INSIDE: SG POLLS CLOSE TODAY
MAY 8, 2019 SIXTH WEEK VOL. 131, ISSUE 38
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State Officials Celebrate Harris’s New Keller Center
The grand opening of the Keller Center, which houses the Harris School of Public Policy.
sophia corning
UC Labor Council Draws Crowds at May Day March
Protesters drew more than 200 workers and activists at UChicago Labor Council’s May Day March. Right: Alderman-elect Jeanette Taylor.
COLUMN: To Speak for the Trees
EDITORIAL: To Improve Grad Students’ Pedagogical Training, the University Must Recognize GSU
ARTS: The Secret Life of Philosophers Revealed at the Neubauer Collegium
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adrian mandeville
chicagomaroon.com
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State Officials, Administrators Celebrate Keller Center at Harris By DARCY KUANG News Reporter The Harris School of Public Policy celebrated its move into the completed Keller Center on Friday, May 3. The Keller Center opened its doors for classes on January 7, and all construction for the $60 million project has now been completed. The celebration took place over Harris Connect Weekend. Harris alumni attended panel discussions, networking events with current students, and faculty-led workshops. Since its founding in 1988, the Harris School and its ambitions have grown. In recent years, its leaders began to plan a new building that would accommodate the school’s future needs. University trustee King Harris worked closely with Harris offi-
Provost Daniel Diermeier speaks at the opening. sophia corning
cials to develop ideas for the site and donated $10 million toward the new building. Also critical to the Keller Center project was University trustee Dennis Keller, (M.B.A. ’68). He and his wife Connie provided a $20 million donation that pushed the Keller Center into reality. A focal feature of the new building is a four-storied wood atrium that serves as a collaborative space and platforms for amphitheater seating. Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker started off the dedication by commemorating Irving Harris, “a pioneer of public policy.… His work was one of the main reasons that I became focused on early childhood development and education. By weaving research and on-the-ground experiences, he sought to craft solutions to the challenges faced by our country.” “After seeing our nation’s top talent chase high-paying jobs in the private sector instead of pursuing careers in [the] public [sector], Irving knew something had to change,” Pritzker continued. “So, he launched this school which continues to innovate and impact so many in our community.” President Robert Zimmer spoke at the celebration, emphasizing that the Keller Center gives room for the Harris School to grow. “This is an important moment for the Harris School, a further step towards its maturation into the nation’s leading public policy school, anchored in methodological, evidence-based, and data-driven analysis,”
President Zimmer speaks at the celebration. sophia corning Zimmer said. Zimmer also said that the Harris School’s empirical approach to public policy is crucial in solving the salient issues around the world. “The problems that societies face,” he said, “from risks of climate change to global conflicts….and many, many more, are too complicated to be addressed by guessing.” Following Zimmer, Keller shared his excitement for the future of the Harris School. He said, “[Connie and I] are thrilled, and we are thinking ahead of decades of working, research, and ideas that will help the world. Harris is in the right place at the right time.” Provost Daniel Diermeier, who was the former dean of the Harris School, took a moment to recognize and celebrate the Harris School’s accomplishments: “We have a strong foundation [for the Harris School]
in place. We have great alumni that are leading state agencies, federal agencies. We have senators, congressmen…and leaders of nonprofits that are making a difference. We have faculty working on youth violence and improving health conditions in many communities.” Diermeier also said that he looks forward to seeing the Harris School build upon its strong foundation. “I think what we needed was a commitment to write the next chapter in the history of the Harris School together, and to take what was [an] already strong foundation to the next level,” Diermeier said. Katherine Baicker, dean of the Harris School, concluded the celebration with a vision of all the new opportunities brought forth by the Keller Center.
UC Labor Council Draws Crowds at May Day March By MILES BURTON News Editor The University of Chicago Labor Council hosted a May Day March on Wednesday in conjunction with Graduate Students United (GSU) to advocate for workers’ rights at UChicago and in the broader South Side community. The march, and subsequent rally on the University’s main quad, drew more than 200 demonstrators from South Side labor organizations.
The University of Chicago Labor Council is a newly formed umbrella organization that describes itself as “a council of stewards from all unions working for the University of Chicago, working together to build worker’s power and solidarity.” It encompasses workers’ groups at the University including GSU; National Nurses United; Service Employees International Union, Local 1; International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 743; International BrotherCONTINUED ON PG. 3
Cheyenne Wakeland-Hart, a member of the UChicago Student Library Employee Union, speaks at University of Chicago Labor Council’s May Day protest. adrian mandeville
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“It is egregious...to claim to value free speech and to refuse to recognize our democratically elected union,” Ph.D. candidate Jordie Davies said. CONTINUED FROM PG. 2
hood of Electrical Workers, Local 134; Bakery Confectionery Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union; Flood’s Hall; Tenants United; Chicago Jobs with Justice; and Greater Chicago Industrial Workers of the World. Demonstrators started marching at East 59th Street and South Ellis Avenue before rallying on the main quad. On the way, they unfurled a large “Patients Over Profits” banner at a parking structure at the UChicago Medical Center. GSU has been organizing on behalf of UChicago graduate student workers for more than a decade, in the face of administrators’ continued opposition to unionization. In 2017, graduate students voted by a two-to-one ratio to form a union. Organizers have been engaging in direct action since the vote, including a walkout last October. On Monday, Student Government passed a resolution formally encouraging University administrators to negotiate with GSU. Jordie Davies, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science and a member of GSU, enumerated GSU’s demands. “We demand that the administration recognize our union and agree to bargain with the graduate workers. It is egregious for a university to claim to value free speech and to refuse to recognize our democratically elected union. We deserve a voice; we deserve to be heard,” Davis said in a speech at the march. Several other labor activists also spoke in support of GSU. Ben Laurence, a lecturer in the philosophy department, said the unionization efforts of graduate students are similar to those of non–tenure track faculty represented by Faculty Forward, which ratified a contract with the University last year, following years of negotiations. “Four years ago, we started organizing a union. The administration opposed the efforts, arguing that it would be counterproductive. But we did it anyway. For too long, being a lecturer at the University of Chicago had meant being in the shadows. It had meant a lack of stable employment, subjection
University of Chicago Labor Council and affiliated demonstrators march onto the quad on May Day. adrian mandeville to administrative whims, substandard wages and benefits, and it meant having no voice,” Laurence told demonstrators. Don Villar, secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Federation of Labor, offered the support of a broad coalition of Chicago labor organizations to GSU. “We stand in solidarity with you all. You’re not alone. Half a million working men and women—union members— across Chicago and Cook County stand in solidarity with you today,” Villar said. GSU organizers gave the microphone to several activists not originally slated to speak at the event, who spoke in opposition to an immigration detention center being built in Dwight, Illinois. The activists asked the assembled labor organizers if they stood in solidarity with people affected by adjacent issues. “Who are you here for? Are you here just for workers? These people work also; our communities also work,” one of the activists said. Near the end of the rally, two men not apparently associated with the Labor Council arrived carrying an
A young activist. adrian mandeville American flag and pushed their way to the front of the crowd, at which point a demonstrator grabbed the flag and threw it on the ground. It was not clear whether the individual was associated with GSU, or with other demonstrators
present at the event, who were dressed in black and carrying materials emblazoned with antifa (anti-fascist) iconography. The confrontation did not escalate further.
