ChicagoMaroon051716

MAY 17, 2016

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892

VOL. 127, ISSUE 48

Three Students Arrested at Hedge Fund Protest Downtown

BY ALEXANDRA BLANKENHORN NEWS STAFF

On Monday, May 9, 2016, three University of Chicago students were arrested, along with many others, for blocking the entrance to Citadel, a hedge fund in downtown Chicago, during in a demonstration against the current Illinois budget crisis and Governor Bruce Rauner.

T his demonstration, led

by Fair Economy Illinois and IIRON, was the first of their “Moral Monday” protests this year. Fair Economy plans to organize Moral Monday protests once a month at different locations from May through September of this year.

T he protesters included members from a coalition of groups brought together by the IIRON Student Network (ISN), an organization that works to empower students to impact change through collective action, working in partnership with their parent organization the IIRON Education Fund. At the University of Chicago, the UChicago Climate Action Network and the member organizations of the Southside Solidarity Network are part of IIRON. Many students came to protest from different chapters of ISN and Fair Budget UChicago, a student group focused on budgetary reform.

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Miriam Benjamin Attendees listen to Major Activities Board’s Summer Breeze concert on Saturday evening in Hutchinson Courtyard.

Breakdown of Undergraduates By Major Community Group Discusses Candidate for Neighborhood’s Future

BY VISHAL TALASANI Second District DIRECTOR OF DATA ANALYSIS

If you take two random undergraduate students who have declared a major at UChicago, you would expect that at least one of them is majoring in Economics, Biology, Math, or Political Science. Collectively, these four majors are almost as popular as the remaining 55 majors combined.

This graph counts all students in the College except those decla red as Common Year. The Data is from the University Registrar, as published in the Quarterly Census, and represents the student population in Spring 2016. For reference, 3,723 people have

declared a major. There are 59 possible majors to declare according to the Registrar (one of which, however, is “ Undeclared”).

Economics is by far the most popular major, declared by 895 students, or 24 percent of declared students. The economics major is more popular than the 41 least popular majors combined. Biological science and math are the next two most popular majors, with 10.37 percent (38 6 students) and 10.34 percent (385 students) of the student body, respectively.

Three hundred eighty six students are biological science majors and 385 are math majors.

Continued on page 6

Vishal Talasani The top five most popular majors.

BY KAITLYN AKIN ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

T he K enwo o d O a k l a nd C o m mu n i t y O r g a n i z at i o n (KOCO) hosted its annual convention last Saturday at King C ol lege P r epa r at or y H ig h School on East 45th Street and South Drexel. Community leaders honored the accomplishments of the group over the last year and discussed problems the group intends to confront in the future.

The theme of the conference was “We are the leaders we have been waiting for,” and over the course of the event, speakers and audience members repeatedly came back to the topic of involvement and passion in local politics. The focus lay primarily on improving public schools, maintaining affordable housing, and the importance of continued community involvement.

A f t er open i ng r ema rk s , there was a brief panel discussion with experts on housing and gentrification, including Ha rold Lucas, CEO of the Black Metropolis Convention a nd Tou r ism C ou nci l , a nd Janet Smith, professor of ur-

Come Together

Democratic candidate for representative of Illinois’s Second District Theresa Mah (Ph.D. ’99) gave a talk on her public service career and decision to run for office at the Institute of Politics (IOP) on Monday.

The talk was hosted by the Leaders of Color initiative, which seeks to promote racial and ethnic diversity in various leadership positions on campus.

Mah is expected to be the first Asian-American legislator in Illinois state history after winning a contested primary with 51.22 percent of the vote on March 15. She won despite running against Alex Acevedo, son of the incumbent 2nd District Representative Eddie Acevedo. Furthermore, the district had a 53 percent Latino voting-age population and a 23.5 percent Asian-American voting-age population. She is currently running unopposed in the general election on November 8.

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South Siders Power Their Way to National Quarterfinals

Page 7

Page 12 Privileged groups can’t be shut out of conversations about oppression.

University Remembers Christian “Myles” Johnson Page 4

The No. 8 men’s tennis team returns to the Elite Eight after going undefeated in Regional play.

Chicago Jazz Orchestra Honors Sarah Vaughan with Special Concert Page 10

“Myles swept up everything in the room into a joyful tornado...”

Critics have marveled at how powerful her immense, three-octave vocal range remained...

Rep Speaks at IOP

ban planning and policy development at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Many meeting attendees were concerned specifically with the impact that the Obama Presidential Library will have on the area, as well as the continued influence of the University.

“I don’t need somebody from the University of Chicago to come and tell me what my neighborhood needs to look like,” said Jitu Brown, director of the public-school advocacy organization Journey for Justice Alliance.

KO C O i s a c om mu n it y group that focuses on educating and engaging residents of the South Side in order to affect meaningful change in local politics. In the past, affiliates of KOCO have staged protests, hunger strikes, and rallies to ensure that authorities acknowledge the demands of the community.

“A lot of the things in the city are happening to us, not by us,” KOCO Deputy Director Shannon Bennett said.

After the panel discussion, the audience of well over 100 KOCO members and commu-

BY JAEHOON AHN NEWS STAFF

Contributing to THE MA ROON

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All rights reserved. © The Chicago Maroon 2016

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 17, 2016

“We wanted to shut down the building, and we did for several hours” Continued from front

According to first-year Lily Grossbard, a rally started before the protest around 11 a.m. The demonstration itself began at 11:30 a.m. and lasted until 2:30 p.m., culminating in the arrest of 23 people. Three UChicago students, including Grossbard, and several alumni were among those arrested.

The demonstration targeted founder and CEO of Citadel Ken Griffin, who is the richest man in Illinois and a major donor to Governor Rauner. Another UChicago student arrested was Alex Peltz, who described his motivation for participating on the Moral Mondays

Facebook page.

“I went to jail Monday afternoon surrounded by hundreds of my comrades and plenty of angry hedge fund managers. I did this in protest of the budget crisis being infl icted on Illinois by Gov. Rauner, a man fi nanced by billionaire Ken Griffin, who makes $90,000 an hour,” he wrote.

Grossbard said that the arrests began after several people set up lockboxes to form a blockade inside the building in front of the elevators, preventing people from entering or leaving.

“There were either four or five people inside the building that used lockboxes

to lock themselves down and block the elevators. First the police brought in a SWAT team to undo all the lockboxes and then there were people on the outside blocking doors, so after the police arrested the people inside they realized that the rest of the protest wasn’t going to leave until they arrested the rest of the people blocking the doors,” she said.

Many of the protestors arrested were college students, from UChicago, Northwestern, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Roosevelt University, but according to Grossbard they accomplished what they set out to do.

“I think it was a success. We wanted

to shut down the building, and we did for several hours,” Grossbard said.

Going forward, ISN and Fair Budget will continue to work closely together.

“We are very connected with their organization; if anything our relationship is growing stronger. There are chapters of the IIRON student network at UIC, Northwestern, a really strong chapter at Roosevelt; we do a lot of work with them.

Fair budgeting has always been a part of IIRON’s mission.” Grossbard said.

Editor’s Note: Lily Grossbard is an Associate Viewpoints Editor for T HE M AROON.

“I don’t need somebody from the University of Chicago to “Mah is expected to be the first Asian-American legislator come and tell me what my neighborhood needs to look like” in Illinois state history” Continued from front

nity activists split into four groups for workshops on sustainable schools, senior health, affordable housing, and youth leadership. The workshops were led by local experts in these subjects, fostered a more intimate setting for asking questions than the full-group panel discussion.

After the workshops, the crowd convened for two keynote speeches. The first keynote speaker at the event was State Senator Mattie Hunter of Illinois’ Third District. She discussed her current work in Springfield and the influence that activists can have on politics.

“Sometimes elected officials cannot say what they really need to say or want to say, but you all can,” Hunter said, reminiscing about her early political involvement as a protester. She went on to emphasize the importance for residents of staying active within the community, remaining informed of local elections, and being wary of candidates who make empty promises.

In addition, she told the audience not to accept financial difficulties as an excuse by politicians: “We have over 700 separate funds, and if you add up all of that money, you have over 20, 30 billion dollars in those funds. So they tell you that they’re broke? Never, ever believe it.”

The second keynote speaker was 20-year-old Tori Crider, a youth organizer involved with the trauma center protests and a member of Fearless Leading by the Youth (FLY ) and Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP), two of the organizations involved with the larger group, the Trauma Care Coalition (TCC). She spoke about the work she had done to confront UChi-

cago about the lack of trauma care, as well as the importance of black youth involvement in general. “ This trauma center was achieved from people like me, young, black, and the majority [...] female,” Crider said.

“Young, black people made this happen— if that’s not Black Lives Matter, I don’t know what is.”

She then spoke about the origins of FLY. In 2007, she said, a group of teens on the South Side realized that the lack of trauma care was an issue in their lives and that it was up to them to organize and make their voice be heard. “ They decided to take the leadership and to take the incentive and fight back against the University of Chicago and their racist policies,” Crider explained. “ They said ‘We’re not gonna take this any more.’”

Crider and the rest of the TCC will be hosting a town hall meeting this Thursday where the community can discuss what it expects from the new trauma center and how the University can best suit their needs. The event will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Kennicott Park Field House.

