FEBRUARY 24, 2017
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
VOL. 128, ISSUE 30
Zimmer Tells WSJ It Would Be “Fine” for Richard Spencer to Speak If Invited BY OLIVIA ROSENZWEIG ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
President Robert Zimmer said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal yesterday that all speakers invited to college campuses should be able to speak, including white nationalists like alum Richard Spencer. Zimmer was asked by Chicago-based higher education reporter Douglas Belkin, “If Richard Spencer—who attended the University of Chicago and has become a leading white nationalist—was invited to speak at the University, would you have a problem with that?” He responded: “Faculty and students invite all sorts of people, and we don’t restrict who they invite. I don’t invite people. We offer no restrictions to student groups and faculty. What they want to do is hear, discuss, and potentially argue with the people they invite.” Pressed on whether he would allow Spencer to speak if invited, Zimmer said, “It would be fine if he came to speak, just like if anyone else came to speak.” Zimmer also dismissed criticisms regarding the letter released to the Class of 2020 this summer that addressed trigger warnings and safe spaces.
“You were criticized as sending out that letter [which was written by Dean of Students Jay Ellison] as a way to appease your alumni donor base. Were alumni voices taken into account when the letter was mailed?” Belkin asked. “The only voice that was taken into account was the common understanding of the value of the University of Chicago and its culture,” Zimmer said. “I am not the first president to speak out in this way. I view myself as simply continuing to reassert what has been a longstanding value of the University of Chicago that has defined the way we have behaved.” Zimmer also discussed his views on the role of universities in providing a space for discourse. “The purpose [of universities] is to be a place that gives the most empowering education to students and creates an environment for the most imaginative and challenging work of faculty. Confrontation of multiple ideas and ideas that are different from one’s own is critical to this,” Zimmer said. He argued that there is less expectation from students to confront different ideas than in the Continued on page 2
Students line up to try the new restaurants at Hutchinson Commons.
Camelia Malkami
New Eats Come to Hutch Commons BY DEEPTI SAILAPPAN STAFF REPORTER
T h ree new rest au ra nt s opened in Hutchinson Commons on Monday. Flat Iron Grill and Pizza Pazza were replaced by Bronzeville Dog, BBQ Slow Roasted, and The Sweet Spot. All three restaurants are run by staff already working at Hutchinson Commons. BBQ Slow Roasted is operated by Bon Appétit, the University’s dining vendor, and features sandwiches, chicken tenders, and assorted side dishes. Bronzeville Dog, owned by an outside vendor, serves sau-
sages and chili. Both BBQ Slow Roasted and Bronzeville Dog will offer meal exchanges. The Sweet Spot, which sells coffee as well as cheesecakes, pies, and other desserts, is part of an initiative among Bon Appétit, the Office of Business Diversity, and the Office of Civic Engagement to partner with local businesses owned by women and minorities. The Sweet Shop features desserts from three bakeries: Laine’s Bake Shop, in the South Side’s Morgan Park neighborhood; Sugar Bliss Cake Boutique, located downtown and owned by a University of Chicago alum; and Justice of the Pies, which has several locations
across Chicago. Justice of the Pies will soon sell items in Hallowed Grounds and Ex Libris Cafés in addition to Hutchinson Commons. According to a Hutchinson Commons supervisor, employees were notified by e-mail about a possible change in vendors around one month ago. The staff were not aware of the specific restaurants opening in Hutchinson Commons, however, until the change took place over the weekend. UChicago Dining did not respond to requests for comment. Noodles, Saffron, and Taqueria remain in Hutchinson Commons.
Professor’s Comments on Yiannopoulos Spur Controversy BY MICHAEL LYNCH CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
On Tuesday, history professor Rachel Fulton Brown wrote a blog post entitled “Bully Culture,” in which she lauded Milo Yiannopoulos for his political views and defended him against critics. These comments came just days after Yiannopoulos was accused of condoning pedophilia. Her blog posts, including many she previously wrote in praise of Yiannopoulos, were circulated within the campus community on the popular Facebook group Overheard at UChicago, and were also picked up by several news outlets.
Yiannopoulos, a journalist and former editor for Breitbart, has been invited by student groups to college campuses across the United States on what he calls his “Dangerous Faggot Tour,” advocating against “political correctness” and expounding his views that “Gender roles work. Feminism is cancer. Abortion is murder.” “Everybody hates a bully, or so we say,” she wrote in the post. “Yesterday, the national media bullied into silence a young man who had risen to fame speaking to audiences of young women and men about the lies that the grown-ups had told them for decades.” Brown has been a vocal fan of
Yiannopoulos since last fall, when Dean of Students John “Jay” Ellison released a letter expressing a lack of support for any “trigger warnings” and “intellectual safe spaces.” “In many ways, Milo’s story is the University of Chicago story; it is what we are in right now. President Zimmer put out a statement the other day reaffirming that we are going to do these conversations,” she said in an interview with The Chicago Maroon. This Monday, the Conservative Political Action Committee disinvited Yiannopoulos from their conference after a video was released showing him appearing to condone
pedophilia. Yiannopoulos apologized for the comments on Tuesday, blaming his “British sarcasm” and “gallows humor” for making it appear as if he were advocating on behalf of pedophilia when drawing from his own experience as a victim of child abuse. On the subject of the tape released on Monday, Brown agreed with Yiannopoulos, saying his words had been taken out of context and calling his critics “spineless cunts” on her blog. “You kind of opened up to someone you have been talking to for a couple of hours, you say things you definitely wouldn’t say on Facebook, or in a studio audience, so
yes they were taken horribly out of context.” As some of the more recent posts on Brown’s blog, Fencing Bear at Prayer, gained attention both before and after the release of the tape, students reacted on social media. One recent alum who took a class with Brown, Sara Wolovick (A.B. ’14) said in a message, “I was disappointed and deeply troubled by what I saw in her blog. Some students have been framing the reaction to [Brown]’s blogs as students being angry that their professor is conservative. I think that stance is unfair to conservatives. My re-
Robert Grosvenor’s Untitled Evades Concrete Answers
Championship Meet for Chicago
Contributing to THE MAROON
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“Every meet different people have Nameless, without a signature ges- been stepping up, making us a betture or branding, Untitled identifies ter team each week we compete.” with the anonymous laborer.
To Professor Brown, With Love Page 3 “His success is not based simply on our outrage but also on the support of thousands... who want him to affirm their prejudices.”
