Volume XLVI, Issue 23 March 27, 2015

the

Case Western Reserve University volume xlvi, issue 23 friday, 3/27/2015

Observer Cleveland’s pinball wizards

Happy Dog based pinball league gears up for second season’s tournament

Anne Nickoloff Arts & Entertainment Editor The back room of Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern is cacophonous on Tuesday evening.

The USS Enterprise wiggles up and down under a layer of glass, as backbox graphics flash in the “Star Trek”-themed pinball machine. Down the row, the “F-14 Tomcat”-themed machine lights up with spinning police lights dancing across the corner. Sci-fi noises mix with the regular Euclid Tavern chorus. Explosion noises, beer glass clinks, laser blasts, chatty conversation and bumper clicks fill the room. Taped to the room’s left wall is a Cleveland Pinball League (CPL) poster featuring a wizard-like hippie. He overlooks the night’s noisy games.

But then, Brian Hill enters the room.

“Everybody signed up?” he yells out.

The noisy room softens for a moment, as Hill sits at a table near the ma-

chines, proudly wearing his CPL t-shirt under a blue flannel shirt. The crowd surrounds him, and he places them into teams of four. Hill shouts out the groupings to compete in the small weekly league meet on March 24.

Then the games (officially) begin.

Groups line up near preferred machines, waiting for their turn to play, sipping at beers in their downtime.

In addition to the “F-14 Tomcat”- and “Star Trek”-themed machines, the room also includes “The Shadow,” “Demolition Man,” “Ripley’s Believe it or Not!” and “Blue Max”.

“These are mostly games that I really like,” says Hill, owner of the pinball machines. “‘Demolition Man’ and ‘The Shadow’ are not the greatest movies, but they make really good pinball machines.”

Hill takes care of the machines early and stays at the competitions late. This week he showed up at the Euclid Tavern nearly six hours before competition

began just to make sure everything CPL newcomer Steve Juchnowswas in working order. Mainki, who joined in January tenance includes fixing of this year. Despite his lights, bumpers, coin relatively recent injams and general volvement, Juchcleaning. nowski invested Event: CPL In addition to in a “Night Ridthe upkeep, these er”-themed maLeague Finals machines didn’t chine at home.

Location: Happy Dog come cheap.

“It has Each one ranged boobs and a at the Euclid Tavern between $500truck,” he said.

Dates: March 28-29 $4,000, a cost that “Also this truckHill is still working er who looks just to pay off with the like Burt Reynolds, games’ slow accumulamustache and everytion of coins. thing.”

“It’s hard to make that back 50 “When I joined, I thought, cents at a time,” he says.

I might as well buy a pinball machine For one of the expensive machines, so I can practice at home,” Juchnowsthat’s 2000 games. ki added. “If I’d have joined a bowling It’s a cost pinball enthusiasts are league, I would have built a bowling alwilling to pay, though. Out of the ley in my basement.” night’s 22 attendees, six of them owned to Pinball | 19 a pinball machine at home, including Andrew Hodowanec/Observer

News

A&E

Opinion

Sports

pg. 3 Students to vote on UDC creation

pg. 10 Styles from fashion week

pg. 7 SEC: You should care

pg. 20 All aboard the cardboard

news An inside look at President Obama’s visit to Cleveland Teddy Eisenberg Staff Reporter Editor’s Note: Teddy Eisenberg is The City Club of Cleveland’s Content Associate.

“To the City Club of Cleveland: It was an honor to join the long list of leaders who have come before you. You embody the best traditions of our democracy.”

It is a century-old tradition for speakers that address The City Club of Cleveland (City Club) to sign our guest book. Founded in 1912, the City Club is the nation’s longest continually operating free speech forum. We provide a place for the community to come together and engage in civil and civic dialogue about issues of regional, national and international importance. Over the 102 years we have existed, we have had tens of thousands of speakers sign their names, but few have spoken so eloquently to the purpose of our forums as President Barack Obama.

President Obama’s March 18 sold-out address to the City Club honored another City Club tradition too: a decades-old tradition of presidential visits dating back to Ronald Reagan.

I was a member of the City Club team that helped bring President Obama to Cleveland.

All told the White House gave us five days to put together a successful forum for the Leader of the Free World, and they were some of the zaniest of my life.

The phones started ringing at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, March 16. Nothing could prepare us for the deluge of callers. The forum of 440 people sold out in 45 minutes, but calls were

answered for hours afterward, as the waiting list amassed nearly twice as many people as the event in the Junior Ballroom of the Global Center for Health Innovation could hold.

Then came the organizing. A short deadline is a mixed bag of blessings and curses: You don’t have time to think too hard or panic, but you also don’t have much time to plan.

The days that led up to the address were a blur of White House communications, text messages, alphabetizing, ticket distribution and a level of focus I had thought previously unattainable. The pressure associated with working for the president, as it turns out, can be a pretty powerful motivator.

On March 18, all the hard work instantly became worth it. We have had many suave presidents throughout our nation’s history, but, regardless of politics, it is difficult to imagine many of them being as smooth as President Obama. His handshake conveys a level of confidence and mastery that can only be associated with being the commander in chief of the strongest military in the world. It is firm, dry, solid and lasts for two seconds.

The content of Obama’s address concerned middle-class economics, a term he has coined in recent months to tout his administration’s approach to the economy during his six years in office.

“This progress is no accident,” the president said. “First and foremost, it’s the direct result of the drive and determination of the American people. But I’m going to take a little credit. It’s also the result of decisions made by my administration in partnership with members of Congress to prevent a sec-

Courtesy Donn R. Nottage President Obama spoke at the City Club on March 18. He talked about his new policies regarding middle-class economics, as well as the importance of manufacturing. ond depression and lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity.”

Obama’s talk was followed by the City Club’s most important post-forum tradition: a live, unscripted Q&A with the audience. For me this is where the true significance of what we do at the City Club emanates from. The ability for a citizen of any country to engage directly in dialogue with their elected officials about issues that are important to them embodies our nation’s best hopes and deepest democratic aspirations.

Audience questions for the president

ranged from topics involving community college and campaign funding to advice he would now give himself on the first day of his first term in office. Here Obama shined, giving the City Club audience some of the most human moments of his presidency thus far.

All things considered, myself and the rest of the staff at the City Club are immensely grateful to have had this opportunity and could not be more pleased with how the event turned out. And in two years with a new sitting president, we may just get the chance to do it all again.

SEC decides on allocations for next semester 2.1% 5.28% 0.7% 4.45% 5.89% 30.19% 6.67%

16.9%

Julia Bianco T/RNews Editor

The Student Executive Council (SEC) decided how they will allocate the Student AcTSO tivities Fee (SAF) for the fall semester.

The SEC is made up of the umbrella organizations on campus, including the president Class Officer Collective SFand finance chairs of Undergraduate Student Government (USG), the University Program Board (UPB), the University Media Board Senior Week the Class Officer Collective (COC), SW(UMB), the Interfraternity Congress and Panhellenic Congress (IFC/PHC) and the Residence Hall Springfest Association (RHA), as well as representatives from off-the-tops Springfest, Senior Week COC and Thwing Study Over (TSO).

Thwing They manage the division of the Student Study Over Activities Fee (SAF), an approximately $171 GLper semester cost that each student pays on top Tarp fees of tuition. & TVUC At their March 19 meeting, they discussed Ballroom fees allocations for the fall. Two groups requested UMB an increase: UMB and TSO. TSO’s was grantUndergraduate University ed, while UMB’s was turned down.

Student Government Media Board UMB requested a 1.63 percent increase to Meredith Dykehouse/ObserverUSG fund two new organizations, Humans of Case Greek Life

27.82%

University Program Board

UPB

Western and SPARC Conversations, as well as office renovations. However other boards brought up concerns about giving so much money to new organizations. Although UMB proposed lowering their increase to only 1.3 percent, it was still turned down.

TSO requested a 0.15 percent increase to help pay for a $900 cleaning fee for the event.

They are also hoping to increase food and entertainment this year.

All the other organizations kept the same allocations from the spring 2015 semester.

The SAF came to a total $790,000 for the fall 2014 semester, but it is expected to be higher for the fall 2015 semester due to a larger freshman class. With the decided on allocations and an estimated $790,000 SAF, UPB will receive $238,501, USG will receive $219,778, UMB will receive $133,510, Greek Life will receive $52,693, COC will receive $46,531, Senior Week will receive $35,155, Springfest will receive $41,712, Thwing Study Over will receive $16,590 and $5,530 will go to the tarp fees for Adelbert Hall and the Tinkham Veale University Center Ballroom reservation fees.

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Editor’s choice

Students will vote on Undergraduate Diversity Council Julia Bianco News Editor The proposed Undergraduate Diversity Council (UDC) will be going to a student referendum, which will determine whether or not they can have a seat on the Student Executive Council (SEC). According to SEC’s bylaws, at least 25 percent of the student body needs to vote in the referendum, and two-thirds of those who vote need to say yes.

The SEC is made up of the umbrella organizations on campus, including the president and finance chairs of Undergraduate Student Government (USG),

the University Program Board (UPB), the University Media Board (UMB), the Class Officer Collective (COC), the Interfraternity Congress and Panhellenic Congress (IFC/PHC) and the Residence Hall Association (RHA), as well as representatives from off-the-tops Springfest, Senior Week and Thwing Study Over (TSO).

They manage the division of the Student Activities Fee (SAF), an approximately $171 per semester that each student pays on top of tuition.

The proposed UDC aims to provide a place for undergraduates to talk about diversity issues on campus. It would encompass organizations who fit under the eight diver-

sity pillars: ethnicity, religion, gender, socioeconomic class, race, sexual orientation, ability and age. These organizations are currently a part of USG. UDC is asking to be a voting, non-financial member for their first semester, meaning that they would not have a portion of the SAF for the fall semester. Their status would be reevaluated after that and the SEC would determine if they could have an allocation in the spring.

“We’re all excited about the referendum,” said Brittany Chung, who, along with Precious Amoako and Nicholas Fung, first presented the idea of UDC before the SEC. “This is just the first step.”

Chung believes that the hardest part will be getting students to go out and vote.

“I’m a little nervous about mobilizing our students to actually say yes to this and show that our student body fully supports it,” she said.

“People can see the benefit and the value, but in the end it’s going to be motivating people to submit their opinion and make sure their voices are being heard,” added Fung.

They are still working on the exact wording of the referendum. The exact date of the referendum has not yet been decided, although it may be on the same ballot as the USG elections, which will run from April 9-April 10.

Finding success with an alternative major How the Career Center can help Arts & Sciences students Gabrielle Buffington Staff Reporter Attending a university known for its engineering and medical programs can make non-engineering and non-medical students feel hidden in the shadows of reputable education, and after years of studying, the job search adds another level of scariness.

There are many students who have tried to utilize any opportunity to advance in life, like Sarah O’Reilly, a nutritional biochemistry and metabolism and Spanish major. She attempted to find success on her own by exploring databases like CWRULink, but found the task ineffective.

“I’ve used them in terms of looking at the variety of jobs and posting my résumé but they have never actually helped me get a job,” she said. “I had to really try and stretch my idea of what I wanted to do to find a job. For example if I wanted to work in a health care company, I would have to market myself as a business person.”

O’Reilly felt that the Career Center’s help was ineffective.

“They are good at setting up events and having important people there that you can talk to,” she said. “[But] none of the people I ever talked to cared about hiring me or had any position in the field I was looking for.”

However there are resources available for students to help guide them in the right direction. Most students have received emails from the Career Center that they may have ignored, but it pays to investigate their options. The Career Center in the Sears Building offers var-

ious opportunities to educate students about the working world. One popular resource offered is résumé reviews. Students can make an appointment to discuss their résumé, or can drop by the Career Center while they are open.

Andrese Miller went to the center for that exact reason. She is a third-year English education major and history minor who wanted an updated résumé and received more than expected.

“I went to review my résumé and look for internships,” Miller said. “I recieved links to internships and I learned how to search for them. I also got help with organizing my résumé and putting the most important information on there. They also gave me a career book to help with résumés and cover letters.”

Students need more than a good résumé to integrate into a new career path, though. Rhonda Peoples, Career Information Specialist and Office Manager, has been in the field long enough to know what it takes to succeed. It all boils down to the tools one uses.

“We offer assessments similar to personality tests, we offer counseling for jobs pertaining to your major and students can access CWRULink to look for jobs,” said Peoples. “There is something for everyone.

If you want more help finding information, you can schedule an appointment with a counselor for a more in-depth session.”

According to Peoples, scheduling an appointment can give a student more insight on how to navigate employment databases to find opportunities that are truly relevant to their field instead of filtering through engineering internships.

Arianna Wage/Observer Archives The Career Center can be a great resource for students, but some nonengineering and science majors feel like they fall through the cracks.

There is also data available on the Career Center’s website about how CWRU graduates spend the next few years of their lives. Every year the center creates a First Destination Survey that compiles graduate responses about future plans.

In 2014, there were 418 graduates from the College of Arts and Sciences. 310 responded to the survey.

Out of that number, 225 took part in at least one experiential learning activity

(for example, internships or practicums).

Fifty-four accepted job offers that came from those experiences. Overall 166 graduates went into advanced study, 98 became full-time employees, 22 were available for employment and 24 utilized alternative routes (entrepreneurship, military service, etc.).

The average yearly wage for the employed graduates was $35,000-39,999, an increase of $5,000 from last year.

Graffiti and prejudiced remarks found in Fribley Commons before spring break; perpetrators still not caught Gabrielle Buffington Staff Reporter On Feb. 24 discriminatory comments and graffiti were seen by the dining staff in Fribley Commons.

Employees working that afternoon uncovered the writing in two different places. A comment card was found and brought to Mark Cameron, Bon Appétit Head Chef, which read: “There are a lot of black people working here. I hope it’s just for Black History Month. Signed, the KKK.” Cameron tore up the comment card and threw it away.

The next day, various employees saw graffiti in the women’s restroom on the dining hall floor. The letters “KKK” were written on two walls. This was reported to Cameron, who then notified Charise Reid, the Bon Appétit Human Resource Manager.

Reid addressed the incident by filing a police report and notifying the university. The university advised all involved parties to not speak publicly or in detail about the incident since it was under investigation.

A’ja Hairston, an African American Bon Appétit employee at Fribley, was

one of the key witnesses.

“I saw the comment card and the writing in the bathroom,” Hairston said.

“Honestly it scared me. People have committed crazy crimes in college, and I’ve been hearing about the racist things some students on this campus have been saying. I just want to make sure we’re all going to be safe for the rest of the semester.”

Hairston was referencing posts left on YikYak after a peaceful protest on campus from the African American Society, which garnered significant attention, including a university-wide email from President Barbara Snyder.

CWRU PD Sergeant Jeffrey Daberko does not believe that there is currently a physical threat to the campus community.

“As of right now, there have only been comments made,” said Daberko. “Anyone can say something wrong or write something on a comment card.”

Daberko says that although cases such as the Fribley incident are difficult to solve because of how many people could be suspects, they are still not persistent. If the situation was persistent, then the police would have more information to go on and could possibly find the culprit. But for now, the case is still open.

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news

Campus insider

USG president talks progress, future goals Julia Bianco News Editor This week Campus Insider sat down with Taylor Gladys, president of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG). Gladys presented to the Board of Trustees on Feb. 20, outlining USG’s goals for the next year and their progress on the goals that they had set last year.

Looking back A USG survey on the new Tinkham Veale University Center, which opened in August, said that 57 percent of people approved of the way that TVUC was used, but they thought that it could be improved for student needs.

In particular they thought that the furniture was not great for studying and that there were not enough power outlets. One of Gladys’ personal goals as well is to increase branding in TVUC to make it seem more like a Case Western Reserve University property.

