support for the Obama administration’s sanctions against Russia during a talk hosted by the Institute of Politics (IOP) at International House. The sanctions were retaliation for alleged government-sponsored hacking in the 2016 United States presidential election and the physical abuse of U.S. diplomats in Moscow. John Brennan spoke with a small group of students at the IOP on Thursday afternoon and to a larger audience
Brooke Nagler
Top: Axelrod, Spicer, and Gibbs (from left to right) discussed the press, press secretaries, and the coming Trump administration. Bottom: A protester from the anti-Trump organization Refuse Fascism was escorted out after shouting his objections to Spicer and his employer.
College Council Resolution Calls for Sanctuary Campus BY JAMIE EHRLICH DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR
later in the evening at International House, where he was interviewed by political science professor and terrorism expert Robert Pape. Brennan began his service with the CIA in 1988 as an analyst and later served as chief counterterrorism advisor to President Obama until his appointment as director in 2013. Brennan discussed his “invigorating, inspirational” job extensively in his two hours with students, calling his profession an unparalleled honor. Regarding the recent sanctions against Russia, he stated that the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats from U.S. soil Continued on page 2
Student Government College Council (CC) passed two resolutions on Tuesday night, one calling for the establishment of an undocumented, international, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) student advisory council, and one calling to make the University a “sanctuary campus.” The advisory council resolution passed unanimously, while the second passed with four abstentions. C ol lege C ou nc i l c a n not enforce the resolutions. They serve as a suggestion to administrators, and are a way for CC representatives to bring
The Soviet (Re)Union
concerns to the administration. The two resolutions were authored by first-year representatives Kosi Achife, Veronica Myers, and Jahne Brown with the help of first-year undocumented student Moises Rodriguez-Cruz. Rodriguez-Cruz provided the opening statement when the two resolutions were introduced. “I implore you to just do your job,” he said to a hot, crowded room of CC representatives and students. The four authors then went through the resolution clauseby-clause in a slideshow. Brown cited both a lack of information the administrators have given CC about the advisory council as well as the
Three journalists with backgrounds in politics, policy, and the media will turn their attention to the Trump era as the Institute of Politics’ winter quarter fellows, the IOP will formally announce tomorrow. The fellows include Robert Costa, a reporter for the Washington Post; Matt Bai, a columnist with Yahoo News; and Jackie Calmes, who reported for The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. A little more than a year ago, Bai wrote that a dysfunctional relationship with the media was responsible for much of Trump’s
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Chicago Faces Third Top25 Team in Three Games
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Putin’s latest little helper, an orange-skinned pathological liar, tells a rare, chilling truth when he tweets “V. Putin is a smart man.”
The Maroons look to start conference play on a high note on Saturday with a big game against the rival Wash U, ranked 24th.
Dean Boyer and Prof Stone Discuss Academic Freedom With UMich, Yale Profs
New Book Captures Civil Rights Struggles Beyond the South
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A panel of scholars discussed the tensions between academic freedom and diversity.
The Civil Rights Movement took place in the North too: It was just as hard-fought and brutally violent.
IOP ANNOUNCES FELLOWS FOR QUARTER BY ADAM THORP NEWS EDITOR
Contributing to the Maroon If you want to get involve d in THE M AROON in any way, please email apply@chicagomaroon.com or visit chicagomaroon.com/apply.
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Friday, January 6 First Friday on Housing and Economic Development School of Social Service Administration, 1–3 p.m. Register online. 50 years after Martin Luther King came to Chicago to campaign against housing discrimination, the city remains one of the country’s most segregated. At this event, a panel consisting of an academic, the head of a nonprofit home loan provider, and a regional planner will consider the problem. Food will be provided.
On & Around Campus Memorial Service for Charles Bidwell Bond Chapel, 3:30–5:30 p.m. RSVP to Gillian Griffin. A memorial service will honor Charles E. Bidwell, a renowned sociologist who served as chair of the Departments of Education and Sociology. There will be a reception following the memorial in Common Room of Swift Hall. Saturday, January 7 Pajamapalooza Reynolds Club, 8–11 p.m., free. UChicago Inter-House Council will host a pajama party to celebrate College Housing, interact with peers from different houses, and eat breakfast foods. The event will include a series of games including video games, roommate quizzes, and board games. Attendees are encouraged to wear pajamas. Theater 24 FXK Theater, Reynolds Club, 8–9:30 p.m., $4 general admission. In a period of 24 hours, participants will write and perform a series of six plays for a one-time-only showcase. Promise of Peace Community Forum Logan Center, 2–3:30 p.m., free. South Side reporter for WBEZ Natalie Moore will host a panel that will discuss the influence of violence on communities within Chicago and find creative ways to tackle it. The panel speakers will include artists, leaders, and members of the community. The event will feature a performance by Rebirth Poetry Ensemble. Obama Farewell Speech Tickets McCormick Place, 2301 S.
Lakeshore Drive, 8 a.m,, free. President Obama will give a farewell speech Tuesday at McCormick Place. Tickets for this event will be available to the public on a firstcome, first-served basis on Saturday at 8:00 a.m. One free ticket per person will be available. Sunday, January 8 Emancipation Proclamation Pageant First Unitarian Church, 5650 S. Woodlawn Ave, 11:45–1:15 p.m., free. The Emancipation Proclamation Pageant will celebrate its 154th anniversary in an event hosted by the Racial Justice Task Force. The Pageant will also celebrate the ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments. Monday, January 9 Thinking About the Torah Seminary Co-Op Bookstore, 6–7 p.m., free. Kenneth Seeskin will be discussing his new book, Thinking about the Torah: A Philosopher Reads the Bible, which discusses 10 core biblical verses in depth. David Cohen will join him in conversation. Violence, Racism and Urban America University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration Lobby, 969 E. 60th St., 4:30–6 p.m., free. The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration’s Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention and Chicago Urban will screen the short documentaries “A Thousand Midnights” and “We All We Got” from Carlos Ortiz and Tina Sacks (A.M. ’98, Ph.D. ’13). After the screening, there will be a Q&A session and a discussion of violence, racism, and urban communities. MLK Commemoration Celebration Rockefeller Chapel, 6 p.m., free. The University of Chicago will gather in Rockefeller Chapel to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and reflect on equality in the future. The keynote address will be given by Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, and the Chicago Children’s Choir will perform. Scholarship and Activism Room 105, Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, 2:30 p.m., free. Political scientist and doctoral student Jenn Jackson will moderate a panel called “Community Engaged Scholars: Balancing Scholarship and Activism.” Panelists include Eve Ewing, Anton Ford, and Larissa Brewer-García.
