MAY 13, 2016
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
University to Offer Neuroscience Major Starting in Fall 2016 BY ANJALI DHILLON ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Peggy Mason, a professor in the Department of Neurobiology, announced Tuesday on Twitter that the University will offer a neuroscience major for undergraduates starting this fall quarter. Mason also announced that she will be the director of the new major. More information about the major and its requirements will be shared at town hall meetings at 3 p.m. on Thursday, May 19 at an undetermined location and at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 24 in BSLC 115. The first meeting is scheduled to give students a chance to learn about the major before they bid for classes. Current third-years will not be able to participate in the major because of a required laboratory class
that will not be available until the 2017–18 academic year because it will take time to organize all of the resources, equipment, and preparations. While Mason expressed regret over this limitation, she also emphasized the importance of such a course. “A laboratory course in neuroscience is unbelievably thrilling. I took one. I remember almost every day and every experiment that I participated in that course 30-plus years ago. I loved it. It’s fundamental, it’s thrilling, it’s fabulous. Many, possibly most, undergraduate neuroscience majors have such a course, such a beast. So we felt it was important for us to offer such a course as well,” Mason said. As director, Mason will oversee the curriculum, assess its functionality, and adjust the demands of Continued on page 4
25 Years Later, Assassinated Professor Remembered BY ADAM THORP NEWS EDITOR
The fi rst and only politically motivated killing of an academic in the United States may have taken place at the University of Chicago less than a quarter of a century ago. Ioan Culianu was a professor renowned for his study of the Renaissance, magic, and religion and as vocal critic of Romania’s post-Communist regime. Around 1 p.m. on May 21, 1991, Culianu was shot in the back of the head in a Swift Hall bathroom stall. The murder was never solved. This Wednesday, scholars familiar with Culianu’s life, work, and death remembered him at an event hosted by the Franke Institute for the Humanities. At several points during the event, speakers ref lected on how little-remembered Culianu’s story seemed to be, even on the campus where he died. Pablo Maurette, an assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Literature who or-
Healthier Conversations Page 7
Hagel Talks American Foreign Policy BY EILEEN LI DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR
Forrest Sill Second-year Sara Zubi leads a chant during a protest on Bartlett Quad across from a group celebrating Israeli Independence Day.
Whistleblower Snowden Hosted Over Video Call BY ALEX WARD SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
W h i s t le bl owe r E dwa r d Snowden spoke over video call yesterday with one of the men President Obama asked to recommend an official government response in the wake of Snowden’s 2013 data leaks. The IOP-sponsored event was hosted in Ida Noyes Hall by University of Chicago Law School professor Geoffrey Stone. In 2013, Stone served as part of Obama’s Review Group on Intelligence and
Communications Technologies, a five-man panel created in light of revelations by Snowden and others of potential surveillance technology abuses by the United States Intelligence Community (IC). The panel’s recommendations included creating an agency to help whistleblowers voice their objections and creating a new federal oversight agency to ensure the protection of civil liberties. In a January 2014 interview with THE MAROON, Stone referred to Snowden as a “criminal,” but expressed ambiguity
ganized the event, remembered that he had not learned the history of Culianu’s death until he came across a book about it in a used book store. Continued on page 4 “I knew professor Culianu as a Renaissance scholar, but I didn’t know about his tragic death, let alone the fact that it happened in Swift Hall at the University of Chicago, where I get coffee every morning,” Maurette said. Ted Anton, an English proBY PETE GRIEVE as large a crowd at an IHFSRB fessor at DePaul University, meeting. UChicago Medicine said DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR wrote a history of Culianu’s in a press release that around death called Eros, Magic, and The Illinois Health Facili- 100 supporters showed up to the the Murder of Professor Culianu ties and Services Review Board meeting. (Eros and Magic in the Renais- (IHFSRB) voted 9–0 to approve “With this regulatory approvsance was Culianu’s best known UChicago Medicine’s $269 expan- al, UChicago Medicine can begin book). At Wednesday’s event, sion plan, which proposes to build construction of a new and larger he linked Culianu to the life an adult Level I trauma center emergency department, which and ideas of Giordano Bruno, a on the medical campus, expand will house four trauma bays, and Renaissance theorist of magic its emergency room, and create a a dedicated cancer-treatment whom Culianu had studied at new cancer facility. facility,” reads the press release. length. The board convened at 10 a.m. “UChicago Medicine also will seek “Bruno was executed in 1600, in Normal, IL, and roll call vot- approval to be a Level 1 adult following a chain of events ing on the plan began around 3:40 trauma center from the Chicago somewhat similar to those lead- p.m. Prior to the vote, the board Trauma Network and the Illinois ing up to Ioan Culianu’s death. allocated time for public comment Department of Public Health. In fact, there are so many par- on the plan. According to Twit- Plans are underway to recruit allels between the two men’s ter reports, one board member staff who will be necessary for said that there has never been Continued on page 2 Continued on page 4
State Regulators Unanimously Approve UCMC’s $269 Million Trauma Plan
On Thursday, former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel visited campus to discuss the major challenges of American foreign policy and his faith in the American people. Robert Pape, professor of political science and director of the Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism (CPOST), moderated the talk at the Logan Center for the Arts. The event, sponsored by CPOST, began with Hagel’s assessment of the current political situation in the United States and his view of America’s security architecture. His remarks were followed by a conversation between Hagel and Pape and a Q&A session with student audience members. Hagel began by speaking about the post–World War II system of alliances and international institutions, acknowledging its imperfections but emphasizing its overall success. “No World War III. That’s pretty significant. We take that for granted…. Every leader that helped build this world went to their graves very concerned about a World War III and a nuclear exchange. There’s been no nuclear exchanges,” Hagel said. A former Senator from Nebraska, Hagel also spoke about the unprecedented nature of the past year in domestic politics. He highlighted his concern about the disillusionment much of the American public feels about large institutions, citing Gallup polls and votes cast for Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. “When a society starts to feel that way about its most important societal institutions, that represent the functioning of a society, that’s a very dangerous thing if it’s not corrected. And that’s where we are,” Hagel said. Despite the turbulent primary season, Hagel emphasized his faith in the American constitution and the unique political processes that guide the country. “Process is important. I know that is often disContinued on page 5
All Packed Up and Ready to Go
Senior Spotlight: Brian Weisbecker
Contributing to THE MA ROON
Page 8
Page 12
Did the corn dog really need to be in dumpling form?
Fourth-year swimmer Brian Weisbecker’s presence extended beyond the pool.
If you want to get involved in THE M AROON in any way, please email apply@chicagomaroon.com or visit chicagomaroon.com/apply.
Love This Club, in Theory: Club Sueto Page 10
The complexities of mental health necessitate a culturally specific discussion.
VOL. 127, ISSUE 47
The sold-out event... featured tracks by artists like DJ Sprinkles, Mark Fell, and Raw Silk.