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Following String of Break-Ins, Chicago Police Department Holds Burglary-Focused Beat Meeting By SOFIE LIE News Reporter On Thursday, residents of the Hyde Park and Washington Park neighborhoods—areas encompassed by the Chicago Police Department (CPD)’s second district—gathered in the Washington Fieldhouse for a forum to discuss concerns surrounding crime in the area and listen to a presentation regarding burglary prevention. The meeting, led by the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) program, was held in the wake of a recent string of break-ins in Hyde Park. CAPS holds monthly community meetings in patrol areas where beat officers work in tandem with community members to identify points of crime and
discuss potential prevention strategies. However, at this meeting, concern over recent burglaries took precedence over other chronic concerns like illegal parking outside bus stops. CPD data from January 18 to April 18 of 2018 and January 19 to April 19 of 2019 shows 15 and 18 incidents of burglary, respectively, in the Hyde Park and Washington Park areas. CAPS Sergeant Maudessie Jointer dismissed the notion that the increase in burglary incidents represents an uptick in criminal intention. Rather, she emphasized that it is the result of widening the opportunity for burglars. “Burglaries are crimes of opportunity, always,” she said. “You got lax and missed something, and [the burglar] capitalized on your mistake.”
Leaving windows open, doors unlocked, and mail unread can all contribute to this opportunity, according to Jointer. Because of this, burglary presentations, like the one led on Thursday, are not uncommon in such meetings. Jointer has been running similar training sessions for the past 17 years, and usually brings in inmates imprisoned on burglary charges for questions to better understand the mindset of a burglar (Thursday was an exception to this). CAPS is overseen by the Chicago Police Department and aims to find solutions to crime through community-police collaboration. Beats that have participated in the program have seen decreased crime, according to a 2003 study.
“In these presentations, we’re not telling you about the one thing that will keep your home or business from being infiltrated,” Jointer said. “We’re telling you that you have to start communicating.” This philosophy of community-oriented policing is intended to foster a greater sense of trust between the police and the community it patrols. Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot brings with her the former chair of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force as her intermittent chief of staff, which will likely heighten these community-based crime prevention efforts. The next beat meeting for the second district will be held June 6 at 6:30 pm at the Washington Park Fieldhouse.
Third-Year Rachel Abrams Running for Community and Government Liaison
Rachel Abrams. courtesy of rachel abrams By TONY BROOKS News Editor Third-year Rachel Abrams is running for Community and Government Liaison, a Student Government (SG) position that “is essentially to be the go-be-
tween for the on-campus community and the surrounding communities,” she said in an interview with The Maroon. Abrams currently serves as a Class of 2020 representative and is a member of the Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Committee (SAAP). In her candidate statement, Abrams described her platform as based on supporting marginalized community members, such as those with disabilities, and “developing stronger ties between faith communities on and off campus.” “Community building is something that’s really important to me,” Abrams told The Maroon. She said that, if elected as Community and Government Liaison, she hopes to work with communities surrounding the University against gentrification. “I’ve watched, even in my three years at the University, the land south of the Midway change dramatically,” she said. Abrams plans to connect community members and leaders in Woodlawn to SG so that they can “brainstorm about
what to do” regarding gentrification. “I want to help the people in Woodlawn who may be concerned about this,” she said. She also said that she wants to expand Hyde Park’s accessibility to students with disabilities by expanding the wheelchair-accessible 171 and 172 bus routes, and that she will work with the incoming executive slate to improve mental health resources both on campus and in the community at large. “Since my role is so much about the community, I would work towards having more therapists and mental health resources within Hyde Park,” she said. Abrams also wants to make students aware of the mental health resources that are available both at the University and in the neighborhood. She has voiced criticism of the University’s decision require incoming classes to live on campus for two years, and said that she will work to ensure that disabled students on campus have access to necessities.
Abrams is active in Hillel and hopes to develop stronger relationships between various faith groups on campus. “This year there’s been an unprecedented number of crimes against the Abrahamic religions,” she said, citing recent shootings in mosques, synagogues, and churches around the world. “I have gained a lot from being able to lean on the Jewish community in Hyde Park and the University.” Abrams noted that many students expressed concern over transparency and accessibility of SG in last Thursday’s SG debate. She said to The Maroon that SG is already accessible but has failed to make the student body aware of the opportunities open to them, such as the unelected positions on committees. “Increasing accessibility in that way is important to me,” Abrams said. She suggested that SG hosts more open forums for students and increases outreach for its various unelected positions.
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First-Year Harry Gardner Runs for Class Rep on Platform of Better Funding for Mental Health RSOs
Harry Gardner. courtesy of harry gardner By DARCY KUANG News Reporter
First-year Harry Gardner is running to be a Class of 2022 representative on a platform of increasing funding for identity and mental health—related RSOs. Gardner said that he believes sufficient funding for identity and mental health organizations is very important for the student body. “These groups are important because they make sure students feel included and that students’ emotional wellness is taken care of,” he said. “But I heard that several identity groups reported reduced budgets this year.” Gardner hopes to change the ways funds are allocated and tackle issues of transparency and accountability. Currently, Gardner said, SG prioritizes funding competitive academic RSOs. He believes that this method of allocating funds is insufficient to address the needs
of the entire study body. “The funding priority is currently placed on academic prestige…these competitive academic teams get a lot of money without a lot of questions being asked where this money is going,” he said. While Gardner acknowledges the great achievements of competitive academic teams, he believes that due to SG budget cuts, many important RSOs don’t get the support they need. “With this decreasing pile of funding, a lot of groups that address issues of inclusion and mental wellness don’t get enough funding,” he said. In order to increase the transparency and accountability of RSO funding, Gardner plans on supporting auditing bills. “In terms of oversight, an important thing I can do is to support a broad auditing bill, like the Fair Act,” he said. “I have looked
at the brief proposed auditing code, which seems very fair.” Gardner also hopes to join the Student Government Finance Committee (SGFC). “Being in committees like SGFC allows me to help these [identity and mental health] organizations, deal with this gap [in funding] and get the funding they need,” he said. “The money is there, we just need to make sure it is not misappropriated.” When asked why students should vote for him, Gardner said, “I plan on taking the responsibilities placed on me very seriously. Being a class representative in Student Government is as much work as you make it to be. I want to go to every general assembly meeting, every student government meeting, every committee meeting that I am in, and dedicate at least five to 10 hours a week.”
Undergrad Liaison Candidate Ridgley Knapp Hopes to Increase Transparency, Funding With Trustees
Ridgley Knapp. courtesy of ridgley knapp By GUSTAVO DELGADO Senior News Reporter Third-year Ridgley Knapp is running to be the undergraduate liaison to the Board of Trustees. The undergraduate liaison acts as a representative of the student body when
meeting with trustees and works to build connections between students and board members. Knapp is running on a twopronged platform of promoting transparency in dealings with the Board of Trustees and increasing funding to RSOs that “pick up the slack” when dealing with University services like student counseling. “Since the trustees are some of the folks with the largest leveraging power in our day-to-day lives, all undergrads should be able to have their voices heard,” Knapp said. “I don’t think you should have to be a student leader to get your point across.” Knapp is currently a member of College Council, is the former president of University of Chicago Democrats, and has served on the Transportation and Security Advisory Board, tackling campus shuttles and accessibility issues. When asked what qualifies him to be undergraduate liaison, Knapp pointed to his experience organizing conversations between students and politicians. “Trustees are basically politicians for the University. That’s why I believe I have the
facilitatory skillset.” Knapp plans to use several strategies to increase transparency concerning meetings with the Board of Trustees. He wants to make the minutes for these meetings easier to access and bring more people into the fold when discussing issues with trustees. “I hope to have a public forum with one or more of the trustees…alongside the typical meetings as is,” he said. “Hopefully one per quarter, something where anyone can pose questions.” “I don’t think that many folks know how many trustees there are and who they are. The names we recognize, but the faces we don’t,” Knapp said. Knapp’s other objective, if elected to undergraduate liaison, is to support RSOs with funding to ensure students always have somewhere to turn to in times of distress. “I once walked into Student Counseling Services (SCS) in tears and was told to come back in three weeks,” he told The Maroon. Citing this personal moment on his platform website, Knapp also hopes to utilize the Board of Trustees to help RSOs
tackle student issues. “I would like to advocate to the Board of Trustees for the creation of a fund that would be able to add to the budgets of clubs and RSOs alongside those of the University. Say, like, RSOs that help with peerto-peer counseling because SCS is falling behind.” Knapp elaborated, “The University is building up student counseling. However, it should’ve been done years ago. There have been RSOs that have been picking up the slack for that.” Knapp hopes that in the long run, by targeting specific board members, this pool of money could help fund the RSOs who have advocated for the formation of cultural houses. On the issue of recognizing Graduate Students United (GSU), Knapp stated that he supports the cause and is proud to say that during the April 29 Student Government Assembly, he voted in support of a pro–GSU resolution calling on the administration to acknowledge GSU.
