Chicagomaroon050917

MAY 9, 2017

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

VOL. 128, ISSUE 45

SG Announces Election Results

BY KATIE AKIN NEWS EDITOR

the backbone of UChicago.”

In addition, a letter of voluntary recognition was submitted to Edward H. Levi Hall, the University’s main administration building. With the letter, the University could officially recognize GSU as a union without an election being held by GSU members. Although this method is not that common among newly formed unions, letters of voluntary recognition can

The results of the 2018 Student Government (SG) election were announced at 5 p.m. on Friday.

T he w i n n i n g exe c ut ive slate was R ise, wh ich ra n unopposed and earned 1,008 votes. T he members of the slate—third-years Calvin Cottrell and Chase Harrison and second-year Sabine Nau—told T H E M A R O ON last week that they will prioritize improving communication between SG and the student body.

The referendum to provide sanitary pads and tampons in all campus bathrooms passed, with 1,021 votes in favor.

Christina Uzzo was elected as the Undergraduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees, one of the few contested positions in this election. In a statement to T HE M A ROON , Uzzo said that she plans to focus on improving accessibility on campus.

The Graduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees will be Erica Watkins, a third-year in the Booth School of Business.

Continued on page 2

Continued on page 3

Brooke Nagler Graduate Students Union members rally on the Quad. GSU said at the rally that it filed a petition to the NLRB.

Grads, Undergrad Library Workers File to Unionize

BY TYRONE LOMAX NEWS STAFF

Two student groups on campus, Graduate Students United (GSU) and the Student Library Employees Union (SLEU), filed petitions to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for union recognition this week.

In an event around noon at the main quad today, GSU announced that they filed a petition for official

recognition early Monday morning. Shortly after the rally, a small number of members went to deliver the group’s signature cards to a regional NLRB office.

Amanda Shubert, a GSU department organizer, expressed enthusiasm for GSU’s filing at the rally. “We’re really excited to say we just filed for a union election for graduate employees at UChicago,” she said. “Graduate employees perform essential work and are really

Brooke Nagler Above: Calvin Cottrell, student body president-elect. Below: Christina Uzzo won a contested race for undergraduate liaison to the board of trustees.

From Alley El to Arts Block: A History of Garfield’s Green Line Stop

BY GREG ROSS NEWS STAFF

Across the soggy spring fields of Washington Park sits the CTA’s oldest El station, and its future is up for grabs. The University hopes to include the original Garfield station—which lies across the street from the current Garfield Green Line stop—in the newest phase of its “Arts Block,” casting one Washington Park resident’s plan into doubt.

While the original Garfield station no longer operates today, it once served thousands of commuters. One October day in 1892, 10,000 people per hour passed through the gates of this small brick building under the El tracks.

They were headed to Jackson Park to see the World’s Columbian Exposition. While the opening of the fair was still several months away, Chicagoans and visitors alike were

eager to lay their eyes upon the gleaming “White City” that would show Chicago off to the world.

Meanwhile, construction crews on East 63rd Street were hard at work. Snaking its way through the South Side, Chicago’s first elevated railroad would soon transport millions of visitors to and from the fair. As tracks were laid and steel beams made, the Alley El aimed to arrive at its Jackson Park terminus before the fair’s grand opening.

Before the Alley El—today’s Green Line—reached Jackson Park in May 1893, trains temporarily terminated at East Garfield Boulevard in Washington Park. A reporter noted that the Alley El’s completion “will be received with much satisfaction by the small army of fair employees who have been tramping to their offices through a mile or more of snow from the nearest railway station.”

The small Garfield station was a busy place. More than 100,000 passengers disembarked at Garfield on October 21, 1892, about a week after the station opened. On their way to the White City, they passed through the fields of Washington Park and the quadrangles of the new University of Chicago, broken in by the University’s inaugural class just three weeks earlier.

Today, little remains of this scene. Most of the fair’s structures and promenades are long gone; even the rickety El tracks on East 63rd Street have bitten the dust, demolished in the 1990s, leaving Cottage Grove as the Green Line’s eastern terminus.

Yet a piece of the past lingers a couple stops above Cottage Grove.

Across the street from the current Garfield Green Line station, the original 1892 Garfield station remains. White paint peels off brick,

rusty grates gate the ticket window, and, though people no longer pass through its doors, the structure still stands.

“The very fact that it’s still standing is a nod to the city’s ever-expanding, ever-changing system of transit,” said Peter Alter, a historian at the Chicago History Museum. “If you hopped on the Alley El in 1892 or ’93, what would have been pulling your car was much different, almost like a small steam engine. It was more like riding a large train on elevated tracks. And there were all sorts of concerns. People would wonder, ‘How is the train going to stay up there? It’s going to collapse.’”

While the original Garfield station closed to commuters in 2001 when service shifted to the new station across the street, it retains a special significance for history Continued on page 3

JSA Cultural Show

Senior Day, Sox Stadium

Page 5

Page 8 As their season nears its end, the baseball team honored its graduating seniors and swept Illinois Institute of Technology.

Axelrod and Rove at the IOP Page 2 “They’re willing to conduct warfare in the pages of the Washington Post and The New York Times…this is completely unconstructive.”

Portrait: Student Dancers En Pointe Page 6

Adam Thorp

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 9, 2017

Events

Karl Rove Talks French Election, Trump at IOP

5/9 — 5/11 Today The T r u mp Ta x Pla n: A Boon to the Economy or Fiscal Madness?

Institute of Politics, 5 p.m.

A nt i-t a x c r u s ader G r over Norquist and Obama-era Head of the Council of Economic Advisors and Booth School professor Austan Goolsbee meet to talk through the implications of Donald Trump’s tax plan.

Graduate Council: Unionization Town Hall Kent Hall, Room 107, 6 p.m.

Graduate Council has assembled a panel of informed voices with diverse perspectives on the topic of graduate student unionization to speak to students at a moderated town hall.

Wednesday, May 10 Wednesday Lunch: Chicago Coalition for the Homeless Swift Hall, 12 p.m.

Five dollars gets you a threecourse vegetarian meal and a talk by speakers from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

Thursday, May 11 The Climate of Utopia Neubauer Collegium, 4 p.m.

Daniel Williams relates the utopian literary tradition to modern concerns about climate change. RSVP to be sure of receiving a copy of Williams’s paper beforehand.

The Trudeau Appeal: The Rise of Canada’s Prime Minister Quadrangle Club, Main Dining Room, 5 p.m.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Principal Secretary Gerald Butts comes to campus to discuss Trudeau’s rise in Canadian politics and U.S.–Canada relations.

Operation Breadbasket 57th Street Books, 6 p.m.

