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In Lansing, Schlissel lobbies for state funds WILLIAM LYNCH/Daily
LSA sophomores Nicole Khamis and Danielle Rabie debate with LSA freshman Jordan Katz at the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) symposium about #UMDivest at North Quad on Tuesday.
SAFE launches campaign to encourage divestment Revival of #UMDivest initiative calls for examination of ‘U’ investments By EMILY MIILLER Daily Staff Writer
Students Allied for Freedom and Equality — the University chapter of the activist group Stu-
dents for Justice in Palestine — read a new divestment resolution Tuesday during the Divestment and Sanctions Symposium. Organizers intend to bring before the Central Student Government. The resolution calls for CSG to support the creation of a committee through the University’s Board of Regents to examine the ethics of the University’s investments, specifically in companies that allegedly facilitate the violations of Palestinian human rights.
The resolution calls on the regents to divest University endowment holdings from Caterpillar Inc., The Boeing Company, G4S and the United Technologies Corporation. SAFE advocated for a similar divestment resolution last March that failed to pass in CSG. The vote brought hundreds of individuals both supporting and opposing the divestment resolution to the Michigan Union during the CSG vote.
Trip comes after Snyder recommends 2 percent increase for higher education By GENEVIEVE HUMMER Daily Staff Reporter
LSA senior Sami Shalabi, a member of SAFE, said the group is trying to approach the resolution differently this year. “We’re mainly steering towards focusing on the companies that are socially irresponsible,” Shalabi said. “We’re trying to take the emotion out of it and present facts.” Following the reading, there was an opportunity for those in attendance to provide their input See DIVEST, Page 3A
University President Mark Schlissel spent Tuesday afternoon in Lansing meeting with members of the state Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on Higher Education. Schlissel and several other state university leaders, including the chancellors of the University’s Flint and Dearborn campuses, addressed Gov. Rick Snyder’s higher education budget recommendation during the meeting, with a focus on his proposed funding to higher education. Schlissel voiced appreciation for Snyder’s proposed 2 percent increase in higher education funding and the state’s contin-
ACADEMICS
ANN ARBOR
Platform aims to shift basis for class grades University prof. establishes system to increase student risk-taking By CARLY NOAH Daily Staff Reporter
When Education Prof. Barry Fishman walks into one of his classes, he uses a program called GradeCraft in which students begin with a grade of 0 percent and have the ability to build up their grade as high as they desire. This is a far cry from typical first-day-of-class speeches, Fishman, who is also a professor in the School of Information, explained. Most professors tend to tell their students that they begin class with an A+ and the grade is theirs to lose. “It’s incredibly problematic because once someone says that, all you can do is lose points,” Fishman said. “So say you do a fabulous job on your first paper and get a 99 percent. While that’s great, you don’t have 100 percent anymore and you never will again.”
GradeCraft, an online learning platform created at the University and designed to complement sites such as CTools and Canvas, presents a potential solution to this problem by making grades something to win. According to Fishman, there are two types of learning environments that involve gaming and the classroom: what he calls “gamification” and having a “gameful classroom.” Gamification is taking an existing system and giving it game-like features to force people into doing specific tasks. Fishman does not support this method of teaching, and compared it to the advertising incentive methods used by airline companies. “Maybe you don’t love Delta Air Lines but you’ve got a lot of frequent flyer miles so you’re going to fly Delta,” Fishman explained. “They’ve got you because you’re kind of trapped in their points system.” He called this method ineffective because it does not allow for people to take the course of action they actually desire. In contrast to gamification, the See GRADES, Page 3A
ued interest in the University’s work. In the first budget of Snyder’s term, colleges and universities saw a 15 percent cut to higher education funding. Though Snyder has increased funding levels incrementally each year, the cuts came during a time when higher education funding already faced a declining trend. University President Emerita Mary Sue Coleman frequently made similar trips to Lansing to emphasize the importance of state funding. Schlissel noted that Michigan residents support higher education as “a pathway to prosperity,” a belief he observed while traveling around the state last summer before beginning his term as University president. During Tuesday’s meeting, he said he was impressed by the state’s beauty, history and focus on the future. He added that residents’ pride in state universities and colleges was apparent over the course of the trip, durSee FUNDS, Page 3A
LSA senior announces run for seat on Council Ackerman to face incumbent member in August’s Ward 3 Democratic primary By EMMA KERR Daily News Editor
Sndyer promotes career and technical education Governor’s plan includes renewed emphasis on community c ollege By EMMA KINERY Daily Staff Reporter
Following statewide elections in which higher education was a point of debate, this article is the second in a series examining the changing landscape of higher
education funding in Michigan, and what those changes mean for four-year universities. When Gov. Rick Snyder delivered his State of the State address in January, he discussed career technical training programs, associate’s degrees, dual enrollment and other higher education pathways. “One of our goals is to be number one in skilled trade training,” Snyder announced in the address. However, while he made a point to emphasize these pro-
grams in the address, the governor did not mention any of the state’s four-year colleges and universities. Snyder’s focus on options beyond four-year universities isn’t new. Over his tenure, among other initiatives, the governor has introduced a new apprenticeship program in the state. As part of the GOP agenda, this legislative session has featured bills to increase dual enrollment opportunities for high school students. See HIGHER ED, Page 3A
In a city where the City Council wards split Ann Arbor’s student population five ways, LSA senior Zachary Ackerman declared his candidacy Tuesday for a seat on the Ann Arbor City Council. Ackerman, a Democrat and Ann Arbor native, will run in Ward 3 for a seat currently held by Councilmember Stephen Kunselman (D–Ward 3). In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Ackerman said by age 15 he had already found a passion for local government and was inspired by his experience shadowing Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor (D), then a city councilmember. Ackerman said his interest in civic engagement played a key role in moving him toward running for city council. Now 21 years old, Ackerman See COUNCIL, Page 3A
The Statement A look at how, why and where ‘U’ students get their local grub
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2A — Wednesday, February 25, 2015
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BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
SELFIES IN JEOPARDY
MSU adds new program
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LSA freshman Martin Rivera and School of Social Work first year Cassie DeFelice take a selfie during Black History Month Jeopardy at Trotter Mutlicultural Center on Tuesday
MSU is one of the last Big Ten schools to establish a Biomedical Engineering program, The State News reported. The program was approved by the MSU Board of Trustees in October 2014 and officially became part of the program on Jan. 1, 2015. While biomedical engineering has been available for engineering students as a concentration for several years — in the chemical, materials science, biosystems, mechanical, electrical and computer engineering departments — it didn’t become a department of its own until now. The dean of MSU’s College of Engineering said the col-
lege is currently in the process of hiring a chairperson and assigning faculty. Their goal is to offer a graduate program beginning January 2016, though it will likely be several years before they have the resources to offer an undergraduate program. University of Pennsylvania professors protest school’s new sexual misconduct policy Last week, 16 professors at the University of Pennsylvania Law School released an open letter criticizing the school’s newly revised sexual assault policy, The Washington Post
reported. The professors’ primary concern was insufficient procedures to ensure due process and a fair trial for students accused of sexual assault. “We do not believe that providing justice for victims of sexual assault requires subordinating so many protections long deemed necessary to protect from injustice those accused of serious offenses,” the letter stated. The brief argues that the new policies have “sacrificed the traditional safeguards that accompany traditional lawmaking procedures.”
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American Idol BY DANIELLE RAYKHINSHTEYN
Raykhinshteyn writes that “Harry Connick Jr. is the best judge Idol has ever seen.” This is the jazz singer’s second year on the 14-year-old program. “He so meticulously concentrates on each aspect of every contestant,” she writes. “And that’s what this show needs.
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Flynn suggests that live music performances improve by varying degrees when artists know their material, regularly play in front of and interact with audiences, “change up” and diversify the act and treat their crew with the utmost respect.
Architecture lecture
Live painting performance
Environment lecture
WHAT: Prof. Mark Jarzombek speaks about the hisory and theory of architecture. WHO: A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning WHEN: Tonight at 6 p.m. WHERE: Art and Architecture Building
WHAT: Congolese painter Sapin Makengele will create a new painting reflecting the current state of student politics in the Congo. WHO: University of Michigan Museum of Art WHEN: Today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. WHERE: Museum of Art
WHAT: Vanderbilt Law Prof. Michael Vandenbergh will speak about private climate governance. WHO: Michigan Law Environmental Law and Policy Program WHEN: Today at 11:50 a.m. WHERE: South Hall, Room 1020
Film screening Guest recital
The art of cityscapes
WHAT: View a screening of “Contagion,” which follows the progress of an epidemic WHAT: History Prof. of an unknown airborne Jean Boutier will discuss virus. After the film, the cityscapes painted during the French Enlightenment. audience will hear from a WHO: University Library real-life contagion fighter. WHO: U-M Health System WHEN: Today at 4 p.m. WHERE: Harlan Hatcher WHEN: Tonight at 7 p.m. WHERE: Michigan Graduate Library, Clark Library Instruction Space Theater
WHAT: Listen to a performance by Anthony Taylor, a professor of clarinet at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: Tonight at 8 p.m. WHERE: Walgreen Drama Center, Stamps Auditorium l Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@ michigandaily.com.
— MARLEE BREAKSTONE
THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY
1
The Justice Department will not be filing charges against George Zimmerman, ABC News reported. Zimmerman shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin after a confrontation in 2012.
2
Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh compared the first day of spring practice to New Years, Thanksgiving, & Christmas. But for a selfprofessed “jackhammer,” that meant business as usual. >> FOR MORE, SEE SPORTS, PG. 8A
3
The Islamic State in eastern Syria kidnapped at least 70 Assyrian Christians, The Washington Post reported. The group of victims is said to include many women and children.