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Capital One to Open Coffee Shop on 53rd Street by Year’s End By LEE HARRIS Editor-in-Chief Capital One, a bank holding company, plans to open a café on 53rd Street before the end of this year. The café will combine elements of a commercial banking storefront and a coffee shop. The café, slated for 1465 East 53rd Street, will sit across from the University’s Polsky Exchange, joining existing Chicago locations in Lakeview and Old Town. The bank has opened cafés in major cities across the country in a bid to give banking a friendlier face for millennials who reportedly eschew traditional banks. Capital One’s bank cafés sell Peet’s Coffee, pastries and oth-
er snacks, and offer free Wi-Fi. The locations are open to the public, not just banking customers, but Capital One cardholders are given 50 percent off for the beverages on sale. Kate Licht, a senior manager at Capital One, told the maroon in a statement that Capital One cafés focus on “blending the physical and digital worlds.” “Imagine sitting on a couch with an iPad in one hand and a latte in the other with a Café A mbassador coaching you through setting up an account, paying your bills online, or applying for a credit card and more,” Licht wrote. Antonio Wilson, who previously held the title of Capital One’s “Chicago Café Coach,”
told Chicago Inno that the modern design of the café space “makes you feel like you’re inside of a digital website with a café.” The cafés also offer free financial coaching programs, which are open to the public, and provide group Money Workshops—seminar series with titles like “Talk Money with Your Honey” and “Moving on up in Work and in Life.” Licht noted that the complimentary Money Coaching program is “designed to help you discover how your values and money are connected.” Rounding out this microcosm of late capitalism: Customers can learn how to use Amazon Echo to pay their bills at the café’s Demo Bar.
Promotional materials for the cafés also highlight Capital One’s work in private charity. “Our Ambassadors give back through volunteerism proj-
ects, charitable contributions and community partnerships,” Licht noted.
Mock-up of a Capital One bank cafe. courtesy of capital one
Original Bequest Letter for Yerkes Observatory Holds Up Its Future By OREN OPPENHEIM Deputy News Editor The future of Yerkes Observatory remains uncertain after its recent closure by the University, which has activated stipulations put in place by the observatory’s primary funder that could revert ownership of the observatory and its telescope to his descendants. In 1892, financier Charles Yerkes agreed to endow an observatory that planned to host the world’s largest refracting telescope. The official endowment letter Yerkes wrote to the University of Chicago is dated October 21, 1897, around the time that the observatory opened. The original slightly damaged, wax-sealed bequest letter is held in the University Library’s Special Collections as
part of the Board of Trustees Correspondence of the Secretary Records 1890–1960. The document’s key phrase is a clause that says the University will own the telescope and observatory “so long as they shall use the same for the purpose of astronomical investigation, but upon their failure so to do, the property hereby conveyed shall revert to the said Charles T. Yerkes or his heirs at law, the same as if this conveyance had never been made.” In a press release on November 30, 2018, the University acknowledged the letter, after its existence was first reported by the Geneva Shore Report. The University said that it “will continue ongoing talks about the observatory’s future with interested parties, including representatives of Charles T. CONTINUED ON PG. 7
Charles T. Yerkes’ bequest letter for the observatory, as seen in the University’s Special Collections Research Center’s Board of Trustees Correspondence of the Secretary Records 1890-1960. oren oppenheim; published with permission of the Special Collections R esearch Center
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“I am a firm proponent of being respectful of the heirs,” Colman said.
Charles T. Yerkes’ bequest letter for the observatory, as seen in the University’s Special Collections Research Center’s Board of Trustees Correspondence of the Secretary Records 1890-1960. oren oppenheim; published with permission of the Special Collections R esearch Center CONTINUED FROM PG. 6
Yerkes’ descendants, the Village of Williams Bay, and the Yerkes Future Foundation.” This is the first announcement from the University saying they will speak with representatives of the Yerkes family. Previously, the University had confirmed talks with the Yerkes Future Foundation (YFF) and with Williams Bay. The YFF is comprised of a group of residents from the Williams Bay area who submitted a proposal for reopening the observatory when the University was calling for “expressions of interest.” Details of the proposal have not been disclosed. The University also said that the bequest letter only concerns “the main observatory building
and refracting telescope.” At the time it did not reveal the names of the Yerkes descendants, “out of respect for the descendants’ wishes.” This is still the University’s most recent statement on its Yerkes Update page as of May 6. The University closed the observatory to the public on October 1, although researchers can still access the observatory to use the telescope. YFF chair Dianna Colman said that the reversionary clause written into the bequest is currently slowing down the discussions surrounding observatory’s future. “I am a firm proponent of being respectful of the heirs,” she wrote to The Maroon by e-mail. “Do I think it will even-
tually all work out—yes. But, will it be soon—I don’t think so.” In a follow-up phone interview, Colman said that most states have a sunset law that applies to bequests, where after a certain number of years, the clause is no longer considered valid. But the state of Wisconsin does not have such a law. “Because the real property, the observatory itself, is in the state of Wisconsin, Wisconsin state laws apply,” she said. “So the title [deed] to the observatory, which is currently held by the University of Chicago, has to go through the State of Wisconsin statutes.” Thus, the observatory title must revert to the descendants of Charles Yerkes. Lee Fennel, a professor at
the University of Chicago Law School who is an expert in property law, confirmed the legal status of the bequest, telling The Maroon by e-mail that the language of the document indicates that the observatory would belong to the University, unless the University negotiated with Yerkes’s descendants. “The language of the gift appears to create a fee simple determinable (in the Trustees and their successors) accompanied by a possibility of reverter (in the grantor or his heirs),” she said. “A fee simple determinable is a type of defeasible [able to be reverted or forfeited] estate that terminates automatically when a stated condition is broken, and the possibility of reverter is the accompanying future interest, which becomes possessory once the condition is broken.” She added that Wisconsin’s laws dealing with estates and future interests do not appear to place a limit on how long a reverter applies. Because Yerkes’s heirs to whom the property would revert can be identified, they could make a voluntary deal with the University and thus circumvent the reversion clause, Fennel said. Fennel clarified that she has not researched how these provisions are applied in practice by Wisconsin courts, and has not researched Yerkes’s letter in detail. Colman said that discussions with the heirs are mainly being held by the University, and that the YFF is not involved. However, she said, the foundation has still made progress on possible plans for the observatory, and is consulting experts in educational programming, science installations, and observatories. “We have to do it in a very measured-pace approach, because we don’t want to spend
tons and tons and tons of money if we’re not going to end up being the new steward of the observatory,” Colman said. “We’re still very interested in making sure that it works for the community here, for the science and educational community at large, and also for the [Yerkes] family,” she said. “I mean, we don’t want them to feel estranged from the place, because it is part of their legacy and heritage.” Colman said she has spoken with one of Yerkes’s heirs and hopes to speak with more family members in the future. She initially declined to identify any of the descendants or to reveal any details of the discussions, but after speaking with The Maroon, the Lake Geneva Regional News ran a story about the letter in which Colman identified the family member as Susan Yerkes of Texas. The paper confirmed her as one of Charles Yerkes’s descendants who is in contact with the University; Colman confirmed talking with Yerkes in a follow-up e-mail to The Maroon. The Lake Geneva Regional News identified another heir as Cindy Strecker of Louisiana. Other descendants of Yerkes who might be involved have not been identified publicly. Neither Yerkes or Strecker responded to a request for comment in time for publication. In a statement to The Maroon, University spokesperson Jeremy Manier reiterated that the University has been in ongoing talks with the descendants of Charles Yerkes and the YFF. “We hope to proceed soon to the next stage of evaluating options for the long-term operation of the Yerkes campus, with the understanding that comprehensive plans likely will require coordination among numerous stakeholders,” he said.