“We need the community there to let the University of Chicago know that this is what we want to see when this trauma center comes here, this is what we need,” Crider said. “And like we’ve been doing for the past five years, we’re gonna make them listen!”

KOCO leaders ended the convention by thanking everyone involved with the organization and recognizing inf luential activists from the past year. They also encouraged everyone to stay active within the community and to attend the next general KOCO meeting, which will be held sometime next month.

CLASSIFIEDS 2BR Nice Co-Op Apt 53rd Ellis 78K 312-403-1242

Continued from front

Mah cited her personal background of coming from a Chinese immigrant family as a core influence in her decision to run for office and work in public service. Her grandfather arrived in San Francisco in 1924 and was part of a generation of immigrants known as “paper sons,” who had to buy papers in order to enter the country due to the Chinese Exclusion Act and the naturalization laws in effect at the time. She was born three months after her parents emigrated from Hong Kong.

“According to some folks out there, I might be called an anchor baby,” she said.

“When I think about the people in my district, which is made up of a lot of immigrants, a lot of working class families, I think of folks like my parents and the struggles that they went through.”

According to Mah, she never planned on entering public service as a student, although she always knew she wanted to be a voice for the underrepresented like her grandfather. She started her undergraduate years at UC Berkeley as a pre-med student before switching to history due to the influence of her first-year roommate. Writing her dissertation on the politics of housing segregation while pursuing her Ph.D. made her realize how much impact public policy decisions have on people’s everyday lives.

Mah had volunteered on various political campaigns for over ten years, serving as senior policy advisor to Governor Pat Quinn and rallying the Chinese-American community to push for single district in the last round of redistricting, before finally deciding to run for office herself.

“You can only get so much done as an advocate. At a certain point, you need a seat at the table, to have access to other decision makers and to be able to influence them,” she said.

Mah had worked with the current Second District Representative Eddie Acevedo in 2012 and felt that he did not have the community’s interest at heart. So when he announced his retirement and tried to get his son Alex Acevedo appointed so that he would have the advantage of running as the incumbent, she jumped on the opportunity to run for the Representative seat herself.

“Since I knew [Eddie Acevedo’s] son, I knew that he was nowhere near as qualified [as I was] and I didn’t want him as my state representative so it became an obligation… you had to do it yourself,” Mah said.

Mah said that the biggest differences people will see when she steps into office will be her accessibility and accountability to the members of her district. In addition, she stressed her independence in only serving her constituents as she ran a completely grassroots campaign without being beholden to special interest groups. In addition, she hopes to use her role in office to advocate for Asian Americans and for illegal immigrant issues.

The event was co-hosted by the Asian Student Union, the Chinese Undergraduate Students Association, Lambda Phi Epsilon, PanAsia, and the University of Chicago Democrats. Nearly seventy people were in attendance.

“I thought it was really empowering to hear about how being Asian doesn’t preclude you from a career in politics. It was very inspiring to see someone whose grandparents immigrated illegally to the United States, whose parents didn’t speak English and ran a small business, could end up somewhere where she is right now–someone with a Ph.D. and a seat in politics…I think it marks an important step forward in Asian-American politics,” said Vo R am Yoon, a fourth year Public Policy major.

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Professor Discusses Research on Segregation in the Philippines

BY XIN SUI ZHANG NEWS CONTRIBUTOR

On Thursday evening, PanAsia and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture hosted sociology professor Marco Garrido for a lecture on class segregation in the Philippines.

Garrido specifically focused on Metro Manila, where he said class segregation is characterized by the interspersion of slums that house the urban poor and enclaves that house the middle class, so that the two classes live side by side in distinct spaces.

He defined interspersion as both geographical and sociological proximity between slums and enclaves, which produces unequal social interactions and provides regular opportunities for the imposition of class boundaries on the urban poor by the middle class.

Garrido explained that the social

mechanisms that connect the class segregation lead to an augmented class-consciousness among Metro Manila’s residents and described everyday practices of class division, discrimination, and subordination in Metro Manila.

In his recent research, he conducted interviews and used comprehensive mapping and extensive fieldwork to study four major slum areas in Metro Manila.

Garrido said that the slum population, the number of slums, and the number of enclaves have grown considerably in Metro Manila since 1980. He believes that the problem is that the middle class and the urban rich increasingly insist on living behind walls with security guards and other protections against perceived threats of crime.

“There’s a bit of a mismatch between the number of enclaves and the crime rate. What’s interesting is that crime

rate has declined while enclavization has increased,” Garrido said. He defi ned enclavization as the process in which increasingly more expensive condominiums are built and bought as exclusive residences for the middle class. The rich perceive the poor as criminal suspects, due to acute boundary consciousness and contentious class interactions.

“Currently, land value in Metro Manila is one of the highest in the world, even though the construction cost is comparatively low, as a direct result of enclavization,” Garrido said. He said that the rich invest in the real estate market, instead of the stock market, due to high returns. Consequently, he said prices have increased across the board, making affordability more infeasible for the poor, who can’t transition out of the slums due to the price hikes.

Garrido gave an example of political

solutions that end up reinforcing imagined class boundaries. In the Phil-Am slum in Metro Manila, the slum residents have legal rights to enter a church located in a neighboring enclave, much to the disapproval of the enclave residents. The current solution is to create a law that forces the slum residents to use a side entrance, about a kilometer out of their way, to avoid contact with the enclave residents. He said a slum resident told him, “We attend mass there but they still don’t accept us. I think we disgust them.”

While most of the literature on segregation has been based on one or two cities in the United States, the reality of segregation ultimately varies for different locations and under different contexts. “There’s much difficulty in talking about segregation to an American audience and not have them think about Chicago,” Garrido said.

NEWS IN BRIEF Bi-annual Wellness Fair to Be Held on Main Quad Tomorrow, the University of Chicago Office of Health Promotion and Wellness will host its bi-annual wellness fair, Wellapalooza, on the main quad in front of Levi Hall from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The Wellness Advisory Board (WAB) and Health Promotion and Wellness first developed Wellapalooza in 2012 with the goal of increasing awareness of the different wellness services and opportunities available to students. This spring, the event goal is to “increase feelings of connectedness and support for the campus community,” according to Stephen Marlow, the event coordinator and a representative of the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness.

The organizations and companies participating in the event will seek to champion the seven facets of wellness promoted by the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness—social, financial, physical, emotional, environmental, intellectual, and spiritual wellness.

This spring, there will be 38 wellness partners participating, including student organizations, lo-

cal community businesses, and UChicago departments. Attendees will be able to participate in art projects, health screenings, and a body positive photo booth. They will also be able to receive nutrition, exercise, and financial advice. Additionally, there will be healthy snacks and therapy dogs.

Participants range from BMO Harris Bank, which will promote financial wellness, to UChicago Mindfulness Meditation, which will promote spiritual wellness.

“A student’s life is hectic and stressful,” Marlow said. “We feel that a bi-annual wellness fair acts as a reminder for the students to take care of themselves and that UChicago has an incredible support structure to help.”

The Office of Health Promotion and Wellness will also be hosting Uncommon Nights on June 1 and the “Study at the…” program during finals week, during which students have the opportunity to study in various locations on campus such as the Oriental Institute and the Smart Museum.

–Jamie Ehrlich

University Implements Changes to Online Course Registration As part of the University’s move to the new A cadem ic I n formation System (AIS), the system to pre-register for classes has changed, moving to a different portal with new search options and rules for the number of classes that students can request.

“Many improvements were made, i nclud i ng the ability to select and rank up to 10 classes and search for courses that fulfill College core requirements using the Attribute filter,” University Registrar Scott Campbell said.

Previously, students signed up for classes for the next quarter through c l a s s e s .u c h i c a g o . e d u .

Now, students can sign up through a portal on the new myUCh icago.

Students used to be able to rank up to six courses through course request, and were able to list alternate sections for each

of those courses where ava i lable. I n the new version, it’s no longer an option to list alternate sections, but as Campbell noted, students can rank up to ten courses for request.

W hen schedules are released du r ing tenth week, they’ll be available through the my.UChicago portal as well. “Each course will display an explanation of the action taken, including why a course was not enrolled,” Campbell said.

The update was ann o u n c e d t o s t ud e nt s through an email from the Office of the University Registrar.

Pre-registration still runs from 9 a.m. on Monday to 5 p.m. on Friday during eighth week. Students will also still be auto-enrolled in classes t hat are part of a sequence.

–Annie Nazzaro

Bank Robber Charged, Sprayed Gasoline at Teller A man has been charged with robbing the Fifth Third Bank on 53rd Street on Friday, according to an FBI complaint filed yesterday.

54 year-old Ronald Lewis sprayed a liquid substance suspected to be gasoline on a female bank teller, and then demanded that she put cash in a grocery bag.

“Give me the money! Give me the money! All the big money!” he said, according to CBS Chicago.

The teller complied, but handed the robber a pile of cash with a GPS tracker.

The suspect fled west on foot with more than $400.

Shortly after, an officer spotted a man that matched the bank teller’s description of the suspect near Hyde Park Boulevard and Woodlawn Avenue, where the tracker had indicated he was located. Lewis got away, but the officer was able to report that Lewis had changed clothes and was on a bicycle.