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 2016
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 13, 2016
University Seeking Deputy Title IX Coordinator BY MAX MILLER MAROON CONTRIBUTOR
Packed on 57th Street Announces Closing BY KAITLYN AKIN ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
A letter signed by owner Aaron DiMaria was posted on the door of Packed earlier this week announcing that the 57th Street dumpling restaurant will be closing. The sign has since been taken down, and the storefront and website do not currently show any indication of the closing. However, the restaurant’s phone line has been disconnected, and DiMaria’s co-owner Mike Sheerin was quoted in the Chicago Tribune confirming his decision to close. Packed opened on January 15 of this year, after almost nine months of preparations. The demand on opening day was so high that the restaurant sold out of dumplings by 6 p.m. However, since then, demand for their specialty dumplings has dwindled. In the posted announcement DiMaria attributed the ultimate downfall of the
The University is interviewing applicants to fill the newly created role of Deputy Title IX Coordinator, according to the Director of Public A ffairs PackedDumplings.com for Communication, Marielle SainviThe 57th Street dumpling restaurant announced its closing earlier this week. lus. The position will entail assisting the current Title IX coordinator of the University, Sarah Wake. store to the economic challenge of operat- traffic needed to compensate for our tight The University’s job listing on Ining an organic and eco-friendly restaurant. margins.” sideHigherEd.com summar izes the Neither Sheerin nor DiMaria could be “In the end,” he writes, “this specific locaDeputy Title IX Coordinator position tion did not provide the consistent level of reached for comment. as being “[primarily responsible] for managing the day-to-day functions associated with the University’s Title IX and VAWA ( Violence Against Women Act) compliance obligations involving students.” The Title I X Coordinator (and future Deputy Coordinator) operates on multiple fronts at once, adinto the deep waters—to use [Renais- Culianu’s scholarship. Continued from front dressing both general Title I X com“I don’t have a proper conclusion for lives and work, I begin to suspect the sance scholar] Frances Yates’s term, pliance at the University and sexual missing clue to this horrific 1991 murder a Bruno scholar—of the power of lan- these musings because in regards to assault and misconduct as they appear. may lie, in fact, in part, in the writings guage…. The crime was one of percep- Ioan Culianu there is always too much Sainvilus said that the University of Bruno and the other practitioners of tion or misperception, of a hoaxster pre- to say. There is no easy way to sum up is in the middle of interviewing candiRenaissance philosophy and magic,” An- senting too good of a hoax,” Anton said. his lively intelligence and encyclopedic dates for the new position but declined Gregory Spinner, visiting assistant knowledge. While his writings remain, ton said. to comment further on the University’s Culianu and Bruno were both forced professor of religion at Skidmore College, his audacious project of reinventing the proceedings or progress. to flee across Europe—Culianu from re- remembered his experience as a Ph.D. history of religions remains unfi nished,” Title IX of the Education Amendpression in Communist Romania, Bruno student studying with Culianu at the Spinner said. ments of 1972 is a federal law prohibitWilliam Mazzarella, professor of anfrom accusations of heresy. Bruno, how- University of Chicago at the event. Cuing gender-based discrimination in fedever, only went as far as England. Cen- lianu was, according to Spinner, a warm, thropology and of social sciences in the erally funded educational institutions. turies later, in 1986, Culianu came as supportive, and unconventional teacher. College, discussed the relationship he Under the legislation, the University is “ The reading course on divination found between Culianu’s work on magic far as the University of Chicago. required to appoint and train new staff According to Anton, Culianu em- was a wildly ambitious attempt to chart and his own work on contemporary promembers to be “Title IX Coordinators.” braced some of Bruno’s techniques for the vast continent of the occult sciences. paganda and publicity. Mazzarella said In a February e-mail to the student memory, persuasion, and propaganda. This topic deserves a longer hearing, so he spent 14 years at the University of body, Isaacs explained the reasoning After the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu, Ro- let me just simply assert that Mike and Chicago before hearing about Culianu. behind hiring additional staff focused Throughout the talk, speakers remania’s Communist dictator, Culianu I were not only expected to read about on Title I X at the University. “[ We] began to write against Romania’s new divination techniques. We were asked membered Culianu as both a man and a will reallocate resources for dedicated government, using some of Bruno’s tech- to perform them. Seriously—I would be scholar. Anton read from a diary entry personnel reporting to the University’s niques. Like Bruno before him, Anton graded on how well I performed divina- of an academic who met Culianu at the Title IX Coordinator, Sarah Wake. The University of Chicago. “He’s a walking suggested, Culianu’s embrace of these tion,” Spinner said. reorganization will also enable us to Spinner reflected on the impact Cu- encyclopedia of religions and knows evpersuasive techniques made him danbetter provide support and resources gerous and caused people to seek his lianu’s absence has had on his field. In erything but the truth,” wrote Hillary for survivors,” Isaacs wrote. Spinner’s account, the last 25 years of Wiesner, who would become his fi ancé death. The e-mail from Isaacs was sent “What happened? I think he plunged religious studies have suffered without and collaborator. out soon after the resignation of Jason Lieb, a former professor in the Department of Human Genetics, who resigned in response to allegations of sexual misconduct with an intoxicated student. Phoenix Survivors Alliance, a student advocacy group that campaigns for Title IX compliance at the University, had demanded more staff for Wake’s office. T wo investigations into the University ’s T itle I X compliance were launched in February by the Department of Education’s Off ice of Civ il Rights, bringing the number of open Title IX cases against the University to three. A fter the announcement, a University spokesperson said that the cases had been filed before significant changes had been made to the University’s approach to Title IX cases. Title IX Coordinators assist with the implementation and ongoing quality of Title IX programs at the University. Title IX programs have included training of University departments in Title IX adherence and sexual assault prevention, events for spreading Zoe Kaiser awareness of Title IX measures and At about 6:50 p.m. yesterday, about 40 students walked from the basement of Reynolds and lined up on the staircase to the second prevention of gender discrimination, floor, along the wall of Hallowed Grounds, and along the hallway leading to the Francis X Kinahan Theater. Protesters called for and campus-wide dialogues about gen- accountability for perpetrators of sexual assault, but declined to comment on why they chose the time or place of their protest, der-based discrimination and assault, and would not say whether there was any particular incident that prompted it. Protesters chanted and held signs until around 7:40 such as the annual campus climate p.m., when they dispersed. At 7:30 p.m., a play called The Bald Soprano, presented by TAPS, opened in the theater. Protesters also survey. declined to comment on whether the protest was related to the play.
Ioan Culianu Was Renowned for His Study of the Renaissance, Magic, and Religion
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 13, 2016
University Mourns Fourth-Year Renata Gross Horowitz BY CHRISTINE SCHMIDT SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
University of Chicago’s artists, activists, and student body suffered a loss with the passing of fourth-year Renata Gross Horowitz last month. Her family, friends, and mentors remember her as a dedicated student with a passion for creating, leading, and sharing. Horowitz majored in interdisciplinary studies in the humanities and had been working on her B.A. thesis about PTSD, mental illness, and de-stigmatization. She had been working on a documentary about the experiences of UChicago students admitted to Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital. She also worked at the Logan Center, helping to create a documentary about the UChicago music collective Contempo and to coordinate the performance of a Chinese opera troupe during the Envisioning China Festival. Horowitz passed away from injuries sustained during a car crash in South Dakota over spring break at the age of 21, according to an e-mail sent by Dean of Students in the College Jay Ellison. Her friends, family, and mentors described Horowitz as “visually inspired,” “an explorer and creator of worlds,” filled with “enormous zest for life,” a “ringleader to a dozen cousins,” and “the kind of person who I think bad male screenwriters base their ‘manic pixie dream girl’ characters on.” That last superlative came from fourthyear and friend Allison Torem. “She was so sincere and energetic and wanted so thoroughly to live life with the firmest embrace
of human connection, spiritual and physical adventure,” she wrote in an e-mail. Torem also shared how Renata volunteered to be a part of her last artistic venture at UChicago, “Sorry Not Sorry.” “She spoke so awesomely in front of the crowd about what she was ‘sorry not sorry’ for—what she was tired of apologizing for. She said she was tired of apologizing for having a healthy relationship with her body, for any sense of genuine nakedness being misconstrued as sexualization, for any genuine sexuality being misconstrued as dirty,” Torem said. “This is my attempt to paraphrase what was said so earnestly in front of a crowd of people she didn’t even know. She really meant all of that,” she added. “These weren’t just ideals she wanted to hold, they were how she really saw the world, and having a point of view like that in this world is hard, as a woman, as a person.” Camila Palomino was Horowitz’s roommate for all four years of college. In an obituary from the UChicago News Office, she described her as “an alien—an otherworldly being who shared her passions with everyone she came by. She was a muse, an artist, a lover, an explorer and creator of worlds.” “To know her was to be in awe, to have a relationship with her is to feel a love and support that is very hard to find in humans,” friend Matt Gottesfeld wrote in an e-mail. Her father, Harold Horowitz, shared some trademark attributes of his daughter in the obituary: “We will miss her raucous laugh, robust debates and vivid presence.”
An obituary published in The New York Times by her family highlighted her 21 years full of life: “Her 21 years were well-lived surrounded by a wide circle of friends. A brilliant student, committed activist, talented dancer and filmmaker, Renny was a graduate of Stuyvesant High School and a member of the University of Chicago Class of 2016. She was a voracious reader and traveler who visited six continents documenting her trips with photos and films.” A childhood friend of Horowitz, Madison Abrams, posted a tribute on The Odyssey Online website. “You were a ray of light, always happy and never seen without a smile on your face. You knew how to bring people together and guarantee lasting memories,” she wrote. “When we were young, you were a free spirit and nothing ever held you back, this incredible quality continued into your adult life.” Members of the campus community also remembered Horowitz fondly. “Renata was a brilliant artist in many media—visually inspired, formally rigorous, narratively rich and attuned to sound,” English professor Lauren Berlant said. “She was also such a thoughtful reader of theory and history: committed to her views, and at the same time, open to new ways of thinking about generating better worlds, discourses, and institutions.” Berlant said she first taught Renata in a class called “Queer Arts after Stonewall” last fall. For a class project, Renata created a plexiglass crypt for flowers that represented relationships with people close to her, from her father to her friends.
“Renata glossed the sculpture in an essay about poison and mood, touch and abstraction. It closed with these sentences. ‘19. The plexi exterior has not been completely filled; I hope to continue filling it. Though, I have a tendency to over-do.; 20. The exterior world when seen through apoxy-resin becomes matted and blurred—like the softest, warmest pixelization,’” Berlant wrote in an e-mail. “As an artist and student intern, Renata’s exceptional ability to accomplish almost any task with warmth and creativity contributed greatly to the artistic community at the Logan Center and throughout the University,” Bill Michel, executive director of the Logan Center, said. Horowitz was deeply engaged in community activism outside of the University. She worked with a new non-profit called Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet, dedicated to providing opportunities for young black dancers. Last summer, she interned at Lawyers for Children in New York City, pursuing change at the intersection of the legal, mental health, and child protection systems. “The world really lost an advocate for human beings and a fun and spirited and really open person,” Torem said. Services for Horowitz were held in New York City on April 12. On Sunday, May 15, the College will be holding a reception for the family, colleagues, and friends of Horowitz in the South Lounge of Reynolds Club from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Her father and stepmother will be present, according to an announcement from Ellison.