For Thwing Gladys said that students and administration were happy with the compromise of creating both meeting and classroom space in the building. However she said that there is still work to be done as far as updating the building and making it better for students.

Gladys said that many students are concerned about the implications of increased enrollment, but that the new residence hall and increased classroom space were a good step towards fixing that.

Looking forward Gladys said that the institution of OrgSync, which replaced CollegiateLink, has improved the student organization experience because it is much easier for students as well as club officers to use. She also cited the Sparta Center and USG’s new paperless reimbursements as improvements for student organizations. “[Community building] has been a really big focus of mine this year,” she said. “It makes me sad that when I talk to CWRU students, a lot of them aren’t happy to go here. That’s not what your college experience should be.”

Gladys said that she is working on improving this through the reinstatement of the diversity and inclusion ad hoc, the bias reporting system, the Oath of Inclusion, Diversity 360 and the other diversity-based initiatives that have been put forward this year.

Gladys said that USG is also working on being more available to students, especially through their Feedback Friday initiative.

“The idea is that USG will be somewhere out on campus every Friday so that students will know that if they have an issue, they can bring it here,” she said. She said that Feedback Fridays have helped USG to gather evidence through surveys as well as faceto-face interaction with students, which can give them statistical and anecdotal evidence to bring to the administration.

As far as school spirit, USG has two committees that are working on dealing with the issue; one made up of all students and one that is a mix of staff and students.

“It’s a really hard issue to deal with because it’s not something you can make, it has to happen naturally,” said Gladys. “If we start to pay attention to it more, eventually it’s a cultural shift.”

Gladys said that, while typically school spirit is focused around athletics, a lot of students are more proud of academic achievements and student involvement at CWRU. “If we come up with more creative ways to highlight the things that students are already proud of rather than trying to highlight something that is unnatural to them, it would be better,” she said.

3/27/15

Spotlight on research

The search for cancer-fighting drugs and the discovery of a senior’s passion Kushagra Gupta Staff Reporter Just like many first-year students, senior Jessica Lin was not sure what she wanted to do when she arrived on campus. Four years later, she has found her passion in medicine.

This past summer, Lin worked in a neuroscience cancer lab in the medical school studying the effects of a library of drugs provided by the National Institute of Health (NIH) on glioblastoma cells.

Glioblastoma is a malignant tumor that affects the glial cells in the brain. The group of drugs consisted of all cancer-related FDA approved drugs. The laboratory found that one, Pitavastatin, did reduce tumor cell growth.

The laboratory was interested in exploring glioblastoma cells since only few treatment options are available for glioblastoma tumors, with varying success.

The brain tumors have a high mortality rate, and death usually occurs within one to three years in all age demographics.

Lin explained that many tumors can be surgically removed, but with glioblastoma tumors, many times the risk of surgery does not outweigh the benefits.

If a single cell is missed in the surgery, it will proliferate and the tumor would grow back.

While the laboratory did find that Pitavastatin, a medication to lower blood cholesterol, reduces tumor cell growth, the drug is not able to cross the bloodbrain barrier and thus isn’t a feasible clinical option. This is because when taken into the blood, the drug won’t be able to get to the brain, where the tumor is located.

“We’re continuing to screen the library,” said Lin. “We’re looking at different drugs.”

To do drug research, Lin has to use the reagent known as alamar-blue. Reagents such as these are a critical portion of a cell growth assay. They measure the amount of cells alive some amount of days after treatment with a drug. This reagent gives off a fluorescent signal once metabolized by cells that can be measured. The more florescence given off by a group of cells, the more of them are alive.

Lin had to learn a lot when she joined the lab her junior year. Proper sterile work technique was extremely important, especially when working in the tissue culture hood. Tissue culture hoods may look similar to fume hoods, but their goal is to protect both the user and provide a sterile work environment within. The insides are kept sterile through the use of a glass wall. A wall of air produced by fans prevents air from leaving or entering the bench’s insides.

Lin never imagined her passion for

Freda Li/Observer Senior Jessica Lin studied how a drug designed to lower blood cholesterol can reduce tumor growth. this type of work as a child.

She grew in California, a place without Cleveland’s notorious weather. In fact Lin never really saw snow in California.

“I never had weather,” she joked.

While she may not have gotten to try her luck with a relationship with snow, as a child she loved dogs. In high school she wanted to become a veterinarian.

However it didn’t turn out to be something that she was that interested in after she found out more about the job.

When she entered Case Western Reserve University, she began studying polymer engineering instead. She was specifically interested in drug delivery.

She even did an internship in Ireland, but decided afterward that the discipline wasn’t for her.

She thinks she was brave here. Lin was willing to try out new experiences, and it was only through this could she decide on whether she enjoyed a subject.

“Sophomore year was a time of soul searching,” she said.

At CWRU she also joined the University Program Board. Thwing Tuesdays were her favorite event. She also participated in the Horizons program. Affiliated with the medical school, it allows undergraduates and medical students to discuss various health professions and topics with local high school students.

Lin believed in doing only what she actually enjoyed. She also remembered emails that talked about a lot of opportunities that she would not have otherwise found.

She thinks it’s important for students to reach out for help.

“It’s such a struggle,” she said. “It seemed impossible at the time.”

Eventually Lin realized that medicine was her calling, and she will graduate this May with a degree in biology. She is also considering doing more basic science or clinical research when starting medical school later this year.

As for the weather, she joked, “I made a lot of snowmen to make up for that.”

USG letters of intent due March 29 Julia Bianco News Editor If you’re interested in running for a position in the Undergraduate Student Government (USG), you’re in luck. Letters of intent will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. on March 29.

All of the positions are up for grabs,

ranging from representative to president.

Most of the positions, except for president and vice president of finance, do not require prior USG experience.

Candidates not in USG are encouraged to visit the USG website, read their governing documents and get in contact with the person who currently holds the position to answer any questions. They

are also encouraged to attend a general assembly meeting, which occurs every other Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Toepfer Room in Adelbert Hall. The next meeting is March 31.

A candidate debate will be on April 8 at the Jolly Scholar at 8:30 p.m. Elections will be held April 9-10. More information on the elections can be found online.

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MCAT frenzy

Some students blocked out of May 22 test date due to high demand Suneil Kamath Staff Reporter Some students planning to take the May 22 Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) found themselves blocked when they were unable to register due to heavy demand.

The MCAT is the graduate level entrance examination all prospective medical students have to take.

“MCAT officials underestimated demand for the May session, and seats were filled in most of the United States by the end of the day,” said Case Western Reserve University Director of Health Care Advising Steven Scherger.

“While MCAT officials are looking into the situation, early messages from them indicate that they are not considering additional test dates,” he added. “However they will be looking at where demand for the test is highest and whether they might need to establish additional testing sites for the May 22 test date.”

The reason for the increase in demand could be because of the new MCAT format, which began this month. According to the

Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the organization that manages and provides the MCAT, the length of the MCAT will increase from approximately four hours to eight hours. The exam will also cover much more material, including topics in psychology and sociology.

Junior biochemistry major Hirsh Shah took the MCAT in January to avoid taking the revised test.

“January was the last month the old exam was available, so I chose a date as near to the end as possible so I could have more time to prepare,” said Shah.

Even though Shah took the exam in January, he still presumed that there might be a chance the number of test takers might exceed the available number of test slots.

“For the old MCAT, I registered for the January 2015 date all the way back in June 2014,” he added. “I had a gut feeling that seats were going to be taken up fast. It turned out that way. The AAMC had to add a fair amount of test dates at the last minute because of the extremely high demand for the old exam. Before they added the dates, there were reports of students having to fly over

5,000 miles to Guam because everything in the continental U.S. was full.”

Many students spend hundreds of hours studying for the MCAT, so not being able to take the exam might be devastating.

Luckily junior biology major Mario Cabello was able to register for the MCAT on May 22.

“I was able to register for the MCAT in my home country of Puerto Rico,” Cabello said. “I know of students who were not able to register for the May 22 spot, but I do not know of any student who couldn’t manage to get a spot in any of the other test dates.”

Cabello, however, feels that scheduling the MCAT is the least of his worries.

“The feeling that your future career depends on an exam and a couple of applications intimidates me far beyond anything else in my college years,” Cabello said.

“Most universities have students working hard day and night with classes, homework and exams. I think that feeling stressed for applying to medical school is a universal feeling amongst pre-med students, including those who have a near perfect record as a student.”

Agents of change

Federal grant to expand MSASS’ Child Welfare Fellows program Sruthi Meka Staff Reporter In the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences (MSASS), there are small navy magnets that liken social workers to “Change Agent[s],” because a career in social work often involves a desire to improve the lives of individuals, families and communities.

Now a four-year $588,000 federal grant hopes to create more “Change Agents”. It will provide tuition for 20 child welfare workers to attend the Child Welfare Fellows program at MSASS to receive further preparation in social work.

One of only 13 similar programs funded by the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute, the Child Welfare Fellows program at Case Western Reserve University provides higher-level training for social workers from counties in Northeast Ohio.

“Looking at the satellite view of what the grant was about and what the federal government had in mind, [the grant] was an opportunity to fund universities to have advanced training,” said field faculty advisor Beth Brin-

On the beat

do. “We could build a more skilled workforce in public agencies.”

Brindo believes placing masters-level social workers in local welfare agencies will have a ripple effect that will ultimately benefit the community by allowing for positive outcomes regarding the health and safety of families.

“Social workers, with our clinical training and our way of applying to better the lives of individuals, families and groups in every community, really raise the standard of healthy living in the community,” Brindo said.

According to Victor Groza, director of the program, fellows first become licensed at a higher level as social workers and then develop skills in evidence-based practice. The program will also help candidates develop leadership and management skills.

“We expect graduates to become leaders and higher-level managers in their organizations after graduation,” said Groza.

Given the changing landscape of the field of social work, the program also incorporates new forms of media and communi-

cation methods.

“The field is much more data driven, and child welfare is being held to higher standards in the outcomes they are expected to achieve,” Groza said. “Our program prepares graduates to use data in informing all aspects of their social work practice.”

Groza hopes that using products like FaceTime and other aspects of social media will enhance the connection between the fellows, their respective field education agencies and the university. Fellows will also be able to participate in webinars as a part of their training.

The fellows will gain more experience in social work by working at public child welfare agencies where they will investigate and act upon cases of child abuse and neglect.

“Social workers are change agents,” Brindo said. “Through our work in the community, we change things for the better. We work with people who change things for the better.”

In addition to providing training in social work, Brindo feels that the fellows program demonstrates the level of commitment the university has to various outreach programs in local communities.

Apple picking

When historians look back at the 21st century, they may decide to classify it as the century of the cellphone. Here at Case Western Reserve University it seems almost everyone has one and they can be used for everything from identifying bird calls to ordering pizza.

Actually conversing with your fellow humans in more than 140 characters seems to be going the way of calligraphy and Blockbuster video stores, but that is another topic.

As cellphones of whatever brand continued to proliferate, it was inevitable that they would become targets of theft. They are small and easy to snatch. This trend poses a challenge for police officers, especially those trying to give crime prevention tips in a campus newspaper, for instance. Cellphones can be a valuable self-defense tool, enabling a potential victim to contact the police from wherever they are, and letting potential bad guys know you are in contact with law enforcement as you walk down the street, for example.

On the other hand, there have been a number of cellphone snatch robberies here

at CWRU in recent years. These are incidents in which someone comes up behind a cellphone user on foot or bicycle, grabs the phone and flees. There have also been a number of straight robberies involving weapons or threat of weapons in which the victim’s phone appears to have been the robber’s target. There is a term that is sometimes used by bad guys to describe these types of theft: apple picking, obviously referring to the popularity of the iPhone.

The best advice is probably somewhere in the middle. Use your phone as an emergency communications tool when needed, but never be so deeply into your phone you are unaware of what’s going on around you if you are outdoors. Look into apps that allow you to track or deactivate your phone if stolen, and know how to contact your phone service provider quickly if you need to cancel a service. Don’t leave phones lying around unattended in outdoor or public settings or they will vanish faster than you might think. Use the phone to call Mom on

Sundays, but also keep an eye on it when necessary. Let’s look out for each other.

On the Beat is a weekly safety column written by Sergeant Jeffrey Daberko and Officer Mark (The Crossing Guard) Chavis of CWRU PD. We welcome questions, suggestions and gripes/groans/moans/complaints about campus life at policecolumn@case.edu.

CWRU Police Blotter Mar. 18 to Mar. 24 March 18: Petty theft—items stolen from kitchen by juvenile suspects, Jolly Scholar Thwing Center.

March 22: Criminal damage— lounge furniture destroyed, Clarke Tower.

March 23: Robbery—two male suspects entered occupied apartment and took items, Hessler Road.

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Cleveland catch-up Julia Bianco News Editor We boil down what happened in Cleveland this week.

Nonprofits look to improve lakefront A new lakefront planning effort, the Lakefront Greenway and Downtown Connector Study, is looking to improve four miles of property, from downtown east to Gordon Park and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The proposal was put forth by nonprofits the Campus District Inc., the St. Clair Superior Development Corp. and the Historic Warehouse District & Gateway District.

Since 2004 Cleveland has been working on improving this area by building a new marina at North Coast Harbor, as well as a landfill.

They have plans to build a development with offices, apartments and a hotel.

The Lakefront Greenway and Downtown Connector Study wants to establish a “greenway corridor,” which would be a park that would run along the shoreline. This would require removing some I-90 ramps, adding a pedestrian bridge over I-90, adding a lakefront bike path and making intersections more pedestrian friendly.

The final version of the plan is supposed to be finished by June. Then the nonprofits need to find someone to help pay for it.

Cleveland increases street-paving budget Cleveland’s street-paving budget has more than doubled from $4.4 million to as much as $10 million a year, according to Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley. Kelley’s goal is to resurface every residential street at least once every 20 years, prioritizing the ones that need it the most each year.

Kelley hopes to get more data-oriented when determining which roads need to be resurfaced by conducting a pavement management study that will rate each road. The goal is to have this finished by 2016. People would also be able to give input on which roads they think are the most in need. Then the worst five percent of roads in each district would be resurfaced each year.

The increase means that planned improvements to other parts of the city will be pushed off, and Cleveland will also have less money to match road resurfacing grants.

Not everyone was happy with the plan, with some council members nervous that it would result in less money to their district and others nervous about relying on the city of Cleveland’s administration to do the road ratings.

“This pavement management study will not be a situation in which we’ll be sitting here next year, and it won’t be done,” Kelly told Cleveland.com Ohio senators extend statute of limitations for rape cases The Ohio Senate passed a bill 32-1 which extends the statute of limitations in rape cases with DNA evidence.

Ohio recently began testing its backlog of rape kits, which has led to a number of culprits being caught. However the 20-year statute of limitations still applied. The new bill gives prosecutors five years to file rape charges if DNA evidence is found that points to the culprit, regardless of when the crime occurred.

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3/27/15

to the nominees for the 2015 J. Bruce Jackson, M.D., Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring and the

2015 Carl F. Wittke Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

The following outstanding faculty and staff are nominated for the Jackson Award.

Richard Bachmann Paul Barnhart Cynthia Beall Karen Braun Shu Chen Barbara Clemenson

Michael Decker Colin Drummond Mary Patrice Erdmans Elise Geither Jason Goodrick Amie Jackson

Chin-Tai Kim Mehmet Koyuturk Ricky Marcus Suhaan Mehta Doug Milliken Bradley Ricca

Nicole Steinmetz Laura Tartakoff Lee Thompson Jesse Wainright Gillian Weiss

The following outstanding faculty are nominated for the Wittke Award.

