UCHICAGO GROUP CIRCULATES PETITION ON CBA
FEBRUARY 20, 2019 SEVENTH WEEK VOL. 131, ISSUE 29
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Bernie Sanders (A.B. ’64), A Progressive Icon, Launches 2020 Presidential Bid PAGE 2
Palestinian Rights Activists Demonstrate Outside UChicago Hillel PAGE 3
If Not Now, a progressive Jewish organization, issued a set of demands to change Hillel’s Birthright program earlier this week.
Judge’s Ruling Could Delay Obama Center BY CAROLINE KUBZANSKY and ELAINE CHEN
A lawsuit opposing the use of City parkland for the construction of the Obama Center in Jackson Park, initially expected to be thrown out, has gained both ardent support and dissent from University faculty. PAGE 4
ABC’s Rebecca Jarvis (A.B. ’03), Emmy Award Winner, to Speak at Class Day PAGE 5
grey city: Strong Singers,
Stronger Bonds
Toni Preckwinkle: The Hyde Parker Who Will Fix Chicago
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Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/chicagomaroon and follow @chicagomaroon on Instagram and Twitter to get the latest updates on campus news.
Basketball Seniors Celebrated at Final Two Home Games
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Bernie Sanders (A.B. ’64), A Progressive Icon, Launches 2020 Presidential Bid BY EUIRIM CHOI Editor-in-Chief
Being, Nature, Grace: Clashing Visions in Milbank & Aquinas A lecture by Paul DeHart (Vanderbilt Divinity School) Thursday, February 28 | 4pm Swift Hall Third Floor Lecture reception to follow Cosponsored by the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion at the Divinity School. Free and open to the public. Persons with disabilities who may need assistance should contact us at 773-955-5887 or info@lumenchristi.org. Drawing from a chapter taken from a book in draft, in this talk DeHart will critically evaluate John Milbank’s understanding of the relationship between creation and divine grace and offer an alternative, sourced in Aquinas, that he considers more adequate. Paul DeHart is Professor of Theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School. He holds an MA From Yale Divinity School and a PhD from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is author of Aquinas and Radical Orthodoxy: A Critical Inquiry and The Trial of the Witness: The Rise and Decline of Postliberal Theology. Visit www.lumenchristi.org to register
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (A.B. ’64) is once again running for president, almost four years after steering an unexpectedly strong progwressive campaign that nearly defeated party heavyweight Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Unlike in 2016, Sanders is entering a crowded field, this time running against several other self-styled progressives, many of whom have adopted and championed some of Sanders’s most popular and well-known proposals like Medicare for All and tuition-free college. Likely due to widespread name recognition, however, Sanders still enters the race as one of the frontrunners, according to early polling. Raised in Brooklyn, Sanders attended Brooklyn College before transferring to the University of Chicago in 1960. Once there, Sanders joined the youth
wing of the Socialist Party of America. Active in the growing Civil Rights Movement, Sanders participated in protests against the University’s policy to segregate white and Black students in University-owned apartments and protested police brutality. His time at the College would pave the way for a long career in politics, from mayor of Burlington to Representative to Senator. While having long since graduated, Sanders is no stranger to
the University’s contemporary activism scene. In 2017, shortly after graduate students voted to unionize, Sanders sent a letter to University President Robert Zimmer urging him to respect the outcome of the vote. Sanders becomes the second major alum to announce their candidacy for president. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar (J.D. ’85), a moderate Democrat, began her campaign last Sunday, February 10.
Sanders spoke at the Quadrangle Club in 2016. courtesy of iop
Students Push for a Department of Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies BY AVIVA WALDMAN News Reporter
Students gathered at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture (CSRPC) on Monday evening for a town hall meeting about the proposed creation of a Department of Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES). A student working group from UChicago United hosted the meeting and presented their demands in addition to soliciting audience input. Although the University offers both a major and minor in Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES), unlike most
majors there is no academic department dedicated to the field. Professors for courses in the program are drawn from other departments, such as Political Science and Anthropology. The lack of departmental support, UChicago United argues, presents obstacles for prospective CRES majors and minors in several ways. Without its own department, the CRES program has little hiring power, making it difficult to find instructors to teach enough courses and form a consistent program of study. According to a UChicago United’s survey of 61 undergraduates, 76% was either neutral
or dissatisfied with the current course offerings for CRES. Many classes are only offered certain years or don’t fit into students’ schedules, creating an impediment to completing a major or minor in CRES. Students also complained that courses often aren’t cross-listed, which obstructs the progress of double majors. One root of this problem: since the program lacks the ability to hire professors, graduate students end up teaching many CRES courses, usually in their own area of research specialization. As a result, there is a high turnover rate for courses, as many are no longer
offered once the graduate student leaves the University. “There’s no guarantee that one particular course that’s taught by a graduate student will be taught again the following year or again throughout the four years that a student is at the University,” second-year CRES major Lilly Le said. “We’re also aware that this is not actually how an academic degree should be conferred generally at a university.” “The University is exploiting graduate labor to staff a whole program without a department,” Le said. However, of the 36 winter 2019 courses currently listed
as CRES courses on My UChicago with instructor information available, eight are taught by graduate students, not including postdoctoral fellows. Le and other colleagues presented a list of UChicago United’s demands, which include a call for the University to hire more tenure-track faculty and adding a CRES course to the Core curriculum. Activists argued that this would not only introduce students to the field and lay the groundwork for future study, but would also allow CRES-affiliated faculty who are required to teach in the Core to teach classes in their CONTINUED ON PG. 3
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Palestinian Rights Activists Demonstrate Outside UChicago Hillel BY MATTHEW LEE News Reporter
On Wednesday, the University of Chicago branch of If Not Now, a progressive Jewish organization that advocates for Palestinian rights, held a protest outside UChicago Hillel, after they issued a set of demands regarding its upcoming Birthright trip earlier this week. If Not Now is a national group of American Jewish progressive activists established to oppose Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. The University of Chicago branch of If Not Now was founded last year. Wednesday’s action was If Not Now’s largest demonstration to date, according to second-year organizer Dikla Taylor. The demonstration was part of If Not Now’s #NotJust A FreeTrip ca mpa ig n, which argues that Birthright—a non-profit organization that offers free trips to Israel for Jewish youths—unfairly presents a picture of Israel that excludes the Palestinian point of view. Birthright “curates an experience that deliberately obscures the Occupation and the truth about Israel from view,” the campaign website reads. It further points out that “participants often drive through the West Bank while skipping over the brutality of checkpoints and the Palestinians who live there.”
In Wednesday’s action, If Not Now members began at the main quadrangles, making speeches that recounted their personal experiences as American Jews and described their thoughts on the Israeli-Palestine politics. The group then walked to Hillel to deliver a box of letters urging the organization to change their Birthright trip policies, singing songs that urged for justice in the Middle East along the way. Students inside Hillel, after a brief pause, opened their doors and accepted If Not Now’s box of messages. The University of Chicago’s Hillel Center organizes Birthright trips for Jewish students at the University. Hillel did not respond to The Maroon’s request for comment on the demonstration and demands. “It’s become hard to deny that Birthright has a political agenda. Birthright’s biggest donor, Sheldon Adelson, is also Trump’s biggest donor, and he has an explicitly right-wing, pro-occupation agenda. It’s not surprising that Adelson’s agenda produces a distorted, one-sided experience of Israel,” third-year Taylor Fox, If Not Now communications coordinator, wrote in a press release about Wednesday’s action. If Not Now organizers were also prompted to action by what they describe as censorship of anti-occupation voices
Organizers marched from the Quad to UChicago Hillel to demand changes to its Birthright trip. matthew lee by Birthright organizers. The organization’s press release cited an incident where Birthright “changed its code of conduct to prevent anti-occupation Jews from speaking about their views on Birthright, and has kicked off three Birthright participants for asking questions about the occupation.” To address their grievances, If Not Now organizers made four demands of UChicago Hillel’s Birthright program: “Mark the West Bank on every map.
Acknowledge the Occupation is a human rights crisis. Show a checkpoint from a Palestinian perspective. Take the trip to Hebron.” The West Bank is a territory to the east of Israel’s territorial borders that has been under Israeli military control since the Six-Day War; it is home to approximately 2.7 million Palestinians, many of whom are citizens of the Palestinian National Authority, a political entity created following the 1993
Oslo Accords to govern the West Bank. Hebron is a city in the south of the West Bank where an Israeli community settled in 1968. Following the Hebron Protocol of 1997, Hebron has been split into two administrative regions: sector H1, under Palestinian Authority rule; and sector H2, controlled by Israel. If Not Now urged Hillel to sign a pledge publicly committing itself to these demands by April 1.