In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. founded and Jesse Jackson directed a campaign for economic security for black Chicagoans. Martin L. Deppe, a pastor who watched the program from the beginning, presents his book on the topic.

See more at chicagomaroon.com/ events. Submit your own events through our intuitive interface.

ONLINE: Changes at the economics department; New research on celiac disease; Carillonneurs set out on Midwest tour; Rats at the Reg.

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

chicagomaroon.com/newsletter

Feng Ye David Axelrod speaks to Karl Rove, Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for George W. Bush at an IOP event. Rove discussed the French presidential election and the Trump administration.

BY LEE HARRIS DEPUTY EDITOR

Institute of Politics Director David Axelrod sat down with Karl Rove, former White House deputy chief of staff under George W. Bush, to discuss international shifts in political ideology and the 2016 presidential election on Monday.

Axelrod began the conversation by pointing to recent surges of populism in Europe, asking Rove to discuss Marine Le Pen’s loss to Emmanuel Macron in Sunday’s French presidential election.

Rove attributed Brexit, support for Le Pen, and other populist stirrings to European economic troubles and to the outsized power exercised by the European Union.

“Particularly among older voters,

there was a sense that they had lost authority to these anonymous bureaucrats in Brussels,” Rove said.

Axelrod and Rove agreed that Macron’s win is far from a signal of the defeat of nationalist politics in France, and that the rising tide of populism will continue to spread across Europe.

“We’re seeing this all across Europe. If not for Merkel, we’d see this in Germany,” Rove said. “This is the beginning, not the end. [Le Pen] got almost twice the percentage that her father got.” Marine Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, is the founder of France’s far-right Front National party, and received 18 percent of the vote when he ran against Jacques Chirac in 2002, compared to his daughter’s near 40 percent.

Turning to the Trump administration, Rove said he worried that Trump is influenced by the mercantilist policies of Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon, who advocate against trade deficits at all costs.

Rove emphasized that Trump is uninformed on key economic facts, citing a private conversation in which the president was surprised to learn that America has a trade surplus with Canada.

Rove said that Trump makes an effort to appoint cabinet members who do not agree with him on all issues, and praised his choices of Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, as Rove says they aren’t afraid to disagree with the President.

“There’s a willingness to toler-

ate people around him who don’t share his, you know, ‘yes, I’ll agree with everything you tell me to do and go execute,’ and who say, ‘here’s what I think,’” Rove said.

Rove commended Trump’s ability to hear points of view that diverge from his own, but criticized the infighting of the current administration, saying that staff members are eager to leak stories to the press, and that White House culture was entirely different when he worked for the Bush administration.

“The idea that, in this White House, people are so disloyal to the President and their colleagues that they’re willing to conduct warfare in the pages of the Washington Post and The New York Times…I think this is completely unconstructive.”

Rove later shifted away from conflict in the White House administration to criticize the Affordable Care Act, although he did not explicitly endorse Trump’s alternative health care bill. He argued that Obamacare places too heavy a burden on young, healthy members.

“Anybody below the age of 50 is paying a higher premium than they would otherwise pay, in order to subsidize people who are 54 to 65, despite the fact that that is the group that has, on average, higher incomes, greater wealth, and fewer childbearing and childrearing expenses than everybody below them,” Rove said.

He quoted from the new bill being proposed by the GOP, which states that pre-existing conditions should not “limit access” to consumers seeking a health care plan.

“Yeah, but Karl, I have access to a Maserati. It doesn’t mean I can afford to buy one,” Axelrod said.

“Saying that you have access to health care doesn’t mean you can afford it.”

Graduate Students and Student Library Employees Move to Unionize Continued from front

be used to form an officially recognized union.

Composed of over 2,000 members, GSU has vocalized graduate unionization in addition to other benefits on campus since 2007.

Last year, GSU voted to remain affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT), and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

Through continual dialogue with University faculty, GSU has been able to increase graduate students’ stipends and teaching remunerations, and expand health care coverage and childcare grants. If they are officially recognized, GSU will be able to more effectively bargain with the University.

GSU’s current aims center on increasing graduate student representation to the University, improving the current conditions of working graduates, and placing more stringent protections in place for those who need to file grievances.

The election to determine GSU’s unionization is expected to occur in late June.

Meanwhile, UChicago’s SLEU filed a petition to the NLRB for union recognition yesterday. Composed of roughly 175 members, most of them undergraduates,

SLEU is one of the first unions in the country from a private university to do so.

If approved by the NLRB, the petition will determine the date of a future election that will certify SLEU’s official recognition. With recognition, SLEU members aim to negotiate for higher wages, increased control over working hours, and third-party representation in cases of Title IX, ADA, or labor violations.

SLEU is currently working with another local Illinois union, Teamsters Local 743. SLEU represents the experiences of students working from libraries across campus. Despite the diversity of members’ working environments, all of them share certain similar experiences, according to third-year and SLEU co-coordinator Michael Weinrib.

“Certain departments face more difficult challenges with respect to understaffing and hiring freezes, but all student library workers face an impenetrable bureaucracy if they need to file a complaint for Title IX, ADA, or labor violations,” Weinrib wrote in an e-mail to THE MAROON. Additionally, current wages have often required library workers to choose between work and educa-

Brooke Nagler

tion, Weinrib said. The benefits of gaining recognition could restore the balance between these aspects of library workers’ lives, allowing students to worry less about working 20 hours a week and re-engage in campus life.

These sentiments encouraged SLEU’s founding in fall 2016.

Since then, knowledge of the union remained between the students involved in order to avoid administrative interference, according to Weinrib. This was in part a reaction to an August 2016 statement released by the administration critical of graduate unionizing.

Weinrib expressed confidence in the possibility that SLEU will gain official recognition, as well as the benefits such recognition can provide. “We believe that through collective bargaining student workers will be better able to win higher wages and better working conditions that will allow them to prioritize their academic work over their jobs in the library,” he said.

In order for the election to pass, if approved by the board, a 50-percent member approval is required.

According to Weinrib, current member approval hovers around 50 percent.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 9, 2017

“[The station] is an acknowledgement of the history of this city” Students Elect Executive Slate, College Council Representatives Continued from front

buffs and transit aficionados. According to Graham Garfield, the CTA’s general manager of customer information, it is the oldest remaining rapid transit station in Chicago and possibly the oldest in the country. “[The station] is an acknowledgement of the history of this city, the South Side, the World’s Fair,” Alter said. “Just as people interested in the history of old ballparks go to Wrigley Field, the station—in a smaller, older way—is that place for city transit.”

A mix of Queen Anne and Chicago-style architecture, the station is unassuming but unique. Garfield mentioned that the CTA hopes to restore the station’s original color scheme. White and green paint currently obscure the original red brick, which was once multicolored near the top of the building.