Amy Absher Ricardo Apostol Richard Bachmann Rebecca Benard Erin Benay Karen Braun Corinne Coen Sunniva Collins Harold Connamacher Lisa Damato

Yoram Daon William Doll Susan Dominguez Diana Driscoll Colin Drummond Richard Drushel Donald Feke Michael Flatt Xuan Gao Mario Garcia-Sanz

Elina Gertsman Vanessa Hildebrand Raul Juarez Hernandez Michael Kenney Mehmet Koyuturk Stephen Lynch Alperen Manisaligil Janet McGrath Frank Merat Drew Meyer

Wyatt Newman Lisa Nielson Fabienne Pizot-Haymore Alan Rocke Elizabeth Short William Siebenschuh Andrea Simakis Scott Simpson Rekha Srinivasan

Please submit comments to essinfo@case.edu

opinion CWRU transit Fixing our student group funding system missed the bus Editorial

It can be hard, as a student already busy with classes, homework, clubs and sports, to take the time to really care about the Student Executive Council (SEC). From the outside, a bureaucratic organization with meetings that can take up to three hours does not seem particularly interesting. We’ll say it now. For the average student, bylaws, legislation and parliamentary procedures are not fun. We have to care though. The SEC has a say in many university decisions and more importantly decides the budgets of our clubs and organizations.

This is especially true right now, as SEC is debating overarching structural changes that could reshape our entire student government.

SEC representatives, Undergraduate Student Government (USG), Residential Hall Association (RHA) and other members of the student body have been frustrated by a major issue: Umbrella organizations only advocate for themselves when it comes to funding groups and do not look at what’s best for the entire student body. Additional gripes stem from the lack of ability to address campus issues at SEC meetings.

These issues are not a surprise considering how the organization is set up. Currently the SEC is made up of two representatives from USG, University Media Board, Class Officer Collective, and University Program Board and one for Interfraternity Congress and Panhellenic Council (IFC/PHC) each. RHA’s executive president sits on the board as well and can only vote on non-financial matters since they do not receive funding from the Student Activities Fee, the roughly $171 fee you pay on top of tuition each semester.

There is no individual who currently sits on the board who isn’t jockeying for their organization. No one has the job of looking at the SEC as a whole, so groups just fight for all the funding they can get, even if it’s not best for the student body.

Additionally with no direct representation from the student, there is no motivation for the group to be transparent either.

Clearly reform in some way is needed.

Members of SEC began working on this issue several weeks ago, and a meeting will be held next Thursday, April 2 at 9 p.m. in the Senior Classroom of the Tinkham Veale University Center to discuss a myriad of proposals have been brought forward and form one plan of action. The meeting will be open to any member of the student body who wants to listen and give input.

First things first, you should go. While dry, these decisions could have lasting impacts for years to come.

Now back to the proposals.

While many ideas will be presented, we examined the three major ones available as of press time.

Here’s a quick overview. These are the simplified versions, so if you’d like to know more, attend the April 2 meeting.

Proposal 1: Kennedy and Gladys backed The first was created by junior Chippy Kennedy, USG vice president of finance, and senior Taylor Gladys, president of USG and SEC co-chair. They propose a three-branch system with an Assembly of the Treasury for budgets, a Student Body Senate for legislative issues and a Judicial Board. The Assembly of the Treasury would be made up of one treasurer appointed per SEC member organization along with two elected officials from the student body for every one appointed treasurer.

Members of the Student Body Senate would have a similar setup, except that one senator would be elected for every 200 students at CWRU. Five Judicial Board members would be elected as well. An Executive Council consisting of members of all three branches would oversee the system. In effect USG would be dissolved and blended into a USG-SEC hybrid for better or for worse.

Proposal 2: Dupuis, Eckman and Socrates backed Sophomore Andrew Dupuis and freshmen Dallas Eckman and Vimig Socrates have proposed another three-branch plan. An Undergraduate Student Senate would take over USG’s current responsibilities, with the exception that it would not allocate funds.

Budgetary power would then be held by the Student Board Union, which would be made up of appointed representatives like the current structure. The Judiciary Board in this plan would consist of the USG president, a Student Board Union representative, two unaffiliated members, and a faculty advisor. They would have the power to overturn decisions by fourfifths vote. Again, another SEC-USG blend.

Proposal 3: Robinson backed The final proposal is by junior Victoria Robinson, president of RHA and SEC cochair. The two-part system is comprised of a Finance Committee in charge of—you guessed it—finance. There will also be a Community Engagement Committee that discusses campus situations and works to improve campus culture.

Both groups would include representatives from all of the campus umbrella organizations like the current system (with the exception that RHA, which is funded separately and would not have members on the Finance Committee), but also feature the addition of three student body representatives to both groups whose process would start by being selected by faculty and administration nomination. In this setup, USG would not be replaced, but merely representatives from the organization would meet with RHA representatives as part

The Observer is the weekly undergraduate student newspaper of Case Western Reserve University. Established in 1969, The Observer exists to report news affecting and/or involving students and to provide an editorial forum for the university community. Unsigned editorials are the majority opinion of the senior editorial staff. However, Opinion columns reflect the views of their writers and not necessarily of The Observer staff. For advertising information, contact The Observer at (216) 302-4442 or e-mail observerads@case.edu.

The Observer is a proud member of the CWRU Media Board.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR should be e-mailed to observer@case.edu or submitted on our website at observer.case.edu. Letters can be mailed to 10900 Euclid Avenue, Suite A09, Cleveland, OH 44106. For policy and guidelines related to the submission of Letters to the Editor, refer to observer.case.edu/submit-a-letter.

of the Community Engagement Committee.

Our verdict: Robinson’s needs adjustments, but should be the starting framework for reforms After examining the three proposals, The Observer believes that Robinson’s proposal should be used as the framework for reforms going forward. While we are adamantly against faculty and administration playing any role in picking student representatives, since what’s in the best interest of CWRU officials is not necessary what’s best for students, we still believe that Robinson’s structure is the best choice.

Her proposal addresses the issues and fixes them with a simple solution. Tweaks are better than throwing the system out, especially at a university where students are often apathetic about elections to start.

Concerns with the Kennedy and Gladys backed proposal include the worry that it will actually increase politics on SEC. By voting for treasurers (who would be in a vast majority over appointed ones), groups could back candidates, and stack the deck so to speak with representatives that value their organization. Funding would go to whoever could secure the most positions.

Additionally their proposal, along with Dupuis and colleagues, is too complicated and would only increase bureaucratic time wasted. We appreciate both groups work however, and wanted to especially applaud Kennedy and Gladys for their vast amount of peer institutional research.

Additionally, we have qualms on making such drastic changes to the current USG structure, especially their special linkage to a reformed SEC. Integrating SEC with a legislative structure has the feeling of USG presiding over the other campus groups.

Robinson’s proposal on the other hand creates positions which could look at funding from a holistic perspective, while limiting the impact of groups campaigning to elected representatives. Additionally by creating the Community Engagement Committee, it would force collaboration between the current groups in the system, USG and RHA, instead of replacing them.

However our support comes with a catch.

Instead of those elected individuals needing nominations from campus leadership, we should elect one sophomore, junior and senior to serve in a voting capacity. Two freshman could sit on the SEC in a non-voting role to voice their concerns, but this delay would afford them the time to learn about the complicated system. Why two? It creates competition starting sophomore year.

Yes, changes are needed, but let’s fix them with the minimum amount of reforms as possible so that we don’t have unintended consequences down the road. Robinson’s proposal does just that.

Pup peeves Zak Khan

Every Case Western Reserve University student has the common denominator of a commute to class. Like most things at CWRU, those commutes bring us together because they cause us grief. A few months ago CWRU officials said they would examine changes in our campus transit system. Like many suggested improvements at CWRU, this one too has quietly disappeared.

Greenies still run every 23 minutes, and NextBus still promises us we’ll be able to board “in two minutes” every 10 minutes.

They still exist as mysterious, flighty vehicles.

They still connect poorly or not at all with services offered by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA). SafeRide drivers are still overworked, understaffed and treated by students as a personal taxi system that should ferry them from the front door of one building to the front door of another.

Part of the problem is transit doesn’t work the way CWRU students think it does. The other part of the problem is transit doesn’t work the way the administration thinks it ought to. Bus lines like the Greenie, research has shown, function best when service is frequent (every 10-15 minutes). It should be clearly-marked with large, bright signs—clear “you are here”-type signs— and easy-to-use maps. Prediction services should be reliable, not flashing “two minutes” for 10 minutes. Stations should be large, brightly lit structures that cater to whatever line they serve, not a signpost by the side of the road where two or three lines stop with no distinction.

SafeRide should function as a supplemental service to Greenies, not as their replacement late at night, even though SafeRide currently ends late at night itself. SafeRide is not a taxi service, but students treat it as such. It cannot efficiently take everyone it picks up to their own front door and be efficient and on time. What it can function as is akin to a paratransit system, that is an on-call service for students in extraneous circumstances that need to get somewhere where the one to two block trip from Greenie stop to front door is out of reach, whether due to the late hour, outof-the-way location or inability to do so.

These are only some suggestions. The potential conflict of interest in Standard Parking running transit services should be looked into; their mission statement concerns cars, not people and transit. An entire Civil Engineering department exists at CWRU to rely on. The usual excuses offered by administration, such as lack of money and time, wear thin when students already shell out such high tuition and parking fees. If we can think beyond the car, we can get there.

Zak Khan doesn’t even go here anymore, but they have a lot feelings and angry barking.

the observer

established in 1969 by the undergraduate students of case western reserve university executive editor & publisher KATHLEEN WIESER director of design MEREDITH DYKEHOUSE director of print MIKE MCKENNA director of web & multimedia JESSICA YANG director of business operations TAYLOR MORAN advertising & marketing manager COLE MORRIS account manager MARCUS GUTIERREZ news editor JULIA BIANCO a&e editor ANNE NICKOLOFF opinion editor AQUENE KIMMEL sports editor JP O’HAGAN advisor BERNIE JIM multimedia editor HARSHA CHANDUPATLA news layout CHRISTINA CHENG web editor JOE SATTERFIELD a&e layout ROBERT BROWN copy editors MARIA FAZAL sports layout AMANDA LI ADITHI IYENGAR opinion layout BETH MAGID

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Role model madness A third alternative Current adventure: Case Heather O’Keeffe For the past week, the nation has been swept up into a craze of basketball madness.

The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championships have captivated the country, and for a fortnight, all eyes will be on young men dueling it out on the hardwood.

Children will recreate buzzer beaters on their backyard hoops, Case Western Reserve University kids will try out the moves they’ve watched on TV and middle aged men at rec centers across America will reminisce about the time the almost committed to a Division I basketball program.

We will emulate Jahlil Okafor’s post moves in the paint and Frank Kaminsky’s all-around shooting ability. However we can’t forget that Okafor and Kaminsky, the two best college players in the tournament, are just 19 and 21, respectively.

As sports enthusiasts, we often expect perfection from athletes off the court just as much we expect it on the court. We don’t expect perfection from 19 and 21 year olds at CWRU, or anyone for that matter. Then why do we hold athletes to an expectation of perfection off the court? They are humans after all—physically talented humans, but humans nonetheless.

Oftentimes we are quick to judge athletes without understanding the environment they live in. Athletes may be human, but they live a very different life than the average Joe. Division I athletes must balance workouts, practices and meetings while somehow fitting in a full course load.

Then professional athletes suddenly come into a large sum of money and have no knowledge of finances or proper savings. So why are we so quick to criticize when a retired football player files for bankruptcy? They live highly regimented, restricted lifestyles to attain competition-ready perfection. So why did the media have a circus when Michael Phelps chose to kick back with a bong?

As a society, we place too much pressure on our athletes, and much of it doesn’t make sense. They choose to pursue careers in football, basketball, swimming, tennis, etc. We choose that their personal life be as flawless as their spiral.

In 1993 Charles Barkley penned and starred in a Nike commercial titled “I am not a role model.” In the 30-second ad Barkley stated: “I am not paid to be a role model. I am paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court.

Parents should be role models.”

A scan through Barkley’s Wikipedia page makes a few things apparent: He was one of the greatest basketball players ever, he is now a successful basketball analyst and he has had several professional and personal missteps. During his career he was involved in many fights and during a game in 1991, accidentally spit on a young girl while aiming towards a heckler in the stands. Post-basketball Barkley has admitted to gambling issues and was convicted for drunk driving.

Barkley clearly has succumbed to human imperfection as we all do. Should this discredit his basketball abilities and 15 years as an analyst? Is it worth noting that Barkley reflected on the spitting incident and concluded that his priorities were too focused on winning at all costs, not on respecting the game he loved? Or that he is an outspoken supporter of marriage equality?

In separating athletes’ performance on the court from their personal lives, I am in no way condoning Ray Rice beating his wife unconscious or Oscar Pistorius firing shots through a door and murdering his girlfriend. Former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez should face trial for his actions, the same as anyone indicted for triple homicide. But let’s leave the judgment to the judges. As sports enthusiasts, let’s remain enthusiastic about sports and an athlete’s performance in sports.

Athletes should be respected for their hard work, determination and athletic performance. These attributes are role model-worthy when framed within the correct context. Let’s engage young people in frank discussions about what makes a role model. We can admire Pistorius’ ability to overcome his double amputation and compete at the Olympics or appreciate Okafor’s poise under the lights of The Dance as a freshman.

Respect athletes for what they are: athletes. Lower your off-court expectations and relieve the pressure on young athletes to be perfect in every aspect of their lives.

Stop vilifying athletes for being human, celebrate their success and watch March Madness unfold.

Heather O’Keeffe is a junior studying biomedical engineering and minoring in sports medicine. She’s rooting for the Badgers and Kaminsky to win The Dance (and her bracket). She likes reading the Genius.com annotations to Kendrick Lamar’s new album.

The elephant in the room Andrew Breland The title of this column, for the last three years, has been “The elephant in the room.”

As it pertains to campus, this title has always signaled that I write about topics seen and unseen that affect much of what happens on campus. To varying degrees, this is true. However an alternate meaning for this title could be the one we are accustomed to hearing. The elephant in the room is the issue very few, or no one, is talking about, but which is there and affects everything else.

Across the country, public intellectuals and common people alike have started a conversation about one of these issues.

The national media, college administrators, newspaper columnists, politicians and everyday individuals have begun to discuss why we still have a Greek system.

The reasons against it are many. Greeks nationally are more likely to party and binge drink. Stories about sexual assault allegations often begin with fraternities and sororities. Other accounts try to illustrate fraternities and sororities as shadow governors of some of the nation’s largest universities—Alabama and Penn State have been the subject of recent stories like this. To anyone outside the Greek system, it appears that fraternities and sororities contribute little to campus life.

However there are some things which Greek systems do well. Greeks are successful. Eighteen U.S. Presidents, nearly a third of Congress, and as many as 85 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are alumni of Greek organizations. In college, fraternity and sorority members maintain higher GPA than the campus average (this is true even at Case Western Reserve University) and contribute millions to philanthropy every year. It is both the good and the bad that all of us who choose to become Greek understand when we join.

But it’s also been a rough time to be Greek. Between allegations (now challenged and under significant review) of a gang rape at the University of Virginia to continued allegations of hazing and deaths, the Greek community is under attack.

Whether the experts cite statistics that apply specifically to us, or to our community nationwide, we all feel the pressure to validate our existence.

This might be strange, especially in the face of recent events and conversations.

This year Greek Life at CWRU set an “audacious” goal of having a campus that is 51 percent Greek. Greek Life here has taken a leading role in responding to sexual assault and developing a plan (which I do not necessarily endorse) in order to combat a perceived epidemic. On this campus Greeks graduate at a higher rate than non-Greeks, are more likely to be involved in leadership and student organizations than non-Greeks and are leading the nation in developing a “Culture of Care” within the Greek system and throughout the university.