“A major mission for ethnic studies is to be corrective, redemptive, generative” CONTINUED FROM PG. 2
area of interest. “We had problems with the African and African-American studies major and minor because we couldn’t staff it,” history professor Ramon Gutierrez said, emphasizing his support for hiring more faculty for a future CRES department.
We’re also working on a core course on race that would be taught through the College in affiliation with the Center [for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture].” Additional demands included a CRES graduate program, more research funding and teaching opportunities, a
CRES study abroad program, an activist-in-residence to teach classes throughout the year, courses open to community members, and departmental conferences open to high school students. Along with UChicago United, a faculty committee is working to draw up a proposal
to create a CRES Department. Faculty present at the meeting emphasized the need for student-faculty cooperation. “A major mission for ethnic studies is to be corrective, redemptive, generative, and transformative,” second-year CRES major Jin Yoon said. “We can see that the transfor-
mative nature of ethnic studies really is to make sure that people of color can share their own histories and also so that acknowledging people of color will quell fears of prejudice and discrimination and produce a subversive scholarship as well.”
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Lawsuit Opposing Construction of OPC in Jackson Park to Proceed BY CAROLINE KUBZANSKY and ELAINE CHEN Grey City Editor & Deputy Editor-in-Chief-Elect
A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that a lawsuit aimed at blocking the construction of the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) in Jackson Park—a lawsuit once widely expected to be thrown out— can proceed. The ruling, a hit to the city and other backers of the OPC, comes as support for the lawsuit has grown. Protect Our Parks, the environmental advocacy group that brought the suit against the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District, charges that the construction of the OPC in Jackson Park is an “illegal” grab of public parkland. It argues this because the OPC—which will not be an official presidential library run by the National Archives but instead a community hub—will be developed and run by a private organization, the Obama Foundation. The Foundation is not charged in the suit. Although the suit was not expected to seriously impact proceedings, a flurry of amici curiae (friends of the court) briefs and two ruling delays, most recently on February 14, have raised the question of whether the lawsuit will alter the current course of the OPC. The City approved the OPC’s proposal in May 2018. Charles Birnbaum, president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, which supports the suit, said in a statement following Tuesday’s ruling that “the Obama Foundation and the University of Chicago created this controversy by insisting on the confiscation of public parkland.” When UChicago bid to host the OPC in 2014, it saidthat Washington Park out of all the proposed sites would be most “amenable to accommodate new businesses and investment” that would come with the arrival of the OPC because Washington Park is the least developed and most accessible by public transportation. However, the University also said that Jackson Park, though less favorable economically, would provide the University greater control over the OPC’s development because the University owns dorms and greenspace surrounding Jackson Park. When Protect Our Parks first brought the suit last year, many believed the suit would not gain much traction in court.
UChicago law professor Lior Strahilevitz argued in a commentaryin the Chicago Tribunethat supporters of the OPC in Jackson Park would easily win in court. Strahilevitz and six other property law professors have filed amicus briefs siding with the city and Chicago Park District. Opponents of the suit claim that it is meant to sabotage a positive economic and social force’s landing on the South Side. More than 200 University professors have signed onto a letter arguing that the OPC would be better located in Washington Park. Several, including English professor W. J. T. Mitchell and law professor Richard Epstein, have authored separate documents outlining their reasons for opposing the OPC’s Jackson Park location. Other University faculty, including biochemistry professor Erin Adams, voiced support for the OPC’s proposed location in a letterto the editor of the Hyde Park Herald. Adams signed the letter as a co-founder and chair of South Side Neighbors for Hope, a local pro–OPC organization. The crux of the lawsuit’s argument is whether the value of the OPC will compensate for the value of the 19.3 acres of public land Chicago would allot to the Obama Foundation in exchange for ownership of the complex once building is finished. According to the Tribune, most Chicagoans believe it would benefit the area by attracting commercial opportunities and increasing the number of visitors. For opponents of a Jackson Park Obama Center, the lawsuit may bring them the outcome they desire, though perhaps not in the manner they expect. Although Judge Robert Blakey said that he does not wish to extend or delay his ruling on the lawsuit, an expected ruling was pushed back from February 14 to February 19. Previously, the ruling date had been set for February 9. The legal process surrounding the suit recalls another public-lands dispute over the George Lucas Museum, which was preparing to build on Lake Michigan in 2016. However, due to delays and legal wrangling the litigation caused, the museum relocated to Los Angeles. That lawsuit, brought by Friends of the Parks, had a similar argument to that filed by POP—namely, that the project would encroach on laws protecting the lakeside parks. Residents who support the OPC fear that
the drawn-out court battles will deter the Obama Foundation from breaking ground on the project. “The [Obama Foundation] may only be willing to fight for this for so long. Then we’re back to where we were—begging businesses to come to our community,” South Shore resident Paraisia Winston told the Tribune. Proponents of the OPC’s arrival in Jackson Park have filed opposing amicus briefs; these proponents include Chicago’s Museums in the Park, several other presidential libraries, and a group of seven property law professors from UChicago and Northwestern University, among other institutions. In Epstein’s amicus brief opposing OPC’s Jackson Park location, he argues that the OPC does not stand to add as much value to Jackson Park and surrounding neighborhoods as it advertises. “They never established that the project, which is rife with conflicts of interest,
supplies a fair value in exchange to the City,” he wrote. Among the expenses that the OPC would create for the city are the cost of added infrastructure to the park and inconvenience to commuters. In order to accommodate the OPC, the city would need to overhaul two main traffic arteries, Cornell and Stony Island Avenues. Epstein also argued that city legislators (particularly Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s former Chief of Staff and outgoing mayor of Chicago) bent rules on longstanding legislation in a display of “insider favoritism.” In another letter to the editor of the Hyde Park Herald, Adams said the argument put forth by supporters of POP is “ludicrous and factually incorrect.” Specifically, Adams said in an e-mail to The Maroon that while Jackson Park Watch, a local organization promoting CONTINUED ON PG. 6
A rendering of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park. courtesy of the obama foundation
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At IOP, 2020 Hopeful Pete Buttigieg Highlights Gun Safety, “Intergenerational Justice” BY OREN OPPENHEIM News Reporter
On Wednesday, Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana and likely 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, emphasized his support for universal background checks for gun sales and a ban on bump stocks during a wide-ranging talk at the Institute of Politics (IOP). Sara Burnett, a political reporter for The Associated Press, moderated the talk. Buttigieg, who was first elected mayor in 2011 and has received widespread attention for his work to revitalize South Bend, announced on January 23 that he was forming an exploratory committee to look into running for president in 2020. So far, Buttigieg has mostly refrained from discussing specific policy agendas, but he has publicly supported universal background checks in the past. The 37-yearold prospective candidate has also billed himself as being in touch with a “millennial” generation faced with rising threats of climate change, internet privacy, and healthcare access. Buttigieg also addressed his
Pete Buttigieg in conversation with AP journalist Sara Burnett at the Quadrangle Club. oren oppenheim concept of intergenerational justice, which he emphasized when he first announced his candidacy. “We [millennials] are the school shooting generation: I was in high school when Columbine happened; [we’re] the generation that provided most of the troops after 9/11; a generation that, statistically, runs the risk of being the first in modern history to be worse off economically than our parents, if we don’t change things.” he said. He added that his generation will also have to deal with the difficulties caused by climate change,
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. courtesy of wikimedia commons.
“The younger you are, the more you have at stake.” During a question-and-answer session, a third-year in the College, who identified herself as being from South Florida—an area wracked by gun violence, including the 2018 Parkland shooting whose one-year anniversary passed this week—asked Buttigieg, “I’m wondering if you can make a promise that in your first one hundred days, that you will pass universal background checks and a ban on bump stocks.” “I can promise that I’ll put that forward…. Most Americans are already there,” Buttigieg responded. “In fact, on universal background checks, we’re talking 80 or 90 percent—we’re talking most gun owners, most Republicans; but for some weird reason, not most members of Congress.” Universal background checks for gun sales have been a contentious issue within Congress, but a measure to require them advanced late Wednesday night through the House Judiciary Committee and will be coming to a vote in the House of Representatives. A longer version of this article appears on The Maroon’s website.