The station also occupies a unique place in the Washington Park community. Since the station closed 16 years ago, Cecilia Butler, president of the Washington Park Advisory Council, has pushed to repurpose the station as a community center and museum. “The minute the CTA put up the new station, that’s when we started advocating,” Butler said.

Despite repeated requests to the CTA to transfer ownership to a community-led group, Butler said the CTA “did nothing with the building for years.” It wasn’t until last year, she said, when the CTA received a $25 million feder-

Greg Ross The old 1892 Garfield station stands across the street from the current Garfield Green Line station.

al grant to renovate the current Garfield Green Line station, that it began soliciting bids for the original station.

In the meantime, the University has revealed plans to include the station in its Arts Block project, a repurposing of several properties between South Prairie Avenue and South King Drive. “Our goal is to provide a platform for individual artists, emerging entrepreneurs and other community organizations, as well as celebrate the rich history of Washington Park and the historic CTA station,” said Sonya Malunda, the University’s senior associate vice president for community engagement.

CTA spokesman Steve Mayberry said the contract for the original station—which stands across

the street from the current Green Line station—has yet to go before the Chicago Transit Board. The CTA does not know when, or if, it will be awarded to the University.

“Now the community is pitted against the money of the University,” Butler said. She envisions the station as a future home for the Washington Park Historical Society. Asked where the society is located now, she looked around the room—a computer lab in the Washington Park Fieldhouse— and said, “It’s here. And in my house, in my garage, in another building in the neighborhood.”

Butler proudly pointed to assorted artifacts in the room, including posters for Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid, which would have placed the main stadium in

Washington Park. The posters were made by Goes Lithographing Company, which operated printing presses in Washington Park for more than 100 years before leaving the neighborhood in 2010. At home, Butler has a piece of marble from the demolished Michigan Theater, a grand 1916 movie house that once sat at East Garfield Boulevard and South Michigan Avenue. A wooden Coast Guard boat, once anchored in the Washington Park lagoon, sits on a vacant lot at East 60th Street and South Calumet Avenue.

“Right now, there’s no place to share all this,” Butler said, describing how the station would display various artifacts. The boat could sit in the grassy lot behind the station. “This community hasn’t asked the University for much. But [the station] is the one thing they should share,” she said.

For now, though, the original Garfield station is just another shuttered building. The El rumbles above, casting shadows over the small structure below. Inside, it is empty. Its ticket booth and turnstiles were removed when the station closed sixteen years ago. It is largely ignored by commuters waiting for the #55 bus a few feet away.

Not all passersby overlook the station, however. “1899!” yelled an older man dragging a beat-up suitcase down Garfield Boulevard on a recent rainy afternoon. While he was seven years off, he got the point: “This here’s history,” he said. “This here’s history.”

Continued from front

Though no formal candidates filed to be on the ballot, third-year Emily Harwell was elected as the Community and Government Liaison through write-in votes.

The College Council (CC) representatives for the Class of 2020 will be Jahne Brown, Sat Gupta, Marty Jiffar, and Veronica Myers. The representatives for the Class of 2019 will be Elizabeth Ortiz, Daphne Xu, Liam Torpy, and Zander Cowan. The Class of 2018 representatives will be Jola Idowu, Julie Xu, Ariel Aiash, and Forrest Sill.

The representatives for the incoming class will be elected next fall quarter.

Of these CC representatives, two ra n as w r ite -i n candidates. According to Max Freedman, chairman of the Election and Rules Committee, this was the first time it has been necessary that a write-in candidate wins due to the lack of candidates that filed petitions.

VIEWPOINTS Letter: Student Library Workers Announce Plans to Unionize At the University of Chicago, we love our libraries. Our student body flocks to the Reg like moths to a hulking Brutalist flame. We boast six beautiful state-ofthe-art libraries, each home to part of the 10th-largest collection in North America.

A collection that big and diverse requires a lot of work to maintain. While the UChicago Library system employs many librarians and other career workers, a great deal of that work—the shelving, the circulation, the ground-level tasks that allow such a collection to run—comes from part-time student workers.

I am a part-time student library worker in Eckhart Library, and have been since early November. As a circulation desk attendant in a tiny library, I love seeing our small band of regular patrons come in at the same time every day. I love coming in on a Saturday morning and watching sunlight fi lter in through the ceiling windows as the day goes on, or sitting in productive silence with the students scrambling to finish problem sets, or the TAs grading problem sets of their own.

But there are many things about my job that rightfully frustrate me. I am a quarterly worker, which means that, though good performance makes it likely I will be invited back for the next quarter, I cannot ever be sure of my future employment. My schedule for this quarter has been relatively inconsistent, with no “permanent” schedule issued until this week, even though there are only four weeks left.

The wage I earn often feels insufficient,

and I’m often forced to prioritize taking on extra hours at work over making space in my schedule to go to TA sessions and office hours for the help I need to be a successful student. And the bureaucracy of our system is structured such that complaints from my coworkers all over campus about inaccessibility, harassment, and labor violations often go unheard or are willfully ignored.

My job is essential to the daily operation of this university, but the University’s neglect of these ongoing problems makes me, and many other student workers, feel expendable and insignificant, like our well-being is not worth consideration.

Many student workers rely on their jobs for more than just pocket money or resume padding —this is rent money, textbook money, food money, and the instability inherent to a job like this is constantly felt.

Even though this is an institution populated by students, run in large part on student labor, the University has historically ignored and neglected students’ and workers’ needs. For instance, library departments have faced routine understaffing due to budget cuts and hiring freezes, with departments like Map Collection struggling without an official librarian for over a year. The student workers left in these departments are often forced to take on greater responsibilities with little training, no consideration for their time, and most importantly no raise in pay. It’s time for us to stop waiting for the Univer Continued on page 4

A Political Education Attending College Is a Fundamentally Political Act

Andrew Nicotra Reilly The Class of 2021 is all but fi nalized at this point. This year has certainly been tumultuous for the University, specifically because of its stance on free speech in light of the Trump administration. There was the letter that distanced the University from trigger warnings and safe spaces, controversial speakers like Sean Spicer and Corey Lewandowski, and plenty of heated discussions about history professor Rachel Fulton Brown’s affinity for Milo Yiannopoulos. Time and again, the University has deferred to free speech as a catch-all defense against any and all attacks on its decisions and actions. These campus controversies presumably factored into the considerations prospective students have made in deciding to enroll here.

For some, the University’s free speech policy is disconcerting, and many newly enrolled students likely made their decision in spite of the University’s unbending determination to allow any and all voices to be potentially legitimized.