From the Quad to the Runway: MODA 2017 Page 5
Continued on page 3
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - FEBRUARY 24, 2017
Aldermanic Candidates Participate in Fourth Ward Forum BY G. CYRUS PACHT STAFF REPORTER
The fi nal Fourth Ward aldermanic forum before the election was hosted by the University of Chicago Democracy Initiative and the nonprofit Chicago Votes yesterday at Chapin Hall. Four of the five candidates for Fourth Ward Alderman—Gregory Livingston, Ebony Lucas, Gerald Scott McCarthy, and Marcellus Moore Jr.—attended the event. Interim Alderman Sophia King was invited but did not respond. Described by Rolling Stone as “the man trying to take down Rahm Emanuel,” Coalition for a New Chicago founder and CEO Livingston discussed his plans to tackle violence, education, and employment. “ Violence affects everyone, and it doesn’t respect or discriminate in terms of boundaries, imaginary lines, or whatever it might be,” he said during the forum. “We have to understand violence, and I believe in a method of reverse engineering violence to understand why it occurs in the fi rst place. And employment and education, those go hand in hand.” Lucas, a real estate attorney and former teacher, as well as an active community member and parent, is also dedicated to addressing violence in the Fourth Ward. She considers the epidemic of gang violence a direct result of underfunded schools and a general lack of commercial development. “I think the violence that we’re seeing is indicative of our failure to fully educate our kids,” Lucas said. “Every year, Chicago takes about $230 million out of the public schools and puts it into a development program that’s supposed to be used to develop blighted communities, but it’s being used to develop downtown and North Side development and 53rd Street. Then we look at Cottage
Grove and the other areas in the Ward, and those areas have been completely neglected.” McCarthy, currently a municipal attorney and a former certified public accountant and business law professor, is similarly dissatisfied with the city council’s performance and believes he can do something about it. “What is the number one cause of death of young black men between the ages of 15 and 34?” he asked. “Homicide. Now that stat has been around for at least 25 years. We’re talking about the same things over and over and over. So it is quite clear to me that the current elected officials aren’t doing anything…. It is time for a new day in Chicago, and that new day begins with Gerald Scott McCarthy.” The only candidate born in the Fourth Ward, Moore is a management consultant, realtor, and attorney whose focus includes representing children in divorce cases. He has served as a member of various community organizations, including senior housing, workforce development, and the board of the South Side YMCA. “I’ve been actively committed to this community before an opening for alderman came along,” Moore said. “I’m on two local school councils in the Ward, for schools my children haven’t even gone to, not just ’cause I have extra time, but because I want to be part of the change in my community. So I’m here not with heavyweight relationships in the political realm; I’m not here because I own a bunch of properties and real estate throughout the Ward. I’m here because I’ve loved the community, and I hope to be your next alderman representing you and this community.” The Fourth Ward aldermanic election will take place next Tuesday, February 28.
Anthropology Prof to Teach Trump 101 Class This Spring Quarter BY SONIA SCHLESINGER NEWS EDITOR
Two anthropology professors will lead a “Trump 101” class this spring quarter. Kaushik Sunder Rajan and William Mazzarella will use the 100-person lecture course to examine President Trump’s rise, using media, race, and gender as a lens for looking at the future of democracies. Mazzarella sent e-mails to students in December to gauge interest in the class and later joined Rajan to create a curriculum as part of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT), which allows fellows to sponsor lectures, teach classes, and sponsor workshops. The class will be composed of discussions led by graduate students and classes taught by guest lecturers providing perspectives from the fields of anthropology, history, political science, linguistics, English, and philosophy. Mazzarella explained that in the wake of the election, he felt that it was his duty to use his position as a professor to teach a class on Trump. “I think all of us were trying to work out how best we could contribute to clarifying the stakes of the new political reality,” he said. “As a professor at the University, it seemed urgent to use the classroom as a space of inquiry. It seemed particularly important to provide a venue in which our undergraduates think together with graduate students
and faculty about how to make sense of our present.” Over the course of the 10-week-long class, each guest lecturer will assign readings on political theory combined with daily news coverage to keep up with the constant development of news surrounding the Trump administration. The course fits in with 3CT’s mission, which tries to help students “theorize the present.” “Our aim is to help students get to grips both with what is new and unique about the Trump movement and with the ways in which it emerges out of more long-standing developments,” Mazzarella said. Trump 101 is one of four classes offered as a result of November’s election. Harris School of Public Policy professor William Howell gave up his sabbatical following the election to teach a winter quarter political science class on the American presidency. Political science professor Patricia Conley will offer a spring quarter class about 2016’s presidential candidates surrounding the role of executive power in American democracy. As part of the University’s new signature courses program, linguistics professor Christopher Kennedy will offer a class titled “Truth” which will analyze the role of truth in communication and the significance of new concepts including “alternative facts” and fake news.
NEWS IN BRIEF Voting Opens on Uncommon Fund Ideas Voting for Uncommon Fund ideas opened this week and will continue until Friday, February 24 at 5 p.m. The Uncommon Fund is a Student Government (SG) committee that aims to support creative projects that “support, improve, or create student life in any way.” Ten projects are listed on this year’s Uncommon Fund poll, from which UChicago students are encouraged to vote for their three favorites. Winning projects will be announced during 10th week. This year’s uncommon project proposals include a bounce house replica of the Regenstein Library, a bilingual poetry publication written in Chinese and English to celebrate
the centennial anniversary of modern Chinese poetry, and Phoenix Farms, a beekeeping and urban gardening project. Other proposals include Art as Pedagogy: Making Movements; “What If…” Public Policy Podcast; It’s On Student Athletes; Familiars are Made Evil (F.A.M.E.); the digitization of THE CHICAGO MAROON archives; Swipe Out Hunger; and Battle RAyale. Last year, the Uncommon Fund supported 14 projects, with funding ranging from $256 to $9,500 for each project and averaging $2,500. —Emily Feigenbaum
Giving Day Raises $1.4 Million University of Chicago’s Giving Day, which ran from February 22–23, raised $1,413,492 with 3,176 total gifts from alumni, students and parents, and campus organizations. The 24-hour donation period is part of UChicago’s Inquiry and Impact campaign, whose goal is to raise $4.5 billion total by 2019. According to the Giving Day website, money raised will go towards student scholar-
ships, supporting faculty and researchers, as well as UChicago’s national and global efforts. College alumni and parents led the donations with $269,352, followed by the Laboratory schools and UChicago Athletics, who donated $83,907 and $71,715 respectively. —Eugenia Ko
Campus Community Organizes Tutoring for Syrian Refugees BY MARJORIE ANTOHI CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
A group of Arabic-speaking University students and community members are volunteering as tutors for Syrian refugee families residing in Hyde Park. The volunteering is facilitated by an organization called Sirat, which provides aid and community services to refugee families. According to its website, Sirat promotes the development of cultural expression, religious involvement, and community service, in line with the values of Muslim faith. Most recently, Sirat has begun providing services and relief to refugees in Hyde Park. In order to provide services including tutoring, ESL classes, and translation between Arabic and English, Sirat employs local Hyde Park professionals, Arabic speakers, and some UChicago students. UChicago second-year Salma Elkhaoudi works directly with Sirat to help local refugee families. “Basically, if they need help with government resources, if they need help getting something, maybe they don’t have a working dishwasher, or need help getting a full-time job, I can help with those kinds of things,” Elkhaoudi said. According to Elkhaoudi, there are currently four refugee families living in Hyde Park. The obstacles they face range from obtaining green cards to reading their mail. For these families, undergraduate students provide services consisting mainly of donations and language translation; they often work to help the refugee families with basic needs such as communication and everyday tasks. The need for Arabic-speaking volunteers and professionals has spiked in the wake of President Trump’s executive order banning refugees from Muslim-majority countries
such as Syria. While Syrian refugees have been fleeing to America for several years now, the United States’ extensive vetting process has delayed the entrance of many refugees, resulting in many recent arrivals. With the election of President Trump, refugees now have the added worry that they may not be able to obtain green cards and may be forced out of their new homes. Due to these developments, Sirat has recently grown largely due to the fact that most of the refugee families in Hyde Park settled here only months ago. Elkhaoudi confirmed the escalating urgency of the refugees’ situation, explaining that “The need has just sprouted in Hyde Park for Syrian refugee resettlement.” Sirat also collaborates with a UChicago graduate student organization, the Partnership for the Advancement of Refugee Rights (PARR), which promotes the rights of refugees through political advocacy and community service. Sirat works with PARR to recruit Arabic-speaking tutors who provide ESL services for adults, homework help for children, and professional help including health resources and legal aid. It is the hope of Sirat and PARR that refugees will be able to obtain the rights that they deserve as they flee from the dangers present in their native countries. However, the immediate goals of these organizations focus on making the local refugees as comfortable and as capable as possible so that they can make Hyde Park their home. “It’s up to us. Especially in Hyde Park, at the University of Chicago, we are very much of an intellectual hub, and I think a lot of times we get stuck in this bubble of intellectualism in which we promote international advocacy and activism. But we forget that there are refugees down the street from us,” Elkhaoudi said.