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Pills taken before and after sex could help prevent HIV Canadian study focuses on ‘risky’ intercourse between homosexual men
The results offer hope of a more appealing way to help prevent the disease beyond taking daily pills and using condoms, although those methods are still considered best. The study, done in France and Canada, is the first to test “on demand” use of Truvada, a pill combining two AIDS drugs, by people planning to have risky sex. The uninfected men who took it were 86 percent less likely to get HIV compared to men
given dummy pills. “That impressed me,” Dr. Scott Hammer said of the size of the benefit. He is an AIDS specialist at Columbia University in New York and heads the Retrovirus Conference going on in Seattle, where the results were SEATTLE (AP) — For the first discussed Tuesday. time, a study shows that a drug Daily Truvada pills are used used to treat HIV infection also now to prevent HIV infeccan help prevent it when taken tion in people at high risk for before and after risky sex by gay it, and studies show the drug men. helps even when some doses are skipped. Health officials have been leery of billing it as a WILLIAM LYNCH/Daily “chemical condom” out of fear LSA senior Mike Weinberg discusses the Hail and Unite campign during the Feb. 17 CSG meeting in the CSG chambers. that people will not use the best prevention methods, but many won’t use condoms all the time or take daily pills. The study of Gilead Science’s Truvada was led by the French national HIV research agency. Sudoku Syndication http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ Sudoku http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ Sudoku Syndication Syndication http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ Men were given fake or real for the movement, the resolution sophomore Adam Weiss, a CSG Truvada and told to take two passed. representative who introduced pills from two to 24 hours When the “Hail and Unite” the original “Hail and Unite” before sex, a third pill 24 hours team first introduced the proj- resolution, wrote the new legislater, and a fourth pill 48 hours ect, they asked the assembly for lation. after the first dose. The men $2,750 to fund the promotional “We really wanted to clarify also were given condoms and video — a resolution that was that ‘The Victors’ and what we HARD HARDprevention counseling. disease referred to the finance commit- are doing couldn’t be further The study was stopped early, By ALYSSA BRANDON tee. apart,” Weinberg said. in November, after 400 men Daily Staff Reporter However, because Weinberg He declined to disclose which were enrolled and researchers and his team felt that “Hail and organizations have guaranteed saw that the drug was working; In its final meeting before Unite” accrued negative feed- support for the song, though he there were two new HIV infecSpring Break, the Central Student back from the University com- said he is in negotiations with tions among those on Truvada Government Assembly cemented munity following its launch, a variety of departments and and 14 in those on dummy pills. its support of the “Hail and Unite” they withdrew the resolution schools at the University. The two infections in the Truspirit song, in addition to listening from CSG’s consideration. Now that the resolution has vada group were in men who to a proposal for the body to fund “We decided that given what passed, Weinberg said he wants stopped using the pills after promotional materials for a new was happening, we should just to continue to share accurate more than a year in the study. food donation program. start over, come back in so I information about what “Hail The drug was safe, but naucould explain the real story, and and Unite” actually is with the sea and diarrhea were more Hail and Unite clarify what exactly ‘Hail and University community. frequent among men who used Unite’ is,” Weinberg said in an “If we heard that someone it. Only one stopped using it The new spirit song, which interview with The Michigan was trying to do something with because of side effects. had been discussed at the pre- Daily. ‘The Victors’ or a fight song, or Dr. Susan Buchbinder, an vious two assembly meetings, The new resolution asked something that wasn’t comAIDS specialist at the San made a third appearance Tues- CSG for its endorsement, not pletely organic to the University Francisco Department of Pubday night as “Hail and Unite” funding, and includes language of Michigan, we would be furilic Health, called the results creator Mike Weinberg, an LSA to express that the goal of the ous too,” he said. “I ask that peoexciting but warned that it senior, reintroduced a resolution project is to unite and ener- ple be willing to listen and hear can’t be assumed they would for CSG to endorse the project. gize the University community. what we’re actually doing.” applyForpersonal to use male-female sex, In a vote following Wein- This addition responds to con© sudokusolver.com. only. sudokusolver.com. For personaluse only. © sudokusolver.com. For personal use©only. SWIMMING MT UNBREAKABLE. EVEREST.WITH SHARKS. puzzle by sudokusyndication.com because different types of sex berg’s presentation to the cerns that the spirit song would expose partners to differing assembly, which included the replace “The Victors.” Read more online at amounts of virus. screening of a promotional video Weinberg, and Business michigandaily.com Generate and solve Sudoku, Super Sudoku Sudoku and and Godoku Godoku puzzles puzzles at at sudokusyndication.com! sudokusyndication.com!
CSG Assembly endorses new spirit song ‘Hail and Unite’
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Resolution to fund Dining Dollar donation program also discussed
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COUNCIL From Page 1A will graduate from the University in December — a semester late due to a brief stint working as a deputy field director for Rep. Debbie Dingell’s campaign during the second half of 2014. After leading a volunteer group during Taylor’s campaign for mayor last year, Ackerman said his experience working on various campaigns has taught him the importance of dedication to one’s constituents. “You learn how to really engage in the community and you learn how to really be active and present, and you learn that combination of thoughtfulness, open-mindedness, and a data-driven, progressive approach to governance,” he said. When deciding whether to run, Ackerman considered what he could offer to the community. He said he aspires to be a leader, but one that promotes civic engagement rather than a personal agenda. “As a civic leader, I want to make municipal government more accessible and understandable to constituents,” Ackerman
GRADES From Page 1A second method, which is used in GradeCraft, is known as a “gameful classroom.” Theorized to foster a better learning environment in the classroom, the model attempts to encourage students to take risks. “I would actually claim that all of school is a game right now — it’s just a terrible game,” Fishman said. “My job is to figure out what makes it such a terrible game and what I can do to make it into a better game.” Fishman said his inspiration for “gameful learning” can be found in very successful video games. “They have been designed very well to get people very engaged and want to try very difficult things,” he said. “They’re set up to encour-
DIVEST From Page 1A and suggestions regarding the resolution. LSA sophomore Nicole Khamis, a member of SAFE, said she believes a University ethics review committee should already exist. “After we divested from South Africa, when that happened, if you look in the University records, what they wanted to do was to create a committee to look at our investments,” Khamis said. “Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case, and that doesn’t exist.” The resolution cites United Nations Security Resolution 242 and various University policies, including the University’s divestments from South African apartheid in 1978 and tobacco companies in 2000, as the reasoning for creating the committee. If the committee is formed and decides the University should divest from the companies, the four corporations would be given a year’s warning to change the policies deemed unethical. The University would discontinue investing in the companies if these changes were not implemented. Apart from SAFE, members of the University’s Divest to Invest group gathered on the Diag earlier this month to call for the University’s divestment from fossil fuels.
FUNDS From Page 1A ing which he met with leaders of startup companies born out of University research and a handful of local non-profits. Schlissel stressed the University’s deep connection to the state, highlighting its commitment to meeting 100 percent of demonstrated financial need for all in-state students. He said that commitment has made the University more affordable than it was five years ago for in-state students that demonstrate financial need. This was a point Coleman made in a February 2013 speech to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education. Snyder’s budget proposal that year also provided for modest funding increases for public state
Wednesday, February 25, 2015 — 3A
said. “We need to invest primarily in our infrastructure and basic services. We can’t do those things well enough. As a community leader, I want to make Ann Arbor more accessible and attractive to residents. To achieve that quality of life, we need to invest in our people.” Ackerman said the type of people the city caters to and attracts is important, and subsequently he hopes his more youthful perspective will provide insights into how the city can best attract and keep young professionals. He also emphasized that he is interested in collaboration and respecting differing ideas — values he said reflect the spirit of Ann Arbor. Vying for the seat held by incumbent Councilmember Stephen Kunselman (D–Ward 3), Ackerman said he aspires to bring open-mindedness to City Council. “I find (Kunselman) to be not necessarily the most collaborative person, and I think a lot of people who work in city politics, including city staff, and a lot of residents would agree with that. I don’t think he comes to the table with a sense of open-mindedness that I believe is necessary to help make Ann Arbor fully functional.”
Kunselman did not wish to comment on these remarks at this time, but said he is planning to run a full, competitive campaign for re-election in the coming months. Ackerman said one issue he has noticed that requires more attention is homelessness and the resources available to create more permanent solutions, including shelters and affordable housing. “We have to make sure Ann Arbor is accessible to anyone who wants to call Ann Arbor home,” he said. In addition to considering new locations for possible affordable housing units, Ackerman said the Delonis Center — a shelter that offers temporary housing for those who need it — could be restructured to better serve Washtenaw County residents. The shelter is currently funded in part by the state, which means it has to accept any Michigan resident. “(The Delonis Center) has become the homeless shelter for the greater southeast area,” Ackerman said. “We need to take a look at how we fund the Delonis Center in a way that allows us to focus on Washtenaw County and Ann Arbor residents so that we can provide not only a temporary
shelter for people but also any social support they need while on their way to permanent housing and a place in Ann Arbor’s workforce.” Ackerman said encouraging an increase in affordable housing — an issue he said he will approach with a unique perspective — is necessary in Ann Arbor. Amid lengthy debate, City Council has been working to update zoning protocols, an issue Taylor emphasized during the mayoral race and one Ackerman agreed still requires attention. The construction of high-rise apartment buildings has attracted extensive debate in recent years. Considering both student needs and residential needs, Ackerman said he is prepared to come to the table with fresh ideas and a unique outlook in the conversation about housing and downtown development. “I think there were some oversights in the zoning process that began in 2007,” Ackerman said. “Zoning can be done better to make sure Ann Arbor stays the historic and attractive skyline we want — like considering a buffer zone between residents and
downtown, staggering heights, things like that.” Ackerman also suggested finding innovative approaches to affordable housing, such as promoting accessory units, or small dwellings attached to single-family homes that are often rented at more affordable rates. “This is just supplemental, but it’s creative and communal,” he said. “There are a lot of issues at play when you talk about affordability and the student body. “ As an employee of the University’s Information and Technology Services, Ackerman said he hopes his knowledge and perspective will help bring Ann Arbor as a city into the 21st century. “In terms of road repair, there are a lot more proactive measures that we can take.” he said. “In terms of problem reporting, places like Jackson are experimenting with civic applications for your phones.” Ackerman said there is a noticeable divide among members of Council, preventing the body from taking more progressive initiatives. “I would say that AA politics is more factionalized than it has been,” Ackerman said.”There are
those that want to take a forward looking lens to municipal government and there are those who want to look at the short term and what will serve their benefit in the immediate.” Students have struggled to secure a seat on Council for years. The Mixed Use party focused on adopting a more relaxed zoning code, and ran several several University students for Council in the 2013 election. In 2014, LSA freshman Sam McMullen ran for a seat on council as well. These attempts proved unsuccessful. This year, University alum Will Leaf, a former co-chair of the Mixed Use party, will run also for a seat on council. According to a Daily analysis last month, 14.72 percent of Ward 3 consists of students who are registered voters. Of the 7,000 students registered to vote, only 1,900 voted in the 2014 Ann Arbor election. Ackerman, however, said he won’t be relying too heavily on student support at the polls, but rather hopes to reach out to community members in his ward, running a grassroots campaign and going door-to-door.