We are defensive of our system though.

On Sunday, as any fraternity or sorority member will tell you, the opening speaker for this year’s Greek Week events challenged our existence. He applied statistics from national events and other schools to what we’re doing here. He encouraged us to try to set our own goals and focus on university-specific service and leadership criteria, while emphasizing that we are at risk because of other people’s actions at other schools. Most in the room during his talk, and anyone following the marvelous live blogging on Yik Yak (something I downloaded for the first time simply for this), understood that CWRU Greeks were offended by the comparison he was so wrongfully making between us and other schools.

Maybe the goals Greek Life has set are outrageous. I, even as a Greek student, am skeptical of and opposed to a campus that is 51 percent Greek. I am opposed to spending on expansions of our Greek system when classroom buildings and regular dormitories are falling down. But that’s not because the Greek system is morally wrong. There are real consequences—social and otherwise— of a majority Greek campus. However the alternative to accepting and supporting these goals is not a “tear it down” mentality so common in the national conversation. It’s simply complacency and contentedness.

Why do we have to be pushing for expansion? Why can’t we be happy with what we have? As one chapter returns to campus this semester after six years, and another new chapter charters here for the first time, it is a good thing to keep in mind. Why do we need to expand? Greek Life is an obvious boon to those that are in it. But implying that everyone should be Greek runs counter to our mission.

Andrew Breland is a weekly opinion columnist for The Observer. Contact him at awb69@case.edu.

Letter to the editor In response to “How do I adult?” and “When we’re too afraid to fight back” To the editor, Last week in “How do I adult? Case Western Reserve University doesn’t teach life skills,” Zak Kahn wrote, “Despite all of my schooling, I never learned how to function … No programs exist at CWRU to educate us on basic life skills.”

He goes on, “The truth is most CWRU kids, including me, are here because we could not function at any other university.

We are the kind of folks that eat ramen for a week straight because we have no meal plan and never learned how to shop for food.”

Does Kahn want home economics courses and field trips to the supermarket included in the general education requirements? That’s not the point of a formal college curriculum, and I’m sorry, but almost all of us are 18 years old, and a large number of us are over 21. We can buy tobacco, alcohol, go to bars and strip clubs and we have the possibility to buy a car or even a house on our own.

We are not kids; we are adults.

Life doesn’t care whether or not you know “how to adult.” Becoming an adult is a journey of trial and error mixed with (hopefully) learning from mistakes.

Becoming an adult means facing this reality and choosing to meet its challenge

by proactively working to remedy personal deficiencies. Asking for help or advice is okay, but only those who succeed should get a trophy.

Kahn’s desires sound like a throwback to women’s college curricula in the 1950s.

While his experiences are no doubt personally valid, we should all take offense to his claim that we are here because we are too dysfunctional to study or survive at another institution.

Does this count as discrimination, or I am a functioning college student who came here for many different reasons? If so when does this bias reporting system take off?

Jokes aside all of these concerns are indicative of larger issues that need to be addressed. This must be done with more than a bias reporting system. Of course discrimination is real and menacing, racism is alive and active and sexual misconduct is occurring. We meet these problems headon by talking about them and mobilizing against them, but mobilization doesn’t look like cliques on an elementary school playground; it looks like a critical dialogue to facilitate a meeting of minds.

Andrew Breland’s column, “When

we’re too afraid to fight back,” published Feb. 27, 2015, in this paper, received two letters to the editor and Kahn’s seemingly inspired column in response. I understand the concerns expressed in those pieces.

Breland’s piece, while not fully correct, is intriguing and situates the above commentary in a larger context.

Breland wrote, “It is far more likely that the university will overzealously attempt to come after instances of ‘discrimination,’ as if they feel they have a moral duty to protect their students from things they do not want to hear.”

Given all of the racial, sexual and socioeconomic class tensions, this institution has encountered this year, how is this statement untrue? The fact of the matter is CWRU has become a host for the virus of radical political correctness (PC).

A bias reporting system is not a bad thing, to be sure, but it should be established after the tough discussions are had. If it is used merely as a way to go running to someone to enforce your own subjective view of what should or should not be said or talked about, then our academic environment suffers.

CWRU systematically skirts the apparent disparities between the economic

haves and have-nots, underrepresented minorities and majority groups. Without having discussions on these issues in a safe, constructive and critical arena, a bias reporting system is like putting a Band-Aid on a broken spirit.

Part of this is the direct influence of an increasingly PC culture, but too much intellectual growth is sacrificed for political correctness. How can one effectively talk about race, LGBT issues, diversity and economic issues on campus if we are always worried about offending someone and being fearful of saying what we believe or think? Universities exist to have these discussions respectfully, not to avoid them behind the guise of political correctness rooted in fear.

I do acknowledge the presence of emotional triggers that may exist in matters such as these, but what Breland is saying is that facing our personal and social problems is the way to solve them like adults. I cannot disagree entirely with Breland despite how difficult facing adversity may be, because it’s time to grow the hell up.

Jacob Martin Senior

arts & entertainment Ex “Parks” star moves past the stache: Nick Offerman featured in UPB’s spring comedy show

Anne Nickoloff Arts & Entertainment Editor Nick Offerman waved Retta onto the Severance Hall stage at the end of his standup set on Friday, March 20. The audience immediately hushed, but a few seconds into his acoustic strumming, the room buzzed.

Suddenly most onlookers knew exactly what was happening.

With a slow clap emanating from much of the audience, a grandiose version of “5,000 Candles in the Wind” filled Severance Hall with the signature lyrics “Bye, bye Li’l Sebastian” sung by the enthusiastic “Parks and Recreation” fans in the room.

Offerman and Retta, both stars on “Parks and Recreation,” continuously referenced their television fame with small quips throughout the comedy show … especially during Retta’s set.

Retta seemed to embody her character on the show, Donna Meagle, as she snuck in the phrase “Treat yo’ self,” or told tales of a “Parks” group-text conversation. This part of the comedy show centered not necessarily on stand-up skills, but past fame.

For “Parks and Recreation” fans, this was hysterical. For attendees who were unfamiliar with the show, it was (luckily) still pretty funny.

Of course to the dismay of the NBC show’s fans, “Parks and Recreation” just wrapped up its final episode ever on Feb. 24, 2015. The question on everyone’s minds has been: Where do the stars go from here?

For Offerman and Retta, it brought them to Case Western Reserve University

for University Program Board’s Spring Comedian show, which is University Program Board’s highest-cost event of the entire school year. However with a new book due out in late May, Offerman himself is pushing off his role in “Parks and Recreation” with enough momentum to break out of just comedy and his character as Ron Swanson.

In an interview after the show, Offerman discussed “Gumption,” his latest novel about American heroes.

“It was really neat. Everybody turned out to be such a sweetheart. I chose them because one way or another, they were iconoclasts and sort of uniquely voiced artists who had achieved great success by not following the flock,” said Offerman. “I wish I could have written a book about each and every one of these people.”

Of course the book still incorporates some of Offerman’s humor. It’s going to be impossible for the actor to break entirely away from his comedic style. Just moments after speaking about his book on the Severance Hall stage, he mumbled to himself, “What the fuck is chalk?”, forgetting one of his prompts.

The crowd laughed nervously, and the laughter grew as Offerman worked his way away from talking about his not-as-funny book. But chalk? This was a question that remained in Offerman’s head even after the show.

The comedy show had its ups and its downs. And it had a lot of ups; when Offerman pointed out a ridiculous bit of poop-related Cleveland news in that week’s edition of The Observer, he had the crowd busting up. Plus the surprising twists and turns in

Comedy carnival

IMPROVment to host improv festival this weekend Mike McKenna Director of Print Improv comedy is set to sweep through the Tinkham Veale University Center Ballroom this Saturday, March 28, with IMPROVment hosting their biggest event of the year.

The Lake Effect Improv Festival will feature performances from four improv comedy troupes from colleges across Ohio in addition to IMPROVment. Two of them, Fishbowl Improv and 8th Floor Improv, hail from The Ohio State University. Kid Business calls Oberlin College home, while the Bowling Green State University’s “Star Trek” inspired troupe the Plastic Shatners rounds out the lineup.

Each group will perform for roughly 20 minutes. Kicking off at 7 p.m., performances will last until about 9:30 p.m.

Free food, catered by Bon Appétit, is available at intermission, and each guest gets a coupon for a dollar off any Jolly Scholar drink.

The festival is in its fourth year this year and hopes to draw its biggest crowd yet.

According to junior Joe Fennimore, IMPROVment president, the troupe hopes to draw 300 people to the event. Fennimore says that attendance has been over 200 individuals in previous years, when the event was held in Harkness Chapel.

The event has been moved to the new university center, since IMPROVment no longer has any music majors in their cast.

They were the only ones who were able to reserve Harkness for free. Fennimore also noted that IMPROVment had a good

experience performing in the space earlier this year.

The group is hoping to surround the stage with chairs on three sides, sort of like their home: the Eldred Blackbox Theatre.

Fennimore added that style of setup brings a lot of audience energy to the show.

“It’s always the number one thing I miss when we’re doing special events like this,” he said.

IMPROVment will focus on its musical talents for the show, performing games including hoedown, a square dance song featuring four lines to a verse and no chorus, and an Irish drinking song, where performers sing about a subject one line at a time. “[Our musical games] are really something which distinguishes from other troupes,” Fennimore noted.

Sophomores Jonah Roth and Zach Palumbo are the two cast members who serve as piano accompanists for the group. Roth said that what makes improvising unique and challenging is that it gives the troupe the opportunity to show off a different type of talent.

“In some ways, improvising music to a game is very similar to improvising a character,” Roth said. “The rule of ‘yes, and’ also applies to music: If something happens in a scene or in a song, the music has to reflect that, and if the music changes then so should the scene. But it also requires a different skill set: creative rhyming, making up tunes to match the music, maintaining a story through all of this and of course for me and Zach, composing entire songs on the spot.”

his “Rainbow Song” offered a pro-tip for any songwriters in the audience: “If you end sweetly, you can say that you butt-fuck her in the middle of the song, and people will still say ‘aww’ at the end.”

Plus it’d be hard to deny Retta’s hilarious and impressive opera singing, which wrapped up her entire show, especially with her final, sassy exit from the stage.

But the show had its downs. Offerman’s references to a racist plaque in Pennsylvania fell flat with the Cleveland-based crowd, and Retta’s constant race humor became a little overbearing at times. A questionable moment ensued when Offerman pretended to unzip his

pants to urinate on the floor of Severance Hall.

And then there was the neverending question: “What the fuck is chalk?” Was this a real question in Offerman’s head, or was it a clever ruse to get a few laughs out of the audience?

We’ll never know. Regardless of its low moments, the show had plenty of highs.

When Retta complained about fast-food restaurants, we felt anger with her.

When Offerman giggled his hilariously boisterous laugh, we couldn’t help but laugh along.

And when it came time to sing with the two comedians in Severance Hall, the audience sang too.

What it’s like to be insulted by Nick Offerman in front of the whole school Julia Bianco News Editor True life: Nick Offerman called me out on stage in front of the entire school. He mispronounced my last name, questioned my integrity and insulted my grammar. And it was awesome.

In my long (two-year) career as a journalist, I’ve faced lots of criticism. A comment on a “The Voice” recap that I wrote for an entertainment news website said that I was the reason the Muslims hate America. Yik Yak is frequently the host of Observer hate, with people questioning our fact-checking abilities, our journalistic integrity and our right to free speech in the last week alone. And, in the best insult I’ve had of them all, comedian Hannibal Buress called me boring.

The degree of hurt associated with all these insults varied. The comment on my “The Voice” article was virtually painless, even humorous really. The Yik Yak comments hurt more. We work hard to put together a paper every week, and yes, sometimes things slip through the cracks, but I like to think we do a good job. Burress’ comment didn’t hurt at all. It was like Regina George punched me in the face—awesome.

Offerman calling me out felt like a mix of those last two. Yes, it sucked that my writing ability was questioned on stage in front of thousands of people, but it was questioned by Nick Offerman, so who the hell cares? Typos happen. Ron Swanson reading my article out loud on stage? That doesn’t happen.

So sure, I wish we had proofread a little better, but even then it was totally worth it.

A conversation with Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart Roy Chan Staff Reporter How would you prepare for prison?

That’s the dilemma James King (Will Ferrell) finds himself in, in the new film, “Get Hard.” King feels unprepared to his coming 10-year sentence. He hires his friend, Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart)—whom James wrongly assumes has been to prison—to teach him how to survive life behind bars.

I had the chance to learn more about Ferrell’s and Hart’s thoughts on “Get Hard” in a conference call with other college reporters.

Question: Why is it important to have the ability to laugh at some of the serious social tensions you touch on in “Get Hard?”

Will Ferrell: I think it’s just a great way to … explore our differences; once you kind of get through the chatter, how silly we all are. And you kind of … examine through the filter of comedy. You’re just able to point out how silly these attitudes are that seem to pop up from time to time.

Kevin Hart: Well, I can’t say it better than that.

Q: What was it like working with your director, Etan Cohen, given that it was his first time directing?

WF: It was a great experience working with Etan. We surrounded him with a really good team in terms of first AD [assistant director] and director of photography and all the key department heads. So he was allowed to just do what his strong point is, which is monitoring the comedy, and it’s a real benefit when you get to have the writers strong as Etan feed-

ing you extra jokes and that sort of thing.

KH: We got lucky. We got a guy who was a first-time director but he’s been behind the camera. I liked where he soaked up some knowledge. He was protected with a team of producers who knew what they were doing as well. And I think all in all, everyone helped each other, and Etan’s confidence grew as the movie progressed. And we got a final product because of it, so I take my hat off to him. He did a good job.

Q: Were there any prison movies or television shows that were inspiring you or anything that helped you prepare for the roles?

KH: For me yeah. I watched a lot of “Mask” and “Sanford and Son.” It kind of put me in a position to where I [would come] into the set every day and not only work, but bring something to the table, and I don’t know the last time you watched “Mask,” but ...

WF: I watched a lot of shows on the cooking channel. It didn’t help me at all. It was a waste of time, and if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have watched those shows.

Q: If you guys had to team up again and remake any classic comedy, which one would you like to do?

KH: “Turner & Hooch.”

WF: Kevin’s choice is “Turner & Hooch.”

KH: “Turner & Hooch” would be amazing.

WF: I believe that Tom Hanks was the dog, right?

KH: Yeah, and if you think you’re playing Hooch, you’re wrong.

WF: What would be my choice? Oh, remake of a classic comedy? “Kramer vs.

Kramer.”

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Celebrating Cleveland’s finest fashions Cleveland Fashion Week’s runway events show off city style

Allison Duchin Staff Reporter Fashion Week Cleveland closed out this past Saturday night, March 21, with its final event, the runway shows. It was a night of beautiful, glitzed-up gowns worn by both the models and the audience, as Cleveland’s fashion-minded pulled out all the stops. With eight talented designers showing collections of at least eight pieces each, Cleveland debuted what the city has to offer to the fashion world.

The event began with a reception at The Arcade downtown, where guests with VIP status were able to have complimentary champagne and small appetizers, browse some of the merchandise and bid on the silent raffle. The raffle highlighted how much of a community event Fashion Week in Cleveland really is; nearly all of the prizes were donated by local enterprises, including but not limited to the following: The Cleveland Browns, The Cleveland Cavaliers, The Cleveland Indians and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which donated a guitar signed by all of The Rolling Stones.

As guests poured into the area surrounding the makeshift runway, one of the founders, Donald Shingler, spoke about the reasons for Fashion Week Cleveland. The 11-year tradition has gained success in its ultimate mission of making a retail district in downtown Cleveland.