“It would be fine if he came to speak, just like if anyone else came to speak.” Continued from front page
past. “What you’re seeing is a kind of drift of discourse,” he said. “You see actions by a lot of people which seem to indicate that they feel that they can, in fact, legitimately stifle the expression of others whose views they funda-
mentally disagree with.” Zimmer added that his background in mathematics has influenced his dedication to open discourse, explaining how the interdisciplinary nature of his studies allowed him to develop an “integrated view” procured from different perspectives.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - FEBRUARY 24, 2017
Brown’s Blog Prompts University Response Continued from front page
action to the blog was that this is a level of vitriol I’d never seen from her before...I knew her as a kind, friendly, empathetic person.” Alec Collins, a third-year who was considering taking Brown’s class, also took issue with Brown’s blog. “[Brown’s] views go beyond mere conservative positions to be truly hateful toward and intolerant of various marginalized identities and together reflect a desire to create a society in which those identities are once again marginalized in a way that is totally antithetical to basic human rights.” “The result is that I’m pretty certain that I won’t end up taking a class with her because I would have trouble divorcing her scholarly views from the hateful things she has put out in the public political sphere,” he said.
Brown expressed her desire to work with students if they felt uncomfortable with what they saw on her blog. “I would say first they should come to office hours. Second, learning is frightening, and I am here to help you,” she said. “If they have concerns over things they would like to talk to me about, they should come talk to me. I hope they will, because this is the most important moment in my lifetime of academia for our culture.” On Wednesday, the history department sent out a statement to students and faculty addressing the recent controversy. “Individual faculty members are entitled to express and publish their opinions on any public issues of concern to them, and when they do so they speak only for themselves. As a faculty body, the Department of History does not endorse or defend the political or
personal views expressed by any of its members. Nor as a collectivity does it take critical positions on matters of individual faculty opinion, be they personal or political. Other faculty members are, of course, also free to express their own countering points of view, to criticize or repudiate publicly whatever they disagree with or find offensive, and when they do so they likewise speak only for themselves,” the statement reads. “More broadly, the Department of History is committed both to fostering an inclusive environment for teaching, learning, and reasoned intellectual debate and to furthering the exercise of free speech.” When asked if the University sets any guidelines for what professors share in a public forum, University spokesperson Jeremy Manier cited a report by the Committee on Freedom of Expression, adopted in July 2014
by the administration. “The Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression articulates the University’s values of free expression, including some narrow exceptions. These values are best realized in an environment of civility and respect,” Manier said. “In a word, the University’s fundamental commitment is to the principle that debate or deliberation may not be suppressed because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even by most members of the University community to be offensive, unwise, immoral, or wrong-headed,” the report reads. Editor’s Note: The Maroon avoids gratuitous use of offensive language. We published the words in this case because they are essential to understanding the story.
VIEWPOINTS To Professor Brown, With Love Thanks for Your Opinions on Milo Yiannopoulos, but You’re Wrong BY USAMA RAFI MAROON CONTRIBUTOR
A few days ago, associate professor of history Rachel Fulton Brown came out in defense of former Breitbart Senior Editor Milo Yiannopoulos with an article in the Divinity School’s online publication, Sightings. In doing so, she also “unmasked” herself as the author of the blog Fencing Bear at Prayer. I read her Sightings article. I was impressed that somebody put their money where their mouth was. Then I read her blog post, which aligned herself with many of Yiannopoulos’s controversial opinions on gender roles. It was very smart of Brown to come out after she had tenure. She can’t, and won’t, be censured for her opinions, as the chair of the history department confirmed. Brown has chosen to freely publish her blog on her University webpage and cited it in her Sightings article. As a member of the University community,
this is my response to her. In the Sightings article, Brown argued that religion was the wellspring from which culture sprang and that the reason American universities historically came to be was to cultivate proper understanding of religious theology. She argued that the “denial of religion as the basis of culture is the source of the violence we are now witnessing, both on campuses and across America at large.” According to Brown, students and faculty at UChicago and elsewhere are afraid of Yiannopoulos because the things he “talks about are usually considered political, but in fact have to do with people’s deepest convictions: the proper relations between women and men, the definition of community, the role of beauty, access to truth.” Student protests aimed at preventing Yiannopoulos from speaking at universities supposedly represent a crisis of faith and religious thinking in America that can only be fixed through a re-
newed role for theology in university education. This is all, of course, selective historicist bullshit. Brown and Yiannopoulos— whom she compares with Jesus— both love to champion freedom of expression as a truly unique feature of this country. I agree. I thank Brown for exercising her rights so freely. I love that she came out with what she believes in. Now I can engage her views on their own morally bankrupt terms, not because she is white, Christian, a woman, or a Republican voter, but because she has given me the opportunity to address what she feels to be the injustices of progressives against her views and those who share them. Professor Brown, thank you letting us know your thoughts, but as your self-anointed St. Yiannopoulos says: “fuck your feelings.” Brown claims that she loves Yiannopoulos because of how he says what he says. In fact, she only really champions him because of
Helen Chen
what he says. This is less an issue about Yiannopoulos and more of an issue about what she believes to be the unequivocal truth of her religious and political views: abor-
tion is murder, casual sex is morally wrong, a woman should spend her most “fertile” years raising children and cooking for her husband, etc. To her, to propose any other view is a
Constitutionally Yours SG’s Referendum Makes Slight, but Necessary Changes