Foundation Launched to Honor Donna Guo, A.B. ’15 BY EILEEN LI DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR
Members of the UChicago community have started the Remembering Donna Guo Foundation in memory of Donna Guo, A.B. ’15, with donations going toward sponsoring children and orphanages in rural China. Guo passed away in a car accident on April 18 while vacationing in New Zealand with her parents. Both of her parents suffered critical injuries. She is survived by an older sister who was not involved in the accident. Guo majored in biological and biomedical sciences and worked in assistant professor of surgery Atique Ahmed’s cancer research lab. After graduation, she continued to work with Ahmed, now at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, while also applying to medical school with plans to enter in fall of 2016. While on campus, Guo was heavily involved in China Care, a RSO dedicated to helping Chinese adoptees and orphans, serving on the board as a mentorship coordinator and later as president. She pioneered a new program that brought UChicago volunteers to a foster home on the outskirts of Beijing to teach English and assist in developmental programs. As the fundraiser description states, “One of Donna’s great life passions was lovingly serving and caring for children adopted
from China. As president of UChicago’s China Care, she helped to create its first Mentorship and Playgroup Programs, raised money to sponsor medical treatment for children in China, and established a summer internship to send volunteers to China.” Jonathan Pan, A.B. ’15, a close friend of Guo’s from her house, DelGiorno, said he started the fundraiser to commemorate Guo’s legacy of helping others. “I hope this fundraiser will be a way of not only remembering her but also helping her live on in this world; continuing to carry out the work she started which was nurturing and mentoring future generations of children,” Pan wrote in an e-mail. When asked what he would remember most about Guo, Pan described her long hugs and upbeat personality. “Sometimes, I would even [get] frustrated, in a joking kind of way, because whenever she saw a group of her friends she would give them each a 20-second hug and would be so bubbly in asking “how are you?” and I’d be just kind of standing around waiting, because it would take so long, as she gave so much attention to each person she saw. But at the same time, her kindness and her ability to uplift people when she saw them was something I wished I could emulate,” Pan wrote. Third-year Nils Noor, Guo’s boyfriend, said Guo’s trademark was her endless positivity. “Even though it was finals week when I first met her, she was just happy. You could
never make this woman sad. Or even if something bad was going on in her life, she would always give off the impression that she was always happy and somehow it would make you feel better. In a place like UChicago where it’s not really the best in terms of emotional encouragement, it’s nice to have someone, you know, a friend, to lift up people,” Noor said. Third-year Davis Tsui, current co-president of China Care, remembers Donna welcoming him into the club in the fall of his first year and the key role she played in shaping the organization’s culture. “She’s one of the reasons why a lot of us consider China Care a big family…. People in China Care feel very safe and very close to each other and I think Donna definitely was a major force building up to that,” Tsui said. Shelly Thai, A.B. ’14, served as co-president of China Care with Guo and believes Guo would have been especially proud of the RSO’s growing membership. “Since the time she started…China Care has grown so much, from 10 people to a family of more than 40. With a growing Chinese population on campus, it has also become a vehicle of Chinese pride and culture. I think that Donna would be proud of what she, along with her friends and family, has created and fostered—a community of inclusion, teamwork, positivity, and pride in one’s own culture and identity,” Thai wrote in a statement. Over the past few years, China Care UChicago has donated about $1,500–$2,000
per year to the OneSky Foundation, its umbrella nonprofit organization. The Remembering Donna Guo Foundation hopes to raise $10,000 over the next few months and has currently received over $6,000 in contributions, all of which will go directly to OneSky. Jenna Bekeny, A.B. ’15, Guo’s first-year roommate and fellow China Care member, said they were overwhelmed and surprised by the response to the fundraiser, which received over $2,000 in donations in just a few hours. Bekeny stated that the foundation would like to donate to OneSky annually in Donna’s memory. Pan also mentioned the possibility of a more long-term collaboration with the UChicago China Care group. Noor hopes the foundation would expand in the future to fulfill Guo’s dreams of helping those without health care access. “She wanted to give help to people who deserved it the most, provide health care to rural areas whether it was in China, Africa, or Central and South America. She wanted to make sure that people weren’t dying because of lack of health care. Once she finished her med school she actually wanted to do Doctors without Borders,” Noor said. “For anybody who donates, whether you knew Donna or not, I know this is a truly great cause that a truly great person really cared about. I hope that everybody just has a way to honor her in their own unique way,” Bekeny said.
Body Recovered From Lake Michigan Identified as Missing Medical Student BY ADAM THORP NEWS EDITOR
A body recovered from Lake Michigan on Sunday was identified today as missing 28-year-old medical student Ambrose Monye. Police had initially been unable to identify the body that washed up on Promontory Point last
Sunday due to the time it had spent in the lake. Monye worked at Jackson Park Hospital and frequented Hyde Park and Crerar Library. He had last been seen on April 22 walking toward Crerar on the 5700 block of South Ellis Avenue. His death is under investigation, a police spokesperson told Foxnews.com.
Monye’s family told Foxnews.com that Monye was only weeks away from graduation when he disappeared, and had already bought his cap and gown. His brother Joseph Monye, who worked with Monye at Jackson Park Hospital, told the Chicago Tribune that there was no reason to think that anything was unusual in his brother’s life.
Monye’s family had offered a $7,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, and Joseph led a search party of medical students across the South Side the Sunday before last, according to the Hyde Park Herald. Monye studied medicine at a university in Guadalajara, Mexico. He was in Chicago for clinical rotations at Jackson Park Hospital.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 13, 2016
Snowden Said That He Was Aware of the Illegality of His Actions Continued from front
over whether he should be punished. Snowden began the discussion with a brief account of how he came to work for the NSA and how his concerns over the abuses he felt he was witnessing steadily mounted over the last years of his career. “I saw that [the IC’s] public claims had become entirely divorced from the private realities of how things work in the intelligence services in the United States,” he said, referring to statements made by Director of National Intelligence General James Clapper during a 2013 Senate hearing denying that the NSA collects Americans’ data on a massive scale. Snowden cited that hearing as the moment that ultimately convinced him to take action, leaking almost 10,000 classified documents to the media.
Snowden justified his actions by arguing that the only oath he had actually taken as part of his intelligence career was to uphold the U.S. Constitution, and while he was aware of the illegality of his actions he believes that his obligations to democratic principles were greater. “Our governments—open, liberal, western democracies—tend to derive their legitimacy, their ability to pass laws, to enforce policies, on the principle of the consent of the governed, but as anyone in this room could tell you, consent is only meaningful if it is informed,” Snowden said. Throughout the discussion, Snowden emphasized the difficulties facing potential whistleblowers because, as in the case of earlier whistleblower Thomas Drake, they cannot base their legal defense on whis-
tleblowing or public interest and risk losing their entire careers and livelihoods. Drake is a former senior executive at the NSA who lost his job and was prosecuted for mishandling classified information in 2011 after he communicated discomfort with Agency policies to members of the media and was later found to have several classified documents at his home. Snowden suggested that the internal complaint system should be made simpler and less hostile. Stone attempted to play devil’s advocate by arguing that an easier process would incentivize other government employees to unjustifiably leak dangerous information, to which Snowden said, “these [whistleblowers] still get charged, but now they just have a defense they can bring to the jury.” Responding to an audience question
about perceived apathy toward his revelations, Snowden attributed that trend to a feeling of limited agency in the face of complex and inaccessible technical systems that leads people to see change as nearly impossible. Snowden also attacked the view that privacy is unimportant if “you have nothing to hide” on the grounds that it is a fundamental part of self-determination, especially for those not in line with societal norms. According to Snowden, “if you are a minority; if you are a little bit ‘different’ in any way; if you are a little bit radical, or you dissent in any way against the prerogatives or the privileges of the people in the most power, rights are for you: if you want to have them, you better stand up and defend them.”
“Our community needs and deserves equal access to quality health care...” Continued from front
the expansion, and UChicago Medicine has launched a national search for a director of the trauma center.” On April 21, the IHFSRB issued an advisory report that criticized parts of the proposal, which UChicago Medicine has dubbed the “Get CARE [Community, Accessibility, Reliability, Excellence]” plan. The report, issued by IHFSRB staff not on the board, said that the proposal was too extensive, stating that it requested too many additional beds and emergency room stations. The report said that the medical center needed only five additional medical and surgical beds, not the 168 that had been proposed, and that it only needs 15 new in-
tensive care units, not 20 as was suggested. The approved plan will add a total of 188 inpatient beds. According to UChicago Medicine’s press release, “This bed request will help address capacity issues that have been limiting patients’ access to care and straining the network of providers, as ambulances are diverted elsewhere and community hospitals are unable to transfer patients in need of complex care to UChicago Medicine.” The board is independent of its staff, and was not bound to follow the report’s recommendation. “The board’s vote today will have a significant impact on our community,” Sharon O’Keefe, president of the University of Chi-
cago Medical Center, said in the press release. “Our community needs and deserves equal access to quality health care, and we are now one giant step closer to being able to offer that access at UChicago Medicine.” The Trauma Care Coalition (TCC), an activist group that has been pushing for a trauma center on the South Side since 2010, welcomed the plan’s approval today. Third-year Dominic Surya said that at least one of its six members made the trip to Normal for the meeting today. “The coalition is obviously pleased at the development,” Surya said. “We hope that the University follows through on its stated intention to form a community board in connection to the urban health initiative and the hospital, and we believe
Neurobiology Prof. Mason Will Serve as Director of the New Major
NEWS IN BRIEF Changes to Class Registration System Put Into Effect Changes to the class registration system have been put into effect for the 2016 autumn quarter. Both course registration and instructor evaluations are now included on the my.UChicago portal website, which also gives access to student academic records, finances, and financial aid. Changes to the my.UChicago website are part of a wider overhaul of the University of Chicago’s Acadmic Informeation System (AIS) several years in the making. “In addition to the new look, AIS will provide real-time transactions and more robust access to information. We are very pleased to introduce this new experience to UChicago,” said Amanda Fijal, project co-sponsor and senior executive director of University Financial Aid and Enrollment and Student
Advancement (ESA) Technologies. The purpose is for my.UChicago portal to become a “one-stop-shop” for all academic and financial tasks so that students will not have to use multiple websites. Students previously used the UChicago portal for transcripts and finances, classes.uchicago. edu to browse and register for classes, and evaluations.uchicago.edu to view instructor evaluations. “AIS consolidates and updates many of the academic systems we use every day.” When the full implementation is complete in the 2016 autumn quarter, faculty, students, staff, parents, even alumni will gain simple, direct, mobile-optimized access to students’ academic and financial information.” said Kathie Koch, executive director of admin-
istrative services, in the News Office statement. Course registration on the portal includes some new features. Students can now filter classes by day of the week, core requirements, or prerequisites. Like the previous system, the my.UChicago portal allows students to browse classes by department; however, the classes for a given department cannot all be viewed on the same page as they could on the old website. According to a statement released by the University of Chicago News Office, the University’s AIS has been in the process of being overhauled since it was declared obsolete in 2014. —Sonia Schlesinger
College Council Forms Group to Draft Transparency Bylaw College Council (CC) decided Tuesday to form a group that will draft a bylaw governing photography and recording at its meetings. CC Chair Eric Holmberg proposed a transparency bylaw at the meeting following the U of C Divest vote on April 19, at which photography and recording was banned. The proposed bylaw read: “College Council shall not prohibit photography or the use of recording devices at its meetings.” Discussion regarding the transparency bylaw was tabled after CC representatives expressed concern over the language and timing of the proposal. Class of 2016 representative Holly Rapp argued during the proposal that a more
“nuanced” bylaw should be drafted. Rapp said that the introduction of a transparency bylaw immediately following the divestment vote appeared “reactionary.” CC voted to table the question until the next meeting. At the following meeting, an updated bylaw was introduced which would have allowed CC to ban photography or video recording with a two-thirds vote and to edit audio recordings to keep constituents anonymous. Some representatives were dissatisfied with the new bylaw, and others felt that the introduction of the bylaw immediately before Student Government (SG) elections was politically motivated. CC passed a motion to table the transparency bylaw vote until after the election.
