Just like all the other loyal Maroons on campus, my first source of University news is not the famed Twitter feed or University homepage, but the Chicago Maroon. The newspaper is hard-hitting and often critical of the administration, something that, as a student, I am always delighted to see. When looking at the back page of the November 6 issue, however, I was distraught to see the article on the men’s and women’s soccer teams (“Wins Against Wash U Could Clinch NCAA Bids”). Since most readers of the Maroon are affiliated in a positive way with the University, I expected the article to be encouraging and sing the praises of two teams that have had tremendous seasons and were both on the verge of reaching the playoffs in the same year. At the time the article was written, both the men and women had one regular season game against Wash U remaining. It was nice of the author to point out that the men were nearly guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament, but he also made a point of saying it was damn near impossible for us to win UAA Championship, something the men did in fact do on Saturday. An added attraction to the men’s game was that second-year goalkeeper Chris Giusto was attempting to tie the school’s season shutout record (11), which he did.

The author did make a point of singing the praises of the Wash U women’s soccer team’s (14-2-1) 15-game undefeated streak after their two losses to begin the season, and expressed the dire situation our women’s team (13-3-1) was in prior to the game. He did not mention that last year, at Wash U no less, UChicago was the winning school in a 3-0 game. As a school newspaper, the Maroon should indeed be committed to unbiased reporting; however, it should also be trying to foster school spirit, and encouraging student body support for our successful teams would be a great way to do that. Certainly it would better unify our campus as the Maroons rather than as the campus where fun goes to die.

Matt Brickell

Class of 2011