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Students will be asked to vote Monday on a referendum changing the constitution of the University’s Student Association, which governs the highest level of Student Government (SG). On this issue, it seems fair to suspect, the campus’s Overheard pundits will remain mum. The M AROON Editorial Board, then, rushes into the gap: There doesn’t seem to be anything tricky going on here. The changes are straightforward and worthwhile, if not exactly earth-shattering. You should vote yes. The biggest change in the proposed referendum would allow students on Extended-College status living relatively close to campus a vote in SG elections. They were not able to vote in last year’s election, since the constitution, last amended in 2010, did not provide for that status, which was established by the University
in fall 2015. Students on Extended-College status are fourth-years who finished their graduation requirements ahead of schedule and no longer take classes. They do, however, pay the Student Life Fee, which provides SG’s multimillion-dollar budget. If they’re paying into SG’s budget, then they ought to be able to vote for the people who decide how that money is spent. The other changes are clarifications and amended typos. The referendum is part of a broader process of clearing up ambiguities and inconsistencies in SG’s governing documents. This month, College Council, Graduate Council, and SG’s General Assembly (GA) each approved amendments to their bylaws; GA also approved edits to the Student Government Funding Code. At the end of last month, Assistant Vice-President for Campus Life Michael Hayes
signed off on amendments to the Coalition of Academic Teams charter, which had persisted unchanged since 1998. As documents are amended and the situation on campus changes, problems are going to accumulate. It’s to SG’s credit that it is addressing them. It’s worth considering what a more ambitious set of changes to the constitutional framework at some future point could look like: whether, for instance, a required period of public comment could give more people time to weigh in on SG budgets, which have sometimes been sent out within 24 hours of the vote. But on the whole, a consistent, up-to-date set of governing documents is better than the alternative, and a yes vote on this referendum helps us get there. —The M A R O ON Editorial Board
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“People flock to Yiannopoulos, as did Brown, because he is ready to affirm their prejudices.” Continued from page 3 lie. Brown’s ideals originate in Western European civilization. To be clear, I don’t think that she is Eurocentric for studying the European tradition; attempts to classify her as such are wrong and partisan. Far from being Eurocentric, she doesn’t even consider the historical experience of millions of European lives which did not conform to her ideals of piety. But Brown is no less partisan in reducing the entire Western tradition to her interpretation of Christian theology and morality. If Yiannopoulos is Jesus, then so is Frankie Boyle (and he’s a much better prophet at that). This is what Brown is really worked up about. For her, Western civilization is really only Christianity. Religion and theology— which she sees a panacea for America’s troubles—is her idea of morality. She is correct that Christian theology is not at the center of university education but that religion still is. It is true that we just don’t call it religion anymore—thank goodness for that—because we reject Christianity’s or any other religion’s monopoly on morality. It took the courage of many generations of men and women to put their careers and social lives at risk to achieve
this. It didn’t happen by accident. We moved on and found other sources of morality. Likewise, freedom of speech may have originated to wrestle with religion in the past, but we don’t have to live in the past. Brown can’t wrap her head around the fact that to oppose Yiannopoulos is not to hate the idea of morality, or even Christian morality, wholesale. Rather, both of their moral values come at the expense of others’ and can’t be validated unless they incite bigotry. Brown thinks that, like Jesus, Yiannopoulos is a troll whose words serve no other purpose than to prompt us to challenge our unquestioned views. In the insular world that Brown lives in, this may be the case. In the real world, Yiannopoulos’s “truths” become truisms only after they are repeated and acted on by his devotees, Brown included. Brown says, for example, that Yiannopoulos is courageous in saying that women should not be encouraged to accept being fat since they will be shamed for their weight in the real world. Did she ever consider who does the shaming? It is people like Yiannopoulos and herself. People flock to Yiannopoulos, as did Brown, because he is ready to affirm their prejudices. Her lament that opposition
to Yiannopoulos represents a “deep crisis in religious thinking” is nothing more than self-righteous indignation that millions of Americans could no longer swallow her idea of morality and chose to move on to better and more humane ways of making meaning in their lives. I don’t think Brown is racist or Islamophobic. She is conservative. However, her vilification of women who don’t conform to her standards of piety is misogynistic. Her “truths” on these matters are her own opinions, informed by her study of medieval piety—on which she is rightly an expert—and by her warped sense of the history of everywhere outside her imaginary niche of medieval Europe. She listens to Yiannopoulos’s truths on what is most dear to her sense of piety and turns a deaf ear to everything else he says. This is why she can dismiss fears of President Trump’s policies as hysteria and laugh off Yiannopoulos’s words as satire. For this, Brown is the kind of “spineless” coward that she thinks Yiannopoulos’s critics actually are. I don’t know if this is any better consolation than being a racist. But, most of all, Brown fails to understand that Yiannopoulos’s freedom for incendiary speech does not entitle the unequivocal ac-
ceptance of his words. The First Amendment does not legislate relations between private individuals, only between citizens and the state. The University of California, Berkeley, as a public institution, did not shut Yiannopoulos’s bigotry down. Private citizens did. This is not to say that if Yiannopoulos is invited to our campus, he should be forcefully shut down by protests. In fact, I believe the opposite. Don’t forcefully shut down Yiannopoulos. He’s only the messenger. His success is based not simply on our outrage, but also on the support of thousands—if not millions— who want him to affirm their prejudices. This will require conviction to your own principles, and educating those you can turn away from his. It is possible, even in seemingly hopeless cases. I hope Brown will invite Milo here. I hope you will all show up and stand peacefully outside and let them know how greatly you outnumber her. I hope she expresses her feeling of outrage, and I hope you tell her this: “Fuck your feelings!” Usama Rafi is a second-year Ph.D. student in History.