ABC’s Rebecca Jarvis to Speak at Class Day BY CAMILLE KIRSCH News Editor Rebecca Jarvis (A.B. ’03) will be the Class Day speaker for the Class of 2019, the University announced Tuesday. Jarvis is ABC’s chief business correspondent and reports for multiple ABC programs including Good Morning America, 20/20, and Nightline. She also hosts two podcasts: No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis, which features interviews of successful women about their career paths, and The Dropout, a new series that is dramatizing the story of the meteoric rise to power of the medical startup Theranos and its subsequent fall from grace. Jarvis was also a runner-up on season 4 of The Apprentice, the reality TV show once hosted by President Donald Trump. In a 2016 interview with The Maroon, she said, “[Trump]... literally came across exactly on air when you would watch the
show back as he came across in person. So with my experience, it was: What you see is what you get.” At UChicago, Jarvis majored in economics and Law, Letters, and Society. She also wrote for The Maroon and acted in the Off-Off Campus comedy troupe. Jarvis told The Maroon in 2016 that one of her defining UChicago experiences was taking a law course on the First Amendment with professor Dennis Hutchinson. “I think a lot about that class now still and I think the bottom line for me is the idea that you essentially have to protect all speech in order to protect the things that are most important to you,” she said. “…there were a lot of discussions in University of Chicago classes that made me uncomfortable…and I’m so glad I heard them. And I’m so glad I heard them at the University of Chicago where there was respect for everybody.”
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UChicago Organization Circulates CBA Petition BY MATTHEW LEE News Reporter
CONTINUED FROM PG. 4
community engagement with decisions involving the park, claims that the OPC will be situated on land that was never developed, this is not the case—the OPC will stand where the Horticulture Building of the 1893 World’s Fair once stood. Adams pointed to a photo of the World’s Fair as evidence. While organizations like The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) and POP believe that the allocation of the 19.3 acres will ideologically charge the previously neutral park space, Adams and South Side Neighbors for Hope see the OPC as the latest installment in the park’s mandate of public enrichment. Other detractors, like The Cultural Landscape Foundation, believe that the OPC contradicts or lays aside the vision of the park’s architect, Frederick Law Olmsted—sometimes referred to as “the father of
American landscape architecture,” quoting his mandate for the park in their own amicus brief: “All other buildings and structures to be within park boundaries are to be placed and planned exclusively with a view to advancing the ruling purpose of the park. They are to be auxiliary to and subordinate to the scenery of the park.” Adams responded that the OPC will instead further Olmsted’s idea of the park. It could even support Olmsted’s vision through features like a sledding hill and pedestrian paths. “The original concepts of democratic access, education, and operation for the public good that characterize Chicago’s Museums in the Parks were founded in Olmsted’s World’s Fair vision. The OPC is a significant addition to this 125-year tradition,” Adams wrote.
Announcing
Spring 2019 Courses in the Big Problems Capstone Curriculum for juniors and seniors
NARRATING MIGRATION
Josephine McDonagh (English), Vu Tran (Creative Writing) BPRO 28200, ENGL 28200
DISABILITY AND DESIGN
Michele Friedner (Comparative Human Development), Jennifer Iverson (Music) BPRO 28300, CHDV 28301, MUSI 25719
For more information, please see:
http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/bigproblems
The Big Problems curriculum addresses matters of global or universal concern that intersect with several disciplines and affect a variety of interest groups.
p r o b l e m s
NEW COURSES
b i g
The organization UChicago for a CBA, founded to mobilize University of Chicago students and alumni over the upcoming Obama Presidential Center, has circulated a petition urging the University to sign a community benefits agreement (CBA) before construction proceeds. At publication time, UChicago for a CBA’s petition had garnered 233 signatures. The organization recently published an op-ed in The Maroon detailing their demands. A CBA is a legal document in which a developer promises to provide the community surrounding their development with certain benefits. As mutually agreed-upon contracts, CBAs are legally binding for their signatories. Federica Ferrari, an organizer with UChicago for a CBA and originator of the petition, stated that one aim of a CBA between the Obama Foundation and community organizations is establishing a commitment of the Obama Presidential Center project to the welfare of local communities. “The kind of concessions that we’re looking for would be centered around the University’s development—the for-profit boutique hotel, the Rubenstein Forum, and the new dorm—so the idea would be that, when we look at employment, a majority of the jobs in the development should go to residents surrounding the library,” Ferrari said. “There should be local hiring, and when we say local, we mean from Woodlawn, from the area.” Ferrari also called for the Obama Presidential Center and the University to provide quality education and affordable housing for local residents. “The University should partner with local schools to enhance programming and provide tutoring,” Ferrari said. “One of the main things…is that the community benefits agreement would establish something called a community lands trust, where the University would set aside a certain amount of money where local residents can get low interest loans, as well as set aside new housing for low-income households in the area.”
UChicago for a CBA is a part of the Obama Community Benefits Coalition, a group of South Side community advocacy groups attempting to pass a CBA via a Chicago City Council Ordinance. Such an ordinance, if approved by the City Council, would be enforceable against the Obama Foundation and the University of Chicago even if the two parties are not signatories. However, members of UChicago for a CBA say they believe petitioning the University of Chicago to accede to a CBA of its own volition also has merit. “What we saw as a problem with the [ordinance] strategy is that it kind of cuts the University out,” Ferrari said. “It takes away responsibility from the University, because of course they wouldn’t be in these laws. And the University is the main academic partner of the Obama Presidential Center.” Amid a changing political climate in Chicago, organizers are hopeful of their endeavor’s success. Ferrari noted, “Every single candidate for alderman in the ward in which Woodlawn is located are all supportive of a community benefits agreement, as well as around half of the mayoral candidates.” Woodlawn is split by two wards: Chicago’s 20th Ward, under Willie Cochran; and Leslie Hairston’s 5th Ward, both of which will be contested in the upcoming election. The 20th ward is in an open race currently contested by nine candidates, according to BallotReady. As The Chicago Maroon reported on January 22, all of these candidates are in favor of a CBA. In the 5th Ward, however, incumbent Leslie Hairston has not directly expressed support for a CBA. Of her two challengers, William Calloway supports a CBA, as does Gabriel Piemonte. UChicago for a CBA also held a public panel, hosted by University professor and artist Eve Ewing, on February 12. The panel featured representatives from various member organizations of Obama Community Benefits organization and residents from South Side neighborhoods.
The Foundation “may only be willing to fight for this for so long,” a resident said.
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Strong Singers, Stronger Bonds The Maroon takes a look at the thriving a cappella scene on campus, from auditions to competitions. BY OLIVIA CHILKOTI Grey City Reporter
The lights dimmed. The crowd buzzed with excitement as 18 people filed on stage, taking position in a formation that grew steadily into a formidable huddle. They bowed their heads, visible only by the electric blue shards of color punctuating their outfits. The lights came up and they snapped to attention, launching into their 12-minute set comprised of Rationale’s “One by One,” Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain,” and a mashup of “breathin” by Ariana Grande and “Last Hope” by Paramore. This was the Ransom Notes’ opening at the Great Lakes Quarterfinal of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA). Placing second place, the Ransom Notes earned a spot in next month’s semifinals. Along with Run for Cover and Rhythm and Jews, the Ransom Notes was one of three UChicago a cappella groups competing that night. Gaby Sterkowicz, a second-year member of Unaccompanied Women (UW), said that she always knew a cappella was the activity for her. “I stumbled across collegiate a cappella on YouTube in the middle school,” she said. “Before I was even thinking about where I wanted to go to college, what I wanted to study, what I wanted to do, I was thinking, ‘I want to do that!’” Sterkowicz even went so far as to research the audition process before coming to UChicago.