He was later arrested by a University of Chicago Police Department officer who spotted a man matching the new description near East 47th Street and Lake Park Avenue.

The robbery took place at 1:08 p.m. Lewis was ar-

rested around 1:30 p.m. with the money in his pocket, and he was in FBI custody by 2:50 p.m. Lewis admitted to robbing the bank in a statement, according to the complaint.

“Male, 54, walked into a bank and once called up to a teller the offender sprayed a liquid with a smell consistent with gasoline onto the teller and demanded money be put into a bag. The teller complied and the offender fled but was taken into custody a short time later.

No other weapon displayed or implied. Teller refused EMS on scene,” the Chicago Police Department’s Office of News Affairs wrote in an e-mail.

Initial media reports from news outlets, including the Chicago Tribune and the Hyde Park Herald, stated that the FBI said the suspect displayed a handgun, but the e-mail from the CPD suggests that the suspect was not armed.

This is the bank’s second robbery since March. The first took place on March 2, carried out by a different suspect—nicknamed the “Pinball Bandit” by the FBI for the proximity and frequency of his robberies.

–Pete Grieve

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 17, 2016

University Remembers Christian “Myles” Johnson

BY ISAAC STEIN SENIOR NEWS REPORTER

Since his passing, the spaces that he roamed and ran are less substantive. The reading room in Harper Library is blander without him furiously writing philosophy papers in the early morning. The quad looks wrong without him passing through casually in his trademark trench coat and over-ear headphones. And everybody who knew him remembers his deep cackle, which always travelled far beyond his physical location.

In addition to a funeral in his hometown of Plano, T X , several student groups and university organizations in which he had participated during his years on campus held vigils and services in his honor. Hosts included College Housing, the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, of which he was a brother, and the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, at which he regularly attended Bar Night on Wednesdays. All were attended by crowds of hundreds.

Yet one of his close friends, thirdyear Daly A rnett, emphasized that none of the organizations he participated in defined him as a person. “ I would f ind out way into our friendship that he was in certain clubs, doing different things. It was because he was fiercely independent, and had so many complexities and dimensions to him, that you really couldn’t put him in a box of what RSO he was in, or what his major was or anything like that.

He truly lived outside of limits, larger than life, defied all odds in that way, and was kind of ineffable and untraceable in a great way, except you could always hear him coming,” Arnett said.

On the afternoon of Monday, April 25, third-year philosophy student Myles Johnson passed away in Crown House in Renee Granville-Grossman Residential Commons, where he lived.

He is survived by his parents, Vadrina and Sterling Johnson Jr. of Plano, TX; a brother, Sterling Johnson III; a paternal grandmother, Shirley Berry of Moreauville, LA; and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.

Johnson’s passing was in conjunction with self-inflicted injuries, according to Thomas Sweeney, news affairs officer for the Chicago Police Department (CPD). The investigation conduct-

ed by the CPD is now closed. Johnson’s older brother, Sterling, confirmed the findings of the CPD investigation in a phone conversation with T HE M A ROON .

“The Master “A Microcosm of the Creative of Who He Was” Roast” and “A Sterling, who said that he spoke Man of Letters”

with his brother frequently and that the two “were like confidants to each other,” noted that Johnson wanted to pursue law after college, as “it could have led to the impactful work that he believed in.” He also said that while Johnson often appeared to be “really cynical” in discussion, he also maintained a certain optimism. He believed, for example, that systemic change was possible in American politics.

“He was a really hardcore Bernie [Sanders] supporter. I support Bernie, but not as intensely. Myles thought that Sanders getting the [Democratic] nomination would bring about a better future. He thought that there was hope for bigger, systemic change, and that was a microcosm of who he was… he searched for the light in whoever he was talking to,” Sterling said.

Sterling added that his brother combined optimism with an intense work ethic, and cited his determination to lose weight the summer before college and his competitive golf play as examples, noting that he eventually made the same team as renowned golfer Jordan Spieth, before the latter went pro. “ Myles was a hard worker, to the point of stubbornness, who believed that he could accomplish whatever he set his mind to. The summer before college, he realized that he was a little chub, and started hardcore working out, eating nothing but lettuce and protein…. He also took up golf in middle school. He wanted to play competitively, and he wanted to beat who he called the ‘Country Club K ids,’—[children] from very rich backgrounds who started practicing when they were two years old. After Myles started, he practiced almost religiously,” he said.

Sterling also said that he was proud of his brother’s academic accomplishments, par ticularly the depth and breadth of his studies in the intensive philosophy track, and his ability to skillfully debate graduate students and

Facebook A photo posted by Johnson in July of 2014.

Ph.D. candidates on questions of moral philosophy.

Johnson’s intelligence was also evident in the jokes and references that he inserted into conversation. Arnett said that Johnson could “[riff ] about anyone,” and “make a joke about a basketball player and Nietzsche in the same breath.”

S e c ond-yea r Noa h A bra mov itz , Johnson’s roommate, added that Johnson posted the images of six personal heroes in his room: Hannah Arendt, James Baldwin, Corinne Bailey Rae, L.P. [singer], Chloë Sevigny, and Nas. Like Arnett, Abramovitz said that the two spent “a lot of time roasting people.” “ Myles was the master of the creative roast. He roasted everyone, including me, a lot. And you just couldn’t take it personally because you had to appreciate it for how funny it was, instead of what he was saying. If Myles roasted you, he liked you. A lot of our discussions were based on who could have cleverer wordplay and express some sort of cutting point more creatively. Everything Myles said was speaking in connotations and metaphors; he did not like to be literal, and thought that speaking literally was just boring,” Abramovitz said.

He added that “sometimes it would take you 30 seconds to understand what he said, so you’d just nod along and pretend to know what he was saying, and then, when you understood it, you realized he made a lot of fucking sense, and that whatever he said was a genius point.”

Sometimes, the roast was delivered as a one-liner. In one instance, Abramovitz remembered, Johnson poked fun at a mutual friend who had recently lost 50 pounds.

“There was never an elephant in the room when you were talking to Myles; he never left anything unsaid…. The first thing he said was ‘Nice! You beat childhood obesity!’ He just went directly to the point.”

A rnett said that while Johnson’s comments to others could be biting, they were grounded in honesty and an uncanny ability to “see through everyone’s bullshit.” In one encounter, he told the prep-school-educated Arnett not to apologize for what she claimed was her “chicken scratch” handwriting in loaned academic notes, as he knew that she was “on that Montessori shit.”

“He could say what you would think was the meanest thing to your face, but somehow, because it was coming from him, it always ended with the sweetest smile, and him laughing at his own jokes. He wanted you to laugh with him. He would never make a joke at the expense of another person, and he would never say something that he wouldn’t say straight to your face.

Within that, his comedy was so biting and clean and smart. He was whip smart,” she said.

Third-year Jonathan Morris said that Johnson was very well-read, and although he could never be seen reading on campus, he could always be spotted writing. He remembered that one of

his first interactions with Johnson was evidence of both his literary interests and his outsize personality.

“I remember the first joke he made [during our friendship]. It was O-Week when I met him. He was walking down 59th Street with a suitcase full of handles of vodka, and he was flipping them for 50 bucks. He was like, ‘Yeah, I’m on that Marcus Aurelius vibe.’…. He was very much a man of letters, without any of the tweed or the pretensions,” he said.

Morris added that as an academic, Johnson did not “deal in absolutes,” and was able to laugh about and not take a clear stance on contentious political and social issues, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conf lict—while staying fully informed of many such debates.

At the same time, Johnson was intellectually generous with his friends.

Abramovitz recounted that when he took summer quarter courses in order to switch majors, Johnson was there to offer counsel and to demand that Abramovitz show him his grades. He ended up getting an A in every class.

However, Johnson also lived a rich life outside of academia.

“A Fucking Music Snob” A mong other activities, Johnson participated in the on-campus radio station W HPK , and curated a very specific taste in music. He particularly enjoyed hip-hop supergroup Run the Jewels, as well as Kanye West’s most recent album, The Life of Pablo. From that album, his favorite song was “Ultralight Beam,” featuring Chance the Rapper. Abramovitz said that Johnson’s preference in music fit his personal philosophy.

“Even more so than Kanye, Run the Jewels was his favorite group…their style of rapping really fit his personality. Very overtly political, but also expressed in not patronizing ways, which was kind of a good description of Myles.

He realized that he was highly educated, and many people are not educated, and that is not their fault,” he said.

He added that Johnson was insistent on the music selection and equipment in his presence.

“He was such a fucking music snob.

He literally made it so that I can only listen to music in hi-fi quality now. If I was playing something with low sound quality or with not good speakers, he’d literally be like, ‘Noah, shut this off.’

There was a very specific type of music that you could play in the room, and if you disobeyed that, he was going to yell at you. It was annoying at some points, but it also made you realize what good music and not good music was,” Abramovitz said.

Arnett added that she and Johnson had bonded over their shared enjoyment of Delta blues.

“I grew up listening to blues music, because my dad is really into it, and then, when he found out about that, he made fun of me a lot for being a white girl that listens to blues music, but we would listen to Delta blues music together,” she said.