CIA Director Touts Russia Sanctions at the IOP Continued from front page
and the closure of facilities in the U.S. owned by the Russian government clearly present a “disruptive impact” on Russian intelligence. “ Some people argue that we needed t o do more,” Brennan said in the student session at the IOP, citing an interview given on Wednesday by former Acting CI A Director Michael Morell. “[ Morell] talked about the need to have greater sanctions against Russia, for example, prohibiting U.S. banks from doing business with any foreign bank that is going to do ba n k i ng w ith Russia. That’s a bit of a nuclear option…almost a declaration of economic war against Russia,” Brennan said. He argued that such measures could drastically hurt the global economy and create national security risks. “Frankly, I don’t believe this was
the time to do something like that.” Accord ing to Brennan, economic sanctions did, however, serve as an effective impetus for negotiation in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. “ The deal that was struck with the Iranians was better than a lot of people, including in the government, thought we’d get and it was because the Iranians were determined to get themselves out of this downward economic spiral…” he said. “ We recognized that there was a motivation on the part of the Iranians to strike a deal, and that was why we aimed high.” On the subject of a potentially strained relationship between the CIA and President-elect T r u mp — who h a s r e fused daily intelligence briefings and repeatedly expressed skepticism in the CI A’s findings— Brennan remained optimistic. He will meet the
John Brennan speaks at International House.
P resident-elect for the first time tomorrow in New York City, to deliver an in-person intelligence briefing. “Once you leave the…glaring spotlight of the public, then you really have to roll up your sleeves and say, ‘Okay, what are we going to have to do to keep the country safe?’” Brennan said. “The incoming administration will have a peri-
Alexandra Davis
od of learning about what the CIA does…. I am hoping that [President-elect Trump] is going to be respectful of the profession, respectful of the agency and of the rest of the int el l igence c ommu n ity, and I’m looking forward to a rather robust, if not sporty, discussion on this issue.” A full version of this article is online.
Dean Boyer and Professor Stone Discuss Academic Freedom With UMich, Yale Professors BY LAUREN PANKIN STAFF REPORTER
A panel of scholars from top American universities discussed the tensions between academic freedom and diversity at the School of Social Service Administration (SSA) Tuesday night. The panel continued the local and national debate sparked in August by a welcome letter to first-year students. The letter, written by Dean of Students John “Jay” Ellison, condemned trigger warnings and intellectual safe spaces as violations of academic freedom. Speakers from UChicago included Dean of the College John Boyer and First Amendment scholar and Law School professor Geoffrey Stone. They were joined by Zareena Grewal, an as-
sociate professor in the Eth- to be perfectly free,” Boyer nicity, Race, and Migration said. “This tension was emProgram at Yale University, bedded in the very beginand Lorraine Gutiérrez, a ning.” Boyer said that the Uniprofessor at the University of Michigan’s School of So- versity’s historically pluralistic student body, which cial Work. Each speaker had 10 has included women, Jews, minutes to present their and a range of socioeconomthoughts on the relationship ic backgrounds since the between academic freedom University’s founding, fosand diversity to an audience tered a culture of academic freedom. of about 200 people. While Stone also adBoyer focused on the history of academic freedom at dressed the issue from a the University, which he historical standpoint, he wrote about in his book, focused more on broader The University of Chicago: A trends in American higher History. The founders of the education. He said that free University were inspired expression and academic to create a culture of open freedom are not synondiscourse based on the Ger- ymous, since the former man, government-run re- concept has always been search institutions some of “vulnerable” and “tenuous,” them had attended, he said. whereas there is a consen“In order to be perfectly sus among academics reconformist and to support garding the virtue of acathe state’s renewal, you had demic freedom.
Historical threats to academic freedom include a doctrinaire moralism that allowed institutional leaders to discredit and dismiss professors who held controversial viewpoints on issues such as slavery, women’s rights, and Darwinism, Stone said. Over time, however, free expression became a tenet of American higher education. “By 1892, when the University of Chicago was first created, our first president, William Rainey Harper, proclaimed that for a university to be a university, there must be free expression,” Stone said. While Stone and Boyer grounded their arguments in the history of academia, Grewal used contemporary examples in her analysis of the “manufactured crisis” of Continued on page 4
“Keep in mind that the audience is a high school student and his/her family.” Continued from front page
to reside,” Belak wrote to the campus tour guide listhost. “Of course, certain realities should not be ignored, but at the end of the day most of us are proud Chicago residents with a deep love of the city.” “With that spirit in mind, we have an opportunity for you to win some money—$500 to be exact. If you are able to come up with a creative way to approach this negative perception, be it a video series, blog post, photo, or something else (and
better) entirely.... Keep in mind that the audience is a high school student and his/ her family.” A section on the admissions website reads, “While Hyde Park is considered one of the safest neighborhoods in Chicago, urban life demands street smarts.” The site lists a number of campus security and University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) resources. “The feeling of security is one thing that makes UChicago a great place to call home.”
University administrators have worried about fear of crime keeping away prospective students since at least the 1970s, when a well-publicized crime wave appeared to have driven down enrollment of female students. According to the Chicago Police Department’s CLEARMAP, Hyde Park is 52nd in incidents of violent crime of Chicago’s 77 community areas in the last year. The nearby Woodlawn and Washington Park neighbor-
hoods rank 22nd and 27th respectively. The Hyde Park Herald recently reported that violent crime was down in Hyde Park in 2016. In July, the University announced that it was increasing the number of UCPD officers by 28 percent, citing community concerns about crime, particularly robberies, in the area. In October, THE MAROON reported that there was a string of off-campus break-ins just north of campus where many students live.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 6, 2017
Urban Education Institute Director to Serve as the First Woman President of Small Wisconsin University BY STEPHANIE PALAZZOLO STAFF REPORTER
The director of the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute (UEI) will leave her position to serve as the first woman president of Carroll University. The Milwaukee Business Journal reported that Sara Ray Stoelinga will take over in July as the 15th president of the 170-year-old Wisconsin university. Carroll is attended by around 3,000 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students. Stoelinga said she plans to focus on long term sustainability and diversifying and expanding Carroll’s graduate programs. She also plans to teach in both business and education. She oversees four separate organizations that form the Urban Education Institute —the University of Chicago Charter School, the Urban Teacher Education Program, UChicago Impact, and the Consortium on School Research.