that our membership — the six members of the coalition…should be represented on that board.” In addition to a community advisory board, TCC is also pushing for the medical center to fund social services for victims of violence: “Many Chicago trauma centers, most, have violence interrupters and run social services to not only respond to violence when it happens, but…to prevent it in the first place,” he said. “The University has not, so far, seemed keen on funding these social services.” The press release added that the new emergency room is expected to open in late 2017. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2022.
Holmberg said during this week’s meeting that two transparency bylaw proposals have been proposed in the past month. Stating that the proposals need to be reconciled, Holmberg asked CC representatives to voice their interest in forming a group that would draft a transparency bylaw. The proposal would be prepared for the next CC meeting or for the ninth week General Assembly meeting. Third-years Blaine Crawford and Peggy Xu, second-years Calvin Cottrell and Preethi Raju, and fi rst-year Qudsiyyah Shariyf volunteered to help Holmberg draft the bylaw proposal. —Emily Feigenbaum
Continued from front
the curriculum wherever needed. “It’s all about the students. I want people majoring in neuroscience to form a cohesive cohort. I want them to know they are majors, and they know each other, and they know that they can come to me with issues,” Mason said. The requirements of the major have been finalized and will involve roughly the same number of courses as a B.A. in the biological sciences, Mason said. A required course of the major will be a psychology course in sensation and perception. According to Mason, it is important to incorporate psychology into the study of neuroscience. New classes will be introduced along with the major, including Fundamentals in Neuroscience, a class designed to introduce students to the major. Mason also expressed a desire to introduce more humanities topics, such as linguistics, to the major by possibly offering more electives later in the future. She has already received e-mails from her colleagues interested in giving courses in the neuroscience major. “I’m also interested in hearing what the students have to say. This is going to be a work-in-progress. This is not going to come out of the box perfect. It’s here to serve the students, and also here to serve the neurosystem. The neurosystem is a large entity in my life, and I am never going to disrespect the neurosystem,” Mason said. Currently Mason and her team are finalizing the neuroscience major page that will appear in the course catalog for students arriving in the fall.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 13, 2016
Hagel Emphasized His Faith in the American Constitution Continued from front
disregarded by a lot of people, but you need a process. You never get to any…objective without process. It can’t happen any other way, especially a sophisticated, free nation of 320 million people.” Pape then asked Hagel about his view on the conflicts roiling the Middle East and what strategy the U.S. should adopt to help, citing the Balkans as an example of U.S.-assisted peace between rival ethnic groups. Hagel stated that the foremost priority of the U.S. must be to formulate a political strategy, using trade, diplomacy, and intelligence-sharing to achieve its goals, instead of solely focusing on military tactics. “The
military strategy…has to come within the framework of a larger political strategy because the political strategy is required to set an objective. An objective of destroying ISIS is an objective, but for what reason? Just to rid the earth of bad guys? We’re not going to end it with ISIS, I assure you.” Pape and Hagel then discussed the continuing importance of America’s global alliances and the danger of abandoning or fundamentally altering them, as suggested by Trump. Hagel commented that, while it may be tempting to shrink American commitments overseas when the middle class is struggling domestically, alliances are worth the invest-
ment. “Are these alliances still in our self-interest? And I would strongly argue that they are. They are because…one, those alliances multiply our influence in the world. They don’t weaken our influence…second, they help us do things that without alliances we couldn’t do, we couldn’t afford to do.” In addition to discussing the foreign policy issues of today, Hagel also offered words of advice for the future foreign policy experts in the audience. “You’re moving into a world of immense complications. All the more reason that we have to be wise, steady, and manage through these crises…. We cannot continue to ricochet from crisis to crisis. There are too many uncontrollables in
the world, especially for America, so much of this we can’t control, as powerful as we are we can’t control,” Hagel said. After a Q&A session covering nuclear modernization, the U.K.’s potential exit from the E.U., and Hagel’s Senate confirmation, Pape concluded by praising Hagel’s commitment to honest intellectual dialogue in the political sphere. “He’s somebody, as Secretary of Defense who’s confronted Obama with serious problems of the country, and...over and over again, [Secretary Hagel is] providing us something that really we just have so little of, which is true independent intellectual leadership,” Pape said.
On and Around Campus: Week of 5/13 – 5/19 NEWS STAFF Friday, May 13 Un lac with Director Philippe Grandrieux 9 a.m., Logan Center Screening Room 201, Free Philippe Grandrieux, who works in fi lm, television, documentary, and museum installation will attend the Film Studies Center screening of Un lac. The fi lm tells the story of a woodcutter and his sister whose isolated worlds are interrupted by the arrival of a stranger. Saturday, May 14
A IDS in the ’90s. These individuals come together to launch Joynt’s new book, which was co-authored by Hoolboom, You Only Live Twice: Sex, Death, and Transition.
again upset by the departure of her new husband, and Green Water, Green Sky recounts a young American woman’s desperate attempt to escape her divorcée mother’s glamorous French lifestyle.
A Conversation with Theresa Mah (Ph.D. ’99) on Her Public Service Career 6–7:15 p.m., Institute of Politics, Free Sit down with Theresa Mah at the Institute of Politics as part of its Leaders of Color initiative. The Democratic Nominee for 2nd District State Representative will take office in January as the fi rst Asian American in the Illinois general assembly. Mah will discuss her path to public service.
Chicago Style Presents Transform Illinois with Mary Sue Barrett 7–8 p.m., Institute of Politics, Free Mary Sue Barrett of Transform Illinois, which advocates for effi ciency in local government, will come to the Institute of Politics to discuss Illinois’ fiscal crisis and the future of its government.
Master of Maps (Children’s Pro The Real Adam Smith gram) 5:30 p.m. Reception, 6:30 p.m. Screening, 10:30 a.m., 57th Street Books, Free International House Assembly Hall, Free Husband and wife, author and illustraSwedish author and Cato Senior Fellow tor, Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Johan Norberg and Director Jim Taylor Mizielinski wrote the Maps book series will discuss their documentary The Real with illustrated maps from all over the Adam Smith as part of the Internationworld. They will come to 57th Street al House lecture series. The fi lm, which Books this weekend to lead a morning of will be screened after the talk, explores map-making activities and cultural exSmith’s life and works and how his conploration at an event open to the public. cepts apply to today’s economy. Jacob T. Levy: “Rationalism, PluTuesday, May 17 ralism, and Freedom” with Douglas Baird Brian Booker: Are You Here for 2:30 p.m., the Seminary Co-op Bookstore, W hat I’m Here For? with Jason Free Grunebaum Tomlinson professor of political theory 6 p.m., Seminary Co-op, Free Jacob T. Levy is joined in conversation Are You Here for What I’m Here For?, by former Law School Dean Douglas Brian Booker’s debut collection of short Baird regarding Levy’s 2014 book Ratiostories, follows troubled characters as nalism, Pluralism, Freedom. Levy’s book they battle rare illnesses, impending studies the tension in how intermediate natural disasters, and more. Booker groups, ethnocultural groups, churches, holds a MFA from the Iowa Writers’ universities, and more, can both protect Workshop and currently teaches creative and threaten individual liberties. writing at the University of Chicago. He will be joined in conversation by Jason Sunday, May 15 Grunebaum, a writer and translator who teaches Hindi at the University. M e l i s s a B u r c h : “ My J o u r n e y Wednesday, May 18 Through War and Peace” 3 p.m., 57th Street Books, Free Jonathan Cole: Toward A More PerWar correspondent Melissa Burch will fect University discuss her book My Journey Through 1 p.m., Seminary Co-op, Free War and Peace at 57th Street Books. Former Columbia University Provost The book takes the reader through her and professor Jonathan Cole examines time in the Soviet Union, Afghanistan, the ideal evolution of the American Uniand the Hindu Kush, among others, and versity in decades to come. His will disexplains why she sought such circumcuss his book, which questions the role stances for her work. of admissions practices, sports, research Monday, May 16 and more, with John Boyer. Chase Joynt: “You Only Live Twice: Sex, Death, and Transition” 4:30–6 p.m., Seminary Co-op, Free Two artists will discuss a pivotal experience that they feel divides their life into a distinct “before” and “after”. Transgender author Chase Joynt will discuss his transition from female to male, and movie artist Mike Hoolboom will talk about his near-death experience with
On Mavis Gallant’s A Fairly Good Time with Peter Orner and Audrey Petty 6 p.m., 57th Street Books, Free Authors Peter Orner and Audrey Petty will discuss two recently reissued novels by writer Mavis Gallant. A Fairly Good Time tells the story of a Canadian widower living in Paris whose life is once
A panel of activists from the 1960s will be speaking about the political climate of Chicago when Martin Luther King Jr. fi rst moved here to aid the civil rights movement. While working to obtain voting rights for all citizens, King also helped to launch a campaign to end the slums called the “Chicago Freedom Movement” and led open housing marches. The panelists will discuss the movement and its legacy today, 50 years later. The event will also include an exhibit of color photographs from King’s time in Chicago.