She went on, “I always knew that I wanted to do a cappella really seriously because I’ve been singing all my life. It’s my thing. And I wanted to not let go of it once I left high school.” Sterkowicz isn’t alone in using collegiate a cappella to stay involved with music. Ben Donvan, a fourth-year and a member of Run for Cover, echoed her statements: “I was looking for a group to sing with cause, I’d done a lot of musical theater in high school and also some choral singing. A cappella is very different from both of those, but it was a kind of a way of continuing to sing.” This is a year in the world of UChicago’s a cappella scene, from auditions to the national competitions that define the groups’ years. From nearly the moment students arrive on campus, a cappella groups are recruiting their newest members, starting with a showcase the evening of the first day of the quarter. From there, the audition process begins almost immediately, with members posted outside the doors of Mandel Hall, encouraging students—especially first-years—to sign up for auditions. Second-year Rebecca Koppel, who sings in UW, explained that each group designs their set to give prospective members a sense of their identity and style. “Each group performs a small set, like two songs that represent who they are and their repertoire, and we think of that as a really good opportunity for incoming stu-
The Ransom Notes place second at the ICCA Great Lakes Quarterfinals, January 2019. courtesy of the ransom notes
dents and people interested in auditioning to get a sense of all the groups,” Koppel said. Over the next two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, all eight groups hold auditions—often in the same building. This allows students to go from audition to audition. Koppel noted, “It’s pretty common for people to audition for at least two groups, if not a handful of them.” “We definitely recommend people audition for multiple groups,” she added. With so many different groups and goals, UChicago appears to have one of the more vibrant and diverse collegiate a cappella communities, especially given its modest size. Ransom Notes, Rhythm and Jews, Run for Cover, and Unaccompanied Women
are joined by Chicago Aag, Make a Joyful Noise, Men in Drag, and Voices in Your Head (Voices) for a total of eight groups. Each group has different styles and aims. Run for Cover is an all-male group that focuses on covers of contemporary music, while Aag and Rhythm and Jews seek to blend Western music with South Asian and Jewish music respectively (although they are open to students of all backgrounds). Men in Drag uses its performances to challenge traditional gender roles, and UW, at 30 years old, is the oldest women’s group on campus. Saoirse Ryan, a third-year student and assistant musical director of Ransom Notes, only realized how robust the UChicago a cappella scene was when
she looked at other campus music cultures. “UChicago is such a big place for a cappella. I didn’t really realize that until I was talking to my friends at other schools,” Ryan said. According to Koppel, the audition process varies from group to group but tends to follow the same general pattern. Auditions last about seven to 10 minutes, and cover tasks like warm-ups, matching pitch, and sight reading, before auditionees perform their prepared solos. By Wednesday night, all eight groups submit the callback list to their governing body, the A Cappella Council, or Aca-Council. Aca-Council is made up of two voting representatives from each group, overseen by a president CONTINUED ON PG. 8
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“...you’re bound to see everyone at every single emotion.” CONTINUED FROM PG. 7
and vice president—currently third-year Lauren Torian of Voices, and Koppel. The Aca-Council then devises a callback schedule for the next two days. The auditionees are done, but the hard work of “arbitration” still remains for the groups. Saturday morning, three representatives from each group meet with the president and vice president of Aca-Council to negotiate who gets placed in what group. Koppel compares it to the matching system for medical residency, where auditionees are placed into the group they’ve ranked highest out of the groups that take them. With only eight groups and a steady increase in interest over the past few years, auditions are competitive. UW had a record number of auditionees this year, and hosted 20 callbacks. Besides the first-week showcase, regular concerts take place throughout the year. Most groups try to host quarterly or biquarterly concerts, including Arch Sings, which Koppel describes as small, half-hour concerts for people passing by. These often happen under Hull Gate, which has “really beautiful acoustics.” Groups also team up with one another for these concerts: Run for Cover and UW are one of the more frequent collaborations on campus. Several groups also host seasonal concerts, such as Voices’ “A Very Voices Christmas” event, which blends Christmas carols with a set of Voices’ standard repertoire. Voices puts its own spin on the traditional Arch Sing with its “Bart Sing,” a collaborative performance with Brown University’s The Higher Keys at the entrance to Bartlett Dining Hall. Groups also release albums every few years: Men in Drag released Medusa Complex in 2016; Unaccompanied Women released Ampersand in 2017; Run for Cover released Dawn in 2018; and Voices released Begin Again this January. Ransom Notes released
Blueprint in 2017 and plans to start working on another album later this year, according to fourth-year student and Ransom Notes president Sharbel Romanos. And then of course, there’s the ICCA, the event that inspired the 2012 blockbuster Pitch Perfect, which has gone on to shape the perception and popularity of collegiate a cappella all over America. According to Newsweek in 2015, ICCA finals sold out in a few hours, and the number of groups had increased tenfold—this is known as “the Pitch Perfect effect.” Sterkowicz said, “I do get a little annoyed when I tell people I’m in an a cappella group and they say, ‘Oh, like Pitch Perfect?’” She feels that “it’s very much sensationalized. It doesn’t represent all the hard work.” UChicago groups frequently compete in the ICCA—Voices advanced to the final round in 2015, 2017, and placed third in 2018 for their entirely original set. This year, Ransom Notes is headed to the Great Lakes Semifinal for the first time ever. As much work as the groups put in during the school year, preparing for ICCA is a step up, and “in the past has been a more stressful time,” Romanos said. “During the year we have three rehearsals a week that are two hours, and then we like people to meet within their own voice sections…an hour or two extra on the side. We added one or two extra rehearsals a week that were two to three hours…and choreo rehearsals on Saturdays [to prepare for ICAA].” Between weekly rehearsals, concerts, showcases, and group retreats, the groups become exceptionally tight-knit. “Words don’t suffice [to explain how close we are]…. We go through a lot of tough times, a lot of great times and when we’re rehearsing almost every day, you’re bound to see everyone at every single emotion,” Romanos said.
Voices in Your Head perform at the 2018 ICCA Finals. joe martinez. Romanos studied abroad last quarter and says that when it came to rejoining a new iteration of the group, “I was scared. They’re already a family, right? But within two, three weeks I felt as close to them as I did with almost everyone else in the group.” Sterkowicz noted that singing specifically and working in “excruciating detail” during rehearsals brings members closer together: “We do an exercise where…you have to exactly match the shape of your mouth…to create exactly the same sound…. So inherently you’re going to form really close bonds with the people you sing with,” she said. After auditions conclude, the groups welcome their new members in their own fashions. New members of UW, called “New Dubs,” are treated to dinner at Nando’s and Chicago’s largest ice cream sundae at Margie’s Candies. Voices in Your Head welcomes its newest additions by going on a weekend retreat to bond, learn music, and discuss a cappella history. Run for Cover makes an early morning trek to the Point to watch the sunrise and make s’mores. Participants also find a cappella to be a reprieve from the
pressures of school. Koppel said, “Being a UChicago student can be tumultuous and hard at times, but I feel like I personally have been able to turn to the community as a great support structure.” Despite their positive view of the community, the groups are already looking ahead for ways to improve it. Koppel explained that Aca-Council has been working on bringing the groups together more, organizing a pizza party and mixer, as well as helping to plan collaborative concerts. Other singers also share Aca-Council’s vision of a more active and unified community: Romanos mentioned his and Ryan’s hope of adding another showcase: “I was thinking of…a showcase in the spring, not just [to say] ‘this is our group,’ but ‘this is our community of a cappella on campus.’” Reflecting on changes in the community over the last four years, Romanos commented that “it definitely has improved so much from my first year, with groups hanging out with each other and people knowing of other groups’ events and supporting each other much more.” Even so, Aca-Council is continually looking at ways to connect with wider audiences. As the
council vice president, Koppel said, “I would love to open ourselves up to the Chicago community more.... The people who show up for many [concerts] will be direct friends of people who are performing or people in other groups supporting them. Of course, this is an ongoing process. “The best feeling in the world is when you have a big concert turnout, so it’d be great to increase our outreach to the student body in general and get more support,” Koppel said. “But I think that’s been a work in progress and is improving.” A cappella has a lot to offer its members: the chance to keep music in their lives, a break from the stress of classes, and a support system of peers. But as an introduction to the music scene on campus, and more broadly, as a model for extracurriculars, it offers a lot to the general student body too. As interest in a cappella expands, so do the possibilities for creativity and experimentation. “It’s a really open art form. That uniqueness gives you freedom to explore and innovate,” Koppel said. “There are so many possibilities for what a group can do and what their goals can be— what they make of themselves.”