Abramov itz also recounted how Johnson’s interest in music led him to make social connections with local musicians and producers from around Hyde Park.

“He knew Hyde Park DJs, and people in the music industry locally, that

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 17, 2016

you would have never known how he knew them. This one time, it was like 3:30 in the morning during mid-winter quarter, and he just calls up this dude named Track Master Scott [a local DJ]. He calls him into the room, and they show each other what they’re listening to. Track Master Scott shows us this electronic artist named Jihad Muhammad, and Myles shows [Scott] some stuff that he’d been listening to, and they just shoot the shit and talk for a really long time, and when he leaves, I asked Myles, ‘who the fuck was that dude, and how do you know him?’” he said.

“A Joyful Tornado” Johnson also made many friends through the sheer force of his personality, and the “physicality” of his humor.

Kenya Smith, a cook at Arley D. Cathey Dining Commons, recalled Johnson’s energy at Fourth Meal, including one time when he entered the cafeteria after finishing finals, and let out a yawp.

“It was like the last night of Fourth Meal, so you guys were done with your finals. There might have been three of them, and they swiped their cards, and he just said, ‘AHHHHHHHH!’ because they were done with their finals. Then, I remember him, when he first got here, being kind of serious, and then, as the years went along, he eased up…. I remember him laughing a lot at Fourth Meal when he was done with his studies. He blew off steam at fourth meal,” Smith said.

Often, said A rnett, Johnson also physically broke things in excitement, but never out of malice. “ There’s this cliché, that someone brightens the room when they enter it.

Myles swept up everything in the room into a joyful tornado, and he just left his stuff behind, always. There was never a time he came to my apartment and didn’t leave something there, and there was never a time that he came to my apartment and didn’t break something, but he was the only person that I just couldn’t be mad at for breaking things. He can’t control his limbs! It was constantly unfolding person, in that his spirit, also, would just f low out of him. But not with any sort of elegance,” she said.

Abramovitz said that though Johnson’s antics sometimes shocked others, he always managed to win them over.

The Roundup Johnson’s high school portrait.

“Everyone, when they’re talking about Myles, says that ‘at first I hated him, and then two months later, I realized that you’re really cool, I like you.’ The hate for him would usually stem from him doing outrageous shit like pulling a stop sign from out of the ground and smashing a blue light.

He did that one time. Running across Mansueto, shooting golf balls across 62nd Street from Sig Ep, and smashing a car’s windshield. And so you’d get this initial impression that he wasn’t a good person, and then you’d realize how fucking generous he was. The lengths he’d go to talk to people and learn things about them…he took a lot of my stuff, but also shared literally all of his shit with me… his own world was this little commune where everything was shared,” he said.

Morris added that even campus law en forcement appreciated Johnson’s practical jokes.

“We were outside Phi Delt one time, and he just grabbed a chair off their back porch, and smashed it in the street, Office Space style. There’s a UCPD officer standing on the corner, laughing his ass off, who [didn’t] say a word to us,” he said.

However, in social settings, his friends remarked that Johnson was most renowned for his regular presence on Wednesdays at Alpha Delta Phi’s Bar Night.

“He Was Bar Night” Second-year Nico Aldape, who noted that Johnson “was Bar Night,” also remembered the unique sense of style that he brought to the ground f loor of the event.

“He was Bar Night, and he was the UChicago aesthetic of ‘work hard, play hard,’ encapsulated in a person…. I’d always remember him from Bar Night smoking a pipe, one of those classic old-fashioned curvy pipes like the one in the Magritte painting. He’d just be there smoking tobacco or weed, and he’d just tap me on the shoulder and be like, ‘Yo, tryna smoke!’” Aldape said.

A rnett said that while Johnson loved smoking and music, he could not dance.

“He would just put people on his shoulders, if Run the Jewels or Kanye West came on, he would be the first person out on the dance floor, screaming along to it. He didn’t really dance; he just sort of walked and bounced. He couldn’t dance to save his life, except for some fancy footwork sometimes,” she said.

At any given Bar Night, Abramovitz said, Johnson could be seen mingling with an incredible number of people, and sharing the smokes he had on hand. “ If you ever saw Myles at a bar night, he would just rotate between g roups of people, talking, spliff in hand, and handing the spliff to someone as an excuse to start talking to them. And Myles made so many goddamn friends at bar night just by doing that shit,” he said.

Abramovitz added that while Johnson was not “defined by the drugs that he used…. they influenced a large part of his life… [and] also made him into the weird kind of Cobain, Winehouse, Kanye type person he was.” He also said that the core of Johnson’s personality was on display at Bar Night, including an instance when he commandeered the music selection.

“I remember the week after Kanye’s new album came out, The Life of Pablo,

Facebook A photo posted by Johnson in September of 2014.

he took the aux cord on the top f loor, and played the whole album through, and would not let anyone change it.

People were like ‘I don’t want to dance to this,’ and he said, ‘I don’t care. We are listening to this,’ just fighting off an audience of people. That was the kind of person he was, he could just stand tall against a mob of people against him—be fucking strong,” Abramovitz said.

Morris described the moment of silence for Johnson at Bar Night on the evening of April 27 as “one of the most powerful things I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“Everybody at the same time, and in the same room, was thinking of him, and the weight of that memory all at once was very palpable and very powerful, in the shitty Bar Night kind of way. Still encrusted in filth, still with cigarette smoke hanging in the air and drifting over people’s heads, but it was a very pure moment. No bullshit, nobody trying to get laid, for a few minutes. That was it,” he said.

“He Just Thought It Was Really Funny” Johnson was also known for his outspoken commentary against incidents in which he argued others had treated him poorly, and he was active in on-campus protests. He attended several protests for the Campaign for Equitable Policing (CEP), which is “a campaign of Southside Solidarity Network (SSN) that works for accountability and equitable policing practices in the UCPD,” according to its website.

In one memorable Facebook post dated February 3 of this year, he recounted an incident in which two students refused to let him back into Harper Library after he had stepped outside for a cigarette.

“To the two students passing by who refused to buzz me back into Harper after I left my ID there, insisting that ‘I should call the UCPD and that ‘they did not know whether I was a student’ (after telling them my school major and depts. in sight), lay face down in a puddle for a little while. Especially the black one,” Johnson wrote.

In response to comments on the post, Johnson replied with a joke: “lolol I don’t feel harmed by it its just that shit is annoying. You know im a

student. You guys seriously trying to play paul blart rn? I got in immediately afterwards.”

For Arnett, the response was typical of Johnson’s stance on social issues, particularly one that affected him.

“It wasn’t any sort of situation where he felt hurt, or felt like he was specifically being marginalized, or that the situation was unjust. He just thought that it was really funny, and he wanted to get back to work, wanted to do his stuff, wanted to live his everyday life.

He was active on campus with some of the groups that are under the umbrella of SSN, and…he took the issues seriously, but with his friends who weren’t involved in that scene, he presented it to us [as] something that he should do... because he believed in it. But he also thought that the way that a lot of the people in SSN organize on campus and present themselves on campus, he just thought it was deeply ironic and funny that Southside Solidarity Network is a lot of white people. And I think that was the way that he looked at a lot of stuff on campus,” she said.

Aldape added that Johnson was a mentor to him, and the two bonded over shared experiences as black men.

“He was as close to a big brother as I ever had…. One thing that I always point out in reference to my bond with Myles is I grew up in Dallas, and he grew up in Houston, and being black isn’t easy in Texas. It’s not easy anywhere, and it’s especially not easy in Texas, and being liberal is not easy there. But he was there, and we would talk about that, and…. if I had to say ‘that’s what we talked about,’ that’s what we talked about. And he was just so fucking unapologetic about it,” he said.

For Arnett, Johnson’s laugh was a salve for both complicated moral questions and university culture. “ He was also the first person to laugh at himself, and he could also get you to laugh at yourself, which is just so delightful and refreshing to be around, particularly at this school. He was someone who could really pull you out of everything, and could get you to look at the hilarity and the ridiculousness of your own situation.”

Author’s Note: I am a resident of Crown House, and considered Myles Johnson a friend. Before I began to get his sense of humor, I wanted to fight him. Afterwards, I enjoyed hearing his thoughts on Martha Nussbaum’s Frontiers of Justice in private discussion, and savored his distinctive cackle.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 17, 2016

Students Develop Text Support Network

BY CHRISTINE SCHMIDT SENIOR NEWS EDITOR

Starting next year, University of Chicago students may be able to seek support via text message from an anonymous network of their peers.

University of Chicago’s chapter of Lean On Me, a student initiative that began at MIT, was founded winter quarter by second-years Sophia Sheng and Ariella Katz.

“We are matching compassionate individuals with texters who may be having a bad day and just want to talk to someone, but [their] friends aren’t available to talk,” Katz said.

“Sometimes there are things that you don’t feel comfortable talking about with someone who knows you, but you feel like you kind of need to get something out. So, we’re hoping to provide a peer individual who will listen to you and let you share what you are feeling without the judgement or trying to give you advice,” Sheng said.

Katz found out about Lean On Me from her high school friend who was helping to develop software for the initiative.