Why I Will Not Celebrate the Fall of Milo Yiannopoulos Conservatives Now Condemn Yiannopoulos Because He Plays Into Harmful Stereotypes About Gay Men BY SAM GEIGER MAROON CONTRIBUTOR
Milo Yiannopoulos’s appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher on February 18 included many of his shit-raking trademarks: brazen indignation, smugness, and a clear intent to offend. Larry Wilmore summed up the panel’s response to Yiannopoulos’s insults with a terse and effective “fuck you.” Just days after this controversial appearance, a video of Yiannopoulos endorsing sexual relations with boys as young as 13 surfaced online, eliciting widespread condemnation from people across the political spectrum. Among his remarks, he joked about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and defended “coming-of-age relationships” between younger boys and older men. “Pedophilia is attraction to children who have not reached puberty,” he said in one particularly incendiary moment, implying that 13-year-olds are not children. Yuck. It is easy to hate Yiannopoulos, but this past Monday’s media storm over his pedophilia remarks should not be applauded. The fact is, there should be no cause for celebration that the reason conservatives started to dislike Yiannopoulos is because he is now the actualization of their worst fears about gay men. The cancellation of his book, his dis-invitation to CPAC, and most recently his resignation from Breitbart, speak to the apparently prevailing notion in some conservative circles that homosexuality and pedophilia are somehow inextricably linked. The myth linking homosexuality and pedophilia is disturbing and unfortunately pervasive despite its questionable origins. In 2000, a conservative opinion writer wrote an “in-depth exploration of pedophilia, homosexuality and the Boy Scouts of America” for the radically conservative site WorldNetDaily. The author argued that gay people should not be allowed to lead Boy Scout troops because “[m]any homosexuals are attracted to young boys, they fantasize about young boys, they frequent websites about young boys, they cruise the streets for young boys, and they volunteer as Boy Scout leaders in an at-
tempt to have sex with young boys.” While this opinion was written for a political publication that is rarely taken seriously, the opinions spouted by the author seriously pervade our society. As recently as 2009, a Pew Research Center poll found that 28 percent of people in the country believe that school boards should have the right to fire “teachers who are known homosexuals.” Two competing narratives could be behind this statistic: one is that homosexuals are a corrupting influence on children and the other is that gay teachers will inevitably be attracted to their younger students. Although this belief has declined in popularity since 1987 (when the figure was 51 percent), the fact that less than a decade ago more than a quarter of the United States believed in either or both of these stereotypes, at least in part, is incredibly troubling. But what’s happening right now with Yiannopoulos is evidence that things have not gotten much better. It is right to be disgusted by Yiannopoulos’s remarks, but we should not ignore the fact that it was also right to be disgusted by the remarks he made in the past. The self-proclaimed “Trump-sexual” has called feminism “a cancer,” incited a racist Twitterstorm directed at comedian Leslie Jones, and dismissed trans women as “men who are confused about their sexual identities.” These incendiary public remarks made him a free-speech champion and conservative darling to many on the right, when he should have been met with adamant condemnation. It was only when Yiannopoulos publicly espoused his repulsive views on pedophilia that he was met with backlash. Bill Maher has since taken credit for Yiannopoulos’s fall from grace, but his appearance on Maher’s show underscored the normalization of hate speech. Yiannopoulos was invited anywhere and everywhere until he suddenly fit a convoluted notion about homosexuality. While it is correct and justified to criticize Yiannopoulos for his words, the response from conservatives has been frightening. By fitting into one of the longest held, most damaging stereotypes about gay men, Yiannopoulos reinforces the belief that the stereotype bears merit. On the left, we should be afraid that
despite all of the progress that has been made, the thing that brings down a gay conservative icon has more to do with his being gay than any of the inflammatory and horrific hate speech he has engaged
in or the alienating and regressive ideals he has championed. Sam Geiger is a first-year in the College majoring in philosophy and political science.
5
THE CHICAGO MAROON - FEBRUARY 24, 2017
ARTS From the Quad to the Runway: MODA 2017 BY REBECCA JULIE ASSOCIATE ARTS EDITOR
New York Fashion Week came to a close last week, but fashion enthusiasts need not despair. This Friday, student models will hit the runway at the Drake Hotel downtown for MODA’s annual winter fashion show, this year titled MODA XIII. Planning for the annual show begins at the start of each academic year, according to second-year Leslie Jones-Dove, the backstage manager. It starts with the venue search. “Once the venue is finalized, or in the process of being fi nalized, we begin to focus our efforts on fundraising and other MODA events such as magazine launch parties and the MODA x Madewell shopping party,”
Jones-Dove said. These preliminary events enable MODA to host its annual show, drawing crowds of more than a thousand every year to the most coveted Windy City venues; in previous years, the show was held at Union Station. MODA , the RSO behind MODA Magazine and its online sister publication MODA Blog, organizes the show as an opportunity to celebrate student designers and local professionals. The event features a pre-show cocktail reception, a silent auction, a musical performance, live entertainment from fusion dance group Maya, the main runway show, and an after-party. “I really appreciate how they let anyone in the University apply to design,” said second-year Talia Friedland, one of 22 designers for this year’s show. “I
never would have had this opportunity otherwise because I have no connection to MODA outside of being a designer for the show.” Friedland has been designing clothing since she was eight years old, when her parents would bring her to Walmart and let her pick out fabrics. “You can imagine the beautiful clothes I made from discount Walmart fabric! ” Friedland joked. As she grew older, she went on to design an outfit for each member of the band One Direction, a result of a “most embarrassing crush” on the band. “Sadly, they only sent me a postcard with their autographs on it as a thank-you,” she said. However, Friday’s fashion show will allow Friedland and other fashion-savvy students on campus to design pieces for
Kenneth Talbott La Vega
MODA designers finalize their designs for Friday’s show.
models a bit less elusive than, say, Zayn Malik. First-time designers can apply to MODA’s Designer Boot Camp, a year-long curriculum to teach interested students the basics of fashion design. Students enrolled in the program show their creations alongside the work of more experienced designers. Models for all of the student designs are chosen through an open casting call early winter quarter. This year, there are more than 200 student designers, models, and volunteers involved in realizing the production. A graduate of Designer Boot Camp, Friedland was inspired by the Manus x Machina costume exhibit she saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art over the summer, which explored the interplay of technology and clothing. “I loved the use of lights paired with the sleek modern designs, so that’s what I went for with my collection,” Friedland said. Her own designs for MODA XIII will also light up. One model will wear a dress made entirely of pink pleather (after a fabric-ordering mishap left Friedland with much more of the material than she originally wanted). Such creativity is a hallmark of the MODA show. Last year, models sported designs that featured paper animal heads, clear plastic raincoats, and Greek goddess–inspired dresses, as well as menswear capes and jackets made from nylon backpacks. An opportunity for students
Courtesy of MODA Blog
Fourth-year Serina Wu’s sketch offers a sneak peak of a dress design in her collection.
to celebrate the talent of their peers, the show is also a chance for the entire student community to showcase their own sense of style. Similar to fashion weeks around the world, one of the most notable features of MODA’s fashion shows is the outfit choices of audience members. “My parents flew from Maine all the way here last year to see my fi rst collection, and my dad, who got his master’s at UChicago back in the ’80s, was stunned to see how fancy and attractive all the UChicago students were at the show,” Friedland said. “He was like, ‘This is not the UChicago I remember!’”
Wonder in My Soul Has Big Heart and Bigger Hair BY EMILY EHRET ARTS STAFF
Now through March 12, Victory Gardens Theater is showcasing the world premiere of A Wonder in My Soul, a loving tribute to Chicago’s South Side. The show—to both its advantage and detriment—has a bit of everything. Blending a touch of song with poetry, history, politics, womanhood, and lots and
lots of hair, A Wonder in My Soul is an enthusiastic piece of theater and a well-crafted ode to female friendships. According to Victory Gardens’ artistic director, Chay Yew, playwright Marcus Gardley wrote Wonder to “give passionate voice to a community that has been largely overlooked,” spotlighting racism, poverty, and gentrification. The play, set in the moments before President
Courtesy of Liz Lauren
Bell Grand Lake (Jacqueline Williams), First Lady (Linda Bright Clay), and Normal Beverly (Camille Robinson) harmonize at the hair salon.