St oel i nga sa id her move br i ngs a bittersweet ending to her time at the University of Chicago, but she stressed that she looks forward to her new role as the first female president of Carroll. “One of the ways that I’ve always thought about my leadership is in what ways can we be pioneers for the people who come after us?” Stoelinga said in an interview. “So in taking this type of position, I immediately thought of my own daughter and all of our daughters. It’s a great honor for me, and I take that part seriously, that I’m representing not just myself, but many qualified women who deserve to have positions like this one.” Stoelinga received her bachelor’s degree in sociology at the University of Chicago, and then she faced a choice between working in finance at Goldman Sachs or attending graduate school. However, after a chance meeting with then-provost Geoffrey Stone who made a phone call on her behalf to the former
director of the Center for School Improvement, she became an intern there. The Center for School Improvement would later become the UEI. “When I got hired there, there were only about a dozen employees, and now there are 500 employees,” Stoelinga said. “So over the last 20 plus years, the institute has grown from being really a very small center to something that’s twice as big as the Harris School.” Moving through the ranks of the institute from intern to director, Stoelinga had the opportunity to be a “hybrid” of theory and application, learning about education through not only research and teaching but also through work on the ground with UEI. “I’ve been a hybrid from the very beginning, and I’ve always believed in having one foot in the applied world and one foot in the theoretical research world,” Stoelinga said. “I span the gap between the worlds of this prestigious elite university and the communities that surround it, which are, as you
know, quite different from the context of the university.” Although this intersection of theory and application provided her with a unique perspective on education, juggling both proved to be a complicated task at times. “It is a balancing act because there’s been a lot of times along my road, especially after I became director of UEI because it has such a significant scope, where people told me that I wouldn’t have time to teach or I wouldn’t have time to sit on education committees or to advise students because of the scope of my responsibilities,” Stoelinga said. “But I’ve been really steadfast in my commitment to doing both because I think both are core to the university’s mission.” Stoelinga, a 2015 recipient of the Quantrell Award, one of the University of Chicago’s most prestigious teaching awards, said that she enjoys teaching and is looking forward to continuing it at Carroll University.
NEWS IN BRIEF Environmental Economist Appointed Director of Becker-Friedman Institute Professor Michael Greenstone, an environmental economist who worked in the Obama administration, will be the new head of the Becker-Friedman Institute, the University announced over winter break. Greenstone is the Milton Friedman Professor of Economics and the Director of the Energy Policy Institute of at Chicago (EPIC). Much of Greenstone’s recent research has focused on energy and growing markets. He recently published a paper demonstrating the benefits fracking has on the communities surrounding fracking sites. Greenstone is a public advocate of some forms of environmental regulation. Last month, he co-wrote an op-ed in The New York Times titled “Donald Trump Should Know: This Is What Climate Change Costs Us.” Greenstone also served as chief economist for President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors from 2009–10. From 2010–13 he was director of the Hamilton Project at the
Brookings Institution, and he remains on its advisory board. Greenstone will maintain his title as director of EPIC after he assumes his new role on July 1. Lars Peter Hansen, the David Rockefeller distinguished service professor of economics at the University of Chicago and a 2013 Nobel Laureate, and Kevin Murphy, the George J. Stigler distinguished service professor of economics, currently co-chair the Institute. “Becker and Friedman were giants in helping to shape understanding of the world, both within economics and more broadly. It is an honor to lead an institute that aims to carry on the tradition and high bar for excellence that they have set for Chicago economics,” Greenstone said in a statement released by the University of Chicago News Office.
James L. Skinner has been appointed as the new director of the Water Research Initiative at the Institute for Molecular Engineering as part of its push to expand water-related research. Skinner is a renowned theoretical chemist and a leading researcher on hydrogen bonding in water. He worked as a professor emeritus and director of the Theoretical Chemistry Institute at the UW–Madison since 1990. His appointment comes as part of an effort to broaden the scope of research beyond engineering to new technology and water-related processes. The Water Research Initiative was established in 2013
as a collaboration between the University of Chicago, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, and Argonne National Laboratory. Skinner described water research as particularly timely given the short supply of drinkable water in many regions of the world and an increased demand for water purification systems. “That’s one reason coming to IME is so exciting. We have an opportunity here to make a difference on a global scale,” he said in a press release. – Solomon Dworkin
Group Collects Books for Female Prisoners
–Emily Feigenbaum
Trustee Donates $10.5 Million for Finance Internship Program, Lab School Scholarship University Trustee John Washington Rogers Jr. (Lab ’76) has donated $10.5 million to support a scholarship fund for students attending the University-affiliated Laboratory Schools and to establish a program for lower-income students in the College pursuing careers in finance. Four million dollars of the donation will be allocated to the John W. Rogers and Victoria Marie Rogers Scholarship Fund, a program that supports scholarship opportunities at the Laboratory Schools. Another $4.5 million will be used to establish and support the Ariel Investments Internship Program in Finance, a nascent program that will motivate College students from low-income and racial and ethnic minorities to pursue careers in finance. The donation will provide minority students more opportunities for paid internships at investment offices. Rogers’s donation will be used to further promote career advising programs,
Professor Emeritus to Head Water Research Initiative at Institute for Molecular Engineering
professional workshops, and networking and internship opportunities for College students. The remaining $2 million is for “unrestricted support.” “The Laboratory Schools and the University of Chicago teach students how to think while respecting different points of view and different experiences…. It’s part of what makes them such great places,” Rogers said in a press release last month. An alumnus of the Laboratory School, Rogers now serves as the chairman, CEO, and founder of the mutual fund firm Ariel Investments, LLC. Rogers has been a board member of the Laboratory Schools for over two decades and was presented with the Laboratory Schools’ Distinguished Alumni Award in 1994. In 2009, Rogers was appointed as the Laboratory Schools’ chair by University President Robert J. Zimmer. –Anjali Dhillon
On Tuesday, the student organization Students Working Against Prisons (SWAP) began collecting books for female prisoners. Donations will be collected at a table in the Reynolds Club between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. until Friday. The books will go to the organization Chicago Books to Women in Prison (CBWP), which will package and ship the books to prisons nationwide. Only lightly used and unmarked paperback books will be accepted by the drive. CBWP has a list on its website of specific titles or genres requested by prisoners. All prisons regulate incoming reading material, primarily focusing on the format and content of books. These restrictions are liable to change unpredictably, complicating the process of obtaining books. According to a CBWP flyer circulated by SWAP, prisons often have inadequate libraries available to prisoners, if they have them at all.