“I found out that MIT was working together with Samaritans of Boston, which is a hotline…which is rooted in providing the same support that a non-professional can provide. I missed [volunteering for Samaritans of Boston in high school] and I felt that this was really lacking in this community,” Katz said. Katz and Sheng are planning to use some of the technology developed by the organization at MIT to start the text network at UChicago.

During winter quarter, they gauged UChicago students’ interest in an anonymous text network via Facebook polls.

This quarter, they have been spreading awareness for the organization through a Facebook group and with flyers. They

have also been building a leadership team and gathering volunteers to join the network. “We are now looking at about 29 [involved members] including us,” Sheng said.

They have hosted two training sessions for future peer supporters so far, led in part by Samaritans of Boston via Skype. “We had our second training on Sunday where we had people come in and give talks on what they had been doing in their own communities [in terms of mental health and illness] and then we had a scenario portion to that training,” Sheng said.

Sheng and Katz noted that Lean On Me is not intended to be a source of medical support. “We are not giving them any clinical advice about what they should do because, as a peer, as a supporter, we don’t know what their situation is, and [we want] to preserve their anonymity and confidentiality, nor do I want to know what their situation is apart from what is necessary for giving support to them in that moment,” Sheng said.

They hope to go live with the text network in fall quarter. However, they do not plan on applying for RSO status.

“At the beginning we were like ‘ Yes, totally,’ but then later we realized it would be more ideal to be financially independent because that allows us to be sustainable with whatever fluctuations with Student Government happens because I think it is important to be consistent when people are depending on us in this way,” Katz said.

They do hope to maintain a connection with the administration. “We hope to solidify our relationship with the University with having them help with our training sessions. We want to know about the services they provide really well [in order to refer students to resources they provide]…but we want to be student-run,” Katz said.

Their main goal is to provide more help and mental resources for students on campus and dispel the taboos associated with these types of issues.

“We are hoping to start a conversation on mental illness and mental health. I do not think it is something we talk about that often because it is

considered to be a negative conversation or not relevant…but we are definitely interested in working with other groups on campus that are dealing with any type of [mental] health,” Sheng said. She cited Active Minds, an RSO that works on mental health issues, as a potential group they might get involved with.

Olivia Rosenweig Sophia Sheng (left) and Ariella Katz (right) are bringing the texting support network Lean on Me to Uchicago.

Economics is by far the most represented major, with 895 declared students, or 24 percent of students Continued from front

math majors. Ninety-two students, or 2.47 percent of declared students, are declared as “Undeclared”.

This graph shows the proportion of students that listed a major as their primary major. At UChicago, students can declare multiple majors, but choose one as their primary major. This is the major that is written on a student’s diploma.

Economics was listed as the primary major for 20.3 percent of students.

Biological sciences follows with 9.62 percent. The next most common majors are math (7.44 percent), political science (6.26 percent), and public policy studies (5.67 percent).

Only considering majors with more than 30 students, on average a major has roughly 74 percent of its students

declare it as their primary major. However, 92.8 percent of biological science majors have it listing as their primary major. Physics is similar, with 91.8 percent of students listing it as their primary major. Ninety one point four percent of the fundamentals students listed it as their primary major.

Conversely, only 55 out of 123 students majoring in statistics, or 44.7

percent, declared the subject as their primary major. Similarly, of the 33 East A sian lang uages and civ ilizations majors, only 16, or 48.5 percent, declared it their primary major. Of the 45 people declared as romance la ng uages a nd l it eratu res majors, only 15, or 33.33 percent, declared it as their primary major, the lowest number of any major.

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 17, 2016

VIEWPOINTS Never Again Illinois Senators Must Support the Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act

BY FRANCESCA FREEMAN MAROON CONTRIBUTOR

On April 6, 1994, Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana’s plane was shot down and Hutu militias began moving around Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, killing moderate politicians and journalists deemed a threat to Hutu power. Within a few hours of Habyarimana’s death, the genocide against the Tutsi people in Rwanda had begun.

On April 24, 1915, the Turkish government began to expel and massacre Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. 1.5 million people were murdered.

This year, as we mark the 22nd anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, we are reminded of the immense failure of the international community to prevent and respond

to genocide. As a result of our failure, hundreds of thousands of innocent lives were lost, families were torn apart, and irreparable wounds were inflicted.

As an international community, we have declared “never again” in the wake of these atrocities. Yet tragedies such as these continue to happen again and again with impunity. As we move deeper into the 21st century, the need to address these mass atrocities becomes ever clearer.

While making “never again” a reality will be a long-term project with many struggles and failures along the way, Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) took a big step toward “never again” with the introduction of the Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. The bill was introduced in the Senate as a bipartisan effort to ensure that the United States makes genocide and atrocity prevention a top commitment in

both foreign affairs and national security. The bill addresses three key aims: institutionalizing the Atrocities Prevention Board, authorizing the Complex Crises Fund, and mandating training in atrocities prevention for State Department personnel.

The Atrocities Prevention Board (APB) is an inter-agency entity tasked with monitoring and preventing genocide and mass atrocities through information-sharing and coordination among U.S. government officials. Each month, high-ranking officials from the Departments of State, Defense, and the Treasury, the CIA, FBI, USAID, and National Security Council convene to discuss emerging crises and threats of genocide in countries across the world. The APB itself has the authority to conduct early warning analyses in potential crisis zones and to recommend a coordinated, agency-specific government plan of action.

In the past four years, the APB has worked extensively and successfully to prevent further atrocities in the Central African Republic and Burundi. In the Central African Republic, the APB is credited with the impressive speed at which the U.S. was able to respond to and mitigate further violence, and with ensuring that prevention remained a top priority on an international scale. Furthermore, based on the APB’s suggestions regarding Burundi, the U.S. deployed civilian conflict experts, supported various Burundian actors working for peace, and facilitated local and national dialogue to discourage the escalation of tensions and violence.

This essential bill will allow the U.S. government to engage extensively in the prevention of genocide and other mass atrocities and will allow the Atrocities Prevention Board to continue to yield tangible successes in coun-

tries across the world.

While both Illinois senators strongly support human rights initiatives, as evidenced by Senator Dick Durbin’s advocacy in support of Syrian refugees and Senator Mark Kirk’s position as the co-chair of the Human Rights Caucus, neither Senator has signed on to the bill. Durbin and Kirk have a responsibility to uphold American values by co-sponsoring the Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. As we collectively remember the atrocities committed in Rwanda 22 years ago, those committed during the Armenian Genocide 101 years ago, and those committed in countries across the world and throughout history, we must all take action to make “never again” a reality.

Francesca Freeman is a fourth-year in the College majoring in comparative race and ethnic studies and anthropology.

Come Together Privileged Groups Can’t Be Shut Out of Conversations About Oppression

Andrew Nicotra Reilly W hat makes somebody’s voice valuable depends on whom you ask. In the world of social justice and identity politics, the voices that are

allowed to speak without question are the voices of the people who have been most oppressed. Those who have enjoyed the benefits of privi-

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carefully—a member of the advantaged group should always to be careful to respect the experiences of the members of marginalized groups.

It will, of course, remain important to keep the oppressed history a part of the conversation. However, these discussions about history should be used as a jumping off point for further conversations that don’t necessarily focus on the oppression. By allowing the oppressed and marginalized groups to share their experiences openly, a better level of empathy can be reached. By relating the emotions that come along with systematic oppression to transhistorical human emotions like sufferContinued on page 8

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whiteness itself is to blame for the inequalities seen in society, not specific white individuals. Despite these obvious reasons for wanting to exclude the advantaged group from a discussion about their privilege and its impact on others, it remains important to include them in the conversation.

There are emotions and sentiments that are common to all people. W hile I may have a limited understanding of what it means to be black or a woman, I do know what it feels like to be excluded or mistreated. It is on these common grounds that a full emotional and practical alliance can be formed. These alliances must be brought about

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lege are politely (in most cases) asked to be a listener, and perhaps even asked to remain completely out of a discussion.

This mentality, while perhaps important for dialogues within these oppressed and marginalized groups, presupposes that it is the advantaged individual who should remain quiet because it is they who are somehow to blame for the wrongs the advantaged group has done. To put it simply: it is specific white men who are often blamed for the oppression of minority and marginalized groups. However, the real issue is that the privilege associated with being a white male comes with presuppositions about what it means to be white. The concept of

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“People must be aware of their privilege, but all parties must feel... [they] can be heard.”

Continued from page 7

ing and sadness, the oppressed group and the oppressive group may be able to come to a healthier relationship or a place of peace.

More practically, it is my personal belief that we should strive to live in a post-identity defined society. What I mean by this is that people will no longer have a need to feel the weight of the historic oppression or privilege of their race, gender, sexual identity, or any other arbitrary characteristic.

These characteristics are only important because they are in opposition to those in the privileged group—they act as signals of deviation from a falsely accepted societal norm. But these characteristics are in no way telling about the true character of a person. Instead, they minimize the true character of people. By conforming to these categories, even by proudly reclaiming them, people ascribe to themselves and others different values based on things which have no real bearing on people’s abilities or personalities. By allowing for the dissolution of these categories through cooperative learning and sharing of emotional similarities, a post-identity based politics society can be achieved while still allowing minority groups

to enjoy shared emotional experiences and a sense of history.