Argonne OutLoud: The End of Water Dealing with Heritage: New Policy as We Know It Approaches 6 –7:30 p.m., International House, Ad- 1:15–5 p.m., Continues on Friday from vanced registration is “requested”, Free 8:30–11:30 a.m., Neubauer Collegium for Argonne scientist Seth Darling will be Culture and Society, Free speaking about the current state of wa- The “Dealing with Heritage” Conference, ter technology and management, and co-sponsored by the Neubauer Collegihow his team is working to make water um for Culture and Society and the usage in agriculture more effi cient. It Department of Art History, seeks to exis predicted that the world’s demand for plore policy approaches to protect archewater will rise 55 percent in the next 35 ological antiquities. The conference will years, so this work reflects what could feature a keynote address by Executive be a pivotal change in how the world Director of the New Cities Foundation views and uses water. Maxwell L. Anderson, entitled “Transparency: A Path to Illicit Trade”. In the Thursday, May 19 address, Anderson will discuss the possibility of creating openly regulated anÓscar Martínez on A Histor y of tiquities markets and how to undercut Violence and Edu Ponces on En el incentives to loot illegally. camino 6 p.m., Seminary Co-op, Free Jonardon Ganeri: “Why Philosophy To write his book A History of Violence, Must Go Global” Oscar Martínez went undercover to in- Noon, Swift Hall Common Room, Free teract with drug-dealers, local police, Professor of philosophy Jonardon Ganeri and gangs. He explored Mexican broth- of NYU will be discussing the challenge els, Salvadoran Slums, and small Guate- that modern philosophy faces in an inmalan villages in one of the most violent creasingly interconnected world. He will regions in the world. Martínez and ac- be discussing the importance of both liscompanying photojournalist Edu Ponces tening to and incorporating philosophwill discuss their work on the book. ical perspectives from people around the globe, and of being willing to disMarching on the City of Big Shoul- cuss traditionally Anglocentric policies ders: Stories from the Chicago Free- through a multicultural lens. dom Movement 6–7:30 p.m., Free
6
THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 13, 2016
VIEWPOINTS Budgeting for the Future 2016–17 Budget Gives Graduate Student Resources a Needed Boost, but Leaves the Future of Funding Uncertain Student Government (SG)’s General Assembly convened on Monday to pass 30–4 a budget that substantially increases spending for line items targeted at graduate students. Last year, SG increased funding to such programs by $72,500. This year, that increase skyrocketed to $250,500, 86 percent of which will come from rollover funds (those left unused at the end of last year). According to the memo accompanying the budget, grad student fees constituted 33.1 percent of the total SG budget for 2015–16. Thirty six point seven percent of the 2016–17 budget is allocated to programs that benefit graduate students, compared to 29.9 percent in the 2015–16 budget. The increases to graduate student funding are pilot increases, which will give SG flexibility over the coming year to assess the financial needs of the Graduate Council (GC), the Graduate Council Travel Fund, and the Gradu-
ate Council Social Fund. Executive Slate is confident that non-pilot programming increases will be sustainable because they are not coming out of rollover funds. Additionally, Slate anticipates that SG will cut back on unnecessary expenses and receive an annual budgetary increase of about $100,000 from the administration next year. But what about the fate of graduate programs receiving pilot increases? The rollover funding presents a unique opportunity for SG to explore the demands for graduate programs, but it leaves the future unclear. SG president Tyler Kissinger said during Monday’s meeting that he does not foresee that GC, the travel fund, and the social fund will use all of their newly allocated money, since the increases are so dramatic. However, the chair of the travel fund, Haley Stinnett, argued that the newly allocated travel funds, which
facilitate conference attendance and networking opportunities for graduate students, would indeed be put to use. She said this year’s travel fund has been completely depleted. Graduate students, who make up two-thirds of the student body, deserve the bigger slice of the Student Life Fee (SLF) pie that this budget is giving them. The pilot program may reveal that graduate students need less than what is budgeted for, but what if they do end up using their full budgets, and the same amount of rollover funding is unavailable in future years? With this pilot program, Slate is putting pressure on the administration to rethink the way it allocates the SLF. It writes in its memo, “it is not clear that the amount of resources with which we have been provided has kept pace with the funding obligations expected of SG.” Unless the administra-
tion allocates a greater percentage of the SLF to SG in the coming years or increases the SLF, it is possible that the graduate programs will have to endure cuts. SG does have some money to play around with next year (not all rollover funds are being used, and both College Council funding and the New York Times Readership Program are being slightly reduced), but not enough to promise long-term increases to graduate student funding on this scale. If this pilot year is successful, how can the administration ensure that graduate programs receive sustained increases without forcing cuts to undergraduate programs or hiking up SLFs? In its memo, SG suggests that it needs a greater proportion of the SLF going forward, and that the University should use other financial resources to fund health and wellness programs, including Student Health Services and Student Counseling
Services, which are currently being funded by the SLF. With this budget, SG is daring the administration to withhold the funding increases it seeks for the coming years. It is sending the message that the funding levels in this year’s budget will only be sustainable if the University diverts more of the SLF to SG and pays for other SLF-funded programs using alternative resources. Slate’s strategy may very well work, and perhaps it is time for the University to rethink how it allocates the Student Life Fee. However, using the SG budget as leverage over the administration could land next year’s SG in a tricky situation. Even though budgets are allocated on a year-by-year basis, Executive Slate and the administration should spell out a long-term plan for how graduate programs will be funded. –The MAROON Editorial Board
Letter to the Editor: Faculty, Students, Alumni, and Others Condemn Divestment Resolution As students, alumni, and faculty of the University of Chicago, we condemn the approval of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) resolution by the University of Chicago College Council on April 12, 2016, and are disappointed by their refusal to remove explicit references to the global BDS movement from
the resolution. While many of us differ in our political and ideological views on Israeli policies, we are united in believing that the BDS movement is detrimental to achieving peace in the region, which involves recognizing the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians. The BDS movement rejects
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to a Jewish homeland and the continued existence of Israel as a Jewish democratic state. — Signed by over 500 faculty members, students, alumni, friends, and family, including these current faculty members: Robert Haselkorn, Ben Roitberg, Diane Altkorn, Susan Glick, David Frim, Michael H. Davidson, Mitchell C. Posner, Dorit Koren, David Rubin, Abraham Dachman, Ronald Cohen, Edwin Kaplan, Louis Philipson, Daniel Mass, Sam Peltzman, Dennis W. Carlton, Steven N. Kaplan, Yoad Shefi, Robert Vishny, Milton Harris, Simeon Chavel, Nadav Klein, Bruce D. Meyer, Paula R. Worthington, Josef Stern, Martha C. Nussbaum, Michael D. Sher, Lisa Bernstein, Sylvia Neil, David Weisbach, Mark J Heyrman, George Glauberman, Laszlo Babai, David Schuster, Melvyn Shochet, Gary Toback, Robert M. Wolfe, Charles Lipson, Nancy L. Stein, Nathan Tarcov, and Linda J. Waite
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Jewish people to the land is disrespectful and baseless. The College Council’s vote went beyond legitimate criticism of Israel and attacked the very existence of a Jewish state. The vote does not represent us in any way and leaves many students feeling alienated from their peers and unwelcome in the College community. We welcome the statement issued by the University of Chicago on April 14, 2016, which reaffirms that the University will not divest from companies doing business in Israel, and that it opposes academic boycotts aimed at specific nations, including Israel. The BDS movement is antagonistic to the achievement of a peaceful solution in the region—including a two-state solution—and we refuse to yield to its divisive policies. We embrace the promotion of mutual understanding, constructive dialogue, and peace and prosperity for everyone in the region. We affirm the right
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Jewish self-determination and advocates a solution to the conflict that, in its founder’s words, “would end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.” By assigning blame for the conflict to Israel alone, BDS espouses an overtly one-sided approach and oversimplifies a complex issue. The vilification of Israel by BDS simply incites hatred and contributes nothing to achieving a peaceful solution in the region. BDS aims to undermine the Jewish presence in the region and harms Palestinians who benefit from economic cooperation with Israeli businesses. Furthermore, we are appalled that the College Council rejected the proposal to include a clause in the resolution recognizing the right to Jewish self-determination and the continued existence of the State of Israel. In contrast, we firmly embrace peace, prosperity, and self-determination for both peoples. The College Council’s refusal to acknowledge the historical ties of the
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 13, 2016
Healthier Conversations The Complexities of Mental Health Necessitate a Culturally Specific Discussion
Jane Jun A considerable number of UChicago students struggle with mental health– related issues such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and eating disorders, among others. It is encouraging to see the growing dialogue and resources surrounding mental health on campuses; however, conversation surrounding mental health can be unevenly geared toward clinical diagnoses or solely attributed to academic stress. For such a pressing issue, on our campus and across the world, a limited understanding of mental health is potentially detrimental and thus unacceptable. In reality, mental health is affected by a slew of other factors including class, sexuality, race, culture, and family history. Minorities within these categories are often especially affected, so it is vital to address cultural identities within our discussions of mental health. As an Asian American, I can attest from my own experience that there are pressures on my mental health as a direct result of the fact that I am a minority. For instance, I have been particularly affected by intergenerational conflict within my family as a result of immigration, language barriers, and the pressure to assimilate into Western culture. Typically, general discussions of mental health would not accommodate these culturally specific and relevant factors. A study conducted by the Maryland School of Public Health in 2007 came to similar conclusions. Researchers analyzed the mental health needs of Asian-American young adults from eight communities: Asian Indian, Cambodian, Chinese, Indonesian, Korean, Taiwanese, Thai, and Vietnamese. The study examined 1.5-generation immigrants (defined by the study as individ-