age you to take risks and even if that means you’re going to fail, the cost of failure isn’t so critical — if your character dies, you’ll get a new character.” Fishman said students’ fear of failure is what inspired him to create an online learning system where students can determine their goals and grades for their own classes. “High school used to be preparation for college and now it’s preparation for applying to college,” Fishman said. “The result is you’ll end up in college and you’re so used to be doing exactly what you’re supposed to do that you’re not sure how to take a risk. But failure is super important.” With these ideas in mind, Fishman created GradeCraft. The platform currently serves over 1,400 students in 15 classes at the Uni-
versity and two at the University of Michigan—Dearborn in disciplines ranging from kinesiology to linguistics. The site allows students to view their assignments, course progress, grade predictor, badges and teaching teams. Students are able to choose which assignments they want to do and see how the preferred assignments will affect their grade. Fishman said the key to the platform is the grade predictor. The predictor allows students to view their cumulative points within a class and alter the assignments they elect based on the feedback they receive from their instructor. “Everything is optional — even attendance,” Fishman said. “It also allows students to have free-
dom to fail. If you don’t do well on an assignment, you can try something else.” Fishman said he believes the greatest problem with students using the site is their early anxiety after assessing the amount of work required for a GradeCraft course. However, he said GradeCraft allows instructors to look for “cues” that may hint at a future poor performance by the student. “I have a different interface that lets me see how students are doing,” Fishman said. “It lets me analyze at what point students begin to fall into trouble.” Fishman said interest in GradeCraft is growing among educators from all over the world. “We get half-a-dozen requests per week from people who want to use it,” he said. “We’re not ready for the outside world to use
it yet.” In an e-mail interview, Information junior Monica Chen said GradeCraft is unlike any other online learning platform because it fuses the concepts of competition and cooperation together. Because the system is so complex, the success of the program is left largely to the professor. “The badge system might not be tweaked or implemented at all, the scale of points might be too low to inspire dedicated work, there might not be a theme or leveler scheme as encouragement, and depth of information as a whole might be inadequate, among other things,” Chen said. Rackham student Ryan Wawrzaszek, a former student of Fishman’s as an undergraduate, said in an e-mail interview that the benefits of GradeCraft lie in the
flexibility students have in choosing what work to do outside of the classroom. “In Professor Fishman’s class, every assignment was optional, so you were able to pick and choose which assignments seemed more interesting to you,” Wawrzaszek said. “GradeCraft made it easy to plan out the semester by clearly showing due dates, assignment specifications, grading rubrics and point values right at the beginning of the semester.” Wawrzaszek added that the grade predictor helped him manage his assignments. “It was nice to have a clear but flexible list of assignments right from the start and to also have an option to do an extra assignment or two if I didn’t do as well as I had hoped on one of the projects I picked out at the start,” he wrote.
However, according to University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald, the threshold for passing a divestment policy is purposefully difficult to reach. “The bar is set intentionally high ... to somewhat insulate the investment office from the political winds that could change from one direction to the other,” Fitzgerald said in an interview last year. “So the bar for considering divesting is set intentionally very high and requires this broad pervasive sentiment throughout University community to even be considered.” Prior to the reading of the resolution, various booths provided information on the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and information about the SAFE movement. Khamis said the symposium sought to raise awareness and understanding about the conflict, as well as encourage students to instigate change. “It’s about what you can do right now,” Khamis said. LSA senior Daniel HurwitzGoodman, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, attended the event in support of SAFE and the divestment movement. “I think that the idea of having education and feedback at the forefront is an important aspect of getting something like this actually passed rather than just talked about,” Hurwitz-Goodman said.
universities; Coleman said this allowed for continuing improvement of the University’s financial aid programs. “Only one (University) budget item is sacrosanct and that is financial aid; here we are adding dollars,” she said. “This year alone, we invested $137 million for financial aid. We are very, very deliberate when targeting savings on campus — the kind of precision you might experience in an advanced course in nano-engineering or microsurgery.” Schlissel also cited the University’s collaborations with the state’s automotive, technology, urban planning and insurance industries. For example, he noted the University is currently working with government and education officials to build a 32-acre mobility transformation center to develop automated, driverless vehicles.
HIGHER ED From Page 1A While he’s also spent time addressing four-year schools, these initiatives have caught the attention of educational institutions around Michigan, many of whom are wondering what this new emphasis will mean for their future. Give and take? In public appearances over his tenure, the governor has stressed that his focus is on bringing more career readiness to the states’ higher education offerings, not taking something away. Speaking at his annual education summit last March, Snyder said he wants higher education to adopt a broader approach in preparing students for the workforce. “(Michigan education) is too often focused on a diploma or a degree, and not saying, ‘Are you career ready?’” he said at the time. In a public appearance in Macomb late last year, Snyder said the idea individuals need a college degree has been reinforced too much, and he wants to swing the balance back, The Macomb Daily reported. “The part we messed up is that we didn’t say with equal fervor and equal passion (to teens) that you should also look at skilled trades and you should look at career teched … the whole country messed up on this issue and we were a part of messing up on this issue.” Many higher education policymakers and university officials across the state say they are optimistic about that idea of an addition, not a replacement, especially in regards to how those programs are funded in the state budget. In Snyder’s fiscal year 2016 budget recommendation this February, he doubled the amount of money allocated to skilled trades programs — from $10 million to $20 million. However, appropriations for universities and colleges also received an increase of 2 percent, in line with previous increases over the past few years. Cynthia Wilbanks, the University’s vice president for government relations, said in an interview before the budget’s release that she did not believe universities would have to make concessions as a result of increased attention to trades programs. “I am very reluctant to identify the governor’s focus as being
singly focused, and an either or proposition where winners and losers are identified as coming out of that kind of a discussion,” Wilbanks said. “I prefer to think about the governor’s comments as not an either-or opportunity, and I think that’s really important. What I think people will try to do on occasion is divide and conquer: if we just put more resources into this area of education, that means someone else is going to lose out. And I do not believe that is the intention of the governor and other policy makers.” State Rep. Amanda Price (R– Holland), chair of the House Education Committee, said she sees skilled trades programs as a way to better match student needs. “Some people are going to feel that their skills are served better by four-year universities, and they want to go in that direction,” she said. “A lot of kids … they know they’re going to work with their hands, or know they’re going to work in the skilled trades and then that’s a better fit for them. So I think it’s finding what is the best fit for that individual, as opposed to a zero-sum game.” State Rep. Jeff Irwin (D– Ann Arbor), who serves on the Appropriations subcommittee on Higher Education, said while he did not think that the increased attention towards alternative higher education routes would have an impact on university funding, it’s hard to ever be sure. “I don’t personally see a direct conflict between that and university funding,” he said. “Of course there’s always a conflict between any funding line and another. I would see that more as a conflict than say, our corrections expenses.” Speaking before the budget recommendation release, Dale Tahtinen, vice president of government relations at Michigan Technological University, said he thinks the impact on a university’s budget would depend on the focus of that university’s programs. “Hopefully (the financial impact) will be minimal, but it may have an impact, probably on some more than others depending on what they offer,” Tahtinen said. MAT2 The governor’s push for career education has manifest-
ed in several distinct ways. During his State of the State address, Snyder highlighted one of his earliest initiatives — the Michigan Advanced Technical Training Program. MAT2 launched in 2013, after the governor observed a similar program during a 2012 visit to Germany. Ryan Hundt, a senior program manager for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Talent Enhancement unit, runs MAT2, which combines both job training and in-classroom learning. He said when it comes to Michigan, the program is the first of its kind. “There have been apprenticeship programs around the state and around the country for quite some time,” he said. “The MAT2 program was modeled on the German dual education system, and the German dual education system kind of blends components of a traditional classroom setting with employer on-the-job training.” What makes the MAT2 program unique, he said, is that it is employer-driven, based on connecting students with potential future employers, rather than only teaching job skills. MAT2 currently is involved in three community colleges on four college campuses: Macomb Community College at their south campus in Warren, Oakland Community College on the Auburn Hills and Orchard Ridge campuses, and Henry Ford College in Dearborn. More than 90 students are currently enrolled. In 2013, MAT2 had partnered with Oakland Community College and Henry Ford Community
College and only offered a mechatronics program, with just 31 students enrolled. In 2014, with the governor’s support, the programs expanded to include Macomb Community College, adding a technical product design program, an information technology program and enrolling more than an additional 60 students. This year, MAT2 plans to expand to both include a new technician program, and move outside of the Southeast Michigan. “We’re planning on partnering with Lansing Community College, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Delta College in Saginaw, North Central Community College in Petoskey and Baker College in Cadillac,” Hundt said. “We’re hoping that MAT2 is not just an educational and training model for Michigan, but we’re hoping that it can be replicated throughout the U.S. at some point as well.” Hundt said he saw several benefits to the governor’s focus on the skilled trades, including increased awareness of them as options. “It also makes programs like MAT2 seem like a viable educational aid career option,” Hundt said. “Especially for students that may not necessarily know what they’d like to do after high school, or they may be interested in a particular field but they don’t necessarily want to go off to a four-year college or a university.” Participant Rebekka Neumann said she fell in this category, and was encouraged by her teachers and robotics team coaches to join the MAT2 program after graduation. Read more online at michigandaily.com
Opinion
4A — Wednesday, February 25, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
RACHEL DAWSON
E-mail Rachel at rdawson@umich.edu
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com JENNIFER CALFAS EDITOR IN CHIEF
AARICA MARSH and DEREK WOLFE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
LEV FACHER MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
Eating disorder misconceptions
O