Obama’s 2008 election, zooms in on a very personal account of the interconnected lives of several black women. Bell and Birdie, lifelong friends and co-owners of a hair salon, struggle to keep up with rent, but through their dedication, they bring priceless culture to their community. Gardley dives into their dreams and day-to-day challenges—doing so proudly, and often musically, to guarantee that his main protagonists will not be overlooked. The audience fi rst meets the charming Birdie—real name Aberdeen Calumet, stage name “Songbird.” A former singer, Birdie brings song and wit to the stage, earning laughter with her spunky independence and intense fear of germs. (At the salon, she gets paid to touch people, not to have people touch her.) A fast talker with a sensitive side, Birdie brings inner healing to the salon patrons, teaching them to love their hair and themselves. Meanwhile, the true hair aficionado is Bell Grand Lake (Jacqueline Williams), Birdie’s softer but no less clever partner. Bell gives hairstyles to her most
frequent client, the extravagant wife of a pastor who simply goes by “First Lady” (Linda Bright Clay). Bell is a deeply caring woman with a fierce love for her two children (played by Jeffery Owen Freelon Jr. and Donica Lynn), her clients, and her community. Williams and Oglesby command the stage together, often bursting into spontaneous harmony and enlisting their friends into improvised choreography with pink hairdressing capes. The result is a humorous and sincere presentation of black womanhood. There are many other successes along the way. First Lady, for example, is always a delight. A shamelessly bougie, tracksuit-wearing Republican, First Lady quips about the real estate potentials of the salon’s block with a memorable line about how “once a Trader Joe’s moves in, so will the white people.” Normal Beverly (Camille Robinson) is First Lady’s recently hired personal assistant, a frazzled woman in her early 20s who is pregnant with twins (and bearing a perhaps intentional resemblance
to Beyoncé). These moments solidify Wonder as a distinctly comedic semi-musical production and certainly win the audience over. The show’s multitudinous storylines only really tangle when turning to Bell’s children, Lafayette and Paulina. The former is largely absent, on the run from the feds due to some money problems. Very little is said about Paulina; all we know is that she’s a cop and lives with her poet boyfriend. When the narrative finally shifts to focus on them near its conclusion, I already felt the production had gone on a half-hour too long, sabotaging the strength of its own plot. Wonder’s energetic cast ensures that the show remains a compelling and joyful watch despite some plot stumbles. It poses a broad array of identity questions against an amusing background of the gossip, music, and companionship of a good salon experience. See A Wonder in My Soul at Victory Gardens Theater now through March 12. Tickets start at $27.
6
THE CHICAGO MAROON - FEBRUARY 24, 2017
Robert Grosvenor’s Untitled Evades Concrete Answers BY MAY HUANG ASSOCIATE ARTS EDITOR
A sculpture made of concrete blocks, steel, plexiglass, and paint occupies the center of the Renaissance Society’s exhibition space on the fourth floor of Cobb Hall. Untitled, constructed in 1989–90 by New York–based sculptor Robert Grosvenor, is a work that immediately catches your eye— and curiosity. “It is as if it had just landed in the space,” curator Solveig Øvstebø said at the opening reception on February 11. Grosvenor’s creative process relies on a sense of chance. He builds his sculptures using collected, commonplace materials. Untitled, for example, incorporates sheets of corrugated steel that Grosvenor collected in Brooklyn and later brought with him to Long Island in the late ’80s, along with concrete cylinder blocks lying around his new Long Island property. “There’s coincidence combined with sharp and patient decision-making,” Øvstebø said. Such patience—which the work demands of both the artist and viewer—is an indispensable element of Grosvenor’s work. Poet and critic John Yau, whose work will be featured in a monograph published by the Renaissance Society following the exhibition, spoke about the sculpture at the opening reception. Although Yau never met Grosvenor, he once spotted the artist when wandering around New York with a friend in the mid-’70s. They were passing by the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral when
his friend turned to him and whispered, “That’s Robert Grosvenor.” Grosvenor was gesturing to his wife about the masonry of a brick wall in front of the cathedral, leaving an indelible impression on Yau. “What he was admiring was the collective achievement of anonymous laborers,” Yau said. Grosvenor’s work addresses the relationship between art and class—one that Yau thinks people too often ignore. In admiring the brick, Grosvenor was also expressing empathy for the anonymous workers who had contributed their labor to something that would outlast them. Through this lens, the seemingly arbitrary materials used to make Untitled take on deeper meaning: They are commonplace materials used in construction work, drawing a line between specific objects and class. Nameless, without a signature gesture or branding, Untitled identifies with the anonymous laborer. But even this observation cannot resolve the exhibition’s many riddles. Yau noted that most people who look at Untitled get the sense that the sculpture, with its open structure and construction materials, could be used for something—but what? What could be kept inside the structure’s spray-painted cement blocks? What is the purpose of the plexiglass, which almost acts like a skylight? To compound the mystery, a small, blue tractor-like vehicle rests against a wall inside the exhibition, remaining—at the artist’s request—a “secret” object; it is not labeled or explained in any of the accompanying texts. “Untitled provides a way for viewers to examine their own patterns of thought,”
Yau said, pointing out how the process of questioning Grosvenor’s work encourages us to confront our own unconscious assumptions about art. Although walls were built inside the Renaissance Society’s white
most importantly looking, and then looking again,” a process he encourages viewers to replicate. There’s even an element of humor in this maddening detective work. “He places the work in a middle of a
Robert Grosvenor’s Untitled dominates the Renaissance Society exhibition space.
hall to frame the piece, “bridging” the sculpture and the gallery’s distinct architecture, Yau points out that the sculpture did not accept this boundary. Everything about Untitled—from its size to its grease coating that sharply contrasts with the “immaculate white cube” that houses it—invites scrutiny (perhaps too much scrutiny; recently, some viewers even tried to walk under the sheet of steel just because the large space almost seems to beg for it). Although Grosvenor’s large sculptures are easy to perceive, they take time to “see.” Øvstebø described Grosvenor’s sculpting process as “testing and questioning but
Eva I
space and then he leaves the room,” Øvstebø said, “but he keeps the door open for us to be with it and to explore it.” Joining the trend of concrete-related art that is taking over campus this year, Grosvenor’s Untitled is—like Wolf Vostell’s concrete car parked in the Campus North Parking Garage—more than just concrete. Next time you are early to class in Cobb, drop by the Renaissance Society to check out its elusive centerpiece. You’ll see it—but will you really “see” it? Take a look. Then look again. The exhibition will run until April 9. Øvstebø will lead an exhibition walk-through on March 1.