uals who came to the US before they were 16) and second-generation immigrants (individuals who were born in the US). Findings showed that participants reported several common sources of stress that affected their overall mental health, including discrimination due to their racial or cultural background, the pressure to live up to the “model minority”—a stereotype which inaccurately portrays Asian Americans as having integrated into mainstream culture and conquered the challenges of racial bias—difficulty balancing two different cultures, and developing a bicultural sense of self. In addition, participants reported that discussing mental health concerns was considered taboo in many Asian cultures, leading many Asian Americans to dismiss, deny, or neglect their symptoms rather than seek out help. I grew up in California’s Bay Area, where the headquarters of major technological corporations like Google, Apple, and Intel, as well as the epitome of the American Dream for many immigrant families, are located. Underneath the happily-ever-after guise of manicured lawns and elite top-performing schools, however, many of my peers from immigrant families struggled with severe mental health problems. I went to Lynbrook High School, ranked the 32nd highest performing high school by Business Insider this year with a schoolwide average SAT score of 2130. Despite these promising statistics, countless numbers of my peers struggled with stress, anxiety, and a pervading sense of failure due to culture-specific issues, like the struggle to reconcile bicultural identities and the pressure to fulfill their parents’ decision to migrate across the world for a better future. In my first
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year of high school, a suicide cluster occurred at a neighboring school, Palo Alto High School, where three students jumped in front of the Caltrain to their deaths. This horrific and rare series of deaths was a direct result of immigrant pressures and the extreme demands for excellence. Inherited historical trauma is another factor that ought to nuance our mental health dialogue. For many immigrant families, war trauma, colonization, or industrialization in their homeland is a mere one or two generations away. My grandmother lived through the death of her siblings, the introduction of electricity to Korea, and crossing the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea after it closed. Effects of colonization include the erasure of indigenous culture in exchange for Western values, and this has troubling implications with regard to how Western conceptualizes and treats mental health. Historical trauma becomes suppressed on an individual level as coping mechanisms take over, but it inevitably gets passed down from generation to generation. This sort of context cannot be excluded when discussing mental
health because it then redirects blame from stigma within our communities toward greater evils, such as war or colonization. Broader concepts of mental health often neglect these especially relevant cultural ambiguities. When discussions of mental health take place, it is important for us to integrate those relevant factors that have otherwise been left out of our conversations. As our society continues to rightfully destigmatize mental illness, a more nuanced conversation that prominently highlights the importance of our cultural backgrounds is necessary. From my experience, I know that pockets of minority groups struggle with pressures specific to their background and difficulties that arise from the disorienting experience of immigration. By factoring in these cultural differences to further our discussion of mental health, we allow our campus to be a more sensitive and inclusive space. There can obviously be no easy solution to mental illness, but a more culturally nuanced discussion of it is a necessary start. Jane Jun is a third-year in the College majoring in economics.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 13 , 2016
ARTS Film by UChicago Student Director Is Cannes-Bound BY KENNETH TALBOTT LA VEGA ARTS STAFF
Last Friday I sat down with Max Asaf, a fourth-year cinema and media studies major in the College, the day before he boarded his fl ight to France, where he is promoting his fi lm at the Short Film Corner of the Cannes Film Festival. “Memories from a Vanished World” is a 33-minute documentary that uses interviews with Asaf’s family members and photographs of his grandparents’ family to capture pre-Holocaust Poland. We discussed his fi lm—its inspirations and the process of making it—as well as his experience as a cinema and media studies major and his agenda at Cannes. “Memories from a Vanished World” was primarily intended to be the creative portion of Asaf ’s senior thesis. “It made my written thesis a lot easier,” he admitted with a laugh. The concept for the film began a couple of spring breaks ago, when he discovered an old box in his father’s closet containing black-and-white photos. His grandparents had brought them with them to America when they emigrated from Poland, right before political tensions climaxed. As the only members of their family to leave Poland before the Holocaust, they were also the only ones to survive it. The fi lm is based on interviews Asaf conducted with family members, in which they discuss the pictures and provide personal reflections. “[Most of the time] they’re basically guessing, they don’t know much more than I do,” Asaf observed. Sometimes these interviews are voiced over the cryptic photographs, a technique he believes contributes to ambiguity and poetic reflection. Asaf also juxtaposes these photographs of the past with modern-day footage he collected on a trip to Israel, fostering interaction between images “signifying absence of the past” and those
“showing life that now exists.” Asaf ’s adoption of this technique was influenced by Night and Fog (1955), an iconic documentary about the Holocaust in France. While the contrast between the obscurity of the past and the reality of the present runs through “Memories of a Vanished World,” Asaf explains that this is not the primary theme of the film. In the process of interviewing his family about such an arcane part of their history, he found that the film’s true aim is verbally engaging with stories that aren’t talked about. Asaf elaborated, “I originally thought it was just going to be about the images, but then I realized it had to be about speaking, with the images as a catalyst… [The fi lm] is about speaking about ‘it’ for the fi rst time… just talking.” It’s the evocative nature between image and dialogue—this artistic dialectic at the heart of cinema—that completes his film. Upon applying for a student job position at Cannes through the American Pavilion, Asaf discovered he could submit his own short fi lm as a student work. However, this required him to speed up his production rate to meet the Cannes deadline. “It was a month of all-nighters in Logan,” he joked. For Asaf, the most difficult part of creating the fi lm was the editing stage. Faced with roughly 60 hours (!) of digital fi lm footage, he had to construct a story no longer than 35 minutes, the limit for a short fi lm submission at Cannes. “[With this footage], there is an infinite number of stories I could create,” he said. “I had to narrow it down to one or two good ones.” We also talked at length about the cinema and media studies department. His most enthusiastic advice for any prospective fi lm student is to take Judy Hoffman’s two-quarter sequence on documentary production. Besides being one of the only production-focused classes offered in the College, he gushed
Max Asaf
Pictures that Max Asaf found in his father’s closet are the basis for his documentary, Memories From a Vanished World.
that Hoffman “taught me everything I know on how to make a film—even with fiction, which I still want to do.” Asaf also highlighted the resources available to film students willing to experiment, such as the Cage in the basement of the Logan Center. “It’s invaluable to learn what not to do,” he stressed. “If you want to make something, or even think you want to, just go there… It is pretty intimidating, but once you get over that, you’re going to end up making something.” Finally, we discussed his plans for Cannes. Asaf told me that his Cannes
experience will be relatively unconventional, as he will be working five hours a day, promoting his fi lm at the Short Film Center at other times, and eventually enjoying the other fi lms and opportunities in his free hours. He’s looking forward to attending the premieres of new fi lms by Steven Spielberg and Park Chan-wook, among others. Asaf won’t be skipping out on the nightlife either. He let me in on some insider Cannes information: “Most of the networking at Cannes happens at the after-parties.” I hope he remembers to give Scorsese my e-mail.
All Packed Up and Ready To Go BY ALEX YE ARTS STAFF
My first visit to the recently opened, a nd now re cently closed , Packed : Dumplings Reimagined was full of expectations. I put aside my traditionalist views on dumplings and was ready to embrace the vision of Chef Mike Sheerin and Aaron DiMaria’s new, sustainably sourced, “farm-driven” fast food joint. While ordering at the cash register and browsing the menu, I couldn’t help feeling the indignant insecurity in DiMaria’s manner, almost desperate to defend the unconventional dumpling fillings. This was off-putting, as I was genuinely willing to give each one of the dumplings a try. After all, Mike Sheerin, once Chef de Cuisine at Paul Kahan’s Blackbird, was supposedly behind these dumplings, so I had to pay my respects. However, the rea l it y was that the beautiful produce and proteins that Packed sourced were not handled well. Their Peking Duck dumpling punched the palate with ginger, and their Pastrami reeked of salty whole-grain mustard. Their take on macaroni and cheese was a lazy combination of udon noodles and sticky queso cheese, unsalvageable even with toppings of raw jalapeños and stale
dried shiitake. Lackluster food was compounded by a dent in my wallet and small portion sizes to create an extraordinarily mediocre experience. To reiterate, I’m not opposed to innovative interpretations of traditional cuisines. Whether a Chinese dumpling, Polish pierogi, or Italian ravioli, this food form—things sealed in dough and then cooked—serves a few key functions that must not be screwed up. The dough must be properly cooked. Notes of raw f lour are not welcome. T h e r e mu s t b e s o m e f l av o r ful liquid. I don’t care i f it’s gooey cheese or porky soup, this is the du mpl i n g ’s q u i nt e s s e nt i a l t r a it . The filling needs to be seasoned well. You have one chance to salt the product you want to showcase, and that is before cooking. No sauce or extra salt and pepper atop the finished product is going to redeem an under-seasoned filling. Packed violated all three of these cr iter ia. W hat was termed as “reimagined” consisted mostly of familiar, even clichéd f lavor combinations inconsiderately sealed in dumpling w rappers. D id the cor n dog really need to be in dumpling form? The Spicy Meatball Dumpling was pleasant, but I would have been just as happy with two succulent meatballs. Sheerin and DiMaria weren’t work-
Karyn Peyton
Packed’s dumplings lacked originality. Now Packed is sacked.