f all the relationships in my life, the one I have with my body is the most turbulent. My body image, over the years, has continually fluctuated. Honestly, strike that. It alters daily. Depending on the day, my perceptions can range from vaguely accepting, to indifferent, to criticisms I’d never dare direct at another person. I’d like to say I’m entirely comfortable in my MELISSA own skin. I’d like to say that SCHOLKE when my gaze meets the one of the woman staring back at me from the surface of a brightly lit mirror, I don’t grimace. I’d like to take a photo with friends without a self-conscious and disparaging thought creeping into my head. I struggle whenever I try to decipher the roles bodies play in our lives and in society as a whole. I’d prefer to view bodies as merely vehicles to breathe, travel, play, work, create, love and enjoy life. However, I know perceptions surrounding the physical body in our society are far more complex than that. Whether we’re being introduced to someone or merely sitting in class, our bodies are one of the first impressions we make. From that initial moment, we begin the process of appraising, or “sizing each other up.” In our society, we classify and compartmentalize. We toss around adjectives like “tall,” “stout,” “lean,” “twiggy,” “chubby,” “athletic” or “muscular.” We fix these designations on people until the descriptions seep under our skin. We formulate idealized classifications of bodies that deserve to be labeled as healthy or as attractive. We even create incorrect images of what individuals struggling with their bodies look like. Yet eating disorders and body image concerns afflict individuals across a wide spectrum that’s overlooked far too often. Despite the common misconception that eating disorders only affect individuals who are young, white, heterosexuals, they’re not exclusive to any particular group. Classified by the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as “persistent disturbance(s) of eating or eating-related behavior that results in the altered consumption or absorption of food that significantly impairs physical health or psychosocial functioning,” eating disorders are experienced by individuals of any age, sexuality, gender, race or socioeconomic status. In order to address the discrepancies and misconceptions about disordered eating across the nation, the National Eating Disorder Association recently kicked off National Eating Disorder Awareness Week by surrounding the campaign around the phrase “I Had No Idea.” Personal experiences and interactions have convinced me the stereotypical images and perceptions of eating disorders are not true, but until I did the research, I was unaware of numerous aspects regarding the subject. Even though the DSM offers detailed definitions and symptom descriptions of eating disorders, the information and research surrounding the discussion is constantly evolving. Binge-eating disorder — a type of eating disorder characterized by “frequent episodes of consuming large amounts of food, but without behaviors to prevent weight gain” — previously fell under a category of non-specified disorders. The emergence of this disorder into the manual shows eating disorders aren’t limited to anorexia and bulimia. Likewise, the existence of other-specified and unspecified categories in the DSM helps to reinforce the fact that eating disorders vary as
much as the individuals who suffer from them. A variety of diverse sociocultural and genetic factors contribute to the development of eating disorders and the manifestation of symptoms in individuals. For example, eating disorders — although they are commonly categorized as an issue pertaining mostly to women — greatly impact men. In the past 30 years, the percentage of men who are dissatisfied with their bodies has risen from 15 percent to 43 percent. For bingeeating disorder, in particular, men compose 40 percent of the individuals diagnosed. Men who exhibit signs of binging episodes or symptoms of bulimia may partake in excessive amounts of exercising. While women may focus on slimming down, men with disordered eating patterns focus on maintaining a more stereotypically masculine form by obtaining muscle. The stigma of eating disorders being exclusively associated with women deters men from seeking treatment. In addition, gender roles and stereotypes play a role in the manifestation of eating disorder symptoms in members of the LGBTQ community. According to NEDA, stressors, “such as coming out and harassment in school or in the workplace, can impact levels of anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and unhealthy coping mechanisms such as substance abuse — all of which are common co-occurring conditions and can be contributing factors to the development of an eating disorder.” For members of the transgender community, attempting to obtain a masculine or feminine ideal could provoke anxiety and dissatisfaction with one’s body. Research regarding aspects such as the idealized forms in LGBTQ community, the effects of discrimination, and the factors contributing to eating disorders is still ongoing. Taking excessive exercise and gender roles into account, many people may consider athletes exempt from eating disorders as result of their strenuous exercise schedules mandated by their respective sport. However, appearances can be deceiving. The stress of competition, of maintaining the form of one’s body and of wanting to improve can contribute to the development of an eating disorder. Likewise, in aesthetic sports like gymnastics, wrestling and ice-skating, the form-fitting uniforms participants are expected to wear can increase one’s concern about the way their body looks to others. In an environment like the University — where competition, independence and high standards thrive — students may refrain from seeking help or feel like the condition is a phase they can struggle through and improve on their own. However, numerous resources — at CAPS and UHS — exist to assist students with each variable of eating disorders and body image concerns. Just as a culmination of diverse factors can contribute to the development of eating disorders, many diverse approaches need be taken to increase awareness about the wide variation of body concerns among students. There is no immediate solution for the widespread prevalence of eating disorders, but there are numerous steps that can be taken to raise awareness. The first is to increase our knowledge of these conditions. Raising awareness, learning more about diverse populations affected and understanding symptoms can help in removing inhibiting stigmas and allowing people to begin to view their bodies outside of restricting, incorrect idealizations.
Students may feel like the condition is a phase they can struggle through and improve on their own.
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—Melissa Scholke can be reached at melikaye@umich.edu.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
So we’re going to stay conservative in our revenue estimates, and make adjustments only when we’re absolutely certain the money is there.” — Detroit mayor Mike Duggan on Tuesday, in reference to the city currently bringing in higher revenues than estimated by the 2015 budget.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Thank you, Victoria’s Secret Angels TO THE DAILY: I’m not a size two. My stomach isn’t as flat as a washboard when I sit down. I enjoy an occasional slice of pizza. I’m already well aware that I’m not destined to model, or marry a hot rock star, or be the face of some cosmetic line. But full disclosure: I’m not one who doesn’t know the difference between Topshop and Top Cat, and I don’t cause passersby to shriek in horror as I walk past their gaze. As I stared at my laptop with an empty Cheez-It bag in front of me, an article from Harper’s Bazaar was conveniently, or perhaps inconveniently, brought to my attention by a friend. It read, “If you’re bummed about waiting a full year
Why I can’t support “Fifty Shades of Grey” TO THE DAILY: I’m all for female writers. I’m all for exploring sexuality. I’m all for safe, consensual sex. I’m not all for “Fifty Shades of Grey.” When I first started hearing about “Fifty Shades of Grey,” I didn’t pay much attention. Several of my close girlfriends had picked up the book as their first foray into erotica and would occasionally remark to one another about their enjoyment of the piece. They found the scenes sexy, the visuals steamy and even if the writing was subpar, at least they were finally getting a female-centric perspective of sex (something often lacking in maleengineered porn and other erotic expressions). I’m supportive of people taking control of their sexuality. I’m
Change the schedule and Christian privilege TO THE DAILY: The Michigan Daily recently published an editorial in which it argued that, for the reason of religious accommodation, the University should avoid scheduling future fall terms to end as close to Christmas as the Fall 2015 term, which ends on Dec. 23. In so doing, the Daily uncritically and unjustly upholds the hegemony Christianity exercises over the University’s schedule. Our entire calendar is already designed to cater to Christian holidays. We will never have classes or exams on Christmas or Easter, and we have an entire break that is de facto designed to facilitate the celebration of the former. This level of accommodation is not available to other religious groups. For example, Hanukkah overlapped with final exams last term, and yet there were no widespread petitions or editorials demanding that we reschedule the Fall 2014 term to avoid this conflict. Given the diversity of holidays celebrated by
Send letters to: tothedaily@michigandaily.com for the next Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, today’s news is sure to lift your spirits.” Wow, Harper’s Bazaar, you really speak to me, don’t you? I’m a 19-year-old, stressed-out college freshman who gets bummed out by bad grades, disappointment and not knowing what I want to do with my life. But I will never be bummed about having to wait a full year (gasp!) to see the entrancing, immortal, glamazon Victoria’s Secret models grace the catwalk in nipple covers and bathing suits made of floss. No thanks, I’ll pass. I would hereby like to thank the Victoria’s Secret Angels for reminding me that looks are what people covet the most, and that your tanned and toned bodies (kudos to that California girl, Katy Perry) are what set the societal standard for
beauty and sex symbolism. Thank you for reminding me that I, and 99 percent of other girls like me, will never touch those standards. While you bronze your chests with self-tanner and wear push-up bras, I wrap my chest in thick scarves to inform the world that I’m more than just a body — the exact antithesis to the messaging which these fashion shows promote. Maybe I’m just cynical, or maybe I’m just jealous. But what I do know is that I refuse to aspire to be like women who, with a little luck and a lot of starvation, succeed in superficiality. See, angels aren’t real, and I choose to watch real women do real things. Sorry if that’s a “bummer.”
supportive of people reading and watching various types of material to determine their intimate preferences. I’m in no way shaming any sexual preference, fetish or the BDSM culture depicted in “Fifty Shades of Grey;” if that works for sexual partners, by all means, they have my blessing. My problem with “Fifty Shades of Grey” is that it presents an abusive relationship in a glamorized way. “Fifty Shades of Grey” is a disappointment in that it normalizes abuse and has joined a cultural trend of romanticizing behavior on the big screen that is dangerous in reality. Outside of their sexual relationship, Christian Grey attempts to control Anastasia Steele. He stalks Ana, wires her phone without her knowledge, limits who she can talk to and when, controls what she eats, is prone to threatening outbursts and frequently isolates Ana from other company.
The problem with Grey and Steele’s relationship is that the dominating behavior continues outside of the bedroom; it’s manipulation dressed up in a sexy tuxedo. Christian Grey isn’t a sexual fantasy; he’s a predator you could find on any street. Instead of spending money on the dissemination of this unhealthy relationship archetype, I urge you to find ways to give back to those most affected by the popularity of these movies: abused women. I donated the ticket price to “Safe Haven Shelter for Battered Women” online. Volunteering and speaking out against unhealthy relationship behaviors are other important ways to help change our unhealthy sexual culture. We have the consumer purchasing power to change what we see in our media. Now is the time to use it.
members of the University community, there are undoubtedly many more holidays that regularly conflict with our academic calendar. The reason is simple: the University’s calendar, like most calendars in America, is planned around the Christian calendar, and other religious groups are given little, if any, consideration. Requesting religious accommodation for Christmas beyond that which is already granted is a blatant display of Christian privilege, and completely overlooks the unequal consideration the University already gives towards Christianity in scheduling. The Daily asserts that Provost Martha Pollack’s request to reschedule the end of Winter 2016 classes by two days to accommodate Passover constitutes a “glaring inconsistenc[y]” in scheduling policy. However, this point is clearly unfounded: the proposed one-day gap between the beginning of Passover and the end of classes in that policy is exactly equal to the one-day gap between the end of exams and Christmas already in place. Additionally, the proposed changes still had exami-
nations overlapping with some of Passover, whereas Christmas does not, and will never, overlap with finals. Finally, the Daily ignored that Pollack’s requests also sought to accommodate a Christian holiday: Greek Orthodox Easter. The Daily’s request to accommodate Christmas with an even larger gap than that which was requested for Passover therefore constitutes a “glaring inconsistency,” not Pollack’s actions. I am highly sensitive to the increased cost of travel around Christmas, and for this reason I do not disagree with the proposed changes. But to assert that the celebration of Christmas deserves increased religious accommodation when it already receives more accommodation than any other holiday is both insensitive to the ways our University and nation privilege Christianity, and unfair to the nonChristians whose religious calendars receive nowhere near the same level of consideration automatically granted to Christians, if any at all.