The only way to achieve this is to allow for a totally open discourse, in which every group is included.

People must be completely aware of their privilege, but all parties must feel as though their voices matter and can be heard. Without this kind of open dialogue, a post-identity society cannot be achieved. Though it will remain important to keep marginalized groups as a priority voice in all of these discussions, in order to elucidate the issues that remain, the conversation must also shift to have a more equal distribution of voices before it can be finished. So long as people are in constant conversation, there can be no doubt that we can as a society move past the unpleasant aspects of identity politics.

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

Kayleigh Voss

ARTS

Winter Freeze Comes to Summer Breeze

BY MELISSA BOSEM, FENG YE, AND MIRIAM BENJAMIN

Feng Ye

Feng Ye

Miriam Benjamin

Feng Ye

Melissa Bosem

Melissa Bosem

Melissa Bosem

The lineup for Summer Breeze included electronic dance music producer TOKiMONSTA (bottom left), experimental dance/pop producer SOPHIE (top left), rapper Joey Bada$$ (center right), and headliner Jeremih (top right, bottom right).

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 17, 2016

Finding Art in Empty Spaces: Between the Ticks of the Watch at Renaissance Society

BY MAY HUANG ASSOCIATE ARTS EDITOR

The title of the Renaissance Society ’s ongoing exhibition, Between the T icks of the Watch, comes from a quote in George Kubler’s book The Shape of T ime. Kubler def ined actuality as the “instant between the ticks of the watch,” a moment in time that is “fundamental to human experience.” T he doubt and questioning that arise in those spaces shape the way we understand the world.

In this way, the Renaissance Society ’s f inal exhibition of the academic quarter takes us back to the pu r pose it outl i ned at the beg i nning of last year: to stay inquisitive. “ It was good to start a new centennial by asking questions,” said S olveig Ø vstebø, the S o ciety ’s executive director and chief curator.

She began to seriously consider the problem of doubt after the Paris attacks last year. “ Why is there no doubt in such extremist actions?” she wondered.

A s Ø vst ebø rema rked , doubt pl ay s a n i mp o r t a nt r o l e i n s o c iet y, p ol it i c s , a nd s c ien c e , a nd even has a cent ra l pl ac e i n a r t .

In the exhibition, five artists engaged doubt and questioning through d i f fer ent d i s c ipl i ne s a nd me d i a .

The first piece is at the entrance, wher e a r t i st Pet er D ow n sbr oug h placed the words of the installation title— “AND AS PLACE SET ”—spaced apart and mirroring each other on two white walls to investigate the way we consider language and space. Just as Kubler pointed out the suspended gap of time between the ticks of a watch, Downsbrough’s second insta llation

featured a black rod that hung down from the ceiling, as if connected to perpendicular black line on the f loor, but was in fact a few millimeters off the ground. This subverted the usual emphasis on the perceptible and concrete to d raw attention to the hidden, intangible space in between.

This spatial element was echoed in other works throughout the exhibition. G outam Ghosh’s sculptural boxes contained a variety of physical items, such as string, pieces of wood, and feathers, separated by gaps that were meant to convey ambiguity and hint at something unfinished. Ghosh u n it ed a reas as seem i ngly d isparate as religion and mathematics in his work to explore the interplay between the spi r itua l a nd concret e.

Falke Pisano was another artist featured who incorporated mathematics in her art. Next to her sculpture, Negotiations in Exchange Pisano included a plaque of text that asked the viewer, among other things, “How can knowledge of mathematics become a critical tool and a means of resistance against a dominating culture?” Mathematics has its place not only in theory, but also in practice —the “cross-cultural transactions” of the real world.

Yet numbers are not infallible. In her video “ The value in mathematics ( language),” which played behind a curtain in the corner of the exhibition, Pisano and two mathematicians discussed the doubt that can take shape in a field characterized by logic.

W hile the aforementioned artists explored the doubts they have about concepts and disciplines, the questions asked by Martha Wilson in the exhibition were mostly self-directed.

Autumn 2016 Courses in the Big Problems Capstone Curriculum for juniors and seniors

Patrick Jagoda (English), Heidi Coleman (Theater & Performance Studies) BPRO 28700, ARTV 20700, CMST 25954, ENGL 25970, TAPS 28466

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The Big Problems curriculum addresses matters of global or universal concern that intersect with several disciplines and aȔect a variety of interest groups.

p r o b l e m s

ALTERNATE REALITY GAMES: THEORY & PRODUCTION

b i g

Announcing

The Renaissance Society

The performance viewing of Kevin Beasley’s Your face is/is not enough on April 24th.

In her series of photog raphs, Portfolio of Models, she depicted herself dressed up as the different ‘models’ that society offered her —“Goddess, Housewife, Working Girl, Professional, Earth-Mother, Lesbian”—and concluded that none of them “fit.” The idea of self-questioning was even more directly portrayed in one of Wilson’s other pieces, Mirror Mirror, where women were pictured holding mirrors to their faces.

The most visually striking installation in the room was Kevin Beasley’s Your face is/is not enough, which featured 12 black gas masks, each surrounded by a headdress, mounted on stands next to a megaphone. When Beasley first debuted his piece at the exhibition’s launch on April 24, he had 12 people walk around the crowded room in the masks, breathing loudly into the megaphones, for almost 40 minutes. This uncomfortable experience tapped into the real-world tensions associated with gas masks. Beasley pointed out the irony of gas mask-protected aggressors spraying tear gas

against defenseless victims. The juxtaposition between the hard mask and the soft white dress draped over one of the sculptures spoke to this conf lict.

Despite the many questions raised by these artists, Øvstebø stressed that the aim of the exhibition was not to por tray doubt through an academic lens, but rather to offer “different platforms from which we can look at the subject.” The five artists, whose explorations manifested themselves in forms ranging from sculpture to film, challenge the viewers to look at the way doubt penetrates fields such as politics and mathematics, as well as our own lives. Art has always invited questions, and Between the Ticks of the Watch does so compellingly. It suggests that we should look for our answers in the spaces between the specific, in the pauses that follow and precede every precise tick of our clocks.

Between the Ticks of the Watch will be on display in the Renaissance Society (Cobb Hall, fourth floor) through June 26.

In Heaven With Twin Peaks at Lincoln Hall

BY MIRIAM BENJAMIN DEPUTY ARTS EDITOR

S ometi me du r i ng T w i n Pea ks’ p er for ma nc e of “ F l avor ” at L i nc ol n H a l l , g u it a r i s t C l ay F r a nkel g rabbed his mic stand by the neck. He bench-pressed it above his head , w i ld- eyed a nd tr iu mpha nt .

Twin Peaks had every reason to be elated: the Chicago group’s third album, Down in Heaven, had been released earlier that day to positive reviews. (The Lincoln Hall show was half homecoming show and half record release party.) Not that the critical reception really mattered; over its four-year career, the band has built up an enviable fan base, one that would welcome a studio recording of Twin Peaks’ fart noises with open arms.

But back to Lincoln Hall. Immediately after his Rocky Balboa moment, Frankel ran into a few problems. After almost conking a few audience members on the head with the bottom of the mic stand, Frankel managed to set it down, only to find his hand magnificently tied up in the mic cord. His frantic attempts

to extricate himself set the mic stand a-wobbling, and then, like a cartoon, he toppled over and disappeared from view. The victorious mic stand was left teetering, at which point bassist Jack Dolan decided to intervene. Dolan, who was a) cross-faded and b) smirking, gave the mic stand the final push it needed to fall into the hands of the audience. “ F L AV O R YOU R HEART A N D YOU R S OU L ,” t h r e e o t her people and I howled into the mic.

By then, Frankel had untangled h imsel f a nd re - emerged. He f lattened his torso over the stage monitors and sang a few bars with the audience before wresting the mic back.

I tell this story not to emphasize that every member of Twin Peaks was wildly inebriated (direct quote from Frankel: “It’s hard to get drunk this early, but we tried!”), but to show how Twin Peaks thrives on spontaneity. I’ve seen Twin Peaks three times, and I’ve always walked away with an anecdote (like that time keyboardist Colin Croom got a cigarette out of the packet without ever Continued on page 10

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 17 , 2016

“...drumstick-breaking spectacle [that] made everyone involved feel fucking fantastic” Continued from front

taking his hands off the keys, or the time Croom lit a joint onstage and the band casually passed it around). Unlike bands that depend on routine to cope with the stresses of touring, Twin Peaks genuinely loves performing, and they embrace what they can’t control. In other words: when shit goes awry, Twin Peaks happily follows.

A nd s omehow — s om eh ow — their champagne-popping, beer cup-throwing, weed-inhaling, sardine-packed, glasses-losing, drumstick-breaking spectacle at Lincoln Hall made everyone involved feel fucking fantastic.

E ven when m ic st a nd s weren’t involved, the hometown audience was stoked.

The third song Twin Peaks played — “ B oomer,” a hooky stomper from their debut—has

a guitar riff that Twin Peaks sped up just enough so that one could jump on-beat and land off-beat, repeat ad nauseum.

Not jumping was simply out of the question. Lincoln Hall, a 500-capacity venue, was sold out, and so by some law of physics, the gravitational force of the jumpers sucked any non-jumpers into their upward motion.