CBWP aims to improve prisoners’ well-being through the mental and educational benefits books can provide. In addition to advocating changes for female prisoners, SWAP intends to work toward reforming the prison system through educating University of Chicago students on prisoner rights and supporting projects like the CBWP. SWAP campaigned as the Fight for Just Food against the campus’s dining services providers because of their links to private prisons. The group’s name was changed early last quarter. The book drive serves as a precursor to future events SWAP will host. The group hosts weekly meetings on Mondays at 7 p.m. in the Center for Identity and Inclusion, and will hold an information session on January 9 at 6 p.m. at the same location. –Tyrone Lomax
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One Protester Briefly Interrupted the Spicer Event; Administrators Tried to Preempt Disruptions. Continued from front page
and loudly addressed Spicer. “You are a press secretary for Trump who threatens the press, denies facts, suppresses science…. This is not normal, people,” he said. He was escorted out of the room by University employees. As the protester was led to the door, Spicer joked, “I think he follows me on Twitter.” Axelrod aske d whether the incoming press secretary knows ahead of time what Trump plans to tweet. Spicer said that while Trump receives input from his advisers, he writes and publishes his own tweets. Spicer dismissed speculations that not all of the tweets come from Trump ( because some are pos ted via Android and some via iPhone), saying that Trump simply uses multiple electronic devices. “T he Clinton folks know about that,” he ad ded. He said that althoug h Trump’s tweets may seem impulsive, Trump “is a very, very s trategic thinker,” whose tweets are meant to forward his policy goals. T he panel next ad dressed the proliferation of “fake news.” Spicer said that
the mains tream media is guilty of publishing “s tories that have no intention of seeking out the truth.” He pointed to both the Washington Post and Politico as examples of mains tream news outlets that have published what he considers “fake news.” Spicer referred to an article Politico published earlier this year that reported, based on an anonymous source, that Spicer had denied Twitter CEO Jack Dors ey an invitation to a meeting of tech leaders after Twitter refused to pair a bespoke money bag emoji with the “Crooked Hillary” hashtag. Spicer denied the report, and said the reporter had not reached out to him for comment. Spicer sai d mains tream reporters were more eager to publish a s tory than to get the facts s traig ht. When a reporter calls asking for comment on an issue, he said, he often needs more time than he is given to provide a subs tantive response. “I’m like, it’s gonna take me 40 minutes to look up half these terms,” Spicer said. “Too often these days, it’s become a clickbait fest,” he said. “There are some good reporters…and there are some bad
reporters.” “Mr. Trump is kind of the clickbait king,” Axelrod responded, to applause. Several students asked Spicer to describe his role as press secretary with regard to the president-elect’s often controversial assertions. “I believe that he fundamentally believes what he says he believes is best for this country, so I think to question somebody’s desire to be truthful is insulting…. My job is to represent his beliefs and articulate them to the press,” Spicer said. “When he says ‘millions of people voted for [Hillary Clinton] illegally,’ I believe that you’re telling me he believes it…but that doesn’t make it truth,” Axelrod replied. Trump has provided no evidence for his claim that illegal voters deprived him of a popular vote majority. Fourth-year and former White House intern Chase Woods asked why the American people should trust Trump. Spicer responded, “Trust is earned, and I think that hopefully over the next four years, potentially the next eight
years, that he earns your trust…. When you walk into the classroom on the fi rst day, why do you trust the professor knows what they’re talking about, knows what they’re teaching?” Asked why Trump has expressed doubt in intelligence agencies like the CIA and FBI, Spicer said the president-elect’s comments were meant to call into ques tion the methodology of s tudies, not the data itself. “If you watch two weather s tations at nig ht, one s tation can say they don’t think it’s going to rain, and one does. T hat doesn’t mean their data was flawed…. You can look at a situation with a set of facts and come to your own conclusion, and [Mr. Trump is skeptical about] why some of this raw data is being interpreted the way it is. T his Friday, he’s going to sit down with Director of FBI Comey, Director of National Intelligence Clapper, and Director of CIA Brennan…. T he data’s not being ques tioned, per se.” A recording of the event can be viewed here. Spicer appeared on David Axelrod’s podcast, The Axe Files, on Thursday.
College Council Calls on University to Support William Rainey Harper, Proclaimed That for a University to be a University, There Must Be Free Expression Undocumented Students Continued from front page
uncertain future of student involvement as justification for the resolution. The resolution’s council would be a “permanent” council that only Student Government would have the power to dissolve. According to Brown, the UChicago Coalition for Immigrant Rights has been asking for such a council for “over a decade.” When asked if they would require participants of the council to disclose their immigration status to the University and one another, the authors said they will leave it up to the “experts at UCISSR and OMSA who are best equipped to figure out that process.” Veronica Myers was skeptical about the administration’s ability to remain transparent. “If we hadn’t brought up this issue would we have known of [the administration’s] plans and its actions? I don’t think I could say yes to that,” Myers said. Though no specifics of the administrative advisory council have been outlined beyond the e-mail from Dean of Students Michelle Rasmussen, Provost Daniel Diermeier has sent out two school-wide e-mails about the school’s efforts to support undocumented students, and President Robert Zimmer signed the Statement in Support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program and Undocumented Immigrant Students. W hen asked if the authors were aware of precedent for the administration taking action based on a CC non-binding resolution, Brown said, “There’s not. Which is why it’s a great time to get started on that.”
The authors then moved on to the second resolution, calling for the establishment of a “sanctuary campus.” “ This is not us against the administration. There is this narrative that everything CC does, and everything activists do, is being really mad at the administration. We, as well as lots of other activist on campus, have said that they really commend the action of the administration so far. We are asking them to take a step further,” Brown said. To close the author’s presentation of the resolutions, Myers questioned the commitment CC representatives have to their constituents if they allow “minute details” and wording to get in the way of a positive vote on the resolutions. The council then created a Google document of amendments for the resolutions, and one was later approved by the council. The amendment inserted “unless the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, Center for College and Student Success, or University of Chicago Coalition for Immigrant Rights finds legal problems” to the clause establishing the membership to the proposed advisory council. When CC moved into voting procedure, the first resolution, “Resolution on the Formation of an Undocumented, DACAmented, and International Advisory Council” passed 16 – 0 – 0.The second resolution,“ Resolution on the University’s Role in the Preservation of Undocumented Student Rights” passed 12-0-4. The four abstaining members were Jake Mansoor, Joshua Engelman, Zander Cowan, and Adam Biesman.
Jamie Ehrlich
The authors present their resolutions before the vote.
Continued from front page
trigger warnings and safe spaces. As an example of the tensions between academic freedom and student diversity, Grewal cited a 2015 Yale protest that garnered national attention. The protest was catalyzed by an email from a faculty member who objected to a request from the university’s Intercultural Affairs Council that students avoid wearing racially insensitive Halloween costumes. Grewal mentioned a video clip from the Yale protest that showed a black, female student who “lost her temper” with her white, male professor, claiming he was creating an “intellectual space” instead of a “home” for students. The video went viral in November 2015. “What captured the American attention was that this viral clip fuses two preexisting stereotypes: the angry black woman and the coddled millennial,” Grewal said. “Lately, the issue of academic freedom has been incorrectly framed as the ‘good’ intellectual side versus the ‘bad’ [politically correct] side.” Grewal said the debate over academic freedom is disproportionately focused on student free speech, which she said is “not in crisis.” She added that she supports a “civil space” in her classroom in which minority voices are amplified and intellectual comments are valued. As a professor with experience in social
work graduate schools, Gutiérrez said she is concerned about how students are being prepared to work in a diverse world. She said she supports “brave spaces,” in which students are “called in” to the discussion rather than “called out” for their differing opinions. Following each scholar’s remarks, SSA associate professor Gina Samuels posed further questions to the panel. Instead of the conventional question-and-answer session, panelists separated and circulated among the audience. Sociology doctoral student Brandon Sward said he was annoyed that there wasn’t a public question-and-answer session. “I think it was a tactic to prevent comments about trigger warnings while cameras were rolling,” Sward said. “Frankly, that was lame and disappointing.” Samuels said this change stemmed from a desire to encourage face-to-face dialogue. More than 15 minutes after the panel formally concluded, audience members remained seated at their tables, eating complimentary hors d’oeuvres while engaged in discussion. The next SSA-hosted panel, which is tentatively set to discuss balancing the academic needs of students and the rights of faculty to make choices, will most likely be held in late March, according to Samuels.