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Reaching Into the Unknown from a chronically underslept school, the origins of sleep science By CALEB SUSSMAN Grey City Reporter
From creating the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction to redefining Chicago’s administrative borders, students, faculty, and alumni of the University of Chicago have greatly contributed the story of human discovery. However, some discoveries made in Hyde Park have gotten more press than others. Indeed, while many are well aware of the impacts of the Chicago school of economics, few know that there is also a Chicago school of literary criticism, or that blood depots, sleep science, and even the
missing link between fish and tetrapod were all pioneered and discovered at the University of Chicago. This column, “Reaching into the Unknown,” focuses on some of the lesser-known discoveries at the University of Chicago, ranging from the historic to the obscure and from the fascinating to the downright bizarre. We’re kicking off with an innovation that is strangely fitting for the “life of the grind” at UChicago: the roots of modern sleep science. Given how many UChicago students bemoan not getting enough sleep, it’s ironic that modern sleep science has its roots in Hyde Park, pioneered
by professor Nathaniel Kleitman in the 1940s and ’50s. Kleitman was born in Moldova to a Jewish family in 1895, but the outbreak of World War I forced him to flee his home country. He immigrated to the United States in 1915, and by 1923, Kleitman had earned his Ph.D. from UChicago’s Department of Physiology. He became a professor at the University in 1925. In 1953, he and his student Eugene Aserinsky were the first people to identify rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, after using an electroencephalogram machine to measure brainwaves in sleeping subjects, including
Kleitman and a colleague after an experiment. courtesy of the university of chicago archive
Kleitman’s 21-year-old daughter. Due to the lack of computers powerful enough to evaluate the experiment’s data, Kleitman and Aserinsky’s experiment produced up to half a mile of paper each session, which they printed overnight to evaluate the results of their tests. Their findings confirmed their theory that the period of rapid eye movement they saw in their subjects during sleep was indeed connected to brainwave activity and dreaming. For this
discovery, among others, Kleitman is now recognized as the father of modern sleep science. “It’s hard to overestimate the impor tance of Kleitman and Aserinsky’s breakthrough,” said Bert States, the author of three books on dreams and dreaming to Smithsonian Magazine. “The discovery of REM sleep was just about as significant to the study of cognition as the invention of the telescope was to the study of the stars.”
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VIEWPOINTS
To Speak for the Trees Too often overlooked, trees in Hyde Park should play a larger role in our experience on campus
RUBY RORTY
In Hyde Park, trees are agents of order. Their placement is intentional. They line streets, frame green space, and don seasons with enthusiasm. You can look at one tree and know not just whether it’s winter or autumn or spring or summer, but also the day’s weather, if it’s late or early in the season, and the relative energy of the local squirrels. Because most
of the trees here were planted by people, for people, in the interest of decoration, it would be easy to assume that they spend all their time and effort doing the job we give them—telling the seasons and keeping with propriety. One could even be lulled into thinking that city trees are to Sequoia sempervirens as lapdogs are to wolves—that they are the ex-
ception that proves the rule of urbanization, the ultimate sign that mankind has really and truly bent all green things to its will. But belowground, it quickly becomes evident that this is not the case. Below ground, trees hum with life—more so in old and undamaged forests than in the manicured greens of Hyde Park, certainly, but still. Wild trees around the world donate carbon to one another and use fungal networks to communicate about threats. Here, the old oaks of the quad have roots that tangle and twist, down and diagonally and sideways, disrupting the soil, sometimes breaking through solid concrete and bursting back above ground, offering us a glimpse of the drama below. Up above, branches can rattle in the January wind, flicker with red leaves in October, or collect raindrops on the tips of their twigs after a shower, but down under,
in the dark, time passes differently. There are no seasons, and although trees grow more slowly than we do, 24 hours can be a lifetime for the creepy-crawlies that turn root systems into highways. Every tree you see plays host to thousands—millions—of living things and sustains them just as they sustain it. And here’s the best part: It is these root systems that keep the city breathing. They give the trees life, and the trees give us air. We put them there, but they keep us here. What interest do we have in the private life of greenery, so long as their photosynthesizing keeps producing oxygen? Should we be jealous that their social network rivals ours? Maybe so. One thing I love is that Chicago trees are Chicagoans in their own right, aptly reflecting the city’s character in their quirks. They weather winters like the most jaded city natives, and they come from all around, brought
here over centuries by seed, flower, bird, and human hand. The trees in California, where I’m from, are giant redwoods and ponderosa pines. They’re usually uniquely adapted to their environment, be it the North Coast or East Lakes. By contrast, many of the trees you see when walking down a Chicago sidewalk could survive and thrive anywhere in the world. Chicago trees make good neighbors—even different species like cedars and maples will share nutrients through a complex mycorrhizal network. Chicago may be a concrete island in a rural state, but its trees are green dots in a cement sea. Both are used to being the odd ones out. There are upwards of 3,500 trees on this campus. That means that if some extroverts are willing to share, every single member of the undergraduate population could adopt one tree and really get to CONTINUED ON PG. 10
Lee Harris, Editor-in-Chief Elaine Chen, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Deepti Sailappan, Managing Editor Peng-Peng Liu, Chief Production Officer The Maroon Editorial Board consists of the editors-in-chief and editors of The Maroon.
NEWS
Tony Brooks, editor Miles Burton, editor Daksh Chauhan, editor Camille Kirsch, editor Caroline Kubzansky, editor Madeleine Zhou, editor GREY CITY
Caroline Kubzansky, editor Anant Matai, deputy editor VIEWPOINTS
Meera Santhanam, editor ARTS
Zoe Bean, editor Brooke Nagler, editor Perri Wilson, editor SPORTS
Alison Gill, editor Brinda Rao, editor
COPY
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Michael Vetter, chief financial officer Brian Dong, director of strategy Gianni LaVecchia and Kelsey Yang, directors of marketing Alex Chung, director of development James Kon, director of operations Editor-in-Chief: Editor@ChicagoMaroon.com Newsroom Phone: (312) 918-8023 Business Phone: (408) 806-8381 For advertising inquiries, please contact Ads@ChicagoMaroon.com or (408) 806-8381. Circulation: 2,500. © 2019 The Chicago Maroon Ida Noyes Hall / 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637
DESIGN
Jessica Xia, head designer Kate Lu, design associate Bridget Patterson, design associate
alvin shi
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“One thing I love is that Chicago trees are Chicagoans in their own right, aptly reflecting the city’s character in their quirks.” CONTINUED FROM PG. 9
know it. Imagine walking on the quad in May and seeing people reading their trees poetry, climbing to the highest branches, making out in the low forks. Think of the affectionately punny tree names we UChicago students could dream up. These trees are not just older than us—they’re mostly older than the school itself. Our quad was built around a cluster of old oaks, many of which still stand today. They surely have a lot of wisdom to share. Studies have even suggested that spending time in forests can lower blood pressure and that just looking at trees (even in an urban environment) can reduce stress lev-
els—I think we all know that many UChicago students could use the boost. I doubt President Robert Zimmer spends much time thinking about the health benefits of campus trees, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have green on his mind. In fact, in 2011, the College brought in a team of experts to conduct an economic appraisal of our campus greenery, a move remarkably aligned with the school’s character. The number they came up with, representing the worth of the school’s full collection of trees and ornamentals? $8,461,521 and 12 cents. That’s a lot of money, and I wonder whether we’re acting in the spirit of our economics department by letting such a
wealth of resources go relatively unappreciated. In fact, the lack of student engagement with campus trees is by design—the school has had landscapers chop off low branches specifically to prevent tree-centric recreation, although that won’t stop enterprising individuals. The oak tree outside of Kent is recommended to beginning climbers, as is the low-branched gingko on the side of Reynolds Club. This year, now that the snow has melted, wage a tiny rebellion against the school administration and climb a tree. Sing it a song; tell it about your day. Take care of it. There’s something profoundly goofy about all this, yes, but it’s also endearing. Instead of letting trees be props
in the UChicago diorama, we could make them a living part of the school. Maybe we can even learn some of their belowground magic and incorporate it into a healthier aboveground campus community. People talk about how beautiful the sunny University of California and Stanford campuses are, and they’re right—I do love my home state. But too often, amid the stress of the quarter system or chill of the polar vortex, students forget that our school is also beautiful. Campus trees should serve as a small but daily reminder. Ruby Rorty is a first-year in the College.