Up and down wasn’t the only direction punters were going in, either. The band actively facilitated crowd surfers. Once, a dude tr y ing to get a running start from the stage was unknowingly on a collision course with the neck of Dolan’s bass; Dolan saw him coming, smoothly raised his bass an inch higher, and the dude soared out into the audience without major injury. Later on, a boy clambered

onstage just as the band finished “ Fade Away.” F rankel put his arm around him, and gestured toward his pretend wat ch. T he boy nodded h is u ndersta nd i ng, a nd wa ited patiently unti l T w in Pea ks started up with “ Butterf ly,” at which point he did what basically amounted to a belly f lop. Disoriented by 40 minutes of straight moshing, I could’ve sworn he was a giant f ly ing squirrel. T he f low of crowd surfers was steady and manageable up until the last song, “Strawberry Smoothie,” when people started going up and out at the rate of approximately one person per bar.

Of cou rse, none of th is would have mattered if Twin Peaks had sucked. If there was anything truly mind-blowing about the show, it’s that Twin

Peaks still sounded good, despite the alcohol and the weed and the crazy kids and the mic cords trying to strangle them.

As the band has been meticulously reminding journalists on Twitter, there are four vocalists in T win Peaks. The alternating vocalists— James, Frankel, Dolan, and Croom— can all really sing, and the different timbres of their voices keeps things fresh. The quality of the Down in Heaven songs was an especially nice surprise; although the band has been performing “Walk to the One You Love,” for awhile now, the other six Down in Heaven tracks sat nicely alongside the rest of Twin Peaks’ catalogue as well. I would also be remiss to not acknowledge that behind every good rock band sits an even better drummer: Twin

Peaks is lucky to have Connor Brodner, whose power-banging left me with ringing eardrums.

A lthough top tunes and d r unken abandon are par t and parcel of T win Peaks, there was another element to the Lincoln Hall show: Chicago pride. Frankel big-upped the Cubs—and the Sox, “for Cadien over there”—but the best Chicago shout-out was bu i lt-i n. T hei r 2 014 song, “Good L ovin’,” features the lyric, “It’s raining in Chicago/ the rain drops on my window.”

As it happened, it was raining in Chicago that night. It was pouring as I left Lincoln Hall and walked to the Fullerton train station. And even though Twin Peaks does an admirable job of making a mess out of the unpredicted, just this once, it felt like they predicted it.

Chicago Jazz Orchestra Honors Sarah Vaughan With Special Concert

BY GRACE HAUCK ARTS EDITOR

Sassy is coming to Symphony Center. T his F riday, t he home o f t he C h i c a g o Symphony Orchestra will be the setting for a tribute concert to the g reat A merican ja zz si nger Sa ra h “ Sassy ” Vaughan. The Chicago Jazz Orchestra (CJO), led by artistic d i rector and founder Jeffrey Lindberg, is collaborating with prominent Chicago jazz vocalists Dee Alexander, Ann Hampton Callaway, and René Marie to pay homage to this jazz tour de force.

“The CJO has done a similar tribute, at least in concept, to Ella Fitzgerald, which was ver y suc cessf u l ,” L i ndberg said. “ The concept [then] was to do a performance of mat er ia l that was per formed as Ella Fitzgerald originally recorded it. It was called ‘A Songbook Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald,’ and I transcribed many of the songbook recordings. We had three singers for that, so I decided to do one for Sa ra h Vaugha n , wh ich would involve three singers and arrangements that were originally recorded by Sarah.”

L i nd b e r g , wh o i s we l l known for his transcriptions of orig inal jazz recordings, has had h is a r ra ngements performed by such greats as Gunther Schuller, Clark Terry, and Joe Williams. The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra also performed two of his transcriptions at the White House. Nor is he a stranger to Vaughan’s work: he explained that when the idea for the concert first surfaced, he’d already completed about a dozen arrangements of her works.

S o it wou ld s e em t h at there is no ensemble better equipped to cover Vaughan’s ex tensive d iscog raphy. For this concert, the CJO will be joined by a 41-piece orchestra, “which will allow us to do just about everything she

r e c or de d ,” L i nd b er g s a id . “ W hen we do a tr ibut e concer t to anyone, whether it’s a singer or instrumentalist, we’re going to at least in part use arrangements that were performed by these great artists,” he said. In the past, the C JO has done tr ibut e concerts to Benny Goodman, R ay C h a rles , a nd C h a rles M ing us, among others.

“If you think of Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, you think of not only their great voices, but also the arrangements that they sa ng,” L i ndberg sa id.

F r iday ’s concer t w i ll be in keeping with that tradition, and will feature selections f rom Vaugha n’s vast repertoire, which have been recorded on over three dozen albums. Critics have marveled at how powerful her immense, three-octave vocal range rema i ned , even as she g rew older. She gave performances until she was diagnosed with lung cancer at age 66.

“Sarah Vaughan was such an incredible singer,” Lindberg said. “ It’s hard to find somebody today that’s going to be able to sing all of that material in one full 90-minute concert. So we have three g reat si ngers that a re a l l unique each in their own way.”

In addition to the technical versatility three singers offers, Lindberg also commented on how this performance model is a riff on the Three Tenors, the popular operatic sing ing g roup comprised of Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, and Luciano Pavarotti. “ We’ve been working with Dee Alexander for a number of years now, and to me she’s not only one of the best jazz singers in Chicago, she’s also one of the most versatile,” Lindberg explained. “Ann Hampton Callaway, who is originally from Chicago, has a magnif icent voice and she’s one of the few singers who can really do justice to Sarah Vaughan’s rep-

William P. Gottlieb

Jazz singer Sarah Vaughan at New York City’s Café Society in 1946.

ertoire in terms of range and techn ica l demands. S o she was also an easy choice. And then René Marie sang on the Jazz at Symphony Center series last season, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and that was very successful.”

Yet as w ith any tr ibute concert, the artists will have a certain level of autonomy, using their own artistic incli-

nations to best honor Vaughan. “ It won’t sound like Dee [A lexa nder] tr y i ng t o im itate Sarah Vaughan, it will s ou nd l i ke D e e ph r a s i n g and pay ing homage to Sarah Vaughan,” Lindberg said.

“I think it’s going to be a great opportunity to hear the music of an artist performed in such a way that you don’t usually get to hear live,” he

conti nued. “ I f someone’s a Sarah Vaughan fan, I think that they will be very happy with the concert. Because it’s not just going to be singers up there sing ing tunes that are associated with Sarah Vaughan, it’s going to be singers sing ing with an orchestra per forming Sarah’s arrangements… And I think that’s a unique opportunity.”

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THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 17, 2016

Season Comes to Close at NCAA Regionals SOFTBALL

BY RHEA BHOJWANI SPORTS STAFF

The nationally lauded No. 25 Maroons finished off their incredibly successful season this past Saturday. The team started out the NCAA postseason with a 7–1 loss to Wheaton College on Thursday morning, and fell to 25–9 on the season. This game served as the opening game of the four-team regional, held at Trine University. Making its 10th all-time appearance in the NCAA Division III Softball Championships, Chicago faced a well-known opponent in Wheaton.

The Thunder started off their scoring in the first inning.

Following a leadoff single, their runner moved to third base within the next two outs. A subsequent walk and a couple of singles handed Wheaton a quick 2–0 lead. Wheaton managed to add more runs to its lead, scoring two runs in the fourth inning and three in the fifth to sprint ahead 7–0. UChicago put a run on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning, when fourthyear outfielder Devan Parkison reached first on a bunt single with two outs left. Parkison was brought back to home after a wild pitch flew over the catcher’s head. However, this late run

wasn’t able to fuel a comeback as Chicago accumulated four hits but also committed two errors on the day.

In multiple games that came down to the moment, the Maroons came in clutch, allowing them to continue their run in the NCAA Regionals on Friday. The South Siders collected 12 hits and committed one error over the course of the game against Greenville. Fourth-year first baseman Kathleen Kohm, firstyear outfielder Maeve Garvey and first-year second baseman Colleen Bennett each completed the game with two hits. Fourthyear pitcher Jordan Poole got the start and improved to a 9–5 record over five innings of work.

She allowed only three runs on six hits, with one walk and five strikeouts.

Second-year pitcher Molly Moran took over in game two, and the Maroons used her stellar outing to defeat Wheaton College 1–0. The Maroons managed to score only once, but that proved to be enough for Moran and the rest of the team. Fourth-year Kristin Lopez accounted for the team’s one run as she hammered a solo home run into left field.

She was also responsible for two of the team’s six hits over the duration of the game.

University of Chicago Athletics Department

Third-year Maggie O’Hara bats in a game against Aurora University in April.

The squad rallied to make it to the NCAA Regional final on Saturday before closing off the season with a 15–3 loss to Trine University. Offensively, the Maroons had eight hits with Lopez leading the team with a three-hit performance. The No. 25–ranked Maroons ended the season with an impressive 27–10 record, the second-most wins in team history. As the busy weekend came to an end, UChicago had three players named to the All-Tournament

Team: Moran, shortstop Lopez, and Poole.

Looking back, first-year Carly Schulz said, “This past weekend was dynamic to say the least.