Many students might even be arriving at UChicago with the explicit goal of creating safe spaces in a setting where

these spaces have been institutionally discredited. For another subset of students, it is exactly these opinions that drew them here. In all likelihood, there is also a large subset of students who believe such policies don’t affect them or have not considered their implications at all when making their decision to attend UChicago. However, all students, even those who claim to be utterly uninvolved in politics, remain entrenched in the political arena merely by choosing to attend UChicago.

Thus, there is something that needs to be made clear to all new and current students—attending college is an expressly political statement. Moreover, every major and fi eld of study has political implications. It is often believed that some majors fall out of the purview of politics. However, the political context in which you gain, and then apply, your knowledge is what gives your study political importance. For example, many might claim that becoming a pre-med is an inherently apolitical choice and that doctors simply provide their services, Continued on page 4

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 9, 2017

“Forming a union... is the first step toward developing a University that is accountable” Continued from page 3 sity to listen to us, and instead negotiate with them on even footing as organized workers.

I believe the best course of action for student library workers—and for students all over our campus—is to work to unionize, and through collective power, claim the voice we need to start creating the university we want

to attend. Over the last few weeks, I have been working with a team of like-minded students to collect cards from student library workers who are interested in a formal election on the question of forming a legally recognized union.

With the help and support of the Teamsters, whose Local 743 union already represents many

career workers in our libraries, we have collected cards calling for an election from about 50 percent of our “bargaining unit,” a term for the workers our union will represent. On Sunday, we officially filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to have a legally recognized election. And over the next month, we will be working to reach out to

student workers on this campus, including those opposed to unionization, to make sure everyone is heard and on the same page as we move forward with the election.

Forming a union among a group of students like part-time library workers is the fi rst step toward developing a University that is accountable and respon-

sive to all students. Student workers on this campus are real workers and deserve the same rights and respect from our employer as all workers do.

Katie McPolin is a second-year in the College majoring in interdisciplinary studies in the Humanities.

“Every moment you spend at this... university is one that has deep political implications” Continued from page 3 which are detached from the political realm. However, there are many applications of medicine that have profoundly political implications. Pursuing a medical career in public health is a very different use of a medical degree than going into private practice, for instance. How you focus your studies and then how you choose

to apply your skills are vital determinants of your own political positioning in this world.

College attendance in general involves undeniable political significance. Simply the fact that you are able to come to college is a signifier of privilege. Privilege takes many forms, but at its core, college is a signifier of academic privilege,

and often socioeconomic privilege as well. Having privilege is not something to be ashamed of but instead something to remain cognizant of, especially in an academic setting that can often feel divorced from politics. You do not attend college by accident, but rather, you make a choice to attend college, ultimately because you

believe it will make you better off in the future. Many people do not have that same luxury, so we must always be aware of this fact. These are things the Class of 2021 should be aware of. No matter what controversial events enrapture the campus or what major any individual student decides to pursue, college necessarily remains political.

Every moment you spend at this (or any) university is one that has deep political implications, and this fact deserves careful examination from incoming students.

Andrew Nicotra Reilly is a third-year in the College majoring in economics and political science.

Picture-Perfect?

Social Media Models Perpetuate Unattainable Body Standards But Do Little to Atone for the Damage They Cause

BY MAGDALENA GLOTZER MAROON CONTRIBUTOR

Alexis Ren and I are pretty much complete opposites.

There’s the obvious difference that she is a prominent Instagram model with almost 9 million followers, while I am not a model and only have a few hundred followers. Then there are some smaller differences: she’s blonde, I’m brunette. She’s perfect, I’m far from it. She dates hot guys, I consistently get dumped after two or three dates. But there is one thing we do have in common. We’re the same height, so inevitably, I should strive to be the same weight as her as well...right?

I never thought that I would

publicly admit to having an eating disorder, but over the last week, I have come to the decision to out myself, because I am really frustrated with Alexis Ren. Recently, I woke up and did my usual routine checkup on all my social media platforms, eyes half closed, wishing I didn’t have to get up.

I hadn’t seen photos or news about Alexis in a while, because I unfollowed her a few months ago when I realized I was comparing myself to her an unhealthy amount. But this particular morning was different.

The Cosmopolitan Snapchat story featured an article about Alexis’s struggles. It turns out that she had some issues that I can actually relate to. She says

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 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: Peng-Peng Liu, Priyani Karim Copy: Natalie Crawford, Meena Kandallu, Aidan Lilienfeld, Peng-Peng Liu, Rebecca Naimon

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 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.

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she used to work out to “punish herself” and had a “toxic mindset” about food and “overworked [herself] to the point of malnourishment (as you can tell from images from last year).”

While I’m glad this incredibly beautiful woman is coming clean about her issues with food, I think it’s a little too late. All of those posts from last year, and the weight which she so freely claimed on her Tumblr, are already ingrained in my mind, and in the minds of many other women who are convinced that happiness is attainable only if you look the way society deems beautiful.

I’m not blaming Alexis for my eating disorder (I call him Ed). But Ed has this nice characteristic called latching onto every fucking little thing possible. When I saw what her weight was back in August, I believed that I had to get down to that weight too. And I did, but I still wasn’t happy. I wasn’t any more beautiful. I wasn’t more wellliked. In fact, I was completely isolated and depressed. In my malnourished state, I couldn’t understand why my life didn’t look as happy and glamorous as Alexis made hers out to be.

Why did people seem to avoid me? Why did I avoid them?

I’ve been in treatment for the last few months and now have a few dozen pounds over Alexis, and I’m not much happier, but at least I am capable of doing things. I can run, paint, read, and party. I have a semblance of a social life. But life is still pretty crummy. The external behaviors Ed expected of me may be more regulated—I’m not calorie counting, I’m eating all the food groups, I don’t weigh myself every morning—but internally, Ed yells at me constantly. I’m being told to avoid that pizza, that pasta.

I’m being told to check the label on that delicious-looking sand-

wich. I’m being told that I’m not good enough, pretty enough, worth anything, because there is no way I can be. I still don’t compare to Alexis.

I know it sounds ridiculous.

Logically, I am completely aware that I should not compare myself to 1) a model, 2) photographs, and 3) to anyone, really. Reasonability isn’t in Ed’s vocabulary, though. I still wish I looked like her, or at least weighed as little as her, because I am convinced that such qualities would bring me marginally closer to perfection.

In all honesty, I laughed when I read the Cosmo article on Snapchat about Alexis having issues with eating and exercise. This laughter has since evolved into a new battle brewing in my head. Ed is trying to convince me that the reason Alexis beat me once again is that I just didn’t do his biddings last time. If I had, I’d be getting the same validation and attention that she is getting. In other words, he’s showing me that I’m not enough because I’m not like her.

I am angry for two reasons.

First, Alexis makes it seem like her problems magically flew away like birds. She didn’t have to go to 24-hour residential care like I did. Instead, she got to keep living her life and portraying it as perfect. Not to mention, it does not seem like she was forced to restore her weight like I was.