Endorsement: CARE for Executive Slate By MAROON EDITORIAL BOARD CARE (Community, Amplify, Represent, Empower) executive slate is the best choice to lead Student Government (SG) next year. The slate brings expertise, a dizzying roster of campus contacts, and a detailed vision to the job. Presidentia l ca ndidate Ja hne Brown, a third-year, is the current College Council (CC) chair. As a first-year in CC, she spearheaded the creation of the Emergency Fund, and currently serves as the committee’s co-chair. Fellow third-years Kosi Achife and Brittney Dorton, running for Vice President for Student Affairs and Vice President for Administration, respectively, are well-equipped to assist her. Achife, a former CC representative and Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention (SAAP) Committee co-chair, currently interns for Melissa Gilliam, the vice provost for academic leadership, advancement, and diversity. Dorton is the inaugural chair of SG’s Accessibility and Disability Advocacy Committee, as well as a resident assistant. CA R E combines u nequ ivoca l stances on key campus issues with meticulous plans that go beyond mere advocacy. They are unapologetically pro–Graduate Students United (GSU),
and they support University recognition of fraternities and sororities as well as increased budget transparency from the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD). They have a well-researched list of features they would like to see in the University’s forthcoming wellness center, including gender-neutral bathrooms, more caseworkers, and counselors and doctors who specialize in treating LGBTQ+ students and sexual assault survivors. The slate also said they hope to collaborate with existing activist groups on campus to advocate for popular concerns. They noted, for example, that the Phoenix Survivors Alliance (PSA) has already given CARE a ringing endorsement. But CARE also listed concrete, smaller-scale steps they intend to take to tackle these issues. These include free, volunteer-based childcare for graduate students with children, frequent SG–sponsored trainings on bystander intervention, CPR, and mental health first aid, and a “know your rights” campaign to prepare students for interactions with the UCPD. (Brown highlighted, for instance, that many students are unfamiliar with what protections they have inside dormitories.) CARE also stresses making SG more transparent and accessible to students. Both slates in this election support
quarterly progress reports to publicize SG’s work to the student body. But CARE’s plans go further. During their interview with the Editorial Board, they proposed—among other steps— releasing the minutes of key meetings with administrators on specific issues, creating a public Facebook event page for each SG assembly meeting to make clear that meetings are open to all students, and launching active recruitment campaigns for appointed SG positions. The slate noted that SG’s work can often seem opaque and distanced from the work of campus RSOs, and that students are often unsure of how they can get involved. We agree, and we’re glad they intend to bring SG closer to the student body. Our support for CARE is not unmitigated. For example, we found their suggestion of a separate SG fund for multicultural RSOs from which to request allocations to be vague and insufficiently thought out. We also think that improving Greek life will require collaboration with fraternity and sorority leaders, as well as more research into problems endemic to Greek life— solutions CARE hasn’t yet proposed. Taking these steps would buttress CARE’s current intended approach of partnering with other campus groups to address sexual assault and race-related
controversies. Reform This race marks the first seriously contested election in three years. (Last year’s race did feature Delta Upsilon’s satirical Moose slate, which declined to run this year.) It’s good that fresh energy has come to SG—and we admire Reform’s avowed commitments to fiscal efficiency in SG and collaboration with administrators. But the Editorial Board’s meeting with the Reform slate—second-year Kyle Shishkin for president and firstyears David Liang and Anya Wang for Vice Presidents for Administration and Student Affairs, respectively—left us concerned about the candidates’ understanding of key details of certain issues, and confused about where they stand on others. The slate presented muddled, misinformed views on both GSU and the UCPD. Reform’s platform says they take a “firmly progressive stance” on GSU, and Liang co-sponsored an SG resolution, passed on Monday, urging administration to recognize GSU. But at our meeting, which preceded Monday’s vote, Shishkin emphasized improved “communication” between University CONTINUED ON PG. 11
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“CARE combines unequivocal stances on key campus issues with meticulous plans that go beyond mere advocacy.” CONTINUED FROM PG. 10
administrators and graduate students, not necessarily recognition of GSU: “Our slate is really pro-communication, and driven by accountability and communication of the administration,” he said. “We’re not necessarily saying that the Graduate Students Union has to be recognized…but the University has to engage in a conversation.” There is no pro–GSU stance without recognition; vaguely gesturing at increased communication is inadequate, and fundamentally misunderstands how unions work. Shishkin also added that GSU doesn’t include all graduate students, such as Law School and Booth students. Liang, meanwhile, seemed to suggest that SG’s own Graduate Council (GC)— which does include professional school representatives—constitutes a more representative authority on graduate unionization. This reflects the slate’s fundamental misunderstanding of the issues GSU and GC are designed to address. As ex-
plicitly stated on its website, the union represents graduate students with research and teaching responsibilities, not students seeking professional degrees. Reform’s confusion about GSU’s constituency is concerning for candidates looking to lead a student body that is nearly two-thirds graduate students. Similarly, Reform does support a more transparent UCPD, but in our conversation, they stressed that their overriding priority is improving student safety. To Reform, this means improving the security alert system for students. The slate failed to outline a plan to ensure equitable and unbiased policing for everyone in the UCPD patrol area, which strikes us as the most important priority on a campus that is already generally safe. Reform was also mistaken about basic facts about the UCPD in our interview: Shishkin argued that Hyde Park is safer than surrounding neighborhoods because it is policed by UCPD. But the UCPD patrols a zone that runs north to
south from 37th Street to 63rd Street, well beyond Hyde Park. Finally, we were skeptical of the viability of Reform’s proposed solution to problems within Greek life: a committee composed of Greek leaders and the heads of RSOs with a stake in sexual assault and other issues. This proposal seems unlikely to materialize given that PSA has already declined to work with fraternities, and at our interview, the slate could not point to any nonGreek groups outside of SG that they had reached out to about forming the committee. Reform also suggested an ambiguous role The Maroon might play as a member of this committee, which misunderstands the role of student journalism in these issues. Looking Ahead We also want to note where SG, including the outgoing slate, has succeeded over the past year: in securing concrete, material improvements to
student life. These have included the continued success of the Emergency Fund; the return of free airport shuttles; free menstrual hygiene products now available in the Reg; and the retention of academic advisers as year-round employees, advocated for in conversation with administrators. These sorts of projects are not always f lashy, accolade-earning gestures—but they lie at the heart of good student governance. We’re impressed by Brown’s involvement in some of these initiatives during her time in CC, and we’re excited by the CARE slate’s prioritization of this kind of consistent, genuinely effective work in their platform. We look forward to seeing where they take SG over the next year, should they be elected. For these reasons, the Maroon Editorial Board urges students to vote for CARE in the upcoming election. Voting will take place May 6–8.