Sophie White LSA Freshman
Bethanie Lehman LSA Freshman
Cullen O’Keefe LSA Junior
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Payton Luokkala Aarica Marsh, Victoria Noble, Michael Paul, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Linh Vu, Mary Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Derek Wolfe
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Stand with me
T
he night of Tuesday, Feb. 9, Deah Barakat, age 23, his wife Yusor AbuSalha, age 21, and her sister, Razan AbuSalha, age 19, were killed executionstyle by Craig Stephen Hicks. Hicks was indicted RABAB in the triple JAFRI homicide, allegedly over a parking dispute. However, many people, including the families of Deah, Yusor and Razan, believe that the shootings were a hate-crime due to the victims’ Muslim faith. I will start by saying I do not claim that the actions of Hicks were due to him being an atheist or that somehow atheism is fundamentally violent or hateful. To do that would be stooping down to the level to those who claim that Islam is inherently violent, and I know what it feels like to be stereotyped and labeled based on the actions of someone else. I would like you to step into my world as a Muslim-American in the aftermath of this event. On Wednesday morning, I woke up to texts about how Deah, Yusor and Razan were killed from my friends and family who were upset and shocked at the heinous crime and lack of media coverage. I saw tweets and Facebook posts by Muslims pressuring the media to cover the story and read the media coverage that called the incident a simple “parking dispute.” Despite the shock, I dragged myself out of bed, put on my “Respect my Choice” T-shirt with a hijab logo on it, and walked out of my room with a brave face. I would not let hate change me. That night, the University’s Muslim Student Association held a candlelight vigil where people expressed their mourning, shock and frustration with the media coverage. There was support from people from all different faiths, proving to me that there were others who could understand why this was so heartbreaking. And while the media still debates whether Islamophobia exists, I can tell you that at the vigil, a place where people should have their time to mourn, hagglers yelled slurs like, “Is that ISIS?” It added insult to injury; needless to say, I wasn’t completely surprised. And then Thursday came, and
it felt like a second blow. I could not focus on any of my classes, and yet it seemed like there weren’t many who understood why this hit me so hard. I could have sat out of class or explained why I didn’t finish my homework in time, but the fear that no one would understand overwhelmed me. Why I would feel so upset by an event that is only considered a hate-crime by those who choose to believe it is something I could not bear to explain, and so I stayed silent. I spent the day scrolling through articles and pictures of the newly wedded couple and Razan, who was the same age as me. I thought of my brothers, friends and family members, thinking about their similarities and the bright futures that had been lost. Today, I look back at these events and tell you that all they have done is made me more aware of some crucial realities. I thought long and hard about my own identity and my place in America, the country I was born and raised in. The media portrayal of these events claimed that this was a parking dispute, and newscasters spent their time interviewing Hicks’ wife instead of the family of the victims. I could not help but feel a lump in my throat. These were people that looked so similar to me, and yet there seemed to be little sympathy. Instead, another round of public debates. As if something deep inside me had been uncovered, I thought to myself, “Where do I exist?” Am I the enemy in sight of the eyehole of the American sniper? Am I the woman hidden behind a veil of oppression? Maybe I’m one of those nameless characters screaming in a foreign language in the background of an action scene. Am I a suspected terrorist or a moderate Muslim who seems to be somewhere silently floating in the midst? If you could point me to one American television show or movie that has a portrayal of the happy Muslim neighbor, I would be more than happy to watch it. Is the media trying to ignore that an educated, practicing, American Muslim can possibly be a part of society?
Wednesday, February 25, 2015 — 5A
MIKE YEE | VIEWPOINT
Who watches the Airwatchers?
Am I to sit silently while the media tries to push me aside and make me feel like I just do not belong here? Or maybe I will have hope that people will see these problems for what they really are: a product of misconceptions. Regardless of whether or not you believe that this was a hate crime, there have been several after the shooting that paint a larger picture of hate-driven crimes against Muslims and Arab-Americans. On Monday, Feb. 16, a man in Houston was charged with arson in an Islamic center and on Thursday, Feb. 12 an Arab-American man was beaten at a Kroger in Dearborn. These are just a few of the recent hate crimes against Muslims, crimes that are five times more common now than they were before Sept. 11, 2001. The idea that Islam is inherently violent or anti-Western is one that incites hatred of Muslims. The only way to combat these ideas is by combating the ignorance surrounding these claims. I’ve heard too many times about people that simply “aren’t sure” what Islam is really about. They take the words of people who pull excerpts of the Quran out of context or claim that somehow the one person or even one government is representative of every Muslim. People must learn to separate Islam from terrorism if the hatred against innocent Muslims is to cease. I could go on to say that the lesson I learned from the death of Deah, Yusor and Razan is that it’s solely Muslims who face these obstacles, but the greater reality is that we should be working toward a society without hate on all levels. Islamophobia isn’t just a problem for Muslims the same way that racism is not just a problem for Black Americans. It affects us all, and ignoring it as a problem only allows more and more people to be hurt. The only way to combat these hate crimes is to stand up against them regardless of the victim. I will stand with you. Won’t you stand with me?
Am I a suspected terrorist or a moderate Muslim who seems to be somewhere silently floating in the midst?
—Rabab Jafri can be reached at rfjafri@umich.edu
Are you too cool for school? Do you neglect homework assignments to discuss news that’s near and dear to your heart? Could skipping class to scuriously write an 800-word viewpoint be in your very near future? If so, the The Michigan Daily opinion section is the place for you! Join us for Editboard every Monday and Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. in the Student Publications Building located at 420 Maynard Street. For more info, email tothedaily@umich.edu.
On Monday, the University Medical School Information Services rolled out its implementation of AirWatch, a mobile device management system being used to secure personal cell phones of employees and students. Numerous high-profile losses of protected health information at other institutions — and the inevitable lawsuits that followed — were cited as precipitating factors leading to our health system’s adoption of the security software. AirWatch aims to prevent sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands by providing the ability to remotely wipe a device that has been lost or stolen, as well as the means to constantly monitor whether a device has been compromised. The software requires full administrator access to one’s phone to do so; permissions granted to the AirWatch Agent application are broad, including the ability to determine the device’s precise location, directly call phone numbers and even take pictures and videos. MSIS maintains that our version of AirWatch “does not collect any data related to phone calls, texts, location or web browsing,” because “these capabilities have been disabled.” Questions about AirWatch have been raised by medical students, many of whom learned about the decision to support the software on a Friday, only three days before the platform’s official Monday launch. Confusion regarding the scope of surveillance, access to tracked information and the possibility of uninstallation reigned, but one of the most commonly voiced concerns was simply, “Do I need to install AirWatch?” Announcements included phrases such as “deadline for
HEIDI LIU
enrolling” without pointing out that participation is strictly voluntary; users who do not install the monitoring package will still be able to access their UMHS e-mail accounts through their devices’ web browsers. An important concept in medicine is the right to an informed decision, one which can only be made after understanding all of the relevant facts about each of the options available, without being coerced or rushed. It isn’t necessary for the health care provider to agree with the decision, as each patient makes each choice within the context of his or her own value system; hence, there are no “right” or “wrong” options. Similarly, the crux of issues surrounding privacy and technology resides in supplying the end user with enough information to weigh costs and benefits before arriving at an informed decision. Patient data should be protected, but at what cost to the security of employee and student data? The large number of medical students who change their names on Facebook during the residency application cycle indicates that privacy remains a major concern — if we are so guarded about the information that we have chosen to share online, why would we not also wish to protect our private texts and e-mails? We live in a time when the nature of the relationship between citizens, companies and government over communications is in a state of constant flux; in the last few days alone, headlines have been awash with revelations that computer manufacturing giant Lenovo intentionally packaged a major security flaw into its new laptops, while ongoing revelations about the extent of NSA surveillance
continue to astound in both volume and audacity. As consumers and responsible citizens, we must take active steps to protect our privacy. This can be difficult in the mobile device domain, as the only way to truly ensure that one’s data is completely safe is to not own a cellular phone in the first place. Obviously for many people this is not a viable option, so every day we make tradeoffs, judging which risks we deem acceptable. We may still choose to talk where we can be overheard, or text where our screens can be read over our shoulders or e-mail knowing the messages can be intercepted. Some users will trust AirWatch, acknowledging the potential privacy compromises that it presents in favor of the convenience of accessing e-mail on their own devices. Others will opt not to install AirWatch, choosing instead to check their mail with their phones’ web browsers while relying upon their pagers to communicate urgent messages. A few may even decide to use entirely separate devices for personal and professional business. There are no “right” or “wrong” options, as each choice is made in the context of the end user’s individual value system. Moving forward, it’s important that we focus on seeking student input about changes related to our school’s information technology policies, in addition to continuing to supply users with the information necessary to make informed decisions regarding their privacy, without being coerced or rushed. Special thanks to Erin Conrad for contributing to this article. Mike Yee is a fourth year medical student.
E-mail Heidi at heidimae@umich.edu
Arts
6A — Wednesday, February 25, 2015
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
NEW DOOR
“Are we Simon and Garfunkel yet?” “I don’t know, do you have an afro yet?”