Alumni of Case Western Reserve University, Christine DeBaz and Jackie Cheng, were active volunteers for the event this year and highlighted the sense of community that surrounds the event. They both said that they most enjoyed befriending other volunteers and event workers.

When it came time for the actual fashion shows around 10:30 p.m., a total of eight designers got their chance to pres-

ent their work, some for the first time ever.

This year’s designers included Victoria Cohen, DeAndre Crenshaw, Johnathan Dembowski, Christian and Christopher Lett, Cora Mercer, Chikondi Butao Mielemba, Bridgette Schriner and “Project Runway” designer Althea Harper. All designers had varying aesthetic and varied from men’s to women’s wear. Cohen and Lett were the youngest of the designers and are still attending high school.

Some notable collections were those of Mielemba, Crenshaw and Harper. These designers had immaculately polished looks, each portraying a different aesthetic.

Harper’s model was a free spirit, confident in her sensuality. The simplicity of the design only highlighted her unique pieces, which included loose silhouettes as well as fun and flirty colors that included light pale blue patterns and vibrant pinks.

Mielemba, a designer from Africa who is quickly gaining recognition in the U.S., had a starkly different design mentality.

The woman she dressed in her collection was similarly strong like Harper’s, but this was highlighted with sharp clean lines and more structural designs. This idea of power was often juxtaposed against some of the bindings she placed in interesting locations on her garments, such as the back of an extreme high-low top and the legs of her cropped pants. The strategic placement of the visually constraining fabrics effectively gave the model a strong identity of power.

Crenshaw’s collection is best described as a collaboration of the previous points of view. Crenshaw used highly feminine fabrics in his eveningwear collection, many of which played with sheerness and handmade textures. This femininity of the fabrics was contrasted with the strong emotional sense of independence and strength from the formfitting structure of the garments.

After the show, Crenshaw was able to

April Spot Night previews Temi Omilabu Staff Reporter April 2: Joywave with opener Night Terrors of 1927 This band from Rochester, NY is known for their indie sound mixed with an electronic flare. Their single, “Dangerous” found itself on top of the Alternative Billboard chart in 2014, and their collaboration with KOPPS on “Tongues” pushed them even more toward their fame. In fact, they even made their latenight TV debut on Late Night with Seth Meyers in the summer of 2014.

Their opener, Night Terrors of 1927 has toured with other Spot Night hits like Bad Suns, and they just finished up a successful tour that ended at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Their sound is pop and indie influenced, and you may recognize their hit song “Dust and Bones.”

April 9: Young Rising Sons Young Rising Sons is an alternative band hailing from New Jersey. Lead guitarist Dylan Scott, bassist Julian Dimagiba and drummer Steve Patrick started off jamming together years ago in Red Bank, New Jersey. After watching Andy Tongren perform in a bar in New York City, they decided to approach him about being the lead singer of their band. The four men joined forces, pulling their musical influence from Queen, Rancid and Tom

Petty and The Heartbreakers, and created a unique sound that perfectly captures the personality of their band. Their debut single, “High,” is the perfect song for a hyped Thursday night.

April 16: Goldlink This 21-year-old DMV rapper explains his philosophy with a quote from his SoundCloud: “The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God.” His debut album, “The God Complex,” explores ideas of striving to perfection and the perfect idea of “God.” His sound has been described as soulful rap with an upbeat sound and provoking lyrics. He has some songs you just want to dance to, and some songs you just listen to and think about. This underground rapper has received positive reviews from popular music sites like Complex and Pitchfork, and he’s mustering more and more attention with every energetic show.

April 23: Jukebox the Ghost This three-member pop group from D.C. has been touring around the U.S., wowing audiences with their energy and spunk. They have made an appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman, opened for Barenaked Ladies, and recently signed with Cherrytree Records.

They are embarking on a 30-stop tour this summer.

speak firsthand on what he wanted his designs to represent.

“My influence was life and growth; growing into something that you couldn’t have possibly dreamt of,” he said.

This is a reflection of his own growth in the last year, as he has had to push himself to achieve his dream after having to leave school. He decided not to let his current limitations stop him from going after what he really wanted to do, something he seems to have achieved last Saturday.

Fashion Week Cleveland has only grown

in popularity and size in its 11 years of existence. It was regarded by Women’s Wear Daily, the premier fashion industry newspaper as “the nation’s third largest fashion week after New York and Los Angeles.”

Event: Cleveland Fashion Week runway shows Date: March 21 Location: Cleveland Arcade, 401 Euclid Ave.

Courtesy Heidi Langer of Langer Marketing At Cleveland Fashion Week’s runway shows, DeAndre Crenshaw’s pink dresses emphasized femininity, whereas Althea Harper’s blue dress showed off free spiritedness.

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“Code Name S.T.E.A.M.” shows Nintendo is not out of ideas Brian Sherman Staff Reporter Nintendo is well known for their longstanding franchises, with their last new series being the Wii Sports games in 2006. As such, to cynics, it may seem that Nintendo lacks innovation.

It seems “Code Name S.T.E.A.M.” for Nintendo 3DS hopes to change that notion.

The premise of “Code Name S.T.E.A.M.” alone is one of the most unique concepts you’ll ever see. Set in a steampunk Victorian era, the game features a series of characters from classic American literature assembled

by Abraham Lincoln himself to fight against an alien invasion. The art style is similar to comic books, complete with comic bookstyle text boxes in cutscenes, the dialogue is extremely patriotic and over the top and there is a gigantic steam-powered Abraham Lincoln mecha (piloted by none other than President Lincoln himself).

And yes, believe it or not, this game was actually made in Japan.

The gameplay, compared to the game’s premise, is much less unique. Players will control up to four characters at a time in a turn-based, third person strategy game, similar to the likes of “Valkyria Chronicles” or “X-COM: Enemy Unknown.” The unlikely source of steam is used for both moving and

shooting, and recharges at the beginning of your turn. Steam can also be saved up at the end of your turn to be used to counter attack an enemy on their turn.

The characters are quite varied and unique, each drawing from a different source of early American literature. Henry Fleming from “The Red Badge of Courage” wields a powerful Eagle Rifle that fires three-round bursts, Tiger Lily from “Peter Pan” is light on her feet and brings a healing Medi-Mortar into battle, Tom Sawyer from “Tom Sawyer” is nimble but weak and wields a tricky punch gun that can stun enemies and the no longer cowardly Lion from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” has extremely high health and can leap onto enemies with his Lion Launcher.

Several other characters from various turn of the century literary sources also appear, each with his or her own unique weapon.

There are a large variety of secondary weapons and boilers as well. There’s the standard shotgun and rifle, but there is also a steam-powered crossbow with extremely powerful critical hits, a banana launcher that trips up enemies and a medi gun that fires long-range healing projectiles. Boilers provide agents with various abilities, can boost both offensive and defensive stats and change the amount of steam generated in each turn.

The missions themselves, however, are much less varied. Though the environments

CWRU Thoughts Maria Fazal Copy Editor The Case Western Reserve University community is known for thinking beyond the possible. Each week, this column aims to capture a slice of campus life.

Q: How did you get to this point in your life?

A: In high school, I would hear stereotypes about Asians, like that they aren’t social, sporty and that all they do is study. I spent a lot of my high school life trying to defy those stereotypes. I based my identity on sports and socializing—I was still a good student. Coming into CWRU, I wanted to do the most anti-Asian major possible, and I did not want to be pre-med, because that’s the stereotype. I wanted to major in music and foreign languages, but reality hit me pretty hard when I started majoring in music and wasn’t doing well. I just remember putting in so many extra hours, like waking up at 5 a.m. every day. I put in so many hours and wasn’t getting any fruit, and everyday I was so exhausted in my major.

But the one thing that stood out to me was science, specifically chemistry.

In high school, I hated it, but my neighbor in college asked me to help her with chemis-

Stephanie Kim/Observer try. I told her I’d try to help but wouldn’t be able to do much. I started to help her out with chemistry and started to realize that I actually learn the best when I teach others. People ask me questions, which makes me think about the problem in ways I’ve never thought about it before. Since then I started tutoring people in chemistry, just helping people out. I changed my major to chemical biology, pre-med. I started to realize that science is really my calling. If it wasn’t for the teaching, I wouldn’t be in my major now. I started caring less that it was an “Asian major” as my undergrad went on. Everyone has their gifts for a reason, and it’s best if you can use them to help others out.

are pretty good, the main objective is almost always simply reaching the end goal or occasionally beating the stage boss. Including objectives such as getting a certain number of kills or surviving for a given number of turns would have provided more variety.

Another disappointing part of the game involves the strategy aspect itself. Unlike Intelligent Systems’ other famous turn-based strategy series, “Fire Emblem,” which is viewed entirely from an overhead perspective, “Code Name S.T.E.A.M.” takes place from the much more limited third person perspective of each of your squad members, which can be disorientating when trying to find a certain path to get to the exit, or the exit itself. Additionally the enemy turns take quite some time, and even the hidden fast forward toggle doesn’t seem to do much.

Still these nitpicks don’t take much away from this breath of fresh air, not only to the turn-based strategy genre, but to the world

of games in general. The game is a bit rough around the edges and at times can seem a bit time-consuming, but it is nonetheless enjoyable when executing a complex strategy. The setting and characters are intriguing, and the premise alone really needs to be seen to be believed.

It’s unlikely that players were crying out for a game featuring the likes of Abraham Lincoln and American literature in a steampunk setting, but it seems Nintendo knows how to give players something amazing they never knew they wanted.

Game: “Code Name S.T.E.A.M.” Genre: Strategy Developer: Intelligent Systems Publisher: Nintendo Release: March 13, 2015 Rating:

A change of pace Lotus twists musical tones at latest Cleveland show Josie Krome Staff Reporter There’s something about the House of Blues, with its intimate small setting and the painted banner above the stage proclaiming “Unity in Diversity,” that just sets a tone of fellowship.

When the jamtronica band, Lotus, along with opener Broccoli Samurai, rolled into town for a concert at the House of Blues on March 8, there was definitely a feeling of warmth among fellow concertgoers. When Broccoli Samurai took the stage, many people were still filtering into the venue, or still deciding on their drinks at the bar and making conversation.

Though the dance floor was thin to start, when the four-man band asked if anyone had seen their Columbus show the night before, the majority answered in affirmation. Broccoli Samurai, a Cleveland based band, played smooth rhythms paired with light vocals, pulling inspiration from various musical styles including funk, electronica and rock and roll.

As the crowd filled in more, there was swaying to the relaxing music. A group of three, wearing space cats shirts and shimmering metallic fabric space helmets (you had to be there to understand) steadily wobbled and rocked to the music in their own corner of the dance floor. Broccoli Samurai has their own loyal following, and it showed with many of the crowd greeting each other with a sense of community. Broccoli Samurai strived to bring smiles to the dance floor and succeeded in their mission.

After a brief intermission, Lotus took center stage. By this time, the House of Blues was packed and vibrating in anticipation for the headliner. Like they did with Broccoli Samurai, many in the crowd followed them from another concert in Columbus on the previous night. Lotus started

Josie Krome/Observer Lotus and Broccoli Samurai both performed a psychedelic, varied show for an audience of dedicated fans over Spring Break. out with some more laid-back music to set the tone for the gathering. With the aid of well-choreographed lights and atmospheric dance music, Lotus took the night.

As the night progressed, the muted scent of marijuana got stronger, and the dance floor packed more and more amicable concertgoers together. On the second floor balcony area, two young girls dressed in rainbow and tie-dye danced interpretively with scarves and ribbons.

Lotus’ tone developed from a swaying rhythm to a jumping dance beat. The floor was filled with leaping bodies, all without the intense pushing and shoving in regular to rougher mosh pits. After a short intermission, Lotus continued on through the night.

I was unable to get the full experience of the show, as I had to leave the concert early. Still I know that Lotus definitely knows how to work a crowd and layer their music choices in a way that moves the tone of the concert from laid-back to pumped up.

Since their performance in Cleveland, Lotus has added more cities to their already successful tour.

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Tawny Bragg (MEM 2011) “I decided on the MEM program to help me get on the fast track to my goals in corporate America.”

Laura Smith (MEM 2012) “I had seven job offers before graduation; I wouldn’t be where I am had I not pursued the MEM at CWRU.”

Ben Kramer (MEM 2004) “The MEM’s entrepreneurship course gave me an edge in starting and selling my own company.”

Playlist of the Week

Teddy Eisenberg Staff Reporter

Hailing from Cincinnati, Electric Citizen pumps out the kind of galloping, riff-heavy rock that will send you back to the 70s in a leatherclad time machine. With an accompanying music video on the psychedelic side of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid,” “Light Years Beyond” is essential viewing and listening from the group’s year-old debut album, “Sateen.” Ozzy wishes he were still as cool as vocalist Laura Dolan and her banshee wail. Look for Electric Citizen at Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern March 27. Tickets are $8.

“Pedestrian At Best”—Courtney Barnett

Courtney Barnett’s first full-length debut album, “Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit” is a rare piece that at once honors the sounds of underground garage rock without feeling at all beholden to them. Barnett’s thick Australian accent is indisputably the star of the urgent “Pedestrian At Best,” giving an extra punch to each of her sly lyrical lines. “Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit” is available on Mom + Pop Music March 24.

Melissa Paradise-Arnett (MEM 2008) “I was one step ahead of my colleagues with similar engineering backgrounds.”

MASTER OF ENGINEERING & MANAGEMENT DEGREE: April 15 Application Deadline

Want to learn more?

Open House – Tues. 3/31

“Joke”—Chastity Belt “Joke” in many ways can be used to describe Chastity Belt’s understated approach to punk rock. Hiding humor and sarcasm under waves of Sonic Youth-esque guitar and vocalist Julia Shapiro’s unrefined croon, “Joke” is one of the many standout racks on the all-girl quartet’s latest album, “Time To Go Home,” building over the course of five minutes into an explosion of guitar bliss. “Time To Go Home” is available March 24 on Sub Pop Records.

“Can’t Deny My Love”— Brandon Flowers It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that the Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers is a fan of 80s music. The sounds of Duran Duran and The Cars have always been elementary in Flowers’ songwriting, and his new single, “Can’t Deny My Love,” is no exception. Blending the smooth funk of disco with gospel influences, this song is a thoroughly enjoyable homage to the lasting effects of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” on pop music. Flower’s second solo album, “The Desired Effect,” will hit record stores on May 19.

“How Can I”—Laura Marling

Nord 356 from 6 to 7:30pm MEM & You: Career Opportunities in Engineering & Management

Of all the voices in contemporary folk music, Laura Marling’s is perhaps the most unique, emphasizing character over ability in a way that recalls a younger Bob Dylan. The similarities to Dylan don’t stop there, with “How Can I” weaving an intricate narrative of travel and love over breathtaking lines of acoustic guitar. Look for more Laura Marling on her latest album, “Short Movie,” available March 24 on Ribbon Music.

with MEM alumni panel

RSVP to Ramona.David@case.edu

Dinner and Discussion

Top 5 Reasons to Earn Your MEM 1) Earn while you learn with paid internship opportunities 2) Obtain a graduate degree in just one year 3) Individualized coaching 4) Accelerate your career growth and earning potential 5) Make yourself marketable — the engineer’s answer to an MBA Stop by the MEM office and mention this ad to receive a treat.

“Light Years Beyond”—Electric Citizen

Retro Pick of the Week:

“I’m Going Home”—Ten Years After Live from Woodstock, Ten Years After’s “I’m Going Home” is one of the most electrifying performances ever caught on tape thanks to the singing and guitar-playing prowess of Alvin Lee. In an era before “shred” guitar, Lee was the fastest around, racing through this iconic riff at lightning speed. The true magic begins however when the crowd takes over and claps all the way through a medley of rockabilly classics that includes “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Mean Woman Blues” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” Music, live or otherwise, has rarely sounded better, and “I’m Going Home” is just one of many reasons Woodstock is remembered the way it is.