To Improve Grad Students’ Pedagogical Training, the University Must Recognize GSU BY MAROON EDITORIAL BOARD Last month, the Committee on Graduate Education released a report on graduate education at the University. The report, which was based on surveys and discussions with graduate students, faculty, and directors of graduate studies, indicates increasing dissatisfaction among UChicago graduate students across multiple areas of graduate student life. The report discussed many concerns raised by graduate students ranging from decreased graduate student housing to insufficient aid to the lack of paid parental leave for student parents. Notably, the report shows that roughly a quarter of UChicago Ph.D. students are dissatisfied with the ped-
agogical training their department or division provides, citing insufficient resources such as inadequate office and classroom spaces and lack of mentorship as major obstacles to graduate teaching. Undergraduate students may wonder why they should care about graduate students’ educational concerns. But this major finding from the report— that only half of all graduate students are very or mostly satisfied with their teaching training—makes it clear that the quality of graduate resources at the University impacts undergraduate education, too. The report recognizes this mounting dissatisfaction, notes that similar concerns were raised in the 2009 report of the Pedagogical Training Subcommittee of the Provost’s Committee on
Graduate Student Teaching, and urges programs to “consider carefully how to improve local training for their students in how to teach.” However, the Maroon Editorial Board believes that in light of this dissatisfaction, the University needs to provide better teaching training and resources to graduate students, and it must voluntarily recognize graduate students as workers to accomplish this. Recommendations of increased attention to pedagogy from higher-ups is no substitute for giving graduate students a seat at the bargaining table to voice their own concerns, and to obtain the resources they need in order to be better teachers. This matters critically for undergraduates as well as graduate students, as graduate students teach and T.A. a significant number of un-
dergraduate courses, often working more closely with undergraduates through weekly seminar discussions and writing workshops than with full professors. It’s unclear exactly what proportion of UChicago courses are taught by graduate students, but nearly every college student will have a graduate instructor at some point, whether as a writing intern in a core class, as a calculus teacher, or STEM T.A. Graduate students are integral to the undergraduate educational experience: They serve as teachers, research assistants, course assistants, writing interns, language assistants, workshop coordinators, and more. Many undergraduates are taught by graduate students from day one. CONTINUED ON PG. 12
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“Departments cannot fully improve the teaching experience for grad students without the University first recognizing grad students as workers.” CONTINUED FROM PG. 11
Many undergraduates have had difficult experiences with graduate student teachers who were not given enough support, just as many or more have been taught by fantastic graduate students who deserve more resources and recognition than they are currently given. Both the graduate and the undergraduate experiences will improve if graduate students receive better teaching resources and the administration’s acknowledgement that graduate students’ teaching is just as important as their research. Undergrads thrive when
grads thrive. But graduate students will not be able to thrive until they are recognized as workers. While the 108-page report mentioned graduate students’ recent unionization efforts, it did not formally call for the recognition of graduate students as workers. GSU noted in response to the report that despite the absence of a formal GSU endorsement, the report’s “recommendation to establish formal mechanisms to represent graduate students [is] a precise description of the role of a union.” Departments cannot fully improve
THE MAROON WANTS TO BATTLE! By MAROON CROSSWORD
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the teaching experience for grad students without the University first recognizing grad students as workers. Graduate students don’t only need mentorship, after all: They also need sufficient time to devote to teaching. Current University policies make it tough for graduate students, especially those who are parents, to find this time. Graduate students must be paid like workers, provided with more housing (especially following the reclassification of International House as undergraduate-only and the sale of previous graduate school housing owned by the University), and
Across 1. Not worth discussing 5. Most sparkling, perhaps 9. Foods often topped and filled with strawberries 11. What you gotta do to be the very best 12. ___ Potato Famine 13. Object obsoleted by Google Maps 15. Vega’s constellation 16. 3.14159... 18. “SportsCenter” network 19. With 16-Across, sound from number 25 20. Physicist who predicted antimatter 25. Laptop computers? 30. Number 740 (it’s like a four-legged snowman) 33. Number 4 34. Word that follows raw or building 35. “Got it!” Down 1. Plushies, hoodies, rugs, etc. 2. Obscenity 3. Without repetition 4. One side of a fight 5. Place to sit 6. Tons of slang?
supported as parents, with a child-care subsidy beyond the paltry $2,000 that the Ph.D. Child Care Grant budget currently offers. Undergraduate students cannot bury their heads in the sand while graduate students struggle. All of us must recognize our mutual dependence as students at the University of Chicago, and fight to ensure that those at all degree levels receive a quality education. In the end, no student is free to learn until every student is free to learn.
7. Thing to do on the Midway 8. Doesn’t just show 9. Attempt to see the future 10. Response to an insult 12. Chi’s state 14. Tin, on the periodic table 16. ___ Fire (Ness’s move in Smash Bros.) 17. Neighbor of 23-Down 20. ___ Comics 21. Precursor to Slack, Messenger, and even AIM 22. ___ Emanuel 23. Form of “Thrown to / Bush’s feet / A new / Iraqi shoe” 24. Organ of ___ (inner ear structure that interfaces with neurons) 25. Wild West markswoman Oakley 26. “___ bing ___ boom!” 27. Adam and Eve’s son 28. Sunny and blue: Abbr. 29. That is to say 31. Counterpart of mssrs. 32. “The Way ___” (2007 Timbaland hit)
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ARTS The Secret Life of Philosphers Revealed at the Neubauer Collegium By ZAKIR JAMAL Arts Reporter
In 1936, Martin Heidegger gave a lecture entitled “The Origin of the Work of Art.” In his typical fashion, it was a winding, elaborate affair that must have been almost impossible to follow in person. One reviewer went as far as to compare it to “an abandoned landscape”. In the lecture, Heidegger sketches out his vision of art as something whose meaning is dependent on the artist, yet is itself the only way in which to understand the artist. Museums, for Heidegger, are the death of art. They decontextualize and diminish, turning the works they contain from living masterpieces into dead objects of collection. It’s rather odd, then, that curator Dieter Roelstraete would choose to focus his exhibition, in part, on Heidegger’s philosophy. HUTOPIA is dedicated to its “three protagonists” Martin Heidegger, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Theodor Adorno, as well as their respective huts. It’s an unusual, and even uncomfortable, cast—Adorno’s potentially racialized prejudice against jazz music has stained his legacy, while Wittgenstein was an abuser and Heidegger a Nazi. The exhibition’s choice to explore the three at their most solitary could be seen as an
attempt to sidestep responsibility for discussing their misdeeds. Still, there is a sort of world-weary innocence in the choice of huts as a topic, throwing the focus from the men themselves to the contemplative capacities of being in nature. Wittgenstein famously spent enormous amounts of time at his hut in Norway, confessing his misdeeds to his friends in an attempt to purify himself. The exhibit, a sort of fusion between art gallery and cabin, builds its own context and could be read as an attempt to accommodate Heidegger’s critique of the museum setting. Indeed, most of this work was made specifically for the exhibit. There is an enormous, skeletal hut frame with two perpendicular walls, which blocks any view of the main part of the exhibition from the entrance. One photograph hangs on each of the walls, confronting the viewer while surrounded by a much wider expanse of raw timber. The first photograph, taken by Ewan Telfor, depicts Adorno’s “hut,” which is, in reality, a rather unremarkable Los Angeles bungalow in which the theorist hid during his Nazi-imposed exile from Germany. On the other wall is a stunning photo by Guy Moreton of the Norwegian wilderness surrounding Wittgenstein’s cabin. Turning the corner to the inside of
Visitors are invited to contemplate inside replicas of philosophers’ huts. zakir jamal
Wittgenstein’s face emerges from a tree at the Neubauer Collegium’s HUTOPIA. zakir jamal
the frame, a series of small photos become visible. They depict Heidegger in his hut, eating dinner with friends as his wife pours tea. The photos, it turns out, were taken by Jewish journalist Digne Meller-Marcovicz for a notorious Der Spiegel interview. The gallery guide notes that “Heidegger, the self-styled high priest of authentic Dasein, evidently appears to have enjoyed posing for Meller-Marcovicz’s camera.” This set of photos serve to situate the gallery— this is the only place where a real-life depiction of any of the three philosophers is displayed in the exhibit. The rest of the room focuses more on placing the viewer within the solitary world of cabins, providing the backdrop, the scenery, and even a reclining chair with a stack of books next to it. The small, whiteframed pictures provide something to latch onto, serving as a bridge between the viewer in a “hut” in Chicago and the subjects of the exhibition. The centerpiece of the exhibit is Alec Finlay’s Manifesto for HUTOPIA. It is a red diamond covered in pictures of cabins, luggage tags, and journal pages. Finlay is the son of famed recluse Ian Hamilton Finlay. Relics of his upbringing in his father’s enormous garden are on full display. The photos, as it turns out, depict bothies—small huts scat-
tered throughout Scotland which anyone may use, free of charge. It is quite clear that they were the basis for the hut frame which occupies most of the exhibit. Across from the photos of Heidegger is a rather strange sight—a large, stone fireplace flanked on either side by vases sculpted as busts of the three hut-dwellers. Wittgenstein is portrayed emerging from a tree, Heidegger is multi-faced and blue, and Adorno is made of terracotta and rocked back at an odd angle as flowers emerge from a long spout on top of his head. The vases add a touch of hominess to the cabin setting and the flowers growing from the top come off as lively and reminiscent of an actual forest. Yet, the vases themselves are hauntingly lifeless, crafted to reduce human faces to knick-knacks and decorations. The whole exhibit falls in this vein. Successfully avoiding becoming yet another dull, decontextualized museum, it becomes spooky as you attempt to figure out what, exactly, it is trying to be. You get the sense that all the pieces correspond to one another. This isn’t a decontextualized museum, it’s a collection created to build something of its own. Everything fits, but not in the way you want it to.