Tears for Fears is still revolutionary 30th anniversary of synth pioneers’ biggest album By BRIAN BURLAGE Daily Arts Writer
Roland Orzabal and his classmate John Baker stroll through the streets of Bath, England. It’s 1978 and they’re both 16 years old. As they traverse the rich, antiquity-begotten city, they talk about that night’s show: a short half-hour gig at the local pub. The last time they played the venue they were nearly ridiculed off stage, as attendees were quick to pounce on the youth and naivety of the “Baker Brothers” band. But tonight would be different, the two friends agreed. They would first find a new name for the band, and it had to be something simple, something American maybe. The group was, after all, descended from the new wave and the mod revival. New wave music
was just starting to split from punk, and the Americans were taking an early charge. Orzabal and Baker thought for a while, and they eventually settled on something familiar: the movie “The Graduate.” They’d been opening with Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” pretty consistently, and it made sense to stick with something iconic. And so it was. The Baker Brothers became Graduate. After releasing an album that achieved moderate success (it was a strange but catchy contribution to early ska music), the group toured in Spain and Switzerland. They continued to negotiate with the new wave movement, but when electronics came to prominence as viable means of music making around 1980, Graduate quickly dissolved. Orzabal and Curt Smith were members of the camp that saw the emergent realm of synthesizers and computers as an avenue for exploring human emotion. They were, in their earliest days, fascinated by the idea of primal therapy – a psy-
chological treatment developed in the 1970s by psychiatrist Arthur Janov. Janov believed all painful experiences in childhood are shaped by long-term repression, and that much of the anxiety and neuroses we face as adults comes from this avoidance of trauma. As part of the doctrine of his larger primal therapy theory, he states that he and his colleagues “have found a way into those early emotional archives and have learned to have access to those memories, to dredge them up from the unconscious, allowing us to reexperience them in the present, integrate them and no longer be driven by the unconscious. For the first time in the history of psychology, there is a way to access feelings, hidden away, in a safe way and thus to reduce human suffering.” What’s most interesting, and what was also most relevant to Orzabal and Smith, is the notion that previous emotions can be summoned to the present moment. In the present, they can be experienced and
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approached in an entirely different light. These ideas of emotional access, self-address and re-learning childhood are what captivated Orzabal and Smith most while they were forming their new group. They believed that music had a responsibility to perform this kind of conjuring, to draw out the personal and individual emotions of listeners. Similarly, it was the place of computers and modern technology to assist with music’s emotional summon. The developing electronic mode promised access to a range of human emotions not yet touched or, in light of primal therapy, not yet recalled. Orzabal and Smith resolved to pursue this infant frontier. They added Ian Stanley and Manny Elias to the group, as both were renowned for their work with programming. The foursome called themselves Tears for Fears. With their debut album The Hurting, the group found three major hits in “Mad World,” “Change” and “Pale Shelter.” The true genius of the work, however, can be heard in Stanley’s careful ventriloquizing of the keyboards through computerization. In “Mad World,” he pushes the song’s tone toward an absurdist blend of the sinister with the frightened. It’s as though the speaker’s deep fear of madness in the world makes him simultaneously superior to it, outside of it or without it. Echoes of Stanley’s imaginative programming can be heard in the jadedness of “Pale Shelter” or the indecision of “Change.” He lifts their otherwise synthetic overwhelm into a state of dark ethereality, one in which elements of postpunk conjoin with new wave to create a sense of comfortable isolation in the listener. Listening to Tears for Fears’ early work with The Hurting is like floating alone through the night sky and feeling somehow cocooned by the clouds. Stanley’s skillful programming and engineering efforts, combined with Orzabal’s flair for grandiose songwriting, would set the framework for their next and greatest album: Songs from the Big Chair. Thirty years after its release, Songs from the Big Chair remains one of the most beloved, iconic and unapproachable pop albums of the
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5 “Come to think of it ...” 6 Stephen of “Breakfast on Pluto” 7 Succor 8 Hungry for success, say 9 Track transaction 10 “No thanks” 11 Google Maps directions word 12 Sea-Tac approx. 13 Protein-rich bean 19 Org. that funds cultural exhibitions 21 Litter peeps 24 Cruise stop 25 Italian archaeological attraction 26 Puma competitor 27 Paper holder 28 Italian tourist attraction 33 CFO’s degree 34 Invite as a member of 35 Verizon competitor 36 Unruly groups 37 The Lord, in Lourdes
38 Response to freshness? 40 “You got that right!” 43 Campsite sight 45 Very 47 Peak near Olympus 49 Lincoln Memorial feature 50 Bloodmobile visitors
51 Zealous 53 Black-and-white sea predators 54 Narrow inlet 55 __ management 58 Bug on the line 59 Timeline parts: Abbr. 60 Shooter lead-in 61 Sealing goo 62 Periodic table suffix
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’80s. For every 50-something music collector concerned only with the album’s place in Phonogram Records history, there’s a self-conscious 15-year-old newly exposed to the pangs of love and the deep melancholy recoiled within the music.
This isn’t escapism. It’s not romanticism. It’s revolution. The album’s detractors consistently note its artificiality and its residence in surface-level sound. The synthesizers are too prominent and the melodies are too exuberant to promote any kind of intellectual resonance. Perhaps the lyrics are too flat, the melodies too broad, the themes too toned and cheap. It was halfway through the decade of decadence, many critics claimed. What’s one more MIDI-programmed album going to do for the new wave? Who would care? The answer: teenagers. 1985 was the year designated by the United Nations as “International Youth Year” mostly as a marketing ploy, but also, as some would argue, because few things mattered more than getting the new ‘digital’ generation onboard. The Internet’s Domain Name System – its centralized operation as a directory – was instituted on Jan. 1. For the first time, a patient with an artificial, computerized heart lived long enough to leave the hospital. “Back to the Future” was released and became the highest grossing film of the year. Super Mario Bros. was introduced to the public, as was the newly minted Nintendo Entertainment System. Microsoft issued its inaugural version of Windows. This was, perhaps, the first year in which world leaders recognized that the emerging generation would not be like them; instead, they would be brought up in the age of computers. And so, teenagers felt the music of Songs from the Big Chair not as any kind of inflated new wave pop hysteria, but as a vessel, a connector that mapped their own malaise and confusion onto the strange new world of electronics. The album captured the precise moment at which youth and technology shared, for the only time in history, the same uncertainty about the future. It brought together teenage girls who wanted to understand themselves in the eyes of teenage boys. It showed young men how to be sensitive without losing their sense of cool or self-confidence. Mostly, with its rich layers, synthetic intensity and timeless melody, Songs from the Big Chair reflected back to teenage listeners what they were most afraid of seeing in themselves: fear of not living up to expectations, no matter how grand. This is why when, on the opening track “Shout,” Orzabal belts, “In violent times / You shouldn’t have to sell your soul / In black and white,” it’s like a release. He’s talking about the career-induced existential crisis we all know we’re heir to as members of the digital age, but the one we all hope to
avoid anyway. This is also why his calm statement “I’m talking to you” seems to hit with extra weight. It’s because the noise and the fury of the world that’s barking orders still can’t extinguish the light the music holds in front of us. Tears for Fears know as well as we do that this isn’t escapism. It’s not romanticism. It’s revolution. The immortal “Head Over Heels” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” each boast similar sentiments. Underneath the wash of treble tones and obvious air of romance on “Head Over Heels,” Orzabal unleashes the wisdom of someone who understands youth but who realizes that he cannot help them. He sings, “But traditions I can trace against the child in your face / Won’t escape my attention / You keep your distance with a system of touch.” In other words, the songs achieve in a smaller sense what the album achieves in a larger sense: a sort of comfortable isolation. Perhaps the most enduring of the album’s great hits is “Everybody Wants to the Rule the World,” a so-’80s-it’sbeyond-’80s song that, once again, professes melancholy beneath the array of ebullient beats and bars. Its prescience into the modern Internetinfested world, with all its security issues and cyber attacks, is tucked perfectly between witty observations and pop-anthem declarations. “Welcome to your life / There’s no turning back / Even while we sleep / We will find you,” Orzabal sings. These verses sound like they could have been written yesterday about any one of a dozen online privacy breaches and hacks, only he goes a step further and offers a way out of the watch: “There’s a room where the light won’t find you / Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down / When they do I’ll be right behind you.” The message here is simple, if not entirely understated. Tears for Fears believes in one defense against the inevitable overcrowding of the digital era: human emotion.
Songs from the Big Chair swallows listeners up Take this into account with the album’s inspiration, a 1976 television film called “Sybil,” which is about a girl with 16 different personalities. The girl feels as though she can know herself only when she’s sitting in the ‘big chair’ of the analyst. She feels safe there – from her mother, from other children and even herself. Songs from the Big Chair, like the analyst’s big chair, swallows listeners up. Its oversized, overstuffed songs, which are too comfortable for some but just right for others, tower over us and, by doing so, obstruct any sight of the horizon or the sky. This is the world in which we live, the album seems to say. It’s not a bad world, nor is it condemning or unwelcoming. It’s just big and full of expectation. These emotions and feelings, though grand, tall and overstretched in some places, are ultimately true. And above all, they’re yours.
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Wednesday, February 25, 2015 — 7A
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
TV REVIEW
BIG MACHINE ABC
“Please don’t P.M.D.”
The whitest Kardashian.
Haters gonna hate, ‘Repeat After Me’ but I still love Taylor
refreshes old idea Celebrities parody themselves on Ellenproduced ABC show By SOPHIA KAUFMAN Daily Arts Writer
ABC’s new half-hour comedy “Repeat After Me” premiered February 17 and, despite its modest viewership, it proved to be a B fresh take on a recycled idea. Repeat Ellen DeGeneres executive After Me produces the Series Pilot show, and her Tuesdays mischievous at 8:30 mark is all over it. Like DeGe- ABC neres’s daytime talk show “Ellen”’s hidden camera segment, “Repeat After Me” distinguishes itself as funny, not because we get to watch celebrities make fun of people or watch regular people make fun of other regular people, but because we get to watch celebrities make fun of themselves. Wendi McLendon-Covey (“The Goldbergs”) hosts “Repeat After Me,” dictating to celebrities via earpieces what to say to people who recognize them, but have no idea they are being filmed. In this episode, Scott Foley (“Scandal”) interviews a potential babysitter for his kids. “My six-year-old
smokes,” he says, impressing upon her how “terrible” his kids are. Sarah Hyland (“Modern Family”) meets a French tutor, and says part of the reason she wants to learn French is because she has a French lover, so she’s “got French kissing down.” Randy Jackson (“American Idol”) speaks to the people tinting the windows of his new truck, asking if they do houses too, because he has a “huge mansion with lots of windows” in which he likes to “walk around nakey.” After each scene, the actors tell the people being pranked that they are on a hidden camera show and bring them out to see the live audience. At the end of the episode McLendon-Covey chooses her favorite moment of the night — which for this episode is Foley curled up in the fetal position and doing his best impression of a crying baby while the nonplussed nanny attempts to comfort him. What gives “Repeat After Me” its energy isn’t so much the unpredictable interactions themselves — though they are, for the most part, hilarious. It’s in watching talented actors make complete fools of themselves. They know how to maintain their momentum on camera, even in the moments when they are waiting for their next command, so the energy never lags. The actors of this episode complement each other particularly well; Foley says everything he’s told to but can’t quite keep the mischief out his eyes,
Hyland is completely straightfaced throughout her whole ridiculous scenario and Jackson can’t stop making the rookie mistake of laughing before delivering his lines. Another aspect of the show reminiscent of DeGeneres’s own segment is that McLendonCovey’s jokes play on the fact that these are very recognizable celebrities interacting with regular people. Foley tells his potential babysitter that if she wants an autograph, they better get that out of the way first, and then he asks her if she ever worked with famous people before and if she has any good gossip. Hyland asks teasingly if her new teacher recognizes her from “Modern Family” and then brags with a cutesy laugh, “I’ve won a bunch of Emmys,” pointing proudly to the shelf behind her. Randy Jackson introduces himself quite simply as Randy Jackson “from television.” They all subtly poke fun at the kind of things people expect celebrities would say, and it never comes across as mean-spirited or exploitative towards the people on the show. “Repeat After Me” may not be new, and it may be a while before McLendon-Covey reaches the skill level of DeGeneres when it comes to improvising, but at least it’s not plagued by petty problems that characterize the majority of reality programs on television now.