Find all these tracks online with our weekly Spotify playlist at observer.case.edu Teddy Eisenberg is a third-year programmer at WRUW-FM 91.1 Cleveland. He hosts The ’59 Sound, an exploration of rock music, every Thursday morning from 8-10 a.m.. and co-hosts the variety talk show Max and Teddy in the Morning at Night (Sometimes) on Mondays from 5-6 p.m. The crackle of vinyl warms him on cold Cleveland nights.

All photos courtesy ridingeasyrecords.com genius.com freemusicarchive.org prettymuchamazing.com consequenceofsound.net ektorasclub.blogspot.com

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Walk the Moon coming soon Show with The Griswolds sold out Anne Nickoloff Arts & Entertainment Editor Walk the Moon is known for its wild fanbase, who show up in hordes, faces painted, for the band’s shows all around the world.

But Walk the Moon’s sheer amount of soldout shows is still pretty astounding.

As of press time, the next 10 Walk the Moon concerts were sold out, including the ninth venue on that list: Cleveland’s own House of Blues. Further along the tour schedule, an additional 17 concerts were sold out and offered only resale tickets.

The sold-out status hasn’t deterred Case Western Reserve University students from trying to find tickets. This past week, a handful of posts appeared on the “Free & For Sale” Facebook group, inquiring for cheap tickets to the concert. Originally priced at $34 through the House of Blues website, the tickets soon grew to three times that cost on Ticketmaster, and students have been searching for a cheaper price.

The concert might be worth the extra chunk of change, though. Walk the Moon’s energetic set will be matched with Australian pop-rock openers The Griswolds. “We’re so excited,” said Tim John, bassist of The Griswolds. “All the shows have been excellent.”

Supporting Walk the Moon on their latest tour, The Griswolds have been able to experience the fandom surrounding the band and the results of sold-out shows.

“Collectively we all agree, [Walk the Moon] are such a great professional band.

We’re trying to learn as much as we can from them,” said John. “Their fans are just awesome. They’re obsessed with Walk the Moon.

Everything’s so positive.”

As for the ticket sale predicament, John believes that while Walk the Moon could charge more per ticket and make more of a profit off each show, it’s a “good move” that they stick with their original ticket price. This is espe-

cially apparent, given that Walk the Moon’s primary fanbase is college-aged students.

Of course Walk the Moon is not the only reason to see the show. The Griswolds made an almost instantaneous rise to fame after releasing “Be Impressive” last year. Their song “Beware the Dog” has earned significant playtime on popular radio stations in the U.S., and the band’s indie partying music has steadily grown in popularity.

“Coming over here [to the U.S.] is like a new start,” said John. “This is one of the longest tours we’ve done.”

According to John, the music in Australia is a different scene entirely. With fewer radio stations and outlets for musicians to become large, The Griswolds found fame in other areas of the world just as quickly as they did at home.

“Over here it’s a different ball game,” said John. “You can go from Los Angeles to New York and basically just start again.”

After the recent news of the Netflix launch in Australia, The Griswolds responded positively. “We all were very, very happy,” said John. “It’s strange because we have one of the highest illegal downloading rates in the world … we’re finally catching up to the rest of the world.”

However it doesn’t seem like The Griswolds are catching up; they’re forging a new path. Writing on the road has been difficult, but not impossible for the Australian fourpiece band. While their tour supporting Walk the Moon primarily focuses on well-known songs from “Be Impressive,” the band will be embarking on their own headlining tour in mid-June. This tour will include new music The Griswolds have been working on while on the road.

Check out The Griswolds and Walk the Moon at House of Blues next week (if you can snag a ticket at a non-astronomical price) or check in at The Observer for a concert review the week after the show.

Style spotlight: Heather Hahn Allison Duchin Staff Reporter Before going to Los Angeles and becoming a celebrity stylist and renowned fashion blogger, Heather Hahn was a member of the Cleveland community.

Growing up in Westlake, Ohio, Hahn felt her creative outlet was fostered through fashion by being surrounded by a community of people and friends that held artistic values of self-expression.

Her self-proclaimed style was a mixture of “bubbly and edgy.” She said her style has developed from her emotions, moods and personality over the years, and from her joyful tone, her style appears to be an obvious manifestation of her overall jubilant personality.

Hahn always tries to have her clothes make her feel happy about herself and the person she is presenting to others around her. Her main style advice is applicable to all times in life: “Wear what makes you happy.”

While Hahn’s ties to Cleveland and the Midwest are strong due to her past, she did not think she could accomplish what she wanted to in this setting. She decided that she would move to the coast and felt a special pull to Los Angeles as she applied to school with special fashion education departments and ties to the industry. This was her time to get away, as she was working on getting an education in her field of interest and discovering and developing her independence.

Hahn’s first main profession in the fashion industry was styling for a variety of clients, including celebrities. One of the mentalities she picked up from styling was her tendency to ignore trends saturated in the market, instead focus-

ing on her style or the style of the client.

While styling she was asked to manage blogs and webpages of others she worked with and soon discovered her talent.

Although Hahn tries to avoid trends, when asked what her favorite trend for the upcoming season was, Hahn’s favorites included kimono-style draper jackets and jumpsuits.

Transitioning to blogging was complex because Hahn said she was still doing a lot of styling at the time. However the blog, titled “Chiffon Souffle,” soon became a new focus for her. “I really enjoy the soufflés at Panera and always thought it would be good in a name,” she said.

By pairing two things Heather innately loved, her soufflés and fashion, she inevitably differentiated her blog among the dime-a-dozen fashion blogs that exist on the internet. Hahn says her blog is more of a lifestyle publication than any one thing specifically; she likes to incorporate travel, food, health and other elements that might be identifiable in the lives that her readers live.

Blogging has been one of the most rewarding things that Hahn has accomplished thus far in her early career. She finds her work meaningful because she enjoys helping and inspiring others to share their own voices and points of view.

While enjoying her work as a blogger immensely, Hahn stated that eventually she would like to have a line. Currently she has a line with My Jewel Bar, an online fashion jewelry retailer, as one of their highlighted stylists. As Hahn pursues her dreams in fashion, she advises others in all fields to explore all possibilities within industries and offers a tip: “Find creative ways to push your dreams one step further.”

Kendrick Lamar unleashes artistic metamorphosis with “To Pimp A Butterfly” Teddy Eisenberg Staff Reporter In many ways, Kendrick Lamar’s second masterwork, “To Pimp A Butterfly,” is the antithesis of the modern rap album. Clocking in at a sprawling hour and 19 minutes in length and featuring very few of the bravado-heavy singles we have come to know and often love in hip-hop (save the funky gem, “King Kunta,” which comes off sounding like a swaggering Parliament-Funkadelic cover of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal”), the music here is dense, complicated and best approached as a cohesive listening experience.

These attributes may make the record unappealing to some, but the album’s complexity is admirable, as is Lamar’s ability to follow his own trippy muse wherever it may lead. Nowhere is this more evident than on tracks like “u,” which sounds like a broken medley of twisted pop songs, or “How Much A Dollar Cost,” a narrative that shows the rapper at his philosophical best. Telling the story of a homeless man that challenges Lamar for not giving him change, Lamar retreats into himself, trying to justify his selfishness over the lines of a haunting piano progression. In a twist of fate, the homeless man reveals himself to be God. Instead of shaming the rapper, he reminds Lamar that his

“potential is bittersweet.”

That potential is the fundamental focus of “To Pimp A Butterfly.” When taken at face value, “Butterfly” is a very different album than “good kid, m.A.A.d. city” or even “Section.80.” It is not meant to be a banger of a rap album that sounds great blasting from your car with the windows down in summer. Instead it is an internal odyssey through one man’s insecurities and fears in realizing his dreams. In spite of his success, Lamar is plagued not only by issues of philosophy and religion, but about how his fear of failure intertwines with his conceptions of race and ambition in America.

These complex issues are at play in “Wesley’s Theory” and “The Blacker The Berry,” two of the most powerful songs on this record. The former, produced by experimental musician Flying Lotus, examines the ways in which American society aims to tempt the ambition of Lamar, with Uncle Sam ultimately trying to sabotage the young black man’s success with tax evasion charges. By drawing a comparison between himself and the demise of Wesley Snipes, Lamar comes to a stark conclusion: America will attempt to sabotage your success, especially if you are African American.

“The Blacker The Berry” is far less delicate in its delivery, as Lamar venomously spits: “You hate me don’t you? You hate my people, your plan is to terminate my culture.” Confronting race relations

in America, Lamar claims that American culture and its systematic discrimination is responsible for black-on-black violence. He is not blameless, however, as Lamar claims that he is the “biggest hypocrite of 2015” for having killed a black man himself. The listener is thrown right into the center of Lamar’s struggle, forced to confront the injustices of a society that has systematically turned him against members of his own community.

In the end, Lamar is caught trying to reconcile weeping for the death of Trayvon Martin and his own murderous actions.

In the end, he can only acknowledge his own hypocrisy.

Even still the ghost of Tupac Shakur haunts Lamar more than his guilt on “To Pimp A Butterfly.” The album itself would be impossible to understand without acknowledging Tupac’s influence on Lamar, with the surprise-release of “Butterfly” coinciding perfectly with the 20th anniversary of Tupac’s “Me Against The World.” Thankfully the hero-worship doesn’t stop there, as the undisputed highlight of the album, “Mortal Man,” is structured around an interview between Lamar and his mentor. For fans of Tupac, the exchange is a jarring reminder of the legendary musician’s dichotomous personality as both a poet and badass thug.

While rappers today generally fall into one of those two categories, Kendrick Lamar startles both to deliver a pure

artistic statement with “To Pimp A Butterfly.” While some moments may leave Lamar sounding unsure about his place in hip-hop, on its own terms, this album is a staggering piece of work that solidifies the rapper as one of the most important artists making music today.

Album: “To Pimp A Butterfly” Artist: Kendrick Lamar Release Date: March 16, 2015 Rating:

Courtesy Wikipedia Kendrick Lamar’s latest album, released out of nowhere last week, explores issues of race in America and shows off the rapper’s nonmainstream style.

fun

14 | fun page

COMICS

Ivory Tower

by Kevin Yong

Crossword Puzzle Across 1. Comforter 6. Camp beds 10. Shut 14. Lacquer ingredient 15. Astringent 16. Zero 17. Excellence 18. Devil tree 19. Burden 20. Not essential 22. Travel on foot 23. Excluding 24. Nun’s attire 26. Dormant 30. Expertise 32. Of a pelvic bone 33. Stated your beliefs 37. Tumbled 38. What a bee might do 39. Cable 40. Paginating 42. Tubular pasta 43. Daughter of a sibling 44. Profession 45. Confuse 47. Secret agent

48. Disparage 49. Remedy that alleviates pain 56. Cocoyam 57. Place 58. Indicates 59. Swarm 60. Biblical garden 61. Property claims 62. Backside 63. Writing table 64. Gladden Down 1. Greek territorial unit 2. Gorse 3. Green 4. Arab chieftain 5. Historic ship 6. Trainee 7. Hodgepodge 8. Ballet attire 9. Very good (British) 10. Snow thrower 11. Hawaiian veranda 12. Grownup 13. Disguise

3/20/15

21. A gesture of assent 25. Former boxing champ 26. Minor quarrel 27. Margarine 28. Small brook 29. The same backward as forward 30. Backbone 31. Monarch 33. Ear-related 34. 3 times 3 35. Sea eagle 36. Caribou 38. Anagram of “Depletes” 41. Be unwell 42. Due 44. Consumer Price Index 45. Birch relative 46. Guys 47. Walked stealthily 48. Bristle 50. Assistant 51. Dregs 52. Hard work 53. Bright thought 54. Blow off steam 55. Being

Observer staff applications are now open!

Apply now to be a member of next year’s Observer staff. Visit our website at observer.case. edu to submit your letter of intent by Wed. April 1. ;alskdjf al;skfj

We’re looking for members for our business, print, design and web and multimedia teams.

Questions? Email observer.case.edu

observer.case.edu

fun page | 15

Horoscopes Aries

(Apr. 19 - May 13) Always bake cookies for your Monday morning class.

This especially applies to those in ENGL 345.

Taurus

(May 14 - Jun. 19) Channel your inner squirrel and frolick in the spring.

Gemini

(Jun. 20 - Jul. 20) Don’t hide the body in the commuter lounge.

Cancer

(Jul. 21 - Aug. 9) About 20 percent if service was good.

Leo

(Aug. 10 - Sep. 15) Don’t keep a lion in the dorms.

Virgo

(Sep. 16 - Oct. 30) Now is not a good time to drop your phone. Try to wait until summer.

Nutcase

Libra

(Oct. 31 - Nov. 22) Since your classwork will keep you awake late enough to see all the stars anyway, you should really start using your star knowledge to write horoscopes.

Scorpio

(Nov. 23 - Nov. 29) Don’t forget to shower and brush your teeth.

Ophiuchus

(Nov. 30 - Dec. 17) Vary your insults. It prevents your enemies from getting too comfortable.

Sagittarius

(Dec. 18 - Jan. 18) Bring a water bottle and rest your head on it during class.

afternoon began cause change charm chief claim departures either expound friend hesitate homilies information manage

Wordsearch

Capricorn

mistress nature peace rasp regret source subsequent tiny totes tropic truce tutor verse yellow

(Jan. 19 - Feb. 15) Don’t make fun of your friends who are bad at sports. It makes them sad.

Aquarius

(Feb. 16 - Mar. 11) You should buy a tiny bottle of hot sauce to keep in your purse.

Pisces

(Mar. 12 - Apr. 18) A good way to relax is to not do homework. Finals coming up? Who cares! Just don’t study and you won’t stress.

16

sports

3/27/15

The Jolly Scholar jolly.scholar @JollyScholar

Sports Standings Conference

Baseball

All

Wins

Losses

Percent

Wins

Losses

Percent

Emory

6

2

0.750

12

5

0.706

Washington

6

2

0.750

7

3

0.700

Case Western Reserve

4

4

0.500

4

4

0.500

Rochester

4

4

0.500

4

4

0.500

Brandeis

2

6

0.250

4

10

0.286

New York U.

2

6

0.250

3

8

0.273

Chicago

0

0

0.000

0

0

0.000

New York U.

0

0

0.000

0

0

0.000

Conference

Softball

All

Wins

Losses

Percent

Wins

Losses

Percent

Emory

8

2

0.800

18

2

0.900

216.368.0090 mpv3@case.edu

Washington

8

2

0.800

16

4

0.800

Rochester

6

4

0.600

8

5

0.615

Case Western Reserve

5

5

0.500

10

5

0.000

MTW RF Sat. Sun.

Brandeis

3

7

0.300

6

7

0.000

Chicago

0

0

0.000

0

0

0.000

New York U.

0

10

0.000

0

14

0.000

New York U.

0

0

0.000

0

0

0.000

11a – 12a 11a – 2a 12p – 2a 12p – 12a

Happy spring!

Conference

Men’s Tennis

Wins

Losses

Percent

Wins

Losses

Percent

Washington

0

0

0.000

4

1

0.800

Chicago

0

0

0.000

4

1

0.800

Emory

0

0

0.000

3

1

0.750

Case Western Reserve

0

0

0.000

5

2

0.714

Carnegie Mellon

0

0

0.000

4

3

0.571

Rochester

0

0

0.000

5

4

0.556

Brandeis

0

0

0.000

2

3

0.400

New York U.