PhoeniX-Word: MDT Created by Daniel Ruttenberg Across
56 Expresses criticism
31 Alliance (Abbr.)
58 Cronus, for one
34 Like a good TV
1 Where Hamlet dies
60 Famous plant in a
35 New Mexico county
5 They’re far from PC
fairy tale
that crossword
9 Character who
65 Justice Kagan
constructors love
celebrates his
66 Unit of land
37 Attach someone to
“eleventy-first”
67 Cream ingredient
the railroad, perhaps
birthday in his most
68 Office locales
38 Like Chicago in 1871
popular book
69 Flaunt
39 Stereotypically
14 Energize
70 Marker of a southern
playful animal
15 Alda of
dialect, frequently
41 Raise
M*A*S*H
42 ___ room (man cave)
16 Result of a base hit,
Down
46 Namesake of the
perhaps
1 Nautical back
Boston Celtics stadium
17 Gym item
2 Menace
47 Honda competitor
19 Three French Huns?
3 Golfer’s pocketful
49 Like a labyrinth,
20 “I call it!”
4 Russian “impaler”
often
21 Half of a simple
5 African snake
50 “Swan Lake”
machine
6 Paparazzi targets
character
22 “How r u?”
7 L.A.’s state
51 John of funk
25 Doctor studying
8 TV show where
52 Group of nine
disease
Melissa McCarthey
53 Goddess of dawn
30 Chain that, indeed, is
played Sean Spicer
57 Remain
in 70 dfferent countries
(Abbr.)
59 “Illmatic” rapper
32 Words found in the
9 Automaton
60 Perform at home?
bible 13 times
10 Dressed like an
61 ___-terrorist
33 Cowboy of the
orphan
62 Pie ___ mode
pampas
11 Pope from the Medici
63 “OMG, 2 Funny”
36 Alternative to tape
family
64 Kenan’s partner (with
37 Chinese “way”
12 Sixth plague
a notably less stellar
40 Cop-out solution to
13 Where one can find
career)
the Trolley Problem, or
6-down
another fitting title for
18 Chip partner
this crossword?
22 Greek letter that
43 It shares a key with
symbolizes variance
“option” on a Mac (abbr)
23 Aid to movers
44 Tidpit of gossip
24 Young turkey
45 “Gotcha”
26 Gave a go
46 Sun helmets
27 “Psych” suffix
48 End a disease
28 Author of
49 Favorable luck
“Communism” in 1927
54 Ratio preposition
29 How music is often
55 Not a lot
sold
7
THE CHICAGO MAROON - FEBRUARY 24, 2017
SPORTS
Winner Takes All WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
BY MICHAEL HINKLEY SPORTS STAFF
Chicago hopes to fi nish the regular season on a high note this Saturday with a road victory over rival Wash U. The Maroons have been strong performers all season, posting an overall record of 18–6. Moreover, the squad has been dominant in their conference, achieving a UAA-best 11–2 record against league opponents. Last weekend, the squad earned a pair of tough road victories against Brandeis and NYU and maintained their top seed in the UAA. Looking forward, Chicago has high hopes of reaching the postseason for the fi rst time in five years. The squad could secure a conference title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament with a win over Wash U this weekend. The Bears enter the contest with an impressive record of 22–2, and are currently ranked No. 7 in the country. Furthermore, the home team is currently riding a 10-game winning streak, as they have not dropped a result in over a month. That being said, the last time these teams faced each other, the Maroons emerged victorious in a 75–68 battle and handed Wash U their fi rst loss of the season. In that game, fi rst-year forward Taylor Lake exploded off the bench for Chicago,
dropping a career-high 23 points on 8–11 shooting from the field. Fourth-year captain Britta Nordstrom was also a strong performer in the match, recording 14 points and 12 rebounds. As a team, Chicago benefitted from great effort and hustle, gaining a slight edge over the Bears in both rebounding and second chance points, while also securing possession at key points in the fourth quarter. This time around, Chicago will be looking for a repeat of their home showing when they take on the Bears in St. Louis. The Maroons will once again need strong performances from multiple starters and bench players in order to have a chance against their formidable opponents. Moreover, the Maroons’ conference-best defense will need to step up to the challenge of containing the potent Wash U offensive attack. Overall, the team is confident in both their game plan and their coaching, and look forward to the challenge ahead. “Like all year long, our focus is really on ourselves,” said fourth-year guard Stephanie Anderson. “We’ve played well all season long and have shown that we are capable of beating this team. Now it’s time to focus on what we do best and put it all together for four quarters.” She added, “When we are at our best, it doesn’t matter who our opponent is. We are hard
University of Chicago Athletics Dept.
Third-year guard Madison Dunbar plays expert man-to-man defense.
to stop.” Chicago will face rival Wash U this Saturday, February 25 at the Field House on their opponents’ campus in St. Louis, MO. This will be the 65th meeting between the two teams. Historically, Wash U holds a commanding lead in the lifetime
series, but the confident Maroons are looking to upset the perennial favorites and complete the season sweep. Given the teams’ deadlock at the top of the conference, this game will be a winner-take-all battle for the UAA title and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Diving Into the Postseason SWIM & DIVE
BY SIMONE STOVER SPORTS STAFF
This upcoming weekend will be a nerve-racking one of high stakes for UChicago’s diving team. On Friday, three of the five members of the team will travel to Grand Rapids to participate in the NCA A Diving Regional. While there, they will face off against competitors from over 20 different schools in the DIII Central Region. The diving squad already has an
impressive season under its belt, with some of its most notable performances coming from the UA A Swimming and Diving Championships two weeks ago. The three divers competing this weekend—Agnes L o, A nna Girlich, and Natalie DeMuro — each finished in the top eight in both the one-meter and three-meter dives. These successes contributed to the women’s overall third place finish at the end of the meet. W hile conference was indeed an
important meet for the Maroons, the upcoming reg ional meet is equally important, if not more so. “ This meet is what we have been working for all year,” said second-year Anna Girlich, who earned second place in the 3m dive and third place in the 1m dive during conference. “Since it is the qualifying meet for us for nationals, it’s our biggest meet next to conference,” she continued. “We just want to do our dives the way we have been doing and have our best
University of Chicago Athletics Dept.
A female swimmer glides through the water.