Second, after I spent months trying to minimize myself to be a little bit closer to the perfection she had presented, Alexis can continue to feed her fame in opening up about struggles similar to mine, in which she played a role. Alexis doesn’t have to take responsibility for how she affected me and many others. She can’t take those photos back, she can’t erase the way she has affected the

minds of impressionable girls and women, yet she still comes out on top.

Alexis Ren gets to be the hero. She will become an inspiration to young women affected by the stresses of social media and body image issues.

She’ll get the attention when she shares the demons hiding behind the perfect photographs we are all jealous of. But what about all of us who aren’t famous or deemed ideal? What about all of us who feel pressure from social media and society to strive to be like her? What about all of us who were influenced by the picture of perfection she had painted for us?

Some may say that I can finally let go of that goal weight and expectation. In a way, that is true. It does emphasize the absurdity of my obsessive comparison. Though, in all honestly, I just feel cheated.

I feel cheated because she can become this angelic role model against social pressures and beauty ideals, when she fed my demons for so long. Alexis will get the attention and fame, while I can only strive to become the hero of my own story.

So, this is me, telling anyone who has read this far: I am living with an eating disorder.

My eating disorder loves comparing me to Alexis Ren. She has recently stated that she wants to come clean about her own demons. And I am incredibly mad that I was deceived into believing that she was happy and healthy at 115 pounds.

Magdalena Glotzer is a thirdyear in the College majoring in art history.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 9, 2017

ARTS Spring Is Here, and So Is the Seventh Annual JSA Cultural Show

BY RAFAEL PALOMINO MAROON CONTRIBUTOR

The Japanese Student Association (JSA) held Matsuri, its seventh annual spring festival, last Friday in Hutchinson Commons—the perfect setting for a night of activities, food, and performance. A space for Japanese students to celebrate their culture, Matsuri also invited those less familiar with Japanese culture to join in.

Booths set up around the space by organizations including the Japanese Consulate, UChicago’s Center for East Asian Studies, and some Asian-interest Greek life societies, provided guests

with opportunities to participate in activities and eat.

Those Greek life organizations managed one of the most popular booths, which provided games and activities for children. Yili Xiong, alpha Kappa Delta Phi’s vice president of external affairs, described her experience with JSA. To further the sorority’s mission of promoting awareness and visibility of Asian culture, the sisters like “to volunteer at a lot of Asian-interest RSO events,” Xiong said. Matsuri and similar events are “hubs for people of the same culture to meet each other,” especially as the College community has a sizeable pan-Asian population.

Nikita Dulin

By encouraging visibility, “cultural diversity [becomes] something fun and approachable for a lot of people,” she said.

Per formances took place in the back of Hut chinson Commons and showcased distinct facets of Japanese culture. Aya Smith, a graduate of the class of 2014 and a Japanese singer, delivered an incredible performance featuring covers of Japanese songs as well as some of her own pieces. She first performed “Love Machine,” an upbeat Japanese pop song describing love and pride for Japan, a theme that invoked memories of her childhood. She also performed the original tune “Just Once” with her band Chicago Loud 9.

The song is one of the few on their 2015 extended play recording “Just Once.”

The group is a “mix of hip-hop, funk, rock— something for everyone,” Aya said. The event was not only a place for her to showcase her songs, but it was also important to her personally.

“I identify strongly with my Japanese side, so it’s always fun to come to an event where there are Japanese people and people who are interested in Japanese Culture,” Aya said.

The Ki-Aikido Club delivered another standout performance in a demonstration of martial arts. First-year and new member Kellie Lu described the focus of ki-aikido on using “technique and form” to resist opponents larger and stronger than the practitioner. Her role in the performance explored the

Nikita Dulin

concept of “the unliftable body”: she explained how paying attention to the body can help with defense. “If you’re stiff, you can be easily lifted up into the air,” she said.

JSA president Kai Chen summed up the event as one that carried a consistent mission: By “doing something for the students and [larger] community…

[Matsuri is] a good opportunity for everyone to get together” to celebrate an integral part of UChicago’s cultural fabric.

Tamara, Biopic of Trans Politician, Tackles Representation in all Forms

BY KENNETH TALBOTT LA VEGA VIDEO EDITOR

The 33rd Chicago Latino Film Festival screened its final film last Thursday evening. Tamara, a Venezuelan LGBTQ+ biopic, drew inspiration from the life of Tamara Adrián, a transgender woman elected to the Venezuelan National Assembly in 2015. She became the first transgender person to hold elected office in Venezuela and only the second transgender member of a national legislature in the Western Hemisphere. The closing night screening was introduced by the film’s director, executive producer, lead actor, and supporting actress (Elia K. Schneider, José Ramón Novoa, Luis Fernández, and Prakriti Maduro, respectively).

Tamara provides its viewers with glimpses of its protagonist’s adult life at different periods of her gender expression. It begins with her return from Paris and her life as a trans woman there—which she had begun to explore—to Venezuela, where she again adopted the cis-normative male dress, behavior, and identity she wished to leave behind. Going by her birth name, Teo, she quickly finds success working at a law firm and settles down with a wife and child. This period of her life is cut short by the death of her quietly supportive mother, who implores Teo on her deathbed to stop living in discontentment and pursue her truth.

The film chronicles Tamara’s joy, suffering, romance, and heartbreak as she undergoes her full transition into wom-

anhood.

With her film, Schneider casts an important light on the uniquely intersectional experience of being transgender in Latin America. I congratulate the film for creating scenes and dialogues that capture how one specific set of experiences is informed by another.

Religious prejudices are presented not as individual attitudes but as cultural stances. Progressive characters still find the means to express socially condoned transphobia. Even scenes that cater more heavily than others to the cisgender gaze have value as reflections of a cultural climate.

The standard cisgender Latin American viewer should expect to feel some guilt or dissatisfaction with their culture upon watching Tamara. That was the most difficult part of writing this review—an acceptance that certain elements of Latin American culture, as endearing and valuable as they seem, are inherently at odds with queerness in its many forms. The full artistic and informative potential of Tamara can only be properly appreciated once the proud Latin American viewer can swallow this bitter pill. Such a culturally keen and optimistic viewer does not readily want to admit that the traumatic obstacles forced upon Tamara are a direct product of Latin American culture—and in some cases, uniquely so.