Costa, Bai, and Calmes Will Be Winter IOP Fellows Continued from front page
success: “It’s time for the rest of my industry to take a long look in the mirror and consider what we’ve wrought.” Bai will teach a seminar on the role of the media in Trump’s election and host a panel of media executives during his time on campus from January 25 to January 27. Bai wrote for The New York Times Magazine before enlisting at Yahoo News, and has written books about the Bush-era Democratic Party and the press’s descent into tabloid journalism following the scandal over 1988 Democratic presidential contender Gary Hart’s extramarital affair. He also had a cameo appearance as himself in an episode of House of Cards.
Calmes’s two weeks on campus, starting January 30, will focus on economic policy during the Trump presidency. In 2015, Calmes wrote an extensive report documenting concerns about the radicalizing effect of conservative media on Republican politicians. Her recent reporting for The New York Times has tracked the transition to the next administration. Robert Costa came to the Washington Post from the National Review on the strength of his coverage of the 2014 government shutdown, making him a rare example of a journalist moving from a conservative outlet to a mainstream one. He will teach seminars and lead a public panel on the post-Trump GOP from February 14 to 16.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 6, 2017
VIEWPOINTS The Soviet (Re)Union With Trump as President, Nothing Will Stop Putin From Pursuing His Imperial Goals
Felipe Bomeny I can’t help but vaguely remember a corny joke from a mid-2000s Disney Channel sitcom (maybe That’s So Raven), in which the spunky teenage heroine and a high school rival—a blonde Plastic type—bicker over a geography test answer. The protagonist reminds her nemesis that there was no “Soviet Reunion.” A laugh track erupts: everyone knows that the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991! A Soviet Reunion? Absurd! Fast-forward a little over a decade, and now Americans are captive viewers to a grotesque sitcom that not even the prescient Raven could have foreseen. After a lengthy election cycle that devolved into a bizarre comedy of errors, the president-elect is an openly racist and misogynistic human Cheeto with a reality TV pedigree and the combined vocabulary and attention span of a second-grader. And, while an unchecked President-elect Trump with the nuclear football is dangerous on his own, he is, more horrifyingly, a pawn in Vladimir Putin’s attempt to undermine global democracy and forcefully achieve an actual Soviet Reunion. Russia’s reported hacking of the DNC servers this election cycle was far from Putin’s first anti-democratic project. Putin—a stern, shrewd, ex–KGB agent— developed his own eponymous -ism, a brand of strongman governance whose proponents aim to dismantle the European Union
(and, in turn, NATO) from the inside. Geopolitical influence and control of energy markets are Putin’s primary targets. Helping him realize these goals are Putinism’s most outspoken advocates, or his “little helpers”: Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, both of whom have silenced journalists through draconian means and have asserted increasingly authoritarian control of their countries. Unsurprisingly, both strongmen endorsed Trump, a fellow right-wing populist, in the 2016 presidential election. Joining them could be France’s Marine Le Pen, who shares Trump’s and Orbán’s fiery style and xenophobic rhetoric. With the interconnected Syrian conflict—itself a proxy war—and the massive influx of largely Muslim immigrants and refugees into Europe, the EU faces a challenge of identity, one that Putin seeks to exploit by supporting Orbán and Le Pen and even Brexit spokesman Nigel Farage, all of whom are outspoken Euroskeptics and xenophobes. By promoting and supporting Euroskepticism throughout the continent, Putin is able to distract the sanction-slapping EU from realizing his imperial fantasies. With Trump’s digital appeasement and the EU’s existential crisis, Putin has been increasingly able to pursue his own agenda without any strong, unified resistance. His actions in the U.S. are hardly unprec-
edented: In 2014, Euroskepticism divided a post-Yanukovych Ukraine, at which point Putin illegally seized Crimea. Putin’s military misadventures date further back. In 2008, for example, the Russian army quashed Georgian forces to support the pro-Russian, breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Since the Crimean episode, Putin has provoked Sweden and the former Soviet republic of Estonia—both of which are NATO members—with military exercises near the former’s maritime and the latter’s airspace borders. With Trump openly criticizing NATO during his campaign and cozying up to Putin on Twitter in its aftermath, tiny Estonia appears once again vulnerable to Russian invasion, this time without any backlash from the U.S. and its Putin-emboldening president-elect. Putin’s actions are not just limited to military force. Recently, Putin has found himself wrangling with China over the resource-rich former Soviet republics in Central Asia; hegemony over them would mark a true Soviet Reunion and throwback to the pre-Communist regime’s vast imperial borders. Putin and his advisors, in their rivalries with NATO and the EU, have produced a modern brand of Slavophilism, a late-19th-century Russian ideology advocating for a uniquely Russian—not European—empire. So, as Donald Trump and his supporters might wonder, why does it matter? Why should taxpayer money continue to prop up NATO to defend European coun-
Peng-Peng Liu
tries? Put simply, any victory for Putin or his cronies is a sound defeat of democracy, whether in Estonia or in the states. A “Soviet Reunion” under Putin could revive the geopolitical might of the Cold War–era Soviet empire. Thanks to a meddling combination of Russian hackers, Julian Assange, and James Comey—the latter of whom the Clintons accused of costing Hillary the election—Russia no longer needs to fear its longtime postwar rival. The GOP removed from its policy platform the section denouncing
Putin’s seizure of Crimea following Trump’s victory. We cannot pretend that the comparatively democratic United States—a country which, in a grand irony, interfered in elections to prop up autocrats around the world throughout the Cold War—is immune to Putinism. Putin’s latest little helper, an orange-skinned pathological liar, tells a rare, chilling truth when he tweets “V. Putin is a smart man.” Felipe Bomeny is a second-year in the College majoring in history.