We had a rough start against Wheaton, but we did what we needed to do to rebound from that by coming through with two clutch wins against Greensville and Wheaton. Overall, we played every game like it could’ve been our last, from playing really hard to stay alive on Friday to hav-

ing fun and cutting our losses against Trine for our final game.”

Now that the season has come to an end, Schulz said, “Being done with the season feels really strange. We haven’t had a legitimate offseason yet this year so life without softball will bring a lot of extra time that I’m definitely not used to.”

The squad will pick up again in the fall with their Fall Ball season, although they will be missing four key fourth-years.

Caring for our Common Home Economics, Environment, & Catholic Social Thought A symposium with

Archbishop Thomas Wenski (Archbishop of Miami) Christopher Barrett (Cornell University) Michael Greenstone (The University of Chicago) V. Ramanathan (UC-San Diego) Mary Evelyn Tucker (Yale University)

Thursday, May 19, 4-6pm International House at the University of Chicago

Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute for Catholic Thought.

Cosponsored by The International House Global Voices Program.

For more information and to register, visit www.lumenchristi.org.

12

THE CHICAGO MAROON - MAY 17, 2016

SPORTS IN-QUOTES... “I’m Bill Simmons and here is what I believe. I believe that defending NBA champs should wear championship belts to every game.” —Bill Simmons

South Siders Power Their Way to National Quarterfinals MEN’S TENNIS

BY ALEC MILLER SPORTS STAFF

While they had nearly a month of downtime, only seeing action in the practices right before their matches, this weekend the Maroons came back rested and ready to make a run for the NCAA Championship. After getting a bye in the first round of this year’s NCAA championship tournament, Chicago was able to win in both the second and third rounds this weekend.

The squad was able to host their NCAA regional this weekend because they came into the tournament as the eighth seed overall. During the second round on Saturday, UChicago welcomed in the Red Men of Carthage. The unranked Carthage was no match for the Maroons, and Chicago would go on to win by a score of 5–0. After the victory, the team waited for the winner of the other second round match held at their home court.

It ended up going to Gustavus Adolphus, who defeated Coe 5–2.

On Sunday Chicago would continue their dominance as they defeated Gustavus 5–2.

This was the second time that these two teams had faced off this season and the last time the result were much of the same, as Chicago rolled past the Gusties 7–2.

There were many outstanding individual performances this weekend that helped the Maroons advance in the NCCAs. In fact, the South Siders did not lose in singles all weekend, as both matches saw Chicago sweep. Meanwhile, their two doubles losses came at the hands of Gustavus Adolphus. One of the Chicago players that would go undefeated this weekend was third-year Sven Kranz, who won his matches handily. Kranz emerged victorious on Saturday 6–1, 5–2, and then claimed another win on Sunday 6–2, 5–2 at the No. 3 spot.

This weekend was good comeback for a Maroons team, which did not perform the way it wanted to in the UAA Championship.

Having three weeks off since the UAAs was an opportunity for the squad to get back on track, and that is exactly what they did.

Kranz said that this time off was crucial to having a good showing this weekend. “I think it all came down to preparation. We had two good weeks of practice to prepare for the first weekend of NCAAs, and I believe all the hard work paid off.”

This is the second year in a row that Maroons have made it to the quarterfinals. Last year they were able to make it all the way to the Final Four. They will need to play their best if they wish to do that again this year.

They play the defending champion and second overall seed, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, in the quarterfinals this weekend. The squad also has history with this team; they took on Claremont in

Maroons Advance to Elite Eight WOMEN’S TENNIS

BY GARY HUANG SPORTS STAFF

Following their strong third place finish at the UAA Championships, the No. 9–ranked Chicago team, with a record of 13–5, was selected to participate in the NCAA tournament. This past weekend, they traveled to UW– Whitewater for the seven-team NCAA Regional play.

The Maroons ranked highly enough to secure the first seed in the tournament and opened up their post-season directly in the second round. With a 5–1 win over Wheaton College (IL) in the first round on Thursday, Gustavus Adolphus College advanced to face off the first seeded team on Friday.

After falling behind 2–1 during doubles play, with the sole point coming from the efforts of fourth-year Stephanie Lee and third-year Tiffany Chen at No. 2 doubles, strong singles play from the South Siders rallied the team to a 5–2 victory. Dominating wins in straight sets from first-year and team MVP Rachel Kim and fourth-year classmates Lucy Tang and Chen in the No. 2, 3, and 4 spots, respectively, gave Chicago

a slim lead before adverse weather forced the match indoors.

After dropping a second-set tiebreaker, second-year Ariana Iranpour would not let the clinching match evade her once more, as she took the third set 6–3 and claimed the match for the Maroons. The No. 5 and 6 positions were not completed as the 5–2 team decision was enough to send the Maroons to the NCAA Regional final. With the loss, the Gusties ended their season at 22–8.

On Saturday, UChicago met No. 21 UW–Whitewater (24–6) in the finals after the Warhawks dispatched Hope College with 5–0 rout the previous day. When the two teams met earlier in the season, the Maroons emerged triumphant 5–3 in the Midwest Invite Final back on April 2. Continued poor weather conditions necessitated a move to an indoor venue.

When play resumed, the duo of Lee and Chen once again won at No. 2 doubles 8–4, before the second-year duo of Iranpour and Courtney Warren delivered an 8–5 result.

Possessing a 2–1 lead heading into the singles battles, Chicago only required three victories out

of the remaining six matches in order to advance. With three of the top four singles slots extending to three sets, Chen was the first Maroon player to come out on top at No. 4. Tang’s win soon followed, making the team score 4–1, before Iranpour’s final point again captured victory for the University of Chicago. This is the third time in five years that the Warhawks have been eliminated by the Maroons from the NCAA tournament.

Asked about the positive results from the weekend, Chen reflected on the team mentality: “We were nervous going into our first match because we were favored to win for the first time in a while, but for our second match we were more focused and fought hard,” she said.

With the results now in the past, Chen made it clear that the team was focused on the next step of the campaign when she said, “It’s super exciting to make the Elite 8 because it validates all our hard work over the course of this year and how far we’ve come as a team. We’re looking forward to the next week!”

The squad will face No. 2– ranked Williams in Kalamazoo on May 23 in the Elite 8.

University of Chicago Athletics Department

Second-year David Liu celebrates a point in a match earlier this season.

March and lost 7–2.

Kranz says this year’s matchup in the quarters reminds him of match they played, and won, in last year’s tournament. “Regarding next weekend, we will face the defending champion in the Elite 8. We are looking forward to the challenge and hope to repeat beating the defending champ in the quarters again,” the third-year said. The squad

took down Amherst, who won in 2014, during last year’s quarterfinal match-up.

If they wish to continue playing, it all comes down to this weekend for Chicago. The Maroons play Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday in Kalamzoo, MI. If they win they will play the winner of Bowdoin and Johns Hopkins.

Chicago Drops Trio Against Wash U to End Season BASEBALL

BY MICHAEL HINKLEY SPORTS STAFF

Despite carrying momentum from recent victories, Chicago dropped three straight decisions to conference rival Wash U on the final weekend of the season. The team was defeated by a single run on Friday and lost both ends of a doubleheader the following afternoon. With these results, the Maroons wrapped up the season with an overall record of 18–19. The Bears improved to 31–16, and will face Augustana in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Wednesday.

In the first game, the pitchers for both teams got out to a strong start. For the Maroons, first-year Brent Villasenor started the game and posted seven strong innings.

The hurler allowed just six hits and two earned runs in a solid outing.

Offensively, the squad struggled out of the gate, and did not manage to score in the first four innings. However, the team put up two runs in the fifth and another in the eighth, taking a 3–2 lead into the final frame. Unfortunately, the Maroons were unable to hold on as they surrendered a pair of runs to the Bears and ultimately lost the game 4–3.

Then on Saturday, Chicago met a similar fate as the team fell in back-to-back games against the same Wash U team. In the first match, the Bears dominated throughout. After the Maroons jumped out to an early 2–1 lead, they allowed nine runs in the third inning and were never able to recover. By the end of the seven-in-

ning contest, Chicago had used four different pitchers who together conceded 17 total runs. The offense was not able to match this scoring avalanche, and the squad fell by a score of 17–3.

In the second leg, the Maroons made a much stronger showing.

Tied 1–1 in the fifth inning, thirdyear Nick Toomey blasted a double over the centerfielder’s head and knocked in a pair of runs to give the Maroons the advantage. After some back-and-forth scoring, Chicago headed into the ninth with a 4–3 lead. But, like on Friday, the Bears rallied in the final inning to secure a one-run victory.

Chicago finished the season with a record just below .500, which was evenly distributed between home and away games. As a team, the Maroons posted a strong batting average of .297 and scored 193 runs in 37 games. While three straight losses was not the ideal end to the season for the Maroons, the prospects are not all bad. The team will now head into the offseason looking to improve on this finish next year.

“We had a lot of young guys giving us a lot of innings on the mound and in the field and I think that experience will really help us in preparation for next year,” Toomey said. Their youth will certainly be an asset next year, but they also will not be losing as much as they thought. “We are lucky to have Tim Sonnefeldt returning for a fifth year so that will also help from a leadership standpoint.”

The 2017 baseball season will open next March.