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Marina’s Love + Fear = Catchy + Empty By JENNIFER MORSE Arts Reporter
The title of Marina Diamandis’s fourth album Love + Fear originates from Elisabeth Kublër-Ross’s theory that humans are only capable of experiencing two primary emotions: love and fear. The album is split into two sides, each named after one of the two emotions. This album comes after a long break and period of self-discovery for Marina, who has said in interviews leading up to the release that she felt like quitting music after the conclusion of the tour for her 2015 album Froot. During this hiatus, Marina also changed her stage name. While she previously went by Marina and the Diamonds, with “the Diamonds” representing her fans, Marina dropped “the Diamonds” from her name last year, saying in an interview for Dazed that she felt too much “of [her] identity was tied up in who [she] was as an artist…and there wasn’t much left of who [she] was.” Thus, this album in many ways represents a rebirth for Marina, as she returns to music with a new stage name and a reinvigorated passion for music. The lead single and first song on the
album, “Handmade Heaven,” certainly reflects that. In it, Marina daydreams about a paradise with a new, dreamier feel that differs from her previous work. The positivity reflected in this song effectively sets the tone for the first half of the album on Love. Throughout these first eight tracks, Marina explores various aspects of love, from romantic love to love of her home to self-love. Some of these songs work better than others. “True” and “Superstar” stand out as two missed opportunities, only superficially touching upon their central topics, and featuring lyrics that never extend beyond cliché. However, other songs such as “Enjoy Your Life” and “Orange Trees” are simple but powerful odes to both self-love and Marina’s love for her home. Despite a few flaws, the bright and sparkling production and catchy melodies make the Love half of the album an enjoyable listening experience. Its songs conform to mainstream, upbeat pop more than Marina’s past releases. Nevertheless, Love still manages to feel uniquely Marina, with the inclusion of tracks like the excellent “To Be Human.” The track features some of the album’s best lyrical moments, such as the line, “People driving fancy cars look
like beetles to the stars / The missiles and the bombs sound like symphonies gone wrong,” which harken back to the more complex and thoughtful lyrics of her previous albums. The track effectively rounds out Love’s nuanced exploration of various aspects of love by zooming out to examine human love on a larger, broader scale. The second half of the album, Fear, is naturally darker than the first half due to its focus on self-doubt and anxiety. In this way, it feels more similar to some of Marina’s older work, which has never shied away from tackling such topics. However, in Fear, Marina’s handling of these issues doesn’t feel as nuanced as it did in the past. Although there are some great highlights, such as “Too Afraid” and “Life Is Strange,” both of which effectively paint portraits of self-doubt and how fear can hold people back, there are some notable duds in the Fear half that don’t fit well with the concept of the album. For example, “Karma” is billed as a response to the #MeToo movement, yet it doesn’t have much to say on the movement beyond its refrain, “I think it’s karma.” While catchy, the song doesn’t possess much substance. Furthermore, the fact that these songs only loosely relate to the
concept of fear underscores how the second half of the album struggles to present as complex a portrait of fear as the first half does of love. Despite some of Fear’s weaker moments, the quality and cohesiveness of the album’s production still serve to make it an enjoyable pop record. The album closes with “Soft to Be Strong,” which successfully ties up the album’s thematic elements as Marina intones that she feels “the fear is gone” and reclaims the love from the first half of the album. Marina’s Love + Fear is yet another strong album from the artist; however, it doesn’t live up to its concept as well as some of her previous works due to weaker lyrics. One of Marina’s most appealing aspects as an artist has always been her introspective and unique lyrics, making it disappointing that some of the songs on this record feel like they could have been written by anybody at all. All of the tracks on this album are well-produced, and the talent of the songwriters shows through the catchy and memorable melodies, so it’s a shame that some of them feel so empty at their core.
PanAsia’s Spring Festival Amplifies Asian Voices on Campus By LYNN CHONG Arts Reporter
PanAsia Solidarity Coalition is a cultural advocacy group at UChicago that promotes Asian and Asian-American experiences in the increasingly intersectional and transnational United States. The group focuses on intersectional advocacy, bringing in the arts, economics, law, and various other disciplines to inquire about and confront the challenges of marginalized communities. Throughout the month of May, PanAsia is bringing its concerns out of the discussion room and into the public arena with its 2019 Spring Festival, Voices. By inviting Asian and Asian-American students and professional artists for
performances and panels, the group hopes to create a platform for marginalized voices. According to the festival description, they aim to “illuminate struggles won and yet to be won, to showcase the power and compassion audible in contemporary Asian life.” Fittingly, the festival opened last Wednesday with an intimate open mic of student performers, as well as a screening of the Fire Escape film, Itamae. Before the event began, one of the board members welcomed the audience and posed a question to them: “What was the first story you were ever told?” Momentarily taken aback by how difficult it was to answer the question, the audience grew silent, but soon broke the ice with giggles, each member taking a trip down memory lane.
The first performance was a viola and ukulele cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” The violist lightly joked, “I fit into too many Asian stereotypes for loving music and my viola, but I guess I’m just embracing it now!” This was the performers’ attitude throughout the entire open mic—proudly sharing their identity and experiences. There was a substantial repertoire of poetry throughout the open mic. Students shared their original works, tackling subjects ranging from their hometowns to degrading experiences with the TSA. They also recited works by established Asian poets, such as Ocean Vuong and Emily Yoon. After the programmed performances, audience members were encouraged to step up and perform. Excited to be part of the
PanAsia community, I shared a short and sweet anecdote about the first story I remember being told. Fire Escape’s Itamae proved to be a mellow, inquisitive ending to the event. The student-directed film explored the role of race and physical environment in misleadingly signaling one’s background in America. It left the audience with questions to be answered in the upcoming events of the festival. The UChicago campus is always booming with loud voices and opinions, and yet without coalitions like PanAsia, some voices will continue to be silenced and buried. Continuing throughout the month of May, PanAsia’s festival is a rare opportunity for students to be immersed in Asian voices and relish in their powerful ring.