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VIEWPOINTS
Sharing the Work of Diversity Diversity Initiatives Should Not Just Be the Responsibility of the Diverse BY LEENA EL-SADEK A few years ago, during a job interview, I sat wide-eyed as my interviewer recited goals for his company’s diversity and inclusion (D&I) plan. As a southern, brown, Muslim, Arab woman, this was the first time I understood that I did not have to be white to be worthy. Three years later, I heard this same exact speech, except this time, by a college interviewer. Today, similar rhetoric continues to echo around classrooms and conference rooms as D&I models have
become forced praxis across universities and workplaces. But as D&I models have transformed into business models, I can’t help but wonder: Are these models even working? Are the right people listening, or are we just asking D&I committee members to shoulder the burden of problems that were created, and perpetuated, by the folks who realized we needed a D&I committee? From my experience on multiple D&I committees, I have ultimately realized that, at best, this work is not being shared equally and, at worst,
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it’s not being shared at all. If we want diversity initiatives to truly be effective, we need to ensure everyone is working to achieve the desired goals. For many people who live in liminal positions between their community’s struggles and the aspirational goals of class nobility, their future is one of both promise and peril. The reality is that my sun-kissed skin will never be seen as professional in the effete tradition of the law. I am reminded of this every day I enter the classroom, every day I network, and every day I intern. But I got here. By the grace of God, and by the grace of many people’s sacrifices, I got to law school. I earned it, too. But unfortunately, many others are not afforded similar opportunities. We have to work to ensure that stories like mine are no longer anomalies. When a(nother) school shooting or political tragedy occurs, students from underrepresented minority groups make it a priority to reach out to comfort and listen to others, with the hopes they would also be afforded time and space when they attempt to cope with their own untelevized tragedies. We have all protested and marched so much it has become a form of exercise. We’ve spoken up so much that we have grown weary of our voices. We’ve joined committees to address underrepresentation of minority students in higher education. We’ve participated in recruitment efforts for prospective students and faculty, penned open letters, spoken to leaders, and formed healing spaces for people to cope. Most days, I am satisfied with my efforts. Still, I often find myself thinking about what we could
accomplish if we did not have to do all of this extra work. Perhaps, instead of developing ways to increase representation and diversity, we could have been studying to increase our GPA, networking to land the “dream job,” or applying to prestigious fellowships. Or, perhaps, instead of healing after another unnecessary, fatal tragedy, we could have been more productive publishing, researching, or presenting our studies. In a world that is so centered on classroom and workplace competition, I wonder if we’re spending too much time not competing because of all this extra work. Likewise, I wonder how much time is being taken from our diverse professors. The higher you reach in academia, the less likely you’ll be met with shades of representation. The same is true in professional settings. These diverse mentors are expected to spend inordinate amounts of time mentoring, in addition to their full-time positions as professors and professionals. I’ve personally spent hours recounting experiences to mentors who have the ability to emote a deep and sincere connection, and I know I am not the only one. Mentors’ fidelity to mentees comes at a price: their inability to say no to listening and advising, even when they forsake their own health, productivity, and success. The same mentors are expected to lead diversity task forces, sit on recruitment committees, mentor diverse colleagues, and give free talks on “why diversity matters!” while their counterparts are expected to simply put in their nine-to-five. How much of a burden are we to our diverse mentors? If mentors are not compensated or rec-
ognized for the extra work they invest in others, are we actually compromising their trajectory? In law school, we are taught that public goods are nonexclusive benefits for all members of a society. Contrary to current D&I models, diversity is not a good created only by diverse people for diverse people. We must never forget that we have all benefited, and continue to benefit, from the work of minority communities. Moreover, creating spaces that reflect our social demographics is beneficial to every individual who yearns to engage with the world in all of its complexities. Minority communities have, for far too long, been expected to collectively solve, empathize, and heal while white counterparts applaud efforts from the sidelines. These burdens have direct impacts on one’s health, stress, and productivity, and if we’re not compensating these people for the work they do behind the scenes, we need to change who’s doing the work on center stage. My call to students and faculty: 1. Call out white faculty, administration, and students for not sharing the responsibilities of diversity initiatives. 2. Put white men on committees to share the responsibility of learning, educating, and addressing diversity issues. 3. Compensate and credit students and professors who help mentor and help others cope. 4. Make diversity and inclusion initiatives a campus-wide priority, not a dean’s sound-bite. Leena El-Sadek is a student at the University of Chicago Law School.
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The University’s Racist History on the South Side, and the Photo Maroon Leadership’s Decision to Publish a Photo of a Black Man Apprehended on Campus Cannot Be Disentangled From the University’s Own Sordid History of Disrespecting the Surrounding Community BY SOPHIA SARANTAKOS Editor’s Note: The Viewpoints section functions independently from other sections of the paper and publishes articles without the explicit approval of the editors-in-chief. Viewpoints Editors—and other editors on the paper—were not consulted prior to the photo’s publication and do not have the ability to remove the photo from the website. On my way to the School of Social Service Administration on Monday, February 11, I encountered the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and the University of Chicago Police Department’s (UCPD)
heightened response to the incident that
unfolded on campus. I passed no fewer than 20 police cars, dozens of officers, some of whom were armed with semi-automatic rifles, and a helicopter circling the area above the Midway Plaisance. This is a police response many in the UChicago and larger Hyde Park communities have come to know and critique. As a predominantly white institution with one of the largest private security forces in the world, UChicago often responds to non-white faces on campus with suspicion. When this presence involves an alleged robbery and a car chase, the response from law enforcement is tenfold. When white lives are thought to be in danger, no resource is
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spared. The police response to last week’s incident is not the focus of this address, but it provides an important and necessary context for The Maroon’s reporting of the event and its defiant refusal to do what is ethical. The final article published by The Maroon on this story includes a large header image depicting one of the accused individuals, a young Black man, being led away in handcuffs from Saieh Hall by a CPD officer. This photograph has been up since approximately 1 p.m. on February 11 despite hundreds of complaints from UChicago students, faculty, staff, The Maroon’s own editors and photographers, and Hyde Park community members. It has recently come to light that Maroon editors-in-chief Peter Grieve and Euirim Choi are doubling down on their decision to publish the photo of the young man apprehended by CPD. In a written statement, Grieve and Choi told the South Side Weekly, “We do not yet know whether the individual in the photo is a minor—such information can sometimes take up to several days to confirm—but we would have arrived at the same decision even if he is. There is no law that prohibits a publication from taking photos of minors, so our decision rested solely on whether the news value of the photo outweighed the potential invasion of privacy… We, the editors-in-chief of The Maroon, concluded that our readers had the right to know all available details about any suspects involved.” Zoe Kaiser, a former photo editor for The Maroon, already wrote a strong piece dismantling the idea that “the news value of the photo outweighed the potential invasion of privacy.” What I would like to do is consider the greater context of this image in our community. The response of the editors-in-chief frames the publication of this photo in an ahistorical, decontextualized way. This is not only naive, but dangerous and deeply harmful. The University of Chicago has a long, sordid history of disrespecting the surrounding community. It has used the greater Hyde Park area as a lab to research
issues of race, poverty, and violence, and it has taken ownership of growing amount of real estate in an effort to curate an environment that caters to its predominantly white, wealthy student body, alumni, and donors. Community members rightly feel that they are being shut out of their own neighborhood. The University’s nearly 30-year resistance to providing a Level 1 trauma center to residents of the South Side encapsulates its relationship with the larger South Side community. Despite the South Side’s high concentration of gun-related injuries and deaths, whose victims are largely community members of color, the University clung to its decision for years. That only changed because of the work of determined local activists. They rightly called out the University’s blatant institutional racism and demanded that it use its wealth and power to build a facility that supported the needs of the greater South Side community. The relationship between the University of Chicago and its surrounding areas remains fraught. The photo The Maroon published isn’t just of one young Black man who is at the center of one news story. To think of this image in a vacuum is profoundly ignorant. The image carries a heavy history and communicates messages that go far beyond the isolated news story Grieve and Choi desperately want to limit it to. When I saw the photo on Monday, I received a clear message about whom the University community believes belongs on this campus and whom it does not. It is so unnecessary to the story that any other explanation is inconceivable. That image has no purpose other than to remind the surrounding community of its place in the eyes of the University community and to nurture an “us-versus-them” mentality. When I read Grieve and Choi’s defiant response in the South Side Weekly, I heard the voice of privileged young men who seem to not fully understand that there are social, civic, and economic consequences of how we talk about and portray people. As editors of The Maroon, they are in a position of power that carries great responsibilCONTINUED ON PG. 11
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ity. There may not be, as they stated, a law that prohibits the photo’s publication, but that answer really couldn’t be more out of touch. What is legal isn’t always right, and what’s right isn’t always legal. Maintaining this photo in the public sphere has real, long-lasting consequences for that young man and his loved ones. That photo has already caused irreparable harm, but the editors-in-chief have the power to stop this
harm from growing. To defiantly maintain that the photo is of service to the UChicago community and a necessary element of the news story is patently false and grossly unethical. I’ve written a petition that has 700 signatures and counting, from the UChicago community and beyond, that says otherwise. The editors-in-chief seized on and exploited a story rife with racial myths, one that serves as a profound example of the University’s
disconnect from the larger community and its extreme level of privilege. Underscoring this is the letter from dozens of current and former Maroon editors, which—while critical of Grieve and Choi’s continued refusal to take down the photo—also asks that this incident “be treated as a learning moment for the newspaper.” The South Side community and its predominantly Black and Brown residents are not a laboratory for students at this university. Every moment
that the image of this young Black man being apprehended by police remains public causes mounting harm to him, his loved ones, and our larger community. I implore the editors-in-chief to take it down.
Sophia Sarantakos is a doctoral candidate in the School of Social Service Administration.