0

0

0.000

0

2

0.000

Conference

Women’s Tennis

Catering!

Call the Jolly Scholar for your next party. Any budget, any size, we will make it happen.

Losses

Percent

Wins

Losses

Percent

New York U.

0

0

0.000

1

0

1.000

Case Western Reserve

0

0

0.000

7

1

0.875

Emory

0

0

0.000

9

2

0.818

Carnegie Mellon

0

0

0.000

10

3

0.769

Chicago

0

0

0.000

6

4

0.600

Washington

0

0

0.000

6

4

0.600

Rochester

0

0

0.000

2

5

0.286

Brandeis

0

0

0.000

1

5

0.000

Calendar Varsity Sport

Friday 3/27

Baseball Softball

Wed

Thurs

Fri

Sat

Sun

Trivia Night

Comedy Night

Karaoke & Grad Happy Hour

40’s & Fridays

Charity Late Night

All You Can Eat Wings & Football

Sunday 3/29

Away @ Denison (DH) 12:00 PM & 3:00 PM

Home vs. John Carroll (DH) 1:00 PM & 4:00 PM

Home vs. Wittenberg (DH) 1:00 PM & 3:30 PM

Home vs. Heidlberg (DH) 2:00 PM & 4:00 PM

Home vs. Hope 2:00 PM

Men's Tennis

Home vs. John Carroll & Ohio Wesylen 12:00 PM

Home vs. Stevens 5:30 PM

Away @ Cleveland St. 10:00 AM

Varsity Sport

Monday 3/30

Tuesday 3/31

Wednesday 4/1

Home vs. Baldwin Wallace 4:00 PM

Away @ Baldwin Wallace 4:00 PM

Baseball Softball

courtesy 7-themes.com

Saturday 3/28

Dick Small Invitational @ Defiance Ohio

Women's Tennis

Tues

All

Wins

Track and Field

Calendar

All

Home vs. Westminster (DH) 3:30 PM & 6:00PM

17

sports

observer.case.edu

Spartans struggle

Baseball wins two, drops three in return to campus JP. O’Hagan Sports Editor After a last minute cancellation, the Spartans opened their home opener a few days early as they hosted St. John Fisher College for a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.

The Case Western Reserve University baseball team has continued its struggles as it hopes to find its footing, dropping the pair of home opener games before splitting the doubleheader against and wrapping up the week with the originally scheduled home opener against Otterbein University with a win.

Despite the struggles, the Spartans stand at 6-7 overall and look poised to return to their expected high level of play.

The squad opened the post-University Athletic Association (UAA) tournament portion of their season with a pair of losses to the visiting Cardinals. In the opening cap, the Spartans started slow falling behind 3-0. The Spartans rallied to tie the game in the fourth when senior Jordan Swisher singled to get on base and scored on a St. John Fisher miscue, a balk. Rob Winemiller, scored off an RBI single from Kerrigan Cain, and the Spartans led until the Cardinals tied the game in the sixth before grabbing the lead in the top of the ninth. The Spartans were unable to answer the bottom and let the game slip away.

The Spartans beat themselves in the second matchup as they committed eight errors, and St. John Fisher put together a six run seventh inning to break a 5-5 tie and win the game.

Sunday saw the Spartans travel to face off against Mount Aloysius College. The Spartans jumped out to a strong 9-1 victory in the first game, but dropped the second 7-4.

The Spartan pitching team of junior Neal Krentz and Dan Sondag combined to give up only five hits in the opening game.

Krentz gave up a mere three hits and one run in six and one-third innings of work to lead the Spartans to their first win in a few weeks.

The Spartans then faced off against Otterbein to win their first home game of the season on Wednesday night. The hero of the night was Andrew Gronski, who blasted a three-run homer to back up sophomore Connor Faix’s strong pitching effort. Faix pitched seven strong innings, giving up only one run on six hits and a pair of walks.

Despite the lack of results back in the UAA tournament, a pair of Spartans were named to the 2015 UAA Baseball Championship Tournament team. Sophomore Antonio Damiano and senior Jordan Swisher were elected to the team by the coaches.

Damiano hit a team best .375 with four extra base hits and bringing in eight. Damiano added to his performance with four stolen bases and a Spartan high .447 on base percentage.

Swisher batted .364 (12-for-33) with three doubles, a home run, five runs scored and six runs batted in. He recorded the tournament’s top single-game performance when he went five-for-five with a double, home run and four runs batted in against Brandeis University in the Spartans’ final game of the tournament.

Swisher led the team with a .545 slugging percentage and threw out four runners attempting to steal.

The Spartans played Otterbein again on Thursday after The Observer went to print, but will face off against Denison University Saturday.

Andrew Hodowanec/Observer Sophomore Catcher Eric Eldred receives the pitch for a strike against the Otterbein batter. Eldred and the Spartans picked up their first win at home this season.

Baseball

Otterbein CWRU

1 1 1

2 0 0

3 0 3

4 0 0

5 0 0

CWRU Pos. #

Player

AB

6 0 1

7 0 0

8 9 Final 0 1 2 0 X 5

H 5 1

E 0 0

Otterbein

H R RBI BB SO

AVE

Pos. #

Player

AB H

R RBI BB SO AVE

RF

3

A. Damiano

2

0

2

0

1

0

0.275

CF

9

T. Kent

3

0

0

0

2

0

0.444

1B

29 R. Winemiller

3

0

1

0

0

0

0.245

LF

20

B. Frentzel

4

0

0

0

1

0

0.255

3B

36

A. Gronski

3

1

1

3

1

1

0.304

SS

32 S. Kettering

4

2

1

0

1

0

0.315

2B

4

K. Cain

4

1

0

1

0

0

0.333

J. Swisher

4

1

0

0

0

1

0.314

2

1

0

1

2

0

0.333

D. Sondag

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.000

DH 12 P

35

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.000

C

26

E. Eldred

4

1

1

0

0

0

0.571

DH 19

P. Ross

PR

31

N. Wiseman

1B

25

K.C. Brown

5

1

0

1

0

0

0.200

2B

2

T. Compton

4

1

0

0

0

1

0.367

LF

7

J. Neal

1

0

0

0

1

0

0.314

CF

1

A. Cain

4

1

0

1

0

0

0.302

RF

12

P. Birrer

4

1

0

0

0

1

0.200

SS

9

D. Souza

3

1

0

0

0

0

0.278

C

13

S. Hernon

3

1

0

0

1

0

0.235

P

18

C.Faix

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.000

3B

34

N. Pitzer

3

0

0

0

0

0

0.214

P

8

C. Tagg

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.000

3B

15

J. Ashbrook

0

0

1

0

1

0

0.200

28

5

6

5

3

2

32

1

7

2

7

2

Totals

Totals

CWRU Pitching

Otterbein Pitching

#

Pitcher

IP

H

R

ER

18

C.Faix

7

6

1

1

5

1

1

0

0

0

0

8

C. Tagg

BB SO HR

ERA

#

Pitcher

IP

H

R

ER

0

2.04

36

R. Wilson

3.2

4

4

3

BB SO HR 2

1

1

ERA 5.59

1

0

5.40

8

T. Dorsey

2.2

2

1

1

0

0

0

6.75

29

R. Winemiller 0.2

1

1

1

3

0

0

5.40

28

S. Yuran

0.2

0

0

0

0

1

0

0.00

35

D. Sondag 0.1

0

0

0

0

0

0

2.84

26

J. Peters

1

0

0

0

1

0

0

6.35

9.0

7

2

2

8

2

0

8.0

6

5

4

2

1

1

Totals

Totals

Riding the long ball Softball sweeps open homer JP. O’Hagan Sports Editor

Andrew Hodowanec/Observer Freshman Grace Tritchler slides safely into second in the Spartan’s win over Geneva during the home opener doubleheader.

Softball

1 4 2

Mount Union CWRU

2 0 0

3 0 1

CWRU Pos. #

Player

AB H

4 4 2

5 0 0

6 0 4

7 0 X

Final 8 9

H 12 8

E 0 0

Mount Union R RBI BB SO AVE

Pos. #

Player

AB H

R RBI BB SO AVE

2B

16

M. O'Brien

3

2

2

3

1

0

0.387

RF

8 O. Schumacher

4

2

2

2

0

1

0.525

CF

21

K. Wede

4

2

1

0

0

0

0.444

SS

12 A. Vansickle

3

0

0

0

0

1

0.392

4

3

3

5

0

0

0.475

CF

6

B. Baitt

4

1

1

0

0

2

0.382

G. Roberts

4

2

0

0

0

0

0.429

1B

14

L. Siedlak

4

1

1

0

0

0

0.380

P

25 A. Wennerberg

DH 12 RF

8

A. Parello

3

0

0

0

0

1

0.419

3B

18

G. Tritchler

3

0

0

0

0

1

0.316

SS

24

E. Dreger

2

1

1

0

1

0

0.242

C

27 A. Groseclose

2

0

0

0

0

0

0.220

C

28

1

1

0

0

0

0

0.258

M. Waldner

3B

21

L. Lehman

3

1

1

4

0

0

0.388

2B

4

B. Cox

3

1

1

1

0

0

0.439

C

17

M. Okuda

1

1

0

0

2

0

0.421

DH 23

J. Calhoun

3

0

2

0

0

0

0.300

0

1

0

0

0

0

0.000

1

0

0

0

0

0

0.394 0.000

1B

15

R. Taylor

3

1

2

1

0

0

0.242

DH 20

LF

23

A. Filliez

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.167

LF

1

S. Vansickle

P

3

K. Dzierwa

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.000

P

3

E. Simmons

0

0

0

0

0

0

29 12 9

9

2

2

Totals

26

8

8

7

2

4

Totals

J. Liles

CWRU Pitching #

Pitcher

IP

H

R

ER

25 A. Wennerberg 3.1 3 K. Dzierwa 3.2

7 1

8 0

8 0

Totals

7.0

8

8

Mount Union Pitching BB SO HR ERA 1 1 8

1 3 2

3 0 4

5.45 3.39 3

#

Pitcher

IP

H

3

E. Simmons

6

12

9

9

2

2

4

4.12

6

12

9

9

2

2

4

Totals

R

ER

BB SO HR ERA

The home run is one of the most exciting events in sports. When a player gets all of the ball and sends it flying over the outfield fence, there is great excitement.

Maybe that exhilaration will become boring for the Spartans soon though. It’s becoming commonplace. The team has already raked 30 home runs in only 19 games en route to a 14-5 record.

The Spartans returned to campus to kick off their scheduled six-game home stand. However due to weather, the Spartans were only able to get in four games this week. The Spartans had their home opener of the season at Mather Park on Saturday, taking wins in both against the visiting Geneva Golden Tornados.

The Spartans relied on their highpowered offense and also won their two games against the University of Mount Union as well, the first matchup 9-8 and the second by a score of 10-1.

“Our team is coming together,” said head coach Josie Henry, “We have the potential to be great. Our defense continues to improve, along with our pitching, and we can do some damage with our bats.”

The Spartans returned home to Mather Park, and the team has played well on the home turf.

“Mather Park is an amazing facility, one of the best in the country in Division III, and we have an amazing grounds crew. The outfield grass was mowed, rolled and green, which was perfect for opening day,” she said. “We use hand warmers at home, and we were using wet chilled towels between innings in Florida. Either way it’s great to get outdoors and play some ball.”

The Spartans have been running a high-powered offense thus far this season.

Sophomore Annie Wennerberg has led the club in the long balls with 13 balls which already breaks the CWRU season record, set by Lauren Wolz back in 2011.

“Those stats are exceptional,” said Henry, “This is a great thing. It is a direct result of all the hard work the team puts in throughout the year in the weight room. We don’t focus on home runs, and being capable of playing “small ball” is a necessity to being part of our lineup. “ The Spartans have now won five straight games and look poised to continue their streak as they head out to face Wittenberg and Heidelberg University.

“Our senior class is hungry to win, and they are doing a great job teaching our newcomers what it takes to get the job done,” said Henry.

The Spartans return to CWRU next Wednesday, April 1 as they take on Westminster in a doubleheader starting at 3:30 p.m.

18

sports

3/27/15

Arko’s Cleveland Corner

Cover jinx?

Sports Illustrated picks the Indians to win World Series

Joey Arko Staff Reporter Flashback to the year 1987— Joe Carter and Cory Snyder of the Cleveland Indians graced the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine, an issue which picked that year’s Cleveland Indians team to win the World Series. Undoubtedly it was a prideful moment for the city, the team and the fans; and rightfully so.

The results, however, were a far cry from the predicted outcome.

The 1987 season for the tribe was nothing short of disastrous, as the team finished with the worst record in all of baseball at 61 wins and 101 losses.

Not good. Cue classic Cleveland bedlam.

In typical Cleveland fashion, it would seem a new sporting curse was born that year. Add it to the list.

That is why Tribe fans all over the nation were suddenly thrust into petrifaction and even panic this past week, when Sports Illustrated released all four of their regional covers for their magazine. To the horror of many fans, they stared face-to-face with none other than last year’s Cy Young award winner, Corey Kluber, and 2014 MVP candidate

Michael Brantley.

The title? “Wait Till This Year,” with the subheading of “Why Cleveland?

Why not Cleveland. Why the Tribe will win it’s first series since 1948.”

Many took to twitter to express their concern, and a slew of outraged tweets directed towards Sports Illustrated gradually filled the timelines of anyone who has interest in the team. One such person was Dustin Fox, a former Ohio State football player and member of the 2002 National Championship team (he currently works as a local radio Cleveland sports analyst), and he responded by simply tweeting out, “Don’t Jinx Us!” His feelings echo what many Clevelanders feel, and Sports Illustrated has since come out with an article apologizing for stirring up bad memories of that fateful ’87 season.

Some of the players, like the fans, also possess superstitions of their own.

Baseball, as it would stand, is one of those sports where players and managers all around the league are known to have their own quirky superstitious beliefs that they swear they must follow in order to succeed. (Some players wear the same socks to every game, for example.)

However it appears that the Indians

aren’t too worried about any potential jinx for their upcoming season. When asked if he believes in the Sports Illustrated curse, Michael Brantley told Cleveland.com, “I don’t know the SI jinx. I’ve never heard of it. I don’t want to hear about it.”

Kluber was also asked if he had any concern, but his response was a bit more concise (and very Kluber-esque): “I don’t.”

That being said, fans shouldn’t look too much into any sort of jinx that Sports Illustrated may have cast down upon the city of Cleveland and its professional baseball team. This year’s squad has the ability to compete with any team in the league, with solid hitting and a good core of talented pitchers that will serve as the team’s bread and butter.

They also have one of the most respectable managers at the helm to guide them in, Terry Francona—he knows what it takes to win it all. The main issue isn’t anything “curse”-related, but that there are about 20 other teams in the MLB this year that have a decent shot at competing for the championship. The league is as deep as it’s been in recent memory, and the Indians will have their work cut out for them (curse or no curse).

Triumphs and heartbreak

Intramural basketball tournament heads into home stretch David Hoffman Staff Reporter It’s a great time of year for basketball fans. Spectacular upsets, close games every time you check back on the action and unlikely playoff runs leave their stamp on this portion of the calendar.

It’s been a great tournament for intramural basketball here at Case Western Reserve University. No other tournament in the country can rival the ones currently taking place on campus.

Without further ado, let’s check in on the latest happenings around the leagues.