Yet Tamara is not without its flaws, some more evident than others. The film’s main challenge is that of tone. It is not simply that the film lacks a coherent tone: Tamara feels like a mélange

of three tonally different films about Tamara Adrián which, given the proper treatment, would have each been outstanding in its own right However, when strung together and forced to behave as one film, the charm of each cinematic moment gets swallowed up by that scene’s responsibility to cohere with its adjacent scenes and with the film as a whole. Tamara also suffers in its chaotic pace. Its economy of story-

“The film can never seem to shake the discomfiting, even vaguely exploitative sense of voyeurism...”

telling allows it to revel in its cinematic moments without getting bogged down by its more expository scenes, but the inconsistency in pacing causes the film to start off slow and on an unimpressive footing. Simply put, Tamara could have benefitted from a sharper wit and a more discerning vision.

The last matter of contention I wish to discuss is, depending on the reader, either the least or the most pressing one affecting the film. Tamara is gutsy, but it could have been even more gutsy.

There is an abundance of scenes that

address the transgender experience somewhat implicitly and not explicitly, or somewhat externally and not internally. The film can never seem to shake the discomfiting, even vaguely exploitative, sense of voyeurism that always accompanies films created by people who do not directly embody the experiences their films seek to communicate. No amount of intimate bathroom shots of Tamara tucking her genitals in front of the mirror, or scenes of Tamara wistfully admiring a transgender prostitute’s new breast implants, can make up for that lack of authorial authenticity. This being said, both Schneider and Fernandez, with his masterful acting chops, do manage to execute such scenes meant to evoke a uniquely transgender subjectivity with a proper blend of professionalism, respect, and heart. These create better-than-average iterations of such scenes than we might expect from well-meaning cisgender filmmakers.

As imperfect as Tamara may be, I do not regret watching a single moment of it. Some scenes felt familiar, like the telephoto-style crowd shot of a very womanly Tamara walking to work à la Tootsie. Some scenes felt new (and a little shocking), like the depiction of her gender reassignment surgery. A handful of scenes made a lasting impression on me. At the end of the day, once the dusty cloud of artistic discourse and film theory settles, impact is one of the most important elements of any film.

And Tamara had great impact.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 9, 2017

PORTRAIT: I started out playing the viola when I was four, and that’s what induced me into the performing arts. The reason I started liking dance, predominantly, is that it is a stress relief. In middle and high school, I was really in my head, overthinking everything. Dance put me in the moment, which is something I struggled with through my childhood.

My little sister danced. In seventh grade, I started watching YouTube videos and learning from my sister. I did gymnastics early on, but I wasn’t huge on dance until I hit high school. I did ballet, jazz, and tap— the primary three. In addition to my regular academic high school, I went to a musical theater conservatory, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, where I got to explore into contemporary, modern, and West African dance.

Through my junior year of high school and first semester of senior year, I was actually pretty intent on auditioning for a BFA, musical theater, or acting program. But my teachers very much saw me at a large research university. The very first dance group I joined here was University Ballet (UBallet). I was cast in Giselle the fall of my first year. Then I choreographed a piece for

KHEPHREN CHAMBERS // SECOND-YEAR PSYCHOLOGY AND STATISTICS

Chambers dancing for UBallet Courtesy of University Ballet of Chicago

Chin in Maya’s winter showcase “Beacon”

I’m president of Ballroom Latin Dance Association (BLDA), and I competitively dance with BLDA. I love swing dance and am really involved with Chicago Swing Dance Society. I also go to dances around Chicago when I have time—swing, blues, and occasionally Latin.

There’s two parts of BLDA. There’s the competitive ballroom team— currently 40 people—which dances “dance sport” competitions across the Midwest. It includes waltz, Viennese waltz, tango, foxtrot, quickstep, cha-cha, rumba, samba, mambo, jive, and swing. There’s a total of 19 official ballroom dances, and I have competitively danced 17 of them—all entirely different dances.

At competitions, you’re dancing with a partner, and there’s about a hundred couples.

You get put into heats, and judges will cut each heat in half. Then you do it again and again until you have a fi nal eight couples.

Those couples will dance and be placed. This is an all-day thing—from waking up at 4 or 5 a.m. and going until 7 p.m.

The other half is social Latin dancing.

We teach salsa lessons for beginning and intermediate dancers. This quarter, we’re do-

by grace hauck

Rhythmic Bodies in Motion (RBIM). I had choreographed a little bit for some musicals in high school, but I had never done pure dance. It was a full six and a half minutes for a dance concert.

I saw the UChicago Maya show “Kaleidoscope” that same winter and got totally hooked. This year, I danced in their winter show, “Begin.” I stopped doing UBallet because for now I’m focusing on RBIM and Maya, but I might return to it my third or fourth years.

Long term, I’m considering data science and cognitive psychology—maybe a Ph.D. related to social psychology…or maybe I’ll audition for an MFA in dance or musical theater. I’ve looked at some programs, but I’m hoping that with a double major I’ll have many different options.

I would like people to know that there is a tap group that one of the dancers in Maya and RBIM has restarted. It’s called Tap That. It’s based off of the old group from four years ago. We’ll really start kicking off next year.

CHRISTINE CHIN // FOURTH-YEAR PUBLIC POLICY AND PRE-MED

Courtesy of UChicago Maya

STUDENT DANCERS EN POINTE

I grew up in jazz, ballet, tap—the basics. In high school, I did an intensive at the Houston Ballet, which was one of the best experiences of my life. But ballet is very technically based. What’s considered “good” is a specific form or body type. It’s very rigid.

Although I relished that and the technical environment—because I’m kind of a perfectionist—I think that contemporary [dance] allows for more self-expression. That’s what most important about dance: being able to express yourself and impact others. It’s also a de-stressor—like killing two birds with one stone.

I’ve been in Maya since my first year here, and I recently joined PhiNix this past fall. Maya is a fusion group where we combine Western and Eastern styles. But really, it’s just the styles of the choreographers and dancers, so it evolves with the organization.

Every winter, we have a concepts show with an overarching theme.

PhiNix is a hip-hop group, which is more of a crowd-pleaser in general. You just want to get the crowd excited. It’s a different kind of goal. I grew up in ballet, so at first it was really hard for me to break down the posture

ing bachata lessons. We have those weekly throughout the quarter, as well as salsa at the Promontory. It’s a monthly event at the Promontory—a salsa social. It’s our main thing that people know about.

When I came to college last year, I had already done social swing. In Olympia, Washington, there’s a weekly Tuesday night swing dance, and a lot of people go to it. It’s even better than some Chicago swing dances to be honest—even in tiny Olympia. People who went to my high school would go every week, so I decided to go more because I really enjoyed it and wanted to get better. Chicago Swing Dance Society—they have Saturday night swing dances. I would always go. At the same time, I went to a bunch of swing dances in the city. I usually know people there.

When I came here, I wanted to learn how to waltz. Something I really wanted to do–a really college thing—just to learn how to dance. I love dancing socially, but I never thought I wanted to competitively dance. I just got sucked in.