Toni Preckwinkle, The Hyde Parker Who Will Fix Chicago BY THE MAROON EDITORIAL BOARD The victor in Chicago’s hotly contested mayoral race will face a slew of problems from the long-standing pension crisis to a lack of affordable housing citywide. The Maroon Editorial Board endorses Toni Preckwinkle for mayor precisely because we think she combines the political savvy and fresh ideas necessary to solve them. As a University of Chicago alum, Preckwinkle served for nearly two decades as an alderman for the Fourth Ward, and, since 2010, has served as president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. The mayor is responsible for proposing policy to the City Council, enforcing city ordinances, and appointing officials across city offices. Preckwinkle has the political expertise to manage the complex beast of municipal government. As alderman, Preckwinkle took active steps to improve the Fourth Ward. She proposed putting in place affordable housing set-asides which would require developers to allocate 20 percent of their property for affordable housing. Preckwinkle led the charge to pass a living wage ordinance that raised wages for city contractors. As mayor, she intends to raise the Chicago minimum wage to $15 an hour, which has earned her the support of some labor unions. Preckwinkle has also proposed desperately needed reform measures to Chicago’s policing. In addition to her support of specific steps like the abolition of the Chicago Police Department gang database, Preckwinkle has voiced
a commitment to addressing the underlying causes of crime instead of merely increasing enforcement. The Chicago Teachers Union has also endorsed Preckwinkle because of her commitment to education, an issue The Maroon deeply values. She advocates for a fully elected school board, an end to school closures, and a priority on excellence in public schools, rather than a reliance on charter schools. We hope that Preckwinkle will remember her South Side roots in this fight for better public schools: Reports from last year
show that the South Side has disproportionately worse schools than other, more affluent areas of Chicago. This mayoral race has, in part, become a referendum on machine politics in Chicago. Preckwinkle has drawn flak for her record of working alongside political dynasties like the Daleys. Overall though, we are impressed with her track record in the Fourth Ward. Her occasional compromises with “machine” politicians are proof that, when necessary, she understands how to shrewdly navigate the web of politics to achieve the
best possible results for her constituents. We believe that Preckwinkle has the potential to stand up and win against major Chicago politicians like Bill Daley, but we do not think that she has compromised her policy to achieve that. Preckwinkle’s track record on affordable housing, education, and labor speaks for itself, and we are excited by her mayoral platform. The Maroon Editorial Board believes that Preckwinkle is the ideal choice for the next mayor of Chicago.
COURTESY TONI FOR CHICAGO
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Red Fish, Bleu Fish: Sad Fish, Bad Fish BY AUSTIN LAI Arts Reporter
Porkchop ow ner Jovanis Bourgoub opened Red Fish, Bleu Fish at 5121 South Harper Avenue in Hyde Park in late January 2019. Located in the City Hyde Park complex, the restaurant and speakeasy next door features seafood dishes and drinks inspired by New Orleans cuisine and the Hyde Park community. Before I begin my review, I have two things to say: Plastic cups are tacky and shells are not food. My friend and I were seated quickly for a quiet evening service on Friday. The dining room has ample seating and a private dining room with large televisions and loud music. The decor is “busy”—with sports playing on the television and throwback music in the background, I completely lost the theme of the restaurant and could barely hear my friend across the table. The menu primarily features seafood, as the name implies, as well as a steak and a chicken option. For vegan and vegetarian options, there are entrées such as the Wild Mushroom Pea Risotto and Baby Romaine Salad. Top selections also include the Paella Ala Red Fish Bleu Fish and the Whole Fried Caribbean Red Snapper. We were optimistic about the Baked Maine Lobster Tail and Grilled Spanish Pulpo with four sides: Fines Herbes Sauteed Mushrooms, Br ussel
Sprouts Pancetta, Truff le Mac and Cheese, and Elotes. In retrospect, we should have ordered the safer options—calamari and salmon. Those can do no harm, right? The drink menu features margaritas, classics, and newly inspired drinks such as the 51st Street and the Chocolate Box. We decided to order the New Money Spritz and the 51st Street cocktail. W hile we enjoyed our drinks, they came in tall plastic cocktail glasses that made it hard to drink. These tall plastic cups brought me back to middle school, drinking Capri Sun with a really long straw. Not a good look. Now comes the food. Complimentar y breadsticks on the table is a cute gesture, but the bread was toasted rock-hard and oily. Mary Berry would not be a fan of these salty croutons. The lobster tail and Spanish polpo arrived all at once with the four sides. The presentation was nice with the black plates and white serving dishes. Unfortunately, the grilled octopus was overcooked and rubbery, but worst of all, when I moved the lobster tail meat to the side, I noticed the remaining lobster shell propped up under the lobster tail meat. I’m talking inedible, hard shell sandwiched between a bed of polenta and lobster tail meat. I know a plating faux paus when I see one (I’ve watched Top Chef and Chopped religiously), and I was appalled. The chimichurri anticucho and olive gremolata with the octopus
Clockwise from top: Grilled Spanish Pulpo, Sauteed Mushrooms, Brussels Sprouts, Maine Lobster, Truffle Mac and Cheese, Elote. austin lai were charred and bitter and the white corn polenta under the lobster tail shell was tasteless; I wouldn’t have known that it was polenta if the menu didn’t tell me. Next, we’ll talk about the sides. Tha nk you, Br ussels sprouts a nd pancetta, for being the only star of this dinner menu. The sautéed mushrooms were slightly too acidic, the truff le mac and cheese had no taste of truff le, and the elotes tasted like wet, sweet corn mayo. Apart from the Brussels sprouts, I would not order any of these side dishes again. The tab was $90 for the two of us and, I have to say, we felt swindled and disappointed by Red Fish Bleu Fish. From the confusing decor to the
regrettable entrées and sides, any college student craving seafood in Hyde Park should skip Red Fish Bleu Fish and hit any restaurant in River North instead. Or, hell, get a filet of fish from Whole Foods and watch Michelin-star chef Eric Ripert teach you how to cook on YouTube. If you’re looking for a local watering hole in Hyde Park, skip this place and head to Jimmy ’s. To close out, I’d like to keep the image of burnt-tasting octopus and lobster shells out of sight, and the memory of trying one of Hyde Park’s newest restaurants out of mind. Just like Dr. Seuss’s One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Jovanis’s establishment is freewheeling.
Eileen Myles Reads Poetry and Poeticizes Instagram BY BROOKE NAGLER Arts Reporter
Each time Eileen Myles finished reading a poem, they shrugged and tilted their head to the side. “It’s a question,” Myles remarked. The closure of the poem was not in its end, but in its invitation for continued discussion. And Myles’s reading from
their new book of poems, Evolution, at the Seminary Co-Op last Wednesday, certainly prompted further conversation. It’s Myles’s observations about the ordinary that left my brain reeling after the reading. At one point in a poem, between ruminations of fame and adventures to New York, Myles said, “I was at Target with some very cool people and we all had
needs—could hardly get out of the store.” To include a Target trip in a dreamy conjectural poem, and then make that Target trip feel so apt and necessary to the poem, is astonishing. But of course! We are all walking around Target because we have needs. Myles’s imagery, too, was staggering. In providing context for one poem (which they did often, remarking that the information
would make our experience of hearing the poem more enjoyable), Myles described the time they felt like they were on a plane, their head spinning endlessly, while actually on a train. Their mother had recently died, and they were reading “The Pilot” by Manuel Gonzales, a short story about characters living their lives on a perpetually circling CONTINUED ON PG. 13
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plane that runs on eternal oil. The reference in Myles’s poem reads, “Manuel’s book was in the air and I was on a train, my feet are cold and you wouldn’t be in the air so long, it just doesn’t happen, there’s no climate in a plane, and I was in one, not on earth, my mother is gone.” Myles seasoned the reading with silences between the poems to allow for thought, and often peppering in remarks, adding that they were aware of that silent space. Well-versed in the art of poetry readings, Myles wrote their first book of poetry in the late ’70s. Since then, they have written over 20 books—one recently from the point of view of their late dog—that range from poetry to prose to essays. And it helps that Myles is quick-witted, able to bring humor into readings even if other parts are more serious. The reading went from funny anecdotes to melancholy stories, Myles seamlessly moving between emotional tones. They told us about the translator who, in translating their poems, had to un-get a dick joke—the translator, excited that they
“got the joke,” ended up overinterpreting it in their translation. Myles would then move to a more serious topic, getting sad and sentimental. In a poem about a breakup, with an apparent longing in their face, Myles read, “OK I wanted to be somebody’s family but I’m not…. I’m like a big slow ad for the failure of love.” The recent death of Myles’s mother was another topic on which they meditated for a while. After her death, they were thinking about lineage. Although their mom did not work in a literary profession, her personal love for books was passed down to Myles. They remarked, “reading was the family business—she handed me that, she gave me language.” One might think poetry—whose classical form appears to place it outside the modern world—would be an artform antithetical to technology. Yet Myles not only uses social media, but has wholeheartedly embraced the medium. In fact, their Instagram, which consists of everyday objects and scenes they encounter, has been the subject of an art exhibition. Instagram, Myles says, is “the other side of poetry” because the poet is observing their everyday
scene. With Instagram, they remarked, “there’s a kind of breadcrumb thing where you’re just sort of wandering through your life, poeming, but in pictures.” Instagram puts you instantly in the gallery. “You get to be at the open mic of the world visually,” Myles said.