In the Co-Rec Self-Officiated League, the first round began with Delt/Phi Mu knocking off Fiji/APhi 35-32. Macroballs defeated APO Volunteers to advance, while ZetaTheta defeated Pi Kapp/Pi Phi by a 35-30 final. Delta Sig/DG ran MBA Jam out of the gym by a 62-42 score. Dental Dynasty prevailed over Beta/TriSigma to complete round number one. In the quarterfinals, Paid in Full handled themselves well in a 44-24 victory against Delt/ Phi Mu. Macroballs emerged victorious over ZetaTheta to keep their season alive, while Phi Delt and Friends advanced with a 47-38 win against Delta Sig/DG. Willard defeated Dental Dynasty to move on to the next round.

In the Fraternity B No Refs League,

the first round saw Phi Kappa Theta maul Phi Delt F by a 31-9 score. The quarterfinals tipped off with Phi Delt C advance with a 47-30 win over Phi Kappa Theta. Zeta Beta Tau B defeated Phi Delt B, while SigEp C kept their title hopes alive and well with a victory against Delt C. Delt B emerged victorious over Delta Chi 35-22 to advance to the next round.

In the Fraternity No Refs League, Phi Kappa Psi defeated SAE to begin the first round of play. ZBT Dark Horse easily defeated Zeta Psi 55-34, while delta upsilon also advanced with an easy 5633 victory against Pi Kappa Phi. In the quarterfinals, Sigma Chi knocked off Phi Kappa Psi 52-34. Delt A eked out a 39-34 win over Delta Sigma Phi to stay alive, while SigEp A more than doubled up ZBT Dark Horse in a 51-25 triumph.

Finally Delta Upsilon moved on to the next round with a 36-26 victory over Fiji.

In the Open Paid Officials league, the first round saw The Wolfpugs defeat Hung Jurors 62-37. Dirty Dental Dump advanced after eking out a 43-37 win against The Retractors, while Free Riders mauled The Sports Fiesta 65-31 to stay alive. Thus far in the second round, Tune Squad has advanced in the tournament by virtue of a forfeit on the part of Dirty Dental Dump.

In the Open Self-Officiated league,

the first round began with Bearsley and the Boys easily prevailing against Eastern Reserves to the tune of a 49-27 final. #TeamGetSwole romped ChemE Grad 50-26 to advance, while House4 defeated Half-Court Hook Shots to keep their title hopes alive. Ball is life knocked off $ad boyz. BME SunDevils prevailed over MSA by a 36-29 score. Tippit Tipsy Turtles emerged victorious over The Business Fraternity 41-26. CIM defeated Money Team to move on, while TiP TOE WiNG JAWWDiNZ triumphed over Swim and Dive. Dream Runner advanced with a 49-36 victory over Norton Hears a Who, and Runnin’ Gunners defeated No Casualties 44-32 to conclude the opening round. The second round saw M4evah knock off Bearsley and the Boys 46-32. #TeamGetSwole kept their season alive with a 39-29 victory against House4, while Basketball Team knocked off Ball is life 41-28. K540 emerged victorious over BME SunDevils 35-29. Hemoglobin Trotters moved on with a 37-24 win over Tippit Tipsy Turtles, while TiP TOE WiNG JAWWDiNZ defeated CIM 40-33. Dream Runner survived with a 34-25win over Took ur Gma to Applebee’s. Runnin’ Gunners advanced with a 37-32 victory over Vinculum Juris.

The action is just beginning to heat up; don’t miss it when we bring you the latest updates once again next week.

Track and field goes the distance Noah Staton Staff Reporter This past weekend, the Case Western Reserve University men and women’s track and field teams kicked off their outdoor season with an invitational in Virginia. The weather was warm and the stage was set for our teams to enjoy some friendly competition. The Washington and Lee Track & Field Carnival was a meet with no team rankings, but our men and women had some impressive showings in the individual events this weekend.

Senior Captain Mark Kulinski, continuing to have a great final season, placed first in the men’s pole vault finals. With a height of 4.71 meters, Kulinski blew the competition out of the water by over .15 meters. Also junior Benjamin Davis dropped the hammer in the 10,000-meter run, placing second behind a new meet record.

The women’s distance squad was also pretty busy taking titles. Senior Kristen Ruckstuhl left her competition in the dust in the 10,000-meter run, with a time of 36:44.72 minutes, nearly two minutes ahead of the next athlete. Another notable finish was made by junior Kelsey Aamoth, taking first place in the women’s 5,000-meter run by over 17 seconds with a time of 17:50.11 minutes.

With the fantastic performances this past weekend in Virginia, we can be confident going into this next weekend and for meets to come. While it won’t be as warm as it was in Virginia, we’ll see how our Spartans size up at the Dick Small Invitational in Defiance, Ohio this weekend.

Top Performers W&L Track & Field Carnival Men’s Track & Field Event

Time/ Score

Athlete

Pole Vault

4.71 m

M. Kulinski

Pole Vault

3.96 m

J. Brucker

10,000 M Run

32:07.29

B. Davis

Shot Put

14.08 m

S. Reusser

4x400 M Relay

3:23.24

Team A

1500 m Run

4:12.55

G. McLeod S. Kennedy

Steeplechase 3km

9:51.70

Steeplechase 3km

10:19.02

M. Baller

High Jump

1.81 m

J. Malone

High Jump

1.76 m

G. Gustafson

Long Jump

6.25 m

Z. Hurd

Long Jump

6.18 m

G. Heil

Women’s Track & Field Event

Time/ Score

Athlete

5,000 m

17:40.11

K. Aamoth

10,000 m

36:44.72

K. Ruckstuhl

Steeplechase 3km

11:51.93

D. Kulpins

Hammer Throw

41.33 m

E. Liu

Pole Vault

3.31 m

C. Saccucci

Discus

31.05 m

N. Gupta

Triple Jump

10.30 m

A. Leyden

Javelin

29.93 m

R. Collins

High Jump

1.41 m

N. Gawlik

High Jump

1.76 m

G. Gustafson

sports

observer.case.edu

19

Local pinball league is home to some of Ohio’s best players from Pinball | front The CPL is in its second season of existence, following six seasons of the Happy Dog Pinball League, coming out to about three years of pinball. Practices occur at Happy Dog West, B-Side Liquor Lounge and the Case Western Reserve University hot spot, Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern. Just around the corner from CWRU’s North Residential Village, the venue attracts students for its cheap concerts, cheap food and creative programming.

The CPL is creative and cheap too; open to anyone for the price of $10 per season, the league offers a laid-back atmosphere for locals to enjoy the game.

The game of pinball itself is more than just luck, although it’ s certainly a component. Each player employs a unique technique and must understand each individual pinball machine’s quirks.

“Each game has its strategy,” explains Hill. “The aim is reducing the amount of randomness of the game.”

Hill’s technique involves cradling the metallic ball instead of launching it with the bumpers, and the move works well. Last he checked, Hill himself was ranked as the 250th best pinball player in the world, and ninth best in the state of Ohio.

That’s not the only accomplishment CPL has under its belt; the top four players in the state of Ohio were all CPL members this past year, and the highest-ranked player in the CPL is ranked as the 100th best player in the world after the latest tournament.

“That tournament may be my favorite,” says Hill. “I had to beat the number one seed and the reigning champ.”

The rankings may soon change, however. This Saturday and Sunday, March 28-29, the league tournaments kick off at the Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern, where all 60 members of the current CPL will face off in the tiny back room. Everyone in the league gets to play regardless of skill level or how they did this season, and the event will be broken up into four divisions.

“Basically it’s a super-intense version of our regular league nights,” Hill says. “It’s a tournament; two people are dropped, two move on.”

Despite imminent preparation for the tournament that is just days away, the regular league night is still just as laid-back as ever, with the same old interruptions. Near the “F-14 Tomcat” machine, Kory Dakin

Right: The bright lights of the “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” pinball game whirl, awaiting its next challenger. Above: The CPL’s wizard mascot overlooks the festivities from the wall of Happy Dog.

All photos Andrew Hodowanec/Observer Thea Spittle, in the foreground, and fellow Cleveland Pinball League players all concentrate on their respective games, gunning for the high score. Over 60 members take part in the weekly league hosted a several Cleveland bars. stands by, waiting to resume his game.

A quarter got stuck.

Dakin leans against the wall near the machine.

“This league is more energetic and relaxed,” Dakin, who has been involved with CPL since it started three years ago, says. “It’s got great camaraderie.”

Hill hurries over, fixes the machine and Dakin goes back to his game.

Later, a woman jumps into the air, doing a victory dance after reaching a strong score. Thea Spittle, who has been in CPL for a year and a half, joined because of Dakin. Standing near him, they high five and shout, simultaneously, “Best friends!” as though the two were starring in a sitcom.

Spittle was one of the handful of women at the Euclid Tavern on March 24.

“There are really not that many women playing pinball,” she says, turning to Hillwho is sitting just a couple of tables away.

“Brian, how many girls are there?”

Hill shrugs a little. “Maybe 10 percent?

Twenty percent?” He pulls out a folded roster and started reading out women’s names, as Dakin keeps track of the number with his fingers. “Molly… Thea…”

He ends the list with 11 women on the list, out of 60 total members; 18.3 percent.

“There are more girls than ever,” says Hill, laughing.

The growth of the league each season has resulted in greater diversity in the types of people showing up. In the pinball room, men with tucked-in CPL t-shirts sat near the walls wearing trucker hats; other players stood near the pinball machines looking like they were straight out of the 90s, pastel windbreakers and all.

“Everyone’s so different. I don’t want to be corny, but the only consistent thing is that everyone’s nice,” says Hill. “Most of these people would have never hung out

with each other before the league.”

Before Hill met fellow pinball players to enjoy the sport with, he remembers playing the game with his father, or by himself at various locations like gas stations or bowling alleys.

“We would just play wherever we could find a machine,” he says.

Hill remembers pinball as more of a solitary sport, before he took it a little more seriously at a league in Berea. Then he realized he wanted to bring it closer to Cleveland for city-goers, and to play with his friends.

Now three years later and two seasons into the CPL, with 60 members strong, the league continues to grow, with more winners ranked in the official roster and more involvement at every meet.

“Like life, pinball is like, you can do all the things right, and sometimes you still get screwed,” says Hill.

And sometimes you win.

sports Editor’s choice

Racing a cardboard navy

Theta Tau and 1-2-1 Fitness host inaugural Recycle Regatta JP. O’Hagan Sports Editor

The buzzer sounded, the race was off.

But the contestants were not running, swimming or cycling. Instead they were rowing cardboard boats across Donnell Pool racing not just each other, but also the time until when their boats would give out beneath them.

This unique event was weeks in the making as Theta Tau and 1-2-1 Fitness co-sponsored Case Western Reserve University’s first ever cardboard boat race. Proceeds raised benefitted Habitat for Humanity.

The premise was simple: use cardboard and duct tape to build a boat capable of carrying two crewmembers the 25 yards of water and to the other end of the pool. However as many teams realized, this was a task easier said than done.

The most important part of the race is of course the boat. The host, Theta Tau, led by event organizer junior Emily Bussis, built their seaworthy vessel over the course of a few hours the Tuesday night prior to the race The team decided to build a pontoon boat, an ambitious project but one they figured would be the most seaworthy. The team created the “pontoons” out of 15 identical and duct tape sealed laptop-packaging boxes and the hull out of larger conjoined cardboard boxes held together with duct tape, lots of duct tape. When the rolls of the vitally important gray sticky material began to run dry earlier than expected Theta Tau was worried.

“You had one job,” Connor Martinuzzi shouted across the room half kidding to fellow builder Gavin Sandidge.

“You gave me limited funds,” said Sandidge in response, “Do you know how much duct tape is?”

It costs roughly eight dollars a roll.

Luckily the team had misplaced a roll and had no problem in building their ship.

The concentration and discussion about how to build the boat slowly gave way to a light and laughter-filled atmosphere of friends.

“We are all just taking turns supervising,” joked team member Kristen Mitchell.

The group decided that their two required representatives, actually in the boat would be Ferin Neff and Rachel Hammond. This was news to Hammond who stopped by the build a good hour later.

The only thing left to decide was who was to be captain, and who the crew member.

“I am totally the Captain,” said Hammond when she heard the news.

“No way,” responded Neff “I’m the captain.”

“Rachel you are the first mate,” chimed in Martinuzzi, “You are Gilligan.”

Nearly 3 hours, 4 rolls of duct tape, and 15 builders later, unlike Gilligan, the group ended up with a boat that they knew to be seaworthy and also built to code.

The requirements for the boat and also the paddles were fairly straightforward. Tape was only allowed on the seams between the cardboard and the cardboard could not be covered, sealed or waterproofed in anyway.

They had to give the boats a chance to sink on their treacherous 25-yard journey to the other end of the pool.

The rules came courtesy of 1-2-1 Fitness’s Kathy Obuszewski the co-organizer for the event. When Bussis reached out to 1-2-1 Fitness with an idea for a cardboard boat race and permission to use the pool, she was pleasantly surprised to learn that Obuszewski had been already been thinking of holding a similar event, and thus the partnership was born.

“I came from a school that had this type of event and it was always really fun,” said Obuszewski, “So I wanted to have one here.”

Obuszewski reached out to Drexel University and asked if she could use their rules as a guide, and was able to come up with the rules used in last Thursday’s event. After a final walk-through on the Tuesday, when Obuszewski and Bussis finalized logistical details for the event, the organizers were set and patiently awaited the turn out.

Thursday evening as the rhythmic splash of open swim drew to a close, Bussis and Obuszewski reminded the five teams of the rules on the warm pool deck. The time began with the buzzer at which point each team was to put their boat in the water, load

Courtesy 1-2-1 Fitness and Theta Tau The 1-2-1 Fierceness team poses with their cardboard boat before getting in the pool.

Courtesy 1-2-1 Fitness and Theta Tau In heat one, the “USSC” dashes from the wall to victory, while the “Whale Wagon” and “1-2-1 Fierceness” attempt to catch up in the inaugural Recycle Regatta in Donnell Pool. in their crew, and paddle to the other end.

The timer was stopped once a crewmember touched the opposite wall.

The first heat was comprised of three teams. The “Whale Wagon” was entered by the members from CWRU swimming and diving teams and faced up against the “12-1 Fierceness” from the co-hosting 1-2-1 Fitness team and finally against the “USSC” sponsored by the Student Sustainability Council, or SSC. The SCC team, made of Cara Fagerholm, Laura Wheeler, Ashley Graybill, Avia Gersovieth and Grace Cammarn, joined the event since the recycling aspect was right up their alley.

When asked how they designed their boat, team captain Fagerholm said, “Um we just kind of made it boat-shaped.”

Despite this basic approach to design, the USSC, stayed intact as it made it to the other end of the pool the fastest of the five teams.

After the race it was revealed that Fagerholm, who had recently declared a Mechanical Engineering major had also done some math in order to determine the boat’s stability, “because you know, Case.”

The first heat saw the USSC make it to

the other end in an impressive one minute flat. The Whale Wagon showed promise coming out of the gate in lane three making it 25 feet before taking on too much water and sinking in Titanic fashion as the bow rose slowly into the air. The 1-2-1 Fierceness on the other hand barely made it off the wall before capsizing.

Theta Tau and their vessel, nicknamed the “Tau-tanic” matched up in the second heat against the final squad of Veale Center lifeguards. As the two ships took to the water the teams looked evenly matched off the wall. The Tau-tanic jumped ahead a few yards before their aggressive paddling sent them sideways into the lane buoy.

“We were like a beached whale out there,” said Hammond jokingly, once the team made off the buoy and back into the lane, and to the end of the pool. However the beaching cost the Theta Tau team valuable time as they came in second, finishing with a time of one minute and 35 seconds. Despite the strong finish, the team was disappointed with their performance.

“If you aren’t first you’re last,” noted Neff.

Courtesy 1-2-1 Fitness and Theta Tau The “Tau-tanic”, race host Theta Tau’s ship, gets stuck on the lane buoy in heat two.