Continue reading the interview at chicagomaroon. com

and everything that I’d been told. Hip-hop is the exact opposite, but I wanted to get out of my comfort zone.

I only started choreographing when I got to college, and it’s an entire battle of its own.

I think that the strongest pieces I’ve created are based off of specific moments in my life.

“Bad Blood” was based on a moment of personal significance to me. There’s a lot that I was trying to release—and to help people understand another person’s perspective through choreography.

The thing that motivates me the most when it comes to performance is when somebody says, “ That really touched me, and I can’t explain how.” Sometimes they say, “I felt moved.” It’s not always explainable, but sometimes things resonate with you.

I get a lot out of having intimate relationships with people, so I want to be a doctor— either primary care medicine or reconstructive plastic surgery. I know they’re super different, but, as a primary care physician, you have the greatest ability to create a bond with your patient.

ADDISON JESKE // SECOND-YEAR PUBLIC POLICY, ECONOMICS, AND HISTORY

Jeske dances at a swing event in Ida Noyes Courtesy of Chicago Swing Dance Society

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 9, 2017

Imani Winds Breathes Vitality into Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks

BY CHLOÉ BARDIN ARTS STAFF

“Celebrating a native daughter of Chicago is sheer joy, honor and pleasure,” Imani Winds declared. Last Wednesday, the Grammy-nominated quintet joined the city in celebrating the 100th anniversary of Gwendolyn Brooks’s birth.

For its last performance of the season, the group drew from a wide range of genres and the works of several black composers—two of them in the ensemble ( Valerie Coleman and Jeff Scott), and a third in the audience (Courtney Bryan). “We wanted to walk into Brooks’s shoes and highlight the talent of A frican-A merican artists,” explained f lautist Valerie Coleman during the pre-concert talk with Travis Jackson, an associate professor of music and humanities at the University. “ Tonight, we would like to follow Brooks’s example in celebrating our heroes and sheroes,” bassoonist Monica Ellis added.

The first half of the concert was conceived as pieces that Brooks herself would have enjoyed. French horn Jeff Scott opened the concert with his piece, Titilayo: One heard echoed in the music a line by Brooks, “I am essentially African.” Titilayo featured the clarinet interacting with the rest of the quintet in call and response, a form characteristic of Yoruba music. This dynamic and joyful piece also made for a perfect

introduction to Imani Winds. It demon- siana as a slave. A fter receiving her Coleman’s last piece, a sextet for strated their impressive symbiosis and freedom, she continued to f ight for winds and piano titled Bronzeville, mastery of rhythm: As a quintet, they that of her children still under slav- arose from a year-long exploration of ery. Moving from brusque staccatti Gwendolyn Brooks. “I was inspired by are wholly self-conducting.

The second piece continued Brooks’s symbolizing the violence of deportation the rhythm of her voice and the picproject to celebrate the great names of to static melodies invoking the routine tures of Bronzeville. I wanted to let black history and culture. Coleman monotony of plantation life, the piece the poems speak for themselves, to let drew from the life of pioneering black climaxes in a joyful, aggressive cele- Gwendolyn speak,” Coleman said. “It entertainer Josephine Baker in her bration of freedom. It ends in a more also gave me the opportunity to experifour-part suite Portraits of Josephine. contemporary jazz idiom, a tribute to a ment with rhythms from other languagThe music reenacted Baker’s rise to past that continues to shape the pres- es, such as Morse code, which fascifame: long plaintive notes from the ent. The deafening silence of the audi- nates me.” She asked each musician to French horn shadowed her exit from ence between movements highlighted tap the three words on which she built St. Louis blues in 1920; fast, f licker- the gravity of the story being told. In her composition in Morse code: “sising notes marked her entrance into the this sense, the second half of the con- ter,” “Bronzeville,” and “God.” These Parisian jazz scene and the heyday of cert transitioned from a continuation words as rhythms dissolved into music the Charleston in 1925. Between those of Brooks’s poetic ambition and project woven tightly together with Brooks’s two movements, “Les Milandes” spun to the poet herself, her writing, and poetry, read aloud by the musicians, a more melancholic tune, in which we her voice. carried over by the different voices could hear Baker’s longing for a home.

The concert ended with two world of the musicians. The third and final The quintet moved away from nar- premieres, composed for the o cca- poem, “We Real Cool,” was my favorite rative pieces with Terra Incognita, a sion and inspired by Brooks’s poems. part of the performance. A recording of contemporar y jazz piece by Way ne With Blooming, Courtney Bryan was Brooks reading her own poem played Shorter. “ W hen we received it, a de- inspired by the last lines of Brooks’s before the music: It was obvious that cade ago, it clearly marked a turning “The Second Sermon on the Warpland”: the performance fed on this voice. The point for us,” Ellis told me after the “It is lonesome, yes. For we are the last word “we” was repeated in the barest concert. “Wayne let us completely free of the loud./ Nevertheless, live./ Con- whisper, circulating among the group, as to how to interpret his music: He duct your blooming in the noise and uttered by a different person each time. didn’t put any tempo markings on the whip of the whirlwind.” The piece be- Music and voices crescendoed until the score!... It has forced us to listen to one gins as a violent cacophony, with con- last phrase “ We/ Die soon” scored to another, to our different understand- tradicting, independent melodies. Built the dramatic descent of the piano. ings and interpretations of the music.” on ascendancy, the piece rises from “Our job as musicians,” Ellis said, Jason Moran’s Cane also embodied noise to harmony, from quiet to loud in “is to bring a piece of music to life, to joy liberation, albeit in a more literal way. an impressive final crescendo. And the and beauty. And it wasn’t hard because Commissioned by Imani Winds, his quintet yielded a delightfully delicate the music was good and the inspiration four-movement piece tells the story of interpretation, conveying a softness behind it was powerful: It was no one his ancestor Marie-Thérèse Coincoin, full of dignity, perfectly translating else than Gwendolyn Brooks.” who was brought from Togo to Loui- Brooks’s line.

EXHIBIT [A]rts [5/11] T HURSDAY 6 – 8 p.m. The second part of the Classic Kink program features a tour of 1960s physique photography in the Leather A rchives & Museum, which features the history and culture of the kink, fetish, and leather communities in Chicago. The tour will be followed by a demonstration on safe practices of kink by RACK, the Risk-Aware Consensual Kink RSO. Leather Archives & Museum, free but register in advance at smartmuseum.uchicago.edu.

[5/12] F RIDAY 7 p.m. Partake in a night of performance and free food as Sliced Bread

holds its spring issue launch party, featuring Men in Drag, UC Dancers, solo performers, and an open mic. Who knows, Robert J. Zimmer might even show up. McCormick Tribune Lounge, Reynolds Club, free.