meets of the year. There will be some great competition and it should be a lot of fun.” As Girlich said, part of what makes this upcoming meet so important is that it is the divers’ only chance to qualify for the NCA A National Championships in March. While swimmers’ times throughout the entirety of the season are eligible to qualify for the meet, the only scores that will count for the divers will be those that they obtain this weekend. W hen national selections are made, only a certain number of divers from each region will be taken. The central region has nine spots allocated for men and five spots allocated for women. Perhaps the Maroons’ best chance of sending a diver to Nationals this year is first-year Lo. At Conference, Lo won both the three-meter and one-meter dives, setting school records in both and the UA A record in the latter. “I’m excited for regionals especially since this is my first year in college diving and it would be an amazing opportunity to qualify for NCA As,” Lo said regarding the meet. “I’ve trained hard all season and I want this year to end on a strong note. I’m not focusing on the results though, I’m just concentrating on competing at my best at the meet and having a good time,” she concluded. The Diving Regional will take place this Friday and Saturday, February 24 and 25 at the Venema Aquatic Center at Calvin College. Sessions will begin at 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Friday and at noon and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
8
THE CHICAGO MAROON - FEBRUARY 24, 2017
SPORTS Championship Meet for Chicago TRACK & FIELD
BY MAGGIE O’HARA SPORTS STAFF
This weekend, the Maroons will take a trip east to Brandeis University for the annual UAA Indoor Championships. Both teams were victorious at the Margaret Bradley Invitational this past weekend and are looking to close indoor season on a strong note, hopefully punctuated by a UAA title. Both the men’s and women’s teams will be competing at the highest level, matching up against the toughest competition they’ve seen all season. The women’s team is especially eager for the chance of an UAA title after a narrow loss to Wash U last season. “I think it’ll be a great weekend for both teams. We’ve been training hard, and it is exciting that we get to go race the rest of the UAA. We saw Wash U earlier this season, but haven’t raced the whole UAA since the outdoor championships last April,” second-year Owen Melia said. The UAA conference has a strong history of talent, making this meet a special one, as the Maroons will have a chance to compete against top-tier athletes. “As a team, we are really looking forward to the level of competition we will see at UAAs
this weekend. There are some elite teams and individuals in our conference, so it will be fun to match ourselves up against them,” third-year Cassidy McPherson said. At the indoor meet last year, the women came in second to Wash U and the men, in a narrower race, came in fourth. Both teams look to improve on these records, especially with the added success that the first-year class has collectively been bringing all season. “I think some of our firstyears are going to have a big impact at this meet,” Melia said. “Hopefully they’ll catch some teams by surprise.” The Maroons look to play their hand at both the team championship and an array of individual championships. The women’s team boasts many highly qualified athletes across multiple events and ages. The South Siders will look for big performances from standouts such as third-years McPherson in the 800-meter and Khia Kurtenbach in the mile, and first-years Isabel Garon in pole vault and Alisha Harris in the 60-meter. However, they will be missing a key element from last year: fourth-year Michelle Dobbs, who was an indoor national champion in the 800-meter. On the men’s side of things, fourth-
University of Chicago Athletics Dept.
Third-year Nathan Downey hangs in the balance.
year Temisan Osowa will look to dominate in the 60-meter, while third-years Patrick LeFevre and Nathan Downey look to do the same the in 60-meter hurdle and the pole vault, respectively. “Every meet different people have been stepping up, making us a better team each week we compete. Conference is always a special team experience where we really have to come together to accomplish our
goals, and I expect this weekend will be no different,” McPherson said. “We have a whole team of women and men who want to get better and work to get better every day in practice together, and I really believe that will show this weekend at UAAs.” UAA action will begin on Saturday at 12 p.m. Eastern Time at Brandeis University and will continue through Sunday.
Revenge Against the Rivals MEN’S BASKETBALL
BY OLA OBI SPORTS STAFF
Last weekend, the Maroons were on the road between two cities. With a great start to the weekend in Boston, the South Siders picked up a dub on Friday in their match against the Brandeis Judges. This resulted in a final score of 82 –74, giving the Maroons a record of six wins and six losses within the conference. This was a good game for all members of the team, but it was a special one for second-year shooting guard Noah Karras. Karras broke the school record this year for most three-pointers made in a game, with 11 three-pointers
in his game against the Judges. Previously the record for season three-pointers was 71 and Karras went 7/11 at the arc to bring him to 73 made shots on the season. “It’s always fun when a teammate is able to achieve something like that, especially so early in his career. We were also extremely excited to get these two wins because we have a lot of alumni showing their support in the Boston and New York area,” fourth-year Tyler Howard said. Following Friday’s game, the Maroons then took to the Big Apple to battle against the NYU Violets. This was an incredible victory for the Maroons, blowing the doors off the Violets with a
final score of 80 – 60. Third-year small forward Collin Barthel had a great game with a double-double of 18 points and 10 defensive rebounds. After these road victories, the Maroons gained a little ground in conference rankings, moving from fifth to fourth place, with a record of 7– 6. This upcoming weekend marks the final hurrah for the Maroons. On Saturday, the South Siders hit the road to face up against final UA A competitor Wash U. Closing the season away is tough, but the Maroons are ready to battle it out. In their previous game against the Wash U Bears, the Maroons went toeto-toe, but the game ended 70 – 68 with
the loss for the Maroons on a goaltend, so it is expected that Saturday’s game will also be an entertaining match. The Bears currently sit at the top of the conference with a record of 12–1. “We are just looking to go out there and have a great game and get a win. We know we won’t be making the tournament, so it’s pretty crazy to realize that this is going to be the last basketball game I will ever play,“ Howard said on the implications of this game. Unfortunately, the Maroons are indeed out of the playoff hunt and will finish this season in St. Louis regardless of the result. Game time is set for 2 p.m.
True Test on Docket for Maroons TENNIS
BY MINNIE HORVATH SPORTS STAFF
This weekend, the Maroons return to action, although the difference in competition level is notable. On Saturday, the women’s team will take on both Principia College and John Carroll University at home, while the men head to Cleveland, OH for the ITA Division III Indoor Championships. The No. 10 Chicago women are hosting a three-team tournament on Saturday. The Maroons face off against Principia College at 1 p.m., followed by a quick turnaround and another matchup against John Carroll University at 4 p.m. Principia is 0–2 this season, and John Carroll is 1–1, although their athletics websites seem a little incomplete.
The Maroons are coming off dominant performances last weekend, in which they defeated both No. 22 Denison and No. 25 DePauw 8–1. They are now 4–0 in 2017, and looking to continue the win streak this weekend. First-year Marjorie Antohi is an important factor in the team’s success. “We are looking to improve on consistency and not give up any free points,” Antohi said. Antohi said that the team has worked extensively in doubles this week in an effort to lock up three points early on against their opponents this weekend, as well as next weekend at ITA Championships. The team is already in good form, and has been playing a lot of points in practice for “polishing and fi xing small things to make sure that we stay dominant on the court,” she said.
These two matches stand as preparation for the women’s ITA Championships, which will occur next weekend. “We are excited for this weekend and for ITA’s next week, and I think it’ll be a good experience regardless of the result as long as we keep competing and doing what we’ve been working on it practice,” Antohi said. The No. 5 Maroon men are looking sharp going into this weekend’s ITA Championships, and look ready to improve on last year’s runner-up finish. On Friday they will face No. 9 Pomona-Pitzer in the first round of the eight-team tournament. The Sagehens are 5–1 this season, and are currently riding a 4-match win streak. They are no match, however, for the Maroons, who are 6–0 in 2017 and coming off commanding 9–0 and 8–1 victories against No. 33 Denison and No. 34
DePauw, respectively. With momentum on their side, Chicago looks to come out strong and compete against elite competition. “We are looking forward to finally have the opportunity to play the best teams in the country,” fourth-year Max Hawkins said. The tournament will not disappoint: Of the eight teams that will be competing, six are ranked in the top 10, and all are in the top 15. Last year’s ITA Indoor team champion, No. 2 Emory, will be competing. “It’ll be a lot of fun for us, and it’s cool because depending on how it plays out, we’ll have a chance to play teams we’ve struggled with over the years. We want to be the best team in the country, and we want to get there by beating the teams that have taken us before,” Hawkins said.