Of course it’s fitting that a poet would describe Instagram in such a conceptual manner. But perhaps the everyday experience of social media is closer to poetics than one would think. After all, poems, as Myles noted, are “just sort of like loosening and tightening all the time.”
courtesy of shae detar
Amit Chaudhuri Recaptures the Past in Friend of My Youth BY BRADLEY TIAN Arts Reporter
“The angel of history turns its back on the future it’s moving towards,” Amit Chaudhuri said in his book talk on Friday. The India-born musician and author of seven novels visited the Seminary Co-Op to discuss his latest novel, Friend of My Youth, which delves into the nature of memory, history, and loss. Chaudhuri was joined in conversation by Wendy Doniger, renowned Indologist and history of religions professor at the University of Chicago. The protagonist of Friend of My Youth has much in common with the author himself, sharing his name, occupation, and history. The novel follows Amit as he returns to Bombay, the city where he grew up, several years after the 2008 terrorist bombings. For the first time, his childhood friend Ramu is not there to greet him; he is away
in an intensive rehabilitation program after years of drug addiction. During his trip, Amit is drawn to the Taj Mahal Hotel, which has been rebuilt since the attack. The novel explores the limits of reconstruction, and what is lost that cannot be recaptured. Chaudhuri suggests that the best one can do is create an illusion; the narrator sees the same city he has always known, but his visit is entirely different without his childhood friend. And although his favorite café has been rebuilt in its former image, the people who worked there are gone forever. Chaudhuri noted, “This is something I’ve always been interested in…the unexpected, explosive implications of something coming back to life again.” His brand of re-creation extends beyond simple remembrance or mourning. Rather, it is an attempt to travel back in time and revive the past, to look backward while inexorably moving forward. He noted that his
fascination with rebirth is one that may be inspired on a subconscious level by Hindu notions of reincarnation. Although Friend of My Youth unfolds in the wake of an inescapably political event, Chaudhuri was careful to keep politics itself in the background of the narrative. The first part of the novel centers on a protest that takes the form of a street play, but Chaudhuri refrains from depicting the actual play. On this restraint, he said that “there’s a shyness in me against showing what it is I’m building up to show, but the political landscape is there.” Chaudhuri’s prose adopts a similar quality, meandering in an almost musical way. “Once the reader understands that the point is not to come to the point, then you share a grammar of narrating and receiving.” Chaudhuri’s ethics of deferral reflects the particular style of improvisation common to Indian classical music. The first and
last notes of a melody are predetermined, but the singer is free to insert any number of notes and glides in between. “Indian improvisation is also a form of deferring; you know what the next note will be as you close it off but you defer coming to that next note.” However, the connection between his distinctive prose and background in Indian music is not completely intentional. Despite the many ways in which Chaudhuri’s culture influences his work, he does not strive to be an “Indian author,” nor does he think of himself as such. Instead, he simply lets his life flow into his writing, or rather lets writing become a way of generating and regenerating lived experience. “This book comes from [asking] who is the self that is being written about, and what is writing itself? Is it about one’s life, or at some point does it become another form of living?”
THE CHICAGO MAROON — FEBRUARY 20, 2019
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SPORTS UPCOMING GAMES SPORT Men’s Tennis Track & Field Women’s Lax Baseball
OPPONENT Case Western UAA Championships DePauw Aurora & MacMurray
DAY
TIME
Friday Saturday Saturday Sunday
4:30 p.m. ET 12 p.m. 1 p.m. 1 & 4 p.m.
SCOREBOARD SPORT Men’s Tennis Women’s Tennis Men’s Basketball Women’s Basketball
The University of Chicago Law School presents the 2019 Dewey Lecture in Law and Philosophy
Power, Truth, and Politics Steven Lukes
W/L
OPPONENT
SCORE
W W W W
Cardinal Stritch Cardinal Stritch NYU NYU
8–1 7–2 76 – 66 68 – 48
Professor of Sociology at New York University
Wednesday, February 27 4:00 p.m. Reception to follow Weymouth Kirkland Courtroom University of Chicago Law School 1111 East 60th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637
T FOR TIME BY CHRISTOPHER JONES
This lecture is free and open to the public, but seating may be limited. For special assistance or needs, please contact Cassey Limgenco at 773.834.4326.
52. Most accurate 53. Ones late to the party? 57. Milk, to João 58. Forgive and forget, e.g. 62. Terminated 63. ___: __________ 64. Some Disney merchandise 65. Nickname for 31-Across 66. Recite 67. Semi-hard cheeses
ACROSS 1. Places for strokes 6. Take five, maybe? 9. Country along the Nile 14. Cuban senator Marco 15. Guacamole fruit, for short 16. It ‘s a mes 17. City where TED is hosted 19. Sayonara!
20. Porn? 22. Dish where the egg comes before and after the chicken? 25. Flitted 26. Pan roasts? 30. Bound binder? 31. Jazz great Vaughan 32. Small anchor 36. Key ___ pie
38. Sinful city in the Bible 40. Cereal brand with a Silly Rabbit 41. Had an air about them 43. Big bus stop 45. Prez on Illinois license plates 46. Swing mace? 49. Pick me!
DOWN 1. Mid-range Honda model 2. Mulan s surname 3. Word in many Arab names 4. Tom Cruise s ex 5. Oklahomans (this name is derived from settlers claiming Native American territory)
6. Sitarist Shankar 7. Baker? 8. Make holes 9. Pacific Northwest athlete 10. Like jello if you take it from the fridge too soon 11. Thomas Paine, religiously 12. Rocky ridge 13. Words on a cantina door, perhaps 18. Extremists 21. Some notes 22. Gifts for October births 23. ___ badge 24. Linguistic source words 27. Work away at 28. He famously saved his son 29. Some Sunday morning locales 33. Nonstop (2018) artist 34. Jeers 35. Exercise (authority) 37. What some book numbers
refer to 39. Sign amidst Chinatown, NYC 42. Headline name in 1963, tragically 44. Open-face sandwich 47. Small amount 48. Had a certain craving 49. British ___ 50. Heroine of The Time Machine 51. Substances that burn strongly 54. Univ. figures 55. Oft-broken arrm bone 56. Really not so bad 59. One, to João 60. Suffix with star or tsar 61. Safety first?
THE CHICAGO MAROON — FEBRUARY 20, 2019
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Lacrossing the Frontier: UChicago’s Inaugural Lacrosse Team BY BRINDA RAO Sports Reporter
After nearly two years of preparation, the inaugural UChicago women’s varsity lacrosse team is poised to compete. The team is a mosaic of unique zeal and talent that stems from the passion of the players and coaches. While the team is young, with a majority of first-years, their youthful energy has made their preseason truly fruitful. As trailblazers for UChicago’s foray into the world of varsity women’s lacrosse, all involved are set on making a terrific impact. The team’s formation derives from a combination of efforts of several alumnae and perfect timing. Franny Franklin (’16), Alexa Bieler (’17), and Katie Mott (’18) were members of the women’s club lacrosse team who pushed and worked for the University to form an official varsity team. Their efforts paid off in 2016 when the University had to add another varsity women’s sport. As the fastest-growing sport in the country, lacrosse was the perfect answer to this need. Since then, the University has worked to as-
semble a team built on UChicago’s academic rigor and a love for the game. In 2017, the University hired coach Kate Robinson, a seasoned coach from Whitman College. Robinson played DIII lacrosse at Catholic University of America before starting her coaching career. Since being hired, Robinson spearheaded recruitment and arrangements for the team’s first season. She spent the 2017–18 academic year training with the club team while simultaneously recruiting for the upcoming varsity season. Robinson explained, “It was a smooth transition to this program due to support from the athletic department and administration of the University. I worked with the club team for a year before the varsity team was formed. I also had a year to recruit which was great as some programs do not get this.” Sixteen girls were recruited to the program for its inaugural season. They were initially attracted to combination of the program’s high energy and UChicago’s intellectual environment. Kathleen Harrigan, a first-year defender from Syracuse, New York, com-
mented, “UChicago was the best opportunity for me to study and be successful while also playing for a team with awesome coaches who care about the program.” The unique lacrosse experience UChicago offered was heightened by the factor of being on an inaugural team. Ali Sheehy, a firstyear midfielder from Farmington High School in Connecticut, explained, “I knew I wanted to play at a school that promised an academically rigorous environment. Ultimately I was passionate about the opportunity to play the sport I love while also influencing the foundation and values of a program.” The team is heightened by the presence of six upperclassmen from the club lacrosse team. The adjustment from club to varsity was eased by Robinson’s work with last year’s club team. Furthermore, these girls are eager to take on the challenges presented by competing at the varsity level. Captain Maya De Jonge commented, “We’re all new so we all work together to figure out what the standards and attitude of the team should be. The recruits bring positive energy to the team.