Ridin’ Into the Danger Zone The U.S. Defense Department Is Wasting Millions on Fighter Jets That Are Barely Functional
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Brian Dong The military is no stranger to big expenses. With a defense budget that accounts for 15 percent of the 2016 annual budget, it can afford to have an impressive repertoire that includes $1.5 mi l l ion missiles, $8.5 million tanks, and other expensive instruments of doom. But in the military, more money doesn’t necessarily mean deadlier weapons. The military is planning to replace its entire air f leet with F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) jets, which cost a staggering $110
million apiece, and this money is not necessarily well spent. For all the money being thrown toward the creation of the F-35, this new weapon may in fact be more deadly to its developers: the United States. Designed to be the ultimate combination of speed and stealth, with the ability to take off vertically and evade radar, the Joint Strike Fighter was supposed to be the latest testament to American military super ior ity. I n reality, the F-35 JSF is a stunning amal-
gamation of everything that can go wrong with a f ighter jet. It is lambasted by engineers, politicians, and even the military itself. According to Michael Gilmore, director of operational test and evaluation for the Defense Department, the program “is actually not on a path toward success but instead on a path toward failing to deliver.” On December 12, President-elect Donald J. Trump condemned the program and tweeted ” The F-35 program and cost is out of control. Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th.” For example, to satisfy the Marines’ demand for the jet to be capable of vertical takeoff, Continued on page 6
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 6, 2017
“While our planes are being downgraded, other countries would be creating deadlier fighter jets. We would lose many battles, pilots’ lives, and ultimately the advantage of superior air power.” Continued from page 5
aerospace company Lockheed Martin installed a large downward-blasting engine along with a sizeable fan. This demand for vertical takeoff is the root of many of the plane’s problems. The engine’s strong thrust easily kicks up dirt into the engine, potentially destroying it. The large fan’s placement in the plane prevents engineers from making the jet sleek enough to escape radar detection, ruining its stealth capabilities. The plane’s ungainly shape also impedes its maneuverability in the air. In order for the fighter jet to get off the ground, engineers were forced to strip 3,000 pounds of extra weight. This meant a lower weapon capacity, lower fuel load, and thinner plating. The politicization of the jet’s purpose within the military has greatly reduced its lethalness in battle. W hat’s even more concerning is how the F-35 compares to other fighters. During a weapons test conducted in January 2015, the F-35 embarrassingly lost to an older F-16, first introduced in 1978. Let that sink in. Now imagine the military’s entire f leet being replaced with this plane, due to its
contract with Lockheed Martin. While our planes are being downgraded, other countries would be creating deadlier fighter jets. We would lose many battles, pilots’ lives, and ultimately the advantage of superior air power. The plane’s crippling design f laws are far from its only folly. The F-35 is the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons project to date, projected to cost over $1.5 trillion. This is well over the originally expected price tag of $200 billion. According to one military official, the Air Force would have to eliminate nearly a fifth of its squadrons to replace its entire f leet with this inferior and glitchy plane. Gilmore believes that the plane is “running out of time and money.” Beyond the wide array of mechanical shortcomings, the project has suffered from numerous delays. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program seems to be begging to be cut, but doing so would require political suicide on the part of congressmen. Gutting the prog ram would mean getting rid of 133,000 jobs across 45 states. Needless to say, most members of Congress would not like to be associated with cutting jobs.
Since killing the program through Congress is very unlikely, other solut ion s must be ex a m i ned . D on a ld Trump’s criticism of the program may lead to progress. Trump’s proposed solution is certainly hazy, but there is always the possibility that he could issue an executive order to halt production of the faulty planes (especially with President Obama establishing a precedent for broader use of executive power). After all, if the new planes in production are weaker than models that are three decades old, the U.S. does not have too much to lose by taking this gamble. A more realistic solution would be to modify the jet. When China released a prototype of the J-31 in September 2012, many military experts began to suspect that China stole the designs of the F-35 due to the similar appearance of the their jet. However, the J-31 lacks many of the crippling design flaws that plague the F-35, namely the unwieldy parts that power vertical takeoff. This gives the J-31 superior speed, maneuverability, and an increased cargo capacity. Ironically, another country seems to have managed to produce a superior version of this plane. The military and
Lockheed Martin should follow China’s design example and modify the three main model variations. One model could keep the vertical takeoff features to appease the Marine Corps and the other two could drop the unnecessary feature. This way, engineers would be free to upgrade the fighter jet’s durability, speed, and stealth capabilities. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter would be turned from a jack of all trades, master of none to three specialized variants that excel at their respective tasks. The F-35 JSF project has been constantly plag ued with serious problems since its conception, but it does not have to be a complete failure. This fighter jet program threatens to entirely dismantle the United States’ inf luence and military superiority in the world. We need to push our politicians to confront Lockheed Martin for the program’s problems while the military de-politicizes the jet’s functionalities. To protect our way of life, change needs to happen on a civilian, political, and military level. Brian Dong is a first-year in the College majoring in political science.
AUGUSTINE’S THEOLOGY OF LOVE A lecture by DAVID VINCENT MECONI, S.J. Saint Louis University
THURS., JAN. 12, 7:00PM Swift Hall 3rd Floor Lecture Hall
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute. Cosponsored by the Theology and Religious Ethics Workshop. Free and open to the public. WWW.LUMENCHRISTI.ORG
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 6, 2017
New Book Captures Civil Rights Struggles Beyond the South BY GRACE HAUCK ARTS EDITOR
Picture an image of the Civil Rights Movement. You’ll probably see it in blackand-white—a film shot from the 1960s. Is it Selma? Montgomery? Maybe Birmingham? Can you conjure a single image that wasn’t taken in the South? Despite what this trove of paradigmatic photos might imply, the Civil Rights Movement took place in the North too: It was just as hard-fought, complex, and, at times, brutally violent. North of Dixie: Civil Rights Photography Beyond the South, the third book by historian and author Mark Speltz, published by Getty this past November, seeks to rectify this narrative absence. The book compiles 100 photographs taken in the North, Midwest, and West from 1938 to 1970, shedding light on forgotten narratives in the movement and complicating our notions of its participants. Speltz spoke with T HE M AROON in advance of his talk at the DuSable Museum of African American History on January 12.
attle, L.A. Still the traditional movement narrative overemphasizes the South— the most dramatic clashes that captured America’s attention. Yet our focus on those allowed many other grassroots struggles to fall by the wayside. They may have been known at the time, but they were left out of the narrative. CM: How were they left out of the narrative? MS: The press and many of the major northern news outlets much preferred to point a fi nger at Southern racial issues and politicians. They had long proclaimed that America’s racial issues were a southern problem, and they didn’t want to look at what was going on in their own backyard. Press coverage of police brutality in Detroit would be buried, but they happily ran photos of police dogs biting protestors in Birmingham in 1963. It painted the picture of a non-violent civil rights struggle and didn’t focus on issues in their own community—housing, employment, and racist practices in the North. Ever since, it has been really easy to celebrate the victories—the hard-fought legislative victories, the martyred leaders,
Plate 66 Declan Haun, Chicago, IL, 1966, Chicago History Museum A young woman raising her fist in a show of pride and determination during an open-housing march through the streets of Chicago.