By CATHERINE BAKER For The Daily
Let me be the first to tell you that I own every song Taylor Swift has ever released. There, I said it ... moving on now. It’s December 2007 and much of my extended family has flown in from Minnesota to spend Christmas at my home in Michigan. I’m about to descend the stairs from my bedroom where I have carefully crafted my outfit — a jean skirt and pastel sweater — when my cousin Becca stops me. She informs me that I must listen to this new song her friend showed her.
I’m 11 years old and my life is about to be changed forever. I’m 11 years old and my life is about to be changed forever. Ok, that may be a bit dramatic, but you get the point. As soon as I heard the opening violin on “Our Song,” I was sold. The combination of pop music with a slight country twang was right up my alley. Taylor has come a long way since that fateful day, and her songs have matured from what played after
“Blue” by Crazy Frog at my junior high dances to anthems that have taken the entire world by storm. For the past seven years, I’ve grown up alongside Taylor Swift, and despite all of the criticism she receives, she continues to remain a positive and growing force in the music industry. She’s evolved from a heartbroken girl singing in a prom dress on her bed to an empowered and shamelessly independent young woman. Yes, her dancing at awards shows is somewhat awkward and her cat pictures take up a large portion of her Instagram, but that’s what makes her human. Think about it — when is the last time you saw a celebrity baking cookies or sending Christmas gifts to her fans? These pop idols and superstars are placed on such high pedestals that it’s hard to imagine them walking their dogs or eating breakfast. (Seriously, does Beyoncé even have time to eat breakfast?) It’s refreshing to feel a connection to the elusive world that is populated by icons like Lady Gaga and Kanye West. Some of her new songs on 1989 may be about Harry Styles, but no one was outraged when Sam Smith sang about his ex on “Stay With Me” or when Katy Perry wrote songs about her ex-husband, Russell Brand. The double standard that surrounds Taylor is unfair and, frankly, overused. It’s not outrageous that she sings
about actual experiences that happen to her in her actual life — it’s what everyone does. Even after embracing all the stereotypes that surround her, she still receives disapproval.
Keep shaking it off Taylor, I’m still rooting for you My memories of Taylor Swift don’t include the times she receives mean tweets or when someone makes jokes about her abundance of ex-boyfriends. Her songs are reminders of the time I danced to “Our Song” at Christmas with my cousin, when I blasted “Long Live” while getting ready for my first homecoming dance or sang to “Shake It Off” in the car during my senior year of high school. While taking Buzzfeed quizzes, I still pick Taylor to be my celebrity best friend. My love for her has not diminished — it has simply matured, and I suspect that I’ll always squeal a little when I hear she is releasing a new album. An entire generation has grown up alongside Taylor Swift and I suspect she’s just getting started. So keep shaking it off, Taylor, and the haters are gonna hate, but I’m rooting for you.
Daily Book Review: ‘Last Good Paradise’ By CATHERINE SULPIZIO Senior Arts Editor
The vacation is written into our middle-class contract. We enter the workforce to earn money to squirrel away, but with the redemptive belief that there will be an opportunity for escape. Originally a luxury only for the elite, by the mid19th century the vacation was tugged The Last down a few Good class notches. Amid a grow- Paradise ing religious Tatjana Soli and medical suspicion that St. Martin’s Press perhaps our Feb. 10, 2015 Puritan industriousness was turning against us, the vacation gained a prescriptive urgency. The beach wasn’t a luxury – it was a necessity. Tatjana Soli’s latest book, “The Last Good Paradise,” unfurls against this psychosocial landscape. With elegant prose that can swell into poetic intervals or sharp commentary, Soli presents a book that courses with flawed, colorful characters, lavish food descriptions (courtesy of a chef protagonist) and political intrigue. But beneath its lovely veneer is a book that confronts the American urge to escape on the balmy, outermost beaches of Polynesia. The novel centers on Ann, an unhappy, yet successful attorney. In the first pages,
she watches a fire consume a Los Angeles home; the proofed glass of her office blocks out the sirens and 90-degree heat, effectively enveloping her in a reclusive, airless bubble. Ann is suspended in a state of prolonged emergency — her job and her marriage festering instead of blooming, leaving Ann “marooned and stationary” in her stale life. Ann’s chef husband Richard is on the brink of opening his first restaurant (financed by Ann) and fraying around the edges, especially as he’s saddled with managing his unreliable, charismatic business partner, Javi. And beyond their financial strain, Ann’s own body is mutinying against a fertility treat-
As it is, travel isn’t the solution so much as the fleeting answer. ment, which promises to deliver a baby she’s not sure she wants. But before the siren call of motherhood sounds too shrill, the novel unleashes a set of legal circumstances that finally sends the couple on the luxury vacation they’ve put off for years (and funded by a trail of maxed out credit cards). There’s
some delicious irony in the vacation finally taken to escape the law, but their flight mostly highlights the prolonged state of emergency that didn’t elicit escape — the paralyzed life, which contributes to its paralysis by spinning its wheels. As it is, travel isn’t the solution so much as the fleeting answer: “In the old days, when California was the end of the line, before the forces of globalization, one could just keep flinging oneself farther and farther west, hopefully landing somewhere that fulfilled one’s dreams of happiness before one ended up back in the place one started.” Once on the balmy outreaches of Polynesia’s furthest tropics, Soli continues to sow the text with germane seeds of satire: free of WiFi and cell reception, the resort basks in its gadgetfree minimalism — which is slapped with a steep price tag, of course. Respite from society requires a chunk of change. Beyond incisive commentary, the technology-free mandate severs Richard and Ann from all but memories of their old partners and bosses, which is crucial in transforming the island into a crammed stage full of combative egos. Once isolated, relationships unravel and reknit: somewhat implausibly, Ann’s rock star crush is vacationing there, along with his tan and supplelimbed girlfriend Wende who catches the eye of Richard.
The protagonists’ dissolution into the narration allows other residents to move into the foreground with varying results. While Loren, the resort’s mercurial owner with a mysterious past, plays an unlikely yet intriguing love interest for Ann, the rockstar and his girlfriend remain shallow even amid attempts to give them depth. Joli tries to repurpose the stock characters of Rockstar Sex God and Groupie, which feel flimsy against the originally hewed figure of Ann. As Soli notes, lawyer-turnedescapee Ann’s inner material is rich for excavation: “Wild could be in the heart of the most buttoned-down, burned-out lawyer … Wild was refuting the
scratchy, dry surface of things and digging into the rich, loamy depths.” What elevates this from a
As Soli notes, Ann’s inner material is rich for excavation. lovely character study is Soli’s heed to the invisible backbone of the resort — the native workers and their complex relationship with imperialism. The final
third of the book unbinds the hidden hierarchy that organizes the island through a series of escalating political acts. Unlike Gaugan’s paintings that enamor Ann, this detour is surreal without artificiality; realistic and unromantic. “The Last Good Paradise” binds all these components together as gracefully as possible — a loss of direction that stretches from the final third could have found its ways through a narrower scope, yet Soli’s detours are never tedious. Her quiet prose and lucid mediations ensure that regardless of its direction, “The Last Good Paradise” is always a pleasurable journey.
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Sports
8A — Wednesday, February 25, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘M’ opens spring camp Losses magnify defensive concerns for Wolverines ICE HOCKEY
By MAX COHEN
Managing Sports Editor
Jim Harbaugh compared the first day of spring practice to some warped combination of 24 hours that included New Year’s, Christmas Day, Thanksgiving, a birthday, a family reunion and the first day of school. That day was Tuesday for Harbaugh, and based upon the level of excitement one could imagine in his fictional holiday, it should have been difficult to function. But then again, the Michigan football coach is the same person who, when he was the coach at Stanford, said that he doesn’t observe major holidays because he’s “a jackhammer.” Based on his thoughts after the Wolverines’ first spring practice Tuesday, it seemed as though that was the case. He wore his trademark khakis and a Michigan hat styled similarly to the one previously worn by former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler. Cleats were his footwear of choice. Nothing surprised Harbaugh about his first day of practice as the Wolverines’ coach, other than how quickly it went by. He enjoyed the day with his players — whether it was to the extent that a child would enjoy a birthday or Christmas is unclear. “Time flies by when you’re having fun,” he said. If Harbaugh learned much of anything about his team during that four-hour period, he tried to avoid saying it. “We’re not really answering questions as much as we’re asking questions,” Harbaugh said. “What can we do? How can we get better? Where can we improve? Where can we get a mile an hour faster? Where can we get a percent better?” The position of starting quarterback can be added to his question list. The team currently
By JEREMY SUMMITT Daily Sports Editor
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Jim Harbaugh exuded excitement after his team’s first day of spring camp.
has seven quarterbacks on the spring practice roster. Junior Shane Morris, redshirt freshman Wilton Speight and early enrollee Alex Malzone are widely considered the frontrunners for the job, with highly touted recruit Zach Gentry expected to enter the mix during fall camp. Harbaugh was noncommittal about putting a timetable on naming the winner of that battle. “At some point, you’d like to think that that’s clear-cut and somebody earns that and it’s not close,” Harbaugh said. “That’s what we’ll be hoping for.” Harbaugh said he’s keeping all seven quarterbacks involved in practice for now, giving them each opportunities. The role of coaching the quarterbacks will be a group effort, according to Harbaugh, and every offensive coach will be involved in some respect. Harbaugh played quarterback at Michigan and in the NFL, but
his trade position isn’t his only concern this spring. During his brief tenure at Michigan, Harbaugh has insisted that all playing time will be earned, no matter the position, and that the positions themselves are up for grabs. The currently listed roster spots are of little matter, as much as fans might wonder about the position changes of redshirt sophomore Ross Douglas (from running back to cornerback) and redshirt freshman Brady Pallante (from defensive tackle to fullback). “We don’t mandate what positions a player plays. Some guys are trying out at multiple positions, both sides of the ball,” Harbaugh said. “It’s too early to say what’s going to take place.” Harbaugh claims his main focus this spring is ensuring that his team gets better every day. “I know that sounds very simplistic, but it’s so simple it might work.”