We all vibe really well together.” These girls offer a source of guidance and leadership to the frontier-esque atmosphere of the team. First-years turn to them, on and off the field, for help and advice. Sheehy explained, “Upperclassmen help us figure out the ropes of UChicago like adding and dropping classes. All of us complement each other on and off the field. On the field, our combined strength and skills are great.” The team has tremendous energy due to its unique composition. In most programs, firstyears do not have starting roles from the beginning of their season. However, due to this year being the team’s first season, first-years have a slew of opportunities to test themselves and take on responsibility. First-years will play starting positions and help cement the team’s image. Harrigan observed, “In high school when you were a first-year on varsity you felt small and powerless. Now that we’re the majority there’s a lot of responsibility on us. It’s really empowering.” Even with the challenge of practicing around Chicago’s recent extreme weather, team members contin-
ue to be mentally tough. De Jonge commented, “We have positivity and smiles practicing through the cold weather. People are good-natured about the conditions and continue to work really hard.” The team’s drive and work had built up to their upcoming first game against DePauw. For five months they’ve trained and lifted tirelessly, putting in six practices and three lift sessions a week in their regular season. Practices are catalyzed by the unique dynamic of the young energy and strong coaching staff. Sheehy noted, “It’s amazing to play and reignite our love for the game. We’re in such a daunting, but welcoming environment for lacrosse.” The team is focused on developing strong culture and chemistry for the program. All members are dedicated to creating an energetic and stimulating foundation to the year and team. With these goals, the players and coaches have taken their first strides into the frontier of varsity women’s lacrosse. The women’s lacrosse team will play its first game on Stagg Field on February 23 against DePauw at 1 p.m.
Track and Field Honors 18 Seniors at Last Home Invitational BY MATTHEW LEE Sports Reporter
The University of Chicago’s track and field teams set aside Saturday’s Margaret Bradley Invitational to honor their 18 graduating fourth-years, but runners from all years found glory on the track as the Maroons won victory after victory to sweep both the men’s and women’s team titles. Indeed, by the end of the day, the Maroons had amassed 47 podiums and 16 event titles. An illustrious performance by the Maroon men was highlighted by third-year thrower Alexander Scott, whose Herculean
16.33-meter weight throw was good not only for first place on the weekend but also propelled him to lead the entire University Athletic Association. Additionally, Scott added a 15.70-meter shot put—also good for the top step of the podium—to his weekend performance. In individual track events, first-place finishers included first-year Akshay Mody, who scampered 1,200 meters in 3:08.51 minutes; fourth-year Ben Chaimberg, who blazed through the 400-meter in 52.15 seconds; first-year Henry Myers and his speedy 1:57.24 800-meter; and the Hermes-like 22.66-second CONTINUED ON PG. 16
The Track and Field seniors. courtesy of uchicago athletics
THE CHICAGO MAROON — FEBRUARY 20, 2019
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Final Track Meet Had “Really Fun Atmosphere” CONTINUED FROM PG. 16
200-meter of third-year Tyson Miller. The Maroon men also conquered the 4x400 meter relay, with the team of first-year Sam Casale, third-year Gray Mackall, second-year Kiyan Tavangar, and Chaimberg taking first place. Mody, fourth-year Owen Melia, third-year Joe Previdi, and first-year Marc Motter took second place in the same event, securing a gold-silver sweep for the Maroon men—
capping off an incredible and very fleet weekend. First-place performers on the women’s team included second-year Sophie Elgamal’s sprightly 5:06.29 mile, firstyear Isabel Maletich’s rapid 8.05 60-meter sprint, first-year Kaitlyn Van Baalen’s brisk 2:17.41 800-meter, fourth-year Tali Naibryf ’s astonishing 26.25 200-meter, and thirdyear Taylor Campos’s persistent 10:47.60 3,000-meter. Women’s
relay teams also took first and third in the 4x400-meter relay. First-years Kaela Jolibois and Van Baalen; fourth-year Nicole VacaGuzman; and second-year Katie Jasminski combined their efforts for a time of 4:04.54, good for the top of the podium. Meanwhile, second-years Emma Dyer and Elgamal, third-year Shelby Smith, and first-year Sarika Temme-Bapat took third place with 4:20.58. In jumping events, first-year Rachel TerHaar’s
3.35-meter pole vault; Maletich’s 11.46-meter triple jump, and third-year Alisha Harris’s 4.9-meter long jump were all good for first place—ending the Maroon’s weekend on a (literal) high note. Van Baalen saw Saturday’s performance as the culmination of a great season. “I think performances have really elevated over the last few meets, which is exciting for us going into the UAA meet this weekend,” she said. “It
became clear at this meet that we have a very deep team this year across event groups, so it will be interesting to see what that can do for us.” Van Baalen also characterized Saturday’s senior day festivities positively: “Since it was the last home meet of the season, we celebrated our seniors. This gave the whole meet a really fun atmosphere for everyone, perfect for our last meet with the full team.”
Basketball Seniors Celebrated at Final Two Home Games BY JOSH PARKS Sports Reporter
After a disappointing loss against conference foe Emory last weekend, the No. 23 Chicago women’s basketball team righted the ship with two crucial victories in their final games on the home court. Sending their fourth-years out in style, the Maroons improved to 19–5 (10–3 UAA) and preserved their hopes of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. While the fourth-years stole the Sunday headlines, it was third-year Taylor Lake’s career night on Friday against Brandeis that set the tone for a stellar weekend. Perfect through her first 12 field goal attempts, Lake tallied 30 points before recording her first and only missed shot of the evening on a tough look from the elbow to end the third quarter. The Maroons’ defense never gave in to the talented Judges’ attack, forcing 16 turnovers in the contest and limiting Brandeis to 33 points in the second half. Fellow thirdyear Miranda Burt poured in 16 points of her own, adding four three-pointers in the 85–68 blowout. With the wind at their backs, the Maroons entered Sunday’s showdown against NYU looking
to give fourth-years Ola Obi and Jamie Kockenmeister a well-deserved punctuation mark on two decorated careers. Two of Chicago’s marquee players for the last four years, Obi was an Honorable Mention All-American last season and is ranked among the all-time Chicago statistical leaders in nearly every category, while Kockenmeister has started for two full seasons and garnered three consecutive UAA All-Academic honors. By closing their respective careers at Ratner with a convincing 68– 48 win over the Violets, the table is set for the seniors to capture their third straight NCAA tournament appearance with a win over rival Wash U. True to the script, Obi led the way for the Maroons on Sunday, posting another double-double on 13 points and 11 rebounds. Kockenmiester added 10 points and four assists, while Burt and Lake were also in double-figures for the South Siders. On the men’s side of the court, the Maroons fell 72–52 in a long Friday night against Brandeis. Struggling to get any offense going, Chicago was a meager 33 percent from the field and failed to convert on nearly half of their attempts from the charity stripe. Second-year Dominic Laravie was the lone bright spot against
the Judges, tallying 15 points and seven rebounds. With four fourth-years to celebrate in their final home contest of the season, the South Siders found a way to send Noah Karras, Justin Jackson, Ryan Jacobsen, and Max Jacobs out with a win over the visiting NYU Violets on Sunday. Improving to 15–9 (8–5 UAA) on the season behind double-figure performances from Karras, Jacobs, and Jackson, Chicago pulled away down the stretch to deliver a 76–66 victory in front of the Ratner crowd. With much to play for next weekend in St. Louis, Lake spoke to her team’s ability to stay focused through the trials of the season. “With our last UAA game coming up, our focus is on that and nothing else,” she said. “We know this game is of the utmost importance, but so has been every game we’ve played this year. So, if we come to practice this week with the intensity and focus, we know we need to have in the game, we will be ready.” With respect to her career performance on Friday, Lake quipped, “It’s funny because one of coach [Carissa Sain]’s ‘keys to win’ was to shoot with confidence…not only was I able to do that, but with the right shots. It wouldn’t have been pos-
courtesy of uchicago athletics
sible without great teamwork.” Both squads will wrap up their regular seasons on the road against Wash U (18–6, 12–1 UAA women, 16–8, 9–4 UAA men) in St. Louis next Saturday. With
their postseason hopes still intact, the women are set to tip-off at 1 p.m., with the men’s game to follow.