CHICAGO M AROON: Can you tell me a little bit about your book? Mark Speltz: The goal of the book is to really look past the iconic photographs that we see all the time in our high school textbooks and short Black History Month documentaries about the Civil Rights Movement. They tend to tell a very heroic, non-violent story of the movement, fought and won in the South. My thought was: We need to understand the full extent of the movement. People have begun to bring in the stories of young individuals who led the movement, women, leaders of local grassroots movements—to look beyond the charismatic male leaders and politicians. Let’s look beyond the South. Let’s look at photos of how civil rights played out in the North and the West. CM: How did this project evolve? MS: It started as a graduate school project about 10 years ago in a photography and visual culture class. I was asked to read a photograph, interpret it. Tell a story about it. Who’s the source? Is it truthful? I knew I wanted to do Civil Rights–era photography because I’d always been drawn to it. I was going to grad school in Milwaukee, and my adviser said, “Why don’t you look at Milwaukee Civil Rights?” So I followed her suggestion. At the time, it was the 40th anniversary of the Open Housing Movement. There were books upon books published in the last decade or two about the struggle in Chicago—or Milwaukee, Cleveland, Se-
the speeches—but that’s what captured 99 percent of the attention. Other things were set aside. You can tell the “look at what we were able to achieve” story by focusing on voting rights, desegregated buses, and lunch counter sit-ins—all incredibly important victories—but one should remember to include other locations, where the story was more complex. [Photographer] Art Shay did a lot of work in Chicago, and he captured that scene well. Other people, like Danny Lyon, would travel with SNCC. He shot in Cairo, the most southern part of Illinois. He shot the March on Washington. People like Bob Adelman shot for the Congress of Racial Equality in New York and later on assignment in the North and South. When I started working on the book and reached out to him, he probably sent me about 2,000 photographs from only in the North. He actually passed away this year, so it was pretty incredible to work with him on the book before he passed away. CM: I see that you broke the book into four chapters. How did you decide to group the images? MS: That was one of the first and hardest things. I could have done it chronologically because I cover about four decades. But I felt it would be stronger if I broke it into subjects. First: under-exposed, lesser-known stories, lesser-known marches, lesser-known reactions. How did people in Chicago react when there were marches in Cicero?
The next chapter focuses on how civil rights organizations used the camera to promote their cause—using photos on pamphlets, signs, brochures. How did they use them to combat police brutality? The third one looks at black power. You hear the words “black power,” and many immediately think of fists raised, the berets, the Black Panthers. You might think guns, anti-police. I wanted to use the photographs to show that black power meant so much more than that. You could see a kid in Toledo getting a free coat from a free clothing program. You could see kids in Oakland getting a warm breakfast. So it wasn’t just male bravado and guns; it was also community programs. The fourth chapter sort of sits by itself. I turned the camera around and looked at how it was used against the movement. How did the police, the FBI, Chicago’s Red Squad use photography to disrupt or subvert the civil rights struggle? We don’t know a lot about how police would stand on the sidewalks and take pictures of people who were protesting. I have a 1970s photo in there that the Chicago Police Department took of an anti-police brutality march. There’s a number one on there, and on the back is the woman’s name. So they were building surveillance files. Several lawsuits later, these fi les ended up at the Chicago History Museum. Then I had to get permission from the individuals or their families, so I had to go to great lengths to use about five or six photos for that collection. In Seattle, as I looked through a digitized collection online, I started to realize that people were covering their faces. There was one where a little boy was sticking his tongue out at the photographer. When I dug a little more with the archivist at the Seattle Municipal Archives, she found a document in the mayoral collection of photos taken by the Seattle city police and sent to the mayor saying: This is who was there, and this is what we know about them. Surveillance—sometimes for practical reasons, sometimes used to penalize people and discredit civil rights organizations. CM: You’ve written about your admiration of contemporary photographers like Sheila Pree Bright, Devin Allen, and Patience Zalanga. How do these photographers compare to those you discuss in your book? MS: I see them in a long line of photographers who are making art and making statements. Several of them are looking back and realizing the lineages of their work—the African-American photographers before them. Their work is documenting important protests in the streets,
and whether their photos are in newspapers, or magazines, or the cover of Time, like Devin Allen’s photos of Baltimore were, they’re circulating much further via social media than any Civil Rights photographer could have hoped for, especially these past two years from Cleveland to Baltimore, to Baton Rouge, and St. Paul. CM: What do you hope to focus on in your upcoming talk? MS: I’ll explore what we can learn by revealing a broader, more expansive view of the movement. I’ll show a dozen photographs or so and talk about how the book came to be. I’ll defi nitely focus on some Chicago photographs and photographers: Art Shay, Bobby Sengstacke, Declan Haun—his collections are at the Chicago History Museum. Even how gangs and youth groups used photography at the time. There’s one Chicago photograph on page 99. It’s by Art Shay. It’s a gentleman looking out a door, and he’s a member of the Black Panther Party. He’s pointing to all these bullet holes in the door because there was a raid on the chapter headquarters. And if that’s the only thing you see, then you only see one side of the story: the violence. But on the left side of the photograph, there’s a clearly visible sign that says “Free Breakfast for Children.” It begins to allude to their role and place in the community—beyond the armed, macho revolutionary. And that door is at the DuSable Museum in the basement—or at least believed to be the one in the photograph. CM: What’s next for you? MS: I’m interested in exploring Malcolm X and the photographs he took himself. CM: That he took? MS: Yes. It’s funny, he told the famous photographer Gordon Parks that he carried a camera for “collecting evidence.” He would sometimes wear it into a courtroom or to a protest. He’s seen with Muhammad Ali taking photographs of him. He was incredibly aware of how to create an image fitting how you want to be seen. I have a photograph of him in Chicago holding a newspaper—the Nation of Islam’s paper Muhammad Speaks—and on the cover there’s a photo of a scene in L.A. where a Nation of Islam member was shot by the police with a big, bold headline. He was redirecting the viewer’s attention to see the story he wants you to see: the story of police brutality. Speltz’s talk will run 6:30–8:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 12, in the Ames Auditorium of the DuSable Museum of African American History at 740 East 56th Place. Tickets are $10 at www.dusablemuseum.org.
Unknown Photographer, Olympia, WA, February 1969, Washington State Archives Armed members of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party standing on the state capitol steps protesting a proposed law limiting the ability to carry firearms in a “manner manifesting an intent to intimidate others.”