ing the same magic as Roy Choi with the Kogi Truck in Los Angeles or Eddy Huang with Bauhaus in New York. More often than not, the pursuit of reimagination and/or cultural fusion will please neither trendy foodies nor purists. Packed’s color ful website, sleek wooden decor, and avid social media
managers dialed into the millennial aesthetic: fast, trendy, and environmentally friendly. Both Packed’s opening and premature closing gathered a considerable amount of attention, which is a testament to its customers’ faith in its mission. Packed wasn’t inherently doomed, just badly executed.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 13, 2016
Chicago Improv Festival Is Where Stars Are Born BY RYAN FLEISHMAN MAROON CONTRIBUTOR
This past Sunday marked the end of the 19th Chicago Improv Festival, which featured more than 170 groups from nine different countries performing in 105 shows. The festival promoted the bustling Chicago improv scene while bringing in improv veterans and upcoming acts alike. This year’s Chicago Improv Festival aimed to provide a more intimate experience by utilizing 21 smaller, separate improv venues for the festival. Diversity was also prioritized in the festival, which featured 14 all-women groups and eight all-minority groups. Three of these all-women groups (Woke AF, Virgin Daiquiri, and Children of a Lesser God) took the spotlight on Monday, when they starred in the festival’s opening show. The festival’s various shows are grouped into 10 categories: Alternative/Experimental, Dramatic, Emerging Artists, Featured Acts, Genre, Long Form, Musical, Short Form, Special Events, and Open Stage. What is experimental improv, you ask? Experimental improv works unique concepts into shows while subverting improv standards. For example, one of the experimental improv shows, No More Words, has absolutely no dialogue. Other shows use different forms or break the fourth wall. Charna Halpern, co-founder of the iO theater and co-creator of long-form improvisation, lauds the festival for drawing crowds. In her words, “People from outside of town, people from the suburbs are coming out to see what we do.” These people return for more improv as well. Thanks to the work of pioneers like Halpern and her partner, the late Del Close,
John Abbott
The Chicago Improv Festival is a mecca for comedy troupes all over the world, like New Zealand’s Improv Bandits, pictured here during the 17th Annual Festival in 2014.
Chicago has become the mecca of improvisation, nurturing stars such as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, and countless Saturday Night Live cast members. Nowadays, there are more theaters in Chicago than years of my life, and the premier theaters like iO and Second City sell out shows on the daily. According to Halpern, the festival even brings performing talent into Chicago permanently. “A lot of improvisers from outside of Chicago may have had cold feet, then come here because of the festival and realize ‘This is where I have to be.’” Susan Messing, a veteran improviser
further interest though it clearly does both. “We have the greatest audiences of the world in Chicago,” Messing explained. “I’m not sure if the festival significantly augments the audience, but it certainly spotlights what we do.” This is natural, since the Chicago improv scene is wonderfully saturated. Halpern credited Chicago native Jonathan Pitts, co-founder of the Chicago Improv Festival, and his wholehearted support of the Chicago scene for bringing the festival to its current level. “He’s celebrating what we do, and we all want to support that.”
and teacher whose list of accolades would murder my word count, performed in four separate shows and taught one of the many workshops offered as part of the festival. Messing’s workshop, called “Protecting the Freak,” taught improvisers how to work with more troublesome improvisers. In her words, “It’s about how you play with someone whose energy seems significantly different than yours. I give a lot of ways to play with people who are difficult, or unusual to play with.” Messing and Halpern agreed that the focus of the festival is to celebrate Chicago’s existing improv scene rather than promote
Provide Exceptional Administrative Executive Support
Answers to Friday’s crossword puzzle, “Most Wanted Bachelors”
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ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT & CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER Managing an extremely active calendar, this highly organized Executive Assistant will compose/prepare correspondence, arrange complex agendas, coordinate meetings and ensure smooth flow of communications. Demonstrating effective judgment, leadership and relationship building skills, qualified candidates must possess Bachelor’s Degree with at least 5 years experience as administrative assistant to senior executive.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 13 , 2016
RBIM’s CONTINUUM Offers Continuous Enthusiasm BY ALEXIA BACIGALUPI ASSOCIATE ARTS EDITOR
The crowd was so raucous that one might have been forgiven for thinking it was a performance by a fraternity at Pi Phi’s Arrowfest. As the lights dimmed in Mandel Hall last Friday evening for the RBIM annual showcase, themed CONTINUUM, the audience wouldn’t stop yelling encouragement to their friends on stage. A female computer voice introduced the setting: some 13.9 billion years ago when “nothing exist[ed] yet.” The entire performance was framed by this computer and her companion, a young girl. The girl, who wanted to know more about the past, was sucked in by the computer and travelled through time, observing the evolution of human society. Each dance number, starting at “The Beginning” and ending with a potential future known as “Humans versus Aliens,” represented a specific time and place in human culture.
The 12 dance numbers were varied in setting. Along the way, the girl observed Ancient Greece, the Dancing Plague of 1518, and the evolution of jazz in New Orleans, among others. The choreography for the early history pieces was simplistic; there was no story or vision of what the earliest human societies might have looked like. The standout number for the first act was the “Pantheon” routine, choreographed by Alex Dworakowski and Nora Loughlin. The Ancient Greece presented was more militaristic Sparta than philosophical Athens; the roiling drums of a Woodkid and Imagine Dragons mashup sent shivers up the arms. The energy among the dancers was high as they twisted onstage in coordinated jumps, head tosses, and complex formations. The later “Dance Until We Drop” number— referring to the Dancing Plague of 1518 where hundreds dropped dead of exhaustion in the Holy Roman Empire in a dancing mania
that lasted a week—was confusing. While the choreography was exciting and energetic, the music and costume choices of upbeat Caribbean music and colorful patterned tunics were at odds with the circumstances of the actual event. Emcee and RBIM Outreach Chair Yvette McGivern hosted a raffle during the intermission, when attendees could use the free raffle ticket they were given upon entry. The prize option of free Chipotle delivered to the Reg was met with great enthusiasm by the audience, who cheered loudly every time someone won. Dancers also emerged from backstage in their costumes to socialize with friends and support their fellow performers during the second act. Following the intermission, the girl and the computer found themselves in the 20th century. The iconic “Cell Block Tango” scene from the Broadway musical Chicago, here choreographed by Kelsi Rarick, was attacked with greater vigor than other pieces.
The male dancers were props for the girls, as each disposed of her “husband” for varying faults, from his gum-smacking habit to infidelity, by poison, bullet, or a knife. The snappy show tune tempo was met by the dancers, who imbued the number with attitude and stage presence, despite a throwback Justin Timberlake soundtrack. After a shrieking crowd quieted down, the dancers performed part of the routine to Britney Spears’s iconic “Oops!...I Did It Again,” wearing striking metallic red biker short suit costumes. At times, the framing device of the computer and the girl felt clunky and forced. Naturally, the computer interpreted her sarcastic remarks seriously and was often confused by her expressions. After the girl complains about the computer being her mother, the latter replies, “Of course I’m not your mother. I’m a computer.” The girl, meanwhile, came off as childish and unexcited by the amazing premise of the journey.
After a tribute to the RBIM seniors featuring hits from the past two decades and the dancers in pajamas handing in their B.A. theses, the show closed out with a futuristic hip-hop number, set as a battle between humans and aliens. As with much of the show, the actual theme was unclear beyond a token nod to the supposed time period. Oftentimes the energy of the music, much of it contemporary, overpowered that of the dancers on stage. However, as the curtain fell and the dancers—in various levels of costume—entered the stage en masse, an infectious sense of excitement arose as they hugged each other and celebrated the end of two quarters of hard work. The audience, vocal and engaged throughout, joined in with loud clapping and cheering. Even more than the dancing, the highlight of CONTINUUM was the enthusiasm of the performers and the pride they took in their work.
Love This Club, in Theory: Club Sueto BY GRACE HAUCK ARTS EDITOR
On Friday, April 29, Mansueto turned nightclub. A fter winning $1,6 0 0 to embark on one of this year’s 14 s ele c t e d Unc om mon F u nd projects, fourth-years Ellen Rodnianski and Dani Wieder organized a silent disco, DJed by fourth-year Jonah Rabb. The sold-out event —limited to 150 pairs of wireless he adpho ne s — r a n fo r t w o hou rs a nd featu red tracks by artists like DJ Sprinkles, Ma rk Fel l, a nd R aw Si l k.
Club Sueto was organized in part by fourth-year Ellen Rodnianski (pictured, bottom left). Grace Hauck
the Sketch A RTS , B RIEFLY .