The Michigan hockey team has been a bewildering spectacle this season, boasting the nation’s top offense but a defense that hasn’t quite reached respectability. There have been questions swirling as to why the Wolverines can’t buckle down in their own zone for consistent stretches. Even the coaching staff has shuffled defensive pairings and hopped on the goaltending carousel more than once. But what if the nation’s top offense is feeding into the lackluster defensive effort? To Michigan coach Red Berenson, that has been the root of the recurring defensive concerns. “No question,” he said. “You get overconfident. That’s all you’re thinking about is offense. Even if you’re not playing well, you start worrying about playing better with the puck.” Saturday, Berenson called the team in for a meeting to watch film and to emphasize defensive details one day after suffering a 5-3 loss at Ohio State. The message was simple — be a better player without the puck. “Sometimes when you’re a good player, all you do the whole game is you’re hoping to get the puck, and then you get it, and then you hope to get it (again),” Berenson said after the game. “During that hope time, we’ve been giving up too many scoring chances and too many goals.” The potency that Michigan has enjoyed for much of this season has created a mindset that screams offense first and defense second. This perception goes against all Berenson stands
Michigan routs Purdue on Senior Night Elmblad ties career high with 19 points as Wolverines wrap up home schedule
BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan Women’s Basketball
11
Team-high rebounding total for senior forward Cyesha Goree in her final home game at Michigan
53
Field-goal percentage for Michigan in Tuesday’s win over Purdue
20
Turnovers Michigan forced in Tuesday’s win
71
3-pointers on the season for freshman guard Katelynn Flaherty
Week of rest aids ‘M’ down stretch Daily Sports Editor
Daily Sports Writer
SAN PHAM/Daily
Senior forward Nicole Elmblad tied for the team high with 19 points in her final home game Tuesday against Purdue.
Saturday’s heartbreaking 91-88 double-overtime loss to Minnesota, the Wolverines bounced back convincingly, just like they have done for most of the season after a loss. Michigan is now 6-3 in games following a defeat. “That was an incredibly tough loss,” Barnes Arico said. “We’ve had a bunch of them this year, but our practices the last two day have been so focused. We can’t worry about that game because it’s over, we just have to focus on the next one and be the next Michigan team we can be in the next game. They did that, and I think that really speaks volumes of their character.” Elmblad and freshman guard Katelynn Flaherty led the Wolverines in scoring with 19 points each, while senior forward Cyesha Goree led the way on the glass with 11 rebounds. Junior guard
Madison Ristovski also had her best offensive output of the season, scoring 15 points on 70-percent shooting. The Wolverines shot 53 percent as a team. As potent as the Wolverine offense was, the defense was just as stout. Playing a 2-3 zone for much of the game, Michigan held Purdue to its third-lowest scoring half of the season, allowing just 21 points before the break. “Purdue is definitely a strong post team with (forwards Whitney Bays and Liza Clemons) on the inside,” Elmblad said. “They have bigger guards, so we wanted to pack it in and make them hit shots from the outside.” The Wolverines forced 20 turnovers and held Bays — Purdue’s leading scorer and rebounder — to just eight points and a single rebound. Bays didn’t record a point in the second half.
“At the end of the day, we still have a season to finish.”
“She’s a great player, and she’s done a really good job for them all year,” Elmblad said. “We wanted to make sure we locked in on her.” With the win tonight, Michigan has clinched the No. 8 seed in the Big Ten Tournament next week in Chicago and will play the No. 9 seed March 5. The winner will play Maryland, which clinched the Big Ten title Saturday night and is ranked No. 5 nationally, in the next round. Tonight was all about the seniors, and for the Wolverines to get a win is huge for three players that have done so much for the program. But staying in the NCAA Tournament picture isn’t too shabby, either. “Yes, it’s Senior Night, but at the end of the day, we still have a season to finish,” Goree said. “Our mentality tonight was to finish the season strong to put us in the best position possible for the postseason.”
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detailed and on the right side of the system, things should start going our way.” All of that means that in Berenson’s mind, his players have too often jumped the gun offensively when the other team corrals the puck in a 50-50 battle. These mistakes have sprung the opposition toward odd-man rushes that magnify the Wolverines’ defensive lapses. “When in doubt,” Motte said, “have a defensive mindset, and know that the offense will come with that.” From the forwards down to the defense, improving defensively is a collective effort. Saturday’s meeting put an emphasis on showing that defense should be the priority heading forward. If it isn’t, Michigan’s chances at an NCAA Tournament berth will continue to fade. With such a discrepancy between its offensive capabilities and its defensive shortcomings, Berenson deemed it time to shift focus. Defense, and defense alone, has held the Wolverines back from consistency and excellence. At times, the offense and defense mesh well, and in those moments Michigan seems poised to compete with any team in the country. Other times, like Friday’s game at Ohio State, there are moments that leave this team asking what it could have done differently. Just three weeks and six games remain before the Big Ten Tournament, and there’s no time for questions. The Wolverines can only settle for answers, and it appears they’re finally starting to grasp onto some.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
By MAX BULTMAN
By MINH DOAN
If it was going to be Nicole Elmblad’s last regular-season game as a Wolverine at Crisler Center, it was going to be a memorable one for the senior forward. A player 50 PURDUE MICHIGAN 81 known best for her hustle and tenacity, Elmblad did just fine on the stat sheet, finishing with 19 points and tying her career high. Most of her points came from open looks from the free-throw area. Even with the Michigan women’s basketball team up by almost 30 points for a majority of the second half, coach Kim Barnes Arico didn’t take any chances with her team, which has squandered four leads in February games. This time was different, as the Wolverines started off the game with a 10-2 run and never looked back, thrashing the Boilermakers, 81-50. And especially after
for as a defensive guru. In Saturday’s meeting, Berenson preached about being more aware in the defensive zone, and he encouraged his players to stop watching and waiting for the puck to come to their sticks. Instead, they needed to make a conscious effort to body up and help teammates tighten up their defensive-zone coverage. Offense can wait. “We talked a lot about taking pride in defense, because Red hates getting scored on more than he likes scoring,” said junior forward Boo Nieves. “Getting scored on is one of his biggest pet peeves. If you get scored on, you might find yourself sitting on the bench.” Man-on-man defense and being active in the defensive zone have been parts of the Wolverines’ game that have been lacking. At times, scoring nearly four goals each game can be enough to place defensive concerns on the back burner. But this week, that back burner gets shut off. Michigan started Tuesday’s practice with consecutive drills that emphasized defensive-zone coverage. Another drill at the tail end of the session was designed to help players make quick decisions on transitioning between defense and offense at the snap of a finger. “This week, and probably the past couple of weeks, we’ve been talking on detail, whether it’s our forecheck or our D-zone,” said sophomore forward Tyler Motte. “Whether you’re on the right side or the wrong side of the puck, at a certain time, you never know how a puck is going to bounce, but as long as you’re
Michigan coach John Beilein couldn’t help but laugh after the Michigan men’s basketball team’s 64-57 win over Ohio State on Sunday. “Who would’ve thought, three years ago when I was recruiting him, that (junior guard Spike Albrecht) would play 40 minutes and a team as good defensively as Ohio State would be in a full denial on Spike?” Beilein said. Albrecht’s humble origins as a late signee make his successes seem like fantasy. But as Albrecht can attest, the reality of his high volume of minutes has taken its toll. The junior battled through a hip injury for the bulk of the season, and though he looks to be at full strength now, his time on the court is adding up. And it’s not just Albrecht. Freshman guards Aubrey Dawkins and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and sophomore forward Zak Irvin have been forced to play huge minutes in the thick of Big Ten play. So with almost a week off between Sunday’s win over the Buckeyes and Saturday’s game at Maryland, it’s a safe bet that the Wolverines (7-8 Big Ten, 14-13 overall) will be using the time to rejuvenate themselves. If the Ohio State game was any indicator, that could mean good things for their offense. Coming off four days rest since its loss to Michigan State last Tuesday, Michigan came out bursting with energy against Ohio State, opening up a 12-point lead in the first 10 minutes. That initial burst was crucial to the Wolverines’ victory, building a lead for them to protect and to withstand an impending rally in the second half. In the first half against the Buckeyes, Michigan looked the best it has since long before junior guard Caris LeVert went down with a broken left foot. And
while part of the gained energy can be attributed to the growth and cohesion the newest unit has shown, the other part is as simple as getting more rest. “Some guys have had selected rest, the guys that we felt need it, the Spike Albrechts and Zak Irvins, that are really playing a lot of minutes,” Beilein said Saturday. “Probably it’s a little bit of a shock to the bodies of Aubrey and Muhammad as well.” Michigan’s schedule hasn’t done it any favors. The Wolverines have played two games every week since conference play opened, and their rigorous schedule has only been compounded by LeVert and sophomore guard Derrick Walton Jr.’s injuries. With those two out, AbdurRahkman has played over 30 minutes in each of Michigan’s last seven games, and Dawkins hasn’t played fewer than 24 since Jan. 17. But as problematic as LeVert and Walton’s absence in practice has been, it has forced the freshmen to play nearly every minute of scrimmages. That’s where extended rest comes into play. Without the urgency of learning an opponent’s system in limited time, Beilein is able to isolate players and give them rest as he sees fit. And when he does rest players like Albrecht and Irvin, it leaves more room for one-on-one interaction with coaches. “The guys that aren’t playing a lot of minutes are getting a lot of good individual instruction,” Beilein said Saturday. Still, Michigan will have to guard against rust, making sure its longest break of the season doesn’t leave it struggling to catch up. Maryland will be coming off an emotional win over No. 5 Wisconsin on Tuesday, so the Wolverines shouldn’t expect an opponent as lulled as Ohio State looked at tip-off. But if Michigan’s long week of rest shifts it to a newfound gear, it could be huge for a team desperate for resume-building wins.