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - JANUARY 6, 2017
SPORTS IN-QUOTES... “Soccer is simple, but it is difficult to play simple” —Soccer Legend Johan Cruyff
Chicago Faces Third Top-25 Team in Three Games MEN’S BASKETBALL
BY MAGGIE O’HARA SPORTS STAFF
While the majority of the student body spent winter break at home, the men’s basketball team was hard at work. The winter break schedule featured four games, including a trip to Tennessee for the Rhodes Holiday Classic and two matchups against ranked opponents: No. 18 Illinois Wesleyan University and No. 1 Babson College. Though the Maroons ended up 2–2 over the course of the break, both of these losses came at the hand of the aforementioned ranked teams. Having played quality teams with diverse approaches, the South Siders look set for a quality run in conference play. The Maroons (8–3) had a good start to the break and the Rhodes Holiday Classic, with a rout against Monmouth College, where they led from the first buzzer to the last to clinch the game 93–77. The second game of the Classic pitted UChicago against the home team, Rhodes College. This was a fast paced, high-scoring game with both teams topping 100 points. The Maroons went on to
win 121–101, with 121 points being the highest the team has managed since the 1995–96 season. The Maroons came back from Tennessee on the back of an eight-game winning streak to face No. 18 Illinois Wesleyan on the road. However, Chicago’s momentum was halted as the Titans came out on top 72–54. The last game of 2016 featured a big match up, pairing the Maroons up against No. 1 Babson College. The fi nal score of 82–70 did not do justice to how well the Maroons played. They led for the entire fi rst half and well into the second half, and were only undone by a spectacular 21–6 run by Babson in the last six minutes. Though the Maroons are coming off two tough losses, they were both hard fought games against high quality opponents. Fourth-year Waller Perez feels that these games have prepared the team for the rest of the season. “Over break, we had a couple of games where we played teams that had drastically different styles than what we’re used to. I feel like those games helped prepare us for our tough conference schedule,” Perez said.
University of Chicago Athletics Department
Third-year Jake Fenlon runs down the court after a possession.
The Maroons look to start conference play on a high note on Saturday with a big game against the rival Wash U, ranked 24th. This will mark the 70th meeting between these two teams who both come into the contest with a record of 8–3. The fact that both teams have had successful starts to their respective seasons makes this game even more special.
The Maroons will feel confident as they enter Saturday with the sixth highest field-goal percentage. “We feel very excited to go into conference play,” Perez said. “Opening up conference play against our rival Wash U makes it even more exciting because we feel like it could set the tone for the remaining games.”
Maroons Look to Rebound Against UAA Rival WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
BY MICHAEL HINKLEY SPORTS STAFF
While the rest of the student body was home for the holidays, the Maroons remained on the court, taking on a strong slate of opponents throughout the month of December. The Maroons played tough defense in their five games but struggled to score, posting a record of 3–3 in that stretch. With these results, the squad moved to 7–4 on the season and will now move on to UAA action. The team welcomed Eureka to the Ratner Athletics Center on December 12. Thanks to lockdown defense in the first half, the Maroons defeated the Red Devils 82–49. The squad allowed 10 points in the first quarter and five points in the second, entering the halftime break with a substantial 46–15 lead. First-year forward Taylor Lake
exploded off the bench, scoring a team-high 19 points and pulling down seven rebounds. Two days later, the squad traveled to Indiana to face the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and fell in a close match with a score of 61–58. The Maroons converted just 32.8 percent of their field goal attempts and were outrebounded 52–29 in the game. Their stout defense kept them in the contest, but in the end, they fell short by just three points. On December 17, Chicago visited Illinois Wesleyan for another tough road contest. The Titans, who have been dominated by the Maroons in recent years, turned the tables and won by a score of 79–52. Though the Maroons led at halftime 30–27, the Titans pulled away late to secure the victory. After Christmas, the team hit the road once again, traveling to Dallas to take on a pair of tough opponents. On December 30,
the Maroons faced the Comets from University of Texas–Dallas. Despite playing better defense and battling hard, the team was never able to close the scoring gap and was defeated 59–44. The following day, the Maroons were able to snap the threegame losing streak with an 88–59 win over Hendrix. The team was able to find the shooting touch it had lost in the previous outings, shooting 52.4 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from three-point range. Second-year forward Ola Obi recorded an impressive double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. This rounded out the team’s non-conference schedule for the season. The Maroons will begin UAA play this Saturday when they take on Wash U at home. The Bears enter the contest with a perfect record of 10–0 and are currently ranked
fifth in the country by the USA Today poll. “Our focus is really on ourselves,” fourth-year Stephanie Anderson said. “We’ve had spurts of great play this season, and our defense has been tough and kept us in games. Now we need to put it all together for a full 40 minutes.” Last year, the Maroons fell to Wash U in the fi rst meeting but knocked off the No. 9 Bears in the season finale by a margin of 82–70. Therefore, it is safe to expect a fiercely competitive matchup when these rivals meet this coming weekend. Chicago will face Wash U this Saturday at the Ratner Athletics Center. This will be the 64th meeting between the two teams. This game will set the tone for the rest of the season and will likely have UAA and NCAA tournament implications.
South Siders Roll Into New Year WRESTLING
BY NATALIE DEMURO SPORTS STAFF
After spending the majority of winter break on campus preparing for the second half of the season, the Maroons look to capitalize on their progress this weekend at the Chicago Duals. The squad competed in two meets over the break: the Wilkes Open in Wilkes-Barre, PA, and the Midlands Championships in Evanston. Chicago had a number of impressive finishes over the break, and the team hopes to continue its strong season at home this Saturday. For the first meet, the squad traveled to Wilkes University on December 22 to compete in the 84th annual Wilkes Open. The Maroons placed 16th in a 43-team field that featured a number of competitive Division I and Division III schools. No. 9
Division I Lehigh University topped the results with 96.5 points, while UChicago came away with 22 points total. UChicago’s top finisher was third-year Nick Ferraro. At 174 pounds, Ferraro went 3–2 to reach the consolation semifi nals. Ferraro leads the team in wins this season with an overall record of 16–4. First-years Grant Morrison and Kahlan Lee-Lermer and fourth-year Michael Sepke also had multiple wins on the day, each finishing with an overall record of 2–2. On December 29, Sepke and Lee-Lermer traveled to Northwestern University to compete at day one of the 54th annual Ken Kraft Midlands Championships. The field of 42 schools featured a number of nationally ranked Division I teams, including No. 1 Oklahoma State and No. 3 Iowa. At 165 pounds, Sepke came away with an
overall record of 1–2 against his Division I competitors, highlighted by a 4–3 win over No. 14 Central Michigan University. In the 149-pound bracket, Lee-Lermer went 0–2 against his two Division I opponents. Although these results may not appear to be the best on paper, the squad has gained great experience against such difficult competitors, especially so early in the season. Third-year Cristen Bublitz said of the team’s performances this year, “So far, the season has gone quite well. Unfortunately, we have some young guys that are really showing their worth and competing at a high level.” Bublitz is confident that the extra weeks of training together over break will serve the Maroons well in the remainder of the year. “The training over break has really set us up to have an exciting sec-
ond half of the season. We unfortunately have some veterans of the program who are suffering from injuries, but with the group of guys we have, we will finish as strong as ever,” he said. The Maroons return to competition on Saturday, hosting the Chicago Duals. The squad will take on Trine University in the second round, the University of Dubuque in the third round, and Manchester University in the final round. Saint John’s University, the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and Wabash College will also travel to Chicago for the meet. Bublitz said of the team’s goals for the weekend, “Our main objective for this weekend is fairly simple, in the fact that we are going to compete in a tough manner and make a name for UChicago Wrestling.” The meet begins at 1 p.m. at Henry Crown Field House.