Chamber Music Organization Spring Showcase Student chamber music groups from across campus will be showcasing their talents at the CMO’s Spring Showcase. Featuring works by such composers as Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and Scriabin, student trios, quartets, and duets will perform the pieces they’ve been rehearsing throughout the quarter. Come for an evening of relaxing music and dinner from The Med. Friday, May 13, Logan Performance Penthouse, 7–9 p.m., free. Chicago Swing Dance Society: Disney Swing Come relive your childhood this Saturday at the Chicago Swing Dance Society’s last java
jive of the quarter: Disney Swing! Come ready to dance to classic Disney jazz songs like “The Bare Necessities” and “You’ve Got A Friend In Me,” but also songs from—yes—High School Musical and Hannah Montana! There will be a beginner East Coast Swing lesson from 7:30 to 8:30, followed by open dancing until 11 p.m. Saturday, May 14, Ida Noyes Hall, 7:30 –11 p.m., free. University of Chicago Chamber Orchestra The UChicago Chamber Orchestra will perform its final concert of the quarter on Saturday night, featuring the “Ritual Fire Dance” from El Amor Bruja by Manuel de Falla, Mozart’s Symphony No. 31 in D Major, and Bee-
thoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major. The piano soloist featured is third-year Sun Woo Park, who took second place in the 2016 UChicago Concerto Competition. Saturday, May 14, Logan Performance Hall, 8 p.m., free. The University of Chicago Wind Ensemble Presents: Dreams On Sunday, conductor Chip De Stefano will lead the University Wind Ensemble in its fi nal concert of the year with pieces by Jenkins, Boysen Jr., and Jacob. The ensemble features a piece by fourth-year De’Andre Warren, and one with guest soloist Matt Olson. If Summer Breeze was too hot to handle, chill out and realize your dreams
at the UWE’s 2015–16 finale. Sunday, May 15, Logan Performance Hall, 4 p.m., free. Peter and the Wolf, on the Carillon! After a mostly rainy (and, at one point, aggressively foggy) week, the sun will finally be out on Sunday. What better way to bask in the newfound sunlight than via picnic on Rockefeller Chapel’s lawn, with world carillon master Geert d’Hollander playing his own arrangement of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf? Sunday, May 15, Rockefeller Chapel, 5 p.m., free. A Very Good Jazz Concert With 17 performers plus one band manager, this unnamed
conglomerate of musicians is UChicago’s premier big band. Sunday’s concert, as they promise, will be “Very Good”—and is their reaction to MAB’s refusal to have a big band jazz headliner at Summer Breeze. Sunday, May 15, Logan Performance Penthouse, 7 p.m., free. University of Chicago Women’s Ensemble Spring Concert UChicago’s Women’s Ensemble will be having its penultimate show of the quarter this Sunday in Rockefeller Chapel. The set list spans centuries and continents, with songs from the 13th and 20th centuries and pieces from South Africa and Indonesia. Sunday, May 15, Rockefeller Chapel, 7:30 p.m., free.
THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 13, 2016
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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 13, 2016
SPORTS IN-QUOTES... “My goal in life is to meet @SHAQ and tell him that I love his movie Kazaam” — Seth Ahlden
SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: Brian Weisbecker Swimmer’s Presence Extended Beyond the Pool BY BRITTA NORDSTROM ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR
It is occasionally difficult to discern which sports team Brian Weisbecker is part of, mainly because there are very few home games that he doesn’t attend, no matter which sport is being played. Weisbecker has been a mainstay in the athletic community for all four years of his undergraduate experience, displaying his passion and love for the Chicago Maroons every step of the way. Not only has he gone out of his way to make a mark on the swim and dive team, but he has made a mark on every sport in this program. Although one might think that Weisbecker spends all his time at Ratner, he was actually drawn to UChicago for other reasons. “I remember listening to a student explain for a half hour how, linguistically, music could be considered a language,” he said of his recruiting trip. “The other campuses I visited didn’t seem to have that same general passion to discuss anything people were learning about.” Weisbecker is perhaps the perfect example of this interest
in others and their thoughts, both in and out of the classroom. He never fails to ask other students how their days are; he constantly provides a smile and a warm “hello.” He is also an economics major with a Spanish minor, a University Scholar, and an Honorable Mention Scholar All-American. To say that the fourth-year takes his learning seriously would be an understatement. As unbelievably bright as Weisbecker’s career has been at Chicago, it certainly hasn’t come without hardship. “I had to get two surgeries my second year and then a third in my third year, effectively barring me from two years of competitions,” he explained. “It was a frustrating and stressful experience, but my friends, teammates, and athletic trainers really helped me stay positive.” It is shocking to look at the all-time swim and dive records and think of what might have been for Weisbecker. Even with his two years of injury, the fourth-year is No. 9 in school history for the 200-meter butterfly and No. 8 on the 400-meter individual medley list. Although the journey was
rocky, Weisbecker stayed positive, as usual, and was able to return for his last year of competitive swimming. “With everyone’s support, I was able to make it back. My struggle with injury definitely made every moment of this year so meaningful and fun,” the fourth-year said. This year was especially meaningful for the whole team, as the squad managed to secure 14th place at the National Championship this year. Out of the pool, Weisbecker’s passions don’t stop with academics. He is also a World Sport Chicago Athlete-Ambassador, part of the Maroon Key Society, and a member of UCIB. However, these other organizations pale in comparison with the work he has done with The Order of the C (OOC), the male student-athlete advisory board. “From my fi rst year I was blown away by the quality of our student-athletes, in all their different activities,” he said. “I also saw that the atmosphere, and even knowledge, of athletics was not at the level that the achievements of my peers warranted.” “For the past four years I’ve worked to help OOC have a bigger
Softball Slips in Tournament Opener SOFTBALL
BY OLA OBI SPORTS STAFF
Boasting a regular season record of 25–8, the Maroons were selected to play in the NCA A Regional Tournament. The invitation marked the team’s 10th time making regionals. The squad was ranked No. 2 in the Angola Region to go along with its national ranking of No. 25. The team’s .758 winning percentage would have ranked third highest in school history, had the season ended on Wednesday. UChicago played its first match of the tournament Thursday morning against Wheaton College of Illinois. With the stakes high, the team turned to its ace, senior starter Jordan Poole, who led the team with 83 Ks and carried an 8–4 record entering the game. Unfortunately for the Maroons, Poole was not at her best on Thursday, and the Thunder got to her early and often. In the first inning, Wheaton
got the ball rolling with a walk and two singles that gave it a 2–0 lead. Meanwhile, the UChicago offense floundered, mustering a mere three base runners through the first four innings as Thunder starter Katie Thornton kept the bats in check. In the fourth inning, Wheaton’s hitters came alive, scoring two runs on a throwing error and sacrifice fly, then following those up with another three in the fi fth. T he of fensive er upt ion knocked Poole out of the game. While fi rst-year Jordyne Prussak pitched admirably in relief by keeping Wheaton off the board, it wasn’t enough. UChicago managed a lone run in the bottom of the fifth, and ended up falling by a final score of 7–1. “It certainly wasn’t the result we were looking for, but we have to keep our heads up,” said impassioned third-year pitcher Alexa Hanelin. “We’ll put the loss behind us and move onto the next game. This group is capable of so much, it’ll just be a question of
focus and resilience. I have no doubt that we’ll come out with some fire tomorrow.” While the defeat certainly stings, the Maroons aren’t done yet. The four-team regional, taking place over the weekend at Trine University, has a double-elimination format. The team will look to respond with fi re in its next match against Greenville College on Friday. The Maroons’ backs will truly be against the wall this time, since a loss will knock the squad out of the tournament. Meanwhile, the Panthers will be coming off their own loss to Trine by a score of 5–3. Greenville’s record now sits at 23–22– 1, and on paper the matchup heavily favors UChicago. However, with one tournament loss already under their belts, the Maroons can’t afford to take any team lightly. The game is set to take place at Trine University in Angola this Friday, with fi rst pitch scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
University of Chicago Athletics Depaartment
Fourth-year Brian Weisbecker hugs a coach during a swim meet against Wisonsin-WIlwaukee in January.
impact on campus and to change the perception that athletics is not also something that we can be proud of at our university,” he said. He has led the charge on events such as National Student Athlete Day, cook-outs for the outdoor sports, and Neon Night, making good on his promise to bring athletics to the forefront. However, Weisbecker would tell you that the OOC helped him more than he helped the organization. He said, “My participation in the OOC enriched my athletic experience because I was able to enjoy my team and
sport while also having an opportunity to help improve the infrastructure supporting our student-athletes.” The Maroons will certainly miss the cheering section Weisbecker always brings, as well as his fearless leadership at the helm of the Order of the C, but he won’t be too far away next year, as he is working in Chicago at a consulting firm. Hopefully he will come back for some games every now and then, although it would also be understandable if he never wanted to set foot in Ratner again after all he has given to it.
Conference Finals Take Shape in Stanely Cup Playoffs MEN’S TRACK
BY RUSLAN SHCHETININ MAROON CONTRIBUTOR
With Tuesday’s game 6 overtime thriller—in which Penguin forward Nick Bonino scored a dagger of a series winner to yet again thwart Alexander Ovechkin and his first-seeded Washington Capitals’ Cup ambitions—the National Hockey League Eastern Conference Finals are set. The Tampa Bay Lightning are packing their bags for Pittsburgh. Game 1 is set for this Friday, May 13 at 7 p.m. in what could be the making of a new rivalry. The defending Eastern Conference Champion Lightning has made it this far in the playoffs missing some serious star power—Steven Stamkos, Viktor Stålberg, and JT Brown have all been out and are still questionable for return. All three are making strides, and if we see them on the ice this series, we are in for quite a show. Having Stamkos, Nikita
Kucherov (with a league-leading nine goals in 10 games), Victor Hedman, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Phil Kessel all on the ice at the same time just has to leave any hockey fan salivating. On the Western side of things, we had two game 7s—on Wednesday night the Dallas Stars played the St. Louis Blues, and on Thursday the San Jose Sharks faced off against the Nashville Predators. As close as the series may have been, the St. Louis Blues completely dominated in a 6–1 thrashing of the first-seeded Dallas Stars Wednesday. Robby Fabbri, Paul Stastny, Patrik Berglund, David Backes, Troy Brouwer, and Vladimir Tarasenko each put pucks in the net. We now wait to see if St. Louis will play San Jose or Nashville, as the two teams fight for the right to play for the Stanley Cup. The Blues, founded in 1967, are the oldest team to have never won the Stanley Cup.