Chicago Maroon 04/07/17

APRIL 7, 2017

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

VOL. 128, ISSUE 36

Vice President for Civic Engagement Speaks at Student Government Assembly

BY MARJORIE ANTOHI DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR

Meera Joshi

SEE PAGE 3 for Grey City’s illustrations of campus in the springtime.

Fulbright Scholar Denied Re-Entry From Pakistan

BY SOFIA GARCIA NEWS STAFF

A Pakistani Fulbright scholar and graduate student at the Divinity School could not return to the University of Chicago for winter quarter because he was not allowed back into the United States after spending winter break in Karachi.

Syed Zia Hussain Shah was departing for Pakistan for winter break when officials at Chicago O’Hare Airport stopped him and asked whether or not he intended to return to the United States. Shah showed the officials his state-funded scholarship and was allowed on the flight, but he could not shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

His fears were confirmed January 4, when he was not allowed to board a flight back to Chicago.

The U.S. embassy in Karachi originally told him to wait four to five days to be issued a new visa, but after four months without hearing from them, he learned that he is likely to miss spring quarter as well.

Shah is the co-founder of Ravvish, an educational program in Lahore, Pakistan, which teaches schoolchildren about empathy, tolerance, and the peaceful coexistence between different cultural and religious groups. He realized

Who’s to Say? Page 4 The University cherry-picks what it considers hate speech, writes columnist Soulet Ali.

that it was important for him to study religion in an academic context in order to improve Ravvish curriculum.

“I want to teach religion as an academic subject where the foundational ideas would be tolerance and empathy,” Shah said.

He applied to the University of Chicago due to a lack of higher education opportunities in Pakistan.

In 2010, Shah lost his uncle in a terrorist attack on Karachi. This motivated Shah, who is a member of a minority religious group, to encourage inter-religious dialogue.

Shah was refused entry to the United States before President Trump signed an executive order limiting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries (Pakistan is not included on the list), and Shah does not believe his case is directly related to the executive order.

“I don’t blame Trump for this, I blame the system for this, because the system definitely got something wrong,” Shah said.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection told BuzzFeed News that they are not authorized to provide information about any specific traveller, although any foreigner can be turned away from the country for any reason.

Shah stressed the uniqueness of his case as a Divinity School

student. “On the outside it’s very easy to label me as a 25-year-old Muslim terrorist travelling from Pakistan to the U.S. back and forth, and such a threat to our country, and studying Islamic Studies, oh my God, we don’t want him,” Shah said. However, he did suggest that Pakistani students avoid traveling to Pakistan for the moment.

Shah plans to apply to scholarships in the United Kingdom and Germany if he cannot return to the United States. He has already been admitted to the School of Oriental and African Students in the University of London, but he does not have the funds to attend without a scholarship. He is currently working in Pakistan and developing a program for Ravvish, but he is determined to go back to studying religion.

“It doesn’t matter to me if [an offer] comes this year or the next year, or if it comes from the U.S. or the U.K. or wherever in the world,” Shah said.

Shah said that he was grateful for the level of support he received from the University administration and his professors.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get to see [my professors] again but if I ever do I will probably burst into tears because these people have been so genuine, so cooperative, so professional throughout,” he said.

Vice President for Civic Engagement Derek Douglas spoke about the Office of Civic Engagement, the Obama presidential library, and other topics at the Student Government Assembly meeting on Monday.

Douglas began by describing student involvement opportunities at the Office of Civic Engagement.

“We focus on thinking about ways we can leverage the strength of the University to have an impact in the community,” he said. Douglas expressed hope that more students will continue to engage with the office in the future, saying, “We’ve been really trying to think about how we can also connect more to students at the University of Chicago, because many of you are very committed and interested and engaged around community issues, social issues.”

Douglas also discussed the Obama presidential library, which is scheduled to open in 2021, and addressed the issue of training local community members to work in the new jobs that will become available once the library opens. “Those types of things need to be worked on now so that the community benefits from whatever the library will be doing and the development that will happen around it,” he said.

Douglas also spoke about efforts to reestablish the connection between the University Community Service Center (UCSC) and its founder, Michelle Obama, in light of the presi-

dential library. The UCSC is writing letters in an effort to contact the Obamas, and the Office of Civic Engagement is investigating opportunities to create pipelines between the library and the University.

Douglas also spoke about the Office of Civic Engagement’s five main programs: UCSC, the Neighborhood Schools Program, the Community Programs Accelerator, UChicago Local, and the Student Advisory Council. UCSC, which was previously under the domain of Campus and Student Life, became part of the Office of Civic Engagement this year and works to create internship and volunteering opportunities for students. Douglas stated that the Office of Civic Engagement is working closely with Amy Chan, the director of UCSC. The Executive Committee reported that $1,000 has been set aside for the urban excursion fund.

Also, the community and government liaison reported that the College will be keeping the CTA U-Pass Program, which was introduced last September, for the next academic year.

Also discussed at the meeting was a new initiative by first-year College Council representative Sat Gupta, who has collected enough signatures for a referendum for placing free sanitary pads and tampons in buildings across campus. Under his plan, sanitary pads and tampons will be placed in Regenstein Library, Reynolds Club, Saieh Hall for Economics, Harper Memorial Library, and Ratner Athletics Center.

University Will Not Release Class of 2021 Acceptance Rate Until Autumn

BY PETE GRIEVE & EMILY KRAMER NEWS EDITORS

The University of Chicago does not intend to release admissions numbers this spring for the Class of 2021. This includes the number of applicants and the acceptance rate.

“The numbers will not be final until the third week of fall quarter,” a spokesperson for the University said in a statement to THE MAROON. The University has released

Roomful of Teeth Makes Tongues Wag

Maroons Hope to Continue Hot Streak

Page 5

Page 7

The Grammy Award–winning vocal ensemble captivated audiences at Logan Center.

The men’s tennis team prepares to face off against Gustavus Adolphus College on the heels of a victorious weeklong trip to Southern California.

these numbers in the spring in previous years, and many schools release admissions numbers around this time. All Ivy League institutions released these numbers last week.

The University sent out its regular decisions on March 17. It notified Early Action and Early Decision I applicants in December, and Early Decision II applicants were notified in February. This was the first year that the University offered Early Decision options.

Advertising in THE M AROON If you want to place an ad in THE M AROON, please email ads@chicagomaroon.com or visit chicagomaroon.com/pages/advertise

Excerpts from articles and comments published in T he Chicago Maroon may be duplicated and redistributed in other media and non-commercial publications without the prior consent of The Chicago Maroon so long as the redistributed article is not altered from the original without the consent of the Editorial Team. Commercial republication of material in The Chicago Maroon is prohibited without the consent of the Editorial Team or, in the case of reader comments, the author.

All rights reserved. © The Chicago Maroon 2017

2

THE CHICAGO MAROON - APRIL 7, 2017

Events 4/4 — 4/6 Today Pianist Ran Dank Mandel Hall, 6:30 p.m.

Dank will give a concert entitled “ Politically Inspired: Chopin & Rzewski.” Prior to his performance, a lecture will be given. Student tickets are $5.

Saturday, April 8 Poets in Revolt Workshop 1276 N Milwaukee Ave, 1 p.m.

The University of Chicago Writer’s Studio and 8 2 6 C H I w i l l pr e s e nt a “cr oss-generationa l” work shop a r ou nd t he theme of result in poetry.

Volunteers from both organizations will instruct attendees in a range of poetry exercises and discussions.

Sunday, April 9 Pearl Anderson Shelley Memorial Poetry Workshop Room 801, Logan Center for the Arts. 12 p.m.

The Poets-in-Residence will discuss the work of Gwendolyn Brooks and her philosophy on social protest. Lunch will be provided.

Carla Power - “If The Oceans Were Ink” Seminary Co-Op, 3 p.m.

Journalist Carla Power will discuss her memoir, which focuses on her friendship with Islamic Scholar Sheikh Muhammad Akram.

Monday, April 10 Adam Kotsko - “Prince of this World” Chicago T heological Seminary, 5:15 p.m.

Shimer College professor a nd author Adam Kotsko will discuss his book, wh ich exami nes the complex relationship between faith and evil.

Online New renovations for Crerar Library, an institute for character-building, and a new café to replace Fabiana’s!

SUBSCRIBE! Subscribe to the Maroon newsletter for e-mails every Tuesday and Friday

chicagomaroon.com/newsletter

UCPD to be Reviewed for Reaccreditation

BY MICHAEL LYNCH NEWS STAFF

The University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) is up to have its accreditation reviewed, and is seeking input from the community about its performance.

The UCPD is a private, full-service police force with over a hundred members that serves the University campus and sur rounding proper ty.

UCPD also patrols a large area around the University, between 34th and 67th Streets, in cooperation with the Chicago Police Department. Like many police forces, public and private, UCPD is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).

If a law enforcement agency meets CALEA standards, it is awarded accreditation, which can improve its reputation and status.

CALEA is an independent nonprofit organization made up of a mix of professionals from within law enforcement and other fields.

In a statement to THE M AROON , CALEA described its primary purpose as “to voluntarily improve the delivery of public safety services through the adoption of a set of contemporary best practices (a.k.a. standards) and demonstrating the agency’s compliance with those standards.”

UCPD was first accredited by CALEA in June 2014 and is now up for review by a team of CALEA assessors. According to CALEA’s statement, “All collected information is provided to the Commission for its consideration while determining whether or not the agency has demonstrated compliance with CALEA Standards.”

The decision whether to award accreditation a second time will occur sometime late 2018.

As part of the review,

the assessment team will take public input. In its statement, CALEA said, “The public information portion of the assessment is critical to the accreditation process as it provides an opportunity for both positive and negative feedback from the recipients of the agencies services.”

When UCPD was fi rst being accredited, there were student protests and accusations of racial profiling, and some students oppose accreditation this time around as well. In a statement to THE M AROON, Students Working Against Prisons said, “We are also troubled that CA LEA’s standards are not available on its website and that the public input process has been poorly publicized.

This lack of transparency and apparent disdain for public input render the accreditation process meaningless.”

For its part, UCPD said, “UCPD aspires to provide the highest quality services. The CALEA onsite assessment includes eliciting and receiving feedback on the agency’s ability to meet the 484 standards of CALEA Advanced Law Enforcement Accreditation.

The UCPD embraces all parts of the on-site assessment process and encourages the University community and the public to provide any and all relevant feedback to the CALEA assessors in person, by phone, or in writing.”

Between 2 and 4 p.m. next Tuesday, April 11, members of the University and surrounding communities can call a hotline at (773) 834–8111 to offer comments they have about UCPD. For those who want to offer their comments to the assessors in person, there will be a public forum on April 11 at the University’s Department of Human Resources, at 6054 South Drexel Avenue, Room 144, at 7 p.m.

University to Offer New Mathematics Ph.D. Program

BY DEEPTI SAILAPPAN DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR

A new Ph.D. program in computational and applied mathematics will be introduced this fall.

The program was developed by a committee of faculty in the statistics, computer science, mathematics, neurobiology, astronomy and astrophysics, and human genetics departments

that was formed last year.

It will follow an undergraduate major in computational and applied mathematics that was created in 2014. It is part of a University-wide initiative to explore the intersection of big data and scientific research.

The Ph.D. program has accepted applications for its first class, which is expected to include five students.

Muslim Student Association Hosts “Explore Islam” Week

BY KATHERINE VEGA SENIOR NEWS REPORTER

The Muslim Student Association (MSA) invited the University community to attend six events during its annual “Explore Islam” Week, which takes place from April 3 through April 8. The week featured panels and lectures as well as religious and musical events.

On Wednesday evening, Rabbi David Wietchner, Reverend Stacy Alan, and chaplain Abdul-Malik Ryan sat on a panel discussion entitled “Who is Abraham?”

The panel focused on the significance of the religious figure Abraham in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and also discussed some of the challenges of interfaith dialogue.

Wietchner was born and raised in Israel, and is a visiting Orthodox Rabbi at Hillel as part of the Orthodox Union Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus. Alan first came to the University as the Brent House Episcopalian chaplain in 2005. Ryan is the assistant director of religious diversity at DePaul University. MSA board member Nur Banu Simsek, who works for the Spiritual Life Office, recruited Alan and Wietchner

for the panel.

For Simsek, the panel represented an opportunity to put Islam in context with other religions. “Islam is not a standalone tradition. It is the final seal to a long line of traditions and prophets. It’s important for us to engage with other faith communities especially when they are venerated within our scripture,” Simsek wrote in an e-mail.

Alan wrote in an e-mail to THE MAROON that the panel was both an informative and faith-affirming experience.

“There are also such wonderfully different ways of reading the sacred texts across our three traditions,” Alan said. “Having to talk about my own faith’s understanding of Abraham was clarifying for me, as well, since I hadn’t had much opportunity to focus on his place in the broad scope of Christian tradition before.”

The event also stressed the importance of interfaith work.

“I think the common saying that ‘all religions aim for the same thing’ is just the beginning of the interfaith dialogue—not its conclusion,” Wietchner wrote in an e-mail to THE MAROON. “It would be like a linguistics major saying all they learnt is that all

languages are trying to say the same things. That might be true, to a certain extent, but not very interesting or useful.”

According to Simsek, MSA has been planning the Explore Islam Week since winter quarter. On Monday, Ustadha Shehnaz Karim spoke on the topic “Who is Allah?” On Tuesday, Professor Ahmad El Shamsy gave a lecture on Islam and the Enlightenment. On Thursday, the group hosted an interfaith bake-off at University Church, with the Catholic center Calvert House winning for the third year in a row. Friday at 5:30 p.m. in Bond Chapel, the group will host an interfaith Halaqa, with the discussion entitled “Towards a Muslim Theology of Interfaith: How Knowledge Can Bring Us Together.” On Saturday, Muslim singer and poet Dawud Wharnsby Ali will appear in concert in the Third Floor Theater of Ida Noyes Hall. “[The goal of “Explore Islam” is to] engage the Muslim and non-Muslim community on campus with interesting events that can teach us all new things and have spaces where people can ask questions and come meet Muslims,” Simsek said.

THE CHICAGO MAROON - APRIL 7, 2017

Meera Joshi In this illustration series, I sketched out different scenes based on photographs I took after I was accepted to the University of Chicago. After nearly two years, I decided to return to these photos because I wanted to re-orient myself to the feeling I had when I first visited campus. I wanted to connect that initial, naive idealism with something more grounded in actual experiences. It took some time for me to realize that what I felt two springs ago was not a realistic feeling, and I know there is an extent to which I can romanticize the experience. However, these illustrations capture moments when I was

particularly struck by the beauty of campus; whether it’s the green that peeks out of the snow-covered grounds after a dreary winter, or the “out-of-the-way” corridor between the main quad and Reynolds Club. Through this particular color scheme and by employing an impressionistic and undetailed style, I wanted to bring forth the almost dreamy and imprecise feeling I now associate with that visit. These illustrations are my attempt to convey the potentiality, hope, and realism that comes with the undergraduate experience — emotions that I remember and relive every year.

Harper Memorial Library

Rosenwald Hall

The corridor between Reynolds Club and the main quadrangle

The main quadrangle

Haskell Hall

3

4

THE CHICAGO MAROON - APRIL 7, 2017

VIEWPOINTS Who’s to Say? The University Cherry-Picks What it Considers Hate Speech

Soulet Ali In campuses across the nation, there is a troubling increase in targeted hate speech against minority groups. Our campus in particular, however, seems to be inviting this type of behavior, given that administrators present the campus as a bastion of free speech. On March 9, a man not affiliated with the University was caught hanging racist and anti-Semitic posters around campus; this is only one of a couple of hate-inspired incidents that have plagued this campus over the past year. This disturbing pattern of behavior has raised a huge conf lict of interest for the UChicago administration regarding the distinction between hate speech and free speech. T he University has stood by its nearly immutable stance on its commitment to free speech for the sake of open and rigorous intellectual discussion. However, given the University’s fixation on free speech, why were the posters taken down?

In a February 20 interview with The Wall Street Journal,

University President Robert J. Zimmer said it “would be fine” if UChicago alum and white nationalist Richard Spencer were to come to speak on campus. Despite Spencer’s hateful rhetoric and opinions, Zimmer claims that he, like “anyone else,” is welcome to have a platform to speak on campus. Last week, the Center for Identity and Inclusion hosted a community forum on the campus’s recent hate incidents and participants included representatives from the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD), the Provost’s office, the Organization of Black Students (OBS), and the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. Anton Ford, an assistant professor of philosophy at the College, directly tackled Zimmer’s statement to WSJ. “I was extremely disturbed when the President [Zimmer] said in an interview that he would be just fine with inviting Richard Spencer to campus,” he said. “...[T]his is a man who publicly advocates for ethnic cleansing in the United States.”

Both Richard Spencer and the hateful posters on campus are equally hateful and directly compromise the safety of minorities. However, Spencer is seen as having acceptable opinions while the posters are not. What significant difference is there between the hate speech contained on a poster and the hate speech articulated by a speaker, besides the medium? If the University truly regards the posters as a threat to the safety of the University community, then why does the administration continue to license and essentially enable platforms for speakers who say exactly the same thing?

In his interview with WSJ, Zimmer defends his free speech policy (which includes inviting white nationalists to speak on campus) by saying that it’s “very important not to allow universities to slip into an environment in which they are allowing a kind of suppression of speech.” However, if the administration has no problem inviting Spencer to speak on campus, then it should technically be just as open to the distribution of hateful posters, which share many of Spencer’s opinions. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Un iver sit y ad m i n i st r at ion picks and chooses what type of speech is hateful and what is

just “controversial.”

This idea is further underlined in Provost Daniel Diermeier’s March 11 campus-wide e-mail. Diermeier correctly said that the posters “support[ed] threatening and intolerant behavior.” He then goes on to claim that these posters were “contrary to the values of the University of Chicago and our unwavering commitment to fostering an environment of diversity and inclusion.” Were the posters actually contrary to the

values of UChicago? It doesn’t seem that way if white nationalist Richard Spencer, who also supports “threatening and intolerant behavior” is allowed to speak on campus. The University needs to pick a side: either it is committed to diversity or inclusion, or it is committed to a free speech policy that allows anyone—even white nationalists—to have their say.

Soulet Ali is a first-year in the College.

Emily Xue

The Renter’s Dilemma Annual Rent Increases in Hyde Park are Inevitable, But Possible to Mitigate

Adam Thorp, Editor-in-Chief Hannah Edgar, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Euirim Choi, Managing Editor Stephanie Liu, Managing Editor The MAROON Editorial Board consists of the Editors-in-Chief and editors of THE MAROON.

NEWS

GREY CITY

Emily Kramer, editor Sonia Schlesinger, editor Katie Akin, editor Lee Harris, deputy editor Eugenia Ko, deputy editor Deepti Sailappan, deputy editor Jamie Ehrlich, senior editor Emily Feigenbaum, senior editor Pete Grieve, senior editor

Wendy Lee, editor

VIEWPOINTS

Cole Martin, editor Sarah Zimmerman, editor ARTS

Alexia Bacigalupi, editor MJ Chen, editor Grace Hauck, senior editor SPORTS

Rhea Bhojwani, editor Emmett Rosenbaum, deputy editor DESIGN

Kay Yang, head designer Priyani Karim, design editor

SOCIAL MEDIA

Jamie Ehrlich, editor ONLINE

Vishal Talasani, editor PHOTO

Zoe Kaiser, editor VIDEO

Kenny Talbott La Vega, editor Grace Hauck, editor BUSINESS

Andrew Mamo, chief financial officer Olive Lopez, director of development Antonia Salisbury, director of marketing Ross Piper, director of marketing Taylor Bachelis, director of operations Alex Markowitz, director of strategy Regina Filomeno, business manager Harry Backlund, distributor

COPY

Sophie Downes, copy chief Morganne Ramsey, copy chief Michelle Zhao, copy chief Katrina Lee, deputy copy chief Patrick Lou, deputy copy chief THIS ISSUE

Design Associates: Helen Chen, Henry Gao Copy: Mohammed Bashier, Kate Blankinship, Natalie Crawford, Katie Kahal, James Kon, Marco Laghi, Tanvi Lakhtakia, Rebecca Naimon

Editor-in-Chief E-mail: Editor@ChicagoMaroon.com Newsroom Phone: (773) 702-1403 Business Phone: (773) 702-9555 Fax: (773) 702-3032 For advertising inquiries, please contact Ads@ChicagoMaroon.com or (773) 702-9555.

Circulation: 5,500. © 2016 THE CHICAGO MAROON Ida Noyes Hall / 1212 East 59th Street / Chicago, IL 60637

Jasmine Wu It is almost inevitable that in their second or third year, college students will try their luck and move off campus, whether it is with Mac Properties, Peak Properties, or other real estate firms in Hyde Park. No matter the firm, they all annually raise rents, making rent prices approximately $200 more per month. But, is this increase, when considered against the backdrop of the housing market, fair for students? The answer is a little more complex than one may think. Rent increases are inevitable given that demand for apartments in Hyde Park is so high. While this may not sound fair, off-campus living costs will always be lower than those of living in the dorms.

To give a brief overview of the market to understand where we fit in, it’s essential to under-

stand the housing market more generally. The market is cyclical and characterized by four main phases: recovery, expansion, hypersupply, and recession. Each phase has held a steady 18-year rhythm since 1800, and, currently, we are in the expansion phase. This means that because of increased demand from the recovery phase, vacancy decreases across all real estate asset classes (residential, office, retail, etc.). Occupancy begins to exceed the long-term average and as unoccupied buildings become scarce, landowners raise rents. This is the phase where the price of land ref lects not just the existing state of the market but also the anticipated rent growth to come, and investors, who justify this price with the future growth, overpay. Welcome to the UChicago housing market.

Our rent increases because we make it increase. Students offer a relatively constant demand due to a large portion of the student body choosing to move off campus, which is largely a more affordable option than on-campus housing. Real estate firms, in turn, acknowledge this demand and price rent accordingly. For example, one of the more prominent firms in Hyde Park, Mac, has pushed for a renewal rate that is 3 to 6 percent higher than the former tenants’ price this year.

Their reasoning, according to a Mac consultant, lies in the fact that “the price fluctuates daily based on the market and the market demand.” Does the market demand in Chicago, however, actually enforce this statement?

In Chicago, the answer is no.

While national home prices are anticipated to climb 3.9 percent, the 2017 housing market in the Chicago area is expected to be the weakest out of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas.

The prices of homes throughout the Chicago metropolitan area Continued on page 5

5

THE CHICAGO MAROON - APRIL 7, 2017

Continued from page 4 are expected to climb only just 1.95 percent, which is less than what these fi rms are expecting from us. According to the S&P Core Logic Case-Shiller Index, Chicago’s home prices on average remain about 20 percent below July 2007 levels; it is still one of the slowest areas to recover from the housing market crash.

Why is our rent rising at a higher rate than the economic trend of Chicago?

At UChicago—as much as we don’t want to admit it—the rent aligns with the demographic and economic trends of the area. Gentrifi cation, especially in Hyde Park, has spawned steep rent increases. In the case of demographics, millennials have pushed up the number of renters under the age of 30 by nearly one million over the past decade. In response to record growth in demand, vacancy rates have fallen sharply in markets across the country and the rental housing stock in turn has expanded by approximately 8.2 million units in a decade, from 2005 to 2015. Our overpayment originates from us as students creating a high demand for apartments and, in turn, creating a micro-gentrified and luxurious economy within the greater landscape of Hyde Park, where buildings such as Vue 53 are constructed and ask from us a high rent price of $2,300 per month for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment.

Pushing this discussion even further, I think another conspicuous question should be answered: is it worth living off campus even with the price increase?

Nominal price-wise, let’s do a simple calculation. Assume a typical quarter has three months. Tom is a second-year living in a double in Max Palevsky and is on the unlimited meal plan. His utilities are budgeted in the cost of his room.

Taking the quarterly cost and dividing by three, he will pay $920 for his room and $667 for his meal plan per month.

His total cost per month comes to $1,587.

Take Beverly. She is a third-year living in a median-priced off-campus apartment. Her utilities are not included, and she has to buy her own groceries for her meals. Per month, she will pay $750 for her apartment, $20 for utilities (including water), $10 for Wi-Fi, and $259.10 for groceries. Her total cost per month comes to $1,039.

Even with a renewal rate that is 3 to 6 percent higher than the original price factored into her apartment cost, Beverly will still spend $347—$548 less than Tom per month. This allots to $3,123 to $4,932 of savings per school year.

Off-campus housing, economically, is therefore more efficient than on-campus housing. Following this, I took a look at the percentage of active listings with price drops in the Chicago metro area from January 2012 to February of this year to see if there was a pattern. From the chart above, the cyclical nature summarizes the best and worst months to buy. Best months are February, May, July and October, due to a historical 0.2 percent month-over-month decrease in price. Worst months are September and January due to a historical 0.2 percent month-over-month increase in price.

This is neither absolute nor consistent, but it illuminates a hope that while the housing market can be fierce, it is not without reason. Fair or not, increases in rent are impossible to avoid, but it is possible to mitigate the brunt of its impact.

Jasmine Wu is a second-year in the College majoring in philosophy and economics.

ARTS Roomful of Teeth Makes Tongues Wag

BY CHLOÉ BARDIN MAROON CONTRIBUTOR

On Sunday, April 2, the eight-voice ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, made its first appearance in Chicago at Logan Center Performance Hall with a breathtaking concert for both the singers and the audience.

The curiosity of this group begins with its very name, an enigma in itself. When this Grammy-award-winning group is presented as “reimagining the expressive potential of the human voice,” it’s hard to know what to expect. The group is known for working with a variety of vocal traditions, from Korean p’ansori to Persian classical techniques to death metal.

Its program, featuring two compositions, was based on the dynamism between the individual and the collective. The performers, without costume or dress code, appeared not as a group but as individuals. That is, until they started singing. The first piece, Ted Hearne’s “Coloring Book,” was a vocal composition based on poems written by James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, and Claudia Rankine reflecting on their blackness.

As he introduced “Coloring Book,” artistic director and conductor Brad Wells explained that for Hearne, this composition was an “exploration on his own whiteness through the poetry of African-American poets from three generations.” The eight voices assembled in dissonant harmony, dissected each word into a myriad of sounds, pitches, melodies, as if unveiling their inner possibilities.

Vocalizing the poems brought out the violence of the poets’ questions, and the yearning for an answer. The composition

used all the features of voice: mechanical speech combined with the sound of breathing became notes and heartbeats. The singers’ voices gathered in a masterful exploration of how identity is constructed both from the outside and from within. Each individual voice interacted with the others in a horizontal construction, without creating hierarchy.

The second piece was the Pulitzer-winning Partita for 8 Voices composed by Caroline Shaw, a member of Roomful of Teeth.

Beginning with smiles and careful glances to one another, the performers acted much more as a cohesive group, singing without a conductor. Their sounds evolved in symbiosis, moving slowly to a breathtaking

climax. If the first composition was already impressive in the mastering of rhythm, this second half was incomparable in terms of vocal techniques. This piece skillfully wove together different musical traditions: crystal clear soprano voices of classical Western music blended with Inuit throat singing techniques and nasal Corsican voices. The audience, up to this point sitting in a thick, focused silence, responded collectively and with enthusiasm to the sudden, coordinated shift from a general humming to a clear harmony in Passacaglia, the last movement.

“For me, these pieces, and especially the Partita for 8 Voices, are all about joy and simplicity. This is how I feel when I sing,” said Martha Culver, one of the sopranos, af-

ter the performance. How can something apparently as technical, complex, and meaningful as what I just heard be described as simple and joyful?

Perhaps it was the simplicity in their postures, their outfits, or the simple joy of creating sound together, of coexisting and of feeling that it is possible to live one’s voice fully while being part of a larger entity, never oppressed, never isolated. The performance was an astonishing journey through the borderless land of voice, sound, speech, and music, while remaining a deep and essential human experience.

Roomful Of Teeth: restless, unstable, disruptive, dissonant. Fearless.

Courtesy of Bonica Ayala Photography Roomful of Teeth filled Logan Center with joyful noise on Sunday. (Partita composer Caroline Shaw is third from left.)

6

THE CHICAGO MAROON - APRIL 7, 2017

uchicago MANUAL OF

STYLE

by alexia bacigalupi, mj chen, & chris d’angelo

SHERLOCK ZIAUDDIN / FOURTH-YEAR

The look harkens back to an era of dandiness. It’s very capital ‘R’ Romantic. My aesthetic and artistic sensibilities are very Romantic—I gravitate towards rich, dark colors, intricate prints, stuff that’s gorgeous but also macabre. I have colors that I associate with the poetry of John Keats.

Keats’s poetry gradates from shades of gray to dark red to pale blush. I also think of teal when I think of Keats’ poetry, but I think that’s a different association. Gray and blush represent a fragility that I try to evoke. There’s a stanza in La Belle Dame sans Merci: “I see a lily on thy brow/ With anguish moist and fever-dew./ And on thy cheeks a fading rose/ Fast withereth too.

“I’ve started wearing red eyeshadow lately—it’s very “poet crawling out of an opium den after three days.” That’s the look.

I’m a bio major and cinema and media-studies minor. I use they/them pronouns and have been involved in theater.

“It’s very capital ‘R’ Romantic.”

Sherlock is wearing a leather jacket, an oversized patterned shirt, velvet trousers, and suede loafers, all thrifted.

Something that I haven’t spent enough time with is how my own sense of culture affects my dress. I’m predominantly informed by Western styles, but my dad’s side of the family is Middle Eastern and I want to incorporate more of that.

I would be remiss if I didn’t include Alex Turner in this review of my fashion sense.

I draw a little bit less from him now, but he was definitely my masc inspo for a good three years. I built up to a point of being comfortably masc and started adding on elements of elegance and flamboyance by starting from the baseline of how Alex Turner dresses. And on the other hand, there’s the school of Keats, Byron, Shelley, Rimbaud—hair disheveled, buttons undone, fingers smeared with ink. I lounge in dressing gowns when I’m at home. It’s been cool to see these styles have created a more cohesive sense of fashion over the years. I think currently I’m at a Patti Smith-esque combination of everything, and that feels very comfortable to me.

To close it out I’ll say—fuck man, I don’t know, I think I look cool. —SHERLOCK

“Percy Bohemian-punk-poet or rockstar Rimbaud is how I’d describe my style; or more eloquently, Percy Shelley after a drunken night out with Lord Byron. This version of Shelley is waking up the morning after with a killer hangover. Not so much destructive as decadent—like, the satin sheets are stained with wine and there’s a 50-page manuscript I don’t recall writing scattered at the foot of the bed. It’s poetry, and it’s damn beautiful.

In practice, my style is an eclectic mix of patterns and textures. I don’t shop at stores anymore—they scare me, honestly. The reproducibility of fashion terrifies me a little bit; you go into a store and the racks have 50 of the same thing. Most of what I’m wearing came from donation bins and resale shops. I like light soft blouses and denim as a go-to. I wish I had more velvet. Rich colors and patterns like paisley and florals are also central to my style. I’ve heard my aesthetic described as the feeling of crocuses peeking through the mud in early spring—it’s dark and dirty, but also very hopeful and bright and beautiful.

Expressing my gender identity through fashion used to be difficult. I place myself on the fem-masc spectrum rather than the femme-butch spectrum. When I was younger, I wasn’t sure how to incorporate prettiness or delicacy or elegance without losing the masculinity.

A lot of being masc also has to do with how I carry myself, too: how I walk, how I sit. I’m wearing pants that make my legs look as straight as possible—I don’t want curves, that’s not masc. Youthful and boyish, generally androgynous. I won’t usually wear dresses, but I will wear floral-print shirts. I’ll wear a velvet blazer.

Shelly after a drunken night out with Lord Byron.”

Sherlock is wearing a relaxed-fit shirt, a floral brocade jacket, distressed jeans, Van Gogh socks, oxfords from Dr. Martens, and a neckerchief, mostly thrifted.

7

THE CHICAGO MAROON - APRIL 7, 2017

At “Yummy Yummy,” Students Deliver “Exceptionally Delicious Art”

BY RENEE WAH MAROON CONTRIBUTOR

Last Friday night, the Logan Center hosted a packed opening—the Department of Visual Art’s B.A. Thesis Exhibition, “Yummy Yummy.” The fi rst floor was brimming with students animatedly examining the projects of nearly a dozen fourth-year students. Against a disco soundtrack of Breanne Johnson’s Untitled (Multimodal), the artists displayed photo collages, displaced patches of lawn, a tank of goldfish, and a “KINDBOY Host Club,” tucked in the back corner with pink fleshy bubble wrap covering the walls and floor.

The fi rst installation, Juliet Eldred’s photographic tapestry of satellite imagery, hangs on the exterior wall of the exhibit. While the piece, titled Ground Truth, initially appears to be a coherent image, a closer inspection reveals that the photos are arranged to connect transit lines across image boundaries.

“I’ll have a highway run into a river, or railroad tracks run into a highway,” Eldred said.

Inside the gallery—on the opposite side of the same wall—there are prints of interior spaces that Eldred found on the site InstaCam, which constantly gathers video footage from unsecured surveillance cameras. The prints provide glimpses into owl habitats, suburban streets, and more.

The two opposite perspectives speak to different conceptions of surveillance, an insight that Eldred attributes to the curation process, when the B.A. students decided how to arrange their works within the space.

“Marcus Warren, the shop coordinator, mentioned, ‘Hey, if anyone wants to use the outside wall, they can do that’ and I thought, ‘Hmm, that’d be interesting to

use,’” Eldred said. “It really put all the pieces together for me.”

A variety of large installation pieces occupy the gallery space. The live security camera feed of the gallery’s observers and an “Empire Liquor” sign of Nicholas Jiwoo Hahn’s Black Korea evoke a run-down bodega surveillance setup. Next to it stands a piece of Kenneth Zheng’s It Will Be Lost to the Sea & No One Can Stop It—images projected onto the water of a live goldfish tank. Over the speakers, Zheng tells the story of the goldfish that, like him, originate in China but live in Chicago. To Zheng, goldfish represent many things: the globalization and importation of Chinese culture, childhood, and, ultimately, the diaspora of the Chinese-American community. On the wall above the tank, a series of intricate ink drawings, Zheng’s Divorce Machines, describes a schematic of mechanisms to cope with divorce, both legal and emotional.

“They’re very narrative-driven,” Zheng said. The drawings overflow with minute details, such as a Versace chair and a lucky cat figurine.

Occupying the back corner of the exhibit is the KINDBOY Host Club, a joint project by B.A. student Angela Lin and third-years Keely Zhang and Sophia Sheng. The Host Club (which will be open frequently during the span of the exhibition) is accessed through a side entrance, where a Host Club guide asks guests to remove their shoes before moving through a tunnel of pink bubble wrap, called “the throat.” Guests may then pick a host to entertain them.

The exhibit draws on the tradition of Japanese host clubs, where male hosts entertain female guests as their dates. At this club, hosts serve tea, paint nails, or tell fortunes. Lin, Zhang, and Sheng de-

signed this club to address questions of Asian masculinity, intimacy, and disillusionment. After participating in the project as a “Kind Boy,” Zhang noted how the trauma of performing for the hosts, whose simplistic personas—ultimately culled from their real personalities—could not be entirely separated from the participants themselves.

When I visited walked through the installation, the bubble wrap in the “throat” of the club had already been trampled by previous guests, and people were gleefully attacking the bubbles on the walls.

After getting my nails painted, “Breezyboy” handed me a twist of rope, meant to represent a piece of his heart, which I could take with me or return his glass jar (labelled “Breezyboy”) so that he could

be redeemed from the club. As fun as the experience was, the fragility of the surroundings left me feeling implicated and disturbed.

While each of the exhibit’s works was original, all seemed to be in conversation.

The connections between the works were a testament to the skill of the DoVA B.A. Thesis team. Overall, the B.A. exhibition was a brilliant, enlivening exhibit—or as one writer in the guestbook put it, “Exceptionally Delicious!”

“Yummy Yummy” includes works by Juliet Eldred, Jurrell Lewis, Nicholas Jiwoo Hahn, Gabby Davis, Alex Whitmore, Kenneth Zheng, Angela Lin, Breanne Johnson, Gwen Kouen Seol, and Chak Hon Ambrose Iu. It will be open until April 23 on the first floor of the Logan Center.

Renee Wah Eldred’s Ground Truth greets visitors entering the exhibition space of the Logan Center.

SPORTS IN-QUOTES... “ I don’t sit, I’m a hooper.” — NBA Star Kevin Durant on not playing due to injury

Maroons Hope to Continue Hot Streak MEN’S TENNIS

BY NATALIE DEMURO SPORTS STAFF

The No. 5 University of Chicago men’s tennis team is back in action this weekend for a matchup with No. 31 Gustavus Adolphus College in its fi rst competition since spring break. The squad holds a 13–2 record, with its only losses coming from No. 1 Emory University in the ITA Indoor Championship Final in February and No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in its third of four matches played over spring break. Gustavus’s 19 –7 record features a 7–2 loss at the hands of No. 11 Pomona-Pitzer, a team that UChicago took down earlier this season, 7–2.

Last year, the Maroons and Gusties faced off twice during the season, with the Maroons taking home victories in both matches. UChicago beat then-No. 18 Gustavus 7–2 during the regular season, winning No. 2 doubles before sweeping singles play. The teams also met up in the third round of the NCA A DIII Championship last May. The then-No. 8 Maroons dropped two matches at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, but handily took four singles matches to secure a 5–2 win over the Gusties.

The Maroons are coming off of a successful weeklong trip to Southern California, where they knocked off both No. 29 Colby College and No. 19 Tufts

University with matching 9–0 wins. The squad fell 7–2 to No. 2 CMS before rebounding with a 6–3 victory over No. 9 Williams College. Third-year Nick Chua was selected as UAA Athlete of the Week on March 27 after going 3–1 at the No. 1 singles spot over the break. Chua, who has a 14–4 record in singles play this year, moved up to the top position after third-year David Liu was sidelined with an injury earlier this season.

The Gusties are riding a two-game winning streak, having taken down No. 34 Southwestern University and No. 17 University of Texas–Tyler on a recent trip to Texas. Gustavus faces DePauw on Saturday before its matchup with the Maroons on Sunday morning.

Third-year Bobby Bethke said of the team’s recent training, “Everybody on the team has been working really hard since we got back from spring break.

We had a successful trip, but saw that we still have ground to make up on the teams ahead of us. We’ve spent the past two weeks training hard to ensure we’re well prepared for the stretch run of the season, and hopefully that hard work will pay off on Sunday.” He added, “Gustavus is a respected regional team that always competes hard and rolls out a strong doubles lineup, so I think it’ll be a fun match. We’re all looking forward to the match and the opportunity to start

the quarter off well.”

The match is set to begin at 10 a.m. at a neutral site in West Bend, Wisconsin. The Maroons will play two more regular season matches on April 15 and

Third-year Nicholas Chua returns a shot.

16 against No. 39 UW–Whitewater and No. 6 Washington University–St. Louis before heading to Florida for the start of the UAA Championships on April 21.

University of Chicago Athletics Dept.

CLASSIFIEDS 2, 3, 4 BED APARTMENTS FOR RENT 56TH & DREXEL. HEAT/WIFI INCL. CALL EDWARD 773-550-6854

8

THE CHICAGO MAROON - APRIL 7, 2017

SPORTS Softball Hopes to Wash Away Wash U SOFTBALL

BY MAGGIE O’HARA SPORTS STAFF

The Chicago softball team will face off against Wash U (13 – 6) for the first time in a decade this weekend. The last time the two teams played one another was in 2007.

This will be the first of two UA A weekends for the Maroons this season, though it will not count for either team in the UA A standings. The weekend will feature four games total between the two teams: two games on Saturday and another two on Sunday.

While Wash U leads the all-time series 8 –2, the Maroons (10 –7) come into this weekend hungry for wins against the Bears. As none of the current players have played Wash U during their tenure, the team looks forward to be-

ing able to participate in the storied rivalry between the two schools.

Wash U enters this weekend coming off a hotly contested four-game series with Emory in which they went 2 –2.

They were shut out by Emory in both games of the doubleheader on the first day but then came back the next day to return the favor to Emory, blanking them by a score of 8 – 0. The fourth game of the series was a high-scoring, extra-inning game ending in favor of the Bears, 10 –8.

The Maroons, on the other hand, are coming off a 1–3 weekend. Though the record on paper for the weekend isn’t favorable, each game was fought tooth and nail until the last pitch, leaving the team fired up to capitalize on big wins.

Fourth-year WA A athlete of the

week Anna Woolery is looking forward to playing Wash U for the first time in her career. She recognizes the difficulty in a four-game series, but looks forward to the challenge that it brings.

She notes that the team is in a good place, despite coming off a tough weekend. “ This weekend will be a good challenge for us because it’s difficult to play and beat a team four times,” Woolery said. “However, we’re in a good place to take on Wash U. Last weekend ended with solid intensity and focus that we’ve continued to build on that this week.”

Both the Bears and the Maroons have been led by a strong pitching staff this season. The Maroons’ staff is anchored by third-year Molly Moran who is striking out 1.2 batters per

inning.Moran has been a key to the team’s success this season and looks to continue to dominate on the mound down the stretch. She is complemented effectively by both second-year Jordyne Prussak and first-year Megan Stoppelman, and together the pitching staff continually knocks its opponents off balance.

The Maroons also look to garner success from their underclassmen, as the team is made up of 11 underclassmen compared to four upperclassmen.

The newcomers to the team have already made high-level contributions and will continue to be a source of strength.

The Maroons will kick off on Saturday with a doubleheader set for 1 p.m. and will play another doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

UChicago Ready to Battle Finlandia in Four-Game Series BASEBALL

BY GARY HUANG SPORTS STAFF

Coming off of a weekend where they swept the UW–Superior Yellow Jackets three games to none, the University of Chicago baseball team (11–4) will host Finlandia University (3–15) in a pair of doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.

The Maroons have not lost since March 23 during their spring break trip to Florida, and are currently riding a hot six-game winning streak.

Their bats have certainly come alive, winning by margins of six or more in half of those games. The pitching has also been instrumental, as UChicago pitchers have allowed only one run in 23 innings against the Yellow Jackets.

Twenty batters were struck out by the Maroon pitching staff, while only 16 hits were allowed.

With four games in two days, UChicago will definitely draw from their deep roster and play many different players. Strong depth in all classes from first- to fourth-years will provide the

Maroons with the fresh legs and arms to succeed this weekend.

Finlandia comes to town with only three wins to claim and has given up an average of nine runs a game this season. Their roster features only three upperclassmen and will struggle to battle against a determined, veteran Maroon squad.

A sked about the S outh Siders’ strong start to the season, fourth-year Tom Prescott commented, “Our hitting has been great this year. A lot of our runs have been scored with two outs, and we’ve been much more timely with our hitting.”

He also praised the pitching staff, “Our pitching has become very solid.

We’re throwing a lot of strikes, getting ahead of batters, and keeping the ball near the (strike) zone.”

In preparation for the upcoming weekend, Prescott said that the team was “focused on getting ahead of Finlandia early.” Scoring a lot of runs early in the game gives us momentum and lets pitchers feel comfortable up there

knowing they have room for error.” The team will also find it essential to “focus on keeping errors to a minimum and having Finlandia earn every base.”

After a gloomy few days in Chicago with lots of rain and gusts of wind,

the forecast this weekend has indicated perfect days for ball. Saturday will be a sunny 67 degrees, and Sunday’s temperature will increase to 74 degrees with a few clouds for cover. Both doubleheaders will start at noon. Play ball!

University of Chicago Athletics Dept.

Third-year pitcher Ricardo Fernandez delivers a pitch to home plate.

Outdoor Season Hopes to Keep Spark Going TRACK & FIELD

BY SIDDHARTH KAPOOR ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

The University of Chicago track team began the outdoor season on a positive note as they hosted the Ted Haydon Invitational over the weekend.

The invitational was a successful one for both the men and the women.

The men recorded four victories on the day and ended up finishing second in a pool of 14 teams with 178 points, losing out to Benedictine University who had 216.8 points. They particularly excelled in the stamina events, with fourth-year Nick Nielsen and firstyear Ralph Patejunas finishing first in the 3,000- and 5,000-meter events, respectively.

W hile this was a great showing,

the women had an even better one, finishing first in 11 different events and dominating the competition with 265.5 points. Indeed, the disparity was so much that second-placed Loyola University could only muster up 107 points.

First-year Mary Martin was the star of the show with three victories in the 100-meter (12.72), the long jump (5.47m), and as part of the 4x100-meter relay alongside fourth-year Eleanor Kang, fourth-year Charissa Newkirk, and first-year Alisha Harris. Martin’s performance was so good that she was rewarded with the UA A Field Athelete of the Week.

On her accomplishment, Martin said, “It’s always exciting to have your achievements recognized, so it was nice to be named athlete of the week.

I think it also ref lects how great of a coaching team we have here because without them none of this would be possible”.

The Maroons hope to improve even more as they head on the road to compete in the Wheaton Invite. The event will serve as good practice for the upcoming UAA championships in a couple of weeks. With their domination in the previous meet, the Maroons will hope that this momentum will lead to an even better showing at the Wheaton Invite.

The South Siders will make a short drive to the western suburbs for Saturday a fternoon’s outdoor meet at Wheaton College. Even though it is a short distance, the Maroons will not have the familiarity of home conditions

which they used to great effect during the indoor season, as well as the Ted Haydon Invitational last week. But this will get them up to speed with the unfamiliar conditions they will face in Massachusetts during the UA A Championships. While the men dominated the long-distance events, so did the women with third-years Khia Kurtenbach and Kelsey Dunn in the 1,500and 3,000-meter races, respectively. “ I think everyone is looking forward to this weekend,” Martin said. “ The real focus is actually conference in a few weeks’ time, so we are mainly using the next few meets to work stuff out for then.”

The meet is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 8 at McCully Stadium at Wheaton College.