[5/13] SATURDAY 5–7 p.m. As part of their weeklong celebration SpringFest, the Festival of the Arts (FOTA) will host a gallery event titled “Art After Dark.” Admire the work of your classmates and pick up a print to decorate your walls. Reynolds Club, prints $5.

7 p.m. Doc Films will be hosting a screening of the Academy Award–

nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro, which is based on James Baldwin’s unf inished essay of personal recollections about civil rights leaders Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Following the screening will be a panel discussion with Jacqueline Stewart (professor, cinema and media studies), Paul Cato (Ph.D. student, social thought), and Cecil McDonald Jr. (2012–13 Arts and Public Life/Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture artist-in-residence). Max Palevsky Cinema, $5.

8 –9:30 p.m. The Chicago Sym phony Orchestra is coming to campus! Listen to musical interpretations

of Pelléas and Mélisande accompanied by a performance choreographed by the Hyde Park School of Dance. Following the show, there will be a panel discussion with literary experts and the founding artistic director of the Hyde Park School of Dance. Logan Center for the Arts, free.

[5/14] SUNDAY 8–10 p.m. The Festival of the Arts’ SpringFest concludes with a Finale Soirée. Nibble on refreshments while enjoying performances by the Underground Collective, Occam’s Razor, and more! Logan Center Penthouse.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 9, 2017

SPORTS League of Legends Tournament Run Falls Short E-SPORTS

BY GARY HUANG SPORTS STAFF

S evera l weeks ago, the University of Chicago League of Legends (LoL) team, North Fine Dining, participated in the University League North Region Spring Championship.

The Maroons were among 32 other university-backed teams competing for the title and the chance to advance to the national championship. UChicago received a bye in the Round of 32 due to their performance during the regular season and convincingly dispatched UC Vaapad from the University of Cincinnati in the Sweet 16.

Unfortunately, their momen-

tum was not enough to carry them further, as they lost their subsequent Elite Eight and consolation matches.

The LoL team is part of the broader eSports RSO and receives funding from the school as well as the Student Engagement Fund. Other games include the h igh ly popula r Starcraft and Super Smash Bros. Here in the College, the LoL group features both competitive and casual players, w ith the more ser ious and often better gamers playing in an official league. The “A team” consists of five starters and one substitute, determined through tryouts, and competes in the North Ameri-

can University League of Legends. Currently, fourth-year Stephen Yu leads the team as coach, with first-year David Matz, second-year David Chao, third-years Chris Sun and Jonathon Hsu, and fourthyears Hanson Yu and Andrew Wang representing UChicago on the battleground. Additionally, North Fine Dining has a game analyst, third-year Evan Lustick, who analyzes previous games, scouts future opponents, and provides valuable insight for the team.

In this league, any university can only have one team play. The regular season starts in late fall, with the playoffs culminating near the end of

winter quarter. During the season, there are six teams in a group who compete headto-head. The possessor of the best record at the end advances to their respective regional championship, sponsored by Riot Games—in our case, the North Region Championship.

North Fine Dining will practice two or three days each week for three hours and play an official match each weekend while in season. Because of the lack of school-provided eSport resources at the moment, the players have to play remotely and talk through a third-party communication app for both practices and games.

In its f irst game at the

North Region Championship against UC Vaapad, the team was able to pick a composition that generally works well together and becomes exponentially better as the game progresses.

C h a o c o m m e nt e d , “ We chose a team that we knew gelled well together and [had] huge potential past the beginning stages of the game. The opponent didn’t do anything to stop the momentum, and we were able to win quickly.”

However, in the second and third games, the opponents were able to identi fy their strateg y and blocked them from using two out of the three champions they wanted to use.

Maroons Sweep Series in Sox Stadium BASEBALL

BY MAGGIE O’HARA SPORTS STAFF

The Chicago baseball team completed their home schedule this weekend with four wins over Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) (28 –11). The Maroons will complete their regular season schedule with a game against Benedictine on Thursday and a four-game series at Wash U this weekend.

The Maroons (21–11) concluded the four-game sweep of IIT by a combined score of 50 –19, relying on consistent hitting and aggression on the base paths all weekend, seen in their 20 stolen bases. The team started strong by blowing out the Scarlet Hawks 16–5 on Friday night.

Saturday’s game was played at Gua ranteed R ate F ield, home of the Chicago White Sox, for the South Side Classic. This game proved to be a remarkable experience for both teams as many of the players were living out a childhood dream of playing on a major-league field.

The Maroons got off to a quick start on Saturday, jumping out to an 8 – 0 lead before the Scarlet Hawks attempted to mount a comeback off the Maroon’s bullpen in the seventh and eighth. With the tying run at the plate, first-year reliever Patr ick R ogers escaped a jam with a 5 –4–3 double play to end their charge.

Second-year Joe Liberman was crucial for the win for the Maroons as he pitched five shutout innings and allowed only one hit.

Sunday’s games were a bit more one-sided for the Maroons on Senior Day as they won 14 – 4 and 12 – 4. In both games, Chicago scored big in the fourth inning with nine runs and six runs respectively. The first game of the doubleheader saw first-year Jacob Petersen pitch a complete game without an earned run (four unearned runs). The offense was led by fourth-year Tom Prescott, who was 3 –3 on his senior day with a homer and three RBIs. The Maroons continued to thrive in game two of the doubleheader with 15 hits. Four of those hits came from second-year Ian Bohn who was a perfect 4–4 in game two with five RBIs and 6 –8 on the day.

The Maroons honored their four seniors Sunday: shortstop Ryan K rob, baseman /pitcher Prescott, third baseman Tim Sonnefeldt, and outfielder Nick Toomey. Over their four years they have totaled 67 wins and look to add a few more this week as they take on Benedictine and Wash U. Chicago will next see action on Tuesday at Benedictine (23– 15). This game will be Benedictine’s last game before their conference tournament which

UPCOMING GAMES SPORT

DAY

Opponent

TIME

Baseball

Tuesday

Benedictine

7 p.m.

Track & Field

Thursday

Outdoor Meet

11 a.m.

starts on Thursday. Benedictine’s pitching staff comes into this weekend with a team ERA of 4.03 and will hope to keep Chicago’s lineup to a minimum.

The Maroons feature the seventh best bat t i ng average (.350) in the country lead by 20th ranked second-year Connor Hickey at .441.

The Maroons will take on Benedictine at the Village of Lisle-Benedictine University Sports Complex at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

WCS Photo

The graduating seniors of the baseball team pose with their families.

M AROON

SCORE BOARD SPORT

W/L

Opponent

Score

Baseball

W

IIT

8– 6

Baseball

W

IIT

16-5

Baseball

W

IIT

12-4

Baseball

W

IIT

14-4

Softball

W

Lawrence

8-0 (5 innings)

Softball

W

Lawrence

5-1