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SPORTS Lacrosse Loses to Illinois Wesleyan in CCIW Title Game By DIESTEFANO LOMA Sports Editor
After defeating North Central College in the CCIW Semifinals, the University of Chicago women’s lacrosse team were one victory away from ensuring that their inaugural season was magisterial. In the CCIW Championship game this past Saturday, the Maroons were defeated by Illinois Wesleyan University 11–6, thus concluding their season. Despite the loss, it was a historic run where they finished with a 15–3 overall record, and had a perfect home record of 11–0. From the start of the game, Illinois Wesleyan came out playing relentless. the Titans looked to end UChicago’s chances of victory and within two minutes they scored the opening goal. Not even a minute later, the Titans struck again to put them up by two. By the time they scored their third goal at the 25:16 mark, the Maroons took a timeout to regroup and plan their attack. First-year Lally Johnson opened the door for a comeback after scoring in the 18:57 mark. Fellow first-year Isabelle Moran contributed with a goal of her own. However, with every goal the Maroons scored, the Titans responded with another. By the end of the half, the Maroons were down 8–2. The Maroons came into the second half energized and taking on the pressure with stride. Within four minutes, first-year Karina Schulze set up Johnson to score her 44th goal of the season, cutting the deficit to five goals. Schulze picked up the load and scored a goal of her own. Despite this, Titans’ player Riley Rooney scored her third and fourth goal of the game to ice the game. Johnson concluded the scoring for the Maroons in the final two minutes of the game for the 11–6 final score. It was all hands on deck, as third-year Honor Crandell stopped 10 shots from the
UChicago Women’s Lacrosse ends season with high hopes for the future courtesy of uchicago athletics Titans to ensure they didn’t gain a larger lead. Second-year Bri Fadden took charge of the defense, as she caused the Titans to turn the ball over three times and not only had three ground balls, but an assist. Despite outshooting their opponents by a 30–27 margin, the Maroons were done in by turning the ball over 15 times, and only converting 1–7 free position shots, while Illinois Wesleyan converted 4–5. The common theme of this season was to never quit and to trust in one another. This is something that the Maroons will carry with them as they mature as players and become closer as a team. After all, this brought them to the championship game in their first season. Prior to the tournament, Head Coach Kate Robinson was named the CCIW CoCoach of the Year and Schulze was named Offensive Player of the Year. From this performance, they will only improve as they aim to obtain gold in the future.
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Track and Field Teams Battle Cold Weather in Iowa, but Remain Hot in Individual Events By THOMAS GORDON Sports Reporter
After last weekend’s UAA Championships, the UChicago track and field team traveled to Dubuque, Iowa for the Loras College Dr. Tucker Open. While the team was in good spirits after a pretty successful UAA Championships, the weather did not particularly help. Thirdyear sprinter Mary Martin described the meet as “cold and far.” However, she stated that the team tried to not let
those factors affect their performance. Altogether, the Maroons were able to claim three titles throughout the meet. The most successful event was the women’s pole vault where UChicago finished first and second with thirdyear Isabel Garon in first at 3.50 meters and first-year Rachel TerHaar in second at 3.20 meters. Additionally, the men’s 5,000-meter also saw the Maroons finish first and second. Second-year Jack Barbour won with a time of 15:24.97, and first-year Max Hill finished only 0.2 sec-
onds behind his fellow teammate. The most notable performance, at least to Martin, was that of first-year Isabel Maletich. “We had some good performances at the meet, most notably Isabel Maletich, who triple jumped her way into nationals.” Maletich won with a massive total of 11.87 meters and appears to only be getting stronger throughout the season. In addition to the wins and the two 1–2 finishes, the Maroon women’s team had runner-up finishes in four different races. These were first-year Kaitlyn
Van Baalen in the 800-meter (2:18.87), fourth-year Nicole VacaGuzman in the 400-meter (56.67), third-year Claire Brockway in the 1,500-meter (4:44.74), and second-year Ella Parker in the high jump (1.43 meters). These great performances, in less-than-ideal conditions, will provide an important base to work on for the rest of the season. The next meet for the Maroons is Thursday and Friday of this week at the North Central College Dr. Keeler Invitational. Good luck, Maroons!
Baseball Tops Beloit, Making It to Conference Playoffs By MATTHEW LEHMAN Sports Reporter
As the sun set over J. Kyle Anderson Field on Sunday evening, the University of Chicago baseball team concluded its first regular season back in the Midwest Conference in a resounding fashion, beating the visiting Beloit Buccaneers by scores of 7–6 and 11–6. After splitting two games at Beloit on Saturday, the Maroons needed to sweep their home slate in order to advance to next weekend’s playoffs. With a little extra help from their fourth-year Maroons—on senior day, no less—Chicago certainly rose to the occasion, wrapping up the regular season at 23–9 overall (including 10–0 at home) and 11–5 in the Midwest Conference North
Division. Sunday’s opening tilt certainly was not short of action, as it took the Maroons 11 innings of back-and-forth baseball to defeat Beloit in their first must-win game of the day. Fourth-year Ian Bohn opened the scoring for Chicago with a first-inning RBI single, but the Buccaneers rallied in the top of the second for two unearned runs. The Maroons battled back over the next few frames, evening the score on a fourth-inning fielder’s choice by fourth-year Josh Parks and taking the lead on another Bohn RBI single in the fifth. Meanwhile, fourthyear ace Brenton Villasenor did his part on the mound, striking out six over the first six innings without allowing an earned run. Although Beloit got to Villasenor in the
seventh, fellow fourth-year Ravi Bakhai took over and limited the damage to two runs, which the Maroons instantly made up in the bottom of the inning with RBIs from first-years Benjamin Rosengard and Carson Weekley. Beloit put up another twospot in the eighth to reclaim the lead, but in the bottom of the ninth, Parks tied the score with a clutch two-out single through the right side of the infield, scoring first-year Cristian Rodriguez and sending the game into extra innings. The game stayed knotted at six until the 11th, when second-year James Kelly laced a walk-off single—which might have been a double, if his teammates did not mob him on the base paths before he reached second—to keep Chicago’s playoff hopes alive. Other Maroon highlights included Bohn’s perfect day at the plate (4–4, 1 IBB), three hits by second-year Brian Lyle, and two perfect innings of relief from second-year winning pitcher David Clarke. Although game two started slowly for the Maroons—Buccaneer bats pounced for three runs over the first two innings— Chicago bounced back in the bottom of the second to take a lead they would never relinquish. A sacrifice fly from Parks and two RBI doubles by fourth-years Brady Sarkon and Connor Hickey put the Maroons on top, 4–3. With the help of a few Beloit errors, the Maroons plated seven more insurance runs over the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings off of the bats of Weekley, Hickey, Sarkon, and Rodriguez. Additionally, key contributions by Rosengard (2–5, 2
R) and fourth-year Max Brzostowski (2–3, 3 R) at bat, on the bases, and in the field helped Chicago secure the sweep and the best record in the North Division. On the mound, third-year starter Jacob Petersen showcased his stuff over 2.1 innings but was victimized by a few questionable calls that broke Beloit’s way. Second-year reliever Chandler Yu picked up the win with four dominant one-hit frames, and third-year Arno Curtis shut the door with 1.2 effective shutout innings before the game was called due to darkness. Brzostowski had a particularly big fanbase on Sunday to support him and the Maroons in his final collegiate regular season games. Speaking after the victories, he could not help but grin while expressing his excitement and pride in Chicago’s winning efforts—especially coming on senior day and in their most important matchups of the year: “There’s no better feeling than that. Both games today were full team wins, and this is a really fun team to play with. All these guys gel together, and when people need to step up, we do it.” This upcoming week, Chicago has two non-conference games scheduled (at UIC and Edgewood) before traveling to the playoff tournament on Friday and Saturday alongside Ripon, Monmouth, and Cornell colleges. If Brzostowski and the Maroons continue their winning ways, they have a chance to return home with a championship in their first Midwest